Sheldon's recent activity
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Comment on Owners mourn spoiled food after firmware update bricks Samsung smart fridges in ~tech
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Comment on Researchers used Anthropic's Claude to hack into OpenAI in ~comp
Sheldon Link ParentPossibly all the money in their bank account thoPossibly all the money in their bank account tho
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Sheldon LinkPlaying through some Breath of the Wild again (new save) and once again there’s parts that I absolutely love and then parts that I absolutely hate. Such a fun game when it wants to be, and then a...Playing through some Breath of the Wild again (new save) and once again there’s parts that I absolutely love and then parts that I absolutely hate.
Such a fun game when it wants to be, and then a very grindy, tedious game at other points.
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Comment on Mistral and Mozilla partnership announcement in ~tech
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
Sheldon LinkKinda stupid, but I once built some 3rd-party tooling for some of Gaia Online's flash games, and any time I have any new technology I wanna play around with or new concept I wanna put into...Kinda stupid, but I once built some 3rd-party tooling for some of Gaia Online's flash games, and any time I have any new technology I wanna play around with or new concept I wanna put into practice, it's always by building / modifying that tooling.
So...currently trying to think about an API design for my system and it's fascinating thinking through how seemingly small choices can make a big difference in how things are structured. Answering questions like "how does this feel to use" vs "how does this feel to maintain"
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Comment on What are the genuinely worst films of all time? in ~movies
Sheldon Link ParentUh I didn’t really go to the movies regularly until 2019 and I made it a point to try and watch as many things as I could, which is why I watched a lot of bad movies that year. I’ve since become...Uh I didn’t really go to the movies regularly until 2019 and I made it a point to try and watch as many things as I could, which is why I watched a lot of bad movies that year. I’ve since become more picky.
But to actually answer your question, After is a franchise that I find fascinating in the sense that they basically kept greenlighting new movies despite bad (or nonexistent) performance from the movie they were currently releasing. It was really bizarre to me. Plus I noticed that the audiences I was with seemed to largely feel similarly to me - that these movies were kinda unintentionally funny by how bad they are. Granted, not enough that I’d recommend it to anyone, but still.
I’m kinda convinced the franchise was some money laundering operation tho or something.
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Comment on What are the genuinely worst films of all time? in ~movies
Sheldon LinkEh, it’s difficult to sufficiently answer this because I feel like the worst movies in the world are just extremely bland and mediocre. I’d almost rather HATE something than have no feelings...Eh, it’s difficult to sufficiently answer this because I feel like the worst movies in the world are just extremely bland and mediocre. I’d almost rather HATE something than have no feelings towards it.
With that said, some of the movies I’ve given the lowest ratings to on my Letterboxd include:
- Gemini Man (2019)
- Hellboy (2019)
- The Fanatic (2019)
- Welcome to Marwen (2018)
- Jexi (2019)
- After (2019; also every entry in this franchise sucks)
- In a Violent Nature (2024)
- Megalopolis (2024)
There’s honestly so many
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Comment on Zack Snyder's ‘The Last Photograph’ is getting destroyed at TIFF: “Unabashedly sh*t on every level” in ~movies
Sheldon LinkIn some ways, I feel bad for the guy. He’s clearly got a vision. Granted, I think it’s a vision that kinda sucks but maybe there’s a certain type of story that he can do well in. On the other...In some ways, I feel bad for the guy. He’s clearly got a vision. Granted, I think it’s a vision that kinda sucks but maybe there’s a certain type of story that he can do well in.
On the other hand, I’d love to see others with more coherent visions get some opportunities. (Thankfully 2026 has been a good year for smaller budget / indie movies so we are getting some of that)
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Comment on OpenAI agents attacked RubyGems back in May in ~comp
Sheldon Link ParentI believe I covered that with the two "or"s in my comment. As in: Obviously I have no insights into whether it was intentional or not, so either it's negligent to allow it or malicious to instruct...I believe I covered that with the two "or"s in my comment. As in:
extremely negligent to allow
Obviously I have no insights into whether it was intentional or not, so either it's negligent to allow it or malicious to instruct it. Probably could've worded it better initially tho.
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Comment on OpenAI agents attacked RubyGems back in May in ~comp
Sheldon LinkSeems either extremely negligent or intentionally malicious to allow or instruct semi-autonomous computer programs to hack other entities without their explicit permission. I wonder if there'll be...Seems either extremely negligent or intentionally malicious to allow or instruct semi-autonomous computer programs to hack other entities without their explicit permission. I wonder if there'll be any consequences for that.
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Comment on Where do we go from here? (Regarding AI) in ~tech
Sheldon Link ParentI’m pretty confident you can find nationalism (and similar movements) and just…broad xenophobia going back thousands of years, before even the advent of the religions you’re referring to. In fact,...I’m pretty confident you can find nationalism (and similar movements) and just…broad xenophobia going back thousands of years, before even the advent of the religions you’re referring to.
In fact, there have famously been many wars and even genocides done in the name of various religions.
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Comment on Where do we go from here? (Regarding AI) in ~tech
Sheldon (edited )LinkImo, calling LLM-tooling “AI” is the best marketing strategy these companies had, and also terrible for how we have conversations about these tools. When you frame them as “AI” and give them names...- Exemplary
Imo, calling LLM-tooling “AI” is the best marketing strategy these companies had, and also terrible for how we have conversations about these tools.
When you frame them as “AI” and give them names and put them behind a messaging-like interface, it’s easy to anthropomorphize these tools. But they aren’t doing “intelligence”, they’re doing advanced statistics.
The tools are not “going rogue” and these companies are not “losing control”. Those stories about LLMs “hacking” other companies are a result of having no guardrails, infinite compute, no sandboxing, and unclear goals / instructions. If you prompt an LLM with an objective of retrieving a file from a server and give it unlimited resources and a shitty sandbox, of course one of the methods it might generate could be, essentially, hacking. And if you blindly trust the output of LLMs without supervision, you’ll end up doing hacking.
If these companies or their employees were serious about whatever fears they claim to have, they would be ceasing all operations and doing everything in their power to make everyone else cease operations. Since they aren’t, the only explanations are that they either don’t care that “AI is going to kill us all” OR that they don’t believe it and are saying that as a fear-based marketing strategy. Both, morally reprehensible, imo.
So…no, I am not particularly scared of the impact these technologies are going to have.
I am worried about the commitments by large tech companies to this technology. So far, it seems many companies are taking on lots of debt to support the buildout of the LLM companies despite, from what we know, the LLM companies are deeply unprofitable. Which means prices will need to rise or the tools will need to go away. Additionally, a lot of companies are seemingly very willing to hand over process knowledge to these LLM companies and get rid of or de-skill their own employees. Which again…seems shortsighted if those LLM providers disappear or need to raise prices.
I am also worried about the language we use to describe these tools. We don’t really have the words to NOT anthropomorphize them, and I think that is a huge driving factor in why so many folks get very…irrational about these products.
Edit: Also worried about the way these tools and their users might affect the social contract we all have. Many people seem very okay with saying that material output by these LLM tools is something “they made”. I generally feel the same way about this as I do with plagiarism. Which is not very positive. If someone doesn’t care enough to make something, I don’t care enough to engage with it. And if that person lies to try and trick me, that’s pretty awful.
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Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music
Sheldon LinkTwo albums that caught my ear were: Good Grief - Sara Bareilles Lost Weekend - Phoebe Bridgers Haven't completed them yet, but I'm liking what I'm hearing. My lastfm is all jank because I scrobble...Two albums that caught my ear were:
Good Grief - Sara Bareilles
Lost Weekend - Phoebe BridgersHaven't completed them yet, but I'm liking what I'm hearing.
My lastfm is all jank because I scrobble everything but often treat music as something in the background meant to evoke emotions rather than something I actively listen to.
Seems like a pretty dumb fridge if software can randomly break it.