blivet's recent activity

  1. Comment on The West doesn’t understand how much Russia has changed in ~misc

    blivet
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    The less the western economies entangled with Russia and China the better, as far as I’m concerned.

    The less the western economies entangled with Russia and China the better, as far as I’m concerned.

    6 votes

  2. Comment on What is a value or belief you have that is extremely outside the norm? in ~talk

    blivet
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I feel the same way. To me, art is fundamentally a special form of communication. If there's just some algorithm on the other end it's not art. It might be beautiful or even moving, the way a...

    Personally, I naturally assume that there are someone in the other end, communicating with me.

    I feel the same way. To me, art is fundamentally a special form of communication. If there's just some algorithm on the other end it's not art. It might be beautiful or even moving, the way a natural phenomenon like a forest or a sunset can be, but it's not art to my mind, because there's no communication involved.

    3 votes

  3. Comment on My not so nice thoughts on Battlestar Galactica in ~tv

    blivet
    Link Parent
    It’s worse than that. Over the course of the series the producers kept insisting that they had an overall arc plotted out, and that they knew where the story was headed. It turned out that they...

    My understanding is that there was no planned arc for the entire series, they just sort of wrote as they went, so set-ups and payoffs weren't satisfying and revelations didn't tend to make a lot of sense.

    It’s worse than that. Over the course of the series the producers kept insisting that they had an overall arc plotted out, and that they knew where the story was headed. It turned out that they were just winging it.

    7 votes

  4. Comment on Reddit shares soar 14% after company reports revenue pop in debut earnings report in ~tech

    blivet
    Link Parent
    I know what you mean. I haven’t visited Reddit much since the boycott, only when a search brings me there, but back when I was an active user the comment threads consisting entirely of puns or...

    I know what you mean. I haven’t visited Reddit much since the boycott, only when a search brings me there, but back when I was an active user the comment threads consisting entirely of puns or quotes from TV shows were so mechanical that it really would have made no difference if they were posted by bots, and a lot of the other content was extremely predictable as well.

    17 votes

  5. Comment on Heat death of the internet in ~tech

    blivet
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I just had a quick look at the Wikipedia entry for homeopathy. It didn’t seem particularly unhinged to me. It clearly lays out the history of homeopathic medicine and its underlying theory, and...

    I just had a quick look at the Wikipedia entry for homeopathy. It didn’t seem particularly unhinged to me. It clearly lays out the history of homeopathic medicine and its underlying theory, and simply states that there is no evidence that homeopathic remedies work. That is just a fact, and an important one to point out, considering that it’s dangerous to rely on medical treatments that don’t actually do anything.

    13 votes

  6. Comment on The Boys | Season 4 official trailer in ~tv

    blivet
    Link Parent
    Yeah, according to some comments on YouTube there is going to be a fifth season. Personally, I think this one should have been the last. There’s only so much the creators can do with the premise...

    Yeah, according to some comments on YouTube there is going to be a fifth season. Personally, I think this one should have been the last. There’s only so much the creators can do with the premise while maintaining the status quo, and last season it started to become obvious that they are treading water instead of advancing the plot.

  7. Comment on Is TV advertising still relevant? Does anybody under 60 even watch traditional TV anymore? in ~tv

    blivet
    Link Parent
    Yeah, for all its faults, in retrospect old-style broadcast TV served an important purpose as a cultural unifier. Pretty much everybody watched All in the Family or Laugh-In or whatever, and even...

    We seem to have lost the cultural touchstone of watching live events altogether, and perhaps that lack of a collective experience is contributing to some of the current friction and strife we're seeing all around these days.

    Yeah, for all its faults, in retrospect old-style broadcast TV served an important purpose as a cultural unifier. Pretty much everybody watched All in the Family or Laugh-In or whatever, and even people who didn't were familiar enough with the top shows to talk about them.

    3 votes

  8. Comment on Is TV advertising still relevant? Does anybody under 60 even watch traditional TV anymore? in ~tv

    blivet
    Link Parent
    My FIL is pushing 80 and he cut the cord. He’s a big football fan and he decided to subscribe to the NFL streaming service to watch the games. He says he’s saving over $100 a month not paying for...

    My FIL is pushing 80 and he cut the cord. He’s a big football fan and he decided to subscribe to the NFL streaming service to watch the games. He says he’s saving over $100 a month not paying for cable when the only thing he actually watched was sports anyway.

    10 votes

  9. Comment on ChatGPT provides false information about people, and OpenAI can’t correct it in ~tech

    blivet
    Link Parent
    Yeah, if a company’s software can’t be stopped from spreading false information about people, then it’s bad software and the company will just have to stop using it. Too bad, so sad.

    Yeah, if a company’s software can’t be stopped from spreading false information about people, then it’s bad software and the company will just have to stop using it. Too bad, so sad.

    9 votes

  10. Comment on The tech baron seeking to “ethnically cleanse” San Francisco in ~life

    blivet
    Link Parent
    Even talking to other programmers about programming can be incredibly frustrating. Some of us apparently just can't conceive of ever being wrong or knowing less than another person.

    Even talking to other programmers about programming can be incredibly frustrating. Some of us apparently just can't conceive of ever being wrong or knowing less than another person.

    25 votes

  11. Comment on Is Tildes failing to thrive? in ~tildes

    blivet
    Link Parent
    Yeah, it always frustrates me on old-style forum sites when someone genuinely adds to the discussion on an old thread, only to be chastised for necroposting. If you’ve got something useful or...

    Yeah, it always frustrates me on old-style forum sites when someone genuinely adds to the discussion on an old thread, only to be chastised for necroposting. If you’ve got something useful or interesting to say, it shouldn’t matter that the topic hasn’t been brought up in a while.

    5 votes

  12. Comment on Scientists push new paradigm of animal consciousness, saying even insects may be sentient in ~enviro

    blivet
    Link Parent
    It might be possible, but that is manifestly not what is happening.

    It might be possible, but that is manifestly not what is happening.

  13. Comment on Scientists push new paradigm of animal consciousness, saying even insects may be sentient in ~enviro

    blivet
    Link Parent
    So you're saying that you did not perceive or understand my earlier comment, that you were entirely unaware of it, and your brain wrote a response to it automatically?

    So you're saying that you did not perceive or understand my earlier comment, that you were entirely unaware of it, and your brain wrote a response to it automatically?

    1 vote

  14. Comment on Scientists push new paradigm of animal consciousness, saying even insects may be sentient in ~enviro

    blivet
    Link Parent
    Then what is perceiving the illusion?

    Then what is perceiving the illusion?

    6 votes

  15. Comment on Help me ditch Chrome's password manager! in ~tech

    blivet
    Link Parent
    I also use the Bitwarden extension with Firefox. The only thing I don’t like about it is that when I login to a site it always puts up a fairly intrusive banner asking if I want to save the...

    I also use the Bitwarden extension with Firefox. The only thing I don’t like about it is that when I login to a site it always puts up a fairly intrusive banner asking if I want to save the password, even if the password is identical to what it already has stored.

    3 votes

  16. Comment on Scientists push new paradigm of animal consciousness, saying even insects may be sentient in ~enviro

    blivet
    Link Parent
    Judging by what I’ve seen online, there is a fairly sizable contingent that refuses to acknowledge that even dogs and cats are conscious. They seem to genuinely think that animals are just robots...

    Judging by what I’ve seen online, there is a fairly sizable contingent that refuses to acknowledge that even dogs and cats are conscious. They seem to genuinely think that animals are just robots made of meat.

    22 votes

  17. Comment on Is Tildes failing to thrive? in ~tildes

    blivet
    Link Parent
    Yeah, in fact Reddit got too much traffic, now that I’m looking back on it. Posts would get “old” far too quickly. One thing I like about Tildes is that a given topic will stay current for much...

    Yeah, in fact Reddit got too much traffic, now that I’m looking back on it. Posts would get “old” far too quickly. One thing I like about Tildes is that a given topic will stay current for much longer, leading to more solid discussion.

    28 votes

  18. Comment on Ryan Gosling movie 'Project Hail Mary' set for Spring 2026 in ~movies

    blivet
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    I liked how his lack of courage explained a significant plot point. It was nice seeing all the pieces fall into place.

    I liked how his lack of courage explained a significant plot point. It was nice seeing all the pieces fall into place.

    5 votes

  19. Comment on Trap | Official trailer in ~movies

    blivet
    Link Parent
    Assuming the trailer is actually telling us the truth, the twist is actually more subtle this time around: we don't want the protagonist to succeed. That said, I think there is quite a bit more...

    Assuming the trailer is actually telling us the truth, the twist is actually more subtle this time around: we don't want the protagonist to succeed.

    That said, I think there is quite a bit more going on. How could the authorities know that the person they are looking for would attend the concert? Why was the guy working the concession stand such a blabbermouth, and why would someone in his position know all about the plan anyway? It would make more sense for people like him to be treated like the concertgoers and told nothing.

    Anyhow, at the very least it looks like a solid action movie.

    4 votes

  20. Comment on AI and the end of writing in ~tech

    blivet
    Link Parent
    Yeah, people who use words like “hallucination” want to make it sound like these text generation algorithms are conscious when they are nothing of the sort.

    Yeah, people who use words like “hallucination” want to make it sound like these text generation algorithms are conscious when they are nothing of the sort.

    9 votes