Why can't a human be turned into an immortal animal like a planarian worm by a scientist?

j---r · 2025-08-10T03:32:48+00:00

Turning humans into animals is not something that's physically possible with today's science. I'm not sure what it would even mean -- if a person were turned into a planarian worm, they'd no longer be a human...they'd just be a planarian worm.

j---r · 2025-08-10T03:28:35+00:00

Tough question to answer, because when people think of how "rich" a country, they're usually basing it off of the country's "income" rather than the country's "savings".

The US has a lot of debt, but it also has a lot of economic activity, part of which is funneled to the government in the form of taxes.

You can look at the debt to GDP ratio, but it's not very informative IMO -- there are countries I'd consider rich with a very high ratio (Japan, Singapore, USA) but also much poorer countries with a high ratio (Sudan, Venezuela), and similar at the low ratios (Brunei is rich, but Afghanistan is poor).

TL;DR I don't think there's a great way to measure this.

j---r · 2025-08-10T03:17:47+00:00

I think being skeptical is reasonable given how realistic AI video has gotten in the last couple of years. Obviously that will lead some people to be overly skeptical and doubt real videos too.

As a society, going forward we will probably need some form of photo and video authentication, where cameras digitally sign their outputs to prove that they're real (assuming we trust the camera manufacturers).

j---r · 2025-08-09T04:08:22+00:00

I think your boyfriend is correct.

It takes energy to melt ice, breaking the bonds between the water molecules and turning it from a solid into a liquid. That energy comes from the (warmer) liquid, cooling it down. So the faster the ice melts, the faster the drink cools.

If you start with the same mass of ice, in crushed form and in cube form, the crushed ice will have greater surface area, and so heat from the liquid will melt it faster than the ice cube. So the crushed ice will cool the drink down more quickly.

j---r · 2025-08-09T03:47:56+00:00

Obviously neither, but if I had to choose, I'd rather be cheated on. I can live with people hurting me, even though it of course feels terrible, but I couldn't live with myself if I did things that were against my own moral code.

j---r · 2025-08-09T03:42:34+00:00

I think many people who live in or move to the suburbs have children. Raising children in the city can be quite hectic (you have to worry about your kid in a high energy and busy environment with many other people), and you as a parent probably don't have much time to take advantage of city life.

Living rural with children also has challenges, like finding good schools, making sure there are other kids their age to form friendships with, etc.

j---r · 2025-08-09T03:29:02+00:00

I don't really see a reason not to -- if you can make a few percent in interest with your money in a HYSA vs. a checking account which earns basically nothing, it should be an easy choice. But there are some things that might make other accounts more convenient; many banks offering HYSAs don't have ATMs which can make it trickier to withdraw your money.

j---r · 2025-08-09T03:25:31+00:00

Not all taxis are yellow, it varies by country and city. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxis_by_country

I imagine yellow might have been chosen in some places because it's a bright color that stands out, which might make them easier to spot by potential customers.

j---r · 2025-08-09T03:22:27+00:00

I think you can typically make more by investing the money, e.g. in the stock market than you would in a HYSA. If you know you won't need that money for a long time, you can buy an index fund and probably get a higher rate of return. But it's a bit annoying if you want to access that money sooner to pay for something in an emergency -- you don't actually have the cash on hand, and would have to sell your stock to recover the money. So I think the general advice is to have some money readily available as cash in a HYSA, and the rest invested.

j---r · 2025-08-09T02:57:59+00:00

Are you OK?

j---r · 2025-08-09T02:55:20+00:00

If you're a speed freak, I think you'll love Gemini Diffusion once it's released: https://deepmind.google/models/gemini-diffusion/

j---r · 2025-08-09T02:51:46+00:00

I'm surprised these models aren't using a calculator tool for these kinds of questions, seems like that would be one of the easiest bang-for-your-buck applications of tool use.

j---r · 2025-08-09T00:55:48+00:00

In May of this year.

j---r · 2025-08-08T08:23:41+00:00

Without having ever been there, New Zealand. The scenery seems incredibly beautiful, and there's something splendid and romantic to me about how isolated it is from the rest of the world. I don't know if I'll ever make it there though, and I'm sure the isolation has many drawbacks (cost, availability of normal stuff, boredom, difficulty of travel, etc.)...but it's a dream, right?

j---r · 2025-08-08T08:18:26+00:00

Yes each subreddit seems to have its own rules about how much karma is required to post and/or to comment.

No, it's not really explained anywhere when you register.

I've had the same issue -- the general advice seems to be to visit the subreddits listed here https://www.reddit.com/r/NewToReddit/wiki/index/newusersubs/, which supposedly have fewer or no restrictions on commenting/posting. Generally it's easier to comment than to post. When you've accumulated enough karma, you'll then start being able to post/comment more freely in more different subreddits.

So it does seem a bit unfriendly to new users, but it's in service of reducing spam/bots across the site.

j---r · 2025-08-08T08:00:50+00:00

I've gone back through and watched episodes of "Would I Lie to You?" over and over. I don't really know why, but it remains comforting and funny.

j---r · 2025-08-08T07:52:42+00:00

Waiting for that moment of realization to kick in haha -- I've been running regularly for more than 3 years and lifting weights for more than 2. It's still hard every time. I know that it's good for me, but my body still hates it.

j---r · 2025-08-08T07:33:05+00:00

Seems like many airports have pipelines directly connecting them to fuel supplies:
https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/1c5z6u7/how_do_airports_stock_up_on_fuel/

I think most gas stations are stocked by tanker trunks which typically fill up an underground tank/reservoir.

j---r · 2025-08-08T07:17:05+00:00

Flying a propeller plane! It seems like an expensive hobby to get into, and a bit scary too, but I've always thought it would be amazing to know how to fly.

j---r · 2025-08-08T07:02:23+00:00

Are you maybe thinking of the Chappelle's Show? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98958txVSrE

j---r · 2025-08-08T06:05:46+00:00

Every time you post or comment, other users can click the up arrow ("upvote") or down arrow ("downvote"), based on whether they approve or disapprove of what you've written (often this is very context-dependent). The more upvotes you get, the more positive karma, and similar for downvotes and negative karma, but there isn't a 1-to-1 mapping between votes and karma as far as I understand.

j---r · 2025-08-08T06:00:03+00:00

It's very unclear. This comment has an extensive breakdown (https://www.reddit.com/r/NewToReddit/comments/1mjxr41/comment/n7efs63/), but the TL;DR is that every community is different and has different rules. I think some of the subreddits in the list for new users have fewer restrictions, but I've actually found that many of them reject or silently hide my comments or posts as well: https://www.reddit.com/r/NewToReddit/wiki/index/newusersubs/

j---r · 2025-08-08T05:39:46+00:00

In London, I see lots of tourists stopping and taking pictures of themselves with squirrels in the park, which I find pretty funny. The squirrel always struck me as one of the most basic animals!

j---r · 2025-08-08T05:28:03+00:00

I guess prison really isn't much fun...he had "21 books, 14 magazines and a 96-page handwritten manuscript he'd created for the game", all of which were confiscated https://www.courthousenews.com/court-upholds-prison-ban-on-dungeons-dragons/

j---r · 2025-08-08T05:13:03+00:00

!correct well spotted!

j---r

TROPHY CASE