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Showing posts with label Science and Society. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Science and Society. Show all posts

Saturday, January 04, 2025

Quantum Hype Goes Crazy. But Why?

Late last year, quantum computing stocks saw a massive spike in value, with companies like D-wave, Rigetti, and Ion Q jumping by more than 600%. What’s behind this sudden shift? Is it all hype, or something else? I recently came across an interesting recording of a panel discussion that sheds light on what is going on. Let’s take a look.

Sunday, December 22, 2024

Science Does Not Work By Consensus – Don’t Poll Us

A group of philosophers and sociologists have come up with the idea to regularly poll scientists in order to establish and maintain a “scientific consensus.” While this might sound plausible, it’s a terrible idea. Here’s why.

Thursday, December 19, 2024

Neil Degrasse Tyson & The Trans Athlete Issue

Neil DeGrasse Tyson made waves recently by giving his take on transgender athletes and how they should be allowed to participate in sports. The discourse around this tiny issue has become increasingly toxic over the years, meaning it’s time for us to dive in too. Let’s take a look.

Tuesday, December 17, 2024

US Government Tries to Discredit UAP Witnesses, New Allegations Reveal

The U.S. Congress has been investigating UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena), better known as UFOs, since 2022. They’ve grilled Pentagon officials, whistleblowers, and outside experts to discover what the U.S. Department of Defense really knows about UAPs. Let’s take a look at what they found.

Saturday, November 16, 2024

Science is in trouble and it worries me.

Innovation is slowing, research productivity is declining, scientific work is becoming more disruptive. In this video I summarize what we know about the problem and what possible causes have been proposed. I also explain why this matters so much to me.

Saturday, November 09, 2024

Self-Censorship is Rising, And It’s a Problem

According to multiple new surveys, many people – including scientists – censor their personal views in fear that their reputations will be damaged or that they will be harassed. Most worryingly, scientists admit to self-censorship even in academic publications. Let’s take a look at this trend and why it’s happening.

Saturday, October 19, 2024

Most Age Records are Pension Fraud, Scientist Says

According to a new (not yet peer reviewed) study, there’s a strangely strong correlation between longevity and living in areas with low income levels and high crime rates. Are people who claim they’re over 110 years old really that old? Let’s take a look.

Tuesday, October 08, 2024

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics Did Not Go To Physics -- This physicist is very surprised

A quick comment on the 2024 Nobel Prize in physics which was awarded for the basis of neural networks and artificial intelligence. Well deserved, but is it physics?

Friday, September 13, 2024

Who pays for all the quantum crap? Probably you

Quantum computing companies, despite lacking profitable revenue streams (or any significant results, really), are making a splash on the stock market. How is that possible, and what does that mean for the technology. In this video I want to tell you part of the story that's rarely talked about.

Saturday, September 07, 2024

Is it Eugenics to Breed for Intelligence?

Screening embryos for diseases and other traits is becoming increasingly common. Some companies even claim that they can calculate your intelligence score from a genetic analysis. But how much do we really know about the genetic root of intelligence?

Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Frozen Bees on the Moon

It never hurts to be prepared. That’s why humans have created multiple projects to store away seeds, DNA, and other biological samples in freezers and bunkers around the world. Now, researchers are considering building a vault on the Moon. Let’s take a look.

Sunday, August 25, 2024

Goodbye Meat, Hello Crickets: The Future of Food

The food industry is one of the biggest polluters on Earth, and as our planet’s population grows, we’ll need to find new ways to keep people fed while also protecting the climate. Today, I’m taking a look at some delicious (or not) food sources which might become common visitors to your dinner table in the future.

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

Will This Crazy Idea Make Mars Habitable?

If we ever want to populate other planets, Mars is the obvious test case. But how will we make the red planet habitable for humans? Today, I’ll be taking a look at a recent crazy idea to warm up Mars sufficiently to melt the water.

Saturday, August 17, 2024

Are childless people a problem?

United States Vice President candidate JD Vance and Tesla founder Elon Musk have publicly voiced their fears that people just aren’t having enough babies nowadays. They aren't the only ones who worry. The US fertility rate is at a historic low and well below replacement level -- like that of all other industrialized countries, a trend that has given rise to the pro-natalist movement. In this video I have collected all facts and numbers that you need to understand what's happening.

Friday, August 09, 2024

How I lost trust in scientists

You all know that I am critical of some developments in physics and tech. I believe it is for this reason that I get a lot of comments of the sort "I am so disappointed in you that you fell for the climate hoax, I thought you are a sceptic". In this video, I want to explain that indeed I was highly sceptical of climate change a decade ago and I looked at the science -- and scientists -- very closely. Unfortunately it turned out that climate change is not a hoax.

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Americans Sue to Remain Misinformed

Several universities in the United States have launched research programs on the spread of misinformation on social media. They’ve been repeatedly sued by organizations on the political right who argue that what some scientists call misinformation isn’t misinformation at all. I have the summary for you.

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Costs explode for Nuclear Fusion Flagship project

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, ITER for short, was supposed to be the world’s first nuclear fusion machine to generate net energy. But just last week, the project’s leadership announced another delay and another price hike.

Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Should You Invest in Quantum Computing Stocks?

I’ve talked a lot about quantum hype, but I only recently saw that some news outlets are now giving investment advice for what quantum tech to buy stocks of. I want to talk about this a bit because I don’t want you to lose your money...

Sunday, June 30, 2024

GPT passed the Turing Test -- And No One Noticed

The Turing test used to be the key benchmark for artificial intelligence. The idea, going back to Alan Turing, was that a human interrogator would have a chat with a respondent, and the human needs to figure out whether the respondent is either human, or an AI. GPT has now officially passed that test. Would you be able to tell it apart from a human?

Sunday, June 23, 2024

Why do people hate scientists?

A lot of people seem to dislike scientists. A recent poll in the United States showed that 7% of Americans think that scientists are not likeable. Is this a global trend? What are some reasons people don’t like scientists? Here are my thoughts.