winther's recent activity
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Comment on Follow up on the username thread: What Tildes users do you recognize when browsing and, without being rude or inflammatory, what is your impression of them? in ~tildes
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
winther Link ParentI listened to the books Quartershare when they were originally released as free audiobook podcasts. Very cozy with a gentle positive vibe. Almost soap opera, but really engaging despite not having...I listened to the books Quartershare when they were originally released as free audiobook podcasts. Very cozy with a gentle positive vibe. Almost soap opera, but really engaging despite not having a whole lot of drama.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
winther LinkI have started reading the short story collection Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami. I mostly read science fiction, so it is an interesting challenge to read something more "literary". It...I have started reading the short story collection Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami. I mostly read science fiction, so it is an interesting challenge to read something more "literary". It surprised me that the first story Drive My Car was the foundation for the movie of the same name, which we discussed for Movie of the week a while back here on Tildes. Really interesting to see where the basic of the story came from, with many things being very recognizable and yet so very different.
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Comment on OpenAI, Google and Anthropic are struggling to build more advanced AI in ~tech
winther (edited )Link ParentThe public hype has been treating the current AI models as something of a first step that will only improve over time. And at the same rate! When in fact, what we have now is more like the peak of...The public hype has been treating the current AI models as something of a first step that will only improve over time. And at the same rate! When in fact, what we have now is more like the peak of 20 years of research and development. Of course there will still be improvements to make, but not at the same rate. Like some of the fastests cars can go from 0-100 in 1.8s, but from 100-200 takes 2.5s on top of that and even longer to go to 300. But the hype have just been mindlessly extrapolating the jump from GPT 2 to GPT 3 and concluded it would continue at that level every year.
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Comment on Google is testing the ‘impact’ of removing EU news from search results in ~tech
winther LinkMaybe a long shot if it actually turns out to be something positive in the long run, but I would welcome this. I think news and journalism have been ruined in its chase for optimizing for traffic...Maybe a long shot if it actually turns out to be something positive in the long run, but I would welcome this. I think news and journalism have been ruined in its chase for optimizing for traffic from Google and social media. There entire existence has become dependant on another company. Hopefully this could force news organizations to look inward and focus on giving readers a good reason to visit their site and read their articles directly. Develop a direct trustworthy relationship with their readers, so they want to type in the URL themselves and from a click from somewhere else. But that is probably too much to hope for.
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Comment on Selfishness in AI in ~tech
winther Link ParentIt is not about UI, but about the AI chatbot not being able to really help as it just rephrases existing FAQs. The tools the internet made possible made it easier and more efficient to communicate...It is not about UI, but about the AI chatbot not being able to really help as it just rephrases existing FAQs. The tools the internet made possible made it easier and more efficient to communicate with a company and their support staff. AI bots are replacing the support staff. Not because it is better or easier, but simply because it is cheaper. But worse in every other aspects. Even the first search engines were an improvement over having none at all. It didn't replace something better. Which is a common theme for AI implementation. It is rarely doing a better job at anything, it just does it cheaper. No one wins expect companies with this.
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Comment on Selfishness in AI in ~tech
winther Link ParentI think the end consumers will be worse off. I have yet to experience a support chatbot that wasn't incredibly frustrating and a complete waste of time. I work in a company that has a support chat...I think the end consumers will be worse off. I have yet to experience a support chatbot that wasn't incredibly frustrating and a complete waste of time. I work in a company that has a support chat with human operators, and a good percentage of our customers start a case with "I WANT TO TALK TO A HUMAN".
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Comment on If you had to start a blog and post even though very few may read it, what would get you blogging weekly? in ~talk
winther (edited )LinkI am sure very few people read my blog, but a few do and that is enough for me. My motivation for having one comes from what I like to read myself, which is other peoples opinions on science...I am sure very few people read my blog, but a few do and that is enough for me. My motivation for having one comes from what I like to read myself, which is other peoples opinions on science fiction short stories. I often search for other reviews and stumble upon similar blogs as my own. Occasionally I even get in contact with the author of a story I have written about, which make everything worthwhile. While I did enjoy the technical aspects of setting up a static site generator, I don't think I would bother if absolute no one read it.
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Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies
winther LinkLike every other millennial geek I was highly into the Lord of the Rings movies. Saw them all at release date in theater, the extended edition with all the extra stuff several times. However it...Like every other millennial geek I was highly into the Lord of the Rings movies. Saw them all at release date in theater, the extended edition with all the extra stuff several times. However it must have been 10 years since last time I went through them and I think rewatching Fellowship yet again held me back. It is probably the first one I have seen the most as you always start there. But here is no good reason to always do that and I really enjoyed just jumping straight into The Two Towers. Just to sort of "feel the atmosphere" of Middle Earth again. Often seen as just the middle movie, I came to really like this time around. I had forgotten how bleak and full of despair it actually is. Fellowship is still mostly the beginning of an adventure, whereas here we get a proper sense of how the coming war affects regular people. We see families torn apart, villages burned to the ground and families filled with terror of what is to come.
I also opted for the theatrical cut, which I haven't seen since release in 2002. I didn't feel I was missing much really. The extended editions are after all not a director's cut, just simply "more".
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Comment on The Browser Company announces Arc Browser will no longer be their flagship product in ~tech
winther Link ParentLikely many factors to this, but looking at kagi.com/stats the majority of users uses Kagi for search, which comes with close to a fixed of around $0.015 (at least it was around that last time I...Likely many factors to this, but looking at kagi.com/stats the majority of users uses Kagi for search, which comes with close to a fixed of around $0.015 (at least it was around that last time I saw the topic on the Discord). While Kagi certainly have some LLM power users, most likely only uses it occasionally. It is comparing apples and oranges, but gpt-4o costs $0.00250 for 1000 tokens (not really sure how much that actually is). I would also guess that currently that price is set too low, since the LLM industry is heavily subsidized by investors, hiding the actual costs.
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Comment on Looking for DRM-free book recommendations in ~books
winther Link ParentNot super specific, but any random issue of Forever Magazine will likely give you at least 3 good short stories. If I had to recommend one specific it would be this as the stories by Julie...Not super specific, but any random issue of Forever Magazine will likely give you at least 3 good short stories. If I had to recommend one specific it would be this as the stories by Julie Novakova and Charlie Jane Anders are great.
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Comment on Looking for DRM-free book recommendations in ~books
winther LinkWeightlessbooks is a great DRM free source. With a heavy focus on science fiction and fantasy. Plenty of short story magazines such as Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Analog and Asimov's also sell DRM...Weightlessbooks is a great DRM free source. With a heavy focus on science fiction and fantasy. Plenty of short story magazines such as Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Analog and Asimov's also sell DRM free ebooks.
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Comment on Kagi Translate in ~tech
winther Link ParentIt makes no business sense for Kagi to lie about this. They have a stable income from subscribers, which will dissappear immediately if it was leaked they were lying. I seriously doubt any data...It makes no business sense for Kagi to lie about this. They have a stable income from subscribers, which will dissappear immediately if it was leaked they were lying. I seriously doubt any data they could collect would be worth so much money for that risk, both financially and legally, to be worth it.
That aside, Google and Bing are with 100% certainty tracking you, so I would rather pick one that doesn't have a financial incentive to track or sell data.
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Comment on Any recommendations for books, novellas and short story collections? in ~books
winther LinkSeconding Ted Chiang, and I will also highly recommend Greg Egan. Those two are in my opinion the best science fiction short story writers. Greg Egan has a The best of Greg Egan collection, which...Seconding Ted Chiang, and I will also highly recommend Greg Egan. Those two are in my opinion the best science fiction short story writers. Greg Egan has a The best of Greg Egan collection, which as the title implies great. For something a bit older, and with a generally cozy and positive vibe to most of his stories, I can recommend the stories by Clifford D. Simak.
And something completely different, as I also tend to read mostly science fiction stories, I have picked up a short story collection by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. Not very far yet, but I like his simple yet very poetic language.
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Comment on American election mental health thread in ~health.mental
winther LinkThis is a weird thread to read. Both harrowing and comforting in some fashion. I live in Denmark so not directly affected by this, so all my sympathies to across the pond. I just cannot shake off...This is a weird thread to read. Both harrowing and comforting in some fashion. I live in Denmark so not directly affected by this, so all my sympathies to across the pond. I just cannot shake off all the speculations on the wider ramifications of a second Trump presidency. I know it is pointless to worry about things that is basically just still guesses, and I wish I had my wife optimism on "how bad could it get". Because objectively she is right, that the last time Trump was president, it didn't really affect us personally. But I feel like it is more than just random speculation now with what this means indirectly for global climate policy, Putin's increased appetite for attacks on NATO and the general rise of right wing politics. We also have our share of political parties that are outright copying Trump's catchphrases. Not to the same effect yet thankfully, but there are certainly people out there with the intent to sow the same sort of distrust in the population. I also have two daughters, so I am worried about the general rise in misogyny that is connected to all this. I know I am piling on many different issues that Trump alone isn't directly responsible for, but he is the symbol of this sort of ideology that is getting a foothold in many different forms and different groups are trying to copy his playbook.
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Comment on I think it's time to give a "news detox" a try in ~talk
winther LinkVery inspirational post as I feel close to exactly like you. I really like journalism, I think it is important to stay informed and not be ignorant on issues beyond your life. I subscribe to...Very inspirational post as I feel close to exactly like you. I really like journalism, I think it is important to stay informed and not be ignorant on issues beyond your life. I subscribe to several newspapers and magazines. But sometimes I question the benefits, because it often becomes very doom and gloom. Especially with all the speculations on the long term consequences of the second Trump presidency. It is hard thing to balance, because I don't believe being ignorant is a good solution either. Some sort of timeboxing, like a weekly thing you propose here, is a concept I need to try in some form. At least be more intentional on what to read, rather than just scrolling through the headlines.
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Comment on I am missing a neutral way to flag low-effort or potentially spammy posts in ~tildes
winther LinkI can see the point in theory, but is it really a big issue in practice? I barely register votes and mostly just follow topics by activity, and use the "ignore post" feature if I don't want to...I can see the point in theory, but is it really a big issue in practice? I barely register votes and mostly just follow topics by activity, and use the "ignore post" feature if I don't want to follow a topic anymore. While I have also seen a few posts which I thought was a bit weird or seemed low effort, I really like the general approach the Tildes community has with a mindset of reading in best intention. Be curious instead on why this post was made, and I have seen a few times in comments where people found out that the site linked was a bad AI reposting thing and OP didn't know. With just a small friendly non-judgemental interaction, things was resolved and people left knowing a little bit more.
I feel like that since Tildes doesn't have image post and thus memes, it removes practically 95% of low effort posts in practice. Of course, if Tildes starts to get flooded with hundreds of low effort spammy posts per day, there might be a need for improved tools, but right now I believe the best way to improve Tildes is simply by engaging with posts and people here. With a curious mindset, also to what may seem like low effort spam at first. It might not be intended that way.
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of November 4 in ~society
winther Link ParentI am Europaean, so really no direct legit stakes in this election, but the wider ramifications of a second Trump term just seems unfathomable. Especially on climate policy. It is weird that in...I am Europaean, so really no direct legit stakes in this election, but the wider ramifications of a second Trump term just seems unfathomable. Especially on climate policy. It is weird that in some fashion, whether my kids will have at least a chance of non-apocalyptic future is being decided on how much some swing states hates women (a gross simplification, but still).
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Comment on We can have a different web in ~tech
winther Link ParentMy recollection of the web is very similar to yours. I think I just found stuff through curated site overviews. Before Google changed things, search engines like AltaVista also had phonebook like...My recollection of the web is very similar to yours. I think I just found stuff through curated site overviews. Before Google changed things, search engines like AltaVista also had phonebook like overviews with many sites categorized by topic. And it was a reasonable number, so it was actually feasible to browse through the major links in a topic and go exploring from there. Because every website had a dedicated "links to other websites" section to other websites, which formed a curation that SEO pretty much destroyed. But it also a numbers game, which make it hard to recreate today. The number of sites has grown exponentially, making some sort of quality human made curation even more valuable, but that will also lead to new gatekeepers on which sites to be included. I really think we can benefit from going back to smaller online communities, like Tildes. Millions of people on the same social network doesn't seem to go anywhere beneficial in the long run. Reddit could sort of remedy this by having tons of smaller subreddits that basically worked as their own smaller community, but that only held for so long.
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Comment on AI is killing remote work in ~tech
winther LinkWhile I can see there may be some relevant points with regards to an ever increasing speed of "productivity" and how it can stress human cognition and critical thinking when you have less time to...While I can see there may be some relevant points with regards to an ever increasing speed of "productivity" and how it can stress human cognition and critical thinking when you have less time to think about problems, but I don't really see what AI directly has to do with he is saying. He starts off with a statement about faster shipments, but automated CI/CD pipelines have been a thing for years and where I work, we can deploy to production several times a day. That has nothing to do with AI, just better automation and tools.
Thank you for the nice words :) I think I have seen a few others I would guess to be Danes as well, but not something I keep track of. @Halfdan was pretty active but apparently they are banned now.