@castarco@hachyderm.io2025-11-16 12:05:17
I have the distinct impression that we could use most American "sci-fi" TV series (which seem to have a kink for post-apocalyptical scenographies) as a diagnostic tool for the autism spectrum.
For a moment, let's leave aside the tons of right-wing propaganda "hidden" in plain sight, and their excessive reliance on boring & worn out tropes (religious & cultish bullshit, irrational lack of communication & excess of anti-social behaviour, all vs all, ultra-low-iq characters*, psychotic & irrationally treacherous characters*, ultra-inconsistent character development used to justify "unexpected" plot twists, rampant anti-intellectualism...).
What could be used as a diagnosis tool is the incredible amount of strong inconsistencies that we can find in them**. It throws me out of the story every single time; and I suspect that it takes a certain kind of "uncommon personality" to feel that way about it, because otherwise these series wouldn't be so popular without real widespread criticism beyond cliches like "too slow", "it loses steam towards the end of the season", etc.
Many of those plots start in a gold mine of potentially powerful ideas... yet they consistently provide us with dirt & clay instead, while side-lining the "good stuff" as if it was too complicated for the populace.
Do you feel strongly about it? Do you feel like you can't verbalize it without being criticised as "too negative", or "too picky", or an "unbearable snob"? Do you wonder why it seems like nobody around shares your discomfort with these stories?
* : I feel this is a bit like the chicken & egg problem. Has the media conditioned part of American society to behave like dumb psychopaths as if it was something "natural", or is the media reflecting what was already there? Also, could we use other societies as models for these stories... just for a change? Please?
** : Just a tiny example: a "brilliant" engineer who builds a bridge out of fence parts and who doesn't bother to perform the most basic tests before trying it in a real setting and suffer the consequences: the bridge failing and her falling into the void. Bonus points for anyone who knows what I'm talking about.
@restorante@social.linux.pizza2025-10-15 13:45:29
Around 2002, I sent emails to many universities and colleges around the world, from Saint Andrews college into University of Leeds into the Independent University of Moscow, asking for their prospectus.
I have lost almost all of these prospectuses, but the one from University of Leeds.
I really love reading the prospectus. It calms me. Even sparks the feeling of joy and happiness in my heart.
The prospectus is my safe place.
@arXiv_condmatmeshall_bot@mastoxiv.page2025-10-15 08:38:42
Influence of Platinum Thin Films on the Photophysical and Quantum Properties of Near-Surface NV Centers
Joachim P. Leibold (Department of Chemistry, School of Natural Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Garching, Germany), Lina M. Todenhagen (Walter Schottky Institute, Technical University of Munich, Garching, Germany), Matthias Althammer (Walther-Mei{\ss}ner-Institute, Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Garching, Germany), Nikhita Khera (Department of Physics and Resea…
@Techmeme@techhub.social2025-11-12 14:01:40
Coinbase plans to move its incorporation from Delaware to Texas, saying Delaware "once provided companies with consistency" but now has "unpredictable outcomes" (Ari Levy/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/12/coinbase-m
@memeorandum@universeodon.com2025-12-13 17:01:38
Stefanik calls on feds to ramp up bid-rigging probe of Hochul homecare contract after 'bombshell' email emerges (Rich Calder/New York Post)
https://nypost.com/2025/12/13/us-news/stefanik-calls-on-doj-to-ramp-up-probe-of-hochuls-homecare-program-following-bombshell-email-revelation/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251213/p33#a251213p33
@Mediagazer@mstdn.social2025-10-08 08:01:07
A profile of Josh Wallace Kerrigan, also known as Neural Viz, a filmmaker using AI tools from Midjourney to Runway to create a cinematic universe (Christopher Beam/Wired)
https://www.wired.com/story/the-future-of-ai-media-parody-of-the-apocalypse-g…
@arXiv_physicsedph_bot@mastoxiv.page2025-10-15 08:13:01
Becoming a physicist: Major educational transition points impact women's physics self-efficacy and sense of belonging
Sarah Lindley (University of Pittsburgh), Chandralekha Singh (University of Pittsburgh)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.12024
@arXiv_grqc_bot@mastoxiv.page2025-10-14 10:51:08
Big Bang Nucleosynthesis constraints on space-time noncommutativity
Teodora Maria Matei, Cristian Croitoru, Tiberiu Harko
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.10685 https://
@cdarwin@c.im2025-12-07 20:05:09
A graduate student at the University of Oklahoma
is the latest in a growing list of college instructors to face disciplinary action
after being targeted by Turning Point USA,
the right-wing campus pressure group founded by the late Charlie Kirk.
Mel Curth, a trans psychology instructor who recently won the Department of Psychology’s Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award,
gave a zero to junior Samantha Fulnecky’s reaction paper for an assignment on “gender typicali…
@cdarwin@c.im2025-10-11 00:09:41
Mark Bray, a historian who has taught courses on anti-fascism at Rutgers university, was attempting to board a plane at Newark airport late on Wednesday when he was informed at the boarding gate that reservations for him and his family had been cancelled.
“‘Someone’ cancelled my family’s flight out of the country at the last second,” Bray posted on Bluesky. “We got our boarding passes. We checked our bags. Went through security. Then at our gate our reservation ‘disappeared’.”
Th…