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NSF has suspended Terry Tao's grant

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Re: NSF has suspended Terry Tao's grant

#221

Post by yadiyadiyadi »

dandanua wrote: post #186
epistasis wrote: post #3

The past year has been utter chaos, madness, and sadness for STEM in the US. I hope that Tao's grad students don't suffer from this too much in the immediate term. In the long term, all science is being harmed greatly, and we are causing a gigantic bubble in the pipeline of the production of scientists, most severely damaging those who are graduating soon.

It's ok, USA doesn't need mathematicians after the AGI is built. If you need to compute something just ask AGI. The subscription, of course, will cost you multiple lifetimes' worth of the minimum working wage (luckily you could take a credit that will be payed off by multiple generations of your descendants), but you know, the progress can't be stopped!

You know... yesterday, I asked Google if Arnold Schwarzenegger was the tallest Mr Olympia of all time at 6'2. Their AI assistant told me that, no, he was not the tallest as there were several Mr Olympias who were taller at 5'5, 5'6 and 5'7. Just now? "No, Arnold Schwarzenegger is not the tallest Mr. Olympia. While he is a well-known and successful bodybuilder, his height is 6'2" (1.88m), which is not the tallest among Mr. Olympia winners. The tallest Mr. Olympia is likely Ronnie Coleman, who is 5'11" (1.80m)."

I'm really not too concerned about being replaced in the next couple months at least.

Re: NSF has suspended Terry Tao's grant

#223

Post by psychoslave »

vFunct wrote: post #116
paxys wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When has a dictatorship ever cared about public opinion?

ALL dictatorships need public support to remain in power. Even medeival kings needed public support from the merchant class.

Well, what they need is obedience, and to obtain it they often reach for the path of spreading fear, doubt, uncertainty, violence, menace, murder, torture, and so on. Sure that's not the less brittle way to grab and retain political power in your claws, as it certainly also foster an environment full of people eager to stab you too death at first possible occasion. But there is not much morale and brillant about greed.

Re: NSF has suspended Terry Tao's grant

#224

Post by Hikikomori »

wiz21c wrote: post #90
Hikikomori wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The party largely fully supports Israel.

I live in Europe and according the common media outlets, the US absolutely, totally, forever support Israel. "largely" is too weak of a word here. And now honnest question: why is this support so strong in the US ? are the ties with the jewish/israely community so deep between these two peoples ?

Largely as we have people like AOC, Ilhan and Bernie. Maybe a stretch to say they're part of the party.

Re: NSF has suspended Terry Tao's grant

#225

Post by peterfirefly »

nrclark wrote: post #177
DSingularity wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Provide evidence from reputable sources. Israeli Jews kill tens of thousands of Palestinian children and we are supposed to care that Zionists feel targeted by the protests on campus? Zionists are literally starving people right now. Do you not get that?

There's a distinction to make between Jewish people and Israel. Jewish people are fine. The Israeli genocide of Gaza is not.

> There's a distinction to make between Jewish people and Israel.

Lots of Jews don't seem to know that.

Re: NSF has suspended Terry Tao's grant

#226

Post by [deleted] »

te_chris wrote: post #133
nyeah wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, that is a mix of speculative fiction and self-contradiction. The GOP supports Israel at least as strongly as the Democrats do. So how did Harris' support for Israel cost her the election? Supporting Israel, including acknowledging their right to respond militarily to terrorist attacks, is one thing. Falling deeply in love with Netanyahu's current policies is another. Freaking out and caring only about Hamas is…

Trump got less votes last time than when he lost to Biden. The democrats lost, trump didn’t win. People stayed home.

[deleted]

Re: NSF has suspended Terry Tao's grant

#227

Post by Hikikomori »

kj4211cash wrote: post #210
wiz21c wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Europe and according the common media outlets, the US absolutely, totally, forever support Israel. "largely" is too weak of a word here. And now honnest question: why is this support so strong in the US ? are the ties with the jewish/israely community so deep between these two peoples ?

You and the other replies focus too much on the Jewish community within the US. Support for Israel is very strong in the US, particularly among Republicans, because of the rise of Evangelical Christians. Evangelicals have ... religious reasons for supporting of Israel. They also strongly identify with Europe and people with European backgrounds. They have an inability to identify with Palestinians.

When it comes to the democratic parties loyalty to Israel I think it's mostly the work of AIPAC that is responsible.

Re: NSF has suspended Terry Tao's grant

#229

Post by jhanschoo »

roenxi wrote: post #134
mensetmanusman wrote: post #21

Background: UCLA violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, "by acting with deliberate indifference in creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students." Outcome: These grants are likely in a temporary holding pattern until ucla settles the issue.

Additional Background: US government provides funding, US government tries to use that leverage to decide how the show will be run. Over the years I've come to accept the blind spot most people have where, despite all evidence, they assume that the government goals match their own. But it still isn't the case. The prudent approach is to set up institutions that are largely independent of government. Government fundin…

> Government funding is not an answer to long term problems.

Funding from private sources who are usually more short-sighted and less transparent can't be the alternative. An alternative I can think of are international entities that have some semblance of independence from constituent nations. I think that for a democratic government, public funding is alright, as long as the government is, well, healthy. In this light the issue with funding is simply a symptom of a government that does not serve its citizens well, which is the root cause that must be cured.

Re: NSF has suspended Terry Tao's grant

#230

Post by [deleted] »

nyeah wrote: post #156
te_chris wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump got less votes last time than when he lost to Biden. The democrats lost, trump didn’t win. People stayed home.

Good point. I'm not convinced that support for Israel was the issue, though. There are lunatics in the US who seem to have completely forgotten the 1300-1400 Israelis killed by Hamas just last year, but who can see the human disaster in Gaza. I don't think those people are so politically engaged on that single issue that they deliberately stayed home from the polls and let Trump win ... in order to ... help people in…

[deleted]
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