Amarok's recent activity
-
Comment on Looking for songs that include recordings of commentary in ~music
-
Comment on What irrational video game requirements do you have? in ~games
Amarok I only have a couple. No mods? Wake me up when it's a real game, until then I'll pass. Never pre-order anything. No exceptions.I only have a couple.
- No mods? Wake me up when it's a real game, until then I'll pass.
- Never pre-order anything. No exceptions.
-
Comment on Why is the discourse on Tildes so much nicer than most places on the internet? in ~tildes
Amarok Tildes supports regex like automod, but also lua scripting to take it to the next level. It's a long overdue upgrade to community modding, and it'll make for vastly more intelligent modding...Tildes supports regex like automod, but also lua scripting to take it to the next level. It's a long overdue upgrade to community modding, and it'll make for vastly more intelligent modding capability in larger and more wily groups down the road. Tildes itself kinda is Automoderator v2. This time it's the site itself instead of a bolt-on.
Deimos also made SubredditSimulator. :)
-
Comment on Single dose of clinical-grade LSD provides immediate and lasting relief from anxiety, wins approval for phase III trials in ~science
Amarok I suspect it's also got something to do with how experienced someone is with their drugs. Even on just simple plain cannabis, the lowering of the blood pressure and the faster beating of the heart...I suspect it's also got something to do with how experienced someone is with their drugs. Even on just simple plain cannabis, the lowering of the blood pressure and the faster beating of the heart can cause some people to go full panic mode thinking they are having a heart attack. There are also some people for whom the typical mild cannabis paranoia is a real problem. Drugs hit everyone differently.
Having tripped twice myself (mushies, 2g first time, 7.28g second time) I can say that this is not your typical drug. It's much stronger, much longer lasting, and there are no easy off ramps. If you are the sort of person who is relatively well rounded, not easy to phase, comfortable and self-actualized inside your own mental head-space, you'll do alright, though the time dilation will freak anyone out a bit until they get used to it.
Personally I find it's easier to ditch the clocks, have no expectations or obligations - a clear schedule for the day of the trip and the day after. The last thing you'd want to do is trip while under pressure of any kind. The drug may amplify it rather suddenly when you think of that source of worry while tripping and make you panic about that term paper you've been neglecting - that's kinda what makes it so powerful. It blasts through internal filters effortlessly, making emotions harder to suppress, if you can suppress them at all. It sucks if you're in a bad situation, but it's great if you're spending an afternoon with your significant other - it goes both ways. You can control it, and afterwards it's not even a big deal, but learning that control and getting used to it takes time, won't be done in one trip.
I had a blast both times and it obliterated my bad mojo for weeks afterwards. For me it was more like vitamins than drugs, if that makes sense. I'd definitely sign up for micro-dosing. Don't like the physical effects very much, won't miss them, don't need to trip. I have aphantasia so I get no hallucinations anyway, not that I imagine they'd be something I'd even want to see in the first place. I would however like to reclaim my optimism and drive on a more permanent basis. :)
If you're the sort of person who has outbursts, be they panic attacks or fits of rage or any other uncontrollable behaviors or emotions or thoughts, psychedelics can bring them out and crank them up to fifteen. That's best done in a clinical setting, not at a party. They will help cure them, but they also trigger them, it's part of the process. I guess you could look at it as the most severe triggering of whatever's bothering you that you'll ever experience - and likely the last time you ever get triggered by it again.
The drug is basically going to make you twelve years old again for six to eight straight hours. Same toddler attention span, same tendency for outbursts, and every sensation unfiltered like it's the first time. This is why trip buddies are so important - twelve year olds do a lot of stupid things, and so might you, especially if you're in a bad space. This drug requires adult supervision to be safe.
-
Comment on Why is the discourse on Tildes so much nicer than most places on the internet? in ~tildes
Amarok I'll share a little secret about the internet that almost no one knows. Try that with music on youtube - or any service that has music and comments together in the same space. You'll be surprised...nearly any youtube video
I'll share a little secret about the internet that almost no one knows. Try that with music on youtube - or any service that has music and comments together in the same space. You'll be surprised how consistently that stuff is minimized when music is part of the focus. I have literally seen people who have daily death matches with each other on other parts of reddit chatting about music in the various music communities as if they are lifelong friends. I don't even think they recognize each other's handles when that happens.
I don't know what this effect is, but I do know moderation of music communities is easy mode. :)
-
Comment on Why is the discourse on Tildes so much nicer than most places on the internet? in ~tildes
Amarok On a forum like Reddit they would abuse it to absurdity in ten minutes, but Reddit is a child's forum not so different from 4chan - just less honest about it. This is a more adult inclined forum,...On a forum like Reddit they would abuse it to absurdity in ten minutes, but Reddit is a child's forum not so different from 4chan - just less honest about it. This is a more adult inclined forum, and we think that that a good or powerful tool is worth providing even if it can be abused because adults don't abuse those things. We'd instead just take away a person's ability to use the labels after they abuse the privilege of having them. Everyone gets access to them seven days after signup under the assumption they will be used in good faith. If they are not, it's a simple thing to shut them back off.
Invite only spaces are a bit different. There's the sense you can 'lose' something - access to the system. It's not so easy to get back in as it is on corporate sites where they love new accounts to pump growth reports for investors. This creates a somewhat different expectation and therefore behavior in the users. People are a bit more guarded, because they are playing survivor and don't want to get voted off the island. When someone is voted off, the rest of the tribe gets nervous and is suddenly more well behaved. :)
-
Comment on Why is the discourse on Tildes so much nicer than most places on the internet? in ~tildes
Amarok If you moderate a forum for long enough, you start to see patterns. It's just the consequence of dealing with user problems on the day to day. You're buried in the stuff and it's taking a toll....If you moderate a forum for long enough, you start to see patterns. It's just the consequence of dealing with user problems on the day to day. You're buried in the stuff and it's taking a toll. It's also starting to piss you off, because you have better things to be doing with the time you donate than playing traffic cop. Turns volunteer moderation into a second job.
So, you learn to recognize types of users, patterns of conversation, and other trivia that are inevitably present in any online discussion space. Seeing a certain two comments next to each other, you know what the next fifty look like before they are typed. Seeing ten comments from a specific user, you already know what their next ten will be like.
You're not right all the time, but you're right often enough and short on time enough that you don't care - it's not worth even the time it takes to wonder if you are right it happens so often. Bad user behavior becomes a silent one-click solution, like deleting a spam email reflexively. No jury, no appeal, the warning is optional, usually just for first offenders.
It's not fair, and it's not exactly draconian either. It's just instinct and efficiency. I have to imagine the people who run a debate club or support group or courtroom develop the same instincts for real world conversations and how they flow if they've done it long enough. They know in less than one sentence if the person speaking is going to be a problem, they just read it somehow.
It sucks when a couple good comments get clipped with a problematic thread, but it's going to suck a lot more if that pruning isn't done, and it's just not worth the effort of trying to save the rest of the comments like a dead branch from the tree. They are still visible in one's own comment history, and that's enough to make sure they don't get lost.
-
Comment on Why is the discourse on Tildes so much nicer than most places on the internet? in ~tildes
Amarok (edited )Link ParentI think some form of 'gentle chiding' mechanic might be able to help encourage this, and more importantly, encourage people to actively help in the maintenance of civility. A simple first test...I think some form of 'gentle chiding' mechanic might be able to help encourage this, and more importantly, encourage people to actively help in the maintenance of civility. A simple first test might be just adding a new moderation label - 'tone' is probably good enough. You'd use it on the posts you see that aren't anything like malicious, but perhaps could be phrased better. It could require a short anonymous comment exactly like the malice label does. It'd be best as a neutral label, no effect at all on sorting.
No visible indicators to anyone else in the thread, a label that is private and visible only to the person receiving it and the administrators of the forum. If that sort of thing is made visible to others, it becomes an attack signal to the group and everyone piles on. That's why it's got to be private. Maybe color it yellow and have it disappear post-edit under the assumption that the edit cleared it up. No real reason to keep that data around longer than that.
Try that out for a little while and see if it doesn't blossom into something better.
-
Comment on Fallout | Official trailer in ~tv
Amarok (edited )Link ParentIt seems like it's patterned after Fallout 3 from the trailer. Vault is still in operation and in good condition. Main character is clearly a fresh vault dweller in over her head, just like the...It seems like it's patterned after Fallout 3 from the trailer. Vault is still in operation and in good condition. Main character is clearly a fresh vault dweller in over her head, just like the player was.
Walton's ghoul seems patterned after Fallout 4's main story. It's interesting that we see him three times - as the announcer in the vault promos (implying he's at least worked for vault-tec before the war), then in a single shot clearly running with family from a nuclear blast just like 4's opening set-piece, then as a ghoul bounty hunter after the war. I'm guessing he's mostly heel until the main character turns him around, likely after he's sent to hunt her.
The brotherhood butts in at some point, but that's how they show up in every fallout game, so that tracks. There was a single shot with an NCR battle standard in this trailer, so we are getting New Vegas canon here too.
It's clearly Vault 33 which until today did not have a page in the fallout wiki, so this is a brand new vault for the lore. I like that far better than setting it in the vaults from the games - we all love new vaults and it is only fitting that the show's writers get to enjoy making their own. It's in New California. That means the town was probably not Megaton, unless they decide to move it from DC to the West coast.
The only clues as to what point in the timeline is 'last two hundred years' so presumably this 200 years after the bombs, 2277ish. That's the decade of 3, 4, and New Vegas, so we're not looking at an in-universe history lesson. The events here would happen during the same decade as the main games in the franchise, which opens up the possibility of tying into those games' events over the course of the series. We all wondered what was going on in California while playing the games, it was only referenced in passing. It hasn't been a 'setting' until now.
That's a pretty solid start in my book. Where it goes is up to the writers and I don't think anyone really cares - fallout games are sandboxes, there isn't really any main-character canon. The games have multiple storylines with multiple endings based on player preference. That leaves the writers free to do their own thing in the sandbox just like anyone who played the game. All they have to do is stick to the western / war movie tone, keep it more serious than comedic, and avoid contradicting any canon. They do that and no gamer is going to have any problems with this series.
What gives me the most hope is I did not sense a whiff of mary-sue girl-boss banality on the main character - she's clearly out of her depth and in danger multiple times, and the show is clearly going to make a point of tearing her down and building her back up. That's levels above Marvel's drek right out of the gate. I also did not see any cheap snark or frat-level humor, like what is present in the Borderlands trailer.
I'm genuinely looking forward to this show.
-
Comment on Fallout | Official trailer in ~tv
Amarok This looks fantastic. Been some time since I saw an adaptation nail it in the trailer alone... with no spoilers. It feels like a western, sounds like a western, and that's the only way to do...This looks fantastic. Been some time since I saw an adaptation nail it in the trailer alone... with no spoilers. It feels like a western, sounds like a western, and that's the only way to do fallout justice on the silver screen. I shall enjoy finding out what horrible secret lurks in this vault. :)
-
Comment on Reddit is letting power users in on its IPO in ~tech
Amarok It'll incentivize kids to play their little game, where people give reddit real money and hours of attention, then get nothing back in return except shiny bits. That's their business model, after all.It'll incentivize kids to play their little game, where people give reddit real money and hours of attention, then get nothing back in return except shiny bits. That's their business model, after all.
-
Comment on Reddit is letting power users in on its IPO in ~tech
Amarok I think they are hoping it'll drive user investment in the site - not just in the financial sense, but in the time and effort people put forward because they want their various communities to...I think they are hoping it'll drive user investment in the site - not just in the financial sense, but in the time and effort people put forward because they want their various communities to improve. They lost a lot of that over the last few years. A lot of communities moved on, collapsed, or lost a lot of their original contributors to various other forums, like this one.
They can't pay for it, but they can dangle the carrot and hope enough saps fall for it.
-
Comment on Reddit is letting power users in on its IPO in ~tech
Amarok This would be their answer to their moderation and content contributor problems. They know they can't actually afford to pay wages for that much human curation power, so instead they'll promise...This would be their answer to their moderation and content contributor problems. They know they can't actually afford to pay wages for that much human curation power, so instead they'll promise you two hamburgers next tuesday for your kind support today. Kinda impressive, honestly... they exploit the user's data and are now offering to let the users pay them for the privilege of being exploited.
-
Comment on Nvidia CEO says kids shouldn't learn to code in ~comp
Amarok Depends what you mean by coding. The dull as hell busywork like setting up a basic website? Sure, an AI can webpage your bicycle shop in five minutes. You won't find a single living developer who...Depends what you mean by coding.
The dull as hell busywork like setting up a basic website? Sure, an AI can webpage your bicycle shop in five minutes. You won't find a single living developer who actually wants to do that job, either. It's below the level of burger flipping, it's cleaning toilets with a toothbrush. Good riddance to this stuff once it's automated.
Real coding? The kind you need a master's degree in pure mathematics with a helping of several other hard domain sciences just to put a toe in the door? The kind you need to build something like an operating system or precision real time weapons systems or particle models at a collider? That's not going away.
I can imagine an AI is going to make certain things like deployment, debugging, prototyping, and refactoring (time sinks everyone hates) into little more than progress bars. Worry more about what one human developer with a sharp mind can do when the automation multiplies their effectiveness tenfold. Should take a lot of the gruntwork out of it all and leave the humans with more design and experimentation time, where the fun is.
I'd expect programmers to automate CEOs, business management, marketing, and even most HR work out of existence long before they manage to truly obsolete themselves. :P
-
Comment on The real danger to civilisation isn't runaway AI it's runaway capitalism (2017) in ~misc
Amarok Yep. It would also incentivize people to come in legally, because they can't claim it if they aren't on the record.Yep. It would also incentivize people to come in legally, because they can't claim it if they aren't on the record.
-
Comment on The real danger to civilisation isn't runaway AI it's runaway capitalism (2017) in ~misc
Amarok That's absolutely true, there would be some residency. That could be a very short one of just one year, though - it depends on if the city in question actually wants to attract people. If they are...That's absolutely true, there would be some residency. That could be a very short one of just one year, though - it depends on if the city in question actually wants to attract people. If they are offering factory jobs that are being brought back from overseas, for example, it could be a good thing because they've got the work ready so everyone can hit the ground running as they come in. I like the idea of letting all of the local and regional governments handle it. They are the closest to the problems in their areas and know them best. That means they are in a good spot to decide how to go forward.
I'm hoping that people see the need to have aid and work and wages ready for immigrants. They need a year to get their feet and a lot of them are going to have to learn new languages, no matter what country. If they hit the ground running with aid and work lined up, they will have the resources they need to help themselves. Help flip them over into valuable professions, it's a lot easier than one might think to learn a trade. They'll become taxpayers in no time, and they are going to remember and support any political party that helps make this happen. So will their children.
-
Comment on The real danger to civilisation isn't runaway AI it's runaway capitalism (2017) in ~misc
Amarok Yeah, that's the meme argument it's become about that repeats endlessly. All the trials and even the US's own economic stimulus during the pandemic says that it will work, and that well over 90%...Yeah, that's the meme argument it's become about that repeats endlessly.
All the trials and even the US's own economic stimulus during the pandemic says that it will work, and that well over 90% of the welfare cases will improve themselves past the point of needing it on cash assistance alone over a couple of years. That leaves the other 10% of those cases for the real welfare system, which is no longer being overburdened by the people who just needed the cash assistance. It's a win win that saves on administration costs and improves the care. That's worth busting a few megacorp's balls to pay for it. You do business in america, you pay your share in, and that share goes out to all citizens. That could easily catch on in other countries once it develops a successful track record.
It need not be a federal program either. In fact there's probably a wisdom and some useful economic levers available if cities, states, and the fed all offer their own UBIs, which add up. That's an interesting way to do economic investment in a region, stimulating the development of it from the ground up. We collect what we collect, and we distribute it, and the amount can go up and down with the economy, it need not be a set amount. It'd start small, but the economic boom it should stimulate will also lift the revenue going into the system.
Right now we just give massive incentives and subsidies to corporations, along with bailouts. I'd like to stop giving that to corporations, period. Bailouts go directly back into the taxpayer's pockets to make them whole, not to the businesses that fucked up. They get canned, carved up and repurposed by the market winners who are willing to buy out the mess. Let the market handle the recycling.
There are an awful lot of ways to improve on capitalism that are democratic and empower people along principles of liberty and equal access to opportunity. We've been talking about them for decades, but I'm at the point where I'd like to start voting for some of this, rather than talking about it.
-
Comment on The real danger to civilisation isn't runaway AI it's runaway capitalism (2017) in ~misc
Amarok Part of the problem is that people think of 'capitalism' as if that experiment is finished. It's hardly in a final form, and it's long overdue for a shakeup. It's evolution in capitalistic systems...Part of the problem is that people think of 'capitalism' as if that experiment is finished. It's hardly in a final form, and it's long overdue for a shakeup. It's evolution in capitalistic systems we need, not a replacement.
I'd start with the obvious upgrade and the simplest patch. Frankly, I think that's all it needs to put it on track to becoming some kind of hyper-capital star trek stepladder. The fun of moving fast, less broken bones along the way, and a new freedom - to fail, and get many many chances to try again without becoming destitute.
We could also base our economic policy decisions on a more sane model. Might also be good to switch to a better tax mechanism that cannot be cheated or avoided.
I think this slate would fix most of the problems, and it does so by putting both money and power into people's hands, rather than in institutions or governments.
-
Comment on Ukrainian forces withdraw from Avdiivka; megathread for news/updates/discussion of Russian invasion of Ukraine - February 17 in ~news
Amarok Tangentially related to this is renewed interest in fielding laser and microwave weaponry to support modern forces. In particular, they would neutralize the drone threat at a price point far below...Tangentially related to this is renewed interest in fielding laser and microwave weaponry to support modern forces. In particular, they would neutralize the drone threat at a price point far below what it costs to intercept those drones with kinetic weapons, thus neutralizing the advantage of using cheap off the shelf kit to make the drones. Perun's latest update would be right at home on any sci-fi channel, except this isn't scifi. This is real technology, it's already here and in use now, and we're going to see a lot more of it in the coming years.
-
Comment on Reddit has a new AI training deal to sell user content in ~tech
Amarok Perhaps they can explain why one should pay them for this data when the entire history of reddit is archived right here for free. I've already got every comment and submission ever made to every...Perhaps they can explain why one should pay them for this data when the entire history of reddit is archived right here for free. I've already got every comment and submission ever made to every music subreddit, thanks. Sometime when the AI tools manage to become performant and reliable I might see what they can make of it all.
Everything posted post-exodus is trash compared to the content of those archives, since it's all downhill from here. They have nothing worth buying.
First one to pop in my head is Ott - One Day I Wish To Have This Kind Of Time. I think you'll find that Alan Watts clips are almost hilariously overused for this purpose in the more ambient genres of music - it's become a cliche. Also Goons - Run Away uses some Larry King talkshow snips for quite the nostalgic atmosphere.
The first track of Oldfield's Songs of Distant Earth includes a brief prayer read by the apollo astronauts when they were about to cross behind the moon for the first time, that's I believe the literal furthest any human has ever been to broadcast audio back to earth.
I have a vague memory of a basic EDM track that used interviews of Arnold from Pumping Iron, but I can't seem to track that one down. It was a meme staple of any workout mixtape for a while in /r/pumpingiron.