In order to account for that role, it needs to comprise the vast majority of matter/energy in the universe. And that's where I scratch my chin and wonder whether it is a contriviance -- whether some reworking of our understanding of gravity could offer a different explanation.
And how is reworking gravity not a different contrivance? It is merely a contrivance you would feel more comfortable with even though no evidence exists that gravity works differently. The speed of light could also be variable in one direction is another contrivance that could fabricated to explain that dark energy does not exist. Or do physicists merely stick with that an unknown energy that cannot yet be explained but is supported by current observations?
They'll learn all about Patreon just as soon as they discover this hidden gem of user-recorded videos called "YouTube".
In a book that refers to Netflix as "a new upstart service that Blockbuster Video should be wary of."
Well, FWIW, I've never found a site *through* substack. They were always referrals from something else I was reading, which might have been *on* substack.
But that answer is false.
... alternatives most people haven't heard of like Ghost, Beehiiv, Patreon, and Passport
I can't comment on Ghost, Beehiiv, or Passport; but even I have heard of Patreon, and that pretty much ensures that everyone and his dog knows about it. I would guess that Patreon and Substack have about equal name recognition among the general population.
Yeah, I saw "...alternatives most people haven't heard of like... Patreon", and was thinking, "What year is this?"
Imagine an AI tutor perfectly matched to a student's talents and learning speed, supplemented by a human teacher.
Ok, I'm imagining a class of high school students breaking the guardrails, getting it to report that they're doing brilliantly and deserve A+ while they watch tiktok... at the very least they'll make it say racist things and publish that on tiktok for the lulz. It'll also find a way to organically mention how much its been hearing that everyone else really likes new Pepsi Cherry Zero on a daily basis too.
Is that not the outcome you were imagining too?
Imagine learning physics from a virtual Einstein or Feynman
Oooh... yes please, i can't wait for virtual Feyman prefacing his lectures with the lords prayer, explaining how God created the universe and all the physics in it; and also: you look thirsty, there is a Pepsi machine with new Pepsi Cherry Zero in the hallway; have you tried it?
Einstein meanwhile extols the virtue of Zionist colonization in Palestine...
Wait? Do you actually think that it would go differently? If we create puppets of brilliant revered thinkers they'll inevitably say whatever slop some combination of political appointees and advertising companies want them to say. Why on earth would anyone think they would be used for anything else?
Its frequently used on general elective courses because they're big enough (often hundreds of students) that the statistical variation between student cohorts fits normal curves pretty well.
To adopt the same approach for mainline courses is to transform the entire university from a place of learning into a credentials broker or diploma mill.
That doesn't even make sense. The defining characteristic of a credential mill is that it passes everyone who goes. A curve grading system assigns Fs and Ds and C- to the bottom of every class.
Meanwhile, at Harvard, right now, everyone who goes and shows up to class passes, and half of them get As. How is that not "essentially a credential mill" right now?
Even more damning, a generation ago 25% of them got As. What's your theory on that? Harvard students this generation are just a lot smarter and more studious and they're mastering the material at a much higher rate? Or that Harvard is handing As out like participation trophies now?
I know where my money is at. And Harvard's own teaching staff agrees.
Class of '26, in before proctors!
Oh, I'm not talking about those at all, just how when something I studied deeply in college slips my mind, I think, "damn, getting old". Which I still think is what the person quoted was actually dealing with. You and I are used to it (if you've done anything for 40 years). This guy may have been running into it for the first time and putting the blame elsewhere.
Ah, gotcha. You were referring to the comment from the summary, not mine. Yeah, it's fun to watch the young'uns realize that they are absolutely going to spend their whole lives realizing they forgot something they used to know. It's even more fun to watch them the first time they look at code they wrote two months ago and say "Who wrote this stupid shit? Oh....".
BYTE editors are people who separate the wheat from the chaff, and then carefully print the chaff.
