Mastodawn

I unironically support Trump's gutting of all kinds of Science funding. We don't need to see fancy colorful pictures of distant space objects, galaxies, nebulae and shit. GIMME EAT!
I don't fuckin' care what eggheads masturbate themselves with. Just don't use public funds for your phallic rockets. Interested in the skies? Go buy a telescope. The homeless and hungry are done footing the bill for your fancy distractions, which don't bring them any tangible benefits. You could be making shit up!

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Lumiukko

@purrperl I think you're barking at the wrong tree. Funding for research projects is really tiny compared to all the wealth those tech firms and adjacent people are currently hoarding, while doing nothing for the public. Research projects, esp. those applying for public funding, almost always have to argue their benefits, while nobody is questioning real estate projects or now them fancy AI tools. I understand this is complex and sounds like gibberish most of the time, but the information is transparent and out there. It just takes learning and time. Things that aren't easy exist.

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Ashwin Dixit Mar 21

@lumiukko

I know that things that aren't easy exist. Yet, they're indistinguishable from magic to the lay person, whose share of public funds goes to pay for this magick.

That person is cut off from their own share of power in government, kept from voting.

It could just as easily be a theocratic state arrogating itself public funds to do magic rituals, as scientists doing science.

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Lumiukko Mar 21

@purrperl I would rather say there should be more emphasis of forcing science communication, in the sense that research and results have to be explained in simple terms. Otherwise, I agree, we don't have the level of participation we should have.

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Ashwin Dixit Mar 22

@lumiukko

I don't think there is a good way to explain to a hungry person who has spent the night shivering on cold concrete, why the superconducting supercollider needs billions in public funding, or what exciting secrets the latest images of the Andromeda galaxy may reveal.

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Lumiukko Mar 22

@purrperl

These two things are not mutually exclusive at all.

We can have both: Basic needs fulfilled and (in some cases) expensive research. What we can't have, is concentrated wealth on individuals, i.e., billionaires and have everyone's basic needs fulfilled, because their wealth is originating from exploitation and abuse of people in need.

You are complaining about research efforts, while ignoring bigger sinkholes that even have a net negative effect on society.

At this point I'm not even sure you're not just trolling.

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Ashwin Dixit Mar 23

@lumiukko

Trolling? I have literally not eaten for over 48 hours now, as a homeless whistleblower.

https://whistleblower.lovestoblog.com/

As for you, you seem to represent the comfy middle class ( that I was once part of ) suddenly feeling the need to apologize for and justify its privileged existence, even as it looked away from the homeless and hungry for ages, only because that privilege is being actively questioned.

No more fancy Science, till we fill all bellies. Privilege time is over!

GIMME EAT!

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Ashwin Dixit Mar 23

@lumiukko

You're right! We *can* have both, meeting people's needs and (expensive) Science research.

But be honest — without a crisis being fomented, and your privilege to study fancy spectrographs of distant nebulae questioned, you'd continue as before, tomorrow, next month & year. Looking away from the homeless woman on the sidewalk who was moved out of memory place, the stinky hungry man, who you deem to be a ne'er-do-well, who should have studied/worked hard like you & obeyed authorities.

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Ashwin Dixit Mar 21

@lumiukko

I am not saying Science is not real or not necessary. Just that it is mis-prioritized. We have a planet where we can't even feed everyone, and we are polluting it to the point of environmental crises. Yet, we want to give money to people to colonize other planets? Why? Earth is not a disposable diaper. If we don't solve our problems here first, we will get to another planet, and also trash it, and keep moving on.

Put yourself in the shoes of the homeless person. What do you want?

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Ashwin Dixit Mar 21

@lumiukko

As for disproportionate wealth allocation, that can be fixed using AlohaCoin v2. A cryptocurrency where everybody gets fed, and noone gets ahead.

https://rant.li/ashwin/visions-for-a-new-web

No more billionaires. Zuckerberg and Bezos have to stand in the grocery line, like everybody else.

Visions for a New Web

( Web De-enshittification, Ethical AI, Worker-owned Co-Ops & Wealth Redistribution ) Table of Contents Introduction Identities — t...

The Moving Finger

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Ashwin Dixit Mar 21

@lumiukko

Information is not transparent and out there. It's dense, a wall of Latin & Greek, in multiple silos, with nothing to comprehend and unify it.

We need a single, non-repudiable source of truth. A knowledge graph where each node is a factoid, and each edge is an implication.

factoid1 -> factoid2

factoid1 implies factoid2

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Ashwin Dixit Mar 21

@lumiukko

Each factoid has supporting studies attached to it. Each study is transparent, down to each data point, and observation.

And each study has a money dimension, that tracks who funded the study, and where the money was spent, down to the last notepad and pencil.

So cigarette companies cannot fund 30 bogus studies to imply that cigarettes don't cause cancer, then hire doctors in white labcoats to advertise cigarettes on TV.

No more fake news.