There are multiple cases where pure chance and human hesitation prevented all out nuclear bombardment in the Cold War.

So for that alone we are extremely lucky.

As a pansexual I feel that Bi and Pan have enough differences to both be justified while the others are micro labels (not invalid, just less useful as labels).

But I recognize I’m drawing that line very conveniently for myself.

I hate hate hate when people try to discredit a theory because “it’s a theory not a fact” as if the label of “fact” exists on some kind of science ladder for an idea. “Facts” is a colloquial word like any other, it’s not some special category above theories.

Moreover, the most tried and tested theories are facts. Science rarely just disproves an established theory outright. Einstein’s General Relatively equations reduces into Newton’s Laws of Motion in most situations. Newton’s Laws of Motion weren’t “wrong”, it’s just General Relatively is more specific and accurate.

The Scientific Method usually just builds on what already exists without claiming we were all unfactual for working with what we had.

In a D&D game that I got in through Roll20 matchmaking. One of the players asks if I want to join another campaign with his friends, said yes.

One of those friends is now my fiancee that I moved states for. The original guy ghosted all of us in a harsh way but I’ll forever owe my new life to him.

I think the worst thing about a Mary Sue is when their success comes trivially or randomly.

What usually helps me is making the obstacle more specific and diving into those specifics when they’re problem solving. You’ll find most things we broadly group into large lumps, like martial arts, swordfighting, researching, medicine, ect. often have an overwhelming amount of details that not only separates good from bad, but also have specific dynamics that change depending on circumstances.

If you want to make the successes feel earned, include enough detail about the problem that you can tell a story with the challenges involved. If your focus is swordfighting convey the kinds of techniques your protagonist know then put them up against opponents that can counter those techniques so they have to learn. If you focus is a doctor then instead of seeking out the Medicine Flower™, try conveying the roadmap to making medicine to the audience then make a story out of the process.

I feel like Breaking Bad is a good example of this. It depends a lot on actual chemistry and every chemistry advancement is a plot point. Mainly it’s figuring out how to procure the ingredients and equipment without leaving evidence to get caught from.

As an aside, I’ve often wondered what would happen if everything was automatically adjusted for inflation.

So like cost of living inflates, but then income is adjusted and bank accounts are modified to be their true value before inflation.

Would this patch things up to be effectively 0 inflation? or (more likely) would this cause an absurd runaway effect?

I choose to believe it’s their mutual hatred of England that makes their butter taste good.

For some reason I always have a habit of scroll to the bottom of any list and reading up. Like I wanna confirm how long the list is before working my way up

Can confirm, it’s also a thing in the US.

I’ve begun to think of LLMs as compression algorithms for patterns. It can take an existing pattern and apply it on unusual subjects. Like take the pattern of a limerick and apply it to the patterns of Danny Devito, that’s the upper limit of their creativity. So rather than storing information, it stores these patterns making it seem more dynamic.

The way I see it, human creativity is the combination of patterns but in a chaotic non-analytic way. We make leaps of logic that without precise knowledge of our brains can’t be exactly replicated. Meanwhile LLM’s just do the basic combination of patterns that result in the most generic realization of any idea.

However the well dries up as soon as we stop training them. They’ll store the basics of any field but fail to replicate new developments or conclusions until trained.

I can say being a trans woman confronts you with this dilemma head on. While I was boymode I was largely ignored and didn’t think much about safety, but after transitioning I began to understand why my sister always had an array of self defense keychains.

Since it was a sudden shift for me I’ve ask myself how to avoid dangerous people, and apart from self defense methods the only real answer I’ve come to is recognize the signs and trust your gut feelings.

Sadly many people are conditioned to always be nice and accommodating to please everyone. Everybody needs to set strict boundaries and know how to leave unapologetically when they’re breached. You never owe someone your unconditional trust.

I think in unsafe scenes it can be dangerous to try and argue against your gut instincts by assuming you’re being stereotypical. This message is vital for women and other targeted groups, but can apply to anyone really.

If you’re out at night, or in a club/bar/party, or out with strangers, or are without your phone/keys, ect; then you need to trust any sense of unsafety and be on high alert. If it’s a false alarm due to a stereotype then you can interrogate your biases later. If someone gives you the creeps, you need to maneuver into a safe position before giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Our instincts are really good at detecting if something’s off or dangerous, but really bad at communicating that to us consciously. So always go to a friend, or public location, or wait for another day, ect; before turning your back on someone with red flags, even if it’s a stereotype.

Don’t know if this has been fixed but Gemini was telling people it’s unethical to teach people C++ or memory management.

Because it’s considered “memory unsafe” but Gemini took it literally and considered it to unsafe to teach.

Honestly, I think capitalism wouldn’t be so bad if it was limited to what it’s good at. Fashion, tech, entertainment, snacks, ect.

But essential food, housing, water, healthcare, even electricity and internet access, the idea that these things that will always have infinite demand is haphazardly controlled through profit motive is disgusting.

Infrastructures should be government controlled and free. Essential resources should have some sort of universal basic “food stamps” system. Then actual money just becomes the luxury “fun bucks” that you don’t lose out on if you don’t have a lot. For example pet owners would be given a credits for pet food and free vet care, but a silly pet costume would use money.

Disclaimer: This is just a personal idea I’ve been mulling over, I’m sure there’s a million holes in it.