post_below's recent activity
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Comment on Power consumption of LLM's in ~tech
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Comment on The White House now determines which customers can access new AI models in ~tech
post_below Link ParentNow worries, it's easy to miss, especially since they did some post editing.Now worries, it's easy to miss, especially since they did some post editing.
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Comment on The White House now determines which customers can access new AI models in ~tech
post_below Link ParentIt's an interesting development, but I bet we can find sources that aren't AI written.It's an interesting development, but I bet we can find sources that aren't AI written.
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Comment on Should the plural of "milf" be "milfs" or "milves"? in ~humanities.languages
post_below Link Parent/MIL(FS?|VES)/i/MIL(FS?|VES)/i
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Comment on Bot web traffic has overtaken human web traffic in ~tech
post_below Link ParentAt the moment the majority of AI content is pretty easy to spot once you've seen the patterns enough times. And hard to spot until you have. Here's a good place to start:...At the moment the majority of AI content is pretty easy to spot once you've seen the patterns enough times. And hard to spot until you have.
Here's a good place to start:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Signs_of_AI_writingI haven't seen any credible estimates of the percentage of content that's AI generated. It can really only be a wild estimate at this point since there aren't any perfect detection tools.
The volume of LLM posts and articles is really high though, I come across multiple examples every time I visit a big aggregator like HN.
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Comment on Bot web traffic has overtaken human web traffic in ~tech
post_below Link ParentThat's great, may it never change! If the login is a publicly accessible page: to be safe, don't get a public certificate for it or visit it in chrome. Edge either.That's great, may it never change! If the login is a publicly accessible page: to be safe, don't get a public certificate for it or visit it in chrome. Edge either.
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Comment on How important is sexual chemistry/ability/quality to you when you date/marry/whatever? in ~life
post_below Link ParentI've experienced that, including when they seem to have the instinct to do the opposite of what makes sense. Some people don't feel confident physically when they're on top, or otherwise in...This last partner I had, which is what opened up all of this in my brain, whenever we were in a position that relied on her movement, physicality, and ability. It didn't really seem like either one of us were enjoying it. When I tried to help in those moments, her physical instinct was always to fight against it
I've experienced that, including when they seem to have the instinct to do the opposite of what makes sense. Some people don't feel confident physically when they're on top, or otherwise in control. Sometimes they're in their head about how they look, or whether they're doing it right. Some people get tired quickly. Maybe they're in the particular position because they think it's expected of them rather than because they want to be. In all those cases they're not comfortable, which means they're not flowing. No one has perfect instincts when they're uncomfortable.
But I wouldn't say that's a lack of skill. It's just that the situation doesn't work for them for some reason. In my experience time, communication and trust solves it.
Although of course, without really good drugs, trust isn't usually on the table for casual sex. Time isn't always an option either. In which case I guess the skill framing makes more sense.
But it still feels like a contradiction in terms. Mind blowing to one person is awkward and uncomfortable to another so there aren't really any universal skills. Unless we're talking about skills like emotional intelligence, or understanding the basics of the other person's anatomy.
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Comment on Bot web traffic has overtaken human web traffic in ~tech
post_below Link ParentTrue, then once they find a WP endpoint and add the site to a list that gets passed around, they start coming more often.True, then once they find a WP endpoint and add the site to a list that gets passed around, they start coming more often.
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Comment on Bot web traffic has overtaken human web traffic in ~tech
post_below Link ParentTo add to this, if you put a page/site online today that isn't linked anywhere on the internet (thus effectively invisible) and you just put a security certificate on it, within days you'll be...To add to this, if you put a page/site online today that isn't linked anywhere on the internet (thus effectively invisible) and you just put a security certificate on it, within days you'll be getting 100s of bot hits/day. Once it's indexed, multiply that by 10, double it if there's a contact form or comment boxes, triple it if it's running software that's a popular target (like wordpress), multiply by 10 again if it becomes a reasonably popular social site with user generated content.1
1 napkin math based on real world sites
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Comment on Bot web traffic has overtaken human web traffic in ~tech
post_below LinkI don't have any links for you, but a clarification: Bot traffic very likely first started outpacing human traffic at least a decade ago. Scrapers, search engine spiders, bots sniffying for common...I don't have any links for you, but a clarification: Bot traffic very likely first started outpacing human traffic at least a decade ago. Scrapers, search engine spiders, bots sniffying for common vulnerabilities, social media link info grabbers, even SMS and messaging apps send bot hits. A single bot instance can hit multiple pages a second for tiny fractions of a penny in electricity costs, humans never stood a chance.
So bot traffic volumes versus human aren't really that interesting, bots were always going to have higher volume. The interesting question is about content that people are actually consuming/interacting with. How much of that is automated?
Almost definitely bots are already ahead of humans on content creation volume, but traditionally the majority of that is SEO spam that people only interact with accidentally and rarely stay long. Humans are still way ahead when it comes to content that people actually engage with.
Now with LLMs there's a real possibility that could change, but it hasn't happened yet.
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Comment on How important is sexual chemistry/ability/quality to you when you date/marry/whatever? in ~life
post_below LinkI'd frame it completely differently. There's no good or bad when it comes to sex, just different. Sure experience makes a big difference, but only in that it hopefully teaches you to pay...I'd frame it completely differently. There's no good or bad when it comes to sex, just different. Sure experience makes a big difference, but only in that it hopefully teaches you to pay attention. Without presence it's just down to chemistry and luck, maybe with a side of context and lead up.
But with women that can’t dance I often find that they struggle to keep up with anything I’m trying to do. Like if I’m trying to set a rhythm they fight against the rhythm, not on purpose, it’s like dancing they just don’t have the rhythm.
Perhaps they weren't fighting your rhythm, just dancing to a different one. Or misreading you possibly. It doesn't make them bad at sex, just incompatible with your version.
From my perspective sex is like a conversation, the most important skill is listening. Their body will tell you how they want to dance, even if they don't know it consciously, if you pay attention.
Almost anyone can have a good conversation if someone approaches them with curiousity and empathy.
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Comment on The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars. He fears for an America where generosity is trolled. in ~tech
post_below Link ParentThanks for the links, I don't have time to watch them now but I'm kinda curious what Craig is like liveThanks for the links, I don't have time to watch them now but I'm kinda curious what Craig is like live
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Comment on The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars. He fears for an America where generosity is trolled. in ~tech
post_below Link Parent'The Farm Poor People for Longevity Blood Infusions for the Rich' Foundation just doesn't have mass appeal.'The Farm Poor People for Longevity Blood Infusions for the Rich' Foundation just doesn't have mass appeal.
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Comment on Who was the first transgender person? in ~lgbt
post_below Link ParentThanks for posting, that was really interesting. I'd never heard about this Which led me to this. TLDR: Transgender prophet stoner priestesses. Which is almost definitely going to be the coolest...Thanks for posting, that was really interesting.
I'd never heard about this
In the fifth century B.C.E., two Greek authors – Herodotus, known as the father of history, and Hippocrates, the father of medicine – wrote about people they call Anarieis from Scythia, a vast ancient territory to the north and west of the Black Sea that today would be part of Ukraine and Russia. Their descriptions of the Anarieis’ gender are similar to the way many people describe trans women today. Their accounts are supported by what we know about Scythia and Anarieis from anthropologists and archaeologists today.
Which led me to this. TLDR: Transgender prophet stoner priestesses. Which is almost definitely going to be the coolest thing I learn about today.
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Comment on The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars. He fears for an America where generosity is trolled. in ~tech
post_below (edited )LinkCheers to Craig, and all the billionaires still signed on to The Giving Pledge. I don't know a lot about the guy aside from his philanthropy and his refusal to sell out craigslist over the years...Cheers to Craig, and all the billionaires still signed on to The Giving Pledge.
I don't know a lot about the guy aside from his philanthropy and his refusal to sell out craigslist over the years but it's always good to hear about wealthy people that want to do something besides horde and build space penises.
The article has some interesting details about his un-lavish life (still takes public transportation) and ideals.
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The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars. He fears for an America where generosity is trolled.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
post_below Link ParentI can't deny the appeal of hard problems! I'll be curious about your solutionsI can't deny the appeal of hard problems! I'll be curious about your solutions
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
post_below LinkLike @edoceo I've recently been working on a way to make bot protection suck less. My solution isn't particularly exciting: Run extensive signal and behavior scoring to determine if a request...Like @edoceo I've recently been working on a way to make bot protection suck less. My solution isn't particularly exciting: Run extensive signal and behavior scoring to determine if a request needs to get a CAPTCHA gate.
The goal is for humans to never see a challenge, while challenging the majority of automated traffic reliably.
So far it's working great, after a lot of iteration over time, but I haven't yet run it on a high traffic site.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
post_below Link ParentThat's an ambitious project, not so much the tech, but trying to mix human scale and global network scale. If the goal is to replace CAPTCHA, wouldn't it need to fail requests by default? You...That's an ambitious project, not so much the tech, but trying to mix human scale and global network scale.
If the goal is to replace CAPTCHA, wouldn't it need to fail requests by default? You could only pass requests where attestation already existed. And wouldn't that mean that it would always auto-fail some percentage of potentially valid requests even if you managed to drive widespread adoption?
In addition, wouldn't you need a central attestation store because you couldn't rely on users being connected to the network at a given time? And in that case wouldn't it only work if there was already an attestation record for that request? Would it be IP based? Fingerprinting?
Or am I misunderstanding and this is meant to replace CAPTCHA on just one particular site? In that case though it sounds like invite-only would be a lot easier and more reliable.
Hopefully I'm missing something because better CAPTCHA is something we all want.
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Comment on Does generative AI have a natural limit without a major innovation? in ~comp
post_below Link ParentThis is entirely unsolicited, feel free to ignore it, and I don't intend to be condescending in any way. Unless you're close to retirement (and maybe even if you are), be wary of this tendency!...This is entirely unsolicited, feel free to ignore it, and I don't intend to be condescending in any way.
But also I'm tired of the world completely changing around me every 15 years.
Unless you're close to retirement (and maybe even if you are), be wary of this tendency! There isn't much that ages you faster than the disconnection that comes from feeling like the world has left you behind and doesn't make sense anymore.
And the speed with which "everything changes" is likely to keep increasing provided some catastrophe doesn't send us back to the dark ages.
Since we don't know what frontier model power use looks like, we can extrapolate from open weight model power use and just scale it up to larger models. It's not perfect but even with a very large margin of error it's clear that the power consumption from individual LLM use is negligible.
That includes training because, to do the math in good faith, you need to amortize the training cost among all users over the full life of the model.
Without doing emotionally motivated math I don't see a way to make individual usage into a significant concern.
The concern is about the power demands of the industry as a whole. How much will it increase prices? How many coal and gas plants will stay online longer (as opposed to being replaced by renewables) to meet demand? Will legislators do anything about it? If datacenters had to factor in the cost of their impact and otherwise take responsibility for externalities, it would solve most of the problems. They'd be investing in renewable energy for their facilities, installing closed loop cooling (it's not new technology, just a bit more expensive) and taking efficiency seriously.
As it is right now in many places, datacenters are able to offload costs onto the surrounding communities via the power grid and water supply. The solution is to make them pay those costs.
IMO it's a mistake to follow the petrocarbon industry climate change playbook and misattribute responsibility onto individuals to distract from the only real problem: The datacenter operators, the model labs and the money behind them.