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It’s an age of marvels

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Re: It’s an age of marvels

#261

Post by aftbit »

at_compile_time wrote: post #126
somenameforme wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except in a parallel world where we continued forward making advances in space we could already be a defacto post-scarcity species (as far as materials are concerned at least), exporting our heavy carbon producing industries to the Moon - simultaneously helping create an atmosphere there, while avoiding any climate impact here, have effectively infinite land to expand outward into, countless high paying jobs perpetua…

>exporting our heavy carbon producing industries to the Moon Never study rocketry, it wil ruin your whimsical innocence.

Someone needs to hurry up and build a von Neumann probe already.

Re: It’s an age of marvels

#262

Post by pklausler »

ToValueFunfetti wrote: post #240
keybored wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people complain about taxation on tea or the lack thereof instead of appreciating how privileged they are to have access to Oriental tea.

Sometimes you actually do need to rewrite the whole project in a new language. FORTRAN just isn't the tool for the job anymore. But you'd still benefit a good deal from being highly suspicious that any person suggesting that course of action is naive to how much time and suffering it will entail. Arguably, the American revolution wasn't even necessary. A lot of people died as a result. England would have potentially…

Why is modern Fortran no longer the right tool for a job?

Re: It’s an age of marvels

#263

Post by aftbit »

pyrale wrote: post #223
asdfman123 wrote: post #203

I hate to play the pessimist here, but I wish we could balance these amazing technological advances with the wisdom on how to use them. Phones are awesome to look up information or video chat family members on another part of the planet. But staring at them for emotional regulation while avoiding real people around you is a mistake. I wonder how we're going to solve this problem culturally. I'm trying to change my ow…

> I hate to play the pessimist here, but I wish we could balance these amazing technological advances with the wisdom on how to use them. This article left me with the same feeling. Technology advances so fast we're simply unable to collectively process the power we have. We're the equivalent of a toddler finding daddy's gun.

Or this quote from Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars:

"We're like dwarves in a waldo[.] One of those really big waldo excavators. We're inside it and supposed to be moving a mountain, and instead of using the waldo capabilities we're leaning out of a window and digging with teaspoons. And complimenting each other on the way we're taking advantage of the height."

We don't even realize what is possible with our current technology.

Re: It’s an age of marvels

#264

Post by brightball »

autokad wrote: post #215
bee_rider wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although, Yeltsin was already a liberalizing reformer. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was playing it up a bit.

> Although, Yeltsin was already a liberalizing reformer. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was playing it up a bit. I don't think so. People don't realize how bad it was in the Soviet Union. There's a story of two hockey players that came to the NHL. One went to the grocery store, he was completely taken back by how much was there, especially meat. He thought it was a mistake and didn't want to miss the opportunity so he…

People used to tell stories of visiting Russia and having people try to buy their blue jeans off of them while walking down the street.

Re: It’s an age of marvels

#265

Post by pfdietz »

eleveriven wrote: post #128
ertgbnm wrote: post #23

More than anything else, I think the modern American super market would blow the minds of anyone born before 1900 more than any other marvel that exists. You have blueberries for sale in January??? A variety box of tea from 7 different countries? A wall of spices? Pineapples? Packaging made from aluminum that is just thrown away? The bread isn't full of sand and grit? And it's sliced!!! All relatively affordable and…

I sometimes think that modern American super market would blow the minds of a lot of people nowadays too

There's a reason some people celebrate when Wegmans opens near them.

Re: It’s an age of marvels

#266

Post by rmccue »

chasd00 wrote: post #250
rmccue wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who’s not American, I’m unclear; is going to a butcher not an option? Have they been competed out of the market by supermarkets?

from a google search: "A 7 bone steak is a cut of beef from the chuck section of a cow's front shoulder, which is considered a tough area of the animal.". You're not going to find that in a regular grocery store because not many people will buy it. You will find every other cut of beef, pork, and poultry considered edible though. You can go to a butcher but they're less common than a regular grocery store. Also, butc…

> Also, butchers usually have less selection since they're a smaller operation.

That’s curious; I’d have thought you’d have more selection since the butcher is, y’know, doing the butchering, so any cut is possible. In the past if I’ve needed an “exotic” cut, the butcher would be where I’d go.

Re: It’s an age of marvels

#267

Post by AnimalMuppet »

the_af wrote: post #177

A related thought-exercise I sometimes engage in, inspired by Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" is this: Ok, so I have a university education and know lots about computers. If I traveled back to the Middle Ages -- actually, make it the (inaccurately named) Dark Ages or even more ancient times, say the Roman Republic -- how much of my modern day knowledge would I be able to use to impress the…

You could calculate stuff, just by using arabic numerals rather than roman. You could calculate even more stuff with calculus. Between those two, you could solve lots of impressive problems. (Again, though, they'd have to trust you, because they wouldn't understand the answers at all.)

Re: It’s an age of marvels

#268

Post by supportengineer »

rrr_oh_man wrote: post #133
mtalantikite wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My problem with it is that not only are we paying the environmental cost to have berries all year round in the grocery store, it's that they're also just shit quality. Like not just passable, but are bitter and sour and not worth it at all. And it's sort of at the expense of really good, local berries when the real season hits. For example, I live in Brooklyn and the grocery stores last summer barely had any local bl…

This so much. People who live in Western cities have no fucking clue what fruits and vegetables are supposed to taste like. It’s like a running gag that my father complains about supermarket tomatoes, but after travelling through rural places in Eastern and Southern Europe and a little bit in Central America, I totally get it.

By "Western cities" do you include the San Francisco Bay Area, when you shop at quality grocery stores? I keep hearing we are supposed to have some of the best food in the world.

Re: It’s an age of marvels

#269

Post by pfdietz »

kybernetikos wrote: post #73
MisterTea wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're thinking of the cheap stuff like Hershey and other candy bar crap. It's all sugar.

I don't think it's just the sugar, Hershey uses butyric acid in its process and some other manufacturers copy them because that's the taste US consumers associate with chocolate. To people used to chocolate made without butyric acid, it tastes like vomit.

More accurately, Hershey is thought to use milk that is partially lipolyzed, and this process generates butyric acid -- which, according to the wikipedia page, is also found in Parmesan cheese. Does that taste like vomit?

I find European chocolate tastes sickeningly sweet, so to each his own.

Re: It’s an age of marvels

#270

Post by pfdietz »

oblio wrote: post #247
Rinzler89 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I think the modern American super market would blow the minds of anyone born before 1900 more than any other marvel that exists Mate, the 7-Eleven Big Gulp, the Walmart 5-gallon bucket of Snickers and the giant Costco bulk bag of peanut butter M&Ms blows my present day European mind, let alone someone from 1900.

Those are the ones that scared you?!? Walgreens/CSV literal buckets of medicine like Advil and whatnot were some of the scariest things I've seen, and worst of all, people DEFENDING them.

How old are you?
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