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Science Matters


athinaios

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I think we have several members who have an interest in science, in the scientific discoveries, and in the debates of public policy that involve issues science has something to say about, like climate change or global warming. I hope in this thread, at least, we keep the high standards of reasoned statements and reasonable discussion.

I'll start this thread with a disturbing new study from Stanford U., "Anyone can become an internet troll".... "The research offers evidence that, under the right circumstances, anyone can become a troll."   I hope there are exceptions to this, as we'll demonstrate here. Right?  Some of you will notice that some suggestions from this article are being practiced here....

A short excerpt from the article:

“Understanding what actually determines somebody to behave antisocially is essential if we want to improve the quality of online discussions,... ....Insight into the underlying causal mechanisms could inform the design of systems that encourage a more civil online discussion and could help moderators mitigate trolling more effectively.”

Interventions to prevent trolling could include discussion forums that recommend a cooling-off period to commenters who have just had a post flagged, systems that automatically alert moderators to a post that’s likely to be a troll post or “shadow banning,” which is the practice of hiding troll posts from non-troll users without notifying the troll."

:cool:

 

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14 hours ago, athinaios said:

A short excerpt from the article:

“It’s a spiral of negativity,” explained Jure Leskovec, associate professor of computer science at Stanford and senior author of the study. “Just one person waking up cranky can create a spark and, because of discussion context and voting, these sparks can spiral out into cascades of bad behavior. Bad conversations lead to bad conversations. People who get down-voted come back more, comment more and comment even worse.”

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Well, look, it's worth discussing or thinking about what we can do to make this place more enjoyable. Many, many sites' quality deteriorates when they allow a free-for-all. I'm not for censorship, in the sense of opposing but reasoned arguments, however, we've seen threads deteriorate to name calling and basically members taunting others, or just bullshitting just to vent. Sorry, but this is not the place to vent frustrations by smashing things around.

Anyway, this thread will be about matters of science, which I think should concern us all. The next topic, within this thread, can be about anything scientific. Anything, from Space X, going to the planets, to Westworld and AI (artif. intel)

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12 hours ago, Amorgos said:

I don't think this is particularly great, this does not change their behaviour or have them understand why their post in considered a trolling post so in essence, whilst they are talking to themseleves without knowing it, your also increasing your work load with out changing the wrong behaviour.

This is the path we're choosing here. In my experience, very few people change their behavior, at least not immediately, and especially while in the heat of the battle. Like a ref, or a news editor, long discussions aren't really productive and most often are perceived as a bargaining session--which is not. 

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OK, this is funny, but there's science behind it.

Why do UPS (delivery service for those who aren't familiar with the largest private delivery service in the US) trucks only make right turns?  OK, they make left turns too, but not against incoming traffic (two way street), so by making right turns they don't follow the shortest route. Care to guess why? (before you watch the video)

 

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^^^

Hahaha. Then they should be making only left turns then.  I guess that's why UPS is always looking for drivers...  Too many right turns and they fall out the open doors. Funny thing, in that picture, the truck's door is open! :crashh:

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@tantra129 well, sure, Alexander's Macedonians conquered a lot of territory and peoples, so if history of similar conquests is a guide, genes are spread, and mixes. Genghis Khan genes are present in 16 million individuals who have identical y-chromosomes, and some .5% of the world's population.

Why is it that we get excited when we hear that other peoples may have Alexander's (or Hellenic) genes? What difference does it make? I'm serious. Are we to believe that somehow a special something in the genes makes people special?

Anyway, I wonder what similarities exist among the people of the Balkans, and the general Mediterranean area. I wouldn't be surprised if fighting neighbors share some of the same genes.

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  • 8 months later...

This box trains crows to collect cigarette butts for cleaner cities

The guys at Crowded Cities haven’t run any trials with the Crowbar yet but they’re pretty sure they know how it will work. The device consists of an inverted cone with a camera. When a crow deposits a filter into the cone, the camera quickly scans the offering and delivers a tasty treat.

 

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Oh, great. Now we'll be training animals to do our job of being responsible. That doesn't bode well for our civilization...

I'm looking forward to days of A.I. taking over and whipping humans into shape.:wham:

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