Sarah Constantin Profile picture
(im)practical utopian. married to @oscredwin.
May 27, 2025 5 tweets 1 min read
The best video media "for kids" is actually not just for kids.

Nature documentaries. Rocket launches. Lectures & how-to videos aimed at adults. Classic movies and cartoons.

Most platforms and the laws that govern them are very bad at accommodating this. YouTube Kids allows your kid's account to subscribe to channels for trashy Roblox or unboxing videos, but *not* to NASA, National Geographic, TED-Ed, etc. SpaceX doesn't even have a channel for kids.
Mar 19, 2025 13 tweets 2 min read
a bunch of people have told me to read Lisa Feldman Barrett on affective neuroscience and I am and it is making me hopping mad, any Barrett fans wanna fite me? She's a "psychological constructionist" on emotions, which means she does *not* think "basic" emotions like fear or anger "live" in particular anatomical regions of the brain, or even that emotions are neurologically distinguishable from each other or from things like memory.
Mar 17, 2025 11 tweets 2 min read
@goblinodds look here's how this works.

the problem is his brother outshines him and P. feels inadequate about it. so P. finds something that he can get social approval for -- but his brother is still conspicuously unimpressed. This feels *awful*. @goblinodds just being around the guy is unsettling. he clearly thinks he's better than you, and he's kinda *right*, and one cold word from him would ruin your life.

so the impulse is to needle him. dare him to be rude explicitly, to your face. the rules of etiquette say he can't.
Mar 14, 2025 15 tweets 3 min read
While I'm broadly sympathetic to this article, I want to point out something weird about how people are thinking about "evidence" for Far UVC's safety & effectiveness. we apparently lack "compelling real-world data that is needed to support safety and efficacy." But what does that really mean? Image
Jan 16, 2025 6 tweets 1 min read
One thing I think people only learn bit by bit, by experience, is the range of what's considered acceptable to fudge in a demo. If Theranos gets caught claiming they're demonstrating their machine on stage, when they've actually just taken the blood to a conventional lab, the legal system considers that fraud.
Jan 13, 2025 6 tweets 2 min read
I'm going to start using the word "clientelism" for systems in which the best way to get resources is by "knowing a guy", being done a favor, having "pull", having influence with the authorities, etc. "Nepotism" sounds too much like it's only family members who get special privileges.

"Corruption" gets misunderstood all the time. A system can be based on clientelism without anyone ever being offered a bribe or any laws being broken. (Laws are written to benefit clients.)