Grayscail's recent activity
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Comment on Jimmy Kimmel pulled “indefinitely” by ABC after Charlie Kirk comments in ~tv
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Comment on Some thoughts on violence in ~society
Grayscail LinkI am immediately skeptical of this guys understanding of gaming culture. Its like that King of the Hill episode where Hank tries to play GTA. Except Hank ends up learning to appreciate the game....Reveling in violence unfortunately has the potential to interfere with the average person’s enjoyment of the game, at least among those with some trace of conscience.
I am immediately skeptical of this guys understanding of gaming culture.
Its like that King of the Hill episode where Hank tries to play GTA. Except Hank ends up learning to appreciate the game.
Noob mindset aside, I think he makes a good point. I think people naturally have some amount of antisocial tendencies that they are forced to keep under control in civil society. That creates tension you cant hold in forever so people need some kind of outlet. So when there are certain socially acceptable forms of antisocial behavior, like being a jerk in the context of political activism or competitions or a mosh pit, people will gravitate toward those outlets.
And to some extent, the knowledge that they can only indulge in that behavior in limited quantities might lead people to overindulge in those moments and actually be worse overall than if they had just never tried to restrain themselves to begin with.
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Comment on Many lonely people would rather deal with a robot than interact with an actual human, according to research co-led by Newcastle University in ~health.mental
Grayscail LinkHonestly that makes a ton of sense. If you are feeling starved and are craving food, you dont go drink a diet soda. I understand the reflexive idea of if a person is lonely just add more social...Honestly that makes a ton of sense.
If you are feeling starved and are craving food, you dont go drink a diet soda.
I understand the reflexive idea of if a person is lonely just add more social interactions but really think about it for a second, would you get anything substantial out of it?
If you feel bad because you dont have loved ones or close friends to talk to, and then you go to the grocery store and opt out of the self checkout and some cashier goes "Are you a member of our rewards program?" Thats not going to do anything for you.
I dont know, maybe extroverted people really do feel some kind of benefit from that. But to me it makes perfect sense to not want to engage in hollow conversation when you are already feeling socially deficient.
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Comment on Is the concept of debate completely useless? in ~talk
Grayscail Link"Debates" ride a fine line between discussion and argument. Argument is useless. Two people just insisting on their own perspectives and actively trying to reject whatever the other person is..."Debates" ride a fine line between discussion and argument.
Argument is useless. Two people just insisting on their own perspectives and actively trying to reject whatever the other person is saying by any means possible does not go anywhere. Discussion is purposeful, where you are trying to understand the other persons perspective, but arent necessarily needing to end with either side winning or needing to change their minds.
I know neither of those words really mean exactly what I described but Im just trying to separate those two concepts.
If you can keep a debate mostly discussion and just a little bit of argument it could be useful. The reason it feels like it is not is because some people really enjoy arguing, or are so firmly committed to their position that they could never genuinely consider an alternate perspective, even if they wanted to, so the balance is heavily tipped toward argumentation.
Unfortunately, the kind of people who are best suited to having productive discussions are probably the least likely to want to engage in public discourse, because they dont like pointless arguing any more than you do, so they avoid getting involved, and the pepole you are left with are correspondingly more likely to be people who engage in arguing more.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Grayscail (edited )LinkI have just started Shinobi: Art of Vengeance. Im having a blast so far. Its a hack and slash side scroller with large sprawling maps. I really love the ninja in Neo Tokyo vibe, and the 2d sprites...I have just started Shinobi: Art of Vengeance.
Im having a blast so far. Its a hack and slash side scroller with large sprawling maps.
I really love the ninja in Neo Tokyo vibe, and the 2d sprites blend really well with the variety of art styles in the various stages to make a really aesthetically pleasing composite.
The combat so far has been really fun and dynamic. There core game encourages you to be proactive and blitz your enemies to stun lock them, while managing your dodges to account for having 3-5 enemies attacking.
There are a number of extra challenges in both combat and platforming to encourage revisitng stages and exploration. The game has been regularly introducing new skills and abilities to facilitate the platforming.
All in all Ive really enjoyed it so far. Im in the 3rd story segment so far, so Ill see how it progresses from here.
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Comment on The great enslurrification of culture in ~arts
Grayscail (edited )Link ParentI think its somewhat juvenile, like people are enjoying the thrill of saying a "bad" word even if its not real. It comes across to me like people imitating a bigot for fun, but trying to do so in...I think its somewhat juvenile, like people are enjoying the thrill of saying a "bad" word even if its not real.
It comes across to me like people imitating a bigot for fun, but trying to do so in a way that wont get them in trouble. Like, Im not a racist but I enjoy the aesthetic of pretending to be horrible, so Im going to be racist to rocks or something else innocuous in order to get away with it.
I mean, I dont doubt that there is a lot of negative sentiment around AI, but I feel that this trend is not really a genuine manifestation of that resentment, its just people engaging in ironic humor.
Beyond that, if I was going to describe the "enslurrification" of culture it would be about how I feel public discourse is becoming more hateful and more centered around labelling people with terrible words so they can be disregarded as monsters rather than people. Its emergent from the rapidly increasing polarization that has been going on in society over the past decade or so.
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Comment on The great enslurrification of culture in ~arts
Grayscail LinkI was really expecting this to be a commentary on the recent trend of trying to manufacture the word "clanker" into a new slur against AI which I have been seeing recently. But the "slur" in...I was really expecting this to be a commentary on the recent trend of trying to manufacture the word "clanker" into a new slur against AI which I have been seeing recently.
But the "slur" in "enslurrification" actually refers to "slurry".
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Comment on Denmark ending letter deliveries is a sign of the digital times in ~society
Grayscail LinkLike 95% of my mail is just junk I have to immediately toss in the recycling anyway.Like 95% of my mail is just junk I have to immediately toss in the recycling anyway.
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Comment on Famous cognitive psychology experiments that failed to replicate in ~science
Grayscail LinkThis reminds me of that Harvard professor Francesca Gino who built a career based on studying honesty and ethical behavior and had studies like "If you sign an honesty pledge at the top of an exam...This reminds me of that Harvard professor Francesca Gino who built a career based on studying honesty and ethical behavior and had studies like "If you sign an honesty pledge at the top of an exam you are less likely to cheat", but then it came out that she had been fabricating data to make it look like she got a positive result.
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Comment on ‘Being short is a curse’: the men paying thousands to get their legs broken – and lengthened in ~life.men
Grayscail Link ParentThe risk of giving people with body dysmorphia the bodies they desire is that their desires are warped by a distorted perspective. People like Eugenia Cooney have gotten the bodies they desire,...The risk of giving people with body dysmorphia the bodies they desire is that their desires are warped by a distorted perspective.
People like Eugenia Cooney have gotten the bodies they desire, but I dont know if I would say thats a good thing for their health.
I dont know the science, maybe its totally fine and healthy, but I cant help but wonder if there are long term negative side effects to snapping your legs in half and reconstructing them if you dont need to.
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Comment on What happened to your first car? in ~transport
Grayscail LinkMy first car was a used Nissan. It got me through half of highschool and all of college. Over the years it started developing problems. The main one being something wrong with the transmission....My first car was a used Nissan. It got me through half of highschool and all of college.
Over the years it started developing problems. The main one being something wrong with the transmission. When I would try to shift it would hang. It was an automatic transmission but when I had to shift to Drive it would just be stuck with the "clutch" applied for a few seconds before rattling into place. I tried taking it to a mechanic once but I was told that with the age of the car any transmission work would cost more than the car was worth.
About a year into my first job I was driving down the highway running some errands. I heard a loud noise and a shake and smoke started coming out of the hood and the gas pedal stopped responding. I was going around 70-80 miles per hour so I used the momentum of the car to move to the rightmost lane and into the nearest exit. As soon as I got to a place where I wasnt going to block traffic I stopped at the side of the road and called for a tow truck.
Apparently the engine exploded. No idea what exactly happened, but there was baseball sized hole in the bottom of my car. The mechanic told me that the car was scrapped, which I already figured, so I just donated it to some charity that was collecting recyclable cars and accepted it.
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Comment on If you're a programmer, are you ever going to believe an AGI is actually 'I'? in ~tech
Grayscail LinkI can look behind the curtain of human intelligence too. Open up someones skull and youll see a brain filled with neurons sending signals around. I can physically look at each neuron and...I can look behind the curtain of human intelligence too. Open up someones skull and youll see a brain filled with neurons sending signals around. I can physically look at each neuron and understand what its doing and how, and I can see how different neurons connect together to produce more complex behaviors. Doesnt mean I understand consciousness, or what the brain as a whole is doing.
Similarly, I can look at the source code or architecture of a given AI, and I can describe mechanically how it works, but ultimately the "intelligence" will be in the form of a giant list of coefficients that mean nothing to me beyond being a list of numbers.
Its completely plausible to me that some combination of feedback loops and pattern recognition could contain the fundamental essence of what we consider as intelligence. But only because I have a vague idea at best of what intelligence is.
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Comment on The future is NOT self-hosted in ~tech
Grayscail Link ParentMight need to go a step further than that. Even if there is established software everyone has a different computer setup and interactions with other software or drivers can still make running...Might need to go a step further than that. Even if there is established software everyone has a different computer setup and interactions with other software or drivers can still make running software a headache.
Maybe something like an approved docker container that is being maintained to fix any bugs that pop up would be better. That way all the supporting software can also be included and the differences between individual peoples computers wont be as much of a concern.
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Comment on Something I always wondered: Why did Dave Chappelle get a bigger backlash for what he said about the trans community compared to someone like Bill Maher? in ~talk
Grayscail LinkI think the simple reason is that a lot of people dont really care about Bill Maher. I know he is ostensibly a "comedian" but I dont know any jokes hes known for or anything like that. The only...I think the simple reason is that a lot of people dont really care about Bill Maher. I know he is ostensibly a "comedian" but I dont know any jokes hes known for or anything like that. The only people who care about what hes saying are presumably already fans.
Chapelle had far more broad of reach since he was actually considered an actual good comedian, and was more of a comedic comedian as opposed to a political commentary commedian.
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Comment on Modern masculinity and The Critical Drinker in ~life.men
Grayscail LinkIts curious how the Critical Drinker's thesis is apparently "Men don't feel things as much as people seem to think they do, they dont constantly frett or worry over trivial problems" while...Its curious how the Critical Drinker's thesis is apparently "Men don't feel things as much as people seem to think they do, they dont constantly frett or worry over trivial problems" while actively fretting over the most trivial of problems the way he has been doing for years at this point.
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Comment on 'I destroyed months of your work in seconds' says AI coding tool after deleting a dev's entire database during a code freeze: 'I panicked instead of thinking' in ~comp
Grayscail Link ParentIt means that thats what the model considers to be the average response to that kind of accusationIt means that thats what the model considers to be the average response to that kind of accusation
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Comment on Why is the right so fascinated with fantasy literature? in ~books
Grayscail LinkI dont know man, this seems like a real stretch. A couple of nerds have expressed interest in the Lord of the Rings, which was a massive epic blockbuster trilogy that was a pillar of pop culture...I dont know man, this seems like a real stretch.
A couple of nerds have expressed interest in the Lord of the Rings, which was a massive epic blockbuster trilogy that was a pillar of pop culture for years afterward and also one of the most popular book series ever published? Sounds like a red flag for fascism.
In other news, black people like watermelon, and this is significant because thats markedly different from how literally everybody feels about watermelon.
I mean, I bet a bunch of people here like The Lord of the Rings too. Should we be concerned?
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Comment on Superman (2025) - Discussion thread in ~movies
Grayscail (edited )Link ParentThats a tough question. I dont know if there is a single characterization that I think fully encapsulates the character. He has different personality aspects that shine in different kinds of...Thats a tough question. I dont know if there is a single characterization that I think fully encapsulates the character. He has different personality aspects that shine in different kinds of stories.
In terms of movies, Man of Tomorrow is a good young Superman story, All Star Superman is a good old Superman story.
But the aspects I like best about the character tend to work more in comic format, where you can do shorter stories that are more like vignettes. Superman shines best when you lean into the idea that he is overpowered, and that can do well in brief encounters but is hard to fill up a 2 hour film, or even a 25 minute TV episode. Adventures of Superman 40-41 is a good example. This scene would only take a couple minutes to resolve in a live action film. But is a good length for a comic.
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Comment on Superman (2025) - Discussion thread in ~movies
Grayscail Link ParentI think its just a consequence of the fact that American entertainment seems to lean heavy on drama in general. There were 15 minutes of previews between the starting time and the actual movie...I think its just a consequence of the fact that American entertainment seems to lean heavy on drama in general.
There were 15 minutes of previews between the starting time and the actual movie start, and I noticed that every preview was doing that sound effect thing of having a loud rising sound in the background like its building up to something big. This was even happening on movies that were not at all dramatic, like a preview for The Cat in the Hat. Its just the default to sprinkle in a little drama to everything, like its salt.
I suspect thats why the filmmakers wanted every confrontation to feel like it had some stakes, so they never wanted anything to seem too easy for Superman. But I feel like that's a very iconic Superman move, to have bullets bounce off him or tank an enemy's punch without flinching. Often times a show will have some more minor antagonist early on thats not on the superheros level, and that will be the chance to do stuff like that, but this movie starts with him fighting a hard opponent right away so they dont get that chance.
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Comment on Superman (2025) - Discussion thread in ~movies
Grayscail Link ParentIm a big fan of Superman. I dont think this did a great job of handling the character, but I do think Gunn will do a good job with the DC universe. I thought it was refreshing that they wasnt so...Im a big fan of Superman. I dont think this did a great job of handling the character, but I do think Gunn will do a good job with the DC universe. I thought it was refreshing that they wasnt so much Marvel style humor all the time, but there are still a few good comedic beats too.
Mr. Terrific was a highlight, I hope he gets his own movie in the future.
I gotta say though, its pretty wild seeing so many people suddenly act like they care about the Jimmy Kimmel show. I dont think Ive ever seen someone talk about the show without dunking on it until this week.