Mastodawn

Ben Crowell May 24, 2023

I've been on #mastodon for six months, and my enthusiasm has been steadily waning. I've decided to stop using it. It's too hard to find interesting content. Following the #climbing tag means I mostly see random photos of climbing routes people did, which they don't bother to identify or describe. Following the #greek tag (due to my interest in ancient Greek) means I see material about fraternities and Greek politics. #physics is 90% inaccurate pop-sci stuff, often repeated over and over.

Ben Crowell May 23, 2023

Would anyone well versed in #Greek be willing to explain to me why this is subjunctive?

ἠΰτε πορφυρέην ἶριν θνητοῖσι τανύσσῃ

Ζεὺς ἐξ οὐρανόθεν, τέρας ἔμμεναι ἢ πολέμοιο,

(#iliad 17.547)

My understanding of the usages of the subjunctive is: negative and first-person commands, first-person possible actions, constructions with μή, and opinions about the future. This doesn't seem to fit any of those.

Ben Crowell May 23, 2023

I love #jazz saxophonist Frank Morgan's recordings from after he got out of prison. Prison is a cage where we lock up monsters, but his playing is infinitely gentle. People should take personal responsibility for substance abuse as a conscious choice (not a disease like cancer), and Morgan also committed property crimes to support his habit. But when an artistic voice like his is locked away, it's a brutal wake-up call about the failure of Richard Nixon's "war on drugs."
#massincerceration

Ben Crowell May 21, 2023

The 2016 U.S. presidential election caught a lot of people by surprise, including me. What caused its outcome, and how do we keep it from happening again?

In this blog post, I explain why I don't think individualized explanations like status threat are useful in finding a way forward. Instead, we should pay attention to broader factors like engineering the internet so it doesn't become even more of a cesspool.

https://ben-crowell.bitbucket.io/what_causes_trumpism/

#trumpism #authoritarianism #politics

index

Ben Crowell May 19, 2023

Peter Moleman May 18, 2023

THE FREE WILL FALLACY: LIBET'S ERROR
Is there such a thing as free will?
None of the current research provides any evidence for or against.
https://breininactie.com/the-free-will-fallacy/
Have fun,
Peter Moleman
#neuroscience #freewill

The free will fallacy: Libet's error - Brein in Action

Does the free will exist or not. No present research provides any evidence for or against. Libet’s experiment does proof nothing.

Brein in Action

Ben Crowell May 9, 2023

Nonilex May 9, 2023

A Manhattan jury has found that #Trump sexually abused & defamed #EJeanCarroll & awarded $5M in damages.

Carroll accused Trump of sexually assaulting her during a chance encounter at a Manhattan department store. He has denied her allegations, calling her a liar. Carroll sued him last year for battery & defamation.

#BelieveSurvivors #Rape #SexualAssault
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/05/09/e-jean-carroll-trump-trial-verdict/

Jury in civil trial finds Trump sexually abused, defamed E. Jean Carroll

In a blow to former president Donald Trump, who is again seeking the White House, the jurors awarded writer E. Jean Carroll $5 million in total damages.

The Washington Post

Ben Crowell May 8, 2023

Peter Gainsford May 7, 2023

'"Too greedy": mass walkout at global science journal over ‘unethical’ fees'

The publisher is Elsevier, the journal is Neuroimage. The same team of editors is establishing a nonprofit open-access journal in its place.

#academia #publishing #science
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/may/07/too-greedy-mass-walkout-at-global-science-journal-over-unethical-fees

‘Too greedy’: mass walkout at global science journal over ‘unethical’ fees

Entire board resigns over actions of academic publisher whose profit margins outstrip even Google and Amazon

The Guardian

Ben Crowell May 4, 2023

In Iliad 16.50, Achilles denies to Patroclus that he knows of an prophecy about his death, even though Patroclus was present in 9.410 when it was discussed, and has specifically recalled it in 16.36. A lot of ink has been spilled over this, incl. suggestions that it means Homer wasn't a single author, which seem wrong to me given 16.36. Isn't the best explanation simply that Achilles is dissembling? He wants to rewrite his own story so his conduct will sound better.
#greek #homer #classics

Ben Crowell Apr 29, 2023

Thomas Lin Apr 28, 2023

Very much worth reading this interesting and important interview with Cynthia Rudin, a Duke computer scientist who is working to prove that black box machine learning models "can be transformed into interpretable glass boxes that show their work."

“The whole framework of machine learning just needs be changed when you’re working with something higher-stakes," Rudin told Allison Parshall in @QuantaMagazine: https://www.quantamagazine.org/cynthia-rudin-builds-ai-that-humans-can-understand-20230427/

Cynthia Rudin Builds AI That Humans Can Understand | Quanta Magazine

Cynthia Rudin wants machine learning models, responsible for increasingly important decisions, to show their work.

Quanta Magazine

Ben Crowell Apr 26, 2023

Is there any reliable primary-source evidence about the role of the grace Pasithea (Πασιθέα) other than in Iliad 14? Is there a reliable etymology? The name looks like a compound of dative πᾶσι, but I don't know what the second element means (θέα=sight??). Googling turns up lots of material where people claim to know her role and the etymology, but most of it seems to be people without expertise who are just echoing each other or possibly making stuff up.
#greek #mythology

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