#Determinism
That’s some nominative determinism right there
November 12, 2025 at 9:15 PM
I'm conflicted about slapping the genetic determinism label on the research itself esp. because the researcher cautions against a deterministic interpretation:

But the interpretation will definitely get picked up and used that way. I shudder to imagine what's going on over at Substack rn...
November 12, 2025 at 8:46 PM
it's just genetic determinism, which is eugenics in Groucho glasses
November 12, 2025 at 8:42 PM
It’s not specious. Answering a question to which there is no useful answer is at best a waste of time and money and potentially dangerously misleading. In this case it risks endorsing the very genetic determinism that spawned Mengele. Asking meaningless questions questions is not ethically neutral.
November 12, 2025 at 8:24 PM
fuck genetic determinism in all its forms
November 12, 2025 at 8:11 PM
proud of myself for getting through the ~60 papers assigned in my first grad-level humanities class. that is probably less than a real humanities person would read in a semester but as someone who didn't consider a reality other than technological determinism in august, I feel accomplished
November 12, 2025 at 7:56 PM
At least with those two (eugenics and sex abuse) the through line is the intermingling of genetic determinism and pop evo psych bullshit that affirms their attraction to teenage girls because it's in their genes as a man.
November 12, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Life is a concoction of fatal determinism and the footsteps of us all.
November 12, 2025 at 7:25 PM
I am with you that the appetite for genetic determinism is scary and upsetting! I just don't think that the scientists who did this had any kind of specific agenda in doing their science. They sequence genomes all the time. That's what they do.
November 12, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Well the report of the research says a neurodiverse condition is “likely”. And why would you even do this research unless you were interested in “explaining” his behaviour? Or worse, in the public appetite for genetic determinism? The very thing that powered Nazi ideology?
November 12, 2025 at 7:20 PM
This seems counterproductive at best to offer up genetic determinism as an explanation for Hitler’s reign.
November 12, 2025 at 6:27 PM
if people cared about repeatability/determinism they wouldn't be using an LLM

(my hypothesis is that because LLMs evade measurement of effectiveness, people just assume they work, and avoid critical thinking. which makes sense, given it's a tool to offload critical thinking.)
November 12, 2025 at 3:25 PM
I can only hope that she learns the most important lesson.

Psychics are real but her ability to fuck up exceeds the metaphysical determinism in the spiritual universe.
November 12, 2025 at 3:07 PM
nominative determinism
November 12, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Rather satisfying nominative determinism here.
November 12, 2025 at 2:36 PM
AI targets based on equivalent demographics etc is literally doing the opposite. It's using school as a social reproduction determinism. Also how will schools be resourced to improve? Unless the detail reveals something better it looks like a dreadful policy in the making.
November 12, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Russodismorphiabot!

Nominative determinism in action.
November 12, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Nominative determinism FTW!
November 12, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Nominative determinism is a thing.
November 12, 2025 at 12:05 PM
The assumption of an absolute determinism is the essential foundation of every scientific enquiry.
November 12, 2025 at 11:14 AM
I wonder, as a matter of nominative determinism, whether Dipsy had a bit of a sherry problem?
November 12, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Nominative determinism
The phenomenon where one's name coincides with their job is often referred to as nominative determinism.
The British slang for fart is ‘trump’, which is commonly used among British people in casual or humorous contexts.
November 12, 2025 at 7:38 AM
Also like to be grumpy this morning about Kenneth P Bannerman, who whilst doing good work plonking memorials to disused airfields up & down the country, is clearly not afflicted by modesty. In contrast to every other of 1000s of memorials I've looked at, he's decided to be namechecked on all of his.
November 12, 2025 at 7:01 AM
People have looked into ways to try to achieve determinism in Godot. If this is your engine of choice, it's something to look into, especially if you want to add online multiplayer. Inconsistencies such as these could very easily cause desyncs.
November 12, 2025 at 6:25 AM