NaraVara's recent activity
-
Comment on Half-baked idea for metered inline image allowances in ~tildes
-
Comment on Claude Mythos preview in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentYeah I would hate to run an online service right now. You’ll be the recipient of more non-consensual pen-tests than ever before. And there will also be a preponderance of vibe-coded applications...Yeah I would hate to run an online service right now. You’ll be the recipient of more non-consensual pen-tests than ever before. And there will also be a preponderance of vibe-coded applications that aren’t properly vetted and built by developers who aren’t paying close attention to the security implications of what’s being introduced. These will increasingly be incorporated into production code bases for real companies hosting real (and important) PII. It’s gonna be bad!
-
Comment on Surf Social (from the makers of Flipboard) in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentThat just sounds like a protocol-of-protocols. I feel like it’d be a matter of time before some of the underlying protocols change and it doesn’t catch up at the meta-protocol level and then you...That just sounds like a protocol-of-protocols. I feel like it’d be a matter of time before some of the underlying protocols change and it doesn’t catch up at the meta-protocol level and then you have people forking the meta-protocol to support different sub-protocols differently.
Basically the “There are too many standards!” XKCD comic.
-
Comment on What if AI just makes us work harder? in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentI think basically none of that happens unless we relegate the Republican Party into the wilderness in the same was the Democrats were after the Civil War. We can take 1 step forward but we’ll be...I think basically none of that happens unless we relegate the Republican Party into the wilderness in the same was the Democrats were after the Civil War. We can take 1 step forward but we’ll be two steps back again unless the forces of reaction are purged.
-
Comment on What if AI just makes us work harder? in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentI’d say to turn your eyes up at what types of work people will be paying for. Right now a lot of how software/technology is being applied to solve business problems is happening through SaaS...I’d say to turn your eyes up at what types of work people will be paying for.
Right now a lot of how software/technology is being applied to solve business problems is happening through SaaS products. A business has a need and the most straightforward way to solve it is to go out and buy some kind of product that will solve it. These products are “one size fits all” for a whole class of problems and, to get the most out of it, the business has to design its processes to work with the tools. This may mean things like having to hire people who have 3 years of Salesforce or Lexis or Informatica or whatever experience as a baseline.
It works out this way because making software is expensive and the people who can do it are kind of rare. There’s lots of people who can glue APIs together but comparatively fewer who can design and architect something scalable to solve a business problem well. Since those skills are rare and require a lot of process and capital infrastructure to support, as well as sales staff to find a market, the skill ends up concentrating in the form of some kind of B2B or B2C SaaS subscription.
If individual developers or even just generically smart technologists can become dramatically more efficient though, then the accounting math changes. What if a developer who understands how to build an enterprise grade application suite no longer needs a small army of gluecoders to take care of a bunch of scut work? It might actually become practical for companies to hire a crack team (in house or consultants) of like 3-5 people to build and support bespoke tools for them that are designed around their specific business. For the business this is valuable because they can have tools designed for how they work instead of needing to change how they work to get their money’s worth out of their tools. They didn’t used to be able to hire software folks to do a good job before because they make some sort of widget and just don’t understand what it takes to make good software. So they hire Deloitte to tell them which SaaS to buy. But if you just have your special projects team of 6 people who can solve it in house, and end up with potential to get a competitive edge and differentiate your widgets from the competition.
In light of this where things will go has less to do with skills around using AI assisted tools. Professionals who care about doing a good job will be able to figure that part out. What will actually set people apart is being able to work well in a small team that’s able to talk with customers and translate their needs into a technical fix that’s competently architected and addresses the real problem (so shepherd the AI to not do stupid shit or solve a problem different from what the customer actually wanted).
Currently a lot of these skills live in job descriptions like “business analyst” or “product manager” rather than SWE. So I think these jobs and skills will converge with engineers learning the organization and people skills and analysts/PMs becoming more adept at building stuff directly.
-
Comment on What if AI just makes us work harder? in ~tech
NaraVara (edited )Link ParentWe will not manage a 180 I’m afraid to say. It’s not going to be that easy. The real bill for this administrations fuck ups won’t be coming due until the course of another 3-6 years and if all the...We will not manage a 180 I’m afraid to say. It’s not going to be that easy. The real bill for this administrations fuck ups won’t be coming due until the course of another 3-6 years and if all the messaging is going to revolve around vibes based slopulism then people will just vote out anyone requiring us to make the necessary sacrifices to right the ship. And the Republicans will just blame the Jews or whatever for “hoodwinking” Trump into being stupid and wash their hands of it while advancing whoever the new racist douchebag is gonna be.
Even now figures like Cory Booker are saying we should just eliminate all taxes on $75k or under with no concrete plan for offsetting the revenue elsewhere. It’s just unserious slop.
-
Comment on What if AI just makes us work harder? in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentWage growth has largely kept up with inflation since the stagflation era in the 70s and by 2023 we basically got back to the 1973 peak of purchasing power before the Trump administration...costs of living compared to their wages is higher than its been in almost a century
Wage growth has largely kept up with inflation since the stagflation era in the 70s and by 2023 we basically got back to the 1973 peak of purchasing power before the Trump administration critically set us back.
Yeah housing and healthcare got more expensive but this was offset by food, clothing, and most other consumer products becoming dramatically cheaper. People have a rosy view of the past based on vintage media that selectively shows the lifestyles of unrepresentatively wealthy families.
The gains to productivity improvements almost entirely accrued to capital owners, that much is true. But it’s entirely false to say regular people got poorer. They stayed the same, the basis for comparison just shifted because the richest got way richer.
-
Comment on What if AI just makes us work harder? in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentWell yeah ideologies behind movements don’t mean that much. Prevailing conditions create selective pressures for who gets power and then the people with power make decisions. If you create an...Well yeah ideologies behind movements don’t mean that much. Prevailing conditions create selective pressures for who gets power and then the people with power make decisions.
If you create an environment that rewards violence and cutthroat competition you’re going to end up with people who have predilections for violence and backstabbing in charge.
If you create an environment that rewards bureaucratic maneuvering then careerist bureaucrats who are good at office politics get put in charge.
-
Comment on What if AI just makes us work harder? in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentYeah I don’t really know. I am well aware that people who don’t know what PMs actually do that underlies the work outputs PMs formally deliver are going to see an LLM that can create passable...Yeah I don’t really know. I am well aware that people who don’t know what PMs actually do that underlies the work outputs PMs formally deliver are going to see an LLM that can create passable outputs and assume the underlying activity is still happening. I think this will be a crucial mistake and people are going to learn that the hard way, but I am not looking forward to being unemployed while people learn that lesson. I’m trying to pivot to AI implementation types of product development or consulting in the hopes of shielding myself from that and also steering things in non-stupid directions but haven’t had a whole lot of luck so far.
-
Comment on What if AI just makes us work harder? in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentThe thing is modern neoliberal governance has adopted a lot of the centralized planning elements of communist countries through complicated interventions around monetary policy, tax deferrals,...The thing is modern neoliberal governance has adopted a lot of the centralized planning elements of communist countries through complicated interventions around monetary policy, tax deferrals, subsidies, strategic investments, regulatory compliance, etc.
So we basically do have the technology and knowhow now to get the best of centrally planned economic management and free markets. It’s not that we don’t know how to make the system work for us, it’s that there is no political will to do so and its’ largely driven by economic relationships at the company level. This is stuff we can fix collectively by just adopting the kinds of corporate governance structures we want, but people keep trying look up at the state to do it for us through some kind of world-changing revolutionary transformation that just bequeaths the better governance to us instead of building it.
I’d also add that much of what ails us politically is usually chalked up more to “crisis of meaning” type shit. Like the right wing backlash we’re under is being driven by upper-middle class sociopaths and Treatlerism rather than frustrations with the relative returns to labor vs. capital. So it’s possible that just being materially well off isn’t the be-all-end-all of having a healthy society full of prosperous and happy people.
-
Comment on What if AI just makes us work harder? in ~tech
NaraVara (edited )Link ParentAs a project manager I feel like this stuff enables doing the job of actually managing projects and heading off problems rather than filling out reports and attending to janitorial tasks with...As a project manager I feel like this stuff enables doing the job of actually managing projects and heading off problems rather than filling out reports and attending to janitorial tasks with documentation. In theory all of these rituals and documentation tasks were meant to ensure some kind of underlying analysis or decision making was being done, but we’ve reified the rituals and documentation as outputs in themselves. I think this happens because you feel busy and productive because you’re doing things because it’s visible and quantifiable work you can report and it gives senior managers a sense of visibility and control over stuff they don’t actually interact with.
But it mostly serves to occupy the brainspace you’d have been using to actually understand the technical details, identify risks, or making sure people are committing to decisions instead of just kicking the can. It knocks down so much of the yak shaving bullshit we use to procrastinate away the tough stuff like having to talk to some asshole to resolve a disagreement.
Frankly the specific type of burnout it’s talking about is quite common once you hit middle management or above even before AI. It’s a different type of discipline to force yourself to prioritize what actually needs to get done and is value additive versus just engaging in activity for the sake of feeling active. When you’re in a role where you have to drive progress and bring in business there is basically always stuff you can be doing or improving. People need to train themselves to just accept that there will be stuff lying around out there that isn’t the best it can be, and may even suck, and is within your power to fix for which you are the responsible party and still just not fix it.
-
Comment on What if AI just makes us work harder? in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentAlso being busy isn’t bad. Being locked in on doing something you enjoy is good! Being busy doing boring, tedious, dangerous work that you don’t have control over is bad.Also being busy isn’t bad. Being locked in on doing something you enjoy is good! Being busy doing boring, tedious, dangerous work that you don’t have control over is bad.
-
Comment on What if AI just makes us work harder? in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentHave actually existing communist movements had a good track record about properly compensating labor and not squashing exercises in collective power when in charge?Have actually existing communist movements had a good track record about properly compensating labor and not squashing exercises in collective power when in charge?
-
Comment on Vaping likely to cause lung and oral cancer, Australian researchers find in new review of evidence in ~health
NaraVara Link ParentReinforcing the natural satisfaction of the tactile ritual with a hit of nicotine probably makes the addiction click doubly hard.Reinforcing the natural satisfaction of the tactile ritual with a hit of nicotine probably makes the addiction click doubly hard.
-
Comment on Vaping likely to cause lung and oral cancer, Australian researchers find in new review of evidence in ~health
NaraVara Link ParentBy the time it hits your lungs it’s mostly gonna be cooled to your body temperature. Mouth and esophagus are a different story though. Actually, drinking hot drinks while smoking is associated...By the time it hits your lungs it’s mostly gonna be cooled to your body temperature. Mouth and esophagus are a different story though.
Actually, drinking hot drinks while smoking is associated with markedly higher rates of oral and esophageal cancers. (Drinking alcohol as well, as it dissolves the mucous layer that coats the mouth leaving the soft tissue more vulnerable to damage by direct contact with the smoke).
Also why cigarettes are slightly riskier (slight enough to not be meaningfully different) than pipe or hookah smoking as the pipes smoke cooler.
The most likely thing is just particulates and large-molecules of all kinds end up being taxing for the body to clear out. This, of course, has other implications for things like inhaling brake dust and tire particles from heavy vehicles or even pollen granules.
-
Comment on Vaping likely to cause lung and oral cancer, Australian researchers find in new review of evidence in ~health
NaraVara Link ParentCould also be a byproduct of the plastics or dyes in the body of the vape or stem interacting with the hot vapor. Lots of potential sources of contamination!Could also be a byproduct of the plastics or dyes in the body of the vape or stem interacting with the hot vapor. Lots of potential sources of contamination!
-
Comment on Vaping likely to cause lung and oral cancer, Australian researchers find in new review of evidence in ~health
NaraVara Link ParentI think one of the main areas for concern is with the abundance of poorly regulated flavor additives of unknown provenance, as well as whatever might be getting into it from the plastics and...I think one of the main areas for concern is with the abundance of poorly regulated flavor additives of unknown provenance, as well as whatever might be getting into it from the plastics and metals that the vapor is in contact with on the way to your mouth.
-
Comment on Vaping likely to cause lung and oral cancer, Australian researchers find in new review of evidence in ~health
NaraVara Link ParentNicotine’s more addictive than fingernails so YMMV, but have you considered just using a toothpick? That (along with keeping a nail clipper on hand at all times) sort of broke me of my nail biting...Nicotine’s more addictive than fingernails so YMMV, but have you considered just using a toothpick? That (along with keeping a nail clipper on hand at all times) sort of broke me of my nail biting habit by substituting the oral fixation. It also replaced a habit that causes wear on my teeth with a habit that cleans them (basically works like flossing) which is nice too.
-
Comment on Vaping likely to cause lung and oral cancer, Australian researchers find in new review of evidence in ~health
NaraVara Link Parent“Excuse me sir, why is there a nimbus of banana scented mist trailing you at all times? Are you Sun Wukong?”“Excuse me sir, why is there a nimbus of banana scented mist trailing you at all times? Are you Sun Wukong?”
-
Comment on Can we talk about rice cookers? in ~food
NaraVara (edited )Link ParentI have both an instant pot and a nice rice cooker and I definitely prefer using the rice cooker. The instant pot tends to make the rice kind of clumpy in my experience, and something about the...I have both an instant pot and a nice rice cooker and I definitely prefer using the rice cooker. The instant pot tends to make the rice kind of clumpy in my experience, and something about the process feels fussier. Also, I’m generally using the instapot for making dal or something else while I also need rice, so I can’t really use it for both at once.
I feel like these convenience appliances are handy enough that our conception of what a kitchen is supposed to look like will need rethinking in the same way that we reworked the entire concept of a kitchen to transition from big hearth fireplaces to all-in-one ranges. Like, we should have the computer and heating element and computer part of the instant pot built into the range and have it be a standard size so people can swap the inner pot easily. The thing already sautés, boils, steams, slow cooks, and pressure cooks. That’s useful enough to be built right in and it would be convenient to have it connected to a vent fan to help depressurize more safely (no hot steam blasting into your wooden cupboards or a curious child or feline’s face).
I think my dream kitchen would just have a counter-height oven, an instant pot, a microwave, and a thermomix all built into some kind of purpose designed appliance. If the sink has a boiling-water tap I don’t think I’d need more than 1 induction burner. Maybe I’d have a spare in the cabinet.
I can see some utility to having embedded media be enabled for posts, especially if it’s always collapsed and requires accompanying text. I don’t think images should ever be in the main view, you definitely should have to click through to see one so the text needs to give you enough context up front to decide to do that click. Right now if someone posts a video it ends up just being a link with the description as a comment, which isn’t terrible but I think a little inelegant. Being able to see YouTube videos without having to link out would be nice. In particular, I’d like being able to save those videos to my YouTube watchlist without having to click out. Or even save them to a Read-it-later app like Instapaper.
But with comments I don’t know. I think it invites reaction gifs and other low quality interactions in the comments. Even if it’s metered, having a person who does only drive-by reaction gifs or image macros 10x a month and little else is also not quality engagement. Direct linking is probably better, and it gives equal weight to making a statement backed up by a paper or article rather than privileging pictures by providing less friction when seeing them. I would sure like to make an exception for charts and graphs, but I guess there’s no way to do that.
One thing to note though, is that embedded images and video are inherently much more difficult to moderate. It’s one thing to have nasty comments or even outbound links to objectionable content, you can just elect not to click those. But shock images, gore, CP, or even people spamming screenshots to try to phish you are all in your face until an admin can take them down. Even if it’s collapsed by default I imagine a lot of people just unthinkingly expand every collapsed frame. Spammers love these because they’re less likely to get flagged by automatic moderation tools.
Although thinking about the main way I’d benefit from embedded media in posts, what actually seems like it would be most useful to me isn’t videos or images but audio. I think being able to directly play .wav or .mp3 files from an embedded player without leaving the site would really improve discussions around music or anything else involving sound. But I imagine incorporating SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, etc. hooks would probably be kind of a pain to maintain.