HN Theater @HNTheaterMonth

I think his argument about Falcon 9 was about reliability vs reusability and he partially acknowledged he was wrong:

https://nitter.net/thunderf00t/status/961312911393218560?lan...

About the claim if he is smart or not, you might want to watch this then reevaluate your opinion:

https://youtu.be/5Hyy1zRZPiQ

⬐ Schroedingersat

The last video I watched of his was a debunking of flat earthers that was so bad it almost gave the flat earthers some credibility. Many of his 'debunkings' consisted of 'no, because science that's why' where the flat earthers had actually raised interesting questions where the answers provide a great jumping off point to explore things in more depth.

Taking ten years to come up with some simple experiments to debunk someone who is reasonably frequently publicly wrong and then labouring the point and being really condescending isn't a sign of someone being especially smart (although it's hardly stupidity either).

⬐ panick21_

Its the typical build credibilty with debunking total nonsense and then use that to generate views on videos where he is suposidly depunking a lot more viable stuff.

Combine that with serving on the Anti-Musl wave and you have surefire way to be reddit famous.

"Veritasium: BUSTED!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hyy1zRZPiQ This is his area of expertise and is a great "busting" video

Trash: "Elon Musk Invents UNDERGROUND Traffic Jam!" "Tesla Bot" No debunking. Small mindedness, pessimistic rant. Just says Elon will fail but not clear how he knows he will fail

⬐ kisstheblade

He actually has outlined exactly what's wrong with these ideas. I mean the hyperloop was supposed to be "like an air hockey table", well guess what, musk now "advocates for wheels"... It's just a really bad and unworkable idea. The idea of 1000km long vacuum tubes is beyond stupid, when we already have high speed rail. Please tell me how stating these facts are "small minded" or "pessimistic".

His main point is usually about the massive unwarranted hype and blind hero worship around these concepts, and usually scams (the water stuff and other kickstarter projects).

The truth hurts, I guess.

⬐ space_rock

I never mentioned hyperloop. Again this is the level of reply I would expect of Thunderf00t. You can do better

⬐ kisstheblade

This relates to hyperloop "Elon Musk Invents UNDERGROUND Traffic Jam!"

⬐ space_rock

That video is about the Boring Company. They are making tunnels not hyperloops

⬐ manigandham

Sure, some videos are more of a rant and he can come across abrasive but I think the fundamental arguments are valid. Hyperloop isn't a viable concept ever since it's been conceived over a century ago. And the tunnel projects have so far been underwhelming and universally panned as worse than a standard lightrail or subway.

The only thing that's relatively unknown is the "Tesla Bot" but considering that self-driving AI is still unsolved, let alone any kind of general intelligence, I don't think there's much behind that either.

⬐ belter

For anybody who does not want to review both videos, although you should, here is the explanation:

"Water’s Polarity"

"One of water’s important properties is that it is composed of polar molecules. The two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom within water molecules (H2O) form polar covalent bonds. While there is no net charge to a water molecule, the polarity of water creates a slightly positive charge on hydrogen and a slightly negative charge on oxygen, contributing to water’s properties of attraction. Water’s charges are generated because oxygen is more electronegative, or electron loving, than hydrogen. Thus, it is more likely that a shared electron would be found near the oxygen nucleus than the hydrogen nucleus. Since water is a nonlinear, or bent, molecule, the difference in electronegativities between the oxygen and hydrogen atoms generates the partial negative charge near the oxygen and partial positive charges near both hydrogens."

https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_and_Gene....

"Bending Water"

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/chemsea/experiments.php?exp_n=2

⬐ nix23

Thunderf00t just kicks, i liked especially the Elon busting ;)

⬐ Ekaros

I can't believe how hard basic thermodynamics are... Why isn't any engineer, chemist or physicist asked to at least do some basic calculations if what they are attempting is possible or makes sense.

It's always fun with hyper loop to get to "vacuum" or even the calculations that how much whole thing costs and how many passengers it could serve if it were run 24/7...

And then the water from air devices... Which takes quite a lot of energy to get rid off...

Or the solar panels on road, the surface that we want to be pretty hard wearing...

⬐ nix23

Yeah i was pretty ashamed that our elite university ETH was super exited about hyperloop.....

>And then the water from air devices

Yeah supported by another "elite" university...when BA's are taking over.

>Or the solar panels on road

Well it's good if you have husky's and a sledge ;) for wheels probably not so good.

⬐ Nextgrid

> Why isn't any engineer, chemist or physicist asked to at least do some basic calculations if what they are attempting is possible or makes sense.

I'm sure most of them perfectly know what they're doing. The purpose of most of those debunked Kickstarters was never to deliver a working product, it's to get a few hundred thousand to live on while pretending to try and deliver something. It seems to be legal as I never hear about legal repercussions for these people, so I guess why not?

⬐ QuantumYeti

I found Common Sense Skeptic's series more enjoyable. Thunderf00t's videos all seem to assume you haven't seen any of his other videos on the subject, and as a result end up being mostly repetitions of the same talking points. He'll even include whole segments from his other videos instead of literally repeating himself... It comes across as click-baity with a lot of filler content, to me.

Common Sense Skeptic has series covering all the same topics without all the repetition, and also has a series covering the current Musk/SolarCity bailout trial: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgKWj1pn3_7hRSFIypunYog/vid...

⬐ errcorrectcode

Verus vel interdum mendacium.

Poor Veritasium. Makes a wild claim that everyone else is wrong but doesn't back it up with experimental evidence.

It reminds me of how cocky people, like doctors or conspiracy theorists, are able to seem convinced/ing while professing a claim with gusto but are actually full of shit. Seems like something Mark Rober would do, i.e., staging scenes like a reality TV show.

⬐ nousermane

This wouldn't be his first foray into making "controversial" videos based on sciency-sounding nonsense. Look no further than his "299792 km wire loop" video, and at least a dozen video replies debunking it.