TonesTones's recent activity
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Comment on What private companies are you happy doing business with? in ~talk
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Comment on Reading Lolita in the barracks in ~life
TonesTones LinkThis was a fantastic read. Thank you for posting, @skybrian. I don’t have a lot to say. I think it’s brilliant how humans still persevere to do what they want even in constraining circumstances....This was a fantastic read. Thank you for posting, @skybrian. I don’t have a lot to say. I think it’s brilliant how humans still persevere to do what they want even in constraining circumstances. It’s still a small piece of autonomy.
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Comment on What’s a point that you think many people missed? in ~talk
TonesTones Link ParentI have a different perspective on this quote. I’ve found that people who, at some point, could not, made much better teachers than those who always could. The most talented in a field are rarely...I have a different perspective on this quote. I’ve found that people who, at some point, could not, made much better teachers than those who always could. The most talented in a field are rarely effective teachers since they never struggled to learn. While the skillsets are different, I don’t think they are orthogonal, since the experience from struggling to learn material often serves a teacher down the line. I still believe that if one wants to train to teach, they can develop those skills separately.
I also know this isn’t the original intention of the quote, but it’s unclear what the original intention was. From Shaw’s play Man and Superman, it may have been a satirical subversion of Aristotle’s “Those who understand, teach.” written for a one-off gag, or written as a line to illustrate the egotistical character of the protagonist. It could also simply represent the actual perspective of the playwright. I’d have to read the actual play to know, but I do think he didn’t intend for that quote to be spread so widely today.
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Comment on US strikes Venezuela and says its leader, Nicolas Maduro, has been captured and flown out of the country in ~society
TonesTones Link ParentYup, I understand what you are saying. The USA must be condemned. It was not internationally sanctioned and it wasn’t congressionally approved, and we’re learning (unsuprisingly) that oil...Yup, I understand what you are saying. The USA must be condemned. It was not internationally sanctioned and it wasn’t congressionally approved, and we’re learning (unsuprisingly) that oil companies are being brought in by Trump. I am firmly against this action, but I think equating all aggressive military action is folly.
Because that's the precedent it sets: Might makes right, if you have the military power to overthrow a country, you can.
I think that was the precedent before as well? Maduro supplied loyal civilians (read: the cartel) with arms and placed loyalists in the military to violently suppress any protests to secure his power. His claim to power over Venezuela is also based in might makes right.
The current U.S. goverment should not be the world police. But France waged war in the American revolution. South Korea would not exist today without U.S. foreign aggression. Dictators never get removed without foreign intervention; that’s my larger point.
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Comment on Have you ever had an oddly specific dream come true? in ~talk
TonesTones LinkThis has happened to me twice. Both times, I had about three oddly vivid seconds in a dream, and sometime in the next few months, that three seconds would happen again. I do not have a rational...This has happened to me twice. Both times, I had about three oddly vivid seconds in a dream, and sometime in the next few months, that three seconds would happen again.
I do not have a rational explanation. It feels like bullshit, but the events were specific enough that I think only one could be attributable to random chance? Consciousness itself is a weird enough phenomenon that I do not think it needs a rational explanation.
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Comment on You are a better writer than AI (yes, YOU!) in ~creative
TonesTones Link ParentI think the full argument of the video is that the important part of “writing” is that you can imagine something, put it in words, and then transfer that idea to someone else across time and...I think the full argument of the video is that the important part of “writing” is that you can imagine something, put it in words, and then transfer that idea to someone else across time and space.
LLMs don’t have “ideas” in the same way we do; this is why the author belabors the point “there can be no meeting of the mind” when discussing with an LLM. There’s no communication happening.
LLMs are good at language (something the author says verbatim), but their primary argument is writing requires a human connection.
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Comment on US strikes Venezuela and says its leader, Nicolas Maduro, has been captured and flown out of the country in ~society
TonesTones Link ParentLet me preface that I’m no advocate for this takeover. I’m strongly opposed to U.S. interventionism. These comparisons are still unbelievable to me. Ukrainians strongly elected Zelensky and...Let me preface that I’m no advocate for this takeover. I’m strongly opposed to U.S. interventionism.
If the world allows this, they have defacto allowed for exactly what Russia, China, and Israel are doing.
These comparisons are still unbelievable to me. Ukrainians strongly elected Zelensky and overwhemingly want independence from Russia. Taiwan’s citizens overwhemingly do not want to be part of China. Palestinians overwhemingly do not want to be part of Israel.
And Venezuelans overwhemingly voted against Maduro last year.
because it’s in our “backyard” and we didn’t like its leader
Despite all the things I agree with Robert Reich on, arguing that Maduro has any sort of legitimate claim to Venezulean leadership is partisan-stoking, two-faced bullshit. In the worst-case scenario for Venezuelans, they’ve gone from one military dictatorship to another.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think this will end well. I agree with many other commenters here that American oligarchs will take the liquid gold and run. But the capture of Maduro is nothing even close to the behavior of Russia, China, and Israel.
The difference is self-determination.
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Comment on Scalable oral exams with an ElevenLabs voice AI agent in ~tech
TonesTones Link ParentI agree that the language doesn’t account for that, but I do not believe that discounts the methodology. Pretty much every academic structure is somehow ableist. Some neurodiversities make strict...I agree that the language doesn’t account for that, but I do not believe that discounts the methodology.
Pretty much every academic structure is somehow ableist. Some neurodiversities make strict deadlines too hard, some neurodiversities make flexible deadlines too hard. Pretty much every form of examination is going to discriminate against some group of people; whether it’s timed in-person, untimed take-home, oral, written, etc. Furthermore, every type of exam will have some group saying “this is the way to demonstrate understanding, and if you cannot do that, it’s a personal and moral failing, not an academic one.” The author’s language purports that view with oral exams, but I’d argue it’s even more common with e.g., strict deadlines (yes, every job will have deadlines, but some jobs have a lot more real deadlines, while in others they are a bit more fake). My point is that no single structure solves the fundamental problem you take issue with.
This is why accommodations need to exist. Peple fundamentally have different strengths, and educators who understand their job know that evaluation isn’t the end-all-be-all, but a tool to spot gaps in the education.
Oral exams are incredibly effective, for a large proportion of students, at quickly getting signal on if they know what they are talking about. I don’t agree with everything that author does in their approach, but scalable oral exams are in the future of education. Accommodations will exist for the students whose strengths are not in oral exams, and they may have to jump through more hoops to demonstrate understanding (e.g., supervised written equivalents to the oral exam), but a cheap and scalable general solution makes it easier for the school to build out the exceptional solutions for the students who need it.
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Comment on Grok AI generates images of ‘minors in minimal clothing’ in ~tech
TonesTones LinkI wish we had an administration with some teeth. I’ll disagree with many commenters here and say that I do not believe corporate executives should be criminalized for AI behavior. I think the...I wish we had an administration with some teeth. I’ll disagree with many commenters here and say that I do not believe corporate executives should be criminalized for AI behavior. I think the separation of liability between owner and business is fairly important for modern-day commerce. This kind of error can happen from employee sabotage or negligence and the owners shouldn’t be taking on liability for their entire staff.
Still, I would consider this pretty blatant criminal behavior enabled by a corporation. There’s precedent for punishment of corporate criminal behavior: reparative and punitive fines and seizure of all assets used to conduct criminal activity. For something as egregious as generation of CSAM, a strong federal government would be seizing the AI model. This shit is not that hard to prevent (only Grok has this problem and I’m sure bad actors have tested every model for vulnerabilities) and this just shows that xAI is, at best, grossly incompetent, and at worst, choosing to facilitate the production of CSAM for business gain. They clearly cannot be trusted with their technology; police officers will seize delivery vehicles used to deliver illegal drugs. Why not AI models used to produce illegal content?
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Comment on Not-so-humble brag: What are you proud of that you don't normally get to talk about? in ~talk
TonesTones Link Parent++. I’ve been really working on this for the past year. I struggle quite a bit: I’m just not good at asking questions because of how my brain defaults to pattern matching against things I already...++. I’ve been really working on this for the past year. I struggle quite a bit: I’m just not good at asking questions because of how my brain defaults to pattern matching against things I already know.
I end up asking too many yes-no or brief answer questions, but I want to improve. I’ve been listening to Brady Haran’s podcasts (he’s a very talented interviewer) who often will say what he is assuming about the other person (were you like “xyz”?) which often prompts them to correct him or clarify in some way.
Any tips or tricks for getting better at developing questions? Was there a time when you felt like you weren’t good at being curious about others?
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Comment on Are you still using social media? in ~tech
TonesTones Link ParentI understand using YouTube that way. I do what I do to make it as uninteresting to use as possible. Now, I only go to YouTube if I want a specific video or specific creator, and I never have it...I understand using YouTube that way. I do what I do to make it as uninteresting to use as possible. Now, I only go to YouTube if I want a specific video or specific creator, and I never have it recommending things to me (even via subscriptions). One of these days I’ll set up an RSS feed for particular channels I want notifications for.
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Comment on How do you want to define 2026 for yourself? in ~talk
TonesTones LinkI’ve mostly stopped committing to resolutions or themes for the New Year. I’m just consistently bad at following through. What I want to do or work on changes on a whim and it’s far more effective...I’ve mostly stopped committing to resolutions or themes for the New Year. I’m just consistently bad at following through. What I want to do or work on changes on a whim and it’s far more effective for me to follow those whims than to try and stick to what my past self wanted to do.
Still, I have a metric of success for any given year: the year must be memorable. I’ve found that, in hindsight, bad things or good things happening during a year don’t impact my retrospective emotions at all. Three years down the line, I only care if I remember the year and the impact it had on me.
If I think about 2020, 2021, 2022, I don’t really know how I felt overall during the year; I can guess, but it’s always mixed. How memorable is concrete, and I measure it in terms of “seasons of things” i.e., how many 3-month periods had an impact on me that I’ll remember for a long time.
2020, 21, and 23 were mixed for me on the good/bad axis, but all were minimal in terms of their impact on me (0-1 season).
2019 (3), 2022 (2), 2024 (3) were high impact years.
In 2025, I started to actually try to apply this philosophy to make my year better. I think I only got 1 season, but what I’m especially proud of is I think I did enough preparation to make 2026 a 3 or 4 season year. -
Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
TonesTones Link ParentI looked at both, and both seem like good pieces of software. I ended up choosing Beancount because it is more opinionated and less customizable, which was a good choice to avoid getting lost in...I looked at both, and both seem like good pieces of software. I ended up choosing Beancount because it is more opinionated and less customizable, which was a good choice to avoid getting lost in the configuration (I customize everything I am able to).
For your webapp project and envelope budgeting, the alternative makes a lot of sense. I really struggle to use a budget; it’s too much maintenance. I try to leep a regular monitor on where my money is going and decide if I need to adjust my habits (cancel a subscription, eat more cheaply, etc.). It helps that I very rarely spend money outside of my habits.
I also still verify the transactions as I import them manually, but it helps to not have to type anything out.
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Comment on Are you still using social media? in ~tech
TonesTones LinkNope (except Tildes). I need Facebook and Discord for DMs with some people, but I only use Messenger (on my iPhone with no external permissions granted, which I hope prevents the cross-app...Nope (except Tildes). I need Facebook and Discord for DMs with some people, but I only use Messenger (on my iPhone with no external permissions granted, which I hope prevents the cross-app tracking). On a bad day, I’ll doomscroll the front page of Reddit, but it’s not a habit anymore. I use Youtube, but I have it configured without a login and no persistent cookies, so it just boots to the search bar every time I open it; no recommendations (I love that!).
I know that sometimes LinkedIn is necessary, but I’ve gotten by so far without it and pray I never need it. TikTok/Instagram/etc… I just think they’d make me feel worse. Yuck.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
TonesTones LinkI’m just about finished my personal plain-text accounting project that I started last week. The biggest hurdle I ran into is that Beancount applies its options locally within each file when using...I’m just about finished my personal plain-text accounting project that I started last week. The biggest hurdle I ran into is that Beancount applies its options locally within each file when using its include directive, and I really wanted a specific separation of files. It wasn’t hard to spin up a Taskfile to collate all my inputs together into a single file to avoid that include directive entirely, but it really confused me when I first got those errors.
I’ve got a few supporting scripts to make data entry fast. Luckily, my most-used accounts support exporting transactions in a CSV so I didn’t need to mess with a library for reading PDFs. I also cache previous transaction data so entry gets easier over time. Overall, it was a well-scoped side project for my week of holiday; still got to spend plenty of time with family and relaxing.
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Comment on Backing up Spotify in ~music
TonesTones Link ParentI’m not convinced that one can attribute much actual harm to Anna’s Archive. I doubt many people will use this for their music instead of a service like Spotify. Pirates could sail the high seas...I’m not convinced that one can attribute much actual harm to Anna’s Archive. I doubt many people will use this for their music instead of a service like Spotify. Pirates could sail the high seas with other sources before, and non-pirates (like me) likely won’t switch off existing platforms in response. Perhaps my unsubstantiated prior is wrong; we’ll see if Spotify has a massive drop in subscribing users.
If Spotify loses no users, why spend money trying to stop this?
First, they have a reputation to uphold in the public eye. Second, they don’t want anyone getting the idea of making it easier to access pirated content. Third, I believe Spotify still has to attempt some retaliatory action to provide a legal basis for potential future damages awarded in court. If they don’t try to fight this now, lawyers may argue in the future that the lack of action shows Spotify was not being materially harmed by the piracy.I think the only material change of this event is that it is easier to archive a bunch of songs that previously were not archived because nobody cared that much. I don’t think that’s too bad.
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Comment on Exposing the YouTube sponsor "Honey" Part 2: Stealing private coupon codes, extreme data harvesting, and more in ~tech
TonesTones (edited )LinkI’m feeling pretty good about myself after predicting the content of this video eleven months ago on Tildes. This is actually even worse than I thought. The one open question was “Why do these...I’m feeling pretty good about myself after predicting the content of this video eleven months ago on Tildes. This is actually even worse than I thought. The one open question was “Why do these companies even have affiliate partnerships with Honey?”. I assumed it was because small businesses entered a bad contract and couldn’t get out of it.
This video reveals that the businesses are being extorted. The journalist alleges that companies are being profiled based on the profitability of an affiliate deal with Honey, and then they use their access to coupon codes to racketeer those businesses into entering an affiliate deal.
That shit is blatantly illegal (at least in California). You cannot force an entity to enter a contract under threat of economic harm if they do not enter that contract. In my last comment, I wondered if Honey’s contracts were drafted well enough that class-action lawsuits would fail. Now, I think they stand on shakier ground. Still, even if they are legally right, they might not have the finances to fight the good fight.
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Comment on YouTube is awful. Please use YouTube, though. in ~tech
TonesTones LinkI agree with a large portion of commenters here: YouTubers aren’t entitled to a source of income simply for making videos. They earn an income because Google pays them. Stop and ask yourself why....I agree with a large portion of commenters here: YouTubers aren’t entitled to a source of income simply for making videos. They earn an income because Google pays them.
YouTube allows you to make a living by uploading videos (for free!), and no other platform has managed to achieve that.
Stop and ask yourself why. It’s because Google extracts people’s personal data from across the web and uses that data to make profitable deals with advertisers. Over time, Google has effectively become one of very few ways to advertise on the Internet, so businesses are almost required to pay a “Google tax” in order to do business.
YouTube is simply another tool for their data machine. If Google Ads didn’t exist, I guarantee YouTube wouldn’t either. Platforms with a paid subscription model would. I think the world would be a better place if the video platforming and advertising were separate, even if that does compromise a source of income for the creators.
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Comment on Avengers: Doomsday | Teaser in ~movies
TonesTones LinkThe only MCU film since Endgame that I’ve watched was the new Spiderman. I may have watched this one too, but trying to resurrect stories that are already done just doesn’t vibe with me. The...The only MCU film since Endgame that I’ve watched was the new Spiderman. I may have watched this one too, but trying to resurrect stories that are already done just doesn’t vibe with me.
The modern capitalist drive for perpetual growth is incredibly toxic to many modern industries, including entertainment. You cannot grow after Endgame; you just can’t. The Avengers’ cultural zeitgeist in the 2010s was unbelievable, and Marvel capitalized on it well with two great capstone films. You have to let that go and focus on something else, even though it’ll be worse in the short term. It appears it will take a lot of loss for them to accept that, though.
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Comment on How Sam Altman is profiting off of AI's problems in ~tech
TonesTones (edited )Link ParentYeah, what you’re saying makes a lot of sense. I’m being a bit too harsh. To answer your question, I got that information from Green Dot’s publication about the acquisiton. In particular, the...Yeah, what you’re saying makes a lot of sense. I’m being a bit too harsh.
To answer your question, I got that information from Green Dot’s publication about the acquisiton. In particular, the Green Dot CEO cited “innovative mobile technology, market leading mobile programming capabilities and compelling intellectual property” as the reasons for the sale, all of which are related to tech assets and not product. They also cite expenses associated with the “wind-down [] of current Loopt services” as part of their forecast, implying they don’t intend to keep the actual Loopt app around (and therefore don’t care about the user numbers). I linked the patent directly since it was the only patent I saw that I could immediately tell was useful, and I wanted to keep my comment succinct.
Still, you are right that the story and the Reuters article do demonstrate a history of Altman lying, since he definitely lied in his statement to the press about user numbers. In the context of the larger story, my criticism probably isn’t that important.
Sure, but if shareholder primacy were enforced legally, the remaining 39% (as well as all non-voting shareholders) would have grounds to sue. All Zuckerberg’s control gives him is job safety from the board; he is the board.
Public and private companies with CEOs that do not have a controlling vote share suffer from the same pressure; the CEO must appease the shareholder-appointed board to keep their job. The easiest way to make all shareholders happy is to maximize profits; if you believe this is a problem (I do), it’s really a coordination problem akin to the tragedy of the commons.