Lia's recent activity
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Comment on Patagonia sues drag queen Pattie Gonia for trademark infringement in ~lgbt
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Comment on Patagonia sues drag queen Pattie Gonia for trademark infringement in ~lgbt
Lia (edited )LinkWow, WTH is going on here? I totally get why Patagonia needs to sue and I do not understand what compelled Wiley to go this far. Why attack a company that is working towards the same goal as...Wow, WTH is going on here? I totally get why Patagonia needs to sue and I do not understand what compelled Wiley to go this far. Why attack a company that is working towards the same goal as yourself?
Some people will just go as far as others let them, and it makes our world a worse place to live in.
...ETA: I could be wrong here, but Wiley's statement to the Guardian tastes like AI: 'This is not a brand conflict. This is a corporation trying to erase an activist.' Could it be that they've been using an LLM as an advisor without realising the sycophancy, which may have led them to think they can get away with something as dumb and selfish as this?
(ETA 2: Why was this posted in ~lgbt ? Without knowing anything about the guidelines for posting there, it doesn't seem appropriate to me. I made the comment before realising what group the post was in.)
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Comment on Use AI this election in ~society
Lia (edited )Link ParentIs there anything I've said that made you think I'm not assuming good faith? Are you being serious here? Telling people to use AI, especially in an election, especially in a very high stakes one,...I'd prefer for us to all to just assume good faith
Is there anything I've said that made you think I'm not assuming good faith?
But this isn't a controversial article, and it's not about a controversial topic.
Are you being serious here? Telling people to use AI, especially in an election, especially in a very high stakes one, especially in a country that is actively propping up ethically dubious AI companies, is not controversial in your opinion?
I have not read the article so I may have misunderstood what it's about from the title, but like I said, it would be better for the readers to clarify intent when choosing to post something like this form an author who is generally regarded controversial.
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Comment on Use AI this election in ~society
Lia Link ParentI like it when people include quotes and information about whatever they're posting here as a link. It's obviously not obligatory but it indicates a caring attitude towards the reader and I...I like it when people include quotes and information about whatever they're posting here as a link. It's obviously not obligatory but it indicates a caring attitude towards the reader and I appreciate that @skybrian does it regularly.
In this case, given that there was time to post the excerpts, there probably would have been time to also say something like "This dude has some controversial opinions but I think this perspective of his is worth sharing anyway", or whatever. It would be similarly kind and caring.
We obviously shouldn't and won't deliberately assume anything, but at the same time, the implication I mentioned is there and can't be escaped. You'll realise what I mean if you put your mind to it. You can probably even come up with examples that would feel brow-raising to yourself if someone posted an article without specifying they don't subscribe to everything that author stands for.
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Comment on Use AI this election in ~society
Lia Link ParentIn your opinion, is Mr. Alexander someone whose word should be taken without extra precaution, in most cases?In your opinion, is Mr. Alexander someone whose word should be taken without extra precaution, in most cases?
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Comment on Use AI this election in ~society
Lia Link ParentThanks for bringing to our attention that this person isn't to be taken seriously in all areas. I had no idea! I'm personally not against posting something that a questionable person said in case...Thanks for bringing to our attention that this person isn't to be taken seriously in all areas. I had no idea!
I'm personally not against posting something that a questionable person said in case that particular thing is worth sharing, but it would be better for the readers if there was some sort of heads up in the opening post. Without it, the implication is that the source/author is generally respected by the person who posted the link.
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Comment on If you let AI do your writing, I will come to your house and kill you in ~tech
Lia Link ParentI'm just going to tell you what I think without trying to convince you. Ever since I reached adulthood, my experience has been that there are two kinds of people. There are actual people with real...a conceit that there is something about humanity that is ineffable and cannot be replicated by a machine, and a deep seated fear that we aren’t nearly as ineffable as we think
I'm just going to tell you what I think without trying to convince you.
Ever since I reached adulthood, my experience has been that there are two kinds of people. There are actual people with real personalities, and there are NPC-type people that seem to function more like bots. The latter group's humanity indeed does not seem all that ineffable. That leaves the first group though, and if you ask me to define that type of humanity, I won't, because I believe it's one of the truths each of us must seek and find on our own to truly understand. Those who know, know, and can use that knowledge to their advantage. Those who don't (yet) know can choose to try to search for the answer, or focus on generating alternative endings to GoT. Or both!
I don't have fear regarding my own ineffability but I do find it unsettling to see so many seemingly NPC-like people around. I've never been able to shed the fear that it can't be good for society. I could be wrong, but during the time I've been living with this fear, societies have become worse and many of these developments seem related to how many people accept all sorts of mechanistic, vacuous, soulless etc. deals without being able to tell them apart from the real thing.
I think pretty soon we’re all going to be effed.
Who's we?
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Comment on If you let AI do your writing, I will come to your house and kill you in ~tech
Lia Link ParentDoes any of this matter? Is it better that AI won't make glaring mistakes but may still make mistakes we can't recognise and verify? Is it better if/when AI can convincingly emulate a particular,...Did they actually ask an LLM this question? Or did they imagine what an LLM would say based on their hazy memories of what an LLM once told them in 2025, or cobble together this response from recollections of other articles by other people who are angry about AI? Dare I ask — did they hallucinate this response?
Does any of this matter? Is it better that AI won't make glaring mistakes but may still make mistakes we can't recognise and verify? Is it better if/when AI can convincingly emulate a particular, high quality human author?
I didn't read the article either but the latter seems to be a key question here and the author's opinion seems to be 'No, it's worse'. And I agree with them, and I just hope it'll be so much worse that the thing collapses under its own weights, pun intended.
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Comment on Excerpts from actual one-star Amazon.com reviews of books from Time’s list of the 100 best novels from 1923 to the present in ~books
Lia Link Parent:D Which book was this a review of? (Yes, I'm too lazy to go see!):D Which book was this a review of? (Yes, I'm too lazy to go see!)
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Comment on Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ in ~tech
Lia Link ParentThank you! That's the Bolt I am aware of. I went to click on this article and another one via a link with the word "Bolt" in it, and I still don't have any idea of what this company does. Except...Oh, not the estonian/european taxi/micromobility app Bolt.
Thank you! That's the Bolt I am aware of.
I went to click on this article and another one via a link with the word "Bolt" in it, and I still don't have any idea of what this company does. Except that it's "fintech". I give up.
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Comment on The 100 best novels of all time published in English in ~books
Lia Link ParentThanks, this gives me the additional perspective I needed!Thanks, this gives me the additional perspective I needed!
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Comment on New job advice in ~life
Lia Link ParentWow, I have no advice to give but I just wanted to say that this sounds like a very big challenge, but also very exciting, and I'm happy for you that you get to tackle it! You seem to be going in...Wow, I have no advice to give but I just wanted to say that this sounds like a very big challenge, but also very exciting, and I'm happy for you that you get to tackle it! You seem to be going in with a good mindset. You got this!
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Comment on The 100 best novels of all time published in English in ~books
Lia Link ParentI knew I had this coming as soon as I posted the above. I'm not saying no single person out there can actually like Pride and Prejudice. And I too enjoy the dry humour in it, but I happen to enjoy...I knew I had this coming as soon as I posted the above. I'm not saying no single person out there can actually like Pride and Prejudice. And I too enjoy the dry humour in it, but I happen to enjoy the dry humour in both Eco's works (mentioned in the top comment) even more. As well as their stunning social critique (ping @wervenyt).
What I'm asking is why is P&P almost always high up on these lists while my favourites often are not. Why do so many more people like, or say they like, the former when the others are in no way inferior? But I may not be fit to evaluate that from a native English speaker's perspective because to me, all of these are foreign language novels. Perhaps it's the more particular use of English that elevates P&P in many a native reader's eye?
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Comment on The 100 best novels of all time published in English in ~books
Lia Link ParentThank you, I love that you did this! 666 items and Foucault's Pendulum is not among them? What a worthless jury, excuse my candor. Three people did mention The Name of the Rose and there's one...Thank you, I love that you did this!
666 items and Foucault's Pendulum is not among them? What a worthless jury, excuse my candor. Three people did mention The Name of the Rose and there's one Murakami book listed (one I have yet to read), but where is 1Q84?
...Actually, I'd love to see a list made by Tildeians. We might get more obscure, left-field results that are equally worth reading.
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Comment on My wife releases her 5th book today! in ~books
Lia LinkYay, congrats to your wife! As a side note, I read somewhere that Amazon actually loses money on books. They sell them as a way to lure in customers to buy other stuff so they can turn a profit....Yay, congrats to your wife!
As a side note, I read somewhere that Amazon actually loses money on books. They sell them as a way to lure in customers to buy other stuff so they can turn a profit. But it isn't a bad move to buy a book from Amazon if you want their business to suffer.
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Comment on The 100 best novels of all time published in English in ~books
Lia (edited )Link ParentAbove anything else you have read, really? :D That's amazing and makes me happy! Are you going to start raving about Mark Twain next or something? (Just another often mentioned writer whose works...in a whole other class above anything else I've ever read
Above anything else you have read, really? :D That's amazing and makes me happy! Are you going to start raving about Mark Twain next or something? (Just another often mentioned writer whose works I can't quite get into, thankfully not on this list though.)
My best guess at an answer is momentum. A book is considered good and so it always comes up when people think about making these lists.
I guess so. I just can't escape the feeling that some people (perhaps a lot of people) say they like the Iliad, or Moby-Dick, or Pride and Prejudice or whatever they think is widely enjoyed by others - not because they really enjoy it, or reading for that matter, but as a signaling device of some sort. And that some books have been riding on that sort of momentum ever since they first got established as a non-controversial mark of.. evolved taste? I'm probably wrong and just salty because I've been so often disappointed.
Also, I haven't read most of what was listed here so who knows how many absolute gems are on it, obscured only by my own ignorance! At least there is one item on there that I truly enjoyed: Rushdie's Midnight's Children.
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Comment on What stock do you put in gut feelings? in ~talk
Lia LinkIf I have to make a snap decision and/or I'm in an emotionally charged situation, my gut won't get to play any part in it. Usually, in such cases, I try to not make any decisions at all if...If I have to make a snap decision and/or I'm in an emotionally charged situation, my gut won't get to play any part in it. Usually, in such cases, I try to not make any decisions at all if possible.
The more time I've had to consider and develop my viewpoint, the more I'll rely on my gut. But in that case, my logical processing and information-gathering have had a fairly deep impact on how I frame the decision in the first place, so it would be misleading to say I'm just going with my gut.
In other words, I'll try to rely on neither and delay the decision until I get to a point where I can rely on both simultaneously.
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Comment on The 100 best novels of all time published in English in ~books
Lia LinkI sort of understand why lists like this always have to have a handful of boring books on them. I think. Here's what I don't get though: why is it always the ones that are boring in a boring way...I sort of understand why lists like this always have to have a handful of boring books on them. I think. Here's what I don't get though: why is it always the ones that are boring in a boring way (In Search of Lost Time, One Hundred Years of Solitude) when there are equally high quality boring works that are boring in an interesting way (Umberto Eco: Foucault's Pendulum, The Name of the Rose)?
And why is there no Murakami when they've included Dostoyevsky, Cervantes, Proust, Kafka, Tolstoy, Ishiguro, Flaubert, Garcia Marquez and other such great "English language" authors? And like others already said, why go "English language" if you're then going to list all your run-of-the mill non-English classics anyway? Why not just "literature"? Maybe give a chance for actual English language authors to appear on a list like this - maybe even someone who hasn't been mentioned 15698309 times on similar lists already? What exactly is the point here?
(Sorry folks, I didn't sleep well and I'm cranky!)
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Comment on Startups in Berlin in ~finance
Lia Link ParentThe origin of a piece doesn't really matter if it feels sloppy in the particular way that LLMs have now made ubiquitous. It's still bad, even if written by a human. Here's an example from your...The origin of a piece doesn't really matter if it feels sloppy in the particular way that LLMs have now made ubiquitous. It's still bad, even if written by a human. Here's an example from your reply to this thread:
Most images are AI generated. This is intentional. We prefer to focus on the content and keep a simple and consistent visual style.
"This is intentional". Well I sure hope it is, otherwise I'd be concerned. But if you say something very obvious is intentional, we get the impression that you got caught red-handed and are now trying to save face by pretending it was intended to be obvious, when in fact it wasn't. This type of squirming is an extremely common, and frustrating, response from an LLM. The rest of the paragraph is equally hand-wavy. If you actually wanted a "simple and consistent" visual style, you would stay as far away from AI as possible. They are notoriously bad at both aspects.
If you'd like to sound human, just say you didn't have the budget to hire an artist.
(I know this is harsh, but if you're serious about what you're doing, you won't mind.)
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Comment on Against money in ~finance
Lia LinkWow, thanks so much for posting this. And the copious excerpts! I didn't have time to read/listen yet but I glanced at this and the previous articles on the book, and my gut feeling is that it's...Wow, thanks so much for posting this. And the copious excerpts!
I didn't have time to read/listen yet but I glanced at this and the previous articles on the book, and my gut feeling is that it's going to make a big difference in how I see society. I'll pass this on to a bunch of friends too.
Meta: I wish there was a way to tag posts as "Important" or something and have them show on a separate feed, to help them stay up for longer.
Sure it is, but it is not normal to tamper with someone else's trademark the way this person has done, nor is it reasonable to call the resulting brand conflict "not a brand conflict, a corporation trying to erase an activist". It is absolutely a brand conflict, deliberately set up by this person. Where is the energy to do this coming from? Why aren't they directing it against corporations who do bad things rather than one who seems very much aligned with their own agenda?
I can almost see the LLM spurring this person on, telling them what to say.