John Carlos Baez on Nostr: Though part of me - the worst part - would like to join the clever crowd who ...

Though part of me - the worst part - would like to join the clever crowd who endlessly pontificate and interview each other, I'm held back by my intense aversion to publicly talking about:

1) consciousness
2) free will
3) string theory and other theories of everything
4) are mathematical objects real?
5) is reality a simulation?
6) interpretations of quantum mechanics
7) quantum computers
8) large language models, machine learning, AI

and most other topics that the "digiterati", the "intellectual dark web", and other quasi-scientific talking heads enjoy bloviating about. I'd much rather settle down and read a good solid book about the life cycle of lichens, or the organizational structure of car repair shops.