D_E_Solomon's recent activity
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Comment on My polish costs nothing in ~tech
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Comment on My polish costs nothing in ~tech
D_E_Solomon Link ParentMost of the workflows that I've seen are less that they write in their native tongue and then translate, it's more that they have five bullet points and ask the AI to create paragraphs, or they...Most of the workflows that I've seen are less that they write in their native tongue and then translate, it's more that they have five bullet points and ask the AI to create paragraphs, or they write the full email and then ask the AI to clean up their grammar.
I guess I find it odd that anyone gets offended about ai generated text. I've read so much human generated crap that I don't get particularly excited about machine generated. Maybe my set point is higher than most people's or my one emotion is already permanently bruised.
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Comment on How has climate change affected your life / plans? in ~enviro
D_E_Solomon LinkI'm in the midwest and I have asthma. I've shifted from running outdoors to indoors on a treadmill due to the wildfires and air quality issues that come with it. It's disappointing since so many...I'm in the midwest and I have asthma. I've shifted from running outdoors to indoors on a treadmill due to the wildfires and air quality issues that come with it. It's disappointing since so many gains have been made in air quality since the 80s which has really improved my life.
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Comment on My polish costs nothing in ~tech
D_E_Solomon Link ParentYes - I broadly agree. A lot of the strategy work was already under pressure since so many of the strategy consulting tools and knowledge are well known. AI probably accelerates that except for...Yes - I broadly agree. A lot of the strategy work was already under pressure since so many of the strategy consulting tools and knowledge are well known. AI probably accelerates that except for the truly novel problems.
IBM's latest returns showed that the business process outsourcing work is really under pressure right now. AI agents are going to eat that portion of their business and automate what was probably automatable.
The ERP systems are probably quite busy with AI projects and attaching AI capabilities and use cases to the core systems.
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Comment on My polish costs nothing in ~tech
D_E_Solomon LinkI disagree with this line here. I'll give some counterexamples: (1) I work with quite a few people who have English as a second language. AI has been really helpful for them in composing and...Which is to say that LLM prose folds in signals of authority, competence, rigor and insight without any of those things needing to be present in the content. A fluent human is often worth listening to while a fluent LLM is just the default, the fluency carries no information. I think that's part of the reason for AI psychosis, I think it effectively uses, now outdated, expectations to hijack perception.
I disagree with this line here. I'll give some counterexamples:
(1) I work with quite a few people who have English as a second language. AI has been really helpful for them in composing and managing emails - it reduces the cognitive load of having to write in English and they can express themselves easier and faster. The combination of their thought process and the AI composition lets them be more fluent in email then they could be otherwise.
(2) I have about 20 years of helping small nonprofits with finance and accounting issues. I needed to draft a policy for one I'm working with at the moment. I used Claude to draft the policy - and it did a pretty good job - it essentially hit the best practices. I needed to customize and redraft a few items to meet the organizations specific context, but overall, it was 85% complete. It saved me quite a bit of time. It was also better produced then about 75% of the nonprofit financial policies I've read in my lifetime. The raw AI output wasn't as good as if I had hand drafted it, but most nonprofits don't have someone like me in their corner. The fluency of the AI's policy is better then what is available to most nonprofits.
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Comment on America’s enterprising spirit is booming after decades-long slump in ~finance
D_E_Solomon Link ParentHow was the ice cream?How was the ice cream?
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Comment on Why socialists should embrace luxury apartments in ~society
D_E_Solomon Link ParentI'd rather not have Donald Trump choose whether I can rent an apartment or not.I'd rather not have Donald Trump choose whether I can rent an apartment or not.
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Comment on More people around the world now favour China over the US, Pew study suggests in ~society
D_E_Solomon Link ParentThat sounds a lot like Trump.Right now China has an extremely strong leader who is not subservient to capital.
That sounds a lot like Trump.
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Comment on What did banning Airbnbs in New York City accomplish? in ~finance
D_E_Solomon Link ParentHi fellow r/neoliberal friend :) I think the problem with that is that these type of policies get enacted but then the actual effort to address the larger issues never occurs. I'm fine with...Hi fellow r/neoliberal friend :)
I think the problem with that is that these type of policies get enacted but then the actual effort to address the larger issues never occurs. I'm fine with banning AirBnb as long as supply reforms also happens. The reality though is that the populist policy gets done, but the thing that actually helps the problem doesn't.
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Comment on What did banning Airbnbs in New York City accomplish? in ~finance
D_E_Solomon Link ParentThe larger problem is that we need more housing supply. I don't think anyone is shedding tears for AirBnB, but the data is clear that this policy is also not helping. The energy spent on AirBNB...The larger problem is that we need more housing supply. I don't think anyone is shedding tears for AirBnB, but the data is clear that this policy is also not helping. The energy spent on AirBNB legislation should be better redirected to enact policies that encourage more housing supply.
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What did banning Airbnbs in New York City accomplish?
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Comment on Are we burning it down by proxy? in ~talk
D_E_Solomon LinkWe had less fireworks this year - but it rained pretty hard on the 4th and the 5th. Also, the neighbor that used to set off a shit ton moved away. I got more sleep than normal this year and I...We had less fireworks this year - but it rained pretty hard on the 4th and the 5th. Also, the neighbor that used to set off a shit ton moved away. I got more sleep than normal this year and I can't complain.
I don't usually mind them, but we live in a pretty dense neighborhood with most people having only a small or no yard. So I've become a hater over the years because of the fire risk and that they're so loud in such a confined area.
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Comment on There is no reason to buy another PlayStation or Xbox in ~games
D_E_Solomon Link ParentSupplier marginal cost doesn't have anything to do with the price and the value of the good to the consumer. Unless you're trying to argue that the cost of stamping out the cdrom or the cost of...Supplier marginal cost doesn't have anything to do with the price and the value of the good to the consumer. Unless you're trying to argue that the cost of stamping out the cdrom or the cost of the transmission of the game are the only 'real' thing that price should be based upon in some platonic idealized truth.
Consumers will buy the game if the utility they get from it exceeds the price that they have to pay subject to their budget. It doesn't matter if the game is delivered on cdrom, 1000 floppy disks, a USB thumb drive, or via the internet.
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Comment on Memory is too expensive so I made my own (DIY Core Memory) in ~comp
D_E_Solomon Link ParentThis is a really deep rabbit hole that I started going down and don't have enough time to finish this morning. The original requirements from the original release were 4mb of RAM. Once you get to...This is a really deep rabbit hole that I started going down and don't have enough time to finish this morning.
The original requirements from the original release were 4mb of RAM. Once you get to the ports, it's a lot more exciting. The SNES version had fewer features but ran in a constrained environment with around 256k of memory. I think that's the smallest official port - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doom_ports
On third party versions, there is a port for the Raspberry Pi Pico that is a technical marvel and fits in 264k of memory - https://kilograham.github.io/rp2040-doom/ There are a few in this size category - some sacrifice features, but I don't think any of the others get much smaller for memory.
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Comment on Give me your culture clash stories in ~travel
D_E_Solomon Link ParentWow, that's fascinating!Wow, that's fascinating!
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Comment on Give me your culture clash stories in ~travel
D_E_Solomon LinkI'm a lifelong vegetarian, but I'm pretty flexible if someone accidentally serves me meat or it would cause trouble. When I was traveling to Shanghai for work, we had a person who would take us...I'm a lifelong vegetarian, but I'm pretty flexible if someone accidentally serves me meat or it would cause trouble.
When I was traveling to Shanghai for work, we had a person who would take us out and navigate food and what not. My boss had given them a heads up that I was vegetarian, but at the time at least, vegetarian really hadn't entered into the popular conscious in China. So what this turned into, is that our guide would order a small bowl of leafy greens for me at each meal and then I would just break vegetarian and eat with everyone else so I got enough to eat. That enabled him to save face that he was taking care of my vegetarian sensibilities but still allowed me to eat enough to survive.
In Montreal also for work, we had a situation where my French speaking boss ordered a vegetarian omelette for me. When it came out, it had ham in it. That turned into my manager and another consultant arguing very loudly in French with the owner on the definition of vegetarian (in French) and whether it means "has vegetables" or "does not have meat". Given that we had a Parisian, a German who spoke French fluently, and multiple Quebecois, there were a lot of fun conversations about the proper way to speak French.
Last story is that I had a client in Kentucky who I was visiting. The situation was pretty perilous and I was trying to defuse tensions. At the end of the meeting, I suggested we go and have a nice lunch. I had picked out a few nice looking restaurants that had something vegetarian. Instead, the client's manager said very directly that they wanted Mama's BBQ. So I went and had BBQ with them. One of my legends in that job, is that I (the semi-strict vegetarian) went so far as to eat BBQ with the grouchy client.
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Comment on Modern, abstract art makes me angry in ~arts
D_E_Solomon LinkMy wife is an artist - went to fancy art school, works as a graphic designer, etc - and I'm about as opposite of that as you can get. We've gone to a lot of art museums through our travels. I try...My wife is an artist - went to fancy art school, works as a graphic designer, etc - and I'm about as opposite of that as you can get.
We've gone to a lot of art museums through our travels. I try to think about modern/postmodern art is that it's a conversation that artists were having with themselves about the form, color, shape, etc. It can be a bit frustrating if you're seeing it for the first time and not following the conversation from the early threads.
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Comment on Did Kamala Harris's silence on Gaza cost her the White House? in ~society
D_E_Solomon Link ParentI looked at the polling data a bit. In the voting base of America, 37% of Americans identify as conservative, 34% as moderate, and 26% as liberal according to Gallup. That means that a Democrat...I looked at the polling data a bit.
In the voting base of America, 37% of Americans identify as conservative, 34% as moderate, and 26% as liberal according to Gallup. That means that a Democrat has to get part of the independent vote to get elected and independents lean more conservative. Obviously those breakdowns change over time, but they're broadly right for the past 20+ years.
In 2023, Gallup polling showed that independents were at +30 favorability for Israel while democrats were +11 for Palestine.
That suggests the core problem - the core of the democratic party favored Palestine while the independents that the democrats need to win a significant portion of did not.
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Comment on Did Kamala Harris's silence on Gaza cost her the White House? in ~society
D_E_Solomon Link ParentTrump had enough support to win and so he didn't need to moderate to the center. Other further right republicans have had that problem where they went to extremist to win their primary - Dan Cox,...Trump had enough support to win and so he didn't need to moderate to the center. Other further right republicans have had that problem where they went to extremist to win their primary - Dan Cox, Kari Lake, Doug Mastriano, etc.
I agree that people have to have trust - but, the counter is that would you vote for someone who supports Israel full throated and says, "Too fucking bad, I have principles. Israel is the only real democracy in the middle east, it has support for LGBT rights, and it has to go all out to protect it's existence" Does that candidate get your vote?
I see it a lot in online discourse where only the more extreme position is considered trustworthy. If someone takes a moderate position and they come to it honestly, through careful thought, and hold it deeply, lots of people still discount it as pandering or being cynical.
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Comment on AI job grief in ~tech
D_E_Solomon LinkCommenting on one small part of the article. Solow's paradox is a thing - but there's a couple reasons for it. One is that large firms will lay people off in order to drive the organization to...Commenting on one small part of the article. Solow's paradox is a thing - but there's a couple reasons for it.
One is that large firms will lay people off in order to drive the organization to adopt technology. Organizational change is really hard and especially hard in large organizations. Executives will preemptively do lay offs if they think the technology is there in order to force the organization to start changing.
Second, it takes time for firms to adapt to new technology in terms of sorting out the ecosystem of capital, labor, and system change to occur. Part of the 90s tech bubble was due to not having the iterative startup processes and venture capital model that we take for granted. The same is showing to be true for AI - it's taking time for capital - VCs aren't used to hard assets - labor - it's taking a long time for workers to adapt - and technology - it's taking time for the technology to be actually useful for enterprises.
Third, it takes time for new firms to replace older, slower firms. Some firms will utterly fail to adapt - see Toys-R-Us, others end up in stagnant zombie state. New firms take time to develop and to replace the larger firms that don't navigate the transition.
Using five bullet points might be your (and honestly my) communication preference, but it's certainly not a universal norm. I've worked for bosses that prefer bullets and others that prefer paragraphs. Some corporate cultures - Amazon for instance - are notoriously text heavy. Others work via face to face discussion. Most people don't get to dictate those preferences all the time and have to adapt to the people around them.