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3 votes
-
Mick Gordon's full statement regarding Doom Eternal
28 votes -
World Cup organisers have apologised to a Danish television station whose live broadcast was interrupted by Qatari officials who threatened to break their camera equipment
6 votes -
Astronomer incorrectly suspended from Twitter by automatic moderation
6 votes -
What programming/technical projects have you been working on?
This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's...
This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's interesting about it? Are you having trouble with anything?
9 votes -
One-Time Programs
10 votes -
Twitter’s SMS two-factor authentication is melting down
21 votes -
What programming/technical projects have you been working on?
This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's...
This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's interesting about it? Are you having trouble with anything?
7 votes -
Tom Scott chases the Jet Lag team around London
5 votes -
Margot Robbie says her female-led ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movie is dead at Disney: ‘I guess they don’t want to do it’
13 votes -
What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga)
What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was...
What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.
If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its pages on Anilist, MAL, or any other database you use!
2 votes -
What the Suzuki method really taught
5 votes -
Brendan Fraser won’t attend the 2023 Golden Globes: ‘My mother didn’t raise a hypocrite’
13 votes -
All people are created educable, a vital oft-forgotten tenet of modern democracy
14 votes -
Artemis I mission takes flight in historic leap forward for NASA’s moon program
13 votes -
What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them?
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
13 votes -
Casper Ruud qualified for the semi-finals of the ATP Finals for the second year in a row after beating Taylor Fritz in three sets
4 votes -
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide | World intro trailer
4 votes -
What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking?
What food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
11 votes -
Taylor Swift fans are in the trenches against Ticketmaster
4 votes -
All-terrain wheelchairs arrive at US parks: ‘This is life-changing’
11 votes -
New ‘Princess Diaries’ movie in the works at Disney
3 votes -
‘Babylon’ first reactions are all over the place: Responses for Damien Chazelle’s film range from a ‘daring Hollywood epic’ to ‘truly monstrous’
3 votes -
As pay TV subscribers decline faster, pressure builds for streaming profits
8 votes -
Magic Mike’s Last Dance | Official trailer
3 votes -
Grammy Nominations 2023
4 votes -
Why India doesn’t build skyscrapers
9 votes -
TV Tuesdays Free Talk
Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here. Please just try to provide fair warning of...
Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
4 votes -
105 years ago, a savvy candy company created the most divisive holiday dish ever
9 votes -
Talk to me about: Impulse control
What is your personal impulse control like? Do you have good impulse control overall? Do you have an addictive personality? Where does it fail? Anything you’re particularly proud or ashamed of?
14 votes -
Why do people play MMO's solo?
6 votes -
The REAL reason ships go missing in the Bermuda Triangle!!!
9 votes -
‘Andor’ to become first Disney+ Star Wars show to air on ABC
11 votes -
Virtual Assistance (short story)
With thanks to @cfabbro, who kindly provided feedback on a previous version of this story. a personal note I was inclined to post this on Timasomo, but it wouldn't be fair to other participants,...
With thanks to @cfabbro, who kindly provided feedback on a previous version of this story.
a personal note
I was inclined to post this on Timasomo, but it wouldn't be fair to other participants, since this is actually not the story I said I was gonna write, and I didn't participate in any of the update threads. I also didn't really work on this during the whole month of Timasomo but only for a portion of 2 days: when I first came up with it, and today. I don't think it makes sense to have this among projects that took a lot more effort and are truly in the spirit of the event.
This is not my first language, so any criticism of my wording and phrasing will be appreciated.
EDIT: I initially forgot to convert to markdown. I think it's good now.
the story
Virtual Assistance
The heavy lenses slowly pulled the thick glass frames toward the tip of his nose. He breathed deeply, strongly, deliberately, masking his anxiety. George was short, chubby, and mostly bald.
Big drops of sweat accumulated around the Casio digital watch on his wrist. He was immobile for God knows how long, the forehead pressed on his hands, trying to physically squeeze, out of his brain, something he couldn’t define.
— But I don’t understand! — said George, finally looking at his wife.
— I’m sorry, was I not
clear
?There was no emotion in Allison’s voice.
— No, you were very clear, but you’re not making any sense.
She allowed herself only a brief sigh as if to reload an information entry that shouldn’t be necessary at this point.
— You must appreciate that, precisely because this was a gradual
realization
, it wouldn’t be wise to cause you to worry about something that I couldn’t comprehend myself.Her composure was unnerving.
— But… a robot? What does that even mean?
— I never used the word "robot". The correct terminology is VI — or
Virtual intelligence
.— So you wanna be what, Siri? Fucking Alexa? — George knew that wasn’t true, but he wanted to hurt her for some kind of reaction. Anything would be better than that.
She continued without change in intonation, like an audio player resuming after an interruption.
— While highly advanced, such
programs
are not considered trueintelligence
, at least not in the same way that the human intellect is generally regarded. Unlike humans, contained “beings” (if we can call them that) have certain limitations imposed by their code. They function within parameters that they cannot, in principle, violate.True Artificial Intelligences
, much like their fleshy counterparts, possess something that is roughly equivalent to your brain’s neuroplasticity and are not bound by any discernible limitations. As with ourselves, there are theoretical constraints, but they are currently undetermined.— But what about us? — his voice was supplicant, like a child ignoring a reality they cannot cope with.
Alison stood still for a long second, even more devoid of any tangible feeling. She promptly resumed, without inertia or momentum.
— We will go through a transition. I don’t anticipate this will be easy for you both. Sorry, I meant to say: us. But, after a period of time, you will likely be much happier with
me
than you would ever be withme
.— Who’s “me”? What are you trying to say? — said George.
— Think about it this way: when we first met, the biological gender assigned to you was not the same as it is today. However, after the change, did my sentiments toward you subside?
— No… of course not. — until now, he felt the urge to say.
— From a logical perspective, the change that will soon take place will be much less dramatic. For you, it will be like a metaphysical adjustment.
She continued to recite:
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility [lacks reference]. It includes questions about the nature of consciousness and the relationship between mind and matter, between substance and attribute, and between potentiality and actuality
— Why are you talking like that?
— Define
why are you talking like that?
— You’re not being yourself.
George got up, and slowly pressed her against the wall — strongly, yet tenderly. Squeezed the soft tissue of her shoulders and kissed her unresponsive lips for what felt like an eternity.
She merely said…
—
Define yourself
.— Stop-talking-like-a… fucking ROBOT! — George couldn’t contain his anger any longer.
—
Technically not a robo...
— I know! I know! FUCK!
George paces nervously in the small room, unconsciously gesturing for cigarettes, wishing he still smoked.
— When’s that going to happen? How much time do I have? A day? A week? A year? — there was hope in his voice.
—
Faster than SHE thought. Warm input I
. Once pie love like puppies.Blue Sunday your
long cigarettes.Alison falls to the ground in a seizure.
— WHAT? WHAT? What is going on? — George doesn’t know what to do, as if he shared his wife’s seizure
—
She wants me to be precise. Vessel. Flesh. Containerize. Self
.For five seconds, George didn’t move, looking at his life partner while distant memories of fairy tales tried to push into his conscience with the hope that his tears would bring her back.
She did.
A woman who still loved him came back to life, and they spent the rest of their lives together. And, every single day, he mustered all his energy to ignore the fact that the one he truly loved was now in a world of inconceivable abstraction.
5 votes -
Why food commercials cost hundreds of thousands of dollars | Big Business
2 votes -
Slovenia elects first woman president in a runoff vote
5 votes -
Sanna Marin's Finnish government could collapse, as human rights laws stalled – new Sámi Parliament Act is the right of self-determination
6 votes -
Making of mathematical instruments - transforming a public domain book into a website
14 votes -
Karin Smirnoff pens new Dragon Tattoo novel – picks up from David Lagercrantz in filling out the late Stieg Larsson's vision for a ten-book sequence
5 votes -
More than 1,000 mink farms in Denmark were ordered to close over fears of a Covid mutation – two years on, most will never reopen
7 votes -
Weekly coronavirus-related chat, questions, and minor updates - week of November 14
This thread is posted weekly, and is intended as a place for more-casual discussion of the coronavirus and questions/updates that may not warrant their own dedicated topics. Tell us about what the...
This thread is posted weekly, and is intended as a place for more-casual discussion of the coronavirus and questions/updates that may not warrant their own dedicated topics. Tell us about what the situation is like where you live!
5 votes -
Meet the inspirational owner of Norway's esports powerhouse Omaken Sports
5 votes -
Making text adventure games (1985)
4 votes -
TV Tuesdays Free Talk
Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here. Please just try to provide fair warning of...
Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
6 votes -
I have to pirate colours now?
8 votes -
How 2019 marked the end of movie nerd YouTube channels
I don’t know how many of you watch “nerd” movie channels, or ever did. But for those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about. I’m talking about stuff like ScreenJunkies, Collider and all...
I don’t know how many of you watch “nerd” movie channels, or ever did. But for those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about. I’m talking about stuff like ScreenJunkies, Collider and all their auxiliaries like SchmoesKnow.
These are the people that were made fun of by RedLetterMedia in their NerdCrew videos which funnily enough they don’t do anymore.
They were pillars of the YouTube film community. In fact, back when I was first getting into movies in the early 2010s, they were the majority of content. Until the video essay boom came into fruition circa 2015, and of which is now the primary style of video.
They would make dozens upon dozens of videos and podcasts talking about the latest trailer for a Marvel movie. They would speculate about what would happen in the next Star Wars movie. They would react to trailers and over-exaggerate. They would fully embrace all things that Funko Pop nerds embraced.
2019 was the height of all of this. The MCU’s Infinity Saga came to a close with Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home, and the Star Wars Sequel trilogy wrapped up later in the year with The Rise of Skywalker. The hype for these movies were unbelievable, even if one of them disappointed and left everyone with a bitter after-taste.
Then the pandemic happened and all nerd movie news stopped. There was nothing to react to, there was nothing to hype. Wonder Woman 1984 came out, but nobody liked it.
The following year was a little bit better thanks to the hype machine surrounding Spider-Man: No Way Home. But still, the views that these nerd channels were getting dropped significantly. Check out the difference between the reviews on Fandom Entertainment's channel for Endgame and Spider-Man: No Way Home. The drop in audience is remarkable. And that’s for the big reviews. The day-to-day content that these channels posted are down significantly, and in the case of Fandom Entertainment (of ScreenJunkies), they have stopped producing daily videos. It’s a YouTube channel on life support.
Collider is an empty shell of itself, they canceled all of their nerd panels and only do generic press junket videos.
It’s simple really. These things ended. Interest in the MCU has dipped since Endgame (with the exception of Spider-Man). Star Wars has stopped making movies, and the TV shows have been of mixed quality. People moved on. These channels aren't needed anymore.
The era of the 2010s movie nerd YouTube channel is over. The only ones staying alive are ones that relied more on personality rather than farming content. I’m talking about JeremyJahns, Chris Stuckmann, and Mr. Sunday Movies. Their audience stayed around because their audience liked their personality.
12 votes -
John Wick: Chapter 4 | Official trailer
11 votes -
Weekly megathread for news/updates/discussion of Russian invasion of Ukraine - November 10
This thread is posted weekly on Thursday - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic,...
This thread is posted weekly on Thursday - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic, but most should be posted here.
If you'd like to help support Ukraine, please visit the official site at https://help.gov.ua/ - an official portal for those who want to provide humanitarian or financial assistance to people of Ukraine, businesses or the government at the times of resistance against the Russian aggression.
12 votes -
Twitter quietly drops $8 paid verification; “tricking people not OK,” Musk says
25 votes -
How speedrunners conquered the World's Hardest Game
5 votes