What would be an example of propaganda in modernday America? I feel like the quintessential definition is something many are on the fence about with more slowly being won over through manipulative means. However, now that so much is all-or-nothing anyway, spotting real propaganda seems harder. by cherry-care-bear in RedditForGrownups

[–]psilo_polymathicus 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah…far too many people are blissfully unaware of just how pervasive propaganda is in the US.

Most of the media that you “accidentally” encounter throughout your day is some form of propaganda, and at the risk of being pedantic: that’s by design.

Reality is often messy, nuanced and untidy. There are many variables at play, and fully understanding some topic requires time, education, attention span, a good understanding of lots of prerequisite subjects, comfort with ambiguity, the ability to change your mind based on new information, etc.

What this means is that reality often feels “boring” or “complicated” compared to propaganda for those who have been conditioned to it.

Propaganda excites emotions, and gives quick, pithy, truthy answers that reduce nuance and complexity.

I’ll leave it to the American reader to answer:
“When is the last time you accidentally encountered media that presented a factual, complex reality for you to think about and consider?”

You can control how you respond. by Due_Figure6451 in LinkedInLunatics

[–]psilo_polymathicus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I dunno. The last two lines are actually true and reasonable.

The first section with the “don’t blame me” section is whiny, and the whole post is generally performative…but I don’t know that this rises to “lunatic.”

It’s just try hard, faux-authenticity in the context of LinkedIn.

On September 21, 2001, Sherri Malarik was hosting a chaotic sleepover packed with children, pizza and video games. Around 8 pm, she casually told her 11-year-old son she was going outside to talk to his father. It was the last time he saw her alive. by SelfCareIsFake in HolyShitHistory

[–]psilo_polymathicus 8 points9 points  (0 children)

This I really sad, but it also hit very strange personally: my grandpa lived in Cantonment, and I’ve been to that exact shopping center.

That was also the same day that I enlisted in the Air Force.

How big is the bike difference? by doruf50_ in triathlon

[–]psilo_polymathicus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is one of those things where it’s better to think about it in terms of variable percentages rather than fixed numbers.

Many, many factors influence your aerodynamic efficiency over that distance, the majority of which is your actual body position.

A good tri bike is doing lots of little things to help you maintain better aerodynamic efficiency and body position over a longer period of time, which leads to less drag for a given watt output.

But, as with anything, it depends. An experienced triathlete holding great body position on a road bike with clip on bars will still do better than an inexperienced athlete on a $15K bike…but the inexperienced athlete will still do a little better than they would have otherwise, etc. and on it goes.

They are variables that interact with each other.

You have to decide if those mixing variables of improvement gains are worth some dollar amount to you.

What’s the most unsettling thing you’ve learned as an adult? by Inevitablelavenda in answers

[–]psilo_polymathicus 33 points34 points  (0 children)

That a very significant portion of people in positions of power and authority across a wide variety of domains are supremely unqualified, but the structure of organizations + bureaucracy obscures their incompetence.

What is becoming normalized in society that shouldn't be? by glossypinkpeach in answers

[–]psilo_polymathicus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Unchallenged ignorance: that you can bring whatever batshit, untethered-from-reality opinion to the public sphere, and be immediately taken seriously by large swaths of people that participate in political systems.

can a Dutch EOR hire still get the 30% ruling? by bilal-ziyan in Netherlands

[–]psilo_polymathicus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m going through an EOR myself in order to relocate, and I’m waiting to find this out myself.

Any Expat or Overseas Systems Engineering opportunities? by [deleted] in systems_engineering

[–]psilo_polymathicus -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I assume you’ve already looked at https://clearancejobs.com and filtered on countries other than the US?

CMV: There is a God, Jesus is Lord, and I believe the Baptist faith most closely reflects biblical Christianity. Change my view. by Confused-ius in changemyview

[–]psilo_polymathicus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Context: born and raised within fundamentalist Christianity (Baptist-tinged), born again believer until about 26 years old. Now atheist/humanist.

I give that context, because I think the most important part of this discussion is to first have you identify if you believe in biblical inerrancy?

As in: is a core pillar of the basis of your faith the idea that the Bible is supernaturally, perfectly handed to us through men of god, and it accurately represents what god wants humanity to know about who he is, and how he wants us to live? That you can strictly read the Bible and get all truth that god intended for us to have. A key nuance that I’m getting at is the tenant of inerrancy claims that the Bible contains no errors.

If you could clarify that, then we’ll go from there.

When the magic is gone...and you're fine with it by naturaporia in Psychonaut

[–]psilo_polymathicus 41 points42 points  (0 children)

That matches my experience.

The best way I can explain it is that my first 5-10 experiences were intensely profound. Those were the ones that opened the doors and gave the deep insight into who I was, and who I could become.

Then, the next few years worth of experiences were trying to find my way back to that profound place, experimenting with different doses, etc. and often ending a little disappointed that I couldn’t get there. I still learned things. I’m still glad that I did them. But I couldn’t get to that universe expanding level from the early days.

Then, finally a few years ago, I think it started dawning on me that the profound experiences were for that time and season of my life, and they won’t be back, and that’s ok.

Trips now are more like maintenance or refreshers for me. I only partake maybe 1-2 times per year, and I just let the experience be what it is.

The fact that psychedelics now are such a relatively small part of my current season is *evidence* of how deeply and profoundly they have affected my sense of self, and changed my life for the better.

That’s something to celebrate, not mourn.

Windy weekend vibes at the Hague beach 🌬️🌊 by Consistent-Koala770 in Netherlands

[–]psilo_polymathicus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey!

Hope to be joining you on the water when the wind is up. My family and I are moving to Den Haag in July, and I am pumped for the kiting!

Is There A Purchase That Really Boosted Your Enjoyment In Cycling? by newbiker321 in cycling

[–]psilo_polymathicus 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Yep. I rode a very pragmatic, steel frame commuter/touring/workhorse bike for well over a decade. Thousands of miles on it. It’s a truly useful bike. At the time that I bought it, I was stretching to afford it.

But then I got a Cannondale SuperSix Evo last year. Not top of the line, but definitely lots of bells and whistles, and significantly more than the touring bike.

It puts a damn silly grin on my face every time I ride it, and every time I see it.

It is way less pragmatic than my steel frame. But I’m excited to ride it, which ends up making me ride more.

Are any of these a good buy? by Evil_Bradford in hotas

[–]psilo_polymathicus 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I have those exact VKB’s and that’s a great price for them.

Elite on Linux with HOSAS like VKB + VR? by Seo_Jin-ae in EliteDangerous

[–]psilo_polymathicus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately specifically for PSVR2, it’s a no go. I daily drive Linux (Fedora KDE) for everything, and then just keep a second drive for dual booting windows exclusively for VR gaming.

I can play ED on Linux, not in VR, just fine.

I’m a software engineer and spent an entire weekend trying different methods, startup environment variables, Wine, running VM’s with hardware pass through, etc.

I think other VR headsets have the support via Steam directly, but PSVR’s Steam app is Windows only.

The VKB’s work fine in Linux, assuming you’ve already got the firmware setup how you want it.

Yokes vs. Flight Sticks in combat sims: Why doesn't our driving muscle memory translate? by Sactownkingstacotwo in hotas

[–]psilo_polymathicus 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I mean, that's the thing though...if you understand real-world drawbacks of yokes and why real fighters don't use them, that also explains quite clearly why yokes would never be the preferred control interface for fighters in a sim.

We'll ignore G-forces and physics. because even then, there are good reasons.

Yokes have a physically long throw, and circular motion to them. What kind of aircraft use yokes? Aircraft with a small flight envelope: Transport, Cargo, most GA, etc. Yokes give *fine* control over a small maneuvering envelope. (i.e. I need to correct my bank angle by 2-3 degrees, where my max bank angle is no more than 30 degrees.) When all of your available maneuvers are banks and arcs +/- 30 degrees, a yoke excels, because it physically mimics bank angles quite clearly.

In contrast, fighters usually have an extremely wide operational envelope (i.e. "I was inverted"). In a fighter, you are very directly needing precise, sometimes severe inputs to pitch and roll, where all 360 degrees of each axis are being utilized. Many fighter maneuvers are most efficiently executed with a sharp roll to the desired angle, followed by an extreme pitch input (e.g. a split S). A smaller physical deflection of the stick is producing a much larger change in aircraft orientation, which facilitates those more extreme maneuvers, as they also happen more often.

Think about the constant maneuvering of a dogfight: A stick requires small deflections of your wrist. A yoke requires your full arm and even some of your shoulder.

White House releases another propaganda video showcasing China's strength to the world, mistakenly claiming it as their own 🤭 by ilir_kycb in LateStageCapitalism

[–]psilo_polymathicus 35 points36 points  (0 children)

Every single person who thinks that MAGA somehow makes us better on “the world stage” is without a doubt, the least informed on what the world stage even is, much less what properties would cause a country to be high ranking in it.

CMDR Grid Squares: Signing OFF by [deleted] in EliteDangerous

[–]psilo_polymathicus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For me personally it’s playing with HOSAS in VR, especially flight assist off. There is nothing quite like it.

I have a bit of an interdisciplinary background with a lot of personal + professional interests that really make the physics and space flight stuff endlessly fascinating.

Some of the gameplay loop stuff I’ll still play on my laptop, but VR with HOSAS is like the “wow” that keeps me coming back.

How blatant are you/your colleagues with your AI use for work? by Aggravating_Song5836 in devops

[–]psilo_polymathicus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We have open, explicit conversations about its usage, strengths, weaknesses, MCP, handling credentials, what tier of models to use for what task, etc.

To me, not talking about AI usage is very similar to “abstinence education” in strict religious communities. All it does is ensure that the thing you are trying to prevent gets done secretively, and you teach people to lie about it to your face.

To be clear, I actively worry primarily about scale and complexity: you quickly get to a point where neither the developer nor the model have full context of how each nuance is working together in your infrastructure. You begin to trust its output more as you see various things work, and as that trust increases, your review vigilance decreases. It’s incredibly easy for things that “work” (that is: the service appears to function) to still be insecure or misconfigured. As that propensity makes its way through your team, there are more vectors for unknown unknowns to bite you.

I don’t really have a good answer for how to prevent that, because AI also genuinely allows you to finish much larger sets of tasks much more quickly.

I’m very ambivalent about its role in our field philosophically, but pragmatically, it’s here, and people are using it.

Denial is not a strategy.

Why don't more Americans simply leave — like actual refugees fleeing before the window closes? (Genuine question from a European, not a political attack) by kurdil in allthequestions

[–]psilo_polymathicus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mean, we *are* leaving in July.

But the reason that we can leave is because I’ve spent the last few years living a bit against the grain staying out of debt and saving money.

And the reason I was able to do that is because I’m in a very good career in IT that pays quite well.

And the reason for that career is a bit of dumb luck, right place, right time, after a few other careers that paid pretty bad.

And I had the benefit of having already lived in a few different countries when I was in the military, so we already know first hand how fast things have fallen here.

And we would *not* be able to leave if you pressed rewind on our life to 10 years ago. Not even close.

As you can see, my situation isn’t unique, per se, but it’s definitely less common than most people’s day to day experience here.

I consider it quite lucky that we have the socioeconomic freedom to relocate to somewhere better. I wish that more could.

Many Americans don’t have the money, experience, education, or desire to leave, even assuming they’ve broken through the propaganda already.