Alexander Yiannopoulos

this is humanities phd level math

Ragebating for engagement is so easy. Just give your honest rankings of your preferences. I like blackberries better than raspberries. I like Lord of the Rings better than Harry Potter. I like Vietnamese food better than Thai food. Etc. Try it and watch the hate explode!

This is a great example of the stranglehold academic institutions have on scientific identity. They’ve created a belief system where if you leave, you are treated as if you’re effectively dead, as if your contributions no longer matter. We must normalize being scientists first, and having institutions rank far down the list of what defines who we are. This didn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of billions in taxpayer revenue and resulting massive marketing power that shapes how the public thinks about science.

I regret to inform you that I am still a physicist, and will be, for the rest of my life.

It's hard to find physicists - other than those still working in/around String Theory - who are still excited about String Theory. It simply is not talked about much outside the narrow specialization. It's kind of mind boggling that this kind of hype continues.

The Hotlzman Shield in Dune is one of the perfect examples of adding a tiny thing to a setting to get a vibe you want out of it. In Dune's case: - Holtzman Shields stop fast moving objects. - Lasguns (particle beam guns in Dune) can cause a nuclear explosion if they hit a shield, so they're not commonly used. - Melee is the dominant form of combat, trying to strike slow to penetrate the shields. - Projectile weapons exist but they're designed around boring through or disrupting shields, but a skilled combatant can deflect the slow moving projectiles. - Heavy artillery can still kill shielded humans through sheer transfer of force or heat, which the shield can't block. - Anti-vehicle weapons are built around these principles because the vehicle might be shielded. Dune codified the idea of high tech sci-fi where you still have melee and the idea of "oh here's this piece of technobabble that let's me have what I want in my sci-fi setting." Gundam's Minovsky Particle and Mass Effect's Element Zero owe the Holtzman Shield their existence.