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Thomas

@aviationdoctor.eth

1088 Following
88161 Followers


Thomas pfp
Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
RIP Bill Atkinson (1951–2025), genius creator of HyperCard
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
New coin unlocked
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
This one for /inquiry and @resipsa I pretty much reject the outlandish claims of remote viewing, OBEs, etc. but am willing to be “just skeptical” of the lower claims of heightened awareness, anesthetic effects, etc. A cursory search doesn’t turn up any peer-reviewed paper
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
For the final installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise, they should have Ethan Hunt choose *not* to accept the mission for a change, and then credits roll
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
I just had a mini-epiphany about myself today. It isn’t all math that I like. It’s specifically frontier stuff like the Riemann hypothesis because no one has figured it out yet. I don’t care about physics in general. I just enjoy fringe interpretations of quantum weirdness, because they melt my brain. I don’t even dive because I enjoy the fish, or fly because I long to be a bird. I just like nerding out over the theory and the gear. I need to reevaluate more of my hobbies and tastes accordingly. Including crypto — which I don’t think I truly even care for, if not for Ethereum and its civilizational ambitions. Sorry for the navel-gazing post — just wanted to get it out in case somebody relates to this
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
Attending the 81st IATA Annual General Meeting in Delhi. PM Modi is here too
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
Tired: Ukraine asking to join NATO Wired: NATO asking to join Ukraine
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
Continuing on the theme of intellectual humility from last week’s cast. I warmly recommend this 20’ video about Bonhoeffer’s theory of functional stupidity, which is *not* the opposite of intelligence, but rather the surrender of intellectual independence under peer pressure, stress, or urgency. It’s a sociological (rather than individual) phenomenon by which even intelligent people end up suspending critical thinking and espousing group beliefs. Bonhoeffer observed functional stupidity taking hold around him in the 1930s when even the intelligent German elites surrendered to the superficially enticing, but deeply flawed tenets of nazism. The parallel with contemporary trends is unmistakable, and only exacerbated by the firehose of social media through which seductive falsehoods propagate faster than they can be critically examined. 1/2 https://youtu.be/Sfekgjfh1Rk https://farcaster.xyz/aviationdoctor.eth/0x67091196
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
Not how I imagined porn to finally hit the Farcaster timeline
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Thomas pfp
Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
Necroing this thread, as I came across a study where an 87-year-old patient was under EEG monitoring when he suffered a fatal cardiac arrest. The researchers analyzed 900 seconds of brain activity surrounding the time of death. They observed strong relative gamma oscillations (typically associated with memory retrieval) in the 30 seconds before and after the heart stopped beating. This study is only n=1, and the commentary response linked at the start of the study is worth reading as well for additional caveats. This is definitely an area deserving of additional research with more precise instruments. Though I guess it’s a bit questionable to be performing a non-essential/non-vital examination/monitoring of a dying patient — for consent purposes, you’d have to explain to them that they’re likely to die and that you’d like to collect data as it happens, and I can seen an IRB rejecting this research on ethical grounds https://doi.org/gpjgz5
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
Great thoughts on how to be interesting — applicable to both Farcaster and IRL. I’ve also observed firsthand how people get naturally pigeonholed into whatever public persona they project (often for work reasons, but also based on age or gender or other superficial stereotypes). We thin-slice others because it’s socially expedient. Yet the most meaningful and memorable interactions I’ve had was always when probing others about what they don’t make part of their main public narrative. Could be an artistic talent, an origin story, a pet project, a niche interest, etc And when common interests emerge, chemistry happens
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
PSA: if you pay for YouTube premium on one Google account but also use another Google account on the same device (e.g. for Gmail), there’s a way to use both accounts in the same browser without having to deal with private windows and logging in every time. Bookmark this URL to access YouTube: https://accounts.google.com/AddSession?continue=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fsignin%3Faction_handle_signin%3Dtrue%26app%3Ddesktop%26hl%3Den%26next%3D%252F&hl=en&passive=false&service=youtube&uilel=0
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
You know what to do
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
Sharing the pain (au chocolat) here
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
Quote-cast your love language Mine is hot sauce
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
People in the early 1900s used to dream enthusiastically about the 21st century. They held ambitious world's fairs to celebrate humanity's ambitions, published glowing pop-sci articles, and wrote hopeful futuristic fiction. Who does that anymore? Who gets positively excited about what the future holds for our great-great-grandchildren? It feels like the 21st century, despite being just one average human lifespan away, already lies behind some inscrutable (and perhaps impassable) Great Filter caused by some combination of technological singularity, AI takeover, collapse of late-stage capitalism, demographic decline, societal rot, deadly pandemic, and/or climate catastrophe. It's as if nobody dares being bullish about humanity's future due to a growing collective (and largely unspoken) unease
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
Booty call and butt dial mean the same thing but also don’t
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
When I was a child, my mom kept telling me: “if you can, always cast four images instead of two, and up to 10K characters”. I’d like to dedicate this badge to my mom
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
I try to have no opinion and to only care about what is true. The challenge is to keep it that way as I age. To not lose that North Star through mental ossification or intellectual laziness.
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
Here’s how I know the vibe is shifting. I’ve been here 2.5 years, and in that time have made a ton of long-form posts on topics ranging from Ethereum to geopolitics to philosophy to science. Yet, this one cast I made in passing earlier today received by far the most recasts, likes, and comments that I’ve ever experienced. The only difference? It talks about money, and specifically, it shows evidence of my wallet tipping others a bit too liberally (I’ve since toned down the @noiceapp settings). That alone has instantly attracted engagement from multiple users that I had never interacted with before. I have to wonder how much of that was genuine vs people fishing for tips. I know most of crypto is just one brazen casino, but damn did this cast make it obvious to me today. I have to process the impact instant tipping is having on social dynamics here. At least Tipping Tuesdays give us space to be deliberate about who to tip in aggregate. Auto-tipping OTOH might just turn out to be a net negative
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