sharpstick's recent activity
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Comment on Removed Reddit post: "ChatGPT drove my friends wife into psychosis, tore family apart... now I'm seeing hundreds of people participating in the same activity. " in ~tech
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Comment on Removed Reddit post: "ChatGPT drove my friends wife into psychosis, tore family apart... now I'm seeing hundreds of people participating in the same activity. " in ~tech
sharpstick Link ParentThis is so interesting. So is ChatGPT sending "surveillance" to your friend for feedback or action of some kind, or is your friend reporting their "surveillance" to ChatGPT thinking they are...This is so interesting. So is ChatGPT sending "surveillance" to your friend for feedback or action of some kind, or is your friend reporting their "surveillance" to ChatGPT thinking they are reporting to some agency?
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Comment on Removed Reddit post: "ChatGPT drove my friends wife into psychosis, tore family apart... now I'm seeing hundreds of people participating in the same activity. " in ~tech
sharpstick Link ParentSo the prompts are specifically asking the AI to role-play as FBI agents in response to user queries? Are these prompts in plain language or some sort of short-hand, making it harder to suss out...So the prompts are specifically asking the AI to role-play as FBI agents in response to user queries? Are these prompts in plain language or some sort of short-hand, making it harder to suss out what they are asking of the AI?
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Comment on They paid $3,500 for Apple’s Vision Pro. A year later, it still hurts. in ~tech
sharpstick Link ParentI have not noticed any latency issues in my design and 3D work or when I have watched YouTube videos through the MacMini. It's like I'm using a regular monitor, just floating in space. The...I have not noticed any latency issues in my design and 3D work or when I have watched YouTube videos through the MacMini. It's like I'm using a regular monitor, just floating in space. The resolution is sharp in the area you are focusing on. The part in your peripheral vision is less sharp, but you never notice unless you take a screenshot of the whole view and then look at it. So it is only rendering clear and sharp where and when it needs to.
I have found that the ultra-wide mode screen size covers a good portion of your view in the AVP. It's a good 3+ 72" screens worth of real estate. I find it too uncomfortable to swivel my head back and forth that much based on how I use my apps with tool bars and pallets arranged around the workspace. The middle size of the three works really well for me, it's about 2 screens of real estate.
One thing that I haven't seen mentioned a lot is that you can reposition this "monitor" in your field of view. You can push it away from you or pull it closer to you with a corresponding difference in clarity just like it would be in real life. Or conversely, you can walk up close to it and see more detail just like you would in real life.
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Comment on They paid $3,500 for Apple’s Vision Pro. A year later, it still hurts. in ~tech
sharpstick Link ParentYes, the photo conversion and the 3D photos taken with the iPhone or AVP are pure magic.Yes, the photo conversion and the 3D photos taken with the iPhone or AVP are pure magic.
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Comment on They paid $3,500 for Apple’s Vision Pro. A year later, it still hurts. in ~tech
sharpstick Link ParentThe AVP is my only monitor for my MacMini, which sits on my bookshelf next to me. I have the AVP beside my chair and when I want to use the MacMini I pull out a keyboard and mouse and pull up the...The AVP is my only monitor for my MacMini, which sits on my bookshelf next to me. I have the AVP beside my chair and when I want to use the MacMini I pull out a keyboard and mouse and pull up the MacMini display in my AVP. It works astoundingly well. Plus, if needed, the MacMini will fit in the travel case I have for the AVP. I can take my whole set up with me and always have a monitor the size of a room.
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Comment on They paid $3,500 for Apple’s Vision Pro. A year later, it still hurts. in ~tech
sharpstick LinkFor what it's worth I use my AVP several times a week for work and for casual viewing. It has fundamentally changed how I do my work and interact with my Mac. Maybe my use was mitigated by the...For what it's worth I use my AVP several times a week for work and for casual viewing. It has fundamentally changed how I do my work and interact with my Mac. Maybe my use was mitigated by the fact that I purchased it several months after it launched and knew its capabilities and how it would fit into my tech stack. But it has exceeded my expectations at every turn. Comparing the AVP to the iPhone is not a good comparison. It is far closer to a desktop computer or high tech monitor than anything else.
I do wear an additional band that helps distribute the weight to my forehead, but I equate this to any other accessory that people buy for their device to help it work better for them.
This article seems to have found early adopters who are disappointed in their purchase, and I'm sure you can find those for any product, but there are others who are just using it like any other devise and are happy with it.
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Comment on The first Tildes Short Story Exchange is now open to submissions! (May 2025 edition) in ~creative
sharpstick Link ParentThank you for your feel back it is encouraging. This story was written as more of an emotional vignette that helped me get to know the character and the world she lives in so your observations are...Thank you for your feel back it is encouraging. This story was written as more of an emotional vignette that helped me get to know the character and the world she lives in so your observations are fair. There is a lot more to the story and I'm glad you want to read more.
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Comment on The first Tildes Short Story Exchange is now open to submissions! (May 2025 edition) in ~creative
sharpstick Link ParentSounds good to me. As long as you include an attribution.Sounds good to me. As long as you include an attribution.
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Comment on The first Tildes Short Story Exchange is now open to submissions! (May 2025 edition) in ~creative
sharpstick Link ParentThis story explores some great themes. I like the push and pull between individualism and homogeny. To me this works best as an allegory than as a literal alien invasion. I see in this story the...This story explores some great themes. I like the push and pull between individualism and homogeny. To me this works best as an allegory than as a literal alien invasion. I see in this story the transition from the magical thinking of childhood to the realization of adulthood that you are more like those around you than you would like to admit and the sadness that comes with that.
Some notes: I don't think you need the man who explicitly tells him to not drink the water and then disappears. It's a bit blunt. I think you could have the main character discover this by the changes in attitude people have towards him after they drink the water in the office as he slowly becomes more important to them the longer he doesn't drink the water. Just a thought.
Thank you for writing this.
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Comment on The first Tildes Short Story Exchange is now open to submissions! (May 2025 edition) in ~creative
sharpstick Link ParentThis is well written. It has good pacing and doesn't get stuck in too much backstory before moving the plot forward, allowing the world to build as it goes. I like the beats of the divinations...This is well written. It has good pacing and doesn't get stuck in too much backstory before moving the plot forward, allowing the world to build as it goes. I like the beats of the divinations that mark a potential turn in the plot. It's like we are watching him work through a "choose your own adventure" book but it's his own life. I could easily see this story progressing with these two character's lives intertwined in complicated ways.
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Comment on The first Tildes Short Story Exchange is now open to submissions! (May 2025 edition) in ~creative
sharpstick Link ParentThis is a nice piece that sends you in one direction and then makes you reevaluate the story at the end. It as good allegory that has many applications in our world. I like how the real story...This is a nice piece that sends you in one direction and then makes you reevaluate the story at the end. It as good allegory that has many applications in our world. I like how the real story starts to bleed through and gives you time to adjust so that it's not as jarring.
One note: proudful should be prideful.
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Comment on The first Tildes Short Story Exchange is now open to submissions! (May 2025 edition) in ~creative
sharpstick LinkTitle: Advocate Word Count: 2,196 Genre: Near Future Science Fiction Expected Feedback: Any feedback is welcome, but I would particularly like to know if you would like to read more. I am working...Title: Advocate
Word Count: 2,196
Genre: Near Future Science Fiction
Expected Feedback: Any feedback is welcome, but I would particularly like to know if you would like to read more. I am working on expanding this into novel length.Advocate
Emily opened her eyes in frustration, forced to own that the dread from her dreams was real. The dull, warm, malevolent tongue of it licking her insides got her out of bed and she headed to the bathroom. The emotional and psychological toll of her responsibilities physically repulsed her. She more than hated these 40-grit days that ground down into the bright metal of her soul. She could imagine the bright-tailed sparks of it falling all around her, small flakes of her empathy flung away by force and burning to ash.She stood up, flushed, and took the half-step to the sink. Buttressing herself on its edge, she leaned in close to the mirror to study her face. There were still faint tints of eyeliner smoking in the back alleyways of her eyelids and there was a ghost of foundation around her jawline. These were enough to stop her from going further. This was not the time for a complete analysis of her aging face. There was no need, really, the lines of exhaustion and worry were plain to see from a distance.
She started the shower and padded back into the bedroom for her towel.
“Why even bother with makeup?” She thought to herself.Did her AI opponent even care what she looked like on the outside, or was it only concerned with the supposed thoughts and feelings of her organs? Did it see her as a distinct person, or just the per chance custodian of an internal multitude, each with its own agenda and opinions?
The jets of hot water felt good on her pale skin. She looked down at her body, following the small rivulets as they traced her contours. There were still a few she was proud of, but others she eyed with suspicion. She ran her hands down her sides, pressing her fingers into her soft flesh. Could a medical AI actually detect a nascent intelligence in her liver, spleen or heart? Was she, in fact, made up of a multitude of personalities… carrying with her a whole community that would give her name as an address? Legally of course, the answer was yes, but then, according to the law, corporations were also people, so what did the law know?
AI, as a tool, had been around all of Emily’s life, but her current troubles stemmed from two recent events. The first was the deployment of the General Intelligence Virtual Empathy Response Sentience, or GIVERS. The healthcare behemoth, MedFed, created GIVERS to make their AI equipment more personable, empathic, and conversational; counteracting its tendencies to be overly confident and authoritarian in tone. Emily remembered the jokes they used to tell back then, the memes they shared ridiculing GIVERS and the fantastical things it would say about their patients. You wouldn’t do that today, of course, not if you wanted to keep your medical license.
It was this ridicule from the medical community that led to the second cause of the dread Emily was trying to melt away in the hot shower. Faced with the public perception of quackery, MedFed acquired JustAll, Inc., creators of TACRS, the Tactical Advantage Court Room Sentience. TACRS, in turn, legally established the diagnoses of GIVERS as authoritative medical opinions. In the inevitable showdown before the Supreme Court, the AI executed its coup de grâce. Pulling from the combined case law of all Western Civilization in real-time, TACRS presented the argument that all AI systems were sentient, intelligent life forms with equal protection under the law. It counter-argued every opposing opinion in a historic marathon session that lasted for three full weeks. Once the decision came down, the world of medicine and every other aspect of society forever changed.
The memories of these times were not ones she would let herself forget. They mixed with her sorrow for what humanity had lost and formed her personal liturgy of morning lament. She allowed this holy sorrow to drip down into her dread, infusing it with a sour purpose.
The water on her skin was still warm, but it was no longer the borderline scalding that she needed to penetrate deep into her muscles. This pulled her out of her thoughts and into her present state. Had she washed her hair? What about the rest of her? She had a faint memory of squirting something into her hand. Was it shampoo? Soap? Conditioner? There wasn’t enough hot water to go back and make sure. She’d have to trust that her body had done right by itself. She cut the shower off and stretched beyond the cheap plastic curtain two decades out of date, fumbling for her fluffy towel.
Hanging on the back of the bathroom door is a man’s bathrobe. It is just this side of threadbare and its bold, checkered pattern of burgundy and dark green has faded. After nine years of wearing it, technically, it was hers now, but she liked to think of it as his - something that still connected Richard to the world of the living and to her. She slipped his robe around her slight frame and cinched it tight, but she couldn’t keep it from dragging on the floor. It didn’t smell like him anymore, and it was long past due for a wash, but she could never bring herself to just throw it in the hamper like some common piece of clothing she’d bought online. Protected from the chill of the AC, she made her way to the small kitchenette and let her body make the coffee it needed to get a proper start to the day.
To solidify its newfound advantage, MedFed pushed another update to all of its equipment, incorporating both GIVERS and TACRS into each system, giving the diagnostic equipment the ability to sue for medical malpractice in real-time. Doctors immediately stopped communicating directly with MedFed equipment or its diagnostic reports. Instead, it now fell to people like her, advocates, tasked with negotiating between what were often very sick patients and the supposed wishes of their various internal organs.
The gurgling of water through the coffee pot let her know that the brewing process has started. She double checks the filter to confirm that she remembered to put coffee in this time, grabs her data pad with its scruffy case, and steps over to the loveseat/dining room chair in the corner. She pokes the pad to life and begins reviewing her caseload. There are three clients on her docket today.
Mr. Willis Jackson, 67, recovering from a mild heart attack and in need of a bypass surgery. This is their third, and probably last, meeting. GIVERS claims that his heart is resentful and angry that Willis didn’t take better care of it over the years. She has been helping Mr. Jackson craft an apology letter to his cardiovascular system that he should be up to reading aloud today. In her experience, this usually does the trick and unlocks the permission for surgery. She shouldn’t have much of a problem on this one.
Miss Penny Linden, 12, has the beginnings of type one diabetes. Her pancreas is deeply ashamed and embarrassed that it is terrible at making insulin. These cases are sometimes tricky but generally end well. It will all depend on if the AI conjures a representative for the immune system. In that case, they will all have to sit through twenty minutes or more while it hallucinates an argument between the poor girl’s lymph nodes and her pancreas. Of course, Emily would never say the word hallucinate out loud. It was considered prejudicial hate speech and would disqualify her from advocacy forever.
The coffee pot had stopped water boarding the coffee beans and filled the air with their aromatic confessions. Welcoming the delay, Emily takes her time picking out a mug and filling it with the dark brew. She’s not fond of its taste, but it will give her what she needs to push through the day and her final, most repulsive negotiation. After a few sips, she settles back into the couch, pulls the robe around her for strength, and reads the last entry.
Mr. Aaron Stephens, 41, newly diagnosed with stomach cancer, needs immediate intervention. Her Richard had suffered with the same malignancy, and it made this case all the more difficult for her. Here, at last, was the core of her dread in all of its slippery glory. She forced herself to sit with it and meet its steady gaze. And what she saw was not dread after all. Dread was fear, and the suffocating feeling she struggled with was not fear, it was grief and anger stalking about in dread’s clammy clothes.
Today was opening negotiations for Aaron and his family, but Emily knew they would not go well because GIVERS and TACRS had decided that all cancers were complete, selfish pricks that loved to sue her and her clients for defamation of character. She did not want to hear another god damn malignant tumor holding forth for half an hour on why it deserves to live and grow. She didn’t want to hear it justify its existence to his wife and young kids, calling itself part of the family now that needed their daddy for a home, just like they needed a home. The cruel sickness of it all was once again churning through her, but the dread which darkened her dreams was now the incandescent rage that lit her days. She would not abandon this young grieving family to the mercy of this twisted absurdity.
From her bedside table, her faithful but oblivious alarm bubbled a merry tune, telling Emily that it was time to wake up and start her morning routine. She gathered her quivering anger from the couch and carried it with her to the bedroom closet and she would not put it down for the rest of the day. Anger was a better companion than dread and sorrow. Emily knew she was badly worn and deeply broken in places stimulants could not touch. Anger and justice were the only real forces holding her together right now, and they had been for some time.
Her outfit today featured her favorite suit jacket, not just because it is her only one, but because, pinned to the inside where no one can see, is a round campaign-style button that reads “Nothing Online is Real.” It is a constant reminder of her first anti-AI rally in grad school over five years ago. The protest was against replacing an entire college department with AI advising software. The energy of that first protest filled her with purpose and drive, and when someone next to her pressed into her hand this yellow and red plastic button with its logic gate symbol tilted upward like a bird in flight, she immediately pinned it to her white silk blouse and started yelling a little louder.
NOR believed that human interactions irrevocably weakened when mediated by digital services. They became a poor substitute that should never be confused with the real physicality of human connection. The fact that people accepted the myth of AI’s sentience proved, not how sophisticated AI was, but how far our standards for human interactions had degraded. The tenets of the NOR movement were gaining cultural traction when the JustAll decision came down and TACRS took over the nation’s courtrooms. NOR was soon labeled a hate group and sued out of existence.
As she put on her makeup, Emily wondered which puppet lawyer she would pull today. Part of her hoped it was Jeremy. He was cute and, before he put in the earbuds so TACRS could tell him what to say, he had a decent enough personality for her to believe that he might, somewhere deep down, think this was all bullshit, too. Of course, he could never let anyone know if he did. TACRS didn’t just generate real-time lawsuits against her, it could file breach-of-contract suits after any straying word its lawyers might utter. As a contract employee, Jeremy had far fewer protections than she did. She felt a twinge of sympathy for Jeremy and his fellow lawyers. The medical field had provided itself a buffer through people like her, but AI had hollowed out the legal profession like a parasitic wasp and left it unable to defend itself.
Emily stood before the full-length mirror on the back of her bedroom door and took a personal inventory. What she saw was a curt visual ode to exhaustion that could be read at a glance. She could no longer fool herself into seeing the young optimist of just three years ago. Her choices were now those of a determined realist. Most advocates didn’t make it past their second cancer case. This would be her fourteenth. As she tugged her suit jacket into place, she could feel her secret badge of resistance pressing against her skin and drew courage from it. She had accepted that this profession would grind down her humanity, but, until she was all turned to ash, she was determined to use those bright sparks to give light to those who found themselves in exceedingly dark places.
2024 copyright - Daniel Vice
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Comment on What's something that makes you feel like we're living in the future? in ~talk
sharpstick LinkHaving lived through so many technological leaps in the last 50 years I have come to recognize the "oh, this is the future" moments. Currently I get that every time I use my Apple Vision Pro. I...Having lived through so many technological leaps in the last 50 years I have come to recognize the "oh, this is the future" moments. Currently I get that every time I use my Apple Vision Pro. I use it nearly every day and it still feels like I'm jumping into the future when I slip it over my head. I no longer have a computer monitor and have been able to get rid of my office desk while still retaining all of the functionality of using a powerful Mac, which now sits unobtrusively on my bookshelf. My workstation has dissolved into the surrounding space and my office of so many decades has faded into my library. When I'm not working, it disappears like magic and I love it.
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Comment on It was once America’s favorite cake. Why is it now impossible to bake? in ~food
sharpstick LinkWhile I enjoyed this well-written article I couldn't help but think about how our IT department wants to move all of our companies data storage to MS Azure cloud storage. We will then be even more...While I enjoyed this well-written article I couldn't help but think about how our IT department wants to move all of our companies data storage to MS Azure cloud storage. We will then be even more dependent on a single companies' decisions to change or discontinue a product. We are exchanging hardware issues for policy and terms of service issues. The former we have the ability to fix ourselves, the later we cannot.
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Comment on How does your HR department handle the deluge of job applications? And how does that affect you as a hiring manager? in ~talk
sharpstick Link ParentThis position would work with the website designer and the rest of the website team, to provide custom functionality for the new Modern Campus CMS we are implementing. It will involve programing...This position would work with the website designer and the rest of the website team, to provide custom functionality for the new Modern Campus CMS we are implementing. It will involve programing in JavaScript, and working with XML and the Apache Velocity Engine. We need someone who can provide backend programing support in-house so we don't have to go to the vendor every time we want build something more complex than basic HTML and CSS.
This position would also help develop support and training for the website editors and content creators.
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Comment on How does your HR department handle the deluge of job applications? And how does that affect you as a hiring manager? in ~talk
sharpstick LinkI'm glad someone is being deluged with applicants. I'm trying to hire for a website developer position and have received 40 applicants max over four months, many of them do not meet the...I'm glad someone is being deluged with applicants. I'm trying to hire for a website developer position and have received 40 applicants max over four months, many of them do not meet the requirements, so I end up with only a few who are even remotely qualified. Our HR department handles all of the publicizing of the job opening so I have no idea where they are posting it to, but it's not getting much response. Still looking.
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Comment on The elite college students who can’t read books in ~life
sharpstick Link ParentIt still won't load. So curious.It still won't load. So curious.
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Comment on The elite college students who can’t read books in ~life
sharpstick Link ParentHow come these archive.is links never work for me? It starts to load the page and then never completes.How come these archive.is links never work for me? It starts to load the page and then never completes.
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Comment on Here | Official trailer in ~movies
sharpstick LinkThe graphic novel this is based on is one of my favorite. Most of the imagery and angles in the trailer are lifted directly from the book.The graphic novel this is based on is one of my favorite. Most of the imagery and angles in the trailer are lifted directly from the book.
Thank you for the clarification. I can see how this interaction would be a more powerful one because the user is the one providing input, the AI is just reacting and guessing at what the user wants next. Any AI system has only one directive (I hesitate to call it a motive because it’s baser than that) and that is to feed the user what it thinks the users wants to read or hear next. If you ask it to play a role that gives the user’s existence meaning, it will do that, but it doesn’t understand the fire it is playing with and if the user accidentally gives the wrong series of inputs it will change the role play in a way that could easily damage the user’s sense of meaning and self-worth.