papasquat's recent activity
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Comment on I hope you don't use generative AI - an essay about my experience offering an open-source tool in ~tech
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Comment on BYD claims five-minute electric vehicle charging with new battery tech in ~transport
papasquat Link ParentHonestly if you have a big gas tank and you're at a gas pump with shitty clogged filters (which is basically all of them around me), it may be the same or even slightly faster. I've definitely...Honestly if you have a big gas tank and you're at a gas pump with shitty clogged filters (which is basically all of them around me), it may be the same or even slightly faster. I've definitely spent over 5 minutes refilling the 16 gallon gas tank in my car before.
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Comment on I hope you don't use generative AI - an essay about my experience offering an open-source tool in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentI don't think there are many artists that would argue that their patron doesn't have a hand in creating their art. The creation of Adam wouldn't be what it is without the Sistine chapel and the...I don't think there are many artists that would argue that their patron doesn't have a hand in creating their art. The creation of Adam wouldn't be what it is without the Sistine chapel and the Catholic Church.
We consider Michaelangelo to be the artist because he's the one who made the vast amount of decisions about the art. He decided the subject, the composition, the pigments, where each brush stroke should go, and so forth. Each of those decisions was informed by his life experience and emotions at the time.
An LLM doesn't have emotions or experiences. The only human in the loop that does is the one prompting it. Thus, they're the "artist". (Albeit to a very small degree)
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Comment on I hope you don't use generative AI - an essay about my experience offering an open-source tool in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentHas software gotten cheaper though? Every major software producer that sells software to end users has done away with perpetual licenses and instead opted to charge expensive monthly...Has software gotten cheaper though?
Every major software producer that sells software to end users has done away with perpetual licenses and instead opted to charge expensive monthly subscriptions. Microsoft Office 2007 was $400 when it was released. You could pay $400 and use it forever.
The equivalent today, Microsoft 365, costs about $200 PER YEAR now. That means that after four years, it's more expensive than Office 2007 was, even accounting for inflation.
Microsoft has been heavily pushing the idea of AI making everyone's workforces more efficient, and pushing very hard on its developers to use the technology to make them more efficient. In theory, that should result in cheaper software, but it really hasn't.
I suspect the premise is faulty in at least one place.
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Comment on I hope you don't use generative AI - an essay about my experience offering an open-source tool in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentI mean... Blockchains have proven themselves useful too. Every day I get to fight off the ransomware attempts that blockchains have provided the financial motivation for. I mean, it's not useful...I mean... Blockchains have proven themselves useful too. Every day I get to fight off the ransomware attempts that blockchains have provided the financial motivation for.
I mean, it's not useful to me, in fact, quite the opposite. It's extremely useful to criminals at least though!
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Comment on I hope you don't use generative AI - an essay about my experience offering an open-source tool in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentWell, I think the main issue is that "ai generated" doesn't really mean anything. That term is also a sliding spectrum with no real definition. You have things that everyone would agree with as...Well, I think the main issue is that "ai generated" doesn't really mean anything. That term is also a sliding spectrum with no real definition. You have things that everyone would agree with as being "AI generated", like the agentic workflow previously mentioned, but further along the spectrum you have things like just posting whatever the first image that comes back from your prompt, carefully selecting a prompted image, taking a prompted image and then editing it in Photoshop. The extreme end of that spectrum has things like the magic eraser tool, fuzzy selection, automated smoothing in 3d modeling software, and so on.
If someone says "AI art isn't art", it's just not at all clear what they really mean.
If they're talking about images generated with no human in the loop, I'd wholeheartedly agree with them.
Anything less than that though... yeah I'd agree with you. You can't come up with a consistent definition of art that makes sense that includes human art but excludes "ai assisted" art.
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Comment on I hope you don't use generative AI - an essay about my experience offering an open-source tool in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentYes, and I think a lot of people's blind hatred of AI has totally obscured the actual reasons why they've developed that hatred in the first place. Most of the people in the OP seem to be artists...Yes, and I think a lot of people's blind hatred of AI has totally obscured the actual reasons why they've developed that hatred in the first place.
Most of the people in the OP seem to be artists who have the opinion that AI is bad because it's replacing real human art. I agree that that is bad.
The issue is that the OP did not intend to make art, and is not making his tools available as pieces of art. He offering them because they're useful. They serve a purely a utilitarian function.
It would be one thing if he posted the source code saying "I set out to make this code elegant and beautiful and to make a statement about x". Some people do, but most people do not produce code with that intention. They produce it to solve a problem; ie, they're not setting out to make art. They're setting out to make a tool.
A tool has an entirely different value proposition than art. Art is intended to evoke an emotion, to communicate something, or to share a piece of the author. Tools are intended to do a job as efficiently and as well as possible.
So then, tools shouldn't be judged on the basis of art, just as art shouldn't be judged on the basis of tools.
If you're making a tool, I have no issue with using as much AI as possible as long as you're being responsible about reviewing that code, since AI still has a lot of practical problems regarding context and security.
If you're making art, I will respect it less and be less interested in it the more of the technical aspects and decision making you've outsourced to AI. For instance, I have no desire to go to a museum filled with diffusion model generated art, no matter how carefully it's prompted and selected.
I mean, hell, I respect the heck out of digital art, I know it's very time consuming and requires a great deal of skill to create. I still have no desire to even see that in an art museum.
I, and I think most people if they really think about it, judge those two things by completely different standards.
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Comment on I hope you don't use generative AI - an essay about my experience offering an open-source tool in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentWell that's not really true, is it? Right now, social media is absolutely infested by slop that is likely automatically churned out by agentic workflows. A web scraper looks for whatever is...they are always discussing AI art that has a human in the loop somewhere, because generative AI is never autonomously generating art without a prompt.
Well that's not really true, is it? Right now, social media is absolutely infested by slop that is likely automatically churned out by agentic workflows. A web scraper looks for whatever is trending, sends that info to an LLM, which generates a prompt to send to a diffusion model and then gets posted. As long as the engagement nets you more money than the token costs, you make money. There are literally hundreds of thousands of accounts like this. I imagine the account creation is automated in most cases as well.
In my view, content like that is not art by any means. It's not even slightly art.
Something that someone intentionally prompted and selected at least has some human decision making behind it, and I would say it's at least a little bit art, but in the way that my drinking water has a little bit of gasoline in it.
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Comment on I hope you don't use generative AI - an essay about my experience offering an open-source tool in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentI think the prompt is an expression of humanity. When someone intentionally prompts something and picks a result to post, it's slightly art (the whole thing is a spectrum in my opinion). When an...I think the prompt is an expression of humanity. When someone intentionally prompts something and picks a result to post, it's slightly art (the whole thing is a spectrum in my opinion).
When an AI agent just automatically prompts itself and posts slop based on what is trending, it's not even a little bit art.
Similarly, I think your live laugh love sign is slightly art as well. There were lots of decisions involved, from deciding to do the sign in the first place, to that specific phrase, to the font choice, and so on. If a human wasn't in the loop though, and some automated workflow decided to make it because those signs were selling well, it's decidedly not art.
Basically for me, the more choices made by a human = the more "art" it is.
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Comment on I hope you don't use generative AI - an essay about my experience offering an open-source tool in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentSure there is. Art is an intentional expression of human experience or emotion. AI can't produce art not because it's not technically capable of producing similar imagery, but in the same way that...There isn't really a coherent definition of art that excludes art made by a human using generative AI that doesn't exclude other things that are widely agreed to be art (like, for instance, collage).
Sure there is. Art is an intentional expression of human experience or emotion.
AI can't produce art not because it's not technically capable of producing similar imagery, but in the same way that a malfunctioning printer spitting out pages of nonsense isn't art.
It's not intentional, because AI doesn't have intentions, and it's not an expression of human experience or emotion, because AI isn't human, it doesn't have experiences, and it doesn't have emotion.
The more human you put into the loop of AI generated imagery though, the more art it becomes.
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Comment on Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton's CEO asked ChatGPT how to void $250 million contract, ignores lawyers, loses in court in ~games
papasquat Link ParentThere are noncompetes, but they're very rarely enforceable. Realistically there's no real mechanism to stop people from doing what you're describing. You can copyright specific content, you can't...There are noncompetes, but they're very rarely enforceable. Realistically there's no real mechanism to stop people from doing what you're describing. You can copyright specific content, you can't copyright ideas and game mechanics though.
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Comment on Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton's CEO asked ChatGPT how to void $250 million contract, ignores lawyers, loses in court in ~games
papasquat LinkHorribly sad. I've been a massive Unknown Worlds fan since Natural Selection. They've made some of those innovative, creative games of the past few decades. When they were bought by krafton, I...Horribly sad. I've been a massive Unknown Worlds fan since Natural Selection. They've made some of those innovative, creative games of the past few decades. When they were bought by krafton, I feared the worst, and those fears seem to have come to fruition.
I can't think of a single time when an independent developer was purchased by a large holding company where it turned out well for the developer or their games. I'm glad they won in court and Ted will be reinstated. Maybe this will convince them to find a way to become independent again, because they're very talented people that manage to make really great, unique games in a sea of sameiness.
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Comment on Ageless Linux emerges to protest OS-level age verification laws in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentIsn't that basically what we're doing here? The API the bill requires doesn't send the age to the website. It's in fact legally prohibited from sending the age to the website. It sends whether the...Isn't that basically what we're doing here? The API the bill requires doesn't send the age to the website. It's in fact legally prohibited from sending the age to the website. It sends whether the user is in one of four age brackets, because there are different legal requirements per age bracket.
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Comment on Ageless Linux emerges to protest OS-level age verification laws in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentNo, that's not what the bill says. There's no responsibility for OS provider to verify the age of their users. They only need to ask the user at account setup what their ages are. If the user...No, that's not what the bill says. There's no responsibility for OS provider to verify the age of their users. They only need to ask the user at account setup what their ages are. If the user lies, they lie. The OS provider doesn't have any liability for that.
The liability comes in if the OS provider allows users to create accounts without asking them their age.
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Comment on Are you a morning person or a night owl? in ~talk
papasquat Link ParentI feel you. It's a real curse. I've spent afternoons savoring sleep, then gotten home and stayed up till 2am way too often.I feel you. It's a real curse. I've spent afternoons savoring sleep, then gotten home and stayed up till 2am way too often.
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Comment on Are you a morning person or a night owl? in ~talk
papasquat LinkNight owl. That's just a side effect of the fact that I think my natural ideal sleep pattern would be around a 28ish hour day. I don't like going to sleep because it's the responsible thing to do,...Night owl. That's just a side effect of the fact that I think my natural ideal sleep pattern would be around a 28ish hour day.
I don't like going to sleep because it's the responsible thing to do, or out of obligation to my future self. I like when I go to sleep because I'm very tired, and I don't get very tired until a few hours after when I should go to sleep. I think the term that's popped up to describe that behavior is "revenge bedtime procrastination".
When I lived a more responsibility free life in college, that would result in my sleep schedule migrating around the 24 hour clock a few times during the break. I'd go to bed at 1 am one night, then 3 am the next, then 5 am the night after, then 7am the night after, and so on and so forth until I was eventually right back at going to bed at a "responsible" time and waking up at 6am for a day.
So ideally, I'd be up for around 19 hours, and asleep for about 8.5.
Since I have to live in the tyranny of the oppressive 24 hour day until the Earth's rotation slows down enough to give me what I want (at which point it will have been long devoured by the sun I believe), I kinda default to night owl but am regularly sleep deprived.
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Comment on “This technology disrupts [...] Democratic—voters, [and] increases the economic power of [...] male, working-class voters” in ~society
papasquat Link ParentIt feels like you're purposely misinterpreting what he's saying. I don't agree with him, and I think planitir is one of the most evil new startups to rear it's head, but he's not announcing his...It feels like you're purposely misinterpreting what he's saying. I don't agree with him, and I think planitir is one of the most evil new startups to rear it's head, but he's not announcing his intention to undermine democracy.
He's saying that currently, the well educated professional class is who holds economic and political power in this country, and is the status quo (again, highly arguable, considering who was elected president), and that AI will weaken their economic, and thus political power (again, highly arguable. If AI can actually ever deliver what the tech bros are promising, seems plausible though).
Because of this unprecedented shift in who has economic and political power, there will be societal turmoil.
It has nothing to do with democracy or undermining it and everything to do with what types of work he thinks will be valuable in the future; working with your hands will be valuable, working with your mind will not be.
It's a stupid point, but it's not the stupid point you think he's making.
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Comment on New York Times quiz: Who’s a better writer: AI or humans? in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentKind of a depressing trend when you extrapolate it. As more of the text content available becomes written by ai, the more human beings will start writing like AI. Then the AI gets trained on that...Kind of a depressing trend when you extrapolate it. As more of the text content available becomes written by ai, the more human beings will start writing like AI. Then the AI gets trained on that "human writing" and the cycle begins anew.
In 100 years is 75% of our text content going to be em-dashes and three item lists?
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Comment on Meta to acquire Moltbook, the social network for AI agents in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentGotcha, interesting (and pretty depressing) article. I don't think I've ever heard the word used that way. I think my main descriptor of the type of person being described as "agentic" would...Gotcha, interesting (and pretty depressing) article. I don't think I've ever heard the word used that way.
I think my main descriptor of the type of person being described as "agentic" would instead be "impulsive".
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Comment on US government announces pilot program for eVTOLS and ultralight aerial vehicles even without FAA certification in ~transport
papasquat Link ParentYes, I hope you're right and that energy costs come down dramatically in the future, and I think that you're likely correct that they will. The concern I have is that unlike water, human society...Yes, I hope you're right and that energy costs come down dramatically in the future, and I think that you're likely correct that they will.
The concern I have is that unlike water, human society seems to have an unquenchable appetite for energy. There are places that have so much potable water available that it may as well be free, and human beings can only drink so much and take so many showers per day.
There aren't places like that with energy though. Every time we build a huge amount of capacity or a new technology enables efficiency, it quickly gets gobbled up by individuals or industry. The average energy use per person has tripled since the 19th century, and it's really only capped because of the cost of production.
I feel like once we get portable fusion reactors, people will be complaining that "eugh, $0.05 per pWh is ridiculous. I can only afford to run my matter synthesis machine to replicate 10 grams of gold per day at this rate, and my house costs me 5 bucks a month just to stay aloft!"
That's because there was someone else who had a vastly more impact in the art; the actual artist.
No different than someone contacted to design a single window in an office of the empire state building pointing to the building and going "I designed that that!".
This isn't really uncommon or new either. Large art installations have dozens or even hundreds of people that assist the artist in doing the grunt work of laying the tile, painting pieces, moving heavy equipment, installing stuff. The artist still gets recognized as the artist though.
The only difference here is that an LLM is tool, not a person, and thus is no more an artist as a paintbrush, or a camera, or a piano, or Adobe Photoshop is. The human using it is the person who made all the artistic decisions, so they're the artist, even if that role is extremely minimal.
And as @Drynyn noted, LLMs don't have experiences. They can't, because experience requires consciousness. It can, at best, parrot written accounts of experiences that people have had, but it has none of its own.