I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the pipeline into scientific and medical research, especially being from Boston where I still spend a lot of time and frequently hear researchers complaining about the Trump administration supposedly killing science. But even if you believe that Trump administration policies have hurt science (which honestly I don’t), you should acknowledge that it is only after about fifteen years of toxic dynamics that used dubious allegations to throw out those who lived and breathed science, like @DMSabatini, whom I interviewed for @PirateWires—insofar as academia is struggling right now, it only has itself to blame. In Sabatini’s case, he literally trained nearly 50 academic lab heads—seven whom he was able to send to Harvard, five of them women—and all he got for it was being publicly humiliated out of MIT for the not-crime of having had a consensual sexual relationship with a woman in another lab. When great scientists are marginalized and even abused by the system, you know who remains? Mediocrities, those who do everything by the book, color coded, neat handwriting, the types who will never accidentally drink one glass of mulled wine too many at a Christmas party, the types who say “holiday party,” the types who never come across as flirtatious or crude, not even accidentally—but ultimately they will never push the frontiers of science, and they will never attract those who will to work for them either (these days, those types will simply go to San Francisco).

As I exited my video call with @DMSabatini, whom I interviewed for @PirateWires via @IWF, all I could think was: here is a scientist who has made some of the biggest breakthroughs of our age—a man who is exceptional, definitionally abnormal in the best sense of the word; here he is, begging for “normal.” The people who put him in such a position—including Kristin Knouse, his ex who was found by a jury to have defamed him by falsely calling him a “rapist”—remain employed by the Whitehead Institute. Full piece in the replies.

reminds me of a conversation I had with my Eritrean/ Muslim Uber driver who said he was disappointed after voting Republican because they were becoming increasingly racist and getting involved in wars that were fucking up the economy- but Democrats wanted to *force* his kids into “changing” their genders- so he didn’t think he had a real choice.

Was rather perplexed when the Fairer Disputations group arrived at Seneca Falls to encounter a bunch of “Protect the 19th” protestors. Miscommunication? We’re not a Repeal sort of crowd. (I guess unrelated, but it was amusing.)

The guy who got in trouble for saying Vance marrying an Indian was based now backtracking and saying that he doesn’t support this, adding that people who think he did say it support Indians or a guy who posts interracial porn. Imagine explaining this to a conservative in 2015.

Deleted my post about Texas not because I don’t stand by the sentiment but because it was blowing up and I don’t have time to respond or manually block all the crazies in my mentions—have a wedding to go to (after a night of travel) and grass to touch!

There is no coherent way to have a reasonable public conversation about AI safety because it involves technical topics that the public doesn't understand mixed with moral philosophy the public doesn't understand

@somewheresy We fear either "collapse" or "bubble burst" or xrisk grey goo, but the true risk is much more boring. It's that America loses its golden light, stops being a land where unexpected things happen. I worry that AI progress stalls, that GDP stalls, that we become like Europe...

As a former National Merit Scholar, I'll say this simply so that you can understand: There is no way to game the system here, it is merit based The founders believed that your ancestry should not determine your destiny - you work hard, you build, you contribute to society, you succeed Indian Americans studying hard, raising high-achieving kids who become doctors, engineers, and entrepreneurs is not a problem America needs to solve You'd be upset if they weren't successful and mooching off society, you're upset that they ARE successful -- it's almost like their success is not what upsets you Incredible mask-off moment The right will lose all normies this way, and we will lose for a long time if you keep dragging us down this odious path You're an embarrassment

Again, the groypers and Ethnofascists are maybe 20% of the public. 80% of people think they are insane and unAmerican. And that all is separate from the issue of immigration, which is actually a legitimate debate to have.

“Today’s far-right nativists claim to defend American identity, but they’re importing the European blood-and-soil politics that America has rejected. …Many on the Right have argued that liberalism weakened inherited institutions and left people free but unmoored. That is exactly why one should care about institutions that still give young people a sense of belonging.”

Listen, you can come at me all you want, but this administration is actively pushing a very clear agenda to make it impossible for Indian Americans to “assimilate” into American culture as it stands today. The word assimilate has lost all meaning. Cheering on your favorite football team storming back from a 20 pt deficit in the 4th Quarter against the no. 1 team in the country is an American fever dream that stays with you forever. You’ll talk about it with friends 20 years from now. We, as Americans, all have a memory of our football team staging an improbable comeback and winning in the final seconds to thunderous cheering. That’s Shared Values, literally. Republicans continue to not do themselves any favors by standing on these identity politics to keep Indian Americans from enjoying American culture with our compatriots. Those Indian American students are US citizens (some are even Christians!) and fully assimilated into American culture. The precedent being set is, if you are visibly Indian, you will not be welcome in our American spaces. We must vehemently strike this down and ensure that colorism doesn’t override shared values. This is the line in the sand that has been crossed multiple times, and it isn’t looking good for November. The Midterms are 2 months away.

Just so I’m clear, the strategy for “winning” is: 1. Alienate naturalized Americans. 2. Lose to Democrats. 3. Watch Democrats expand immigration and naturalization. 4. Say we’ll deport them all next election. 5. Repeat?

I’m sorry, I’m so sick of the Dubaification of America. It used to be that men with the means to drive a Porsche would brag about driving a 2003 Honda Civic and DIY things they could have easily outsourced. Women were at least expected to pretend they didn’t care about a man’s money, and to have some pioneer spirit of “we can build together.” These weirdos on social media have not only undermined those much healthier attitudes, they have warped everyone’s expectations in all aspects of life. I find this especially appalling when it comes to dating, because this BS actively impedes men and women from pairing off and starting families. These days—I don’t mean to sound like a total MRA incel—I feel like I regularly hear otherwise normal, educated women saying insane things about filtering for a man’s money and status that would have been gauche to admit even just a few years ago. It’s the sort of stuff that I previously only heard ethnic aunties say when they were arranging marriages for their children or friend’s children and finding suitors. I think we lose something very special about America when we promote this sort of thing and idk it just makes me sad at this point.