archevel's recent activity
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Comment on Recruiter harassed me whilst off sick. Considering filing a complaint. How best to handle this? in ~life
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Comment on You are a better writer than AI (yes, YOU!) in ~creative
archevel Link ParentHaving watched the video I think you are right in that this is a central argument the video is making. LLMs can not generate new ideas only respond to input. However, I think there is an argument...Having watched the video I think you are right in that this is a central argument the video is making. LLMs can not generate new ideas only respond to input.
However, I think there is an argument to be made that you are communicating with someone, albeit its a few more steps removed than with "regular" writing. Someone wrote the system prompt for the LL, someone trained the LLM, someone wrote the tools to train the LLM, and someone wrote the corpus of text the LLM is trained on. The intention of the system prompt writer and also the trainer is probably the most significant here since they are the ones "seeding" the LLM and "selecting" what the LLM is trained on. As such an argument could be made that your connecting with them mediated through the LLM similar to how we can connect with authors of regular text through their works.
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Comment on Moving back to the US (after 7+ years living in Germany) in ~life
archevel LinkIt was quite a while go since I moved internationally. As @R3qn65 mentions your in a pretty good spot moving into an existing home! I remember the cost of just getting all the kitchen utensils...It was quite a while go since I moved internationally. As @R3qn65 mentions your in a pretty good spot moving into an existing home! I remember the cost of just getting all the kitchen utensils being quite steep when we had to start from scratch! So all in all I think you're golden as long as you remember your passport :)
If you are able, maybe look at it as an adventure! Do you need to fly? Could you perhaps choose to go by boat? It would take a while and I'm not even sure where to begin looking, but if you are not in a rush getting home I'd be keen to hear about the experience.
(Sorry if I'm hijacking your life to test stuff out that I would like to try).
Best if luck when you get back!
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Comment on Record numbers of Swedish retirees are enrolling in a university run “by pensioners for pensioners” amid increased loneliness and a growing appetite for learning and in-person interactions in ~life
archevel Link ParentIt is an impossible goal to realize in practice, if I wanted to take all the available courses. Just searching the admissions website for entry level courses given at one of the bigger...It is an impossible goal to realize in practice, if I wanted to take all the available courses. Just searching the admissions website for entry level courses given at one of the bigger universities this spring there are +750 given that I could have applied for. Searching all of Sweden there are over 6800 entry level courses!
However, a lot of the classes are quite specialized, e.g. "3D data and visualization within archeology and cultural heritage studies". And while this could definitely be interesting I try to focus on more mainstream classes. I'm interested in studying some foreign languages like farsi, arabic and/or mandarin, but I won't end up doing intro-level courses for all available languages (there's just too many).
So far beyond my masters (mainly focusing on software engineering) I've concluded entry level courses in; physical and organic chemistry, philosophy, law, biochemistry, molecular biology, microboology.
I've also started a bunch of courses which I didn't complete in various subjects such as; social psychology, modern physics, microeconomics and a few others. Usually other life obligations take precedence over my educational ambitions.
I enjoyed the philosophy classes the most so far. There were a few different sub-courses e.g. in retoric and argument analysis which I think is useful for anyone to take. It gives you a nice framework for analyzing texts and arguments in general. The philosophy of the mind parts were also quite interesting to me.
I expect that I will not ever truly be done with this project, but the ambition is still there! I want to complete some introductory physics, some more maths, some economics and probably social studies followed by some literature or culture studies. I'll see what piques my interest! If I ever manage to run out of introductory courses in the main subjects there's a bunch of more specialized classes to take. Unless the political winds change significantly and they end up charging for access to higher education for Swedish citizens (I imagine and hope that would be highly unpopular) I imagine this as a project for life.
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Comment on Major storm sweeps across Nordic countries in ~enviro
archevel LinkSo far there has been 3 deaths reported due to the storm. I was up in southern Darlicaria (Dalarna) in a cabin by a lake and there has been quite a lot of trees felled by the storm. We managed to...So far there has been 3 deaths reported due to the storm.
I was up in southern Darlicaria (Dalarna) in a cabin by a lake and there has been quite a lot of trees felled by the storm. We managed to clear the private road from the cabin to the communal road network. Makes you appreciate power tools and good neighbors!
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Major storm sweeps across Nordic countries
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Comment on Record numbers of Swedish retirees are enrolling in a university run “by pensioners for pensioners” amid increased loneliness and a growing appetite for learning and in-person interactions in ~life
archevel LinkSince higher education is free in Sweden I have as a personal aspiration to complete all A-level courses. This fall (continuing this spring) I have been studying History A as a "distanskurs" (i.e....Since higher education is free in Sweden I have as a personal aspiration to complete all A-level courses. This fall (continuing this spring) I have been studying History A as a "distanskurs" (i.e. an online course). This specific course has a clear majority of older students. The format of being online and at an introductory level seem to attract quite a few interested amateurs that have gone elsewhere career-wise. The aspect from the article about the joy of learning for the sake of learning resonates with me. This is a major reason for taking these classes (in my case it also provides a bit of an external motivation that I need in order to actually study). I don't really see how the purported "ageism" plats in to any of this, but I do see how it can be fulfilling to lot "just" be a pensioner. Most people want to feel needed and work provides that for many people. Looking at work as purely a source of income is flawed IMO.
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Comment on Want to get a 3D printer for miniatures that work well with open source software in ~hobbies
archevel Link ParentThis is great to hear since I too actually ended up going for the Bambu A1 mini. It's comparatively cheap and there seems to be settings and filaments available for printing good enough quality...This is great to hear since I too actually ended up going for the Bambu A1 mini. It's comparatively cheap and there seems to be settings and filaments available for printing good enough quality minis for my needs.
Will post an update with my experience of it once it arrives!
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Comment on Without looking, do you have a vague idea of your coordinates? in ~talk
archevel LinkI'm always at 0,0,0,0 in my space time coordinate system.I'm always at 0,0,0,0 in my space time coordinate system.
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Comment on What are the simple things in your life that you are thankful for? in ~life
archevel Link ParentI too have thankfully seen very few emperors! ;)I too have thankfully seen very few emperors! ;)
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Want to get a 3D printer for miniatures that work well with open source software
I've started to look into getting a 3D printer mainly for printing minis and terrain for TTRPGs. For the aficionado and print quality the best printer type seem to be resin based printers, but I...
I've started to look into getting a 3D printer mainly for printing minis and terrain for TTRPGs. For the aficionado and print quality the best printer type seem to be resin based printers, but I don't think I'd be able to deal with the toxic fumes in a safe manner. As such I've settled on looking at filament based printers and I don't really need super high fidelity prints.
I need one that works well with Linux and preferably OSS. I am willing to pay for closed source software (or OSS) if it runs on well on Linux. So if you know of any software that is easy to get started with I'd be happy to hear about it. If you know of any models or makes that I should avoid I'd also appreciate a heads up!
Any other advice for someone just getting started with 3D printing?
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Comment on Shopify, pulling strings at Ruby Central, forces Bundler and RubyGems takeover in ~comp
archevel Link ParentI used to program in Scala quite a bit (10 years back). The language had a bunch of warts when I was working with it. Full XML support embedded in the language. Implicits. Slog to build stuff with...I used to program in Scala quite a bit (10 years back). The language had a bunch of warts when I was working with it. Full XML support embedded in the language. Implicits. Slog to build stuff with sbt. Standard lib was messy IIRC. I enjoyed it, but wouldn't recommend it to build a system with in a team.
I remember liking the Lift web framework, it did use a bunch of "magic" language features. But it was a nice setup. Unfortunately I don't think it got enough traction... Play kind of took the air out.
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Comment on I made a tool to generate AI powered recaps of TTRPG sessions in ~games.tabletop
archevel LinkThis is kind of neat! As an aside, at work we use slack and they have a feature to summarize meetings which we tested out. Unfortunately it is set up to work only on English so our meeting in...This is kind of neat! As an aside, at work we use slack and they have a feature to summarize meetings which we tested out. Unfortunately it is set up to work only on English so our meeting in swedish.
XXX makes several unclear statements about "multibo", "Cape", "South Africa", and other locations/entities.
XXX makes references to "the boy", "the dog", and other unspecified entities, but the meaning is unclear.
We found it hilarious. Feels like Slack at least could have detected that this probably isn't English and just given up on summarizing!
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Comment on Coffee fortified with iron—new microparticles can be added to food and beverages to fight malnutrition in ~science
archevel Link ParentNice! I missed that part in the article. Then I look forward to my iron rich coffee brew :)Nice! I missed that part in the article. Then I look forward to my iron rich coffee brew :)
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Comment on Coffee fortified with iron—new microparticles can be added to food and beverages to fight malnutrition in ~science
archevel LinkWhen donating blood I've been told by the nurses to avoid coffee when taking iron supplements(?) since it inhibits the body's uptake of the iron. So infusing coffe with iron seems a bit...When donating blood I've been told by the nurses to avoid coffee when taking iron supplements(?) since it inhibits the body's uptake of the iron. So infusing coffe with iron seems a bit ineffective. But nice if I am wrong or if it gets added to other staples.
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Comment on I had an idea for a Crusader Kings, but about rich families in Victoria-Modern Era. What could go wrong? in ~games
archevel Link Parent@PendingKetcup's suggestion of having a simple array for all the characters is where I'd start. Fairly simple to just lookup a character's data when you actually need to display them in some way....@PendingKetcup's suggestion of having a simple array for all the characters is where I'd start. Fairly simple to just lookup a character's data when you actually need to display them in some way. You could get into some weird concurrency bugs if the game is running on multiple threads, but to start out I'd just ignore that and make a fun game :) good luck!
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Comment on I had an idea for a Crusader Kings, but about rich families in Victoria-Modern Era. What could go wrong? in ~games
archevel LinkWith regards to performance I'd wager your choice of data structures and algorithms will be what has a noticable impact on performance (e.g if you are looking up entities in a list vs looking them...My main worry here is if GDScript is good enough to handle "intensive" algorithms. If not, I can always use C#, or C++ if I really have to, and adapt the problematic algorithms.
Another is what would be the best database manager for this, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
With regards to performance I'd wager your choice of data structures and algorithms will be what has a noticable impact on performance (e.g if you are looking up entities in a list vs looking them up by id in a dictionary). If you notice performance issues and you're sure it is due to using GDscript, then you can always drop down to a more performant language with less overhead. But, to me that seems like something to postpone as long as possible.
As for using a database; do you really need one? If all game entities are loaded into memory operating on them directly can often be more efficient than db queries (especially if you have a small amount of "rows" eg 10s of thousands).
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Comment on MIT report: 95% of generative AI pilots at companies are failing in ~tech
archevel Link ParentI think it is common for companies to prioritize increasing revenue rather than decreasing costs. Decreasing costs can be deferred to when it becomes necessary; bringing in new revenue is likelier...I think it is common for companies to prioritize increasing revenue rather than decreasing costs. Decreasing costs can be deferred to when it becomes necessary; bringing in new revenue is likelier to have a larger impact on the business. As a real example I had a system running in AWS using SQL Server at a client. That database was the main cost of the entire tech stack. We did a PoC for migrating it to PostgreSQL which would have reduced the cost by 90% IIRC. It would have taken, realistically, a few weeks to prep, test and deploy and then monitor for hiccups. That cost reduction would have payed for itself in maybe a quarter. Still haven't been done. Priority is given to things that is perceived to increase potential revenue, i.e. features.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
archevel Link ParentI started using NixOS as my daily driver a bit over a year ago. It has been fairly solid though I had to go with the unstable branch to get support for my webcam originally and haven't moved off...I started using NixOS as my daily driver a bit over a year ago. It has been fairly solid though I had to go with the unstable branch to get support for my webcam originally and haven't moved off it yet. Any updates that break I can just rollback and keep on truckin'!
I do feel like I haven't gotten a good grasp on how to work with it though. Any tips on something to read in order to move beyond newbie levels?
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
archevel LinkI posted about it in ~games.tabletop, but I figured I'd elaborate here a bit. I wanted to try building a non-trivial piece of software using only prompting and for a while I've had an idea for a...I posted about it in ~games.tabletop, but I figured I'd elaborate here a bit. I wanted to try building a non-trivial piece of software using only prompting and for a while I've had an idea for a VTT. So I started out using Google Code Assist as a plugin to VS Code. I've managed to prompt coax it into something that works ok. Part of the clunkiness in the current version is due to not having a server component at all (besides the hosting of the static webpage and scripts). It relies on WebRTC to connect the players. The GM sends out invites (url with base64 encoded "offer") and the player must then copy and send the response (an base64 encoded "answer") back to the GM. That must all happen out of band, e.g. via separat chat or email. Once the connection to the GM is established that person acts as a signaling server for all the players so all peers can establish connections without the whole invite dance. I might rework this whole thing at some point, but I want to build some other features first.
It is a bit of a hassle to test it out on my own properly since I ideally need a whole group of players to connect and test it out. But before I do that I want to make sure that it can handle reestablishing a connection e.g. on page reload and I'm a bit unsure if that is possible to do without a new invite.
I am both impressed with the Llama ability to produce code and a bit dismayed that for some simple operations can take quite a while to figure out what it should do. Smaller refactorings and shifting the code around is much faster if I do myself, larger requests can sometimes cause the agent to end up in a never ending loop. Sometimes the context isn't big enough to handle the output causing it to crash. So you often have to instruct it to first make a step by step plan, then start on step 1... then ask it to do step 2 and so on. All that said I don't think a non-web developer would be able to prompt it to do this properly. I have a big advantage from understanding the underlying technologies and can steer the LLM/agent to a solutions I want.
The whole code base is up on GitHub under an AGPLv3 license. If you want to try it out the application is available at:
https://vtt.lindqvist.devEdit: Just wanted to mention my favourite feature so far; the distance based volume when players claim tokens. The audio for peers is adjusted based on the distance the other peers token is from my token. It is there to encourage more roleplay (and perhaps shouting hehe).
What is the upside of filing a complaint? Best case scenario is that you cause some systemic change at the agency which prevents similar things to happen to others. Unlikely? If filig the complaint will make you feel better then that seems like a valid reason. But, there could be downsides if you have to keep working with this person/agency. That said, at a minimum document the behavior in case it escalates.