4 ms·

There is a great Linus Tech Tips and Smarter Every Day Youtube video about this. Highly recommended! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olRF5Ckaga0 https://www.yo

There is a great Linus Tech Tips and Smarter Every Day Youtube video about this. Highly recommended! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olRF5Ckaga0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olRF5Ckaga0

sixothree 7y ago
Ever since I learned Destin from Smarter Every Day works in defense I have lost interest in his channel. That was a disappointing discovery, though I did suspect it.
- clSTophEjUdRanu 7y ago
  Why are you disappointed?
- tic_tac 7y ago
  I suppose you think we should not defend ourselves?
  - daeken 7y ago
    The Department of Defense is 99.9% offense, 0.1% defense. You can use the argument that the best defense is a good offense, but that doesn't really excuse the number of (largely unprovoked) attacks on and occupation of other sovereign nations.
    - pirate_dev 7y ago
      This exactly.
    - a1369209993 7y ago
      > and occupation of other sovereign nations. Not that I disagree with the sentiment, but if you're (successfully) occupying a nation, it is by definition not sovereign anymore.
    - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
      0.1% defense in terms of actions, but not in terms of capabilities. It's just that attacks on the US are very rare, because it's so capable of defense.
    - tic_tac 7y ago
      US military dominance is an ever present defense for nations around the world who would otherwise be harrassed or attacked by aggressive neighbors. US military involvement in the Middle East doesn't change that. Of course you can argue we shouldn't be involved in the Middle East, and there are some reasons to think we shouldn't be, but we can agree on that point and still believe the US should have the world's dominant military.
      - pinkfoot 7y ago
        The UK is being harassed by Ireland, the Faroe Islands, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France? > but we can agree [that] the US should have the world's dominant military. Who is "we"? It's not me.
- ThisIsTheWay 7y ago
  What industry would you prefer he support? Every industry is corrupt, depending on who you ask...
  - kick 7y ago
    While both are bad, there's a difference between "This abstractly might harm someone," and "I'm helping develop something that is absolutely going to kill someone and of which the intent is to kill someone."
    - DanBC 7y ago
      I used to work in sub-contract electronic engineering and I told my bosses that I didn't want to do defence work. So I ended up building a bunch of equipment for coal mining and civil aviation. This has killed far more people than the defence work would have done.
      - kubanczyk 7y ago
        Did these civil aviation devices helped anyone move more efficiently from place A to place B? I often move from place A and place B and happily accept all the risk involved. Absolved! Next!
    - Rebelgecko 7y ago
      Uber has killed more people than every American ICBM ever
      - kick 7y ago
        Conflating "missile" with "ICBM" is a bad habit.
        Rebelgecko 7y ago
        What type of missile does he work on?
- keanzu 7y ago
  Destin was, until late 2018, a full-time Missile Flight Test Engineer at Redstone Arsenal. He is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Alabama Huntsville advised by Kavan Hazeli. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destin_Sandlin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destin_Sandlin
  - kick 7y ago
    The source Wikipedia cites says he's still employed there: https://mmee.uah.edu/people/destin-sandlin https://mmee.uah.edu/people/destin-sandlin Destin is studying Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Alabama and an M.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. While an undergraduate, he was awarded the University of Alabama's Outstanding Senior Award. He is a full-time Missile Flight Test Engineer at Redstone Arsenal.
- 205guy 7y ago
  Upvoted you because I got turned off his channel by a similar but different issue last year: firearms. He was doing a lot of episodes involving rifles, such as viewing the bullet's turbulence with polarization (iirc) and slo-mo. It was still scientific, but just a lot about guns. Then in the intro to one episode (sorry, I can't be bothered to go reference all of these), he said something like: people have criticized me because I talk a lot guns, but they're just so cool. In other words, "sorry not sorry." I closed the tab and never went back to his channel. I'm in the US and I know guns are mainstream in the US, and he was actually good at studying them (not even really glorifying them). But there had been a lot of high profile shootings (Sandy Hook, Las Vegas, Florida, etc.), so it just seemed off. And frankly, I'm not into guns myself (just like I'm not into the foodie trend), so since he stated clearly he was going to focus on firearms, I just stopped following. It's a youtube channel, and we all have limited time, so I see nothing wrong with stating a reason for giving up on it--even if it's a politically or culturally charged issue. It's not like the parent comment or I are criticizing the channel or even arguing he shouldn't do what he does.
  - scottLobster 7y ago
    They kinda are though.., or at least it's the most obvious implication. The entire comment is them saying they stopped watching after finding out he worked in the defense industry. Nothing to do with the content of the linked video, nothing to do with the original article. Just a statement that they think working in the defense industry is bad enough to stop watching the channel. If they aren't implying that we shouldn't watch SmarterEveryDay because of his career background, then they should have more clearly stated their point. As it stands the comment sounds like the classic "phrase a controversial point as an obvious implication so when people call you out on it you can backtrack and say they misinterpreted".

There is a great Linus Tech Tips and Smarter Every Day Youtube video about this. Highly recommended! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olRF5Ckaga0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olRF5Ckaga0

sixothree 7y ago

Ever since I learned Destin from Smarter Every Day works in defense I have lost interest in his channel. That was a disappointing discovery, though I did suspect it.

clSTophEjUdRanu 7y ago
Why are you disappointed?
tic_tac 7y ago
I suppose you think we should not defend ourselves?
- daeken 7y ago
  The Department of Defense is 99.9% offense, 0.1% defense. You can use the argument that the best defense is a good offense, but that doesn't really excuse the number of (largely unprovoked) attacks on and occupation of other sovereign nations.
  - pirate_dev 7y ago
    This exactly.
  - a1369209993 7y ago
    > and occupation of other sovereign nations. Not that I disagree with the sentiment, but if you're (successfully) occupying a nation, it is by definition not sovereign anymore.
  - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
    0.1% defense in terms of actions, but not in terms of capabilities. It's just that attacks on the US are very rare, because it's so capable of defense.
  - tic_tac 7y ago
    US military dominance is an ever present defense for nations around the world who would otherwise be harrassed or attacked by aggressive neighbors. US military involvement in the Middle East doesn't change that. Of course you can argue we shouldn't be involved in the Middle East, and there are some reasons to think we shouldn't be, but we can agree on that point and still believe the US should have the world's dominant military.
    - pinkfoot 7y ago
      The UK is being harassed by Ireland, the Faroe Islands, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France? > but we can agree [that] the US should have the world's dominant military. Who is "we"? It's not me.
ThisIsTheWay 7y ago
What industry would you prefer he support? Every industry is corrupt, depending on who you ask...
- kick 7y ago
  While both are bad, there's a difference between "This abstractly might harm someone," and "I'm helping develop something that is absolutely going to kill someone and of which the intent is to kill someone."
  - DanBC 7y ago
    I used to work in sub-contract electronic engineering and I told my bosses that I didn't want to do defence work. So I ended up building a bunch of equipment for coal mining and civil aviation. This has killed far more people than the defence work would have done.
    - kubanczyk 7y ago
      Did these civil aviation devices helped anyone move more efficiently from place A to place B? I often move from place A and place B and happily accept all the risk involved. Absolved! Next!
  - Rebelgecko 7y ago
    Uber has killed more people than every American ICBM ever
    - kick 7y ago
      Conflating "missile" with "ICBM" is a bad habit.
      - Rebelgecko 7y ago
        What type of missile does he work on?
keanzu 7y ago
Destin was, until late 2018, a full-time Missile Flight Test Engineer at Redstone Arsenal. He is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Alabama Huntsville advised by Kavan Hazeli. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destin_Sandlin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destin_Sandlin
- kick 7y ago
  The source Wikipedia cites says he's still employed there: https://mmee.uah.edu/people/destin-sandlin https://mmee.uah.edu/people/destin-sandlin Destin is studying Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Alabama and an M.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. While an undergraduate, he was awarded the University of Alabama's Outstanding Senior Award. He is a full-time Missile Flight Test Engineer at Redstone Arsenal.
205guy 7y ago
Upvoted you because I got turned off his channel by a similar but different issue last year: firearms. He was doing a lot of episodes involving rifles, such as viewing the bullet's turbulence with polarization (iirc) and slo-mo. It was still scientific, but just a lot about guns. Then in the intro to one episode (sorry, I can't be bothered to go reference all of these), he said something like: people have criticized me because I talk a lot guns, but they're just so cool. In other words, "sorry not sorry." I closed the tab and never went back to his channel. I'm in the US and I know guns are mainstream in the US, and he was actually good at studying them (not even really glorifying them). But there had been a lot of high profile shootings (Sandy Hook, Las Vegas, Florida, etc.), so it just seemed off. And frankly, I'm not into guns myself (just like I'm not into the foodie trend), so since he stated clearly he was going to focus on firearms, I just stopped following. It's a youtube channel, and we all have limited time, so I see nothing wrong with stating a reason for giving up on it--even if it's a politically or culturally charged issue. It's not like the parent comment or I are criticizing the channel or even arguing he shouldn't do what he does.
- scottLobster 7y ago
  They kinda are though.., or at least it's the most obvious implication. The entire comment is them saying they stopped watching after finding out he worked in the defense industry. Nothing to do with the content of the linked video, nothing to do with the original article. Just a statement that they think working in the defense industry is bad enough to stop watching the channel. If they aren't implying that we shouldn't watch SmarterEveryDay because of his career background, then they should have more clearly stated their point. As it stands the comment sounds like the classic "phrase a controversial point as an obvious implication so when people call you out on it you can backtrack and say they misinterpreted".