Grayscail's recent activity
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Comment on The crisis of ethics in the United States in ~society
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Comment on The crisis of ethics in the United States in ~society
Grayscail (edited )Link ParentIm someone that chose evil so I can speak to this a little. From the perspective of a young person leaving college with a fresh engineering degree, I wasnt nearly as confident as you are that...Im someone that chose evil so I can speak to this a little.
From the perspective of a young person leaving college with a fresh engineering degree, I wasnt nearly as confident as you are that things would work out and everything would be fine. I didnt want to have to move back in with my parents and the job offers werent exactly pouring in. So when a major defense contractor offered me a job where I could get experience on cutting edge tech and work in a discipline I found interesting and would pay me enough to live on my own, I jumped at the opportunity.
I stayed there for years and recently quit about a month back. I dont have a new job lined up yet. I havent made it past the screening rounds of any of the places Ive applied to yet. Im fortunate enough to not have a family relying on me so I guess you could describe this as a mild shake up in my life, but its still a very uncertain situation to be in. Maybe I will find new work within the next couple months, which would be relatively soon, but until then Im burning through my savings faster than Id like.
Its not an easy situation to volunteer for, even if its easier than other people might have it. Particularly at a time where it seems like everyone else is stressed about how the economy is so hard on them and its a struggle to get by, its very enticing to have a well paying job at a stable established company that gives benefits.
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Comment on The cultural ascendancy of the new young American right in ~society
Grayscail Everyone has their own mindset, but I feel the framing that makes the most sense is a cynical take where you say that both sides are attempting to manipulate people and are saying whatever they...Everyone has their own mindset, but I feel the framing that makes the most sense is a cynical take where you say that both sides are attempting to manipulate people and are saying whatever they think they need to say to achieve their own goals, and therefore you dont really take either side at face value.
Instead they tell themselves that since they're choosing between TWO sets of liars, they should opt for the lie thats preferable. One lie tells young men that they can have everything they want and the other lie tells them they should feel bad about all the bad stuff going on in the world.
The former lie is more fun to act out. It doesnt matter what the partys proclaimed ideals are because those are all made up and arent really going to come to fruition in the long term.
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Comment on The best charity isn't what you think in ~humanities
Grayscail Thats a good point, donating or volunteering your time or resources should ultimately stem from you caring about something, not a logical argument that you are obligated to. Youre never obligated...Thats a good point, donating or volunteering your time or resources should ultimately stem from you caring about something, not a logical argument that you are obligated to. Youre never obligated to volunteer, thats what makes it voluntary.
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Comment on The best charity isn't what you think in ~humanities
Grayscail My least favorite thing about both science and philosophy is when people try to string a bunch of stats together to make a narrative about how theyve objectively proved something inherently...- Exemplary
My least favorite thing about both science and philosophy is when people try to string a bunch of stats together to make a narrative about how theyve objectively proved something inherently subjective.
Its downright silly to me that someone would argue with a straight face that science has objectively determined the conversion rate of shrimp to human suffering. Shrimp suffering is 3.1% as valid as human suffering? Watching your daughter die is morally equivalent to watching roughly 32 shrimp die? A moderately sized cocktail platter?
This seems trivial and lighthearted when the bottom line is something innocuous like "we should be giving more money to humane shrimp harvesting methods" because sure, why not do that. But its very easy to logic yourself into stupid positions by putting objectivity and strict heirarchical rankings on a pedestal.
I have seen the same logic used in scientific articles to argue things like stopping investment into sustainable hydropower in Africa, because they boiled down their analysis to a single value, LCOE, and said look, this one option is objectively the best one according to science, so we should do that one alone and forget all the other options. But boiling down a complex analysis to a single value often involves averaging away relevant information that might not be as cut and dry as the presenter would have you believe.
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Comment on Are LLMs making Stack Overflow irrelevant? in ~tech
Grayscail As the article mentions, StackOverflow began its decline before the boom in LLMs. From my own experience, I found that I stopped looking to the site for answers because a lot of times I would...As the article mentions, StackOverflow began its decline before the boom in LLMs.
From my own experience, I found that I stopped looking to the site for answers because a lot of times I would search a specific question, found a posted question that mirrors what Im looking for, but didnt contain the answer I needed. Sometimes its because a mod would close the question, sometimes people would give alternative ways of accomplishing the task that werent applicable to my situation, etc. Eventually I started relying more on searching my question + reddit, and I feel like a lot of other people started doing that too. So the site was already beginning to have its lunch eaten by other competing sources of information.
If LLMs are more appealing to some, its likely because the AI is basically searching through those questions in advance and just going straight to giving its closest guess at the answer instead of having you dig through all the clarification requests and alternative answers yourself.
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Comment on USA: What happened in the American 2024 Presidential election? in ~society
Grayscail I dont know if finding a "balance" is really possible anymore. I agree with your take that a lot of people dont really care about social issues and just dont like having them shoved down their...I dont know if finding a "balance" is really possible anymore. I agree with your take that a lot of people dont really care about social issues and just dont like having them shoved down their throats. But theres no controlling that anymore, because politics has become much more decentralized since social media became ubiquitous.
I dont think Joe Biden or Kamala Harris had much of a problem with being too provocative, in fact they were pretty milquetoast. Its the average person who is doing the shoving down throats, because the average person isnt really risking anything. If youre getting in arguments online or speaking as part of a protest its easier to be loud or aggressive in arguing with people and not feel like theres any harm in it.
This puts Democrats in an unfortunate position where theyre getting the worst of both worlds. The mainstream candidates come across as uninspiring, but individual interactions are still resulting in people being infuriated by the "woke left" or whatever abstract term you want to use.
Im not really sure how youd fix that though. You cant give directions to millions of random individuals who arent really taking orders from anyone to begin with.
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Comment on How do you kill a time traveler in ~games
Grayscail Interesting video if you've played UndertaleInteresting video if you've played Undertale
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How do you kill a time traveler
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Comment on All main Disney animated canon films are going to be destroyed and you can save five, which five do you pick? in ~movies
Grayscail The Lion Ling Toy Story Atlantis Treasure Planet Tangled-
The Lion Ling
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Toy Story
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Atlantis
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Treasure Planet
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Tangled
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Comment on Why democracy? in ~society
Grayscail Id say the main think that would turn me off to the idea of "a model in which power is temporarily centralized to carry out rapid structural reforms, followed by mechanisms of redistribution and...Id say the main think that would turn me off to the idea of "a model in which power is temporarily centralized to carry out rapid structural reforms, followed by mechanisms of redistribution and decentralization of power" is that it sounds like its vulnerable to someone saying "Im going to enact martial law and take total control, but only because I need to to solve this big problem I see with society, and Ill totally give up power once the job is done" and then they will just spend the rest of their life coming up with excuses to say the job is not done.
Beyond that, a lot of people support "the establishment" because they want consistency. They dont care as much that the law isnt always good, so long as they can anticipate whats going on in the world and can olan around it. That becomes harder if other people are constantly reinventing and reimagining the system without them.
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Comment on The return of non-PC language in the US mainstream in ~talk
Grayscail I think the Shane Gillis example kind of shows what I think is happening. Ive watched some of his stuff on youtube, and while he does maintain a sort of persona as a Pennsylvania conservative,...I think the Shane Gillis example kind of shows what I think is happening. Ive watched some of his stuff on youtube, and while he does maintain a sort of persona as a Pennsylvania conservative, most of his comedy gives off the vibe that hes pretty chill and open minded. He even is particularly supportive of people with Down syndrome, despite having said the r-word.
I think after he got fired from SNL he actually got a big boost in popularity from the media attention, and now kind of exists as an example of the overreach of cancel culture.
Which I think is the main answer here. People got really into calling out specific examples of bad behavior, but over time people started to think it was too much to condemn people over selective quotes from their past. So now we are on course correction to find more of a middle ground, but we might be past the peak of it.
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Comment on Ten years ago, one of the uber-wealthy predicted "the pitchforks are coming for us" in ~society
Grayscail (edited )Link ParentYes, there is some degree to which its relevant, but its not a particularly new prediction. People been talking about this for a long time. Marx wrote about class conflict like 150 years ago. 10...Yes, there is some degree to which its relevant, but its not a particularly new prediction. People been talking about this for a long time. Marx wrote about class conflict like 150 years ago.
10 years is just a long time. So many people have gotten shot in the US in the past 10 years that it doesnt seem particularly impressive to me that someone would vaguely make that prediction and get it right eventually. Its been way more than 10 years ago that somebody predicted something like this would happen. But whats special about this guys take other than that he himself is rich?
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Comment on Ten years ago, one of the uber-wealthy predicted "the pitchforks are coming for us" in ~society
Grayscail I dont think someone predicting "pitchforks" and then 10 years later 1 guy gets shot really has that strong a connection. I would argue that the internet is full of people calling for blood and...I dont think someone predicting "pitchforks" and then 10 years later 1 guy gets shot really has that strong a connection.
I would argue that the internet is full of people calling for blood and hating the rich, so when a rich guy gets assassinated is not surprising that the echo chamber effect of mass media would amplify the voices of people cheering it on.
I cant say for sure what the general seniment of America is, but personally I am generally opposed to shooting people. However my opinion is a very tepid hot take, so theres not much reason for that opinion to take off on social media.
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Comment on OSRS Leagues: Trailblazer Reloaded in ~games
Grayscail Certain quests give Leagues points so I do those. Tower of Life, for example, gives both points for doing the quest and is needed for getting the creature creation tasks done. Plus its a good way...Certain quests give Leagues points so I do those. Tower of Life, for example, gives both points for doing the quest and is needed for getting the creature creation tasks done. Plus its a good way to skyrocket past the early levels, like with Waterfall.
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Comment on OSRS Leagues: Trailblazer Reloaded in ~games
Grayscail I was thinking of either Zeah or Varlamore as my second pick too. Kourend seems like it variety of stuff to do, but I havent really explored Varlamore that much since it released so now might be a...I was thinking of either Zeah or Varlamore as my second pick too. Kourend seems like it variety of stuff to do, but I havent really explored Varlamore that much since it released so now might be a good time for that.
I picked almost the same relics, except I went for Reloaded so I could also get the Foragers pouch.
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OSRS Leagues: Trailblazer Reloaded
I dont know how many people here play Runescape, but the latest seasonal League has just started a day or two ago. It is a temporary event during which you start a new profile and all the xp rates...
I dont know how many people here play Runescape, but the latest seasonal League has just started a day or two ago.
It is a temporary event during which you start a new profile and all the xp rates and drop rates are boosted considerably, making it really fast to level up and progress.
Ive been having a blast with it. Its a fun way to try out skills you dont typically enjoy and get up to hogh level quickly.
For those playing, what relics and areas have you chosen? Ive unlocked Kandarin as my first area and am currently levelling slayer so I can finally try out the trident of the seas on my ironman account.
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Comment on Pine64 November update: Something borrowed something new in ~tech
Grayscail I havent used any Pine products, but Im interested in the SOPINE modules. I always thought cluster computing was a neat idea for trying to do larger scale computations without having access to a...I havent used any Pine products, but Im interested in the SOPINE modules.
I always thought cluster computing was a neat idea for trying to do larger scale computations without having access to a supercomputer.
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Comment on Scientists are learning why ultra-processed foods are bad for you in ~food
Grayscail Yeah, my previous conception of "processed foods" was way broader than what the UPF label identifies. I thought the anti processed foods thing extended to things like flour and white rice. Which...Yeah, my previous conception of "processed foods" was way broader than what the UPF label identifies. I thought the anti processed foods thing extended to things like flour and white rice. Which as an Indian was a hard pass for me.
I think the examples of high fructose corn syrup and adding a bunch of sugar to stuff to make it "palatable" are good for qrapping your head around the idea. You dont feel like youre eating a lot of sugar because it doesnt taste super sweet, but there's acrually a ton of sweetener in stuff just to make it taste average.
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Comment on What does the word "cancelled" mean to you? in ~talk
Grayscail Trying to be concise, Id call it a coordinated surge of negative publicity. Negative consequences like getting fired are possible, but not necessary.Trying to be concise, Id call it a coordinated surge of negative publicity.
Negative consequences like getting fired are possible, but not necessary.
Generally Im open to it, but I guess it would depend where exactly Im supposed to be going.