ConalFisher's recent activity

  1. Comment on Timasomo 2023: Week 2 Updates in ~creative.timasomo

    ConalFisher
    Link
    Writing a short orchestral piece. Life has resulted in me making zero progress. Darn. Goals this week are to mostly structure the piece, and write a full section or two. Perhaps not full...

    Writing a short orchestral piece.

    Life has resulted in me making zero progress. Darn.

    Goals this week are to mostly structure the piece, and write a full section or two. Perhaps not full orchestration just yet but we'll see,

    2 votes

  2. Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music

  3. Comment on Timasomo 2023: Week 1 Updates in ~creative.timasomo

    ConalFisher
    Link
    Writing a short orchestral piece. What I've done this week: Conceptualised & loosely structured the work That's about it. The beginning steps of a composition tend to be a bit boring in my...

    Writing a short orchestral piece.

    What I've done this week:

    • Conceptualised & loosely structured the work

    That's about it. The beginning steps of a composition tend to be a bit boring in my workflow, but eventually I'll put a note down, then another one, then that'll continue until there's a finished piece.

    What I'm going to do next week:

    • More structuring: Motivic material, broad formal layout, etc.

    • Write a few small sections and showcase them here.

    • Get a feel for where the piece is going and further hone in on what I want it to be like. No idea is set in stone in these early formative stages; maybe I'll end up going a completely different direction than what I'm thinking right now.

    3 votes

  4. Comment on Timasomo 2023: Roll Call in ~creative.timasomo

    ConalFisher
    Link
    Never participated before but this sounds fun! I'm going to write a short (~5m) orchestral piece, based on an 'image'. Something to do with snow and mountains, I'll work out the details as I go...

    Never participated before but this sounds fun!

    I'm going to write a short (~5m) orchestral piece, based on an 'image'. Something to do with snow and mountains, I'll work out the details as I go along. Maybe one day I'll make it into a multi-movement suite, but right now I'll limit myself to one good bit of music. 5 minutes of orchestral writing from scratch in a month will be a challenge, but I always work best with deadlines, so I'm confident I'll get it done in time.

    Bonus: I might also arrange it for 2 pianos, for no other reason than it's next to impossible to get orchestral music performed without having an 'example version' to show people first.

    3 votes

  5. Comment on What is your preferred VPN? in ~comp

    ConalFisher
    Link
    I've been using the free version of Windscribe for years now. 15gb monthly cap is more than enough for me (basically just use it for torrenting every now and then). I can't really afford a paid...

    I've been using the free version of Windscribe for years now. 15gb monthly cap is more than enough for me (basically just use it for torrenting every now and then). I can't really afford a paid VPN these days but when I could I used Mullvad and it was great, I'd recommend it.

    1 vote

  6. Comment on Video game voice actors are ready to strike over AI in ~games

    ConalFisher
    Link Parent
    They could probably ban it, but would it actually change anything? If governments in the 18th century had banned industrial textile mills for the purposes of keeping workers' jobs, would all our...

    They could probably ban it, but would it actually change anything? If governments in the 18th century had banned industrial textile mills for the purposes of keeping workers' jobs, would all our clothes be handmade today, and 10 times the price?

    7 votes

  7. Comment on Video game voice actors are ready to strike over AI in ~games

    ConalFisher
    Link Parent
    I compose classical music for a living. At the moment the field of music is relatively safe from AI, but anyone thinking it's impervious from its effects are deluding themselves; one day, there...

    I compose classical music for a living. At the moment the field of music is relatively safe from AI, but anyone thinking it's impervious from its effects are deluding themselves; one day, there will be AI that can write music as convincing as modern day composers. And I often ask myself, if I lived in that world, would I still write music? And if I did, would anyone actually listen to it? Is there even a point in having AI write music, or would we just be stripping another aspect of humanity away from ourselves for the purposes of scientific progress?

    Ultimately it becomes a question of balancing the rational march of technology against the irrational human experience - Maybe in a post-scarcity world, there would be things that we could automate, but shouldn't, solely for the purposes of letting people have some semblance of a purpose. More broadly, in a post-scarcity society, would most people even work, or would machines just do everything? Punching above my philosophical paygrade here, but I think people would want to have jobs for the purpose of having meaning, even it it's objectively 'suboptimal' for society.

    4 votes

  8. Comment on Video game voice actors are ready to strike over AI in ~games

    ConalFisher
    Link
    Reading these neverending 'AI is taking jobs and workers are pushing back' posts always makes me uneasy; I simply don't see any resistance working in the long term. No amount of legislature and...

    Reading these neverending 'AI is taking jobs and workers are pushing back' posts always makes me uneasy; I simply don't see any resistance working in the long term. No amount of legislature and ethics are going to dampen the blow that AI will inevitably do to all of these fields, because it's simply easier and cheaper, and for as long as we're a society that values profit over human experiences the cheaper option for the same product will always win.

    18 votes

  9. Comment on What whisky/whiskey have you been enjoying, and what's your opinion on them? in ~food

    ConalFisher
    Link
    I'm an Irishman and that's where my tastes lie. My goto is simply Jamesons because it's cheap and I don't often care particularly for the taste, but if I'm going fancy then Redbreast 12 or Powers...

    I'm an Irishman and that's where my tastes lie. My goto is simply Jamesons because it's cheap and I don't often care particularly for the taste, but if I'm going fancy then Redbreast 12 or Powers are my favourites.

    Oddly enough, I found that Jamesons Black Barrel is actually a really nice sipping whiskey, despite being, yknow, Jamesons. Cheaper than Redbreast too. I just feel like I'm letting my country down at every sip.

    3 votes

  10. Comment on World's biggest machine capturing carbon from air turned on in Iceland – operators say the Orca plant can suck 4,000 tonnes of CO2 out of the air every year in ~enviro

    ConalFisher
    Link Parent
    The problem is, we don't have the time for gradual change. It would be great if we had the freedom to slowly phase these things out, but that time has long since passed. We need to curb emissions...

    The problem is, we don't have the time for gradual change. It would be great if we had the freedom to slowly phase these things out, but that time has long since passed. We need to curb emissions now, and then start picking up the pieces that have already been thrown out of place. Whether that's realistic through democratic action or not is irrelevant, it has to be done, and I think that if politicians won't do it, then radical action of some kind is needed, whether the majority are willing or not. But I'm getting off track here. I get what you mean about this being a gradual thing from "this technology is useless" to "this technology is amazing", I just don't think it's worth celebrating this as if anything's been fixed while it's still in the "basically useless" phase.

    3 votes

  11. Comment on El Salvador’s new bitcoin wallets could cost Western Union $400 million a year in ~finance

    ConalFisher
    Link
    Oh no, a massive company losing a small proportion of its revenue, how terrible!!!!!!

    Oh no, a massive company losing a small proportion of its revenue, how terrible!!!!!!

    4 votes

  12. Comment on World's biggest machine capturing carbon from air turned on in Iceland – operators say the Orca plant can suck 4,000 tonnes of CO2 out of the air every year in ~enviro

    ConalFisher
    Link
    I wish I could get excited over this, but that's nothing, it's an absolutely tiny amount of CO2 for such a large amount of engineering, it's a completely worthless contraption that only serves to...

    I wish I could get excited over this, but that's nothing, it's an absolutely tiny amount of CO2 for such a large amount of engineering, it's a completely worthless contraption that only serves to distract people from the actual causes of these problems. "Greenwashing" is the term, I believe. I think this technology should be researched for the future, but we already have the solutions to the climate crisis in front of us: Less cars, no more fossil fuel power plants, carbon tax the shit out of companies, plant more trees, plants, and other biological carbon sequesters. We're all banking on finding a miracle technology that'll solve everything with no change to our lives. We need to accept that as it is right now, our society is a bubble, and it simply can't go on like this.

    5 votes

  13. Comment on YouTube Vanced: A privacy-friendly YouTube app for Android with ads and telemetry stripped out in ~tech

    ConalFisher
    Link
    I see Vanced posted a ton on the web (I've used it myself for years), but I always have to wonder, surely it's gotta be breaking youtube TOS or something? I'd have thought an app like this would...

    I see Vanced posted a ton on the web (I've used it myself for years), but I always have to wonder, surely it's gotta be breaking youtube TOS or something? I'd have thought an app like this would have to go relatively under the radar, else face a C&D or two.

    8 votes

  14. Comment on Covid-19 vaccine candidate is 90% effective, says manufacturer in ~health

    ConalFisher
    Link Parent
    I mean, it is around 15%, they're not wrong.

    I mean, it is around 15%, they're not wrong.

    1 vote

  15. Comment on Joe Biden is the next President of the United States in ~news

    ConalFisher
    Link
    It'd be tempting to say that that's it for Trump, but I honestly can't imagine MAGA dying down for at least another full decade. Unless Biden comes in and does some straight up miracle work and...

    It'd be tempting to say that that's it for Trump, but I honestly can't imagine MAGA dying down for at least another full decade. Unless Biden comes in and does some straight up miracle work and makes everyone's lives objectively better (and let's face it, nothing that drastic will ever happen), people will still complain, say he's doing a terrible job, etc. It'll be just as much of a fight in the next election cycle, and the one after that, and probably the one after that too.

    6 votes

  16. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    ConalFisher
    Link Parent
    They're some of my absolute favourite books. Honestly the newer books "The Book of Dust" are certainly enjoyable, but not at the same level as HDM was. And there are certain parts which are...

    They're some of my absolute favourite books. Honestly the newer books "The Book of Dust" are certainly enjoyable, but not at the same level as HDM was. And there are certain parts which are just... Mm. The structure of the books can be a bit off putting too, I found; the last third of the first book, for example, made basically no sense to me at all when I first read it, and not in a good way, it just felt completely out of place and random, until I got about halfway through the second book and it was explained. They're definitely worth a read though, there are many high points and they're overall great books.

    3 votes

  19. Comment on Hearthstone player banned from Grandmasters Tournament for voicing support for HK protestors in ~games

    ConalFisher
    Link Parent
    If by awkward situation, you mean absolutely disgusting and worthy of a complete boycott, then yes, I'd agree.

    If by awkward situation, you mean absolutely disgusting and worthy of a complete boycott, then yes, I'd agree.

    3 votes

  20. Comment on Android aftermarket development and its boring state in ~tech

    ConalFisher
    Link
    I feel there's only so much that can be done with a bit of smartphone software. At this point we aren't really seeing brand new ideas, just improvements on older stuff. Stock android basically has...

    I feel there's only so much that can be done with a bit of smartphone software. At this point we aren't really seeing brand new ideas, just improvements on older stuff. Stock android basically has all the necessary things and the Play Store can for the most part fill in anything else that's needed. There isn't much room for new stuff now, at least in the current Android ecosystem.

    4 votes