bakers_dozen's recent activity

  1. Comment on Grieving family uses AI chatbot to cut hospital bill from $195,000 to $33,000 — US family says Claude highlighted duplicative charges, improper coding, and other violations in ~tech

    bakers_dozen
    Link Parent
    That's a really good point, and I'm glad you brought it up. I've been thinking about it, what do you think is the real risk? Identity theft on a large scale, e.g. harvesting mass info about users?...

    That's a really good point, and I'm glad you brought it up.

    I've been thinking about it, what do you think is the real risk? Identity theft on a large scale, e.g. harvesting mass info about users? The cynical side of me feels like that battle is sort of already lost, at least in the big cultural picture. The technology is inevitable.

    The developers should sanitize input so that private information is hashed, not stored, or just completely ruled out from being stored at all.

    1 vote
  2. Starter comments on Tildes?

    I get a lot out of browsing Tildes and all the conversations here. This is in keeping with the Tildes philosophy of high-quality content and conversation. In the spirit of quality discussion,...

    I get a lot out of browsing Tildes and all the conversations here. This is in keeping with the Tildes philosophy of high-quality content and conversation.

    In the spirit of quality discussion, context is everything and reference points matter. I have found my own thoughts nudged many times here, and often the comments and points of view lend entirely new perspective to the content (and are sometimes more interesting).

    While I appreciate the discussions, there are often links to an article, a video, a blog, or anything really, with no context and little description.

    So in the spirit of conversation, I'm asking if there could be "conversation starter" comments for posted links. I'd like to know why this video or that blog is different from just randomly finding some link online. Why is this link on Tildes? What makes it interesting or important? What are we talking about? Where is the quality conversation?

    Is that too much, or would that be reasonable? Thoughts?

    32 votes
  3. Comment on Grieving family uses AI chatbot to cut hospital bill from $195,000 to $33,000 — US family says Claude highlighted duplicative charges, improper coding, and other violations in ~tech

    bakers_dozen
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Greed, apathy, neglect, take your pick. The endless maze of bureaucracy is profitable, even if (or maybe because) it leads to double-billing and other issues. It's all built deliberately towards...

    Greed, apathy, neglect, take your pick. The endless maze of bureaucracy is profitable, even if (or maybe because) it leads to double-billing and other issues. It's all built deliberately towards revenue - at the expense of oversight, because oversight costs money. Accountability costs money. Stalling and delays make money, if the errors are in the hospital's favor.

    In some areas, patients have nowhere to go except the local small hospital or urgent care, which just adds to the industry leverage of consolidation, vertical integration and monopolization. Those are bigger issues in the US, but the main issue IMO is treating healthcare as a for-profit business. I feel like morally, to your point, it is essentially extortion or profiteering since your choices are to pay or to die. Or both.

    It's incredibly dark, but that is literally exactly what happens.

    Edited to add: I wonder why AI is becoming such a big thing in healthcare now, yet despite that, issues like this continue to happen. I don't think double billing is patient-centered care, but maybe I don't have that healthcare=profit mindset.

    14 votes
  4. Comment on Grieving family uses AI chatbot to cut hospital bill from $195,000 to $33,000 — US family says Claude highlighted duplicative charges, improper coding, and other violations in ~tech

    bakers_dozen
    (edited )
    Link
    Despite the cultural upheaval over LLMs, it's great to see Claude being put to good use for advocacy. I look at LLMS as an accessibility tool, making arcane systems more available to even the...

    Despite the cultural upheaval over LLMs, it's great to see Claude being put to good use for advocacy. I look at LLMS as an accessibility tool, making arcane systems more available to even the least technical among us. This is a wonderful use case for AI.

    US healthcare is a predatory, impenetrable, bureaucratic mess that oppresses those who need it. Hopefully the future holds greater equality and support for those most vulnerable.

    Original story on Threads.

    35 votes
  5. Comment on This site is fast in ~tildes

    bakers_dozen
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    That makes sense and I appreciate you taking the time to make a thoughtful reply. I saw your recent post on "queer temperature check," I didn't respond because I'm not in the club, so to speak....

    That makes sense and I appreciate you taking the time to make a thoughtful reply. I saw your recent post on "queer temperature check," I didn't respond because I'm not in the club, so to speak. But, I appreciated a lot of the points there and thoughtful responses. A lot resonated with me and it was interesting to see the different personal journeys unfold in conversation. Which is how I personally often read Tildes. I like your long form posts.

    I've actually had you tagged as a "friend" for some time for that reason. But what you say here also makes sense and it spurs a little bit of reflection for me.

    The thing is, this post was actually engaging, interesting and true, and made sense to me in every way. It was spot on. I have been on forums like this since the 20th century, and you hit the nail on the head.

    But to your point - clipped and abrupt sentences, to me, can be (not always, but something to watch for) hallmarks of artificial content when it is written to generate engagement.

    They create tension.

    Suspense.

    Anticipation.

    ... but then... (see the suspense?) there's an exciting payoff, with swooping writing, rising and falling, in a new direction! The style changes, the rhythm and tone change, settling down into a good feeling of resolution.

    And it. Feels. Great!

    Just off the top of my head, not written to be a stellar example, and definitely not black-and-white in terms of discernment. This is just a tiny bit of something that would make me think of artificial writing, because it's intentionally written specifically to grab the reader. This style is very different from a normal dialogue with a person, with pauses, interjections, incomplete sentences, unanswered questions, unwanted or uninteresting asides, rambling and long-winded sentences, and all the messy things that make up human conversation. See how this long comment is boring?

    That's not the only factor, and not the only thing about this post. But just one of the things that typically makes writing feel a certain way, to me. EM dashes don't necessarily mean artificial writing, either, but they stand out. Not an indictment of you.

    But your response here makes me think again. My comment was abrupt and not meant to be rude or judgemental. I could have put more thought and grace into it, and I appreciate what you said.

    To be honest, it was a lot like you pointed out - I just had this odd feeling and just put that feeling out there without thinking about it.

    But there are a lot of things that concern me about artificial writing, including the feedback loop that occurs when we read it, and it in turn influences our own writing styles (and we don't even know it if we aren't aware). That makes these things harder to tell apart, and what's more troubling, language influences the way we think. All language, all conversation. Now ChatGPT is embedded in public discourse, and thereby affecting our mental processes, whether we like it or not. It is bound to shape the future of human thinking - under the direction of it's owners, in whatever case - because it is already pervasive. We are already there.

    This occurred to me here because of what you pointed out, you were writing more or less a stream of consciousness. Completely fair and not an indictment of you at all. Just has me thinking more about this influence and feedback loop on all of our writing and conversations (and my own discernment in such cases).

    This is also more or less just stream of consciousness, but I appreciate your posts here and look forward to seeing more.

    2 votes
  6. Comment on This site is fast in ~tildes

    bakers_dozen
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Well the thing is, this isn't a judgement or an accusation. kfwyre is pretty clearly a real person with a lot to say and I value what they have to say and have followed their comments before. I...

    Well the thing is, this isn't a judgement or an accusation. kfwyre is pretty clearly a real person with a lot to say and I value what they have to say and have followed their comments before. I think everyone reading this post is likely aware of that.

    But, that's the exact reason I commented. The post feels off, it feels unusual. Now maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just becoming too cynical with the glut of LLM in social media. Which is also why this post reads exactly like that, to me, because a lot of LLM reads exactly this way (again, to me) .

    There's no malice here but rather making an observation. I don't think kfwyre is some kind of spam bot.

    But it doesn't feel completely genuine, and maybe that is just the writing style, but I do find it a little disheartening to see other comments making such assumptions about judgement and nobody actually seeking to understand. If I were a writer, I would certainly want to know.

    2 votes
  7. Comment on This site is fast in ~tildes

    bakers_dozen
    Link
    This reads like ChatGPT.

    This reads like ChatGPT.

  8. Comment on ‘Tron: Ares’ stumbles with $33.5 million debut in ~movies

    bakers_dozen
    Link Parent
    Rein in = pulling the reins on a galloping horse, slowing down, getting control. Reign = rule, as in, a king reigns over a country.

    Rein in = pulling the reins on a galloping horse, slowing down, getting control.
    Reign = rule, as in, a king reigns over a country.

    19 votes
  9. Comment on Timeout when connecting to a local webserver through the internet, but only on WiFi in ~comp

    bakers_dozen
    (edited )
    Link
    **EDIT: ** I just noticed this comment in your post, and from here this sounds like DNS issues. My original reply is underneath. Opening https://192.168.1.123:58443 (webserver address) is fine...

    **EDIT: ** I just noticed this comment in your post, and from here this sounds like DNS issues. My original reply is underneath.
    Opening https://192.168.1.123:58443 (webserver address) is fine (WiFi or wired).
    Opening https://10.0.1.123:58443 (gateway address) is fine (WiFi or wired).

    Original reply:
    From your updated comments (cited below) it sounds suspiciously like a NAT or port forwarding issue. Or something similar to asymmetric routing issues. Some of your packets are getting through and some aren't.

    Using the mobile network I can access my server just fine. With a hotspot I can use the same laptop to access the site.
    I've given up and have just added a DNS record to the gateway that points to the local server. This way it works inside the network and outside too. It's not pretty, but it works.
    The same issue is also happening with the VPN server I host on a different machine that's sitting besides the webserver. I see traffic coming in, but no connection is established on the client side.
    Testing this again now, I see the traffic coming into the VPN server takes forever when on WiFi (haven't checked with a wire). When I'm on mobile, the logging of the VPN server shows instant negotiation. I assumed the issue was something with the return traffic, but that's not the case. Something to look into later.

    So my rambling thoughts - when you query dns for your server name (or VPN) do you get the same results on wired and wireless? Different results inside the network vs outside? Because typically, outside and inside DNS results should be separate, and different. If you're trying to reach http://foo.bar and it turns up both an internal and external (NAT) address then you're going to get mixed up. Also you don't want servers overlapping, I assume your servers are all using the same (public) IP and this is why you are using nonstandard ports to differentiate servers?

    Your wireless DNS resolution should be identical to your wired DNS (both internal). Also DNS queries are round-robin, meaning, if you have two different DNS server addresses you query, you will variously get results from both. If those servers aren't returning the same answer you will have issues.

    On the same lines, is the behavior any different if you only connect to ip_address:port and don't use DNS at all?

    For further testing I would recommend disconnecting your internet and make sure all of your traffic is routable internally (wired and wireless both) . Can you hit the VPN or the web server?

    With NAT, the nonstandard TCP port (internal) may be getting forwarded out to the internet rather than to internal devices. With your setup I would ensure ALL internal traffic is routed internally first and never go out to the carrier unless that specific traffic needs to get to the internet for some reason.

    It really sounds like when you're on wireless, some of your traffic is going out to the internet and coming back in, and some of your traffic is trying to hit the server internally, and all of your devices are getting confused.

    Try disconnecting your internet service and see if you can reach everything internally.

    If you aren't already set up this way I would consider doing this: (Carrier) <-> (dedicated firewall) <-> (dedicated internal router) == (everything else internal)

    Rather than having an all-in-one device to handle all the routing and firewall and wireless etc. Your network is complex enough to justify the separation and this would make it much easier to troubleshoot. In other words, keep the internet traffic routed to a separate dedicated device outside of your internal network. And aside from that, all your traffic should be perfectly routable inside. Your internal router should handle all DNS, DHCP and everything else, and anything that specifically needs internet access (like DNS) should be owned and cached on the router but handed off to the firewall if needed.

    One last consideration I would recommend to anyone for internal networking. Consider setting up your internal IP range as 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255 instead of 192.168 or **10.x ** . The reason is because everyone uses 10.x or 192.168, and using differentiation makes it much easier to deflect any potential overlap. Network devices sometimes use 192.168 as the default setup for configuring via network. If that default IP happens to be the same as one of your servers, it's a pain to set it up. But setting up 172.16 right from the get go will preempt overlapping issues. It isn't nearly as popular.

  10. Comment on Timeout when connecting to a local webserver through the internet, but only on WiFi in ~comp

    bakers_dozen
    Link
    Since you say the SSL handshake is completed, my first guess is to look at some kind of filtering or interception occurring on your laptop. Some troubleshooting questions - are you able to reach...

    Since you say the SSL handshake is completed, my first guess is to look at some kind of filtering or interception occurring on your laptop.

    Some troubleshooting questions - are you able to reach other servers or websites on the internet? Including nonstandard ports? Ping?

    When you're on wired networking are you sure your traffic is hairpinning out to the internet and back in to your server? Are you sure you aren't just routing internally?

    Is anyone else able to reach your server across the internet?

    3 votes
  11. Comment on ‘Story Of Your Life’ is not a time-travel story (2018) in ~books

    bakers_dozen
    Link
    What a fascinating post.

    What a fascinating post.

  12. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tv

    bakers_dozen
    Link Parent
    Mainly, to me it looks like manipulating the same audience which it is supposed to support. But as I mentioned in another comment I am probably reading too much into it, and you make some good points.

    Mainly, to me it looks like manipulating the same audience which it is supposed to support. But as I mentioned in another comment I am probably reading too much into it, and you make some good points.

    4 votes
  13. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tv

    bakers_dozen
    Link Parent
    Yes on reflection, my original thinking wasn't clear, and also I feel like I was reading too much into the show with some expectations. You make some valid points especially around the difference...

    Yes on reflection, my original thinking wasn't clear, and also I feel like I was reading too much into the show with some expectations. You make some valid points especially around the difference between character development and world development.

    2 votes
  14. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tv

    bakers_dozen
    Link Parent
    I see your point, well-made and well taken. This conversation makes me think I am probably reading too much into the show. This is probably more about my own cynicism around manipulative corporate...

    I see your point, well-made and well taken. This conversation makes me think I am probably reading too much into the show. This is probably more about my own cynicism around manipulative corporate marketing in general and particularly bad representation in media.

    I do see this kind of manipulation everywhere, of vulnerable groups of all kinds. It bothers me a lot but I think I am projecting my own biases.

    All in all, this makes me want to take another look and reevaluate. Well said, and maybe we will not be in disagreement after all. Cheers

    6 votes
  15. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tv

    bakers_dozen
    Link Parent
    That is absolutely "le mot juste." Did not notice that at all.

    That is absolutely "le mot juste." Did not notice that at all.

    2 votes
  16. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tv

    bakers_dozen
    Link Parent
    Well as far as diversity, what you say is pretty much the opposite of how I feel personally. To me the characters look like cliches. Not racist cliches, but cliches nonetheless. I tend to feel...

    Well as far as diversity, what you say is pretty much the opposite of how I feel personally. To me the characters look like cliches. Not racist cliches, but cliches nonetheless. I tend to feel like bad representation can be potentially worse than no representation. I don't think it matters if the actors are white or not.

    If you saw "The Last of Us" on HBO, there is a famous gay episode. To me it's one of the best things ever put on the screen. I think it's outstanding and I think it will be something of a historical landmark in show business. It's not just good representation, it's incredible. You actually care about the people involved. They have depth. They are real. Everything they do is necessary, meaningful and important. The characters are treated with great respect, dignity and worth.

    Most importantly, "being gay" is just part of the characters. They aren't defined as "gay" being the entirety of the character. They are people, just like any other people, where "gay" is just a sometimes part of the character, not the one and only outstanding characteristic.

    That is respectful representation.

    This show seems like the opposite. The characters don't seem interesting, meaningful or important at all. The aliens don't seem to be interesting people. Which is why, to me, diversity feels like an excuse to cover bad writing. In other words, it's using diversity as a marketing tactic to get viewers to watch. To me that feels manipulative towards the people it's supposed to support. Basically the opposite of respectful diversity.

    I will admit, in my eyes I see far too much disrespectful representation "out there" and maybe I'm overthinking or reading too much into this.

    So in other words I guess my original comment wasn't clear or well thought out. I feel like diversity and representation should be inclusive and respectful, and this show just doesn't feel anything like that to me. And maybe I am expecting far too much.

    6 votes
  17. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tv

    bakers_dozen
    Link Parent
    At risk of completely spoiling the first two episodes - Click to expand spoiler. In the first episode, a force user fights a Jedi. It's an ok start, not original but nothing wrong with that. Then...

    At risk of completely spoiling the first two episodes -

    Click to expand spoiler. In the first episode, a force user fights a Jedi. It's an ok start, not original but nothing wrong with that.

    Then the Jedi come looking for the force user. Immediately we learn that in this show, anyone can lie to Jedi about anything. They will not question or investigate and pretty clearly can't use the force to tell if someone is telling the truth, and they don't even bother to find out.

    The Jedi didn't need to bring the bartender. They could have easily seen a face, a description and all the memories of the fight from anyone who was there. They could have done the same for everyone on the ship too. They could have done that with Osha and immediately learned that she was telling the truth.

    These are the wise master sages, healers and warriors of the galaxy but they just grab someone and put them in a cage? No due process? No investigation? They don't even say anything about a crime being committed, or any kind of process at all. They just say a Jedi was murdered. But this seems like a terribly botched assassination. A Jedi was in a fight and got killed. Were they assassinated, or just killed, or was it "just" a bar fight? It seems like the Jedi aren't interested to figure that out.

    On top of which she is a former student of this most revered and respected institution in the galaxy, and former colleagues too. But they don't try to talk it out or even try to investigate? They just throw her in a prison transport. You would think they would at least escort her, talk with her and set up some kind of inquiry.

    Killing a Jedi seems like a pretty big deal. You would think they would send the best of the best to get to the truth. The wise, experienced masters who are (presumably) accomplished at investigation and discovering the truth. Someone who has had many years and countless people try to lie to them. Someone who has seen many stories and sides to the truth. Someone interesting enough to possibly have an entire show written around them.

    Wouldn't that be warranted if a Jedi is murdered? Especially if there is perhaps a new sith or some dark conspiracy? Isn't that kind of a big deal?

    But instead they just seemed like they didn't bother to even ask anyone, even before going out, hey it turns out there's a sister, AND the other Jedi already know about it. Even the Jedi who know about this don't bother to think twice. Except when Osha says, she's alive, and then everyone just ... changes their mind. Oops, well, they didn't bother to ask, but the people who knew just thought nothing of it.

    In a galaxy full of clones, aliens, force ghosts, holograms and hallucinations and who knows what else, it seems incredibly foolish to just grab someone and put them in a cage.

    Also, Osha says she's a mechanic because she doesn't have any transferable skills. From the most elite and revered institution of wisdom, learning and healing throughout the galaxy. Even a first year student would be respected and looked up to anywhere in the galaxy. Just getting in at all would be an enormous accomplishment.

    It's almost like saying she trained as an Olympian but didn't make the team. Athletes still teach, they do endorsements, training, tours, speeches, books, podcasts and shows all over the world. Elite athletes are famous.

    So she studied at an academy famous throughout the galaxy for history, philosophy, religion, justice and order, all kinds of caretaking from gardening to medicine, and she has no skills and nowhere to go? Couldn't even get a job as a librarian? A Senate page? A court clerk? Law, history, ... nothing? Not even ordinary university?

    This is why the characters, and the writing seem two dimensional to me. They're just a patchwork of tropes and cliches in action. There is no character behind the action, expressing the simplest of thoughts such as, what if this killing wasn't what it seemed?

    This is just the beginning. But this is why it looks to me like a lot of special effects papered over terrible writing. If you take away the "ooh spaceships" factor, there's nothing interesting left.

    3 votes
  18. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tv

    bakers_dozen
    Link
    It's not interesting. The acting is wooden and the characters make no sense. Just like other Star Wars shows, poor writing is papered over with flashy special effects, battles, aliens, and...

    It's not interesting. The acting is wooden and the characters make no sense. Just like other Star Wars shows, poor writing is papered over with flashy special effects, battles, aliens, and whatever Star Wars cliches blah blah blah.

    This show is pretty much - look how cool this planet is, look at this lightsaber fight, oh look there are Jedi, see how cool that is - ... that's the whole show.

    The characters aren't people, nothing interesting about them, just interchangeable mannequin set pieces with sculptured make up. None of them are believable as a real person.

    The cast diversity feels artificially shoehorned in and doesn't feel like representation at all, it just feels like checking a box that says "diversity."

    It's like looking at a movie poster or watching a fashion show. Pretty, not engaging or believable, all cliches and nothing memorable.

    4 votes
  19. Comment on Three Cheers for Tildes: App updates and feedback (May 2024) — Version 1.0 is out for iOS! in ~tildes