Greg's recent activity
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Comment on Utah's shrinking lake: a scientific asset and a crisis in ~enviro
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Comment on Utah's shrinking lake: a scientific asset and a crisis in ~enviro
Greg Link ParentNot OP, but it's not peculiar at all to me - I'd say even without there being explicit messaging it seems like a fairly understandable conclusion to draw by following the logic. I'm not saying...Not OP, but it's not peculiar at all to me - I'd say even without there being explicit messaging it seems like a fairly understandable conclusion to draw by following the logic. I'm not saying it's the only conclusion that makes sense, but it's certainly one that's come to my mind when I hear phrases like that.
For a related, and depressingly influential take that is explicitly stated in some fairly powerful denominations of American Christianity, just look at prosperity gospel. Some stop short and leave the implication of that one hanging, others are explicit in saying that those who aren't being materially rewarded are sinners or aren't strong enough in their faith.
I've heard from Indian friends that concepts like karma and reincarnation have also been (mis)used to justify hierarchy and discrimination on the basis that those at the bottom of the heap are there rightfully, thanks to transgressions either in this life or before.
Any just world hypothesis - and I'd say "God will never give you anything you can't handle" fits as a variant of that - will ultimately carry an implication that seemingly unjust outcomes are either the result of personal fault, or are opportunities in disguise, otherwise they'd necessarily be truly unjust and that doesn't fit the worldview. Which means if you put the worldview first, you end up in some very uncomfortable logical pits like the one @Omnicrola pointed out.
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Comment on Utah's shrinking lake: a scientific asset and a crisis in ~enviro
Greg Link ParentIt's literal survivorship bias though. Most people make it through, but far too high a number don't - same as the "I smoked for 50 years / didn't vaccinate / didn't wear a seatbelt / etc. etc. and...It's literal survivorship bias though. Most people make it through, but far too high a number don't - same as the "I smoked for 50 years / didn't vaccinate / didn't wear a seatbelt / etc. etc. and I was fine" argument. You're only looking at the people who managed to find a way to keep going, and even then I'd say that more than a few end up breaking in a fundamental way rather than building as a person.
Through a religious lens, you can play the afterlife card to kinda sorta still make the thinking work. I don't like that as a fallback, but within the internal logic of religion it does hold together. Through a secular lens I don't personally see it.
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Comment on What I learned building my first custom water loop in ~comp
Greg Link ParentIt's the difference between non-conductive (textbook) and non-conductive (real world). I'm going on pieced-together info plus what I half remember from university almost 20 years ago, but my...It's the difference between non-conductive (textbook) and non-conductive (real world). I'm going on pieced-together info plus what I half remember from university almost 20 years ago, but my understanding is that once you put a water based coolant into your loop it's going to start pulling ions from the metals it's in contact with and become at least a little bit conductive, regardless of how deionised it was to start with.
Account for the fact it's being physically agitated, held at slightly elevated temperature, and is expected to continue in that environment for months or years at a time and you end up with small effects that would normally be ignored by the spherical chickens in a vacuum model eventually becoming significant. Might well even be that it's still insulating enough not to damage a 12V circuit in case of a brief spill, but still conducts the... microamps? nanoamps? needed for slow corrosion over time.
As with a lot of things it's also a question of trade offs - you can mitigate the issue in a few different ways:
- Vacuum deposit a coating on any exposed metals that's thick enough to prevent direct contact with the coolant, and is safe from eroding over time, but won't impact heat transfer too much
- Use $5,000 of fluorinert as the coolant rather than anything water based
- Mix a chemical soup with enough additives to build up inert films on any exposed metal and/or soak up any free ions, without neutralising the biocide that's also in there to prevent algae gunking everything up, while remaining safe enough to use in the home, and without eating through plastic/rubber/etc. that you'll also find in a loop
And honestly I'd bet that any one of those is being used at least somewhere in a lab/industrial setting where they've got incredibly specific requirements. As I understand it some AIO manufacturers actually did find it worthwhile to go with option three when sourcing the parts at scale. But for a one-off custom loop it's easier to just avoid the issue!
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Comment on What I learned building my first custom water loop in ~comp
Greg Link ParentHonestly I had no idea either before I tried it - that's partly why I figured it was worth getting the info down somewhere searchable. You're welcome, random person desperate enough to go to the...Honestly I had no idea either before I tried it - that's partly why I figured it was worth getting the info down somewhere searchable. You're welcome, random person desperate enough to go to the seventh page of google in 2032 ;)
And yeah, like 80% of my parts are Alphacool too and I've never had a problem there, so with you on that decision!
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Comment on What I learned building my first custom water loop in ~comp
Greg Link ParentNice! Quick disconnects are incredibly worthwhile IMO, being able to isolate a component or part of the loop in the same way you'd unplug a power connector makes a huge difference to how likely...Nice! Quick disconnects are incredibly worthwhile IMO, being able to isolate a component or part of the loop in the same way you'd unplug a power connector makes a huge difference to how likely you are (or at least I am) to actually bother fixing and maintaining things.
The example wasn't hyperbole BTW, I do literally have that many blocks & disconnects in a single loop (server build) that I was expecting to need to pair with a more powerful industrial pump or multiple D5s - tested it with a single D5 to get a baseline and it's been running fine for over a year at this point, those things have way more headroom than any of the conversation I've seen elsewhere would suggest.
Strong recommend on Koolance QD3s, too, which I imagine you'll have seen mentioned basically everywhere. They really are built like they're designed to be the last line of defence sealing out a submarine hatch or something. Admittedly they're priced to match, but against the cost of components you really don't want water leaking onto I figure it makes sense. And their customer service team literally got someone at the factory in Korea to go out and Fedex an order to me directly when they were having freight issues, which got them a place on my vanishingly short "will shill for free on unrelated internet forums" list!
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Comment on What I learned building my first custom water loop in ~comp
Greg LinkIf I could exemplary a post, I would! This is a great overview. It’s surprisingly tricky to get consistent information on custom loops if you haven’t built one before because the wider internet...If I could exemplary a post, I would! This is a great overview.
It’s surprisingly tricky to get consistent information on custom loops if you haven’t built one before because the wider internet has a lot of info that’s being parroted from the much jankier setups of 10-20 years ago and either isn’t relevant any more or we’ve just collectively learned more and realised it wasn’t the best advice even then.
I’ll throw in a couple that I’ve learned along the way:
- If you’re using a D5 pump, you probably don’t need to worry about flow rate. They can push through five blocks and 20 quick disconnects at 70% power no problem, but I see a fair number of people worrying that even a single minor restriction in a normal one or two block loop might cause problems.
- As long as you don’t mix materials with vastly different galvanic potential (i.e. don’t put aluminium in your loop), corrosion inhibitors are mostly for aesthetics. Most loops will have at least a couple of different metals (copper, nickel, brass, maybe stainless steel), so there will be some galvanic reaction - it almost definitely won’t burn through any functional parts, even over years, but it will leave a visible patina on shiny surfaces almost instantaneously. Inhibitors keep everything looking fresh and new (which is a totally legitimate reason to use them in the loop you’ve just spent hundreds on!), but they won’t stop functional corrosion with aluminium unless you use a terrifying concentration (which I’ve heard some AIOs actually do), and they’re almost never a strict necessity if you’ve got a loop with the other standard metals.
- Some premix fluids are nasty. I was getting blinding headaches after filling a loop with Aquatuning’s own brand stuff, turns out that’s a known possible side effect on the MSDS for one of the ingredients.
- If you’re going DIY fluid, distilled water with a tiny concentration (as in, parts per million) of cheap benzalkonium chloride is plenty to keep things clean and flowing. You can use that as-is, or add inhibitors or other additives from there if you like, and it lets you keep a closer eye on what you’ll be working with if that’s something that concerns you.
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Comment on ‘It’s shameful’: New York’s elite lash out at Zohran Mamdani’s second-home tax in ~finance
Greg Link ParentProbably the most significant common factor I’ve noticed in the very wealthy people I’ve interacted with is an absolutely unshakable sense of entitlement. It’s interesting, in some ways I even...- Exemplary
Probably the most significant common factor I’ve noticed in the very wealthy people I’ve interacted with is an absolutely unshakable sense of entitlement. It’s interesting, in some ways I even kinda see positives in it as an approach - it’s helped me unlearn a lot of mostly implicit things I was taught growing up about being deferential, not taking up space, not making demands, generally putting oneself second to people who have no reason to be allowed to put themselves first.
The frustrating part is that only about a third of them seem to be… honest about that approach, I guess is the best way to put it? I can have a principled disagreement with someone who’s just openly trying to maximise results for themselves and expecting everyone else to do the same in a kinda sportsmanlike way. “You’d do the same in my position” - well no, actually, I try to be better than that, but I believe you’d expect me to and I believe you’d take it as a fair loss if I did.
What I can’t stand is the people who’ve somehow managed to convince themselves that they actually and uniquely deserve special treatment to an extent that they deny it’s special treatment at all. Those are the fuckers who are genuinely pissed off about this but are still willing to axe 1,000 jobs without feeling bad about it, and those are the ones whose mindset I’ve never been able to really get.
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Comment on ‘It’s shameful’: New York’s elite lash out at Zohran Mamdani’s second-home tax in ~finance
Greg Link ParentThe real people line was the one that really got me, like what’s even their intended implication there? We’re real people, who are suffering the ultimate inhumanity of… paying slightly more for an...The real people line was the one that really got me, like what’s even their intended implication there? We’re real people, who are suffering the ultimate inhumanity of… paying slightly more for an enormous luxury asset that’s still going to appreciate in value? Do they genuinely believe that no other person has ever had to pay a bit more for something than they’d want to before?
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Comment on How democratic governments came to view VPNs as circumvention software that must be restricted in ~tech
Greg Link ParentYou’ve got half the respondents giving an answer even on the porn sites question, and a vast majority of that half saying they wouldn’t provide verification themselves. Unlikely to verify beats...You’ve got half the respondents giving an answer even on the porn sites question, and a vast majority of that half saying they wouldn’t provide verification themselves. Unlikely to verify beats likely on every single category, from messages apps to pornography.
I think it’s a stretch to say that people actually support it in a meaningful way if they aren’t willing to obey the basic rules themselves. At best, they quite like the sound of the idea, or at least think they’re supposed to quite like the sound of the idea.
I also genuinely haven’t seen anything linking the OSA to weakening US tech. That might be my bubble, and I think I remember you mentioning that angle in another thread too, but for what it’s worth I’ve only ever seen that used around GDPR and similar privacy focused legislation.
I think that’s debating around the edges of the real issue, though. Like I said, the big question in my mind isn’t even “can you get a decent majority of people to think it’s broadly a good idea?”, it’s “why this, in particular, with such political forces and swiftness, when so many genuinely good ideas that are genuinely popular get nothing close?”
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Comment on How democratic governments came to view VPNs as circumvention software that must be restricted in ~tech
Greg Link ParentIf you ask people whether they support it, it looks popular. If you ask them whether they're willing to provide verification themselves, they say no. If you ask them whether it'll work, they say...If you ask people whether they support it, it looks popular. If you ask them whether they're willing to provide verification themselves, they say no. If you ask them whether it'll work, they say no. If you ask them whether it'll cause data breaches, they say yes. I genuinely don't see that level of confusion and contradiction matching up to the idea that it's so popular that a whole bunch of political parties globally just had to bring in these restrictions as a result of overwhelming public pressure.
I agree that it's a deeper problem than moustache twirling villains, but we do also live in a world with a hell of a lot of genuine moustache twirling villains in positions of significant power. I think the question is why this legislation, in particular, has made it through and is being doubled and tripled down on when plenty of ideas that would actually benefit the public don't get close. What balance of comic book villain, pearl clutching special interest group of six actual people with a very loud media megaphone, technologically misinformed voter, and authoritarian politician was it that made this happen in practice?
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Comment on "The reason I'm not an atheist is that I think the philosophical arguments against it are unanswerable" (gifted link) in ~humanities
Greg Link ParentI'd throw that into the "can't currently define" bucket - I think it's fair to say we might never come to a falsifiable definition of what consciousness actually is, or of what the mind is as...I'd throw that into the "can't currently define" bucket - I think it's fair to say we might never come to a falsifiable definition of what consciousness actually is, or of what the mind is as distinct from the brain and body. But I think it's also fair to say we might manage it at some point!
For what it's worth, I don't personally think these questions are likely to exist fundamentally outside the realm of the testable, and I'd want at least a millennium more of scientific advancement with little to no progress on the topic before I'd be willing to throw them into the "yeah, most likely not testable" bucket.
We've only even had fMRI for 30 years or so, for example - and I'm not even saying that's the tool to answer the question, I'm more saying that when it comes to the brain, let alone the mind, we've been doing the equivalent of trying to theorise about the origin of disease without even having a basic microscope even within my own lifetime. Let's get analysis on a century of fMRIs, another century of analysis on whatever magic quantum state scanner we end up building to replace that, a century or two of computational development until we can simulate every neuron in a brain with near-complete accuracy rather than as a heavily simplified analogy. Then let's hypothesise on whether the origin of consciousness is a truly fundamental mystery that cannot be isolated, or whether it's just a very very very hard question to answer.
I guess what I'm saying is that humanity has had a lot of things we've believed to be unknowable over the centuries, and the vast majority of them have turned out to be knowable once we had the tools and foundational understanding to do so. If consciousness is a fundamental outlier, which it could be, that's tricky because it's going to be an open question forever: you can't prove a negative, you'd need a working definition in order to conclusively show it's undefinable, which is obviously a paradox. But falling back to "balance of probabilities" on that basis, I think it's pretty early to make a call on a subject we've barely scratched the surface of in a truly rigorous way.
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Comment on "The reason I'm not an atheist is that I think the philosophical arguments against it are unanswerable" (gifted link) in ~humanities
Greg LinkI’ve only skimmed the article so far, but I’d like to come back and read it in detail if I have time because it’s an interesting one… From my quick read, two things strike me, both of which seem...I’ve only skimmed the article so far, but I’d like to come back and read it in detail if I have time because it’s an interesting one…
From my quick read, two things strike me, both of which seem like a recurring theme when I hear theological ideas from clearly intelligent, thoughtful, and well read believers:
- There’s at least some rejection of the mainstream church, in favour of constructing one’s own morality: “So as I say, dogma and tradition as such don’t compel me. If I find them deficient, I feel no moral or intellectual obligation to take them seriously.”
- There’s a fundamental misunderstanding of what the scientific method actually entails: I don’t have a snappy quote for this one, but he’s essentially asserting that materialistic thought fundamentally can’t explain consciousness (debatable), and then using that to suggest science fundamentally can’t explain consciousness (despite saying earlier that science has moved away from pure materialism). It’s a conflation of “hasn’t explained” or “can’t currently explain” with “is fundamentally incapable of explaining” that I often see from thinkers like this.
The first point almost always leaves me asking whether these people are religious in the sense that the average person would understand it, or are they effectively freelance believers, forging their own philosophical path with existing religious texts as a broad map?
The second leaves me asking whether they are missing some pages from the map that might have nudged their path a little if they’d had them… Not in the reddit atheist sense of “oh if they knew the facts they’d abandon belief”, more just in the literal sense that I think it would make their conclusions more robust, and I’d be more interested in their theology and religious philosophy if it did a better job of accounting for the non-religious approach.
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Comment on Looking for general monitor advice in ~tech
Greg Link ParentOh nice, that looks like a great resource! I should absolutely take a look at what's out there nowadays actually - I've been running LG 27MD5KL's for the better part of a decade but they're...Oh nice, that looks like a great resource! I should absolutely take a look at what's out there nowadays actually - I've been running LG 27MD5KL's for the better part of a decade but they're definitely starting to feel like, well, decade old monitors.
And yeah, I also try to avoid jumping in too loudly on threads like this on the basis that I assume most people probably aren't looking to spend entire PC money on a monitor* in an admittedly niche quest for maximum DPI, but I'm glad that nudge was enough to get me a reminder that at least some people are!
*Cost per hour for a good tool when you're using it for work makes it totally worthwhile IMO, but it's still obviously a luxury that I'm able to say that at all
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Comment on Looking for general monitor advice in ~tech
Greg Link ParentJagged edges, jagged edges everywhere! One of Apple's biggest contributions to the market IMO was popularising the concept of "retina" resolution as an angular density metric, even if it's still...Jagged edges, jagged edges everywhere! One of Apple's biggest contributions to the market IMO was popularising the concept of "retina" resolution as an angular density metric, even if it's still only barely filtering through to actual standalone monitors.
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Comment on Spirit Airlines shutting down after rescue talks collapse in ~transport
Greg Link ParentAdding to this, I only flew Spirit a few times but I thought the value for money was surprisingly good. That might sound like a “well, duh” kind of statement for a budget carrier, but I find a lot...Adding to this, I only flew Spirit a few times but I thought the value for money was surprisingly good. That might sound like a “well, duh” kind of statement for a budget carrier, but I find a lot of really cheap services are actually terrible value because they’ve got that captive audience of people who can’t afford to go up to the next pricing tier - I’d say Greyhound is in that bucket, for example.
Maybe it’s because long distance buses did act as an alternative for the most price conscious customers that Spirit had to stay above some (admittedly fairly low) bar for quality. Compare that to, say, American or BA and you’re back into terrible value again at the other end of the cost spectrum because they’ll still put you through 85% of the bad parts of the budget carrier experience nowadays but they’re an order of magnitude more than 15% more expensive.
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Comment on Are there alternative ways to invest savings? in ~finance
Greg (edited )LinkI like the spirit of the question, and I hope there are some interesting ideas to be found - I really like @teaearlgraycold’s thinking, and I’m pretty sure there are peer-to-peer lending and/or...I like the spirit of the question, and I hope there are some interesting ideas to be found - I really like @teaearlgraycold’s thinking, and I’m pretty sure there are peer-to-peer lending and/or micro finance platforms that’d allow something similar with a bit less personal attachment and management overhead, if you’re comfortable with the risk.
That said, it’s also worth remembering that CDs and savings accounts are still pretty much just putting money into a fungible pool for organisations who are likely to use that money less ethically than even an imperfect ethical fund.
Not that I’m trying to critique - kinda the opposite, I’m saying to pick your battles - it’s just that I personally would say that worrying about the Nth order impact of an S&P 500 tracker for a non-billionaire amount of wealth just doesn’t make the cut of being worth the mental overhead. If there’s an actively positive way you can invest, I think that’s worthwhile, but if there isn’t I’d say any commercial financial product (up to and including a basic current account) carries a similar moral burden to your average Vanguard ETF, so you’re better picking whichever makes the best return you can and using the money/energy/general wellbeing that brings you to do good in the world.
[Edit] Typo
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Comment on Why do the top American sushi restaurants leave us so bored and so broke? (gifted link) in ~food
Greg Link ParentI got more “it’s a shame these places no longer challenge and surprise us… also they’re really expensive so I don’t think I’m asking too much”. It’s a rich people problem either way, but I do have...I got more “it’s a shame these places no longer challenge and surprise us… also they’re really expensive so I don’t think I’m asking too much”.
It’s a rich people problem either way, but I do have a lot more time for someone saying they wish their experience hadn’t been sanitised so much than I do for someone who chooses the most expensive option and then complains about the price in particular.
I’ll be the first to say this is my personal bias talking here, but gently lamenting that an exceptional experience has been watered down speaks to me very directly, even if they’re talking about a problem in a tax bracket far higher than my own. Things being done well in the world - superlatively even - is something that matters to me for its own sake, and I see it as a broader loss when any instance of the best <whatever> loses its edge in the interests of commercialisation.
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Comment on For $700 a month, sleeping pods make San Francisco more affordable, but at what cost in ~life
Greg Link ParentNow this is an interesting question! It’s always going to be super culturally relative, and I’m speaking as someone who didn’t grow up in the US - but some semblance of private space is very...Now this is an interesting question! It’s always going to be super culturally relative, and I’m speaking as someone who didn’t grow up in the US - but some semblance of private space is very important to me. Doesn’t need to be a lot of space, just needs to be somewhere I can escape to. Worth underlining here that I was and am talking about sharing rooms as a negative, not just about the “bunch of bedrooms with shared kitchen and common space” style of living, which I think totally makes sense for students (and potentially even into later life, depending on setup), and absolutely does help to foster that social experience in a way that more isolated apartments wouldn’t.
So why am I framing room sharing at US universities as a bad thing rather than just a personal preference? Because I think it is seen as a bad thing in a US cultural context more broadly, it’s just common enough in this one specific scenario that people don’t think about it so much. We’re talking about a famously individualistic culture with a high value placed on ownership and independence - one where moving into one’s own space as soon as possible is idealised, and where even siblings in their early-to-mid-teens would be given some amount of sympathy for having to share a room with each other if there isn’t space for them to have their own.
The fact that young adults, often total strangers in their first independent living situation, aren’t afforded a space of their own that won’t be interfered with, or the privacy to just exist unobserved after a long day, or the agency to choose when to go to sleep without coordinating with a stranger, or even just somewhere that they can bring a date back to at the end of the evening, just seems like a poor deal as judged against all the major US cultural touchstones.
If we were talking about a country with a pervasive tradition of close multigenerational households, or a nomadic society with a necessarily very different approach to shared spaces, or whatever else I’d be saying “that’d be difficult for me to deal with but I understand that other places do things differently”. Thing is, the US doesn’t do things differently on this one in general - if anything there’s an even stronger focus on bigger, more private, more separated spaces than even the UK - it’s just a very specific carve out for students in particular that seems to give them the short end of the stick.
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Comment on For $700 a month, sleeping pods make San Francisco more affordable, but at what cost in ~life
Greg Link ParentFor what it’s worth I don’t want to give the impression that my experience with the accommodation/dining/etc was horrifying or anything either! It really wasn’t, it objectively did the job, it’s...For what it’s worth I don’t want to give the impression that my experience with the accommodation/dining/etc was horrifying or anything either! It really wasn’t, it objectively did the job, it’s just that I was paying more while getting less in pretty much every way, despite being in a lower overall CoL area, and having to do so within a system that infantilised us the whole time too, you know?
And in the interests of balance, I can unequivocally say I still loved my time there! The facilities for research and technical work were impressive as hell, the opportunities available both academically and in clubs/societies/activities were unmatched, the overall attitude and openness and enthusiasm that people shared was a breath of fresh air, and some of the professors were truly exceptional. I’m grumbling about a specific part because it’s relevant, but I’d feel very unjust if I didn’t balance that out a bit!
The reasoning that lets environmentally damaging policies pass is pretty important to environmental topics more broadly, no? I’d expect it to come up whether that’s political, religious, or (in the case of the US in general and Utah in particular) a blend of both.
I’ll accept there’s a bit of snark in some replies, and I’m also biased as all hell on the topic, but I can’t really find it in myself to be that bothered by snark in the face of blinding hypocrisy. I think the broad point around “can we trust the environmental stewardship of people on record saying that God will fix it” is a crucially important one in a way you wouldn’t be hearing if it were, say, a Jesuit leader on record saying their faith-based position is that we should steward the planet to the best of our ability using the tools and knowledge at our disposal.