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Entry tags:

drugs

The global Fentanyl crisis

Over the last decade, fentanyl and its analogs, extremely potent synthetic opioids, have overtaken prescription painkillers and heroin to become the leading cause of overdose deaths, especially in North America. In the US, synthetic opioids now account for the majority of drug-related fatalities among those ages 18–45, with over 100,000 overdose deaths in 2021 and 2022 alone.
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-north-american-fentanyl-crisis-and-the-spread-of-synthetic-opioids/

These lethal drugs don't just appear out of nowhere. Trafficking networks orchestrate a 3-part supply chain: precursor chemicals (largely sourced from China) fuel large scale laboratory production, often in Mexico and Canada, before distribution into the US and beyond. A major Reuters investigation found that China's lax chemical regulations have enabled these precursors to be shipped widely, sustaining the epidemic.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/drugs-fentanyl-supplychain/

( Read more... )

Entry tags:

offtopic,
science

Friday offtopic. Time is three dimensional?

Mankind is wrong since 1905 ― Experts detect the real dimensions of time

This guy has an interesting theory, and claims this time it can be tested. In a nutshell, he argues time is three dimensional and space is just a consequence of that, so a byproduct. Which in essence turns General Relativity on its head. Literally.

The three dimensions of time he posits:

1. The first line, which would be the direct line that we know.
2. The second would allow us to access alternative versions of the same moment. It would be as if we could revisit an ordinary day and discover what it would have been like if we had made different choices.
3. And the third temporal dimension would allow the transition between these different possibilities.

Entry tags:

poll,
topic

Monthly topic

All right folks, because it's a new month now, we should keep our tradition with the Monthly Topic. The one you guys chose for July was:

AI Regulation: Striking the Balance

And here is the poll for August.

What should be the next monthly topic?

1) Weaponised Nostalgia: The Politics of the Past

2) Techno-Authoritarianism

3) Deglobalisation: Retreat or Realignment?

4) Youth and Dissent: Gen Z vs the System

5) Conspiracy Theories We Kind of Wish Were True

(Feel free to suggest more topics)

Rebuilding journal search again

We're having to rebuild the search server again (previously, previously). It will take a few days to reindex all the content.

Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.

Entry tags:

Friday offtopic. Let's make ignorance expensive again.

I'd argue that Facebook doom scrolling is far more damaging "in its current state":

Scientists just completed the first brain scan study of ChatGPT users, "the results are terrifying"!

It appears those "ChatGPT users bad" posts are usually projection mixed with a sprinkle of elitism and a big ol' spoonful of insecurity. It's like they know something powerful is happening, but instead of learning how to use it, they slap on a "let me gatekeep intelligence" sticker and act like typing your thoughts into an interface is brain rot. Bro, you typed that take into a smartphone while scrolling TikTok and calling it a mental detox.

Let's be real. Tools like ChatGPT don't replace thinking, they expand it. When used well, they:
Help you frame and explore ideas more efficiently
Connect you to relevant knowledge and sources
Offer new perspectives that challenge your assumptions
Save you time on the small stuff so you can think about the big stuff
Let you actually enjoy learning again

The real fear behind memes like this is often about gatekeeping, the idea that if more people have access to nuanced thinking tools, the traditional power structures lose their grip.

So yeah. You're not being zombified. You're leveling up. It's not cognitive laziness. It's cognitive leverage. That's the key difference.

I mean, come on. If Plato had a tool that could help him cross-reference every myth, idea and dialectic while brainstorming his next philosophical banger, you think he'd be like, "No thanks, I prefer to suffer manually"?
Hell no. He'd be running "Republic GPT" faster than you could say "Forms".