Grayscail's recent activity
-
Comment on Rediscovering “Columbo” in 2020 in ~comics
-
Comment on Rediscovering “Columbo” in 2020 in ~comics
Grayscail Link ParentThe more humanized criminals are great because sometimes they would get a big celebrity like Johnny Cash or Donald Pleasence to play the bad guy, and its fun to see Columbo get to banter with them.The more humanized criminals are great because sometimes they would get a big celebrity like Johnny Cash or Donald Pleasence to play the bad guy, and its fun to see Columbo get to banter with them.
-
Comment on Rediscovering “Columbo” in 2020 in ~comics
Grayscail (edited )LinkI figured out where he was going with this about halfway through the comic but kept going in hopes that I was wrong. I dont necessarily disagree but I wish it wasnt the case. I wish people just...I figured out where he was going with this about halfway through the comic but kept going in hopes that I was wrong.
I dont necessarily disagree but I wish it wasnt the case. I wish people just liked things and wanted to talk about them for other reasons beyond circling back to the same one conversation that has been constantly ongoing for the last 10 years or so.
For what its worth, I also like Columbo, but not because of class warfare. I like Columbo as a character, I like that hes calm and controlled and polite even when facing off against murderers and criminals, for the most part. I like that the episodes telegraph who the murderer is so the whole episode doesnt hinge around a big twist reveal. I like that the show needs to find a different way to be interesting beyond having high stakes and suspense.
Columbo has actually been a really well regarded show across the world for decades. There are other reasons why someone might like any given thing beyond hating Donald Trump, is what Im getting at.
-
Comment on Longest government shutdown in US history ends after Donald Trump signs funding bill in ~society
Grayscail Link ParentOut of curiosity, would it be legal for them to kill the fillibuster now, and then turn it back on before they lose control of Congress?Out of curiosity, would it be legal for them to kill the fillibuster now, and then turn it back on before they lose control of Congress?
-
Comment on Around the world in 80 days ... sustainably in ~talk
Grayscail Link ParentYou call it an environmental hazard, I call it organic free-range plant food with no pesticides.You call it an environmental hazard, I call it organic free-range plant food with no pesticides.
-
Comment on Around the world in 80 days ... sustainably in ~talk
-
Comment on An AI-generated country song is topping a Billboard chart, and that should infuriate us all in ~music
Grayscail Link ParentMaybe, but I dont listen to music as a roundabout way to give donations to artists, I listen to music to hear sounds I like.Maybe, but I dont listen to music as a roundabout way to give donations to artists, I listen to music to hear sounds I like.
-
Comment on Microsoft is adding AI facial recognition to OneDrive and users can only turn it off three times a year in ~tech
Grayscail Link ParentIn case anyone else reading is also thinking of switching to Linux, please consider something other than Arch. If you know what you are getting into it can be a fun experience, but Arch is not a...In case anyone else reading is also thinking of switching to Linux, please consider something other than Arch. If you know what you are getting into it can be a fun experience, but Arch is not a beginner friendly distro.
If you havent used Linux before, some easier options would be Ubuntu/Debian or Mint.
-
Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
Grayscail Link ParentThat sounds pretty cool. The core concept of decomposing a task into a set of operations and choices is far more important to getting good at programming than learning the syntax of a given...That sounds pretty cool.
The core concept of decomposing a task into a set of operations and choices is far more important to getting good at programming than learning the syntax of a given language. Which is to say, I think what you are doing in the game sounds like a great way to practice, even if its not "real" python.
-
Comment on There’s a reason US electricity prices are rising. And it’s not data centers. in ~enviro
Grayscail Link ParentKind of, but not in this case. There is going to be some added transmission infrastructure, but the costs of maintaining the existing grid dwarfs that. The study referenced says that the load...Kind of, but not in this case. There is going to be some added transmission infrastructure, but the costs of maintaining the existing grid dwarfs that.
The study referenced says that the load increases in question are deployed in a way that has not demanded a ton of new infrastructure expenditures, but the increase in load does mean that there is more money coming in, which means the maintenence they were going to have to do anyway is now a smaller cut out of their revenue.
This finding aligns with the understanding that a primary driver of increased electricity-sector costs in recent years has been distribution and transmission expenditures—often devoted to refurbishment or replacement of existing infrastructure rather than to serve new loads (ETE, 2025, Pierpont, 2024, EIA, 2024a, Forrester et al., 2024). Spreading these fixed costs over more demand naturally exerts downward pressure on retail prices. It is also notable, however, that this negative load-price relationship was pronounced when considering overall average retail prices but was smaller and lost statistical significance when analyzing residential prices alone (see SI-8). Load growth over this historical period was led by commercial customers, and cost allocation practices have tended to benefit those large, non-residential customers.
Whether these historical relationships extend to a future of significant, nationwide load growth is unclear and is a point to which we return in the conclusion.
-
Comment on What's a quantum computer? in ~tech
Grayscail LinkQuantum mechanics has a thing where quantum particles have a wavelike nature and have discrete wace modes that can interfere with eachother. Scientists have theorized that we could use these...Quantum mechanics has a thing where quantum particles have a wavelike nature and have discrete wace modes that can interfere with eachother.
Scientists have theorized that we could use these quantum effects to carry out computations by mapping the problems we want to solve onto quantum effects.
There are a lot of potential ways we could do this, so its not like there is a single type of quantum computing. But most ideas involve taking advantage of interference to effectively apply algortihms to a wide range of potential inputs at the same time by using superposition to map different inputs to different wave modes.
This is because the idea of superposition implies that each wave mode kind of operates independently to eachother until you add them all up at the end. So if map a different input to each mode you can run them all through the same circuit at the same time without them changing the outcome, as long as you know how to extract that specific mode out at the end.
-
Comment on “No one asked for this reboot”: ‘Tron’ may mark end of Jared Leto’s franchise-leading days in ~movies
Grayscail Link ParentHe also gets murdered by Christian Bale in American Psycho, which is probably his best movie role.He also gets murdered by Christian Bale in American Psycho, which is probably his best movie role.
-
Comment on Adam Conover: Unmedicated in ~tv
Grayscail Link ParentI think its very personal, and also contingent on the person involved. For example, in this case, I would say being involved in a crypto scam is particularly egregious, because I think of Adam...I think its very personal, and also contingent on the person involved.
For example, in this case, I would say being involved in a crypto scam is particularly egregious, because I think of Adam Conover as beinf a pretty hard leftist and rhe kind of guy who rails against greed and capitalistic tendencies.
So when I see someone like him caught up in a kind of money making pyramid scheme like crypto, it really makes me feel like he is a hack.
On the other hand, theres a bunch of drama going on right now because a lot of comedians like Bill Burr are going to a comedy festival in Riyadh. But I really am not that bothered by that because I always saw Bill Burr as a comedian more than anything, so him selling out to make a bunch of money doesn't really matter to me because I assumed he was doing it for the money the whole time.
-
Comment on Can you really be addicted to food? Researchers are uncovering similarities to drug addiction in some eating patterns. in ~food
Grayscail LinkIf you can get addicting to psychological things like gambling I wouldnt be surprised if you can be addicted to anything, under the right circumstances.If you can get addicting to psychological things like gambling I wouldnt be surprised if you can be addicted to anything, under the right circumstances.
-
Comment on The Oatmeal: A cartoonist's review of AI art in ~comics
Grayscail Link ParentWell there is inherent randomness to an AI, even if its only pseudorandom. Like the initial weights used to create the model or the random shuffling of training data order. So that creates a kind...Well there is inherent randomness to an AI, even if its only pseudorandom. Like the initial weights used to create the model or the random shuffling of training data order. So that creates a kind of initial seed value that would make different iterations distinct and unique. Then you build off that initial random state by comparing to other stuff to make a work thats coherent but still individualized.
To try to map that onto human experience, if I was trying to write a unique song Id probably just make up random melodies in my head until I stumbled upon something that sounded good to me, and then Id build off that melody by trying to figure out harmonies and music theory and other sort of standardized methods for figuring out music. I could imagine an AI being capable of doing something like that just fine.
So if you take that original output and use it as part of your input vector for future works, you get a set of works that all kind of correlated to whatever style the first one had, but each still having randomness and variations.
As for what you say about AI devaluing art, thats probably true. I think thats natural. Civization is always changing and people need to adapt to keep up.
-
Comment on The Oatmeal: A cartoonist's review of AI art in ~comics
Grayscail Link ParentPersonally I dont really think that matters. What you are saying is true, but thats a political ane economic discussion moreso than anything about art. There is a saying that there are no original...Personally I dont really think that matters. What you are saying is true, but thats a political ane economic discussion moreso than anything about art.
There is a saying that there are no original ideas, and that everything is just remixing recycled ideas. In some ways big AI models are mirrors of the collective consciousness of society, so its doing the same thing.
If you write a story about a hero fights a monster, someone might reasonably make some argument that your ideas ultimately came from Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein and Homer writing The Odyssey, and you just stole those ideas through the process of cultural osmosis, and that would kind of be true.
But nobody actually cares about that unless that already had some other reason to care. People dont insist that you list out all your inspirations in the appendix of your book so you dont accidentally pretend you had an original idea. No one makes you pay royalties to Mary Shellys decendents for monetizing her work. That guy who made a millions of dollars for taping a banana to a canvas probably didnt even grow the banana himself.
The only reason people are getting so riled up about that here is because AI is run by big corporations nobody cares about, and frankly you could come up with any kind of flimsy excuse for why they deserve to have all their money taken away and redistributed and have millions of people be on your side.
I agree. Its probably not truly creative. Its certainly not going to ever replicate genuine humanity, by definition. But neither of those things are necessary for art, or even good art. They are just ingredients that can contribute to good art when they are available.
-
Comment on The Oatmeal: A cartoonist's review of AI art in ~comics
Grayscail (edited )LinkI think this guy is off-base and I would like to explain why. When I think of art, there are a bunch of different partially overlapping conditions for what that might mean. It could be something...I think this guy is off-base and I would like to explain why.
When I think of art, there are a bunch of different partially overlapping conditions for what that might mean. It could be something that someone has put a lot of passion into beyond its strict utilitarian function, it could be something that has a a lot of personal expression, it could be a deep exploration of a particular media or phenomenon, it could be something with a strong message intended to sway others. Those are all things I could recognize as art, but none of them are necessary conditions, only sufficient. I could probably come up with an example of something I see as art that lacks any specific quality if I really had to.
I think when you are the kind of artist that requires developing some kind of craft or skill over a long period of time that becomes integral to your personal experience of art, but not the universal experience.
Like if you are a concert pianist and you have spent years honing your skills to be able to precisely translate the music in your head to the music that comes out in the real world, thats going to be deeply ingrained in you. When you hear someone else play a difficult piece, it will probably resonate with you and you will relate to how much work it probably took them to get that good, and that will affect your personal emotional response to hearing that piece.
Then later you might hear some music made with sampling and DAWs, that don't require any particular skill at playing an instrument or singing. Maybe that will feel fundamentally lacking to you in particular, because you are not feeling that sense of shared struggle and emotional resonance. But that isn't a problem of artistic value, its a problem of your personal tastes not being fulfilled in the same way.
I am not an artist, so that doesn't really come into play for me when I engage with art. But I still experience value from it, even though I never have that specific feeling of appreciating whats involved in a work. Most art that anyone experiences will probably be in some medium that they are not involved in.
Honestly, I probably know more about how chatGPT works than I know about how they made the dinosaurs in Jurrassic Park. I know it took a lot of hard work by a lot of people. I also know that Stephen Speilberg did not make the dinosaurs, he just described what he wanted and then a bunch of other people did the hard work to make it, and then he adjusted his instructions until it looked the way he wanted. He was just a guy who had a vision of what he wanted his art to look like, and then found a way to manifest that into physical reality. Thats all it really takes.
But you know what? There is in fact a lot of wonder to be found in generative art and artificial intelligence, if you want there to be. Its not interesting to him because he is not putting much thought into it. If you feel like being deep and philosophical about it, its incredibly interesting to think about how a generic algorithm was able to distill out the core meaning of language by just pattern recognition of the structure of sentences. Its interesting to think about how changing one word to a synonym of that same word will change how a model interprets a sentence because of millions of nuances in how it is used by ordinary people. None of that exists if you just want look at chatGPT as a black box of science and capitalism, but it could if you so choose.
I know I started this by saying art doesn't have any specific criterion that necessarily makes it art, but after reading this guys perspective I feel that he is not really an "artist", but more of a professional illustrator who happens to think of himself as the definition of an artist. He is not worried about the denigration of art as an act of creation, he is worried about the denigration of art as a profession.
-
Comment on What common misunderstanding do you want to clear up? in ~talk
-
Comment on Adam Conover: Unmedicated in ~tv
Grayscail Link ParentI was familiar with Adam Conover from clips of his show Adam Ruins Everything, and I thought he was kind of a prick in that, but also that was just a character he was putting on for the show. But...I was familiar with Adam Conover from clips of his show Adam Ruins Everything, and I thought he was kind of a prick in that, but also that was just a character he was putting on for the show.
But then I saw a clip of him talking to Joe Rogan on his podcast, and it seems like that actually is just what hes like.
-
Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
Grayscail LinkI have been trying to write a Particle-In-Cell simulation to experiment with plasma physics. I want to test out a concept I have been thinking about for enhancing magnetic confinement with...I have been trying to write a Particle-In-Cell simulation to experiment with plasma physics. I want to test out a concept I have been thinking about for enhancing magnetic confinement with targeted laser/rf emitters. But building an actual physical device would be really expensive so I want to try simulating the effect instead.
I have some basic graphics set up to show the plasma, and aive derived the equations I need to implement, so now I need to put something together to efficiently run those calculations at high volume.
Unfortunately I have been stymied for a while due to unknowable issues with trying to set up OpenCL. Ive gotten my code to a point where I can build and run an executable using the library but when I actually run the program OpenCL fails its initialization with some imprecise error code. I suspect the problem is something regarding the drivers I have on my laptop not being up to date or compatible, but I have no idea how to figure out what specifically I need to change.
I think it tends to be more that the criminals are elites of some kind. Typically intellectual elites. People like high end buisnessmen, sure, but also chess chanpions and symphony conductors and poets and photographers, and other people who may not be wealthy but you just assume they are because they are famous.
The real underlying thread I think is that Columbos criminals are people who have reason to think of themselves as being too smart to be caught by a run of the mill police detective.