Peter Bokulich
Rebecca WatsonHere we go again: popular YouTube physicist Sabine Hossenfelder is extremely wrong about something! This time, she argues in favor of capitalism, saying that without it, we wouldn't have scientific progress. The Nobel prize winner she cites begs to disagree. https://skepchick.org/2023/09/sabine-is-wrong-again-capitalism-wouldve-killed-penicillin/
Trojan Duck@rebeccawatson Well, it's crystal clear her training isn't in history.
Seiðr@rebeccawatson You know when you see a vid on your YT recommendations that doesn't seem to fit with how you've been pruning them so YT doesn't recommend you fash bullshit and somehow you feel like it's something that slipped by? Well, that's what happened to me with Hossenfelder months ago. And I was not wrong in the least.
Richard Hendricks
Whiskey Bottle@rebeccawatson “YouTube Physicist” is definitely not something that I ever thought would be a thing. This truly is the strangest and worst timeline.
Tobias Merkendorf@rebeccawatson yeah. She is kind of losing her expert status since she is taking up topics that are clearly a) out of her scope of expertise and b) politically loaded.
Besides the horrible "trans" video of hers, I was personally really annoyed by her "there is no alternative to cars" remark in her EV video. The video was otherwise OKish. But her standpoint on certain topics is clearly not neutral or impartial.
watzon@rebeccawatson if anything scientific progress is hamstrung by capitalism. The whole "it's only worth doing if I'm going to make a massive profit from it" definitely helps with the development of some things (the atomic bomb comes to mind), but much less helpful for most others. Especially when it comes to life saving medications that will only affect a small, or otherwise "too poor to matter" group.
Great post btw! ♥️
Great post btw! ♥️
notsoloud@rebeccawatson
I guess there's more money in culture wars than in physics
I guess there's more money in culture wars than in physics
Bodhipaksa@rebeccawatson I don't know about you guys, but if I want to know about physics I always ask an economist.
Rhaedas@rebeccawatson I haven't seen one of her videos since they've been popping on my feed. The titles seemed like clickbait wording to me, and then I started seeing criticism like this, so it seems I'll stick with the physicists I already watch that tend to stay within their field.
Sibshops@rebeccawatson
I like her videos, when she talks about science topics. Her arguments about having no free-will is a little off. Since having no free will can't be proven or dis-proven.
I like her videos, when she talks about science topics. Her arguments about having no free-will is a little off. Since having no free will can't be proven or dis-proven.
The Turtle@rebeccawatson i always like those "annie hall" /Marshall McLuhan moments.
Ricardo Harvin@rebeccawatson Ugh. I stopped watching her videos when she cited Jesse Singal as a credible source of information 😑
Jasper 🍉@rebeccawatson equating Thunberg and Robert F. Kennedy junior, while later acknowleging climate change has us in deep shit is strange..
quangobaud@rebeccawatson
There is a Sabine Hossenfelder fedi account. I just followed it, the toots aren't loading for me (yet) so I've no idea if it is genuine.
I watch Sabine's physics/science vids as part of a constellation of SciTube favourites I follow but the Sabine brand general topic think pieces could do with explanations of the processes behind them; I'm assuming there is a team that produces them and that there are discussions (or executive decisions) on how they are put together. Behind-the-Scenes videos are a thing.
Some topics always need to be an actual debate rather than a presentation. Sabine already takes part in recorded debates on physics; so, if the think pieces are an indication of willingness to discuss those topics, then I would expect debate videos to eventually follow.
Anyway, I'm waiting to see if YouTube creators unionize or ar least form some kind of association to support each other when YouTube/Alphabet changes the terms of their financial relationship again.
@rebeccawatson Excellent rebuttal with actual research™️ to back up your assertions, in stark contrast to Sabine's badly flawed and clearly personal opinions not based on the full set of facts.
Lewis@rebeccawatson The idea of capitalism is perhaps better implemented in Germany currently.
The capitalism being practised in the UK is concerned with providing big windfalls for the rich and has little interest in investment in proactive scientific development to better society.
lj·rk@LewisHarrington @rebeccawatson Nope, doesn't work here either.
It only works if you make a disconnect between the economic system and the political one. But reality is different, even in "social welfare capitalism" the rich do get richer and at some point have enough political power to unhook the regulations and then you get the same crap. It's not as bad here yet, but it's gotten worse a *lot*.
It's why some call for the "dictatorship of the proletariat": Being a capitalist must mean renouncing any political power.
@ljrk @rebeccawatson
This is the real problem of our time.
The power of those who like to divert the path of wealth toward the rich, endlessly, seems unassailable and terrible in consequence.
Ken@rebeccawatson what is it with physicists and stepping out of their lane
Robert Buchberger@rebeccawatson I had missed her trans video; I was so disappointed when I saw this one. I’d liked Sabine’s videos!
@rebeccawatson Holy fuck. Yeah, let's do a carbon tax on something that's soooo hard to put numbers on when humans are notoriously bad at: numbers. Also, just ignore the political ramifications of an economic system "that's another story".
@rebeccawatson I don’t know about popular. I watched a few of her shows thinking she could have had a decent career in porn. Or Shakespearean theater, you know, from back in the day like 500 years ago.
She started presenting too much opinion not based in science for me or straddled the fence on some topics that were much more clear-cut than she made them out to be. The points she made were confusing the issue more than clarifying it and did little more than extend the video.
@piratero what a fucked up thing to say
@rebeccawatson thank you! Sometimes, I think I work too hard on things.
@piratero honestly work harder bc to say that someone with a million subs isn’t popular and you want her to do porn is lazy af, I could find a meth head in wisconsin to say that + something interesting
@rebeccawatson I will take your criticism to heart.
Also, I don’t really measure success by subscriptions. If she lost me as a viewer, something’s wrong there.
@piratero I didn’t say success, you smooth brained monkey. I said popular, which is objective. go to therapy.
@rebeccawatson you also fixated one only one topic, while ignoring the balance of th3 post. Your entire line of attack, since it can’t really be called argument, suggests a deep unhappiness and insecurity. Let’s fix that with a block, shall we?
KristFist
Righteous Hazard@rebeccawatson wtf is up with physicists’ urge to pontificate outside their subject? Did the failed “Theory of Everything” project just ruin them, or something?
And I find it hilarious that a physicist is on that beat. Outside of Bell Labs (which received significant public funding), there has been almost no significant private-capital-funded physics discoveries since Michelson freaking Morley.
Jeramee@rebeccawatson
It's wonderful to see you here!
I watched your Sabine video yesterday and it was great. Thank you for the excellent work.
@Jeramee hello and thank you!