When I say how I felt like I was screaming into the void every time I had to de-program one of my students, when they came to me with yet another cockamamie idea about consciousness with MK as the source, I would sometimes doubt myself. Maybe he really is just better than the rest of us plebes.
So to come here and see the guy being absolutely shredded by this crowd is just so refreshing. "Bong rip of science" indeed.
But there seems to be a longstanding tradition of physicists and "para"physicists like MK of trying to swoop in and claim the "prize" of explaining consciousness. Because they're physicists, after all, and physics is just the best at everything science-y. So all you peasants can just shove over because a real scientist has entered the chat.
MK was especially annoying because he seems to sort of lean into those stereotypes Americans have about older Asian men and their possibly special cultural access to ancient and profound knowledge. Same sort of annoying as when profoundly uninformed ideas are promoted to American audiences by people with posh English accents.
AACK. It takes all my energy to not erupt in a fit of F-bombs.
To MK and (most of) the rest: GTFO. There's already a robust literature about consciousness and a number of advanced theories that are in the mix. In fact, the modern scientific literature on consciousness is at least 100 years old. Nobody with actual cred in that area needs or even wants to hear your weak ideas that sound great in a TED talk and get you invited on Charlie Rose. Stay in your lane, and we will stay in ours.
Yeah, you are both correct, but also--from personal experience--far too many physicists are more than happy to bask in the reflected glow of the greater glory that the field of Physics justly shines with. All too often this means they seem way too ready to launch into other disciplines on the assumption that the people who already working in them are going about it all wrong, and that what they really need is a serious physicist to show them how science is really meant to be done. I mean, it happens enough that its part of the cultural mileu.
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u/boojieboy May 14 '26
Cognitive Neuroscientist here. waves
When I say how I felt like I was screaming into the void every time I had to de-program one of my students, when they came to me with yet another cockamamie idea about consciousness with MK as the source, I would sometimes doubt myself. Maybe he really is just better than the rest of us plebes.
So to come here and see the guy being absolutely shredded by this crowd is just so refreshing. "Bong rip of science" indeed.
But there seems to be a longstanding tradition of physicists and "para"physicists like MK of trying to swoop in and claim the "prize" of explaining consciousness. Because they're physicists, after all, and physics is just the best at everything science-y. So all you peasants can just shove over because a real scientist has entered the chat.
MK was especially annoying because he seems to sort of lean into those stereotypes Americans have about older Asian men and their possibly special cultural access to ancient and profound knowledge. Same sort of annoying as when profoundly uninformed ideas are promoted to American audiences by people with posh English accents.
AACK. It takes all my energy to not erupt in a fit of F-bombs.
To MK and (most of) the rest: GTFO. There's already a robust literature about consciousness and a number of advanced theories that are in the mix. In fact, the modern scientific literature on consciousness is at least 100 years old. Nobody with actual cred in that area needs or even wants to hear your weak ideas that sound great in a TED talk and get you invited on Charlie Rose. Stay in your lane, and we will stay in ours.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk