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Scientists say X has lost its professional edge and Bluesky is taking its place

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Re: Scientists say X has lost its professional edge and Bluesky is taking its place

#91

Post by marssaxman »

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #77
fishgoesblub wrote: post #4

If only Bluesky could be as decentralised as the Fediverse [0] Trading one corporate overlord for another is not the smartest play. [0] https://arewedecentralizedyet.online/

Opening an account on Mastodon was a pain even for me, a long-time Internet user and a nerd. I'm confronted with a choice of servers, but if I love cheese and golf, do I open my account on the cheese server or the golf server? What will be the disadvantages of choosing one over the other? Instant blocker right in the sign up process that made me actually give up several times. If it was like that for me, imagine how…

I did sign up for a mastodon account, but the server I used simply disappeared a couple of months later. I haven't worked up the motivation to bother doing it again.

Re: Scientists say X has lost its professional edge and Bluesky is taking its place

#92

Post by techblueberry »

glitchc wrote: post #61
techblueberry wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is also the definition of good activism.

Absolutely not. A scientist is expected to change their mind when new, counterfactual evidence is presented. Activists push for positions regardless of whether any evidence exists to support their position, and seem to maintain their position even when presented with counterfactual evidence. That is not science. We have a name for it: dogma.

Wait a second, if you’re saying that this is not a feature of good activism, are you implying you are more convinced by activists who practice dogma over objective thinking?

What is a scientist to do when they discover a vaccine or cure for something; say fuck it who cares if we change behavior? Are you saying a good vaccine advocate is someone who ignores the underlying science and acts dogmatically?

It just feels like you want to demonize this action of activism for… why? Just because there are lots of bad activists? There are a lot of bad scientists as well, to be honest the view of “good scientist” and “bad activist” feels dogmatic.

Re: Scientists say X has lost its professional edge and Bluesky is taking its place

#93

Post by archagon »

tjwebbnorfolk wrote: post #76
an0malous wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

X is not politically neutral, Elon openly talks about recalibrating Grok whenever it says something too liberal like recent discussions about gun violence. Scientists should embrace decentralization and use Mastodon in my opinion. Bluesky will meet the same fate as Twitter and X one day

X/Twitter has never been politically neutral. It's just that the pendulum has swung the other way.

The pendulum has broken out of the clock and is clattering on the floor.

Re: Scientists say X has lost its professional edge and Bluesky is taking its place

#94

Post by didibus »

an0malous wrote: post #44
hdlothia wrote: post #6

It would be nice if scientists started being just scientists again instead of activists. Hopefully being cloistered on bluesky will bring the old vibes back

X is not politically neutral, Elon openly talks about recalibrating Grok whenever it says something too liberal like recent discussions about gun violence. Scientists should embrace decentralization and use Mastodon in my opinion. Bluesky will meet the same fate as Twitter and X one day

Can't you fork Bluesky whenever you'd want too? I thought that was the idea? That the data and connections and accounts are all transferable.

Re: Scientists say X has lost its professional edge and Bluesky is taking its place

#95

Post by rob_c »

an0malous wrote: post #44
hdlothia wrote: post #6

It would be nice if scientists started being just scientists again instead of activists. Hopefully being cloistered on bluesky will bring the old vibes back

X is not politically neutral, Elon openly talks about recalibrating Grok whenever it says something too liberal like recent discussions about gun violence. Scientists should embrace decentralization and use Mastodon in my opinion. Bluesky will meet the same fate as Twitter and X one day

> Scientist should...

Have you seen the state of scientific "computing".

Re: Scientists say X has lost its professional edge and Bluesky is taking its place

#96

Post by altcognito »

cowpig wrote: post #84
somenameforme wrote: post #46

I'm rather reminded of the ads from the early 20th century for "More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette!" [1] [1] - https://tobacco.stanford.edu/cigarettes/doctors-smoking/more...

In what sense?

Social media is bad for you. Though I'm not sure that social media enjoyed a "social media is good for you" phase. There are certainly studies I'm sure that are out there, but the general consensus seems to be negative.

Re: Scientists say X has lost its professional edge and Bluesky is taking its place

#97

Post by bell-cot »

input_sh wrote: post #9
hdlothia wrote: post #6

It would be nice if scientists started being just scientists again instead of activists. Hopefully being cloistered on bluesky will bring the old vibes back

Scientists are allowed to have opinions outside of their work and share them.

> Scientists are allowed...

Literally true, perhaps. But have you ever noticed how reluctant non-scientist professionals are to voice opinions in their chosen fields? Lawyers preface everything with "not your lawyer", "not my area of practice...", "I'd have to look into the details of that case...", etc. Accountants similarly. Doctors similarly. Engineers similarly. Vs. it seems to be accepted practice for a nuclear physicist to speak ex cathedra about epidemiology, climatology, etc.

Re: Scientists say X has lost its professional edge and Bluesky is taking its place

#98

Post by techblueberry »

kelipso wrote: post #47
techblueberry wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is also the definition of good activism.

There are no true activists anymore, what a tragedy.

90% of activists probably do good boring unseen work, you only see the 10% who make a stink on social media or protest on the streets.

Re: Scientists say X has lost its professional edge and Bluesky is taking its place

#99

Post by [deleted] »

input_sh wrote: post #9
hdlothia wrote: post #6

It would be nice if scientists started being just scientists again instead of activists. Hopefully being cloistered on bluesky will bring the old vibes back

Scientists are allowed to have opinions outside of their work and share them.

[deleted]

Re: Scientists say X has lost its professional edge and Bluesky is taking its place

#100

Post by roughly »

bell-cot wrote: post #37
Q6T46nT668w6i3m wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean? Activism is an essential part of science but maybe I’m misunderstanding your use of “activist.”

> ...an essential part... Why? Which of these other jobs would you call "Activism" an essential part of: - Fire fighter - Elementary school teacher - Auto mechanic - ER nurse - Professor of Medieval History

- Climate change

- School shootings

- Sure, they can shut up

- COVID

- Is this one serious?

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