› added 1 year ago

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TIL that humanity has a 95% probability of going extinct by the year 10,000 AD according to Brandon Carter's formulationof the controversial Doomsday argument, which argues that half of the humans who will ever have lived have probably already been born.

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XwGR TIL that gunpowder was discovered by Taoist alchemists who were searching for an elixir of immortality
4XBL6 TIL that Star Trek character astromycologist Paul Stamets has his name as an allusion to real-life mycologist, entrepreneur and author Paul Stamets, who advocates for the ecological benefits of mushrooms
ne9v9 TIL about the U-238 Atomic Energy Lab, marketed to kids as a toy in the 1950's it came with 3 different types of live Uranium Ore and a Geiger Counter. The kit's intention was to allow children to create and watch nuclear and chemical reactions using radioactive material
b70Z TIL British censors banned under-18s from viewing the film Alien because it presented “a perverse view of the reproductive function”.
a8NwL TIL in 2011, John Riccitiello, who was the CEO of EA at the time and is now the CEO of Unity, proposed a model for online multiplayer shooters like Battlefield. In this model, players who ran out of ammo could make an instant real money payment for a quick reload.