• alt769 [they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Convincing crypto bros to spend $200k to touch the "forbidden sphere"

  • InternetLefty [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    You'd have to imagine that Slotin was knowingly engaging in statistically life threatening behavior. He was either entirely blinded by hubris or purposefully self destructive

    • Hoodoo [love/loves]
      ·
      3 years ago

      He got hailed as a hero and the accident covered up so the West didn't look like a bunch of idiots on the world stage in Nuclear Physics.

    • p_sharikov [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I also have some questions about the people standing next to him watching him do it.

    • Funkydick [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      It made him the cool guy in front of all the other physicists.

      Never underestimate the power that status displays give to men. They'll do insane shit because of it.

      • thisismyrealname [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        men will literally hold a beryillum sphere open with a screwdriver to prevent supercriticality instead of going to therapy

      • InternetLefty [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I mean to compare it to another risky activity performing the supercriticality experiment with a screwdriver is probably like a slightly less dangerous game of Russian roulette

        • Funkydick [none/use name]
          ·
          3 years ago

          It's less dangerous than literally charging into machine gun fire. Which millions of men (and they were all men) were convinced to do.

          Playing with a radioactive coconut is child's play next to that.

          • InternetLefty [he/him]
            ·
            3 years ago

            I think it would be pretty difficult to quantitatively compare the two, but of course a person dying in combat might consider it an honorable sacrifice while Slotin died thinking "I am fucking stupid".

  • kissinger
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    deleted by creator

    • Judge_Juche [she/her]
      hexagon
      ·
      3 years ago

      Someone sent it to the group chat this morning and I've showed it to everyone in my life.

  • emizeko [they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin#Criticality_accident

  • Sushi_Desires
    ·
    3 years ago

    saw this today: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/756000025661800599/907351968660471858/unknown.png

  • Frank [he/him, he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    If the world was cool, actually, the Demon Core would be President Mr. Demon Core, and would have held office for the entirety of the last seventy years.