Commod0re's recent activity

  1. Comment on Creatives, how do you feel about the impact of artificial intelligence on the future of art, illustration and design? in ~creative

    Commod0re
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    as a writer I would choose to collaborate with a human over a computer. even if they have slightly different ideas than I do, that doesn't make them not valuable, and the intersection of our two...

    as a writer I would choose to collaborate with a human over a computer. even if they have slightly different ideas than I do, that doesn't make them not valuable, and the intersection of our two imaginations can create something far more interesting than what I can do alone

    as a visual artist, it seems like you see visual artists as an obstacle between you and the finished piece that you desire and I can't imagine that is totally separate from the rest of your problems

    as an avid reader, if you don't have the linguistic skill to adequately describe a scene to a human artist, then I must assume that you also don't have the skill to adequately describe that scene to me, the reader, so maybe whatever you've written isn't worth my time to read

    2 votes

  2. Comment on Creatives, how do you feel about the impact of artificial intelligence on the future of art, illustration and design? in ~creative

    Commod0re
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    I disagree thoroughly. It's much closer to commissioning a piece from another person, because the only skill required to make it work is basic communication. You don't develop any visual art...

    I disagree thoroughly. It's much closer to commissioning a piece from another person, because the only skill required to make it work is basic communication. You don't develop any visual art skills using an AI to generate art, it doesn't demand any artistic skill from you to produce something. You're not making the piece, you're asking the computer to do it

    2 votes

  3. Comment on Why are we often hesitant to spend money on digital services? in ~tech

    Commod0re
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    Because they want a subscription and most things are not worth paying endless money for

    Because they want a subscription and most things are not worth paying endless money for

    3 votes

  4. Comment on Creatives, how do you feel about the impact of artificial intelligence on the future of art, illustration and design? in ~creative

    Commod0re
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    Collaboration with other humans can be hard, true, but I think it’s worth doing

    Collaboration with other humans can be hard, true, but I think it’s worth doing

  5. Comment on Creatives, how do you feel about the impact of artificial intelligence on the future of art, illustration and design? in ~creative

    Commod0re
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    I do think it’s different. A camera is faster than painting, yes, but there’s still a lot of work that goes into photography. Even now with the majority of people carrying around cameras at all...

    I do think it’s different.

    A camera is faster than painting, yes, but there’s still a lot of work that goes into photography. Even now with the majority of people carrying around cameras at all times, good photography takes practice and work to get good at. There is still much to learn about composition, lighting, angles, the mechanics of the tool itself.

    Photoshop makes some things possible that are not so easy in physical media. However it is still a tool that requires knowledge and practice to use effectively. You have to have not just the idea, but the skill to turn your idea into something visual.

    Take it a step further even and let’s talk about carpentry. There are insanely fast, even robotic tools like CNC saws and mills, that can take an awful lot of the physical toll out of crafting furniture from wood. However you still have to understand how to design and build furniture in order to use those tools to make anything worthwhile

    Generative AI requires nothing from you. It uses nothing OF you. It takes no time, no training, minimal effort, it deludes you into thinking you made something when actually it was generated by a computer from the fruits of others efforts.

    When you create something of yourself, especially artistically, there should be some kind of sign that you created it. Everyone has a personal flourish hidden within but generative ai can only derive from what it has seen, so you end up with a cheap copy of someone else’s flourish. Whether visual or written.

    to bring it back around that’s effectively what I see as missing from many current applications of generative ai: other tools facilitate you in creating, but they don’t take it out of your hands, so that piece of you that the art came from, still comes through in the final piece. Prompt based generative ai takes the entire process after the prompt out of your hands - it won’t have your flourish, or any intrinsic sign that you made it - because you didn’t

    Would you ever adopt AI in your creative process on any level?

    Probably not. I prefer to do the things myself even if I am not completely good at it, because that’s the only way to learn and grow as a human

    I recently started using Gigapixel AI to upscale images for production purposes. Are you also against this type of AI application in the creative process?

    It is interesting that you bring this up because I am not wholesale against AI-type tools. In this case, the algorithm hasn’t taken over any of the creative process from you, it is simply making your image larger. If I were against this I would have to be against using bicubic sharper when resizing images too, and I’m not.

    So I guess that’s where I draw the line: helper tools that make things easier, but don’t ultimately remove the artist from the art, these are proper tools. But if the “tool” seeks to replace the entire visual artist: that I have big problems with

    3 votes

  6. Comment on Creatives, how do you feel about the impact of artificial intelligence on the future of art, illustration and design? in ~creative

    Commod0re
    (edited )
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    I hate it. It’s training people that art can be cheap and easy and it’s not even worth talking to another human for. Theft of art is like nothing because art is like nothing. The time and effort...

    I hate it. It’s training people that art can be cheap and easy and it’s not even worth talking to another human for. Theft of art is like nothing because art is like nothing. The time and effort it takes to get good is utterly devalued. Dark days indeed when people can’t even work together on an art project anymore

    Generative AI can’t replace humans for creativity and it’s disrespectful to ourselves that we’re even trying. It’s as if humanity is losing all confidence in itself

    3 votes

  7. Comment on Creatives, how do you feel about the impact of artificial intelligence on the future of art, illustration and design? in ~creative

    Commod0re
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    Humans create art. AI creates poor imitations, mostly trained on existing art that the AI creators didn’t have permission to use. It’s theft of the most insulting variety because it’s then being...

    Humans create art. AI creates poor imitations, mostly trained on existing art that the AI creators didn’t have permission to use. It’s theft of the most insulting variety because it’s then being used solely to avoid paying or even talking to another human to create something beautiful. It’s killing true collaboration, it’s turning different artists against each other, and it’s tricking users into thinking they’re doing more than they are

    It’s really depressing to see artists in different media get tricked into devaluing each others crafts like this. You ought to have more solidarity with other kinds of artists, especially if you want them to have solidarity with you

    6 votes

  8. Comment on Creatives, how do you feel about the impact of artificial intelligence on the future of art, illustration and design? in ~creative

    Commod0re
    Link Parent
    So you just don’t want to have to talk to another human then? That’s why generative ai is good for you?

    So you just don’t want to have to talk to another human then? That’s why generative ai is good for you?

    1 vote

  9. Comment on How do you like your smart home setup? in ~tech

    Commod0re
    Link Parent
    subscription sprinklers! that's terrible!

    subscription sprinklers! that's terrible!

  10. Comment on How do you like your smart home setup? in ~tech

    Commod0re
    Link Parent
    this is getting better. If you do zigbee lighting directly through ZHA you can set those groups up through the GUI. You can even link switches to the light groups in the zigbee network such that...

    I did try Home Assistant as well, but I just couldn't get over that unless I dove into YAML files there was no way to group devices to respond to the same command.

    this is getting better. If you do zigbee lighting directly through ZHA you can set those groups up through the GUI. You can even link switches to the light groups in the zigbee network such that the commands don't have to go through HA for it to work. For lights through a hue bridge you have two options:

    1. group them in Hue through its gui. Hue light groups and scenes show up in HA automatically now so they don't need to be manually duplicated anymore
    2. group them in HA manually via YAML

    the HA developer group has been slowly migrating all of the manual YAML configuration stuff into GUI configurations instead, but that work is still ongoing. It's been getting consistently better and they have a reliable release cadence but it's still far from perfect too. It might be worth trying it out again though if it's been a while

    1 vote

  11. Comment on How do you like your smart home setup? in ~tech

    Commod0re
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    Mostly good but there are a few aspects that are not quite perfect. I'm using Home-Assistant with HomeKit, which has actually been great for almost everything. To have better control over my smart...

    Mostly good but there are a few aspects that are not quite perfect.

    I'm using Home-Assistant with HomeKit, which has actually been great for almost everything. To have better control over my smart lighting I have deployed several ikea tradfri zigbee controls around the house for each room that has smart lights. This works pretty well but they run through batteries fairly quickly which is kinda obnoxious. I've been exploring hard wired smart switches, too, but I haven't found the right ones yet. I've also tried Lanbon touch screen switches, they are nice for automation but the lack of tactility for physical controls is a major complaint. I've got a couple of NSPanels to try instead, next, but I haven't made time to set them up yet

    I've also been able to avoid the cloud for almost everything connected to it: I have a MyQ garage door opener, so I got the homekit bridge for it to eliminate the cloud link. The one thing I haven't gotten off the cloud yet is I have an 2 head older ductless mini split system which I am controlling with a pair of sensibo airs for the time being

  12. Comment on It's time to buy some new non-stick pans... need recommendations in ~food

    Commod0re
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    non-stick pans never last forever but it's handy to keep one or two cheap ones around that you don't have to feel too bad about replacing every few years. I personally like the t-fal forged...

    non-stick pans never last forever but it's handy to keep one or two cheap ones around that you don't have to feel too bad about replacing every few years. I personally like the t-fal forged aluminum non-stick pans because they have no coating to flake off, the non-stickness comes from the texture of the surface. It still wears out over time, and because they're aluminum they should still be hand washed, but the failure mode is that it just stops being non-stick rather than degrading directly into your food

  13. Comment on Why doesn't Tildes display a user's social score or karma on their profile page? in ~tildes

    Commod0re
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    on reddit the karma system was never supposed to matter, but it mattered so much to a ton of people. Not having a visible "score" helps avoid some of the issues around it pretty well and the...

    on reddit the karma system was never supposed to matter, but it mattered so much to a ton of people. Not having a visible "score" helps avoid some of the issues around it pretty well and the discussions here tend to be more poignant rather than quippy, which I appreciate a lot.

    To me the only thing that should matter about the credibility of a given comment or post is the content of that post, not who posted it. Likeability is not equivalent to correctness or discussion value, but that's what the public karma system ends up reinforcing in users

    6 votes

  14. Comment on What was your first programming language, what languages do you know now, and what tips do you have for those trying to learn any of those? in ~comp

    Commod0re
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    my first programming language was QBASIC, back around 1989 or 1990. By the time I had my first job after high school I was familiar and comfortable with 16 languages and since then I've lost...

    my first programming language was QBASIC, back around 1989 or 1990. By the time I had my first job after high school I was familiar and comfortable with 16 languages and since then I've lost count. I wouldn't really recommend learning it as a first language anymore though, mainly because of how old it is

    Some of my favorites include:

    • Python. This one pays my bills and for many projects is my go-to, but it's not great at everything
    • C
    • vanilla javascript without any frameworks
    • bash

    I would suggest starting with Python because as a language it's designed to be very easy to learn the basics. You should be able to learn enough to start your own simple projects within 1-3 days even without any prior experience, it's modern, the standard library is very good, plus there are tons of actively maintained and useful libraries, plenty of people to get advice and learn from, and it has good interoperability with other languages.

    My best tip for learning any new language regardless of what your skill level is is to have an idea of a project that you want to tackle with it. Following a book or a class to learn the fundamentals is fine, but they rarely take you beyond the fundamentals, and practical experience is where 90% of learning about programming actually happens. Plus, seeing the progress you make towards your goal as you go can be extremely motivating to keep going

    3 votes

  15. Comment on Fresh Album Fridays: Sigur Ros, Queens of the Stone Age, King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, and more in ~music

    Commod0re
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    Oooh new QOTSA? I haven’t heard it yet but I know what I’m listening to today!

    Oooh new QOTSA? I haven’t heard it yet but I know what I’m listening to today!

    2 votes

  16. Comment on Why Lego won – the competition looked identical, so how did they pull it off? in ~hobbies

    Commod0re
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    I had some mega bloks mixed into my collection as a kid because my mom was not as discerning, and I hated those pieces. The colors are slightly different, the fit is loose, the bricks break fairly...

    I had some mega bloks mixed into my collection as a kid because my mom was not as discerning, and I hated those pieces. The colors are slightly different, the fit is loose, the bricks break fairly easily and they don’t like to stay together. LEGO bricks have none of those problems

    1 vote

  17. Comment on Pokemon - What is your favourite game in the series and why? in ~games

    Commod0re
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    Been with the series since the beginning; Yellow, Black & White 2, and Arceus are probably my favorites, not necessarily in that order

    Been with the series since the beginning; Yellow, Black & White 2, and Arceus are probably my favorites, not necessarily in that order

  18. Comment on How did you make the career pivot? in ~life

    Commod0re
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    I have inattentive type ADHD that went undiagnosed into adulthood so I was unable to obtain a degree after high school. I fell into tech support and felt like I was working my way towards systems...

    I have inattentive type ADHD that went undiagnosed into adulthood so I was unable to obtain a degree after high school. I fell into tech support and felt like I was working my way towards systems administration, although I grew up wanting to be a programmer. After a couple of bad jobs there, one of the friends I had made along the way who knew I was skilled with Linux, contacted me and asked me to apply for a position at the place he was working at, which turned out to be about maintaining a custom ubuntu derivative. I managed to get hired, and while I have since moved on from that job, I have been a software developer ever since!

    1 vote

  19. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~talk

    Commod0re
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    I love this idea mainly because I miss the days when many websites online were personal hobby projects

    I love this idea mainly because I miss the days when many websites online were personal hobby projects

    2 votes

  20. Comment on Keyboard thread in ~hobbies

    Commod0re
    Link Parent
    One of my old mechs came with linear blacks so I did a stem swap to convert it to panda clears, and that’s what made me want to try zealios, especially since you can’t really find clears anymore....

    One of my old mechs came with linear blacks so I did a stem swap to convert it to panda clears, and that’s what made me want to try zealios, especially since you can’t really find clears anymore. Zealios are my current favorite switch

    1 vote