OBLIVIATER's recent activity

  1. Comment on Amazon drone delivery footage in ~tech

    OBLIVIATER
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    The reason a team is required to follow the drone is an FAA regulation, not a technical limitation. Once these systems have proven effective in their alpha trials those regulations will likely be...

    The reason a team is required to follow the drone is an FAA regulation, not a technical limitation. Once these systems have proven effective in their alpha trials those regulations will likely be changed and a line of sight ground operator will no longer be required

    1 vote
  2. Comment on Amazon drone delivery footage in ~tech

    OBLIVIATER
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    Consumption is unlikely to decrease no matter what we do (without major societal change.) Assuming a drone delivery service is actually more efficient, it makes sense from an environmental...

    Consumption is unlikely to decrease no matter what we do (without major societal change.) Assuming a drone delivery service is actually more efficient, it makes sense from an environmental standpoint to reduce pollution from delivery trucks and cars. I don't know if anyone has the numbers to back up any claims, but a reduction in cars on the road would be a net positive for pretty much all ecosystems.

    Its difficult to stop the waves of progress, humans will always strive to achieve increasing levels of efficiency even at the cost of short term or more commonly long term harm to their surrounding environments. Stopping the ever marching forward progression after cars but before drones seems like an arbitrary and maybe even counterproductive line in the sand.

    4 votes
  3. Comment on Amazon drone delivery footage in ~tech

    OBLIVIATER
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    If I'm out and about walking around the neighborhood, the buzzing can be a little annoying sometimes, but far less annoying than something like a loud car revving their engine while driving past...

    If I'm out and about walking around the neighborhood, the buzzing can be a little annoying sometimes, but far less annoying than something like a loud car revving their engine while driving past (happens often) or having delivery driver cars block up the thin roads because they park in the middle of the street to do their deliveries.

    I personally would say the tradeoff is well worth it, it gets cars off the road and the noise pollution is not a big deal to me as I only really hear it when they're directly overhead. I am not very in touch with my neighbors but I've not heard any complaints about the drones from anyone in the area either, everyone seems to be happy with the service so far.

    14 votes
  4. Comment on Amazon drone delivery footage in ~tech

    OBLIVIATER
    Link Parent
    I live in an area which has drone delivery for several fast food restaurants, through a 3rd party company. It's a similar system though with a more controlled delivery system using an extending...

    I live in an area which has drone delivery for several fast food restaurants, through a 3rd party company. It's a similar system though with a more controlled delivery system using an extending string to lower the food to the ground from height.

    They've been at it for around 3-4 years now and are incredibly popular in the area, I see drones overhead nearly all the time going back and forth delivering food. I have no idea if they're cost effective yet, but with how expensive Uber eats is and the drivers still don't make a living wage, I wouldn't be surprised if it was already cheaper to use a drone vs having an actual human deliver the food.

    11 votes
  5. Comment on Weekly thread for casual chat and photos of pets in ~life.pets

  6. Comment on AI and ethics - CP in ~talk

    OBLIVIATER
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    That's awful, it's terrifying that it was even offered as an option. Is that a standard treatment for that kind of thing, or is it just based on the assumption that if you can't get aroused you...

    That's awful, it's terrifying that it was even offered as an option. Is that a standard treatment for that kind of thing, or is it just based on the assumption that if you can't get aroused you can't get aroused to CSAM?

    Was the doctor aware that was the reason for wanting to be castrated? It seems like a huge problem that this kind of procedure can just be done by request if it doesn't even work effectively. And yet we still have people who can't get voluntarily sterilized because doctors are afraid they may want to have kids in the future.

    1 vote
  7. Comment on AI and ethics - CP in ~talk

    OBLIVIATER
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    Honestly a great point, even if we developed a way to 100% accurately identify AI generated content it would be difficult to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt. I don't know what the best way to...

    Honestly a great point, even if we developed a way to 100% accurately identify AI generated content it would be difficult to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt. I don't know what the best way to rehabilitate pedophiles is, I doubt it's prison though. But opening up the laws for wiggle room seems like the wrong lever to pull for that kind of problem anyway.

    1 vote
  8. Comment on AI and ethics - CP in ~talk

    OBLIVIATER
    Link Parent
    Definitely showing my ignorance of generative AI then, it's a difficult field to stay on top of when it's evolving and changing so quickly.

    Definitely showing my ignorance of generative AI then, it's a difficult field to stay on top of when it's evolving and changing so quickly.

    3 votes
  9. Comment on Why aren't we talking about the real reason male college enrollment is dropping? in ~life.men

    OBLIVIATER
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I recommend checking out stu2b50's excellent comment here (And their later response here which is also a good read ) They certainly have a much more level-headed response than I did, I'll give you...

    I recommend checking out stu2b50's excellent comment here (And their later response here which is also a good read )

    They certainly have a much more level-headed response than I did, I'll give you that.

    Not counting the several dozen people who voted for the comments I made (which I know doesn't necessarily amount to the same as agreement on all points) there are at least several other comments that point out similar issues they had with the way the article was written.

    I hope you have a good evening as well, this was a pleasure as always.

    11 votes
  10. Comment on AI and ethics - CP in ~talk

    OBLIVIATER
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    Honestly the worst part about this to me is (as I understand it) generative AI would have to be trained on real CSAM to produce that type of content right? I don't know if there can ever be a...

    Honestly the worst part about this to me is (as I understand it) generative AI would have to be trained on real CSAM to produce that type of content right?

    I don't know if there can ever be a silver lining to that cloud, at least in my opinion. Feeding CSAM into the grinder to make content to titillate pedophiles is not something I think should be done. I understand the argument of harm reduction, I just don't know if it holds enough water.

    5 votes
  11. Comment on Why aren't we talking about the real reason male college enrollment is dropping? in ~life.men

    OBLIVIATER
    Link Parent
    I think that's something we have to just chalk up to differences of perspective. I would imagine given the amount of other people in this thread with similar reactions that I'm not the only one...

    I think that's something we have to just chalk up to differences of perspective. I would imagine given the amount of other people in this thread with similar reactions that I'm not the only one who found the comparisons made in this article to be incongruous. If that is silencing the argument because it's "making people feel bad" I apologize.

    13 votes
  12. Comment on Why aren't we talking about the real reason male college enrollment is dropping? in ~life.men

    OBLIVIATER
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I do, in fact, find it offensive. Offensive and wrong (or at least not proven right, which isn't nearly as bad, but it is a problem when the article is stating it as fact.) I understand if that's...

    I do, in fact, find it offensive. Offensive and wrong (or at least not proven right, which isn't nearly as bad, but it is a problem when the article is stating it as fact.)

    I understand if that's not something you can emphasize with, that's totally fair. There's definitely a lot of things that I can't understand why it would upset people. Perhaps I just have a overly negative viewpoint of White Flight and it immediately gave me an extremely negative psychological response when I saw the two being compared so readily. I personally would be extremely hesitant to make such comparisons to similar things.

    17 votes
  13. Comment on Why aren't we talking about the real reason male college enrollment is dropping? in ~life.men

    OBLIVIATER
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Why are we so sure that "male flight" is the explanation for why men are attending college less in the first place (especially when every major source and most of the research papers referenced...

    Why are we so sure that "male flight" is the explanation for why men are attending college less in the first place (especially when every major source and most of the research papers referenced state several other compelling reasons that adequately explain the phenomenon.) I disagree with the entire premise of the comparison, and therefore that's the issue I have with it. I also think that just because it seems to be a similar phenomenon on the grounds that both of them are referring to a population number decreasing in a certain environment, it's a very obviously loaded comparison to make. Even if you did buy the idea that the main reason that men are falling behind in college enrollment numbers is because they don't want to be seen as gay or feminine.

    18 votes
  14. Comment on Why aren't we talking about the real reason male college enrollment is dropping? in ~life.men

    OBLIVIATER
    (edited )
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    For a scientifically tested hypothesis, I'm not seeing any of her scientific data for the leading assumptions she's making. There's an awful lot of unrelated data being referenced that she's using...

    For a scientifically tested hypothesis, I'm not seeing any of her scientific data for the leading assumptions she's making. There's an awful lot of unrelated data being referenced that she's using to justify claims, but not much more than that. Those are the "vibes" I'm referring to.

    I'd like to point out too that the author is not a researcher or a scientist, this is not a research paper or grounded in any study. In fact the many studies she references throughout the article she explicitly disagrees with the conclusions that are drawn by the experts who actually did do the research.

    For example, she uses an actual study that says that 34% of men say they didn't finish college "because they just don't want to" (compared to 25%~ of women) and then uses that to launch a thesis that men are avoiding college because it's become a feminine place. Want to know her source for that claim? Some random answer from a Quora post, obviously the bastion of truth. So because one random guy on Quora said that men are avoiding college because it's "feminine" now she states as fact that: "School is now feminine. College is feminine. And rule #1 if you want to safely navigate this world as a man? Avoid the feminine." She even helpfully included a very scientific chart to back up her factual statement here

    Even the freakonmics podcast that she cites as the main inspiration for this article never even insinuated anything like her thesis; which she views as a willful omission of an obvious fact, instead of the much more likely and simple answer that this thesis is completely ungrounded in any realm of actual scientific fact.

    Nobody is being villainized that I can see.

    My mistake, I guess her drawing a direct parallel between men falling behind in schools and college enrollment to WHITE FLIGHT was a totally fair and neutral comparison to make and definitely not intended to be a negative thing.

    29 votes
  15. Comment on Why aren't we talking about the real reason male college enrollment is dropping? in ~life.men

    OBLIVIATER
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I read the article, I even read some of the authors other articles. There's a distinct negativity and enmity towards men as a common theme throughout her work. Is that a founded viewpoint?...
    • Exemplary

    I read the article, I even read some of the authors other articles. There's a distinct negativity and enmity towards men as a common theme throughout her work. Is that a founded viewpoint? Perhaps, (some) men are responsible for most of the terrible things that have happened throughout history including the systematic suppression and oppression of women, minorities, and lower class individuals.

    For this specific instance though, it's like she's doing everything she can to find reasons why it's men's fault that they're struggling and doing poorly in the education system (and in a lot of other aspects in modern life), there's no way that the system itself is broken. It must be that men are avoiding women and that college is viewed as a feminized liberal hellscape that no man wants to be a part of.

    If you don't think likening the young men of today who aren't attending colleges to White Flight is misleading at best and honestly closer to malicious negativity then I don't know what to say because that's just an insanely loaded parallel to draw. Yeah sure, men losing ground on college education and therefore losing ground in nearly every aspect of professional life is the same as checks notes the racist phenomenon where rich white people fled from cities because they couldn't stand to live near poor black people and set up gated communities and sundown towns where they would lynch black people for daring to dirty up their communities. Those are the same!!

    Posting an article like this in the ~men group is the only reason I even bothered getting upset. Coming into a space where men are working to improve and better themselves and insinuating that even in the areas that you're failing as a gender, it's still your own fault, do better; is not helpful.

    26 votes
  16. Comment on Tuberculosis rates plunge when families living in poverty get a monthly cash payout in ~health

    OBLIVIATER
    Link Parent
    Whoops, fixed 😅

    Whoops, fixed 😅

    1 vote
  17. Comment on Why aren't we talking about the real reason male college enrollment is dropping? in ~life.men

    OBLIVIATER
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    Middle aged college educated white woman makes unfounded assumptions that it's young men's own fault that they're being left behind by nearly every social system in place in modern society....

    Middle aged college educated white woman makes unfounded assumptions that it's young men's own fault that they're being left behind by nearly every social system in place in modern society. Fantastic perspective. Let's continue to ostracize and villainize 49% of the population based on vibes.

    82 votes
  18. Comment on Tuberculosis rates plunge when families living in poverty get a monthly cash payout in ~health

    OBLIVIATER
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Yeah, its kinda burying the lede a bit. Obviously people who are required to get the TB vaccine are going to contract TB much less often. Not saying that the UBI program does nothing, because I...

    Yeah, its kinda burying the lede a bit. Obviously people who are required to get the TB vaccine are going to contract TB much less often. Not saying that the UBI program does nothing, because I believe that it does, but for this data point it seems more like "paying people to get vaccinated" works.

    15 votes
  19. Comment on Why gen Z is drinking less in ~health

    OBLIVIATER
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    Drinking out has gotten insanely expensive, crappy beers can be like 10 dollars a glass at some places. Cocktails with a single small shot sometimes north of 20-30 bucks. People can't afford to...

    Drinking out has gotten insanely expensive, crappy beers can be like 10 dollars a glass at some places. Cocktails with a single small shot sometimes north of 20-30 bucks. People can't afford to pay 100+ bucks to get drunk. I don't drink that much but it's not because of any conscious abstinence, it's because I'm a frugal person and can't stand to spend a 500% markup on something that I know has like 58 cents worth of alcohol in it. If I'm going to get drunk it's going to be with a 25 dollar bottle from the liquor store at a party with friends.

    52 votes
  20. Comment on Magnus Carlsen has been disqualified from the World Rapid Championship in New York due to a dress code violation – also withdrawing from the World Blitz in ~games.tabletop

    OBLIVIATER
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    There was only one addendum to the dress code and it was just: "allowing for appropriate jeans matching the jacket" which is still subject to the same whims of the tournament organizers who...

    There was only one addendum to the dress code and it was just: "allowing for appropriate jeans matching the jacket" which is still subject to the same whims of the tournament organizers who enforce it. They still get to decide what "appropriate jeans" are and if they "match the jacket." This is the kind of thing you do when you want to pretend like you're conceding ground to make people feel like they won something, but in reality not much changes.

    Magnus is going to get to act the hero and play in his jeans today but the dress code is still going to be obnoxious and unfairly enforced, the fines are still ridiculous, and the president of FIDE is still going to have a chip on his shoulder. But hey, its a big win for jean enjoyers everywhere (as long as they can afford the insane cost to enter an exclusive chess tournament.)

    2 votes