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3, 21

3 - does the future of nutrition lie with chemistry?

No. At least for the moment, the future of nutrition lies with microbiology. For a while now we’ve been vaguely aware that benign bacteria living in the intestines are a good thing because they aid in digestion by breaking down fiber and synthesizing vitamins, and also outcompete harmful bacteria trying to sneak in through food. But now we’re figuring out that the gut microbiome seems related to immune system regulation, which then means it’s related to overall health because if we’re talking about the immune system then we’re talking about chronic inflammation and stress response and hey if it’s related to the gut microbiome then now it’s a consideration for everyone taking oral antibiotics and… long story short, probiotics are the Next Big Thing for nutrition, and there’s going to be a decade or two of scammers promising every kind of benefit from probiotics until more long-term studies are complete. I hope it turns out well, the field of nutrition could use a W after completely shitting the bed with regards to food allergens and macronutrient balance and the cholesterol hypothesis and…

21 - is it possible to dress rationally?

Yes, and I’d say almost everyone does so - we put on a coat when it’s cold and wear shorter and thinner clothes when it’s warm. We wear fancier clothes when it is socially beneficial to do so and when decorum is not a concern we wear looser and more comfortable clothes. All of this is ‘rational’ in the sense of evaluating one’s surroundings and circumstances and responding sensibly and appropriately.

“but can I dress ‘rationally’ in the sense that it will signal to other people that I read HPMOR and post about AI risk?” sure! behold:

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I’m shocked at how many people are reacting to the Tucker-Cruz interview by saying that asking “what is the population of Iran?” is some kind of meaningless trivia question that it shouldn’t be seen as embarrassing for Cruz to not know.

For fuck’s sake. Every adult citizen of a democratic society should be expected to know a ballpark estimate of how many people live in most of the world’s countries. At least within an order of magnitude.

If hearing an incorrect statement like “Barbados has a population of 45 million people” or “Indonesia has a population of 8.3 million people” doesn’t immediately strike you as wildly implausible, you are ignorant of the world in many fundamental ways and should be slightly embarrassed about that.

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holy shit, an ask game thats actually good

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I entirely forget the context but there's an ancient post about something that goes 'it's one of those situations where the crime and the punishment for it are the same thing. Like living in LA."

I think of it often.

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extremely underrated subgenre of tumblr post: when someone makes a general statement about something, and another person offers a counter-statement that's just completely nonsensical, and the OP just agrees instantly even if it makes no sense at all

examples:

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making art is actually abusive because you are manipulating the viewer into feeling something

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hey um. so sorry to tell you this, but op of that post plays toys kinda weird. yeah you should just block them, that's not how normal people play with toys

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this is what Homer Simpson’s forearm tattoos said in the dream I had the other day, and I woke up with a jaunty carribean tune in my head.

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giving cultist simulator another try. Just got unpersoned by the bureau before I even formed a cult lol

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I hate how I still get lured in by the temptation of “hey I could dunk on this” and then make an ass of myself. It’s never a good idea, it’s just petty and rude.

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I am yeah, sorry about that.

?

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my buddy brings her angel girlfriend to the function, I spend the whole time refusing to look at or even acknowledge her existence, because I am a staunch atheist and dont believe in that nonsense. she starts to throw things at my head to get my attention and between volleys of marbles and kitchen utensils I grunt "swamp gas. aurora borealis. probably a weather balloon.youre seeing things"

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wife has been showing me the show Once Upon a Time. Season 1 was a delightful and densely-plotted reverse isekai with a thoughtful and suitably fairy-tale magic system. By season 4 the plot threads now include “evil warlord Bo Peep”

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If we ever do figure out exo-wombs, I bet the next step would be artificially extended pregnancy. Being able to gestate a baby for, say, 18 months instead of 9 might be up there with antibiotics in terms of world-changing medical advances.

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Love how tumblr has its own folk stories. Yeah the God of Arepo we’ve all heard the story and we all still cry about it. Yeah that one about the woman locked up for centuries finally getting free. That one about the witch who would marry anyone who could get her house key from her cat and it’s revealed she IS the cat after the narrator befriends the cat.

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if my father were dying and had to divide his vast holdings between me and my brother we'd handle it fine. we'd be real adults about it and each come away satisfied with our fair share. no civil war this generation cause we just get along that well