Monday, March 18, 2024

WSJ Accounts Of 20-Somethings Ditching TikTok May Offer Best Hope For A Biden Win In November

                                                                

                            Really want to 'fight back'? Get off Tik Tok!
                                                                           
                                    Joe Biden will need your votes in November!


"Are you better off today than you were four years ago? Honestly, I didn’t think Republicans were going to try replaying Ronald Reagan’s famous line, since so much of the G.O.P.’s 2024 strategy depends on a sort of collective amnesia about the last year of Donald Trump’s presidency. Is it really a good idea to remind voters what the spring of 2020 was like?

For it was a terrible time: It was a time of fear, with Covid deaths skyrocketing. It was a time of isolation, with normal social interactions disrupted. It was a time of surging violent crime, perhaps brought on by that social disruption. It was a time of huge job losses, with the unemployment rate hitting 14.8 percent that April. And do you remember the great toilet paper shortage?"  - Paul Krugman, NY Times today


The WSJ piece  (March 9)  'Why Twenty Somethings Are Saying No To Tik Tok' was an eye opener for sure.  Though I'd realized for a while this thing had surreal addictive and distractive capacity, e.g.

I never truly appreciated the extent to which it had hijacked the brains of so many young adults and converted them into mush. Now, we learn many Twenty Somethings are consciously detaching from the coke-like app to reclaim their lives, their thoughts and their wills - and one now hopes - their political sense. As the WSJ columnist  (Julie  Jargon) writes;

Many 20-somethings are now trying to break the all-consuming TikTok habit they started during the pandemic. The young adults I spoke to have been on social media for a decade or more and didn’t question the impact it was having on them until recently. They started noticing that TikTok, in particular, got in the way of sleep, work, household chores and relationships. Some even say it has kept them from chasing their own creative dreams. They are now deleting the app in pursuit of more in-person experiences and tidier homes."

Wow! And what led to such a remarkable decision? Well, we see a wide array of examples in the piece. Take, for example, Keilah Bruce - a 27 year old accountant in New  York.  She stopped using the app after Tik Tok's algorithm began showing her things that matched her private thoughts. As she put it to the WSJ: "It's one thing to know about you, and another to know you."

Twenty somethings who believe they've found the 'pot of gold at the end of the rainbow' with Tik Tok need to take note. While it's true - thanks to the app's hypersensitive algorithm - users could discover content and personalities that aligned with their interests just by scrolling the app's main feed, they were unaware the same algorithm could plumb their own thoughts via their responses. In such a way also, rage and hysteria could be reinforced and pumped reaching a political chain reaction. Such has been the case with the unfolding Gaza horror, which has distracted too many 20-30 somethings from the coming U.S election and the need to vote Joe Biden.  Not impressed? Then clearly you didn't see the latest news about Trump warning of a 'blood bath' if he isn't elected, e.g.

by Robert Reich | March 17, 2024 - 7:19am | permalink

— from Robert Reich's Substack

At a rally today outside the Dayton International Airport in Vandalia, Ohio, Trump warned that “if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a blood bath … for the country.”

While Gaza for sure is a spectacle of needless horrific suffering (thanks to Bibi Netanyahu) it affords NO rational or justifiable excuse to either not vote, or to vote for a certified monster and lunatic like Donald Trump. With the entire nation's (and I'd argue world's) future on the line.  This is given that an electoral win for this whack job - who would have the nuclear codes - surpasses any outrage over Gaza.  Hence, an informed vote must alas take precedence over political division over Gaza, or indeed any other issue (inflation, school loan debt, perceived actions on one's 'pet' to do's etc.)

Back to the WSJ piece, we also learn about the tribulations of Samantha Rodriguez, 29, an estate planner.  She reported how the app frequently put her in danger, i.e.

"I would scroll Tik Tok while walking my dogs and there were times I'd walk right into a tree or mailbox,"   

She also admits to have gotten into the habit of scrolling late at night to try and catch the latest cute dance or song, but this affected her job performance. It also affected her marriage and irritated her husband who often resorted to snatching her phone out of her hand while in bed. It had become a toxic element.  Finally, she ''cut the cord" 6 months ago realizing that recovering her sanity and sense was more important than late night self-entertainment with empty dross.   She says it was worth it, and "now wakes up feeling refreshed and more productive." 

These cases are not exceptional as Ms. Jargon further notes:

"The 20-somethings I interviewed aren't outliers. They say many of their friends have also deleted the app or scaled back their use in recent months - like Alissa Chapman - who realized after watching hours of creative videos on Tik Tok one night she was never doing any of them herself. "

 Her creative 'juices' were being sucked out by distraction and addiction in much the same way 20-somethings' political attention to this existential election is being sucked out the same way.  (How else account for the mere 10-point edge Biden now has among the 18 to 34 age set compared to a 25-point edge in 2020?)  Thus getting the 20-somethings off this brain -sucking, mind warping app may be the most critical step to a Biden reelection.

As I wrote in my January 17, 2023 post, the term “TikTok brain” has gained currency and validity, especially in the psychotherapy realm, and appears to refer to a genuine affliction of our time. Especially of younger brains way too inclined to be mesmerized by dancing monkeys, or dancing peers moving to the rhythms of catchy tunes.  Often the defining feature is the way energy-mesmerized young brain gets hooked on short videos - in the 1- 2 minute range- and becomes so attuned that watching anything longer becomes intolerable.  


Not to mention actually exercising brain cells - whether reading 'The Odyssey'-  or even watching a lengthy historical movie like 'Exodus'. (Which has the added benefit of conveying the background to the Palestine-Israel issue.)  Or reading an actual newspaper article on the multiple accomplishments of Joe Biden compared to Donald Trump.


The term itself was aptly coined to describe what this insidious app does to brains in their prime. Indeed, the very nature of the short videos endlessly trotted out – impairs memory, attention span and overall mental functioning over timeKids are left staring at their tiny screens for most of a 24-hour day getting hooked on the memes portrayed by dancing peers while their neurons (and microglial cells) rot. 


The NY Times had a weekend piece with the provocative header:


What Do You Do If You Hate Both Biden and Trump?


Which answer truly is a no -brainer for the non-Tik Tok mind.  If your brain is firing on all cylinders and you're not trapped in a fake hysteria or 'sadness' miasma pumped by Tik Tok piffle, then you can get beyond it,  e.g.


     New Rule: Cheer Up! | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) (youtube.com)


And if and when you get beyond it, all the hand wringing distractions,  you must vote for Joe Biden.  You cannot allow emotions to run amuck and put a consummate criminal, rapist and traitor - not to mention wannabe dictator - into the most powerful position on the planet.  As Bill Maher puts it in his most recent New Rule:


 "Wages are rising. Unemployment is negligible. The stock market is soaring. yes some inflation is still around but you know an actual good, life -size TV now costs just sixty bucks.  Who gets credit for that? We've got next day shipping, legal weed, stuffed crust pizza, GPS, and porn hub on the phone.


 Cheer the fuck up! Stop acting like life in America in 2024 is unbearable.


Biden's ratings are in the toilet not because he's doing a bad job but because too many Americans like to live with their head in the toilet."


Maher goes on to note that almost a third of Americans report they suffer from depression. But as he also points out, earlier generations understood you're not supposed to feel good all the time. So why do so many of today's lot feel that way?


 My suspicion is it can be traced to addictive algorithms in apps like Tik Tok and the ensuing social media addiction. Just the act then of seeing dozens of photos of what other people seem to be doing can drive one's own despair...if one lets it.  As for the realm of "influencers" it is appalling to me so many young uns' hanker to enter this dubious "profession" given so many are unsuccessful (never mind the media hype).  No, what we need now is not more TikTok influencers but rather more genuine patriotic voters canvassing for Joe Biden. And more than ready to take down Donald Trump for the second - and hopefully last- time!


See Also:


Brane Space: In Michigan Young Voters Displeased With Choices Opt Out: Give 'Em Their Sippy Cups (brane-space.blogspot.com)


And:


And:

Note To Age-Biased Voters: It WILL Be Biden Vs. Trump Next Year - And Don't Even Think Of Sitting This One Out - Or Voting 3rd Party!


And:

by Robert Reich | March 18, 2024 - 6:23am | permalink

— from Robert Reich's Substack

Excerpt:

One of my goals in this daily letter to you is to give you the facts and analysis you need to make informed decisions, especially political ones — and equip you to spread the word to others. So here goes on social security.

During a typically rambling and incoherent interview last week, Trump admitted he would cut Social Security and Medicare if reelected. “There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting and in terms of also the theft and the bad management of entitlements.”

Trump has tried to walk back the remarks, saying that when he used the word “cutting” he didn’t actually mean “cutting,” and that Social Security has a lot of waste. (In fact, Social Security is well managed, and theft or fraud is rare.)

But there’s no question Trump and his Republican allies want to cut Social Security and Medicare.

Friday, March 15, 2024

Gravitational Deflection Of Starlight & Neil Ashby's Marvelous Contribution To Relativistic Dynamics

The deflection of star light in a gravitational field was first tested during solar eclipse in 1919, and was actually described in Sir Arthur Eddington’s book in detail[1].  A rough illustration of the effect is shown below:

                                                          

                         Deflection of star light as predicted by General Relativity

In the above diagram the light from the star at actual position S2 is seen to deflect by some angle a, thereby altering the image position to that seen at S1. This is a direct result of the effect of the gravitational field of the Sun on the light rays. The true direction is thus alone the ray ES2 while the deflected position is along the ray ES1.

    Theoretically and quantitatively, one can obtain an estimate of the magnitude of deflection by incorporating another parameter – call it b – as shown in the diagram below:     

                      Determining the linear deflection (impact) parameter, b.

Then we obtain for the deflection angle, a:

a  = - 4 GM/ b   or (in cgs units): 

a     = - 4 GM/ b c2 

Einstein, in his own paper: ‘On the Influence of Gravitation on the Propagation of Light’, gives the result as:

a  = 2k M/ cD

                      Diagram for Einstein’s derivation of a (q).

Here k = G, the gravitational constant and D = the distance of the ray from the center of the body. It is obtained from the diagram of Fig. 12.

Einstein used the cosine of the angle and integrated from the negative angle q = - p/ 2 to qp/ 2:

a  =    1/ c2  ò - p/ 2  p/ 2   k M/ r2   cos q ds



[1] Eddington, A.S., op.. cit., p. 102.

 

Enter now Neil Ashby who, in a world class presentation in May, 2008, presented an update based on second order corrections to gravitational deflection for a massive body.  

This was for the 39th Meeting of the Dynamical Astronomy Division of the American Astronomical Society.  The summary points of Ashby's paper (Second-order Corrections to Time Delay and Deflection of Light Passing Near a Massive Object) are given below from my notes- and handouts:

i)The key initial quantity is the total elongation angle:   f (b, rB , r)    = f ( rA  , b) + f ( rB  , b) referenced to the diagram shown below (see element (ix) below):

                                                                         

Neil Ashby's dynamical diagram (May, 2008 paper)

ii)The parameters γ, β and  e  are equal to 1 in general relativity ( Î³+ β +  e  = 1)

iii) Cassini’s 2002 experiment, in which the PPN (parameterized post-Newtonian formalism) parameter γ was measured with an accuracy (standard deviation) σγ = 2.3 × 10-5  and was found consistent with the prediction γ = 1 of general relativity

iv) Light propagation in a static spacetime is equivalent to a problem in ordinary geometrical optics: Fermat’s action functional at its minimum is just the light-time between the two end points A and B.  See e.g. Ashby Fig. 2 below and:

Proving Fermat's Principle Of Least Time For Reflection At A Plane Surface

v) For the case considered (Fig. 2) the best mathematical tool to deal with electromagnetic propagation is not null geodesics, but the theory of eikonal. It is known that in this problem Fermat’s Principle holds, corresponding to the refractive index:

N(r) = Ã–B(r) /A(r)

The eikonal was developed ab initio  and solved for by separation of variables. The radial part provides Fermat’s action as a radial integral containing N(r) and the parameter h; when computed at the true value true, such action is just the required light-time. 

The solution can be obtained recursively, using appropriate expansions in powers of m ( bo is the Euclidean distance of the straight line AB - in Fig. 1- from the mass):

b = bo  +    m  (b 1 / bo) +   m2  2 / bo2

vi) In the framework of metric theories of gravity and the PPN ((parameterized post-Newtonian) formalism, the main violations of general relativity – those linear in the masses – are described by the single dimensionless parameter γ.  The question is at what level and how general relativity is violated, in particular how much Î³ differs from unity. (Ashby brilliantly answered this in his paper.)

vii) To date the best measure of  Î³  has been obtained in Cassini's experiment:

  Î³ -  1  =  (2.1  +   2.3)  x 10 -5


The Orbit Determination Program (ODP) of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which was used in the data analysis, is based on an expression for the gravitational delay D t which differs from the standard formula; this difference is of second order in powers of m and the gravitational radius ( R ) of the Sun i.e.

m (m/ bo) = m (m /R ) (R/ bo)=   0.3 (R / bo ) cm,

But in Cassini’s case it was much larger than the expected order of magnitude m2/b, where b is the distance of closest approach of the ray.

 vii) For a typical velocity 10-4 c the correction is of order:

 20 × 1.4 × 10 5 × 10-4 = 300 cm, and the a priori accuracy in D t is

sufficient.

 viii) It should also be noted that the spacetime coordinates of the end events are not directly provided in the experimental setup and depend on the gravitational delay D t, the very quantity one sets out to measure. 

The trajectories rA (t) and rB (t) are given by the numerical code; the starting time t A    is just a label of the ray, but the arrival time:

 tB   > t A + rAB.

The way out is to take for the end point:

  rB (rB ) = rB (t A + rAB) + D t u B(t A + rAB),


(where uB = drB/dt) 

 ix)  bo   =   rA   rB  sin fAB / Ö ( r A2   + r B 2   -  2 rA   rB  cos fAB)   


Ashby concluded with this solution using the triangles in Fig. 1 above. For reference the mass is at O and the end points (events) at A, B.   The distance OH =  b   and the angles  a are taken to be positive.   The internal angle fAB  can be obtuse or acute.  When: rB   >  rA   >>  b  we have a close superior conjunction for which the deflection is large.  Asked for estimates of the key parameters from his data Ashby showed: b =  2R ,   rA   =   1 AU,   rB  =  5 AU

Ashby then challenged us to show - using some algebra and trigonometry- that when R =   O(bo ) order of  bo  the  truncation error   at order k  is (m/ bo) k+1   with coefficient of order unity.  Finally leading to the condition:

mR/  b o2   << 1

The above quantity then gives (by order of magnitude) the ratio between the gravitational deflection ( m/ bo ) and the angle ( bo   /R ) which separates the central mass from the distant star as seen from distance R.  

After less than ten minutes all attendees were able to show this and Ashby treated us to his derivation of the Asymmetric Eddington potential, accompanied by a round of applause.