Your message was perhaps one of the strangest pieces of email I have ever received. Although it is flattering to have a ``fan club'', in fact, it is a very bad idea. Unlike most of human society, science and engineering are based on the idea that each of us is capable of evaluating evidence and thinking on our own. Each of us can do experiments, work out the reasoning, and determine the truth for ourselves. There is no room in science or engineering for ``fans'' representing group approval over individual thought. One of my heros, Galileo, put it very well:
In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.
I am pleased to talk with people about matters of science or engineering, so you and your colleagues may certainly send me mail. I hope to learn as much from your experiences as you may learn for me. But please get rid of the ``cult of personality'' way of thinking. It is unscientific and ultimately destructive.
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Anonymous2016-09-19 3:35
I saw ZUN at a grocery store in Kanagawa yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.
He said, “Eh, like you doing now ne?”
I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Manzoku chocolate bars in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Onegai Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterensu,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.
No, I believe if you tell a lie enough, it eventually because the truth, because the concept of truth is supported by human psychology, and once you manipulate people enough then you can decide what is truth and what isn't. The truth is not an externally dependable physical framework. It is also essential for good science to have popular backing for it against mass junk science and pseudo-science, otherwise it can't survive.
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Anonymous2016-09-19 23:28
how's determining the truth any different from deluding yourself
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Anonymous2016-09-19 23:29
either u know it or u don't know it
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Anonymous2016-09-20 6:42
>>4 this depends on your definition of truth though. if we assume objective truth (or any other theory of truth different than scial consensus), then it's possible for literally everyone to believe a falsehood. if the whole society believes something stupid - for example that they don't need to eat to live - it still won't make it true - they'll still fucking starve.
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Anonymous2016-09-20 19:26
Wasn't Galileo a famous rodeo clown or something? Is The Sussman going senile?
Please contact me for a paid freelance,location-independent sci/tech writing opportunity. Futuristic tech, crypto, weird science etc. Pay per article reasonable, usual requirements apply.
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Anonymous2016-09-21 7:52
>>9 sounds interesting actually. is being a reasonably skilled cryptonerd enough or do I need a PhD in post-quantum anus-haxing ephemeral eliptic curve probabilistic ciphers secure in a dubs orcale model?
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Anonymous2016-09-21 22:08
>>5 How is getting these dubs any different from deluding yourself?
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Anonymous2016-09-21 23:47
>>9 I will work salary, $65k/year and health and dental. It's a little less than I currently make, but you seem like you'll be a good boss Mentipoop. But my one other conditions is that I won't work with Indians. I'm not taking a pay cut to hang around with curry niggers.
>>13 Which part is racist? My salary? It isn't my fault curryniggers will accept minimum wage just to avoid being deported back to Hell's sewers. And I'm not saying he can't make some diversity hires, just that I won't work with them.
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Anonymous2016-09-22 11:30
Using language like "curryn*ggers" is pretty racist imo tbh.
>>15 It's more polite than anything else I have to say about that foul race.
Trivia: Alexander the Great conquered all the way from Greece to India. He was turned back when his men mutinied after being ordered to cross into India and be go closer to the source of the putrid odor originating in the Ganges, hundreds of kilometers away.
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Anonymous2016-09-23 8:03
[e/g/in]DESIGNATED[/e/g/in]
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Anonymous2016-09-25 19:43
>>16 They bathe in it to this day. Believe it grants some sort of spiritual purification. Ugh, curryniggers are disgusting.