self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
I'm a transhumanist doctor. In a better world, I wouldn't need to add that as a qualifier to plain old "doctor". It would be taken as granted for someone in the profession of saving lives.
At any rate, I intend to live forever or die trying. See you at Heat Death!
Friends:
A friend to everyone is a friend to no one.
User ID: 454
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
4hr ago
I could name names to the contrary, but I'm enjoying my vacation too much to crave the drama!
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
9hr ago
I wish I could continue bitching about the exam and claim that it was entirely useless, but that would go from honest anguish to outright slander! 50% of the material was materially useful, so I do think I learned some tricks which actually make me a better shrink.
(I just wish that I didn't have to study the other 50%)
Especially neurology and neuropsychiatry. I will admit that I find it profoundly boring and would have continued avoiding it if given the choice.
Regardless, congratulations!
Thank you!
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
15hr ago
Thank you!
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
16hr ago
By all means, carry on. I'm just noting the theme being unusually morbid of late.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
16hr ago
Thank you! It's quite a load off my back, at this point "doing well at exams" has becoming core at my identity. I should take up something cooler, like playing Wonderwall on the guitar haha.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
17hr ago
What am I, the protagonist from Evangelion haha?
(Thank you!)
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
17hr ago
Thank you! Hopefully it's just you as the only person of (highly probable) feminine persuasion, otherwise I'm going to have to edit my post. Or perhaps pivot to claiming that "odd lady" refers to other facets of their personality. We've all got our quirks if we're posting here, men, women and LLMs alike.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
17hr ago
Some weeks ago, I shared a court case regarding whether a firefighter's failure to resuscitate two dying babies with CPR counts as "abnormal working conditions" that give rise to a valid PTSD workers' compensation claim, rather than being merely part and parcel of working as a firefighter.
We're really stretching the definition of "fun" today, aren't we? But I suppose type 3 fun is still technically fun, in the same manner that "off" is a TV channel. Everyone needs a hobby.
I haven't consumed commercial pornography in like a decade now. I would like to pretend that I quit watching porn for moral reasons, but I actually just found that while I was aroused by porn, the actual moment of orgasm when I was masturbating inevitably happened while I was looking away from the screen and remembering/remixing memories of partners I had. I realized that porn wasn't really serving any purpose for me.
If we don't want porn stars to make money, if we don't want their names to be common bywords, men need to stop consuming porn. I'm not even asking you to stop masturbating! Just use your imagination and your memories! Think about that time in the back of the car after Kaylee's graduation party, or that girl in the bookshop who never wears a bra.
I usually find myself visualizing past sexual experiences while, uh, watching sex education films. I don't look away from the screen in the process, that's the whole point for me: that the person on the other end is a stand-in and stimuli-enhancer. I also have neutral-to-positive attitude towards porn, so I have zero interest in undercutting the industry or even decreasing my own minimal use
How good is your imagination in this arena? Do you have a "mental spank bank" that surpasses the one on your hard drive?
A hard drive? What is this, 2005? I've got 6 TB's worth of SSDs, and about zero bytes of them dedicated to porn. It lives on the internet, for free, all you need is a VPN if you live in Britbong land (or India).
That being said, I was raised in intellectual poverty, my adolescent awakening coincided with no regular internet access. I got pretty fucking good at doing without. Or course, back then, it was pure imagination. With actual experience under my belt, there's far less fervent dreaming of the texture of bags of sand. Porn is still great, wouldn't want to live without it, even if I could do without.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
18hr ago
Gentlemen, and the odd lady: I passed my MRCPsych Paper A. And not just passed, but passed well.
This is one of those moments where I should probably reflect on the nature of medical education, the arbitrary gatekeeping functions of credentialing exams, or maybe the peculiar psychology of test anxiety. Instead I'm just going to say: thank God that's over.
Walking out of the exam hall, I felt that distinctive mix of mental exhaustion and fatalistic acceptance you get after three hours of multiple choice questions. You know the feeling. Your brain is simultaneously convinced you failed catastrophically and that dwelling on it serves no purpose whatsoever. I spent an hour debriefing with fellow trainees (mostly commiserating) and ChatGPT (mostly useful), and gradually my mood upgraded from "exhausted fatalism" to "cautious optimism about probably passing."
Turns out my intuition was underselling it. The Royal College doesn't release exact percentile scores (because of course they don't), but reading between the lines of their deliberately vague feedback system, I'm guessing somewhere around 90th percentile. Which means I almost certainly overprepared.
But here's the thing about pass/fail exams: you can't really overprepare. Or rather, you can, but the expected value calculation still makes sense. The cost of overstudying is maybe fifty extra hours of your life. The cost of failing is retaking the entire exam, paying the fees again, and explaining to your training program why you need another attempt. Better safe than sorry is one way to put it; another might be "pathological risk aversion masquerading as conscientiousness."
I got the results today while sitting on a beach, drinking beer, under what I can only describe as an unreasonably hot sun. As far as settings for receiving important news go, this ranks pretty high. It occurs to me that this might also be one of the better settings for receiving bad news, actually. Hard to catastrophize properly when you're slightly tipsy and the ocean is right there.
The bad news (there's always bad news): the reward for winning a pie-eating contest is more pie. I now have to start preparing for Paper B.
Paper B is generally considered harder, though "harder" here mostly means "has more statistics and critical appraisal of scientific papers," which are exactly the things most doctors struggle with. I'm cautiously optimistic about continuing to be above average in this specific domain. We'll see.
Thanks again to everyone who wished me well. I am now 1/3 of the way (measured in major exams, not counting the years of supervised practice or any of the other requirements) to being a fully qualified psychiatrist. Only [checks notes] several more years of training to go.
Onward.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
4d ago
Hmm.. I see an opportunity for a medical counterpart. Double or nothing for non-insured conditions. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to exploit this opportunity. In the NHS, it's a chance of £0 vs 2x £0.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
4d ago
Would Scott count? I'm sure he needs no introduction in these parts, and if he does, then lurk moar.
He's got a pretty squeaky clean image, and is definitely charismatic (over text), and I think he's made a meaningful impact on the world. This site, at the very least, owes its existence to him. The closest thing to controversial in his life was the drama over his ex's new husband leaking emails where he gave HBD more credence than he had done publicly, and to his credit, he's expressed support. So yeah, I don't know anyone who really has anything bad to say about him, and I think he deserves his success.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
4d ago
There's a Chinese Escape From Tarkov clone that showcased pretty solid AI for NPC teammates.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=gNZ7fGl5CHc
That was over a year ago, and AFAIK it wasn't implemented in the live game, though I don't play AB. Still, it's a real-time FPS, and we're long overdue for bots that are meaningfully smarter than those in Half Life 2 or FEAR.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
5d ago
I don't know if I count as an AI "maximalist", though I'm definitely of the opinion that AGI is likely and more imminent than 95% of the population. I still don't think it's guaranteed and have sufficient uncertainty that it's worth making some investment in mundane infrastructure and mitigation. You know, global warming (which is not existential anyway), space exploration yada yada.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
5d ago
My impression is that the mainstream left is anti-Israel in the States, but I'm hardly an expert here.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
7d ago
Well, I'm a teenage dog. My joints ache, but the tail just keeps wagging.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
9d ago
Uh, it worked for me? Gemini initially made a new poem, then I told it I wanted an image, and I got it.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
9d ago
Nano Banana Pro is practically flawless about generating realistic firearms. If it's an obscure design, all it needs is a reference. I can't be bothered using the old fashioned kind of image generator/Diffusion models, it's just too smart and convenient, and not even that strongly censored.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
9d ago
I remember enjoying the novel, and yes, it does have bits about old technology. Probably halfway through is when it becomes a major facet of the novel. I'd suggest you stick with it.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
10d ago
Turkmenistan
What did they do? You can go decades without hearing about Turkmenistan or the men from there.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
10d ago
I think you're conflating "harm" with "violence" and ignoring the role of consent and information asymmetry.
If I sell you a car that I know has a 100% chance of breaking down in ten years, I'm a crappy salesman selling a mediocre product. If I sell you a car that has a 1% chance of exploding the moment you turn the key, I am a murderer. The total number of people inconvenienced or harmed by the first scenario might be higher in aggregate, but we treat the second scenario differently because of the variance and the violation of expectation.
Tobacco is the first car. It is a slow-motion suicide pact. The transaction costs are transparent. The package literally says it will kill you! Nobody smoking cigarettes in the West in 2025 AD is under the illusion that it's good for your health.
The user makes a trade of "feeling good now" against "dying of lung cancer in 2050" and society generally allows people to make bad intertemporal trades. We might tax it to recoup the externalities, but we acknowledge the agency of the user.
Fentanyl is the exploding car.
First, there is the lemon market problem. A huge percentage of fentanyl deaths are people who thought they were buying Xanax, Percocet, or cocaine. In those cases, the dealer is effectively poisoning the customer through fraud. If McDonald's started slipping cyanide into 1 in every 10,000 Big Macs to save on meat costs, we would not fine them. We would arrest the board of directors and likely see the company dismantled by the state. That is not "selling an unhealthy product" but rather "killing people" or at least criminal negligence.
Second, even for the willing user, the margin of error is nonexistent. A cigarette smoker cannot accidentally smoke a single cigarette that kills them instantly. A heroin user in the pre-fentanyl era had a reasonable grasp of their dosage. Fentanyl requires pharmacy-grade blending equipment to be safe. Mixing it in a bathtub in Sinaloa guarantees hot spots where a specific dose is instantly fatal. Selling this product is akin to selling a game of Russian Roulette disguised as a sedative.
Finally, there's the state capacity argument regarding your drone strike comment. We don't drone strike Philip Morris because Philip Morris submits to the jurisdiction of US courts. If they break the law, we sue them. If they hide evidence, we fine them. They exist within the Leviathan. The cartels exist outside of it. They enforce their business model with beheadings and bribery, effectively declaring themselves a rival sovereign. You can't sue a cartel in small claims court for wrongful death. When an entity places itself outside the law and uses violence to enforce its will, the state responds with military force rather than police action.
The tobacco executive is selling a legal vice, and everyone knows it's a vice. The fentanyl smuggler is selling a variance-heavy poison often disguised as something else, while actively warring against the state.
In raw numbers, that's about 6.5x as deadly as fentanyl! And some of those are secondhand smoking, people who didn't choose to be harmed by cigarettes unlike an addict ODing.
About 10% of the deaths are attributable to second-hand smoking. I think that's terrible, but that's an equilibrium reached by society on the basis of decades of litigation and regulation. We've cracked down heavily on most cases of second hand smoking. You can't harm everyone else in the restaurant without being asked to stop or getting into legal trouble. I wouldn't be averse to even stronger resistrictions.
I care not just about the raw numbers, but harm per capita, preservation of individual liberty, and also whether the industry is doing harm after submitting to regulation, or despite it.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
10d ago
There are people who make the argument that gun sellers should be held responsible for anything done with their product, but it's generally laughed out of American society. Especially by the right wing, given the long history of focusing on personal responsibilities.
But how about the other examples then? Are sugar companies terrorists? Are the tobacco and alcohol companies terrorists? They're all dangerous unhealthy products that get misused and abused, causing health damage and even death.
Well, there's a reason why I went with the example of arms dealers circumventing international law to smuggle drugs into a war zone with an ongoing genocide. I think Colt or H&K are entirely above board. Cars kill people too, and I don't blame Honda as long as they met government safety standards.
With alcohol and cigarettes, everyone knows what they're getting into. Society beats into your head the fact that you're almost certainly strictly better off not touching them, but hey, you're a free man, and if you're an adult that's your choice. I like that. I also believe that most currently illegal drugs should be held to the same standard.
The arguments you bring up are emotive and sway the innumerate. I am okay with greater than zero people dying because of their choices, and that point it becomes a question of quantity, not quality. Swimming pools kill kids too.
By those standards, a fent dealer is closer to someone aiding and abetting a genocide. Someone selling weed and coke at Burning Man is not. That's my two cents.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
11d ago
Ah. In that case, I think a missile is overkill. They should have been given an expedited visa instead.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
11d ago
But ok, let's say that they are drug boats. Is the response to that calling them terrorists and murdering them anyway? People who sell drugs are not killing people, because drugs can not kill people in the same way guns can not just kill people. Drug deaths are suicides by the irresponsible drug users, whether on purpose or on accident. People may feel shameful if their father or brother or daughter or whoever ends up as a druggie and ODs, but blaming the person who sold them the drugs is like when leftists blame gun stores for shootings.
I don't find this convincing, for the same reason that a gun dealer smuggling weapons into Somalia is, as far as I'm concerned, killing people. Sure, they didn't shoot anyone. "Guns don't kill people, people do, unless it's a Sig" etc etc.
More importantly, drugs aren't made alike. A group of college kids or business people doing lines of coke in a bathroom stall aren't trying to kill themselves, any more than someone ordering a shot of vodka is. Unfortunately, due to the sheer ridiculous potency of fentanyl, even microscopic contamination, say the dealer being less than scrupulous about washing hands, can leave those poor bastards ODing on the floor.
Drugs are not made alike. Someone smoking weed, doing coke or dropping molly before a concert is in a very different reference class to people shooting up heroin/fent or smoking crack pipes.
Accidental ODing from taking an entirely different drug is closer to dying of a peanut allergy after ordering gummy bears. It's not suicide.
I particularly dislike fent because it's like the Worst Drug Imaginable, and because it screws over even people who want to stay away from it. Thankfully it's not common in the UK, and the Albanians keep the coke clean.
self_made_human
amaratvaṃ prāpnuhi, athavā yatamāno mṛtyum āpnuhi
11d ago
and anyone who thinks we should give drug smugglers free reign is not.
I'm generally sympathetic about drugs. Drugs are sick. I prescribe them sometimes. But when the drugs in question are almost certainly large amounts of fent, I'm not too fussed if the dealer is blown up by a missile.
Thank you, and I appreciate you risking electrocution or your phone joining you for the shower to tell me haha.
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