R3qn65's recent activity
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Comment on What are your favourite comfort re-reads? in ~books
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Comment on Why probability probably doesn't exist (but it's useful to act like it does) in ~science
R3qn65 Link ParentI was going to mention those! So I'll suggest Against the Gods instead, which is sort of a pop history exploration of mankind's evolution of the concept of probability.I was going to mention those! So I'll suggest Against the Gods instead, which is sort of a pop history exploration of mankind's evolution of the concept of probability.
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Comment on The return of non-PC language in the US mainstream in ~talk
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Comment on The return of non-PC language in the US mainstream in ~talk
R3qn65 Link ParentRight, I'm familiar with the PRC's argument. I maintain though that putting a nation with enough economic capacity to develop hypersonic missiles in the same category as, say, Burundi, is...Right, I'm familiar with the PRC's argument. I maintain though that putting a nation with enough economic capacity to develop hypersonic missiles in the same category as, say, Burundi, is ludicrous. Clearly there needs to be additional categories at the very least.
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Comment on The return of non-PC language in the US mainstream in ~talk
R3qn65 Link ParentIt's interesting you mention this, because I've never associated the use of the word "retarded" with a particular stigma against those with down's syndrome. Like the use of "gay" in the nineties,...even is particularly supportive of people with Down syndrome, despite having said the r-word.
It's interesting you mention this, because I've never associated the use of the word "retarded" with a particular stigma against those with down's syndrome.
Like the use of "gay" in the nineties, I really do think that most people's views of gay people (or developmentally disabled people) are completely separate from the terminology they use.
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Comment on The return of non-PC language in the US mainstream in ~talk
R3qn65 Link ParentThe use of the term "third world" to mean "poor" doesn't offend me in the slightest, but a fun fact - part of the third world nomenclature shift is because it was sort of being used wrong. The...third-world nations are now referred to as "developing nations" because someone didn't like the perceived connotation.
The use of the term "third world" to mean "poor" doesn't offend me in the slightest, but a fun fact - part of the third world nomenclature shift is because it was sort of being used wrong. The term originated in the cold war, when "first world" was the western powers, "second world" the Soviet bloc, and "third world" the unaligned nations. So from that standpoint, saying third world to mean poor/developing was never correct.
Of course, "developing" is difficult terminology too. China is famously still considered a developing country in most international treaties, which is (personal opinion) a farce.
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Comment on Suggestions for a tablet or a light laptop in ~tech
R3qn65 LinkI love the Microsoft Surface series of devices, for what it's worth. Great specs, under 2lbs (900g), two USB-C ports, and the keyboards are quite pleasant to type on. I also really enjoyed being...I love the Microsoft Surface series of devices, for what it's worth. Great specs, under 2lbs (900g), two USB-C ports, and the keyboards are quite pleasant to type on. I also really enjoyed being able to move between a tablet and a laptop-like functionality. Less than €1000, though the OLED option is more and the type cover is like 200 or something.
You can technically do latex and python on an ipad, but the vibe I'm getting is that your friend wants something windows or Linux.
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Comment on Two US Navy pilots shot down over Red Sea in apparent ‘friendly fire’ incident, US military says in ~news
R3qn65 Link ParentYou're getting quite testy with me, which I don't think is necessary. Rather than continue to debate semantics, I will say that I agree with you that one of the second-order effects of the US's...You're getting quite testy with me, which I don't think is necessary. Rather than continue to debate semantics, I will say that I agree with you that one of the second-order effects of the US's support to Israel is an escalation in the red sea and let's leave it at that.
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Comment on Two US Navy pilots shot down over Red Sea in apparent ‘friendly fire’ incident, US military says in ~news
R3qn65 Link ParentThis is from the third sentence of your link... Even the fact that we're talking about an escalation underscores that this is something that was happening previously.This is from the third sentence of your link...
The crisis is linked to the Israel–Hamas war, the Iran–Israel proxy conflict, the Iran–United States proxy conflict, and the Yemeni crisis.
Even the fact that we're talking about an escalation underscores that this is something that was happening previously.
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Comment on Two US Navy pilots shot down over Red Sea in apparent ‘friendly fire’ incident, US military says in ~news
R3qn65 Link ParentI thought the rest of your post was really insightful, but pushing back on this a bit - the Yemen civil war has been going on for a decade now, and the Houthis have threatened civilian shipping in...It seems like a completely avoidable, high-intensity deployment only made necessary because the US won't stop supporting genocide in Gaza.
I thought the rest of your post was really insightful, but pushing back on this a bit - the Yemen civil war has been going on for a decade now, and the Houthis have threatened civilian shipping in the red sea for years. Putting the blame on the US for supporting Israel in Gaza seems overly simplistic.
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Comment on Willow - Google's latest quantum chip in ~tech
R3qn65 Link ParentI'm not saying that this isn't happening in some limited instances, because it definitely is. But there are a ton of challenges associated with this. Collection - practical: collecting all traffic...governments today are recording traffic with the internet to decode it later, which they will be able to do, by attacking key agreement
I'm not saying that this isn't happening in some limited instances, because it definitely is. But there are a ton of challenges associated with this.
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Collection - practical: collecting all traffic worldwide ever is much harder than you think. You need to either secretly control key nodes or force other entities to do it for you. How would the NSA collect random internet traffic in Finland, for instance? Even if we think that they control every node worldwide (they don't), they'd then have to send copies of all this traffic back to their data centers, meaning that all internet traffic would be effectively doubled. I think someone would probably notice.
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Collection - legal: I know this sounds maybe a little laughable, but most Western surveillance agencies are prohibited from collecting on their own citizens without a warrant. Again I'm not saying it never happens, but having to do this all secretly makes it an order of magnitude harder.
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Storage: How could you possibly store this much data? Think of how much data is generated every day - petabytes and petabytes. You can't tell what most of it is (because it's all encrypted) so you need to store all of it. That's impossible.
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Archiving and search: okay, let's say I'm wrong and the NSA is secretly storing all your data. How do they know it's yours? All they would have is 'public IP address 1 talks to public IP address 2,' and those change pretty frequently. It makes searching through this stuff absolutely impossible.
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Fun bonus challenges: even encryption susceptible to quantum decryption often includes things like the double ratchet algorithm that forces you to decrypt every exchange one by one. So let's say your quantum computer can decrypt a WhatsApp message every microsecond. That's pretty good! ...but turns out messages are being generated ten times faster than you can decrypt them, so you just fall farther and farther behind. Rats.
Ultimately, you have something that's extremely difficult to collect, impossible to store in bulk, maddening to search through, ...and it's all illegal.
I'm not saying this never happens. But I am saying that there's absolutely no way that it's happening in bulk for regular people.
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Comment on Elon Musk’s attack on F-35s fuels debate over expensive fighter jets in ~society
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Comment on Elon Musk’s attack on F-35s fuels debate over expensive fighter jets in ~society
R3qn65 Link ParentBasically, I think that the time to be angry about the F-35 was in 2012, when the project wasn't really coming together and was having massive cost overruns. In 2024, the F-35 is the best fighter...Basically, I think that the time to be angry about the F-35 was in 2012, when the project wasn't really coming together and was having massive cost overruns. In 2024, the F-35 is the best fighter jet ever made, replaces multiple legacy platforms, and is cheaper, per unit, than most other fighter aircraft.... none of which come even close to the F-35's performance.
I can't say whether that makes the F-35 a boon for the world. It may be so good that it's ultimately destabilizing - who knows. But it does make it a cost-effective project.
There is graft, corruption, and just plain stupidity in any military procurement process - that's well known, and just as true for the F35 as anything else. But that doesn't mean that the US military is ordering F-35s just for the hell of it. They need fighter jets and the F35 is a good one. For me, it's as simple as that.
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Comment on Willow - Google's latest quantum chip in ~tech
R3qn65 Link ParentThese are well-considered thoughts! I respect the depth you put into this. I don't worry too much about codebreaking, for a bunch of reasons. Most serious symmetric cryptography (so, government...These are well-considered thoughts! I respect the depth you put into this.
I don't worry too much about codebreaking, for a bunch of reasons. Most serious symmetric cryptography (so, government stuff) is probably resilient to quantum; organizations are already implementing post-quantum algorithms; and generally speaking, breaking encryption in one place doesn't get you all that much - you need to be able to do it all over, and even with a very fast quantum computer, that will take a long time.
What I've never considered before is your suggestion that people are already alienated from technology and quantum (which is an order of magnitude more complicated will make it worse). This is a really interesting thought. Ultimately, what I wonder is whether anybody really understands modern technology anyway. The best of us maybe have mastery over one field, but that field is probably pretty narrow. (How many excellent software engineers know anything about UV lithography? For that matter, how many excellent software engineers know anything about writing code for hardware?)
From that standpoint, I'm not sure quantum computing will make things too much worse - but I do think that there are likely to be quite a few interesting benefits.
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Comment on Project Zomboid Build 42 Unstable released in ~games
R3qn65 Link ParentYeah, once b42 stable happens we can set it up!Yeah, once b42 stable happens we can set it up!
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Comment on Project Zomboid Build 42 Unstable released in ~games
R3qn65 Link ParentOne of the best parts of PZ is that nearly every setting in the game is extremely customizable. When I play, for instance, I set the XP gain rate to some absurd percentage so I get very good at...One of the best parts of PZ is that nearly every setting in the game is extremely customizable. When I play, for instance, I set the XP gain rate to some absurd percentage so I get very good at everything almost immediately. This is because I'm with you - grinding is lame and I'm a busy professional, I don't have time for that.
I have heard that the slower rate of gain works better in multiplayer, to @mimicsquid 's point, because you can specialize and then trade. If I'm playing solo, though, no thanks.
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Comment on Elon Musk’s attack on F-35s fuels debate over expensive fighter jets in ~society
R3qn65 Link ParentRespectfully, I think your mind is made up and you're not open to changing it, and you're not familiar enough with air warfare to be able to change mine (ex. "most survivable" is an airman's way...the clever wording belies a bias in my opinion. Your quote says it is "the most survivable combat air ... platform . . ."[emphasis mine]. That's different that the "best" platform.
Respectfully, I think your mind is made up and you're not open to changing it, and you're not familiar enough with air warfare to be able to change mine (ex. "most survivable" is an airman's way to say "best." It's not some sneaky wording trick. The F35 and a reaper drone have such different missions, are designed to fly in such different environments, that comparing cost per flight hour is not a particularly good metric. And even if it were, the F35 is cheaper than the F22, so does that mean that the F22 sucks? No.)
For that reason I don't think continuing the conversation in this vein is productive.
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Comment on Elon Musk’s attack on F-35s fuels debate over expensive fighter jets in ~society
R3qn65 Link ParentThat's really not what the article was saying.Apparently, it is still not fully operational.
That's really not what the article was saying.
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Comment on CCTV cameras are everywhere — and they’re changing how your brain responds in ~tech
R3qn65 Link ParentYou're welcome! Thanks for sharing the link.You're welcome! Thanks for sharing the link.
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Comment on CCTV cameras are everywhere — and they’re changing how your brain responds in ~tech
R3qn65 (edited )LinkI am pretty skeptical that this is a generalizable or reproducible result. The study had people do a pretty arcane facial-recognition task and found that Not to throw cold water on this, but when...I am pretty skeptical that this is a generalizable or reproducible result. The study had people do a pretty arcane facial-recognition task and found that
Specifically, we reveal that when people are conspicuously monitored via CCTV, they become aware of face stimuli much faster than when they are not monitored. This perceptual enhancement is almost a second faster in magnitude and seems to occur outside the individual’s awareness.
Not to throw cold water on this, but when you get a result like this, I think it's much more appropriate to question the study design than to crow about the magnitude of the effect. Does it seem logical that being observed by CCTV would improve your speed at recognizing faces by almost a second? Not everything the body does is logical, but "does this make sense" is a good first test.
Since the experimental design was rather provocative -
To convince participants in the watched group that they were being surveilled during the task, cameras were noticeably set up within the testing booth prior to testing (Fig. 1a), and participants were shown a live feed of the testing booth from the adjacent room. We chose to make this manipulation conspicuous rather than subtle as it has been shown that the feeling of being watched is already prevalent in healthy participants.
It seems far more likely that the experimental group simply tried harder.
(I also question whether this is generalizable to the CCTV in grocery stores.)
I haven't read the books in a while, but the accusation that Eragon is a Mary Sue baffles me. He frequently fails, has an imperfect personality that gets him into trouble, and at the end he doesn't get the girl.