mirshafie
@mirshafie@europe.pub
- Comment on Realistically, what do people plan to do on the Moon and Mars that requires a permanent, or long term human presence there? 5 hours ago:
Maybe a colony on Venus would be an even more exciting challenge than Mars?
- Comment on Realistically, what do people plan to do on the Moon and Mars that requires a permanent, or long term human presence there? 12 hours ago:
You are severely underestimating the effort that it takes to send people to Mars, unless you want them to expire there quickly. So yes, sending people to Mars really does compete with other efforts. Therefore we have to weigh the utility of such an undertaking against its benefits. It is true that sometimes “crazy” projects like this does reveal findings that you weren’t actively looking for. But that is the best argument for this crazy idea - that maybe it will turn up something unexpectedly cool! And I don’t see why we would divert a significant amount of resources to something like that when we have so many other fields that desperately need attention, where we know that we will find good and useful stuff without endangering the lives of people.
You mentioned soil research as one avenue for why going to Mars might help. Why do we need Mars to practice growing food without soil? What is it about Mars that provides a significant advantage for that type of research? None, you say? Then I say, let’s do it on Earth or in orbit.
I am also confused as why you keep referring to Earth’s moon as “Luna”. In my experience that’s mostly practiced when we’re comparing solar systems to each other, and in that context the Earth would be named “Tellus”. Although I think it’s rare to call them anything except “Earth” and “the Moon” in practice, at least it was when I did my physics degree.
- Comment on Realistically, what do people plan to do on the Moon and Mars that requires a permanent, or long term human presence there? 1 day ago:
Haha okay, I’m the misanthropic one for pointing out the normal course for allocating resources for scientofic efforts? I want science to continue to be directed toward tangible goals, with an emphasis on things that help people. That’s how it’s normally done. It has worked very well in the past and I see no evidence that we need some tween boy fantasy to improve upon a proven concept.
- Comment on Realistically, what do people plan to do on the Moon and Mars that requires a permanent, or long term human presence there? 1 day ago:
Lol okay no, there’s no reason to continue this exchange any further. You’d have a billion people holed up on a dead planet flr what, “science”? Get the fuck out of here.
- Comment on Realistically, what do people plan to do on the Moon and Mars that requires a permanent, or long term human presence there? 1 day ago:
The Moon and Mars are not interchangeable. They’re vastly different. The Moon is in Earth’s orbit. That’s why we went to the Moon in 1959 and haven’t even tried to go to Mars in 2026.
All interesting research can be done on Earth, the Moon or space telescopes. Mars is not interesting except for taking samples, and robots can do that.
Mars does not help with developing farming technologies without soil. You’re thinking of low-gravity environments I take it?
You’re describing Mars being a barren wasteland as a good challenge to try to solve. Fuck that. Start by solving the challenges we have on Earth. Show me you can fix a broken arm before insisting that you’re going to do brain surgery. Hence why you should terraform the Sahara before talking about building a civilization on a dusty hellscape that is a six month journey away from everything we need to live.
- Comment on Realistically, what do people plan to do on the Moon and Mars that requires a permanent, or long term human presence there? 1 day ago:
Bro. The Sahara desert is over 9 million square kilometers. Let’s say our wildest dreams could be realized and we managed to re-green half of the Sahara, it would still leave an area larger than all of India for your highly specialized mice and lizards. They’d be fine.
- Comment on Realistically, what do people plan to do on the Moon and Mars that requires a permanent, or long term human presence there? 1 day ago:
I didn’t say we can’t have goals. I just don’t think that going to Mars is a good goal, and I think that the argument that we need a stupid goal to achieve good science is, well, stupid.
- Comment on Realistically, what do people plan to do on the Moon and Mars that requires a permanent, or long term human presence there? 1 day ago:
Let’s say that if the nutrients of the Sahara were consumed by plants and animals in the Sahara, then the Amazon would be deprived. Let’s say the Amazon would disappear.
In turn, we’d get a forest in the Sahara that would be about 30% bigger than the Amazon. So a net win I guess?
Anyway, it’s not the point. I’m just saying it’s moronic to belive that we can terraform fucking Mars.
- Comment on Realistically, what do people plan to do on the Moon and Mars that requires a permanent, or long term human presence there? 1 day ago:
It’s what plants crave.
- Comment on Realistically, what do people plan to do on the Moon and Mars that requires a permanent, or long term human presence there? 2 days ago:
Bye-bye is probably a bit of an overstatement. Yes plants need phosphorous but the Amazon wouldn’t disappear without it. Change - sure, probably - but there’s still plenty of nutrients and water for vast forests to continue existing there.
- Comment on Realistically, what do people plan to do on the Moon and Mars that requires a permanent, or long term human presence there? 2 days ago:
For the most part, the resources that we need to survive are renewable if we use them responsibly. And the things that aren’t renewable we can be quite economical about using and should last centuries if not millennia into the future, when hopefully we have better technology to give us alternatives.
We do not need to terraform the Sahara to save Earth. The point is that if you’re so gung-ho about terraforming things, how about you start with a smaller challenge that’s closer to supply lines and labor?
Going to Mars is just a bad plan, period. There’s nothing on Mars for us. Going to the Moon, fine, the low gravity and the Helium-3 and the short distance I can definitely see an argument being made for it. But Mars? There’s no reason whatsoever to go there.
- Comment on Realistically, what do people plan to do on the Moon and Mars that requires a permanent, or long term human presence there? 2 days ago:
That’s just funding research with extra steps.
Science on the aggregate gives excellent return on investment. Unfortunately politicians want an extravagant excuse for funding it, but it would be much more efficient not to do the gimmicks, just do the science and not allow public sentiment to dictate what’s viable.
- Comment on Realistically, what do people plan to do on the Moon and Mars that requires a permanent, or long term human presence there? 2 days ago:
We must terraform Mars and live like kings!
How about you start by terraforming the Sahara desert or shut the fuck up, Elon.
- Comment on According to the New York Times, Game of Thrones is the 6th best TV show of the 21st century 2 days ago:
If you liked Breaking Bad, I think you should give Better Call Saul a chance. It’s slower but well-written and the direction is very high level.
- Comment on According to the New York Times, Game of Thrones is the 6th best TV show of the 21st century 2 days ago:
It’s conpletely US-centered with a couple of British shows sprinkled on top. Even if your focus was just the anglosphere, UK TV punches way above its weight.
- Comment on Sacre blu 3 days ago:
No it really isn’t, what the actual fuck.
Try some high-fat (38%+) on a grilled cheese sandwich some time. You’ll get a real cheese that doesn’t melt in the first 4 seconds that the bread is being toasted, and once it is melted it will fuse with the bread and make you forget all about Jessica.
- Comment on Xbox lays off 268 more employees, merges Obsidian into Bethesda and puts Activision in charge of Halo 6 days ago:
Yeah so historically PlayStation has had a lot of exclusives (Shadow of the Colossus, God of War, The Last of Us) that would be the deciding factor for a lot of players. So Microsoft wanted to ensure that Xbox/PC could synergize and compete against Sony by buying a stake in a ton of game studios. But between bitcoin, AI and enshittification the gaming industry is in shambles so they’re cutting overhead.
- Comment on When it was all trial and error 1 week ago:
Absolutely right. But I think mushrooms are their own category of high-risk-high-reward.
Some mushrooms grow back very quickly and are easy to prepare, others are rare but packed with nutrients, some have amazing therapeutic properties… and then, some kill you in the most gruesome and irreversible manner imaginable. They’ll permanently shut down your kidneys or your sweat glands and then you’re in for hell on earth until you expire.
Compared to vegetables: people would test out herbs on their skin first to see how they’d react. And even if a herb makes you sick, you’ll most likely recover within a few days. It’s not the end of the world, even in a stoneage setting.
- Comment on Republicans after seeing Hasan Piker's meat on the jumbotron 2 weeks ago:
Good video
- Comment on Republicans after seeing Hasan Piker's meat on the jumbotron 2 weeks ago:
He’s still shredded as fuck though. As in he must have worked muscles specifically for the aesthetics?
- Comment on Cat vs Dog 2 weeks ago:
Lol. I am vaccinated, but what the fuck do I remember when I got it? It wears off.
You can lose your fingers within hours of a cat bite. I don’t think it makes me a hypochondriac to follow the literal, recommended health guidelines of an industrialized country, but either way, better safe than sorry.
- Comment on How are you going to never forget 9/11 this year? What are you never forgetful for? 3 weeks ago:
No, I just think you made a low-value contribution. I am not angry. I don’t want to argue about it further.
- Comment on How are you going to never forget 9/11 this year? What are you never forgetful for? 3 weeks ago:
You’re going way too far and jumping to conclusions that are frankly quite unhinged. I have very little desire to engage with this because you’re raging, but just to be clear I use LLMs for many tasks and I think they’re a great tool.
However, you’re misusing it by having it write an essay for a forum post, and I’m pretty confident that it’s not received well by pretty much anyone else either. Literally anyone on here can easily produce what you posted by prompting any free LLM - so what value exactly are you adding here?
Posting links to good sources is always welcome. Pasting excerpts from websites or books, with citation, is great. You can ask an LLM to help you ground your post in facts with sources, or clean up your writing, fine. But yeah, I don’t think it’s a huge ask to expect users to contribute their own thoughts on a forum. I’m interested in what you have to say, and I won’t apologize for that.
- Comment on Wait, you mean workers *don't* love the automatic dumbass machines that constantly threaten their jobs? 3 weeks ago:
This is likely why the Chinese appear to be more positive to AI. They’re not forced to use AI for ridiculous tasks and they’re not as worried that AI will displace them.
- Comment on How are you going to never forget 9/11 this year? What are you never forgetful for? 3 weeks ago:
Look, we can also ask an LLM just like you did, we’re fully capable of that. But this is a forum for humans. That’s why it’s expected that everyone write their own posts.
- Comment on How are you going to never forget 9/11 this year? What are you never forgetful for? 3 weeks ago:
Yeah, if the objective was to bait the USA into wars that would consume it then he definitely won.
- Comment on Cat vs Dog 3 weeks ago:
I’m not worried about rabies, I’m worried about tetanus or other bacterial infections and yes, I’m going to rinse the wound but I’m not going to risk it.
Nurse. Shot. Easy.
- Comment on Cat vs Dog 3 weeks ago:
Not sure what use vet visits are here? Why would I risk anything if my hand has been bit deep enough to draw blood, even if it’s my own cat?
- Comment on Cat vs Dog 3 weeks ago:
Better safe than sorry.
- Comment on Cat vs Dog 3 weeks ago:
Yeah nah if I’m ever bit by a cat (so that it draws blood, not just friendly nibbles) it’s straight to the hospital. Not fucking around with that shit.