DisasterlyDisco's recent activity
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Comment on Pandoc for the people: convert documents without leaving the browser in ~tech
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Comment on Passing question about LLMs and the Tech Singularity in ~tech
DisasterlyDisco LinkI have so many feelings about this, where to start. First of all, I think that we are still a ways off of any intelligence explosion, whether that be in humans or machines. Using LLM's can...- Exemplary
I have so many feelings about this, where to start.
First of all, I think that we are still a ways off of any intelligence explosion, whether that be in humans or machines.
Using LLM's can increase productivity, but it is both my experience, and my general understanding, that it actually makes the user slightly dumber, not smarter, when it is used. It's easy, solves problems fast, requirering little critical thought. If what it does is something you were already doing, then you do it less often, and get progressively worse at it. If what it does is something you've never tried doing, then you never acquire that skill.
I suppose that there could be an argument for an aggregate increase in intelligence between the user and the LLM. That the human might get slightly dumber, but that the LLM gets much smarter, and thus the total intelligence has increased. The only way I see to evaluate that is by comparing the output of the combined Human/LLM system as opposed to the unassisted Human. But, when I do that, I again see only a decrease in quality (at least in my own field of software engineering).
The electronic systems that we cureently call AI (which are complicated beasts of many disparate parts) are also far FAR from any autonomic recursive increase in intelligence. Letting a model LLM loose, letting it attempt to modify and upgrade it's own infrastructure would have laughably catastrophocic consequences. LLMs can certainly generate massive amounts of functional code in the blink of an eye. But it is fragile code, fully functional in the narrowest cases, a buggy mess in the face of anything unexpected, a tapestry of the front page results of a myriad quick google searches. It has to be vetted by humans still, has to be padded with the missing pieces, has to be corrected, if you want anything sound. Cettainly if you want anything robust enough to recursively rewrite itself.
Second of all, we've build so many tools throughout our history that has helped us compute things better. Like, the current computer that you are probably reading this on is an overstuffed toolshed of things that make it easier to compute things, one tool holding up the other, in a chain of bootstraps that let's us intepret the consequences of unique spatial and temporal patterns of electrons as images, sounds, buttons and letters from friends and strangers. So many people have contributed to just the code running on your computer, each one solving a different problem, with a different scope, dependent on other peoples solutions and fascilitating other solutions to other problems in turn. And, that computer is only able to run that code because an absolutely staggering amount of other computers are already running, ready to interconnect with any new computer, filled with the tools we need to set up and continue development. And then there are all the people that have thought up and rigouresly proven the mathematical principles that are fundamental to our computing. And the engineers that have build the countless electronic and mechanical machines needed to keep computers being a thing.
It is baffling to me that we are currently so fascinated by computers that can get smarter by themselves that we forget that all of human invention, ingenuity and intelligence is the consequence of years upon years of collaboration and private triumphs. It saddens me that you can only mention Moore's Law (which, while an acute observation by Moore, is not much of a tool) and large language models out of all the steps that we've already taken - and are still taking - towards furthering our understanding of our world.
And, thirdly and finally, what the fuck is up with this modern belief in AI singularity? Why do we believe that intelligence could ever be a runaway effect? That it is even plausible that anything could just recursively learn ad infinitum without limit? Have we all gotten so comfortable with the supposed singularities in black holes, that we've forgotten that singularities are a logical problem? That when the result of any postulate, any calculation, any thought, is a singularity, then one should probably reconsider? I am unconvinced that any form of intelligence singularity is likely or desireable. It seems to me too clean, too simple. It reeks of deification, of over-anthropomorphication. it sounds like the screams of sacrifices to volcano gods that could have gone on to study plate techtonics.
What is the point of this "singularity", what do we hope to gain? Why in all nine hells do we doggedly pursue it, seemingly without question?
My mind? Boggled.
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Comment on Youtube channel recommendations 2026 in ~tech
DisasterlyDisco LinkWow, I'm surprised by the overlap between this thread and my own youtube subscriptions. I do have a couple of channels that haven't been shared yet: Diffraction Limited - Very high quality videos...Wow, I'm surprised by the overlap between this thread and my own youtube subscriptions. I do have a couple of channels that haven't been shared yet:
Diffraction Limited - Very high quality videos on optics and other light related topics, along with in depth build videos for related open source tools and machines. A relatively young channel with a sparse video catalog, but each and every one of them is of great quality.
Hyperspace Pirate - Lab equipment and tech-projects build cheaper than what is probably advisable. JW Telescope inspired cryocooling, a remote controlled arc-furnace, homemade dry ice, an xray machine. All of the videos fall squarely into the category of "don't try this at home kids, even if it is practically possible", and I can't vouch for the soundness of what they build. But it is undoubtedly impressive.
SuperfastMatt - Follow one mans dream of going very fast, and his reality of actually building that dream. The core of the channel is currently the building of a sleek land speed racer, what will let Matt go Superfast (and get a hat). But this project is surrounded but other vehicle adjacent tomfoolery like remote controlling a mini and driving an old camper van off of a cliff. Ah, and making an off road dodge viper.
[People Make Games]
Apart from those, I'd also really like to second these two channels, even though they've already been mentioned:
Benn Jordan - Do you like music? Do you like technology? Do you like applied science? Do you think that our modern power structures merit critical scrutiny? Benn Jordan's channel definitely has music as it's core subject, but his techno-anarchical bend has led to him visiting other topics, especially recently. There are videos on sound cameras, using birds as physical storage, the safety of privatized mass survailance and of course AI antagonistic music production.
Thought Emporium - A Mad Scientist Makerspace homegrowing meat grapes, glow in the dark spider silk, bio-computers and much much more. The primary focus is what I'd consider bio-engineering - splicing genes, growing cells, making them produce different materials - but they also branch out into other projects like playing with electroplating, making lasers with highlighter ink and growing opals. They have a current longterm goal, AFAIK, of growing neurons on chips to create bio-electric computation. It's fun stuff, and well explained.
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Comment on Let's talk orchestrated objective reduction! in ~science
DisasterlyDisco LinkDid someone say the phenomenology of Quantum Mechanics? That Penrose and Hameroff are on the hunt for consciousness in macroscopic quantum effects in the h&man body is REAL interesting. I'll...Did someone say the phenomenology of Quantum Mechanics?
That Penrose and Hameroff are on the hunt for consciousness in macroscopic quantum effects in the h&man body is REAL interesting. I'll certainly have to read more about that. Do you have some good intro material other than the papwr, the wikipedia article and Penroses own books?
Accepting quantum stuff in the wet, warm and noisy doesn't seem too far fetched to me. But I wonder how that keads to consciousness? What is consciousness by the Penrose Hameroff definition, and how does quantum calculations lead to that?
Also, a minor thing, I'm curious what you think the age consciousness looks like? I'm all for a good next step, and I think it's interesting to hear what others believe the next step is.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
DisasterlyDisco Link ParentI intend to make a residence in the End sometime soon, and I was thinking of making a "Last Shop before the End" type of thing with essentials and niceties for End dimension exploration. I would...I intend to make a residence in the End sometime soon, and I was thinking of making a "Last Shop before the End" type of thing with essentials and niceties for End dimension exploration. I would love to have a rocket gas station as part of the shtick!
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
DisasterlyDisco Link ParentSame! I already kinda want a rematch with the dragon (seeing as I fell out of the sky before it did) so I'm voting for that as our first outing.Same! I already kinda want a rematch with the dragon (seeing as I fell out of the sky before it did) so I'm voting for that as our first outing.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
DisasterlyDisco Link ParentSo cool!So cool!
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
DisasterlyDisco Link ParentI'll put up a stele in j0hn's name where my minimap said I died.I'll put up a stele in j0hn's name where my minimap said I died.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
DisasterlyDisco Link ParentI have a paved path of deepslate bricks from a temp path to my portal in the side of a netherrack cliff (branching off of the path to the blaze spawner); feel free to demolish as needed - it was...I have a paved path of deepslate bricks from a temp path to my portal in the side of a netherrack cliff (branching off of the path to the blaze spawner); feel free to demolish as needed - it was not meant to be permanent anyway. (It's the portal that leads to a lil' spot of lava by an underground waterway WAY down below the ground)
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Comment on What’s a point that you think many people missed? in ~talk
DisasterlyDisco (edited )Link ParentI would be very careful about any brazen statement on what any quantum behavior "implies", whether that is seemingly mystical or rational. The How of quantum mechanics is understood. We have a...I would be very careful about any brazen statement on what any quantum behavior "implies", whether that is seemingly mystical or rational. The How of quantum mechanics is understood. We have a very solid framework that Just Works™and it is very, very useful. The Why is still a completely open question. It is why quantum mechanics has multiple "interpretations" - many worlds, pilot wave, ensemble, superdeterminism, the Copenhagen non-answer, etc - non of which are proven nor disproven. In some of those wave function collapse (i.e. the system going from a diffuse set of probabilities to a singular definite state (roughly)) is a thing that actually physically happens, while in others it is a "trick of perspective" where we didn't actually fully know the system, or even weirder bullshit.
The Observer Effect, that anything observed is also disturbed, is a Classical effect and thus maps very well to the observed behavior of everything in the classical domain (which is most things, even extremely tiny stuff, as long as they aren't moving too fast, or are too heavy, probably, within my understanding). Seemingly, this maps simply to the quantum domain: the system was in its weird wavy state, we disturbed it by observing it, now it is in its defined particly state. But does that actually make sense? Why would disturbing something make it more defined, not less? Turns out, shit's a lot more complicated, which is why we haven't yet settled on a singular interpretation - not even all interpretations has observation as an important part of wave function collapse (I'd argue most don't).
(Of course, the Observer Effect also does kinda affect a quantum system, in so far as for us to measure the system we have to interact with it, but that is an effect we have to account for on top of the quantum weirdness of whatever wave function collapse means.)
I suppose this is the point that I think many people missed; when we say "if you think you understand quantum mechanics, no you don't" we do not mean that you can't understand the how. We mean that no one yet understands the why. We don't say this to discourage people from learning the mechanics, just to remind people that the why is still out there for us to find. And, that it is deceptively easy to build a classical intuition of the quantum phenomena that get in the way of a full appreciation of the really weird world of the quantum scale.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
DisasterlyDisco Link ParentBlaze Farm: 241 59 78 (Nether)Blaze Farm: 241 59 78 (Nether)
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
DisasterlyDisco Link ParentI mean, a pointy thing is a very good remedy for a battle.I mean, a pointy thing is a very good remedy for a battle.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
DisasterlyDisco Link ParentTIL that Bodil - which where I am from is usually a name associated with cutesy grandma's or maybe awkward dogs - more or less means "spikey" or "prickly".TIL that Bodil - which where I am from is usually a name associated with cutesy grandma's or maybe awkward dogs - more or less means "spikey" or "prickly".
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
DisasterlyDisco Link ParentGood point. Then what avout 2 PM EST? Would be the waking hours for most of the American continent, about past dinner for Europe, and would allow early birds from Oceania to join in? Very late for...Good point. Then what avout 2 PM EST? Would be the waking hours for most of the American continent, about past dinner for Europe, and would allow early birds from Oceania to join in? Very late for people in central Asia - we got anyone in that timezone that wanna be dragonslayers?
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
DisasterlyDisco Link ParentI second this, and propose saturday of the coming week instead. Also, I have no clue what our timezone spread is on the server, but is 9 AM EST broadly convenient?I second this, and propose saturday of the coming week instead. Also, I have no clue what our timezone spread is on the server, but is 9 AM EST broadly convenient?
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft - Season 3 Launch Day in ~games
DisasterlyDisco Link ParentI saw the restorated portal and was inspired to create some paths myself - one leads back to the Town Center, the other leads out east. I've made them a bit meandering and rough to give that...I saw the restorated portal and was inspired to create some paths myself - one leads back to the Town Center, the other leads out east. I've made them a bit meandering and rough to give that hiking feel (there were some good mini points of interest on the way to keep it fun I think), but feel free to updated them with that secret infrastructure magic if connectivity calls for it :)
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Comment on The drug that taught me how much I should suffer in ~health
DisasterlyDisco Link ParentTo your two last paragraphs about the future being unknown, may I propose that you read more of his work? Not only is he good at illuminating the measured truth of complicated questions, and going...To your two last paragraphs about the future being unknown, may I propose that you read more of his work? Not only is he good at illuminating the measured truth of complicated questions, and going against commen sense with rigor, humility and charm, he also has a lot to say about our avility to predict future outcomes, when it is possible, how we usually end up doing it wrong, and how it often clash with our human intuitions and heuristics.
He even dips his toes in it in this one, presenting the idea that we often try to predict the outcome of hard work by how many are willing to start doing it instead of how many were happy when they came out the other side. Thisn kind of "predicting your own future by observing those that have already walked your path" is one he mentions often in one shade or another, and rings true to me, even if it is a bit uncomfortable.
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Comment on The drug that taught me how much I should suffer in ~health
DisasterlyDisco LinkI love Adam Mastroianni's writings. There is a lot of good advise (which I promptly forget about for historic reasons) and an awful lot of measured hope (which is a balm to my parched soul). He...I love Adam Mastroianni's writings. There is a lot of good advise (which I promptly forget about for historic reasons) and an awful lot of measured hope (which is a balm to my parched soul). He also just has a great approach to science and communication in general.
Also also - he usually release all of his articles in audio form, narrated by himself. Those are available in podcast form wherever you get those. It's how I ingest most of his articles, the definite highlight of my podcast "recents".
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Comment on Bagels and shrinkflation in ~food
DisasterlyDisco Link ParentThis is awesome. How have you come into the possesipn of the knowledge that you let's you do such feats? Would you be able to share? I am not yet at a point where I need to do what you do for...This is awesome. How have you come into the possesipn of the knowledge that you let's you do such feats? Would you be able to share? I am not yet at a point where I need to do what you do for finatial reasons, but I would still like to utilize and dessiminate the knowledge. Bowl food is some of the best food, closely followed by good bread (I can take or leave yogurt, although I might be biased from never having tried the homemade stuff)
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Comment on Who can name the bigger number? in ~science
DisasterlyDisco LinkMan I just love early 00's writing. I don't know what it is specifically, maybe just the underlying optimism andcuriosity. Reminded me of being young and devouring internet blogs and articles,...Man I just love early 00's writing. I don't know what it is specifically, maybe just the underlying optimism andcuriosity. Reminded me of being young and devouring internet blogs and articles, growing fascinated with all the thibgs that fascinated everyone else.
Took a look at the rest of his blog and immediately I'm met with the modern paradigm. Jebus Chrysler, modern internet writing is quite fearful and despondant. I think it an understandable response to modern times (although something feels feedbacky in all this). But damn, I miss the older more calm interwebz.
Can we have a bit more of those nice faelike wibes tpday plz?
I use it for technocal papers, letting me write the text vody in markdown which is nice for rough drafts and notes, and then converting it to paper or hypertext format through either latex->pdf or html with css. Great for writing text intended for multiple formats.
Don't know if I'll be using the online tool much, but it's that it's there (and is now also in my bookmarks).