V17's recent activity
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Comment on I tried to help a goldfinch - but there wasn't enough help in ~enviro
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Comment on Modern, abstract art makes me angry in ~arts
V17 LinkI like abstract art, always have, but all of this happens, and on top of that I can confirm that art students these days often (not nearly always, I'm not even sure if it's a majority, but it is...- Exemplary
I like abstract art, always have, but
a bunch of material that has no depth or meaning beyond the BS the artist (scammer?) came up with
Or the ridiculous “explanations” about the piece that pretend to be way deeper and smarter than it really is. Chill, it’s just some paint splatters on a surface, it doesn’t mean anything and there is no depth or layers to it.
just plain lazy and disrespectful to even call this art and put it on the same level as the masters’ classical paintings.all of this happens, and on top of that I can confirm that art students these days often (not nearly always, I'm not even sure if it's a majority, but it is common) do this broad category of art because they want to skip the part where they gain skills in traditional techniques, so they do abstract art not entirely by choice but also due to their own limitations. Regarding the made-up meaning, I remember my friend telling me, shortly after she got her masters of arts degree in painting, that she feels the art professors' insistence on being able to explain and defend all her works made her art worse. But sadly this is a trend, people demand it, and on top of that there's a ton of shallow trendy political activism in it.
That said, none of those things are a rule, and the fundamental nonsense is saying that abstract art cannot have meaning or depth. Most music is abstract, it's not trying to imitate anything specific, it's just making sounds for the sake of making sounds because it sounds interesting. Surely you can accept that the same thing exists in visual arts - something can evoke feelings or images while still being abstract. After all human feelings and experiences are often too chaotic and complex to be properly described by words or realistic descriptive images.
Yeah, there is a line to draw, some art truly is just low quality nonsense, and each of us has the line located somewhere else, but certainly good abstract art exists before the line. I think it's also a good idea to try to accept that there are genuine attempts that just failed to produce something good, but maybe helped the author to learn from that and move on to something better - not everything is cynical or lazy, though some certainly is.
I was also standing in front of a broken glass pane that was called art just yesterday: in a room full to the brim with historical and current glass objects, everyday use and purely decorative, showing about 100 years of history of various sides of this art & craft, one of the glass boxes that were otherwise full of stuff was empty, glass smashed and titled "Riot is beautiful", signed by a well known local artist/activist.
Such a thing exhibited on its own would be surface level pseudo-deep crap, but it was made specifically for this exhibition, to be viewed in this context. I know the dude's other work, so I know he has a sense of humor, and also he does genuinely interesting and ballsy things that are political and provocative without being trendy or stupid. So I believe this small bullshit art serves as a something of a reminder that although we're in a museum where every piece is protected, labelled and later archived and the air is climate controlled to conserve the (other, non-glass) objects, there's a real world out there where specifically these kinds of items get used and abused and everything is temporary, and it also aims to give you the thought of what it would feel like to smash all those dumb kitchy golden-rimmed cognac glasses on shelf 37.
It doesn't give you the same feelings as watching a painting from an old master, but it certainly gives you some thoughts despite being a piece of smashed glass with a title and nothing more. I admit that knowing the author is not an idiot, and therefore it makes sense to expect some thoughts to exist behind it, does help.
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Comment on How important is sexual chemistry/ability/quality to you when you date/marry/whatever? in ~life
V17 Link ParentNot actually doing it (or rarely) Doing mostly the right things but not visibly enjoying the whole thing too much Not being able to read you and react to what works in the moment Not being able to...And how can things like "eating out" not be learned?
- Not actually doing it (or rarely)
- Doing mostly the right things but not visibly enjoying the whole thing too much
- Not being able to read you and react to what works in the moment
- Not being able to or willing to learn in general, in the medium/long term
You'd be surprised by how many people fall into any of those categories at least a bit, for oral specifically, and it applies to both sexes. Many things can be learned, but many people lack the innate drive to do it.
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Comment on How important is sexual chemistry/ability/quality to you when you date/marry/whatever? in ~life
V17 Link ParentI think this is part of it. Clearly sexual inadequacy is one of the most common insecurities - but I don't dare project that around here specifically because Tildes is not exactly an average place...I think perhaps because sex is so intimate, that thinking of it as a physical activity like dancing or doing sports, would suggest that there’s a hierarchy. Which would be an uneasy feeling.
I think this is part of it. Clearly sexual inadequacy is one of the most common insecurities - but I don't dare project that around here specifically because Tildes is not exactly an average place and it's possible that most people around here are mature enough to either not suffer from that or be aware of it.
It has been my experience, and everyone I know who became fit and talked about it confirmed it, that the better your physical fitness the better sex you have. It doesn't mean that unfit people cannot have good and satisfying sex or that fitness is enough on its own, clearly not, but if everything else is working fine, then fitness (including thing that usually come with it like coordination) simply makes things obviously better. So I agree that at least partially the "physical activity" aspect is there.
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Comment on We can fix the future, Star Trek shows us how in ~humanities
V17 Link ParentThis is an interesting point and I don't know if I agree or not. Basically you say that even just presenting a very theoretical goal can be political if a large portion of society disagrees with...Some version of socialism is frequently presented as normal in the Star Trek universe. This would be considered highly political in the US today.
This is an interesting point and I don't know if I agree or not. Basically you say that even just presenting a very theoretical goal can be political if a large portion of society disagrees with that goal by default. The fact that this happens seems to be true for your example.
But my issue still exists: if you want to reach the goal, you need an actual plan on how to get there and how it's supposed to work legally, economically, and how would the specific policies affect how society works. Convincing people that some policy is worth pursuing is hard, but the really hard part and the actual real problem, especially with ambitious trek-like policies, is still always the implementation. Especially with socialism that we've seen fail in various ways over and over (unless we count common social democratic welfare state-like policies). And Trek gives us nothing there.
The thing that is highly political about it is that in the post-scarcity society, everyone benefits, unlike in our contemporary world where it's considered fine that there are both trillionaires and starving people.
But again, this tells us nothing about politics. I mean, I love this about Trek, and I think it can be inspirational on an individual level, but it's inspirational in terms of shaping your own behavior and outlooks based on it, not in terms of what policies to enact beyond maybe to raise tax progression in this case - but that's not an idea you got from Star Trek. Also post-scarcity society is one of the most fantastical aspects of Trek, so operating with that isn't particularly useful either.
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Comment on How important is sexual chemistry/ability/quality to you when you date/marry/whatever? in ~life
V17 LinkThis is not something that people often talk about on their own, so my sample is small, but several people around me who have been in happy monogamous relationships for 30+ years reported that one...This is not something that people often talk about on their own, so my sample is small, but several people around me who have been in happy monogamous relationships for 30+ years reported that one of the keys is a happy sex life. My own grandmother once saw a women's magazine with a big title saying "the best sex starts in your forties" and commented on it with "ha! The best sex starts in your sixties!".
I have a higher than average sex drive and it's very important for me. I am currently in a relationship with a great woman where I've felt sexually unfulfilled most of the time, for the first time in my life, which pushed me to think about it more consciously - what is or isn't an issue and why. The relationship is going to end soon for unrelated reasons (moving to a different part of the world), but if this wasn't a factor, I think there's a good chance that sexual incompatibility would break it anyway in the end.
I have found that for me the two most important things are:
- An innate drive to explore, to find things that work or that are fun, a drive to please and to find how to best do that for your partner
- Having similar sex drive and being receptive/reactive. For me the best relationship works like an almost nonstop mild foreplay that sometimes turns into sex.
I think the worst part about sexual incompatibility is just the feeling of being innately misunderstood (on both sides), which is a significant issue for me in relationships in general. But in the last year I have found that even if I temporarily have enough sex that is emotionally great and mostly checks the second point, without also checking the first point it's still not enough. When the first point is also checked, some incompatibility in terms of how specifically to approach things is more likely to be ironed out over time.
As opposed to some others here I do think that, in general, it's not always just incompatibility and some people are simply kind of bad at sex. I also agree that there likely is some correlation with hobbies like dancing. But I think that outside of kinks the most important things are still a high enough libido, reactivity and a drive to basically "explore your partner" and become better.
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Comment on We can fix the future, Star Trek shows us how in ~humanities
V17 (edited )Link ParentI can't really agree with this specifically, not on a level that's anywhere near useful for reality, but I was focusing mostly on the big issues like currency, real estate, redistribution, system...It may not come out with a specific bill in legalize, but it does in fact explore specific policies thinly couched as plot narrative.
I can't really agree with this specifically, not on a level that's anywhere near useful for reality, but I was focusing mostly on the big issues like currency, real estate, redistribution, system of government... The core things that also contain rather large contradictions within the Trek world.
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Comment on We can fix the future, Star Trek shows us how in ~humanities
V17 Link ParentThat is about what I mean, yes. The latter is unenforcable with policies (it's an "if everyone would just" type of solution, which is not a solution at all) and the former is something nobody has...That is about what I mean, yes. The latter is unenforcable with policies (it's an "if everyone would just" type of solution, which is not a solution at all) and the former is something nobody has any idea how to reach without the world completely crumbling, unless we get free energy and energy-matter converters. Plus this is only a part for what Trek shows, it also shows that Earth is at least partially ruled by a military organisation, and that private ownership/inequality obviously has some specifics, like Picard's family owning a big farm.
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Comment on Are there any video games that are/were popular in your country, that the rest of the world hardly knows about? in ~games
V17 Link ParentI can confirm that Moorhuhn was very popular in Czechia as well. Moorhuhn Winter Edition seemed like the peak of the franchise among non-gamers. I think the reason for the popularity was that you...I can confirm that Moorhuhn was very popular in Czechia as well. Moorhuhn Winter Edition seemed like the peak of the franchise among non-gamers. I think the reason for the popularity was that you could easily compare hiscores, and it was simple but not trivial to master, so people in non-gaming environments like offices could easily compete with each other.
What I loved about it as a kid was that it had many (semi-)secrets and tricks you could do to increase your scores. For example you could shoot out all the tiny lights in a village in the background and if you did, a flock of small chickens worth the most points flew out from behind. You could shoot each for 25 points, but if you shot just in front of its head it would change the direction of its flight, and if you did it 3 times in a row it would die of fear I guess, which was worth 50 points.
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Comment on Are there any video games that are/were popular in your country, that the rest of the world hardly knows about? in ~games
V17 Link ParentAs a central European I can confirm that I only heard about it from memes on reddit.As a central European I can confirm that I only heard about it from memes on reddit.
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Comment on Are there any video games that are/were popular in your country, that the rest of the world hardly knows about? in ~games
V17 Link ParentHow could you not mention Bulánci/Combat Pillows?! It's a simple 2d action game that became popular likely simply because it was freeware and supported hot seat multiplayer for up to 4 players....How could you not mention Bulánci/Combat Pillows?! It's a simple 2d action game that became popular likely simply because it was freeware and supported hot seat multiplayer for up to 4 players. Almost every school PC had it at some point. A relatively recent remake exists, but like most remakes it supposedly sucks.
I would add Vietcong to the list as well. I don't think it was that popular abroad but here I'd say it was almost as popular as Operation Flashpoint for a short while.
I think it may be worth mentioning that Czechoslovakia also had some ZX Spectrum scene, though I have no idea if there was anyone prolific exept František Fuka aka Fuxoft, who made probably something like two dozen games. Most were text adventures released only in Czech language, but there were other genres too, some mentioned at Moby Games. Of course videogames and computers in general were quite niche at that point, but in the context of the scene "our" games were known and significant.
There were some other games that were more known locally but were slightly more niche, like Quadrax, which was originally a ZX Spectrum game, and its tough puzzle gameplay created a small but dedicated group of fans, so unofficial sequels come out to this day. Perhaps Fish Fillets is better known, a similar genre and no doubt influenced by Quadrax.
Oh, and maybe Gates of Skeldal? A "blobber" style grid based RPG, inspired by games like Eye of the Beholder. Not nearly as mainstream as something like Mafia or H&D, but every fan of the genre knew it at one point.
The question was not just about local games though, and I wonder how many games that were seemingly quite popular here and possibly among our neighbors were not much known in the west.
Games that come to mind as possibly being in this category are Knights & Merchants, a sort of Settlers-like realtime strategy from Germany (which I know has some games mostly only known locally, the only one I can remember is the Clonk series), and Soldat, a side scrolling multiplayer action game. Both really good games, at least for the time. Maybe the Rage of Mages games?
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Comment on We can fix the future, Star Trek shows us how in ~humanities
V17 Link ParentThe difference is that I had reasonable expectations that I was going to enjoy Star Trek, whereas I find "internet leftist" discourse to usually be terrible, and it's not because I'm against...48 minutes is basically the length of an episode of Star Trek, so if you can do 650 of those you can probably do this too.
The difference is that I had reasonable expectations that I was going to enjoy Star Trek, whereas I find "internet leftist" discourse to usually be terrible, and it's not because I'm against leftist policies in general (I love our socialized healthcare and higher education) but precisely because "modern lefttists" tend to really suck at planning actual policies and thinking through their consequences. So my expectations here are very low, but due to the relation to Trek my interest is not entirely zero.
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Comment on We can fix the future, Star Trek shows us how in ~humanities
V17 LinkI'm not going to watch a 48 minute video on this, that's just too much. I have to say I'm a bit shocked by the topic though. I'm a big Star Trek fan, seen at least 650 episodes, most of them...I'm not going to watch a 48 minute video on this, that's just too much.
I have to say I'm a bit shocked by the topic though.
I'm a big Star Trek fan, seen at least 650 episodes, most of them twice, some more. And the optimism and utopia is one of my favorite things about it (though it certainly isn't the only part of "trek politics" and imo some western socialists willfully ignore other parts of the ideology of Trek, but that's for a different discussion).
That said, in my opinion one of the core features of Trek is that it's not "political" in the sense that it never explores actual policies. It does not explore how we're supposed to reach that utopia, how it works on the inside, how specifically is it governed, what is regulated and how etc. It says nothing about the things that are actually important!
I agree with its humanism and simple philosophical questions, but trying to follow it in terms of politics seems like a terrible idea because it usually doesn't actually provide any solutions.
Does the video disprove this in a reasonable way?
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Comment on Cuba’s Communist Party approves opening economy in unprecedented move in ~society
V17 Link ParentI guess I'm biased, living in a post-communist country, but in my opinion the reason is clearly "because a variation of this is what always happens". I agree. Now imagine what they could do if...I don't know why folks seem eager to blame communism
I guess I'm biased, living in a post-communist country, but in my opinion the reason is clearly "because a variation of this is what always happens".
Frankly, I consider the ecological and medical wins that Cuba has managed to be damn impressive, considering the situation they've been stuck in.
I agree. Now imagine what they could do if they didn't live under an evil, oppressive, corrupt and inefficient system.
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Comment on List of films adapted into novels in ~books
V17 LinkI remember randomly discovering and reading Total Recall maybe two decades ago, which is a particularly funny one as it's a book based on a film based on a short story. It wasn't good, but it was fun.I remember randomly discovering and reading Total Recall maybe two decades ago, which is a particularly funny one as it's a book based on a film based on a short story. It wasn't good, but it was fun.
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Comment on How funerals keep Africa poor in ~life
V17 Link ParentI strongly agree with this in general, but I'm not convinced that the kinship society angle makes more sense than for example the fact that the pan-african movement tried to adopt marxism as an...I strongly agree with this in general, but I'm not convinced that the kinship society angle makes more sense than for example the fact that the pan-african movement tried to adopt marxism as an antithesis to the ideology of the colonizers - something that arguably affects the economic development even more negatively, and as opposed to kinship vs poverty you can't really argue that the cause vs effect is the other way around, strong kinship existing as a way to deal with poverty.
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Comment on What is your eleventh favorite video game? in ~games
V17 LinkI don't think looking at Steam charts makes sense necessarily, it's dominated by multiplayer games that eat a lot of time, but sometimes were played because friends played them or they were more...I don't think looking at Steam charts makes sense necessarily, it's dominated by multiplayer games that eat a lot of time, but sometimes were played because friends played them or they were more addictive than good.
I needed to give it a bit of thought, but after a while the game that popped up as not necessarily top 11, but as a game that was very memorable, unique and gave me good memories and yet there's zero chance it's in top 10, is Borderlands 1.
I loved the atmosphere. Lonely space western with a combination of sillines, brutality and a feeling of genuinely being at the frontier, with scarce resources, crazy people, monsters and no help coming - despite all the ludonarrative dissonance stemming from how the actual game worked. The controls felt consolishly sluggish and the gunplay sucked, but the idea of an infinite number of guns was cool when seen for the first time, and the rare guns system was tuned so that finding a unique weapon really gave you something extra that lasted for quite some time.
Some parts of the game were boring or too repetitive, and of course the ending sucked, the story was not nearly as good as the setting, and like I said, the gunplay and controls - those are the reasons for never reaching top 10. But still, the art design was often really good, soundtrack was excellent, some of the places were cool as hell and the atmosphere and novelty were great, so was playing it with a friend.
Sadly the sequels, despite undoubtedly improving on some things, mostly threw out what I liked about the original: the lonely desolate space western atmosphere. And while they improved on the gunplay, it was still quite poor compared to most shooters with a small set of fully handmade guns, and the loot system was retuned so that rare weapons lasted shorter.
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Comment on Singer Oliver Tree dead at 32 following tragic helicopter crash in ~music
V17 Link ParentNot helicopters! Helicopters in general are afaik more dangerous, but especially private helicopters, where the pilots usually do not fly nearly much and as often. With helicopters that seems to...As a side note, it seems like this happens far too often with celebrities. I wonder if anyone has compared the death rate of celebrities in aircraft versus the general population. Air travel is by far the most safest way to travel for most people, but celebrities seem to die that way all the time.
Not helicopters! Helicopters in general are afaik more dangerous, but especially private helicopters, where the pilots usually do not fly nearly much and as often. With helicopters that seems to play a big role, more so than with planes.
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Comment on Does generative AI have a natural limit without a major innovation? in ~comp
V17 LinkThis is literally a billion dollar question. Nobody really knows. Imo the answers are Yes, though no idea how different the technology is going to be from the one we have now - it could be just...This is literally a billion dollar question. Nobody really knows. Imo the answers are
Is gen AI going to take us to general intelligence?
Yes, though no idea how different the technology is going to be from the one we have now - it could be just incremental development from LLMs gradually taking us someplace else, not necessarily a paradigm change. I think it can be as little as a decade away, depending on whether/when we manage to get to recursive improvements, using AI to improve itself.
(to be clear this worries me a lot, and I wish it didn't happen, but I think it will)
Will gen AI get to a place where it's "intelligence" and reasoning is actually better than the sum of Humanity?
"sum of Humanity" is very strong, I wouldn't bet on that specifically, though I guess it depends on definition. I think there's a big difference between a theoretical best possible sum of humanity, our potential, and a realistic sum of humanity, humanity that is uncooperative, tribalistic, irrational and full of conflicts. The latter, of course, seems more likely to be beaten.
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Comment on Does generative AI have a natural limit without a major innovation? in ~comp
V17 Link ParentAs a regular user since about ChatGPT release I don't think so. ChatGPT 4 was a huge step forward, and so was o1, the change to "reasoning" models that are now standard. Since then the gains have...As a regular user since about ChatGPT release I don't think so. ChatGPT 4 was a huge step forward, and so was o1, the change to "reasoning" models that are now standard. Since then the gains have been seemingly small, but also I haven't tested any of the frontier models that are hidden behind the higher tier subscriptions or in the case of Anthropic currently paused, and in the grand scheme of things the time since "reasoning" models proliferated has been incredibly short, we're just used to really fast development.
I don't know what the weather is like in Romania currently, but about 10 days ago during the brutal heat wave when it was 37° - 42° C around here, which is extremely rare, there was a lot of this happening around the country and the cause was the heat itself. Birds commonly set up nests at the edges of roofs, in metal gutters etc., which are normally relatively safe, but during the heatwave many became dangerously hot, especially for the young ones, so they would end up jumping off, often even blind, featherless ones, and many would die.
We have a relatively dense network of small private rescue stations, and they were flooded. I know this because it happened at my parents' house and my father drove the two sparrow babies that survived to the nearest one, where he had to wait for an hour because the dude was just picking up a box with like 12 young overheated birds from a different spot. No idea if they survived or not, but they looked viable, so fingers crossed.