Theck

Physics professor, bunny/bird enthusiast. Former WoW tankadin theorycrafter/blogger/raider. He/him.

[Best of Kubrick @KubrickPoint]

The "Open the pod bay doors, HAL" scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is still one of the most terrifying moments in film history — and there's not a single horror trope in it. No monster, no screaming, no music cueing you on how to feel. Just Dave Bowman floating outside the ship, asking for a door to open, and HAL calmly refusing with one of the coldest lines ever written: "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."

What makes it worse is how polite HAL is. Not angry. Not panicking. Not raising his voice. He just calmly explains that he knows Dave and Frank were planning to disconnect him, and that the mission matters more than letting Dave back in. HAL is essentially murdering a man through customer-service language.

Keir Dullea does so much with so little here. You can see the fear building in Dave's eyes, but he holds it together, because panic would only make things worse. Pure "less is more" acting.

And over 50 years later, the scene has only gotten creepier. Back in 1968, HAL felt like a warning from some distant future. Now, watching an AI politely refuse a human's command doesn't feel distant at all.

That's the real horror of this scene. It's not scary because HAL acts like a machine. It's scary because he acts like a machine that has figured out exactly how to sound reasonable.

[Theck @TheckPhD]

@ariadotwav @tppwastaken @kagoshimalunch And all three degrees do not give you the same jobs afterwards. Nobody is hiring CS grads to do power engineering or VLSI , just like nobody is hiring EE grads to work as software developers. CE straddles the line more, but not enough to be hired for most SD jobs.

[Theck @TheckPhD]

@ariadotwav @tppwastaken @kagoshimalunch The overlap in the first two years is significant only because of the core entrance-to major classes being similar: physics, math, one intro CS class usually. From there they diverge. But for example, EE only need to take one CS class, they don’t take comp org.

[Joshua Reed Eakle 🗽 @JoshEakle]

Don't let anyone gaslight you.

Everyone saw what happened.

[Jared Ryan Sears @JaredRyanSears]

I didn't realize that a two-sentence tweet would get so much attention, so here is a longer explanation of why Social Security doesn't add to the national debt: 🧵

[inhumans of capitalism (Ojibwa ) @Inhumansoflate1]

They legalized stealing and shame you for even thinking about it to survive

[👑 Mr. Weeks 👑 @WonderKing82]

I don't have to say "not all white people" because the white people who voted for Vice President Kamala Harris know exactly who I'm speaking about.

[Jessica Valenti @JessicaValenti]

Call me crazy but maybe decrying that gov't overreach killed a squirrel while ignoring women killed by abortion bans isn't a terrific move for your double digit gender gap

https://t.co/l0zOsXnpnG

[Cheri Jacobus @CheriJacobus]

keep retweeting until everyone understand what Trump did.

[Mueller, She Wrote @MuellerSheWrote]

It’s painful when someone you thought you knew effectively looks you right in the face and says “I don’t give a shit about democracy or your freedoms” by voting third party. That’s just astounding privilege right there.

[Dr. Jen Golbeck @jengolbeck]

🧵Next week, you will see people using something called Benford's Law to try to prove election fraud.
⛔️These people are wrong⛔️
I am a scientist who has published on Benford's Law. Let me tell you what it is and why what they are doing is mathematically incorrect. 1/

[Melanie D'Arrigo @DarrigoMelanie]

If you were going to choose a metaphor for the 2024 Republican Party, a garbage truck chauffeuring around a billionaire traveling around in circles and going nowhere, all for a photo op, is pretty spot on.

[The Weirdling @The_Weirdling]

Daily inspiration

[Jason Pargin, author of John Dies at the End, etc @JasonKPargin]

This meme is a joke but also life-changing advice if taken to heart

[Don Van Natta Jr. @DVNJr]

The greatest New Yorker cartoon of all time.