adutchman's recent activity
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Comment on Do I belong in tech anymore? in ~tech
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Comment on A friend showed me another "learned a new language" site in ~comp
adutchman LinkI have been following Roclang for a while now, which is also on Exercism. It's slogan is "Fast, Friendly, Functional", so think F# but with a syntax built with the Python philosophy. It's an...I have been following Roclang for a while now, which is also on Exercism. It's slogan is "Fast, Friendly, Functional", so think F# but with a syntax built with the Python philosophy. It's an interesting little language with some cool concepts (like platforms, which allow you to embed the language). Highly recommend checking it out!
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Comment on Hungarian president Tamás Sulyok signs constitutional amendment ending his own mandate in ~society
adutchman LinkSeems like a reasonable change on the surface and such rules are desperately needed in Hungary to prevent corruption in the legislature. The age limit also seems reasonable and maybe even a bit high.Seems like a reasonable change on the surface and such rules are desperately needed in Hungary to prevent corruption in the legislature. The age limit also seems reasonable and maybe even a bit high.
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Comment on 'VPNs are lawful technical tools,' says EU court in landmark Anne Frank copyright ruling in ~society
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Comment on Need advice about work in ~life
adutchman Link ParentNot necessarily, in the Netherlands it's mainly driven by the uptick in EVs, heatpumps and solar panels.Not necessarily, in the Netherlands it's mainly driven by the uptick in EVs, heatpumps and solar panels.
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Comment on Need advice about work in ~life
adutchman Link Parent+1 there is still a living to be made in software, though it is tougher to get in.+1 there is still a living to be made in software, though it is tougher to get in.
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Comment on Need advice about work in ~life
adutchman Link ParentI can attest that, due to the energy transition, skilled electricians are in super high demand.I can attest that, due to the energy transition, skilled electricians are in super high demand.
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Comment on Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson finally explains his decision to bid $3.2B for parking meters before walking away in ~transport
adutchman Link ParentI agree that it is skewed, because AI tends to be disproportionately usefull as a dev. Even then, I do get sick of vibecoded crap that inevitably breaks (and who has to fix that...). I also hate...I agree that it is skewed, because AI tends to be disproportionately usefull as a dev. Even then, I do get sick of vibecoded crap that inevitably breaks (and who has to fix that...). I also hate the fact that lot's of devs take the opportunity to take AI as an excuse to make more shitty stuff instead of making good stuff slightly faster. I also hate dealing with people who answer my thought out question with "this is what Claude said". It's all around a sad state of affairs.
Forced AI use is the worst, that is just directors/bosses going with the next shiny thing and that never helps anyone. I've heard of companies forcing a minimum amount of tokens used (yes, you read that right). That just ends up with devs generating lorem ipsum to hit the quota.
With all that being said, it still had it's place, for me at least. I use it to check my texts for logical errors (I write it myself first, then it gets a go at correcting errors I have to approve), take a technical text I wrote and some new requirements and updating it (which I then check the changes of and improve) or make overview images/documents which are a one-off, to name a few. All tasks I could do myself, but don't add much additional value, joy or learning for me.
You shouldn't be forced to use it, no, but it could still be usefull. Wishing you the best with dealing with the forced AI bullshit at work though, that sucks.
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Comment on Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson finally explains his decision to bid $3.2B for parking meters before walking away in ~transport
adutchman Link ParentOkay, so I looked it up: I thought I remembered this from an AI course I took, but I misremembered. Summerisation is one of the finetuning steps you can take (make an LLM more domain specific),...Okay, so I looked it up: I thought I remembered this from an AI course I took, but I misremembered. Summerisation is one of the finetuning steps you can take (make an LLM more domain specific), but it is not necessarilly one of the pre-training tasks, that is exclusively next token prediction.
Sorry about that.
Seperate from that I want to make a distinction based on my experience: you might be mentioning something like the AI summary from Google, which indeed is lauhably bad. That is probably because it is not a true summary: it takes parts of the search results and fills in the rest, and that is prone to the AI hallucations we're all used to.
That being said, if you take a modern model, and input a full text that isn't too long as input, it will produce a fairly accurate summary in my experience. The example above shows this as well. AIs follow their input, but input tokens are expensive, so Google cannot input all top artocles in it. If there isn't enough input, the AI starts to go off script which increases hallucations. If the text is fully used as a source, this risk is a lot lower (but not zero).
In general, I just feel like there is a disconnect between the opnion of AI of folks here and on broader forums, and of people I meet in daily life. Online, it seems people are either AI zealots (no thank you) or AI haters. I'm a dev, and AI is very useful for me in creating real worth, but that is only possible with effort, which is something the AI slop zeolots never put in (see the human attention, human effort blog). It is a tool you need to know when to use and how to use. Writing off AI wholesale seems counterproductive to me personally.
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Comment on Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson finally explains his decision to bid $3.2B for parking meters before walking away in ~transport
adutchman (edited )Link ParentI was not commenting on the reality of AI slop being horrible, which I wholeheartedly agree on. I pointed out that one of the tasks that LLMs are trained on, is summerizing. That makes them good...I was not commenting on the reality of AI slop being horrible, which I wholeheartedly agree on. I pointed out that one of the tasks that LLMs are trained on, is summerizing. That makes them good at it. It does hinge on the output being complete, because an LLM is a machine that produces output that is statistically likely, not necessarily accurate. So you're right on that front.
In other words: despite AI being slop being bad, summarising an input is a task that they are pretty good at overall. That still does not mean you can trust them fully.
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Comment on Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson finally explains his decision to bid $3.2B for parking meters before walking away in ~transport
adutchman Link ParentAI summaries are not completely bogus: it is one of the tasks they were explicitly designed and trained to do. I for one appreciate the overviewAI summaries are not completely bogus: it is one of the tasks they were explicitly designed and trained to do. I for one appreciate the overview
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Comment on Give me your culture clash stories in ~travel
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Comment on Give me your culture clash stories in ~travel
adutchman Link ParentInteresting. In the Netherlands, this would have been fine. If a busdriver needs to leave the bus, they just leave it open for people to get in while waiting for the next one to get onInteresting. In the Netherlands, this would have been fine. If a busdriver needs to leave the bus, they just leave it open for people to get in while waiting for the next one to get on
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Comment on Dbrand has cancelled their "Companion Cube" Steam Machine case, because they didn't ask Valve for permission in ~games
adutchman LinkGood on Valve, they should've just asked for permission. Shame nontheless though, looked coolGood on Valve, they should've just asked for permission. Shame nontheless though, looked cool
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Comment on The Online Accent Database: Explore authentic accents with a growing video library of real-world interviews in ~humanities.languages
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Comment on I'm looking for an adage or "law" (like Conway's law), but for dealing with AI slop in ~tech
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Comment on Why carbon capture can't solve climate change in ~enviro
adutchman Link ParentThat's grossly understating it. CCS is one of the best examples of fossil fuel lobbying and misdirection. For example:...That's grossly understating it. CCS is one of the best examples of fossil fuel lobbying and misdirection. For example: https://www.desmog.com/2024/10/07/uks-22-billion-carbon-capture-pledge-follows-surge-in-lobbying-by-fossil-fuel-industry-records-show/. 22 billion is a lot of money that could be used for solutions that are proven to help today. Instead it is used as an excuse to continue polluting.
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Comment on Why carbon capture can't solve climate change in ~enviro
adutchman Link ParentAgain, there's two parts to solving climate change: going net zero, and going negative carbon. Today, every dollar spent on CCS is a dollar better spent on reducing emissions. Claiming investing...Again, there's two parts to solving climate change: going net zero, and going negative carbon. Today, every dollar spent on CCS is a dollar better spent on reducing emissions.
Claiming investing in CCS today is better than investing in any other solution like solar is incorrect.
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Comment on Why carbon capture can't solve climate change in ~enviro
adutchman (edited )Link ParentThe point of the article, I think, is not to say that the principle of CCS is wrong, but that fossil fuel companies have been pushing it as a 'solution' to climate change, so we don't have to...- Exemplary
The point of the article, I think, is not to say that the principle of CCS is wrong, but that fossil fuel companies have been pushing it as a 'solution' to climate change, so we don't have to transition away from fossil fuels (or CO2 intensive processes). The fact is that that is plain wrong. CCS does not work today, many other solutions do, but they require us to transition away from fossil fuels.
Now, CCS after we are largely done with the energy transition? That is an enticing idea, but in the same way fusion research is important: it might help us in the future, but not today.
Btw, the fact that this discussion is confusing, is because CCS is a well-known fossil fuel industry decoy, here's a video on the subject: https://youtu.be/nJslrTT-Yhc
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Comment on Why carbon capture can't solve climate change in ~enviro
adutchman LinkGreat write-up by ProPublica on how Carbon Capture and Storage has been hailed by oil companies a solution to climate change, even though it has never proven to work in the real world.Great write-up by ProPublica on how Carbon Capture and Storage has been hailed by oil companies a solution to climate change, even though it has never proven to work in the real world.
I am not in games development, but in my work as a software developer, I can say that this is simply not true. Me and many of my colleages use AI in a very thorough way and it still saves time. Most time is saved in tasks along the lines of "Do A, which is like B I already made, but with XYZ done in different ways". Or think of things like helper scripts, helping with work for deploying software/a game, etc.
On the cost front, remember that good developers are quite expensive, so even a few hundred dollars a month is worth it with a productivity boost.