R3qn65's recent activity
-
Comment on Lithium plume in our atmosphere traced back to returning SpaceX rocket in ~space
-
Comment on Lithium plume in our atmosphere traced back to returning SpaceX rocket in ~space
R3qn65 Link ParentThe UN treaty on outer space covers all of these points and is signed by all the countries you named. It is binding, in diplomatic terms. It wouldn't be crazy to argue that it's not particularly...The best solution would be a global, binding regulatory system that actually prioritizes equitable, sustainable access to space (call it a UN of Space, sans veto power) ... particularly LEO, but it looks like the Moon is about to get hosed by Capitalism over the coming decade, too, so...
But no one is even talking about such a global regulatory system (nor any other viable alternative method of self-restraint) and of course, getting China, Russia & the US to actually submit to such a thing is unimaginable, so (shrugs)
The UN treaty on outer space covers all of these points and is signed by all the countries you named. It is binding, in diplomatic terms. It wouldn't be crazy to argue that it's not particularly enforceable, but that's true of all international engagements ever.
-
Comment on Lithium plume in our atmosphere traced back to returning SpaceX rocket in ~space
R3qn65 Link ParentNASA's FY22 budget was ~$24B, while SpaceX's expenses during that same period were ~$5B. Sure, you could argue that NASA has a broader scope, etc -- though if you did, that would be a reason why...There's no real reason this couldn't be done with public funds and 0 proprietary trade secrets. The only reason NASA can't is because they've been intentionally bled dry to leave room for the private space race.
NASA's FY22 budget was ~$24B, while SpaceX's expenses during that same period were ~$5B. Sure, you could argue that NASA has a broader scope, etc -- though if you did, that would be a reason why NASA can't do it -- but the fact remains that NASA is spending as much as five SpaceXes.
-
Comment on What's a reasonable amount of time to spend on an RPG campaign? in ~games
R3qn65 Link ParentTo each their own! I totally get your point re: busywork -- that's why I was so over the outer worlds.To each their own! I totally get your point re: busywork -- that's why I was so over the outer worlds.
-
Comment on What's a reasonable amount of time to spend on an RPG campaign? in ~games
R3qn65 LinkInteresting question. I don't have a super prescribed length, personally, as long as it continues to be compelling and engaging. For a trite example, I was kind of over The Outer Worlds by the...Interesting question. I don't have a super prescribed length, personally, as long as it continues to be compelling and engaging. For a trite example, I was kind of over The Outer Worlds by the time I finished it (~30h), while I would easily have kept playing Baldurs' Gate 3 if the campaign had somehow kept going (~80h). So the length of both was about right for me, even though the length was very different and the games were different.
5 hours would be far too short for an RPG for me. I certainly don't mind 5 hour games, but I put that length more in the indie/cool concept space than the RPG space.
TTRPGs are such a different beast that I don't think you can directly compare them. A short campaign is still probably dozens of hours, while a long one could be literally thousand(s).
-
Comment on Attention economics, software engineering, and AI in ~tech
R3qn65 Link ParentI have two major challenges to your argument. The first is that many sweeping arguments are completely unsupported. Almost none of this is supported by argument. What’s the “old way” of doing...I have two major challenges to your argument. The first is that many sweeping arguments are completely unsupported.
Pretty much the whole west realized the old way of doing economics is not sustainable, and one of the key points is that we no longer need white collars, at least not as much as we used to need. But you cannot just tell people "you can no longer work as a programmer — you got to be cleaning toilets from now on". You need to change the culture and preferably completely replace the people. Islamic culture was the choice in this case.
Almost none of this is supported by argument. What’s the “old way” of doing economics, and who’s realized it isn’t needed? Factually, white collar jobs are growing, not shrinking; what does that mean for your argument? What, exactly, does “Islamic” culture mean to you and how does that make people not want to have white collar jobs anymore?
But more pressingly, this brings me to my second major challenge. You’re repeatedly asserting that someone - it’s not clear who - is intentionally shaping the world in an extremely causative fashion, starting from your initial argument that in the 1970s the US and UK “decided” to shift their role from industrial production to finance and science, and following through to your argument that someone “chose” Islamic culture to replace Europe’s culture with, and then to the argument about AI. My challenge to this is that you haven’t provided any evidence to suggest that any group of people can or is actively shaping the world in this way.
Let’s take the US, for example. Since the 1970s there have been ~10 different American presidents, depending on how you count, representing both major political parties. How could they possibly all have been colluding to intentionally move away from industry and towards “finance” and “science”? In the European example, how could it be that all these different countries are all deliberately trying to replace their own culture with Islamic culture? I will grant you that in very broad strokes, political establishments try to encourage certain things, such as free trade agreements generally being understood to allow manufacturing to offshore itself to areas where it is cheaper to do. But that’s not at all the same thing as someone deciding “we’re not an industrial country anymore, now we’re a services economy” and then sticking with that over the course of the next fifteen elections.
Finally, I would caution you that “Europe is deliberately trying to replace its people with immigrants and culture with Islamic culture” is playing with the line of what most people on Tildes (including myself) would consider racism, especially if the point is that people will then be happier cleaning toilets. It’s very, very difficult to make that sort of argument without also implying that Muslim immigrants in Europe are inherently bad because of who they are. There’s a pretty big difference between “Europe decided to expand immigration in order to broaden the labor pool, which naturally resulted in a lot of new immigrants from the near east and Africa” and “you need to completely replace the people,” if that makes sense.
-
Comment on Some of my family members aren't convinced that ICE isn't overstepping and that they are just deporting people that broke the law, can you help me share unbiased links that proves they are? in ~society
R3qn65 (edited )LinkIf you're actually trying to convince these people that what Trump is doing is bad, you need to acknowledge where they're right, too. Not right about Trump, but right about facts. Trying to refute...If you're actually trying to convince these people that what Trump is doing is bad, you need to acknowledge where they're right, too. Not right about Trump, but right about facts. Trying to refute what they can easily demonstrate will blow up in your face.
-
Crime is down significantly in America; the murder rate in 2025 was the lowest it has been since 1900.
-
Drug smuggling is down (along with overdose deaths) significantly since 2023 (and is also really complicated. I shared this specific link for a reason, but I wouldn't recommend making those arguments unless you know what you're doing.)
-
I'm not exactly sure what the context of "ICE always deported criminals, but the left is focusing on it now to be anti-trump" is, but the factual claim that ICE had always deported criminals is generally true.
-
"The death's in Minnesota were because they provoked the ICE agents." Both victims were part of resistance groups who were identifying ICE vehicles and then following them in vehicles while honking in order to chase them out of neighborhoods. THEY DID NOT DESERVE TO GET SHOT, but your argument will be infinitely more convincing if you acknowledge that both were provoking ICE agents. (WHICH DOES NOT EXCUSE THEIR DEATHS. If they were doing something illegal they should have been arrested, not shot.)
And finally...
- "They are only deporting immigrants that are criminals or that didn't immigrate legally." A lot is hinging on the word "only" here. I would bet a lot that to you, "only" means something like "any deportation of a legal immigrant is illegal and inexcusable and so ICE needs to be stopped" (and it's therefore false) while to them it means something like "the overwhelming majority of deportations are of individuals who either illegally immigrated or committed a crime" (and it's therefore true). In that case, you're both basically right. Overwhelmingly, ICE is deporting only immigrants who committed crimes (of immigration or other). At the same time, they have deported legal immigrants who committed no crime and about ~150 US citizens, both of which are inexcusable.
My point is this: getting in an argument over whether crime is actually down or not will completely sabotage any chance you have of convincing these people. (Particularly since factually it is down). If they have said something like "yeah I agree trump shouldn't do that", per one of your comments, then your approach should be something like "yes, but none of this justifies the reign of terror; there was a better way to do this."
-
-
Comment on Some of my family members aren't convinced that ICE isn't overstepping and that they are just deporting people that broke the law, can you help me share unbiased links that proves they are? in ~society
R3qn65 (edited )Link ParentNo disrespect intended, but I think this will backfire spectacularly. Edit to explain why: put yourself on the other side of this argument. In a discussion about illegal immigration and border...If they claim there are less drugs flowing in then ask them to define drugs. Point out that big pharma operates on the same principle as drug cartels. At the end of the day this is about the definition of crime.
No disrespect intended, but I think this will backfire spectacularly.
Edit to explain why: put yourself on the other side of this argument. In a discussion about illegal immigration and border smuggling, you clearly don't mean abuse of legal pharmaceuticals or something like the oxycodone scandal, right? So in that world, you'll take your opponent asking you to think about how legal pharma compares to cartels as a tacit acknowledgement that you were right the whole time and they have no real data to refute you with. Worse, you're now convinced that your opponent has no intention of letting their mind be changed, since they're suddenly changing the terms of the entire discussion on you.
-
Comment on Palantir was allegedly hacked, exposing CIA collusion and deep-rooted global surveillance/meddling in ~tech
R3qn65 LinkIt is worth noting, I think, that Russia has repeatedly (falsely) accused the US of producing bioweapons in Ukraine as part of their disinformation efforts. https://share.google/gXXQ0zyTLa05T9JRkIt is worth noting, I think, that Russia has repeatedly (falsely) accused the US of producing bioweapons in Ukraine as part of their disinformation efforts.
-
Comment on The Possessed Machines: Dostoevsky's Demons and the coming AGI catastrophe in ~society
R3qn65 Link ParentMm, fair, I buy that for the fundamentally decent people they descibe, but what about the Stavrogins?Mm, fair, I buy that for the fundamentally decent people they descibe, but what about the Stavrogins?
-
Comment on Palantir was allegedly hacked, exposing CIA collusion and deep-rooted global surveillance/meddling in ~tech
R3qn65 LinkI think this thread should be renamed to include the word “allegedly.” That’s not just my own bias, it’s also how Kim Dotcom’s post starts. @deimos @cfabbro -
Comment on The Possessed Machines: Dostoevsky's Demons and the coming AGI catastrophe in ~society
R3qn65 (edited )Link ParentA more esoteric comment. Despite what follows, engaging with the author’s frame is, basically, the highest sign of respect I can show. This is from the conclusion of the OP. The author’s reading...A more esoteric comment. Despite what follows, engaging with the author’s frame is, basically, the highest sign of respect I can show.
This is from the conclusion of the OP.
Stavrogin's confession fails because it is an attempt to achieve through speech what can only be achieved through being. He wants the relief of confession without the transformation of repentance. He wants to be seen as someone who has faced his crimes without actually facing them—without allowing the knowledge of what he has done to change who he is.
I am aware that this essay may be a similar failure. I have written twenty thousand words about the psychology of AI development and the lessons of Dostoevsky, and the writing itself has been absorbing, intellectually stimulating, even pleasurable in moments. Have I actually faced anything? Have I allowed the knowledge I claim to possess to change who I am?
I do not know. The question cannot be answered from the inside.
What I can say is that writing this has been an attempt—perhaps a failed attempt, but an attempt—to make articulate something I have felt but have not been able to express. The AI industry is in a situation of profound moral seriousness, and the discourse surrounding it is not adequate to that seriousness. The rationalist frameworks, the policy discussions, the technical papers—all of these have their place, but they do not capture what is actually happening.
What is actually happening is that a small group of people, shaped by particular histories and situated in particular social positions, are making decisions that may affect every human being who will ever live.
The author’s reading of Dostoevsky here is fairly conventional. If you ask AI about the chapter, it says something along the lines of “Stavrogin’s motivation for the confession is not genuine contrition but an experiment in aestheticized suffering. He seeks a burden so heavy that it might force him to feel something.”
From the relevant scene in Demons:
“This document comes straight from the needs of a heart which is mortally wounded,—am I not right in this?” he said emphatically and with extraordinary earnestness. “Yes, it is repentance and natural need of repentance that has overcome you, and you have taken the great way, the rarest way. But you, it seems, already hate and despise beforehand all those who will read what is written here, and you challenge them. You were not ashamed of admitting your crime; why are you ashamed of repentance?”
So again, fairly straightforward. But what if what Stavrogin is refusing to face isn’t introspection, as the OP discusses…
Stavrogin:Enough. Tell me, then, where exactly am I ridiculous in my manuscript? I know myself, but I want you to put your finger on it. And tell it as cynically as possible, tell me with all the sincerity of which you are capable.
…but actual concrete consequences? This is how the chapter ends:
”No, not that penance, I am preparing another for you!” Tikhon went on earnestly, without taking the least notice of Stavrogin’s smile and remark.
“I know an old man, a hermit and ascetic, not here, but not far from here, of such great Christian wisdom that he is even beyond your and my understanding. He will listen to my request. I will tell him about you. Go to him, into retreat, as a novice under his guidance, for five years, for seven, for as many as you find necessary. Make a vow to yourself, and by this great sacrifice you will acquire all that you long for and don’t even expect, for you cannot possibly realize now what you will obtain.”
Stavrogin listened gravely.
“You suggest that I enter the monastery as a monk.”
“You must not be in the monastery, nor take orders as a monk; be only a lay-brother, a secret, not an open one; it may be that, even living altogether in society....”
“Enough, Father Tikhon.” Stavrogin interrupted him with aversion and rose from his chair.
[there are a couple lines after this. Stavrogin calls Tikhon a damned psychologist and leaves in fury.]
In this reading, the author of the OP has failed. Not because they confronted these ideas without being changed by the them, but because when the time came to truly repent — to do something concrete at great personal cost — to name the names of the people they think are threatening the existence of humanity, they, like Stavrogin, rose from their chair and fled.
-
Comment on The Possessed Machines: Dostoevsky's Demons and the coming AGI catastrophe in ~society
R3qn65 (edited )LinkThanks for posting this. Another awesome link. My fundamental disagreement with the author is this: They've written almost a novella on what is, principally, an ethical topic. Over and over...Thanks for posting this. Another awesome link.
My fundamental disagreement with the author is this:
I want to be careful here, because describing these dynamics in detail would identify individuals in ways that might cause harm.
They've written almost a novella on what is, principally, an ethical topic. Over and over they've castigated the AI researchers who have substituted reason for an ethical sense, who reach insane conclusions because they lack a functioning moral compass to tell them "hold on a minute, here." The author is worried these people will destroy the world.
In that context, naming them would do so much harm that it's off the table?
The author's lack of skin in the game defangs their entire... everything.
(I'm only about 3/4ths done, so I'll edit this comment if there's an argument addressing this).
Edit: there is not. further reaction to this in a subsequent comment. -
Comment on Zohran Mamdani reverses campaign promise to expand rental assistance in New York City in ~society
R3qn65 Link ParentNot at all detracting from your other points, but I wonder if this is something of a familiarity issue. You're American, and so more familiar with American problems and so they seem larger and...If America truly is the greatest country in the world (I'd argue against that) then why does our "greatest" city feel so much worse for normal ass people than the greatest cities of "lesser" industrialized countries like France, Japan, South Korea, Spain, etc.
Not at all detracting from your other points, but I wonder if this is something of a familiarity issue. You're American, and so more familiar with American problems and so they seem larger and more frequent and worse. As a French speaker I can tell you that Paris very much has similar problems, for instance. Anything other sources would be in French probably, but people are constantly complaining about how unaffordable Paris is, how little future they have, etc. I mean there's a reason the French have repeatedly taken to the streets in the last decade and the French government is collapsing.
-
Comment on Zohran Mamdani reverses campaign promise to expand rental assistance in New York City in ~society
R3qn65 Link ParentYeah, exactly. To be fair to the market, it's a little more complicated than that; building any additional housing (luxury or no) helps. Any increase in units is positive. But generally speaking...Subsidies don't fix shortages, they just push up the price of what's available. That's been the story of low-to-middle income urban housing costs and availability, ever since the stoppage of government investment in public housing during the 1970's. Why would the private market build low-margin housing on expensive property, when luxury housing is so much more profitable?
Yeah, exactly. To be fair to the market, it's a little more complicated than that; building any additional housing (luxury or no) helps. Any increase in units is positive. But generally speaking subsidizing rents is about the worst of all worlds. (You're not creating new units and pushing prices up, not down).
There's an equally important story about Mamdani's silence on investment in public housing.
Reading that link, $80 billion in backlogged repairs! That almost seems impossible.
-
Comment on Zohran Mamdani reverses campaign promise to expand rental assistance in New York City in ~society
R3qn65 (edited )Link ParentHard to argue too much with that. Even if you support the program or something like it, the cost to the city has increased by 4700% in 6 years. (And that's if you use the 1.2B figure, not the...As the city’s affordable housing shortage has worsened, its cost has grown substantially, from about $25 million in 2019 to more than $1.2 billion in 2025.
This program is growing at an unsustainable clip,” said Ana Champeny, vice president for research at the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan budget watchdog,Hard to argue too much with that. Even if you support the program or something like it, the cost to the city has increased by 4700% in 6 years. (And that's if you use the 1.2B figure, not the additional 2.4B!)
1.2B is about 1% of the city's overall budget. That's not a lot in one sense, but it is also a lot to be basically paying rent on people's behalf. The real challenge, IMO, is that subsidizing rent like that makes the affordable housing crisis worse over time. That wouldn't really be true at the original several million dollars scope, but when we're talking billions in rent being injected by the city..
-
Comment on CIA investigated secret ‘Havana syndrome’ weapon experiment in Norway in ~society
R3qn65 LinkI really respect that, actually. The guy who discovered H. Pylori by drinking it, the guy who proved that the inside of the knee couldn't feel pain by operating on himself without anaesthetic,...The results were all the more shocking because the Norwegian researcher had earned a reputation as a leading opponent of the theory that directed-energy weapons can cause the type of symptoms associated with AHIs, those familiar with the events said. Trying to dramatically prove his point, with himself as a human guinea pig, he achieved the opposite.
“I don’t know what possessed him to go and do this,” one of the people said. “He was a bit of an eccentric.”
I really respect that, actually. The guy who discovered H. Pylori by drinking it, the guy who proved that the inside of the knee couldn't feel pain by operating on himself without anaesthetic, tons of others - all these guys experimenting on themselves are showing, at heart, the purest expression of the scientific spirit.
-
Comment on Europe’s $24 trillion breakup with Visa and Mastercard has begun in ~finance
R3qn65 Link ParentThe crux of your comment is this: Not only did I not say credit card companies are uniquely capable, I went out of my way to specify that the illusion is only mostly provided by credit card...The crux of your comment is this:
The idea that credit card companies are somehow uniquely capable of doing this is utterly absurd.
Not only did I not say credit card companies are uniquely capable, I went out of my way to specify that the illusion is only mostly provided by credit card companies. My broader point is that the profit motive of commercial enterprise has successfully built a complicated system in the way that it would be much harder for a state to do. If your argument is “banks are equally capable of running such a system” then I agree.
If you find the reference to luxembourg completely undermines my fundamental point, feel free to replace it with another small European country that isn’t in the EU or EEA. Say, Albania. Or the United Kingdom, for that matter.
-
Comment on Europe’s $24 trillion breakup with Visa and Mastercard has begun in ~finance
R3qn65 Link ParentWe can quibble over this, but the bottom line is that it's a benefit to the consumer that wouldn't exist if credit card companies weren't there. Whether it's intended as a kindness or not -...We can quibble over this, but the bottom line is that it's a benefit to the consumer that wouldn't exist if credit card companies weren't there. Whether it's intended as a kindness or not - obviously you're correct, it's not - is irrelevant.
-
Comment on Europe’s $24 trillion breakup with Visa and Mastercard has begun in ~finance
R3qn65 (edited )Link ParentWith respect, I think you're not really thinking through all the implications of what you're proposing. It's easy to say "oh, the state should do it" but what about tiny states like Luxembourg?...With respect, I think you're not really thinking through all the implications of what you're proposing. It's easy to say "oh, the state should do it" but what about tiny states like Luxembourg? There are probably more compliance people working at visa than in the entire luxembourgish government, meaning visa is less likely to spill your data. Visa certainly deals in more foreign currencies than Luxembourg does, meaning they're more liquid when converting between them. And what about interoperability between states? Not to only use historical examples, here, but that would again be a step back towards money being the political domain of kings, instead of the business domain of banks.
Escrow is much less of an issue in a world of instant electronic transactions. Those ought to be provided by the state itself to better lubricate the economy. Europe already has something like this - Swift.
Instant electronic transactions are an illusion provided by mostly the credit card companies, which accept the risk in order to provide a better user experience. Have you ever looked at your statement and seen a bunch of charges listed as "pending"? That's the electronic transaction clearing, typically over hours or days. They accept this risk because they have the profit motive to want your business and for you to use their cards. It's for similar reasons that credit cards have vastly more consumer-friendly fraud protections than, say, wire transfers. They eat those costs to stay dominant.
Swift transactions take 1-5 days to clear, on average. Even peer-to-peer networks like Bitcoin take 10-60 minutes on average. Imagine waiting at the store for 10-60 minutes before you can leave with your coffee. There are cryptos purporting to be faster, but none is yet popular/stable enough to be a serious contender for a global daily currency replacement.
It sounds like a huge number (and is), but for context millions of meteoroids enter Earth's atmosphere each year and about 15,000 survive to hit the surface.