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> Thunderf00t is a troll He has some strident opinions on things outside his field (for example he's got a big problem with Christianity) but does that actuall

by wisty 6y ago

> Thunderf00t is a troll He has some strident opinions on things outside his field (for example he's got a big problem with Christianity) but does that actually make him a troll?

jhgb 6y ago
> on things outside his field (for example he's got a big problem with Christianity) For a hard scientist, that's almost a given. He'd be a lousy hard scientist if he didn't have a big problem with it (both when it comes to internal contradictions and in the mismatch with the real world).
- BrandoElFollito 6y ago
  For a real scientist, that's a given (any religion, except pastafarianism)
GuB-42 6y ago
It depends on how you define a troll, in the original sense, no, but he definitely feeds on controversy. It is not his opinions, and in fact, I mostly tend to agree with these. It is more about if he disagrees with someone, he is going to lose all objectivity and attack him like a rabid dog, backed by all his fans. It is surprising considering that he looks like a competent scientist and promotes rationality. For example, it looks like he has a grudge against Elon Musk for some reason. No problem with that, I am a bit of a hater myself. However, some (not all) of his argument are simply wrong, or at least incomplete, and he repeats them over and over, mixed with movie clips meant to ridicule, and he never backs down. Even when it supports my ideas and I enjoy two minutes of hate as much as anyone, I think it is toxic. The only purpose I see to these videos is to reinforce ideas people already have and turn them into zealots instead of educating others. Not so different from the cults he denounces.
- autokad 6y ago
  why do you hate elon musk?
  - GuB-42 6y ago
    The way he over-promises, his PR stunts, and worst of all, his cult-like following. I also think that Hyperloop is a borderline scam. And it is a shame because SpaceX is awesome and I credit Tesla for making electric cars people actually want to drive, and PayPal served me well in the early days.
- db48x 6y ago
  Yes, I have a similar opinion. It one thing if he’s tearing down yet another scam Kickstarter that’s just the same dehumidifier you can buy at any store, but when he’s wrong about something it’s a problem. I also find those videos very grating and tiresome. That’s not entirely his fault though, some of the videos he excerpts from are themselves dreadful. Leaving that part aside, the mocking tone he adopts just isn’t necessary. On the other hand, when he’s presenting an actual technical topic his videos are great.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- rcxdude 6y ago
  Yeah, this is the problem. He's also all too willing to engage in stupid slap-fights with flat earthers, who are very happy to antagonise him for more publicity.
- MertsA 6y ago
  Yeah, great example of him making a fool out of himself. \u200bhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktO6IvLT2eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktO6IvLT2eg There's a lot of cringey comments and statements in that video that are just hilariously wrong I thought it might be satire at first. Apparently you can't put steel in contact with concrete because a tiny whiff of surface corrosion is going to seriously risk the integrity of that 3/4" thick steel pipe... Not to mention claiming that clearly they didn't account for linear expansion of the pipe right after poking at the linear bearing material and saying it looks like they put it on some type of plywood. That video is 20 minutes of him spouting off the same kind of nonsense and trivial mistakes that he spends every other video deriding other people for making. He even makes some mistakes that are basically just pure physics, which he of all people should know is suspicious on the face of it. He claimed that if a test vehicle failed to slow down and impacted the far end that it would rupture the test track. It's a 3/4" steel pipe with a massive thick door and the inside being at a weak vacuum, it's not coming off. Not to mention his differential heating claims which would not change with length given that the test track can obviously resist the bending with just the weight of the tube elastically deforming it to keep it straight. His own zealotry on some subjects blinds him to his own obvious mistakes. If it was someone else making a video with so many errors he would be all over debunking it.

by wisty 6y ago

> Thunderf00t is a troll He has some strident opinions on things outside his field (for example he's got a big problem with Christianity) but does that actually make him a troll?

jhgb 6y ago

> on things outside his field (for example he's got a big problem with Christianity) For a hard scientist, that's almost a given. He'd be a lousy hard scientist if he didn't have a big problem with it (both when it comes to internal contradictions and in the mismatch with the real world).

BrandoElFollito 6y ago
For a real scientist, that's a given (any religion, except pastafarianism)

GuB-42 6y ago

It depends on how you define a troll, in the original sense, no, but he definitely feeds on controversy. It is not his opinions, and in fact, I mostly tend to agree with these. It is more about if he disagrees with someone, he is going to lose all objectivity and attack him like a rabid dog, backed by all his fans. It is surprising considering that he looks like a competent scientist and promotes rationality. For example, it looks like he has a grudge against Elon Musk for some reason. No problem with that, I am a bit of a hater myself. However, some (not all) of his argument are simply wrong, or at least incomplete, and he repeats them over and over, mixed with movie clips meant to ridicule, and he never backs down. Even when it supports my ideas and I enjoy two minutes of hate as much as anyone, I think it is toxic. The only purpose I see to these videos is to reinforce ideas people already have and turn them into zealots instead of educating others. Not so different from the cults he denounces.

autokad 6y ago
why do you hate elon musk?
- GuB-42 6y ago
  The way he over-promises, his PR stunts, and worst of all, his cult-like following. I also think that Hyperloop is a borderline scam. And it is a shame because SpaceX is awesome and I credit Tesla for making electric cars people actually want to drive, and PayPal served me well in the early days.
db48x 6y ago
Yes, I have a similar opinion. It one thing if he’s tearing down yet another scam Kickstarter that’s just the same dehumidifier you can buy at any store, but when he’s wrong about something it’s a problem. I also find those videos very grating and tiresome. That’s not entirely his fault though, some of the videos he excerpts from are themselves dreadful. Leaving that part aside, the mocking tone he adopts just isn’t necessary. On the other hand, when he’s presenting an actual technical topic his videos are great.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
rcxdude 6y ago
Yeah, this is the problem. He's also all too willing to engage in stupid slap-fights with flat earthers, who are very happy to antagonise him for more publicity.
MertsA 6y ago
Yeah, great example of him making a fool out of himself. \u200bhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktO6IvLT2eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktO6IvLT2eg There's a lot of cringey comments and statements in that video that are just hilariously wrong I thought it might be satire at first. Apparently you can't put steel in contact with concrete because a tiny whiff of surface corrosion is going to seriously risk the integrity of that 3/4" thick steel pipe... Not to mention claiming that clearly they didn't account for linear expansion of the pipe right after poking at the linear bearing material and saying it looks like they put it on some type of plywood. That video is 20 minutes of him spouting off the same kind of nonsense and trivial mistakes that he spends every other video deriding other people for making. He even makes some mistakes that are basically just pure physics, which he of all people should know is suspicious on the face of it. He claimed that if a test vehicle failed to slow down and impacted the far end that it would rupture the test track. It's a 3/4" steel pipe with a massive thick door and the inside being at a weak vacuum, it's not coming off. Not to mention his differential heating claims which would not change with length given that the test track can obviously resist the bending with just the weight of the tube elastically deforming it to keep it straight. His own zealotry on some subjects blinds him to his own obvious mistakes. If it was someone else making a video with so many errors he would be all over debunking it.