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You state things as absolute fact, while there IS disagreement amongst legitimate experts in these fields. Please, furnish us with YOUR credentials that allow

You state things as absolute fact, while there IS disagreement amongst legitimate experts in these fields. Please, furnish us with YOUR credentials that allow you to have such unique insights into this field. Otherwise, you just sound like a crank. I don't know if you're right or wrong, but your unsourced certainty is definitely setting off my bullshit meter.

sahil50 5y ago
I have a degree in Computer Science from Yale. I built https://zedtime.live https://zedtime.live and I'm building https://spase.io https://spase.io, and I've been in direct communication with cold dark matter (CDM) and modified gravity (MOND) cosmologists for the last 20 weeks. I basically ask the questions that I'm gonna guess everyone has on their mind, and I'm just moving the conversation along faster.
- nwiswell 5y ago
  > I've been in direct communication with cold dark matter (CDM) and modified gravity (MOND) cosmologists for the last 20 weeks. It's not really any of my business, but in your shoes I would be making sure to disclaim these statements regarding MOND as secondhand opinion rather than presenting them as established scientific fact.
  - sahil50 5y ago
    Appreciate the feedback. These statements are a synthesis of ideas from people who've already synthesized all the complexity of the CDM vs MOND debate, but now I'm talking at the level of HackerNews so people do something!
    - mlyle 5y ago
      I'd suggest being more humble. - It's a debate, not a settled fact. - When your opening salvo describes the other side as "stupid and ludicrous" you should not be surprised that some people respond with hostility in kind. - Having studied something somewhat intensely for 20 weeks doesn't put your personal opinion on the subject on a higher standing than people who have studied this at a high academic level for a lifetime. You're free to make arguments, but not to proclaim absolute truths. - For the particular article we're discussing: A galaxy that seems to have no rotational speed anomaly is a blow for both CDM & MOND theories, but it would seem to be a bigger blow for MOND (e.g. CDM anomaly could just be a weird distribution of dark matter).
      - sahil50 5y ago
        - I already agree it is a debate. It has been a debate for 40 years ever since Moti Milgrom first proposed modified gravity (MOND). - I already was not surprised by the HackerNews crowd responding with hostility. - I am pointing the HackerNews crowd to people who have studied this at a high level for a lifetime. Moti Milgrom. Stacy McGaugh. Pavel Kroupa. - This article is actually a blow to bad journalism. This article is also an opportunity to call out that what "cold dark matter" is, is actually bad machine learning, where academics forcefit a new blob of invisible, noninteracting matter for every galaxy, which gives cold dark matter (CDM) no predictive power. Contrast with modified gravity (MOND), which models acceleration as sqrt(GM/R^2 * cH/(2pi)), which has predictive power.
        mlyle 5y ago
        > - I already was not surprised by the HackerNews crowd responding with hostility. You -opened- with hostility. > - I am pointing the HackerNews crowd to people who have studied this at a high level for a lifetime. Moti Milgrom. Stacy McGaugh. Pavel Kroupa. And ignoring the other side, presenting it as settled. Read your opening statement. It is not conducive to discourse. It just flames CDM without advancing any argument of its own.
        sahil50 5y ago
        Because you care about tone, which is a good thing, please read about how Milgrom, McGaugh, and Kroupa have been treated by cold dark matter (CDM) establishment.
        mlyle 5y ago
        Why does that affect how it's reasonable to discuss here? It doesn't matter the topic: if I think, say, global warming critics elsewhere have been jerks, I still don't improve things if I talk in roaring hyperbole and dismissiveness in statements about it here. I won't get listened to, and I won't improve the quality of discourse. From the first two site guidelines for comments: > Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community. > Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive. Continuing on to: > Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something.
- choilive 5y ago
  - sahil50 5y ago
    - bigbillheck 5y ago
      What's false about it?
      - sahil50 5y ago
        "armchair" and "no real credentials" fine if you want to call me an "amateur cosmologist with a few credentials"
        bigbillheck 5y ago
        '20 weeks of emailing experts' and 'an undergraduate CS degree' do not count as 'credentials'.
        sahil50 5y ago
        fine, then call me an "amateur cosmologist"
    - biofox 5y ago
      I've been here a little longer than 15 months. My advice: just smile and be polite. Arguing helps no one. If you have useful knowledge, share it and make the world better. If something is contentious, present facts and argue in good faith. Don't feed the trolls, and don't try to one-up others. Be nice, be kind, and have fun.
      - sahil50 5y ago
        It's actually a simpler concern. Literally, what is that account? Like what is it? Something that has no activity on HackerNews for 15 months, then first thing it says is rude and false.
- philipov 5y ago
  I saw the "20" and my brain was already preparing the next word to be "years" so when I saw "weeks" it was a shock. Asking questions is fine, but making a claim like "dark matter is not a real thing" with certainty is premature and does not predispose others to taking you seriously.
  - arthens 5y ago
    Thanks for pointing it out, I actually read it at years
- notdemo88 5y ago
  I have a degree in elastic structures from UW Madison. I’ve built fintech and big data backends. I did the math; still just one in seven billion. Building websites and collating data isn’t that novel these days. It’s not like you alone collected it or defined any of the first principles. Welcome to being a normie.
- bpiche 5y ago
  Yale is a great school, and there's nothing wrong with being an autodidact. A lot of the people here are as well. It doesn't mean you don't know what you're talking about. I'm also agnostic regarding dark matter. Let the lovers of phlogiston talk, and time will tell who is right.
- dandelany 5y ago
  I appreciate that you seem to actually be seeking the truth, but consider changing your approach in discussions if you want them to be fruitful and interesting instead of self-satisfying. Anyone paying attention to experts knows that none of them, including the ones you cite (McGaugh et al), speak with the certainty that you do. All of them readily admit that there are problems with both leading theories. So when you “explain” to everyone why their stupid ideas are stupid, it comes off as cheerleading born out of either naïveté or intellectual dishonesty, and harms your credibility. “MOND is obviously incomplete and I despair of making it into a proper theory. LCDM has no realistic chance of explaining MOND’s many predictive successes. Right now, we’re hosed.” - Stacy McGaugh It’s a bit funny that you then go on to talk down on “the HN Crowd” downthread - the most common complaint I usually hear about “the HN Crowd” is best summed up as “it’s full of people who think a computer science degree makes them an expert in everything.”

sahil50 5y ago

I have a degree in Computer Science from Yale. I built https://zedtime.live https://zedtime.live and I'm building https://spase.io https://spase.io, and I've been in direct communication with cold dark matter (CDM) and modified gravity (MOND) cosmologists for the last 20 weeks. I basically ask the questions that I'm gonna guess everyone has on their mind, and I'm just moving the conversation along faster.

nwiswell 5y ago
> I've been in direct communication with cold dark matter (CDM) and modified gravity (MOND) cosmologists for the last 20 weeks. It's not really any of my business, but in your shoes I would be making sure to disclaim these statements regarding MOND as secondhand opinion rather than presenting them as established scientific fact.
- sahil50 5y ago
  Appreciate the feedback. These statements are a synthesis of ideas from people who've already synthesized all the complexity of the CDM vs MOND debate, but now I'm talking at the level of HackerNews so people do something!
  - mlyle 5y ago
    I'd suggest being more humble. - It's a debate, not a settled fact. - When your opening salvo describes the other side as "stupid and ludicrous" you should not be surprised that some people respond with hostility in kind. - Having studied something somewhat intensely for 20 weeks doesn't put your personal opinion on the subject on a higher standing than people who have studied this at a high academic level for a lifetime. You're free to make arguments, but not to proclaim absolute truths. - For the particular article we're discussing: A galaxy that seems to have no rotational speed anomaly is a blow for both CDM & MOND theories, but it would seem to be a bigger blow for MOND (e.g. CDM anomaly could just be a weird distribution of dark matter).
    - sahil50 5y ago
      - I already agree it is a debate. It has been a debate for 40 years ever since Moti Milgrom first proposed modified gravity (MOND). - I already was not surprised by the HackerNews crowd responding with hostility. - I am pointing the HackerNews crowd to people who have studied this at a high level for a lifetime. Moti Milgrom. Stacy McGaugh. Pavel Kroupa. - This article is actually a blow to bad journalism. This article is also an opportunity to call out that what "cold dark matter" is, is actually bad machine learning, where academics forcefit a new blob of invisible, noninteracting matter for every galaxy, which gives cold dark matter (CDM) no predictive power. Contrast with modified gravity (MOND), which models acceleration as sqrt(GM/R^2 * cH/(2pi)), which has predictive power.
      - mlyle 5y ago
        > - I already was not surprised by the HackerNews crowd responding with hostility. You -opened- with hostility. > - I am pointing the HackerNews crowd to people who have studied this at a high level for a lifetime. Moti Milgrom. Stacy McGaugh. Pavel Kroupa. And ignoring the other side, presenting it as settled. Read your opening statement. It is not conducive to discourse. It just flames CDM without advancing any argument of its own.
        sahil50 5y ago
        Because you care about tone, which is a good thing, please read about how Milgrom, McGaugh, and Kroupa have been treated by cold dark matter (CDM) establishment.
        mlyle 5y ago
        Why does that affect how it's reasonable to discuss here? It doesn't matter the topic: if I think, say, global warming critics elsewhere have been jerks, I still don't improve things if I talk in roaring hyperbole and dismissiveness in statements about it here. I won't get listened to, and I won't improve the quality of discourse. From the first two site guidelines for comments: > Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community. > Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive. Continuing on to: > Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something.
choilive 5y ago
- sahil50 5y ago
  - bigbillheck 5y ago
    What's false about it?
    - sahil50 5y ago
      "armchair" and "no real credentials" fine if you want to call me an "amateur cosmologist with a few credentials"
      - bigbillheck 5y ago
        '20 weeks of emailing experts' and 'an undergraduate CS degree' do not count as 'credentials'.
        sahil50 5y ago
        fine, then call me an "amateur cosmologist"
  - biofox 5y ago
    I've been here a little longer than 15 months. My advice: just smile and be polite. Arguing helps no one. If you have useful knowledge, share it and make the world better. If something is contentious, present facts and argue in good faith. Don't feed the trolls, and don't try to one-up others. Be nice, be kind, and have fun.
    - sahil50 5y ago
      It's actually a simpler concern. Literally, what is that account? Like what is it? Something that has no activity on HackerNews for 15 months, then first thing it says is rude and false.
philipov 5y ago
I saw the "20" and my brain was already preparing the next word to be "years" so when I saw "weeks" it was a shock. Asking questions is fine, but making a claim like "dark matter is not a real thing" with certainty is premature and does not predispose others to taking you seriously.
- arthens 5y ago
  Thanks for pointing it out, I actually read it at years
notdemo88 5y ago
I have a degree in elastic structures from UW Madison. I’ve built fintech and big data backends. I did the math; still just one in seven billion. Building websites and collating data isn’t that novel these days. It’s not like you alone collected it or defined any of the first principles. Welcome to being a normie.
bpiche 5y ago
Yale is a great school, and there's nothing wrong with being an autodidact. A lot of the people here are as well. It doesn't mean you don't know what you're talking about. I'm also agnostic regarding dark matter. Let the lovers of phlogiston talk, and time will tell who is right.
dandelany 5y ago
I appreciate that you seem to actually be seeking the truth, but consider changing your approach in discussions if you want them to be fruitful and interesting instead of self-satisfying. Anyone paying attention to experts knows that none of them, including the ones you cite (McGaugh et al), speak with the certainty that you do. All of them readily admit that there are problems with both leading theories. So when you “explain” to everyone why their stupid ideas are stupid, it comes off as cheerleading born out of either naïveté or intellectual dishonesty, and harms your credibility. “MOND is obviously incomplete and I despair of making it into a proper theory. LCDM has no realistic chance of explaining MOND’s many predictive successes. Right now, we’re hosed.” - Stacy McGaugh It’s a bit funny that you then go on to talk down on “the HN Crowd” downthread - the most common complaint I usually hear about “the HN Crowd” is best summed up as “it’s full of people who think a computer science degree makes them an expert in everything.”