NaraVara's recent activity
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Comment on You are a better writer than AI (yes, YOU!) in ~creative
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Comment on You are a better writer than AI (yes, YOU!) in ~creative
NaraVara Link ParentSome people just really crave affirmation so this machine that affirms by default just seems to trip a psychological land-mine for them. Thankfully I was raised by an Indian mother, so the...Some people just really crave affirmation so this machine that affirms by default just seems to trip a psychological land-mine for them.
Thankfully I was raised by an Indian mother, so the experience of being affirmed is sufficiently foreign to me that it makes me recoil with the fear that I might be interacting with The Beldam. I believe this has partially inoculated me against the AI cognitohazard.
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Comment on You are a better writer than AI (yes, YOU!) in ~creative
NaraVara Link ParentThere is a dark art to this in institutional settings for those willing to master the art of manipulation. You simply learn the editor’s idiosyncrasies and add trivial and easily corrected errors...You get notes on sections you never wanted feedback on, while the parts you thought most deserved scrutiny are ignored.
There is a dark art to this in institutional settings for those willing to master the art of manipulation. You simply learn the editor’s idiosyncrasies and add trivial and easily corrected errors in and around a section where you don’t want them to think too hard about the content or its implications (politically). You’ll get edits on commas or word choice that you can happily edit.
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Comment on You are a better writer than AI (yes, YOU!) in ~creative
NaraVara Link ParentThat’s the opposite of the thrust of the video actually. It’s pretty explicit that even hastily scribbled off dreck—or even a reaction gif—is better writing than anything the chatbot spits out.That’s the opposite of the thrust of the video actually. It’s pretty explicit that even hastily scribbled off dreck—or even a reaction gif—is better writing than anything the chatbot spits out.
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Comment on You are a better writer than AI (yes, YOU!) in ~creative
NaraVara Link ParentOh I actually really liked the format. So much so, in fact, that I might adopt it the next time I have to do a work presentation instead of relying on PowerPoint.Oh I actually really liked the format. So much so, in fact, that I might adopt it the next time I have to do a work presentation instead of relying on PowerPoint.
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Comment on You are a better writer than AI (yes, YOU!) in ~creative
NaraVara LinkYes, it’s a 40 minute video essay but hear him out! It’s very good!Yes, it’s a 40 minute video essay but hear him out! It’s very good!
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You are a better writer than AI (yes, YOU!)
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Comment on What's the coolest thrift store find you've ever scored? in ~talk
NaraVara LinkI got a second edition printing of the Silmarillion for about $70 once.I got a second edition printing of the Silmarillion for about $70 once.
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Comment on Two visions for the future of AR smart glasses in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentThat’s just Google Glass again haha. Just a version. You’d close up and stow when not in use. Though that would probably mitigate most of the glass hole effect.That’s just Google Glass again haha. Just a version. You’d close up and stow when not in use. Though that would probably mitigate most of the glass hole effect.
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Comment on Two visions for the future of AR smart glasses in ~tech
NaraVara (edited )LinkHonestly I am not interested in wearing a screen on my face all day. Not having to crane my neck to look at my phone to read something or text with someone appeals to me, but I feel like I’d...Honestly I am not interested in wearing a screen on my face all day.
Not having to crane my neck to look at my phone to read something or text with someone appeals to me, but I feel like I’d prefer a device that I keep on my pocket and put on when I need it. So more like a reading glasses form factor than chunky hipster ones.
If these do end up finding some amount of popularity though I expect the fashion for glasses might start to tilt towards thin wire frames or frameless ones again just to make it clear that you’re not about that shit.
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Comment on Her daughter was unraveling, and she didn’t know why. Then she found the AI chat logs. in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentThe content is supposed to be curated and tagged to train properly though. I’m guessing this chatbot’s intended behavior is to be a AI phone sex line. It would be pretty trivial to constrain a bot...The content is supposed to be curated and tagged to train properly though. I’m guessing this chatbot’s intended behavior is to be a AI phone sex line. It would be pretty trivial to constrain a bot from making conversations sexual by default. Claude or ChatGPT never do, for instance.
The marketing around it is probably like minimally plausible deniability to avoid exposure for running a sex bot that teens can access.
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Comment on Leaving Apple behind after eighteen years in ~tech
NaraVara Link ParentAndroid Automotive is an OS that the car’s computer systems run. Android Auto is an interface for your phone that it beams to your car. People often abbreviated Android Automotive to Android Auto....Android Automotive is an OS that the car’s computer systems run. Android Auto is an interface for your phone that it beams to your car.
People often abbreviated Android Automotive to Android Auto. And Alphabet/Google gave up keeping it straight and started doing so themselves.
Nothing matters anymore. Nobody cares about things being good or comprehensible or consistent. Just eat your slop.
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Comment on This life gives you nothing - Your attention is all you have. Wasting it is annihilating in ~life
NaraVara Link ParentI’m glad I’m not the only one who feels like the good internet habits I worked to build over the past 6-8 years have degraded significantly. I’m on Discord, Instagram, and BlueSky now instead of...I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels like the good internet habits I worked to build over the past 6-8 years have degraded significantly. I’m on Discord, Instagram, and BlueSky now instead of Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter but the general degradation in focus has definitely happened.
It’s definitely an election thing. I started “using” again after the first presidential debate. I didn’t even watch it! But I needed reassurance and hoped being aware would help me get it. Obviously it wouldn’t but it’s just a habit now.
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Comment on This life gives you nothing - Your attention is all you have. Wasting it is annihilating in ~life
NaraVara Link ParentHonestly you kind of just have to force it. It is like going to the gym where it takes a while to build the habit but once you do you’ll find it easier to make the time. And if the game is...Honestly you kind of just have to force it. It is like going to the gym where it takes a while to build the habit but once you do you’ll find it easier to make the time. And if the game is crowding out stuff in your life you want to do you need to make the choice on what’s more important to you.
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This life gives you nothing - Your attention is all you have. Wasting it is annihilating
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Comment on What's your favorite RSS reader? in ~comp
NaraVara LinkNetNewsWire is, for my money, the best one. I have it backed by Inoreader as the feed to sync between clients on the back-end. I like it because it’s a very straightforward interface that is...NetNewsWire is, for my money, the best one. I have it backed by Inoreader as the feed to sync between clients on the back-end.
I like it because it’s a very straightforward interface that is thoughtfully designed. It loads fast, it has keyboard shortcuts for navigating it, and has about all the basic features you’d want. And it’s free.
I’d like to see a few features added just to make it easier to manage different types of feeds (like full text vs. headlines and pages that do long-reads versus a constant firehose of content). But none of the RSS readers out there really offer that.
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Comment on Pluribus S01E01 - “We is Us” in ~tv
NaraVara Link ParentWhatever the moral status of the people who died, she certainly reacted and felt as if she was killing people and then couldn’t keep it together well enough to avoid doing it again.Whatever the moral status of the people who died, she certainly reacted and felt as if she was killing people and then couldn’t keep it together well enough to avoid doing it again.
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Comment on Ex-Barack Obama aide says Holocaust education is ‘confusing’ young people into sympathizing with ‘weak, skinny’ Palestinians in ~society
NaraVara Link ParentThe Holocaust refers specifically to the genocide against the Jews. There are other victims of the Nazis, and they are sometimes bundled in when referring to the Holocaust because it was usually...The Holocaust refers specifically to the genocide against the Jews. There are other victims of the Nazis, and they are sometimes bundled in when referring to the Holocaust because it was usually done through the same processes, but the Holocaust itself was most specifically meant to be about the Jews because it was motivated by very specific anti-Semitic prejudices stoked by the Nazis. That they also had other prejudices they acted on in parallel is separate from the particular dynamics of anti-semitism in German culture.
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Comment on Pluribus S01E01 - “We is Us” in ~tv
NaraVara Link ParentYeah it’s certainly believable, but I think the rest of the “survivors” are basically going through their own way of coping. I’m not sure I’d say any approach is healthier than any other. Like is...Yeah it’s certainly believable, but I think the rest of the “survivors” are basically going through their own way of coping. I’m not sure I’d say any approach is healthier than any other. Like is the Mauritanian guy just being a wastrel sybarite any worse than Carol drinking herself stupid and casually mass murdering scores of people with uncontrolled emotional outbursts?
From a strictly utilitarian standpoint he’s actually behaving more ethically. He’s functionally a utility monster.
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Comment on Pluribus S01E01 - “We is Us” in ~tv
NaraVara Link ParentThe bundle of sticks is important, because the actual symbol is supposed to be that an individual stick is weak and easily broken, but binding the sticks together into a bundle makes them strong....The bundle of sticks is important, because the actual symbol is supposed to be that an individual stick is weak and easily broken, but binding the sticks together into a bundle makes them strong.
It used to be an important element of early American symbolism around republicanism as well. But you’re right that a strongman isn’t necessary for fascism, it just so happens that getting wrapped up following insane demagogues is a common failure mode for democratic political systems that happens to dovetail with fascism which is a failure mode for a free market economy that can happen at the same time. The other failure mode for free market economies is some flavor of communism and those also tend to become personality cults.
I can’t even really describe the level of discomfort I feel when it says things like that. Even when a human says it I feel like I’m being brown-nosed and become reflexively hostile to the person because it makes me feel like they’re appealing to my emotional state rather than my logic-brain. But when a statistical machine is doing it then it’s inherently something darker. It’s a design choice made explicitly to manipulate me.