bub's recent activity
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Comment on Google-owned YouTube makes millions from channels pushing climate disinformation: Analysis in ~tech
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
bub Link ParentI'm glad to find someone else who hates companies stealing and ruining common words for their branding. It usually feels like nobody else cares. Remember when (non-German) people used to actually...- Exemplary
I'm glad to find someone else who hates companies stealing and ruining common words for their branding. It usually feels like nobody else cares.
Remember when (non-German) people used to actually use the word "uber?" Before all it meant was somebody's scummy profit operation? And sometime soon it might become awkward using the "meta" prefix, affecting many words at once... So many more words have had their souls sold without the consent of the populations who use those words. If a company is going to use common words in their branding, they should be required to use combinations of at least two words, or one unique/made up word if they really want to use just a single one. It screws up the language.
I'm aware I might sound slightly unhinged for caring this much about it, but I feel like I have to make up for how hardly anybody else seems bothered at all.
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Comment on Can we talk about BattleBit Remastered? It's kind of a big deal. in ~games
bub Link ParentI understand that too, yes. I'd still rather have Quake III movement in mainstream games even if it hurts accessibility. At first I felt like maybe I was being an elitist for feeling that way, but...I understand that too, yes. I'd still rather have Quake III movement in mainstream games even if it hurts accessibility. At first I felt like maybe I was being an elitist for feeling that way, but then I remembered that accessibility in slow shooters isn't there out of altruism, but by profit motives. So now I don't feel so bad.
In a better world, we'd just have both sorts of games keeping pace with each other in the industry.
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Comment on Can we talk about BattleBit Remastered? It's kind of a big deal. in ~games
bub Link ParentI try not to express too much saltiness online about how slow the movement has gotten in shooters (to the point that people look back and call Halo "fast"). But believe me, the saltiness is there....I try not to express too much saltiness online about how slow the movement has gotten in shooters (to the point that people look back and call Halo "fast"). But believe me, the saltiness is there. And I want to blame console controllers for it, because I can't bring myself to believe that people would actually prefer slow movement to all the fantastic snappy multiplayer FPS games the industry was still experimenting with a couple decades ago.
There are still a few FPS games that attempt actual fun movement, but they market themselves as "movement shooters" and never quite seem to focus on the same aspects of fast movement that I liked about old arena shooters or tribes or whatever. Or they remain a single-player arcade sort of experience.
And I'm not really old enough to have played those old games in their respective heydays, instead only playing them some years afterward, so I'm not sure it can all be chalked up to nostalgia.
The sluggish "tactical" movement and priority of cover+peek strategies over all else in any battlefield-style games is a big part of why I've never gotten into them much, unfortunately.
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Comment on Should we be going back and editing games for content that doesn't fit with a modern viewpoint? in ~games
bub Link ParentYou might see a Neo-Nazi and think "That Neo-Nazi must have become comfortable with Nazism because the topic wasn't treated with enough gravity. Nazism should have been portrayed as something...You might see a Neo-Nazi and think "That Neo-Nazi must have become comfortable with Nazism because the topic wasn't treated with enough gravity. Nazism should have been portrayed as something darker and more uncomfortable to talk about."
On the other hand, you might see a Neo-Nazi and think "That Neo-Nazi must have been attracted to Nazism because of how taboo it is, and they were able to set themselves apart from their peers by embracing something edgy like that. Nazism should have been talked about more openly, maybe mocked, made light of, so as to avoid creating an attractive taboo topic for people so-inclined."
I can't really say which is more valid. I think both can apply. Maybe the problem was always that person who decided to become a Neo-Nazi.
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Comment on Prevalence of AI generated text in Tildes in ~tildes
bub LinkIt's funny you say that. During my time playing around with GPT-4 recently, I've noticed that its writing style tends toward the "diplomatically clinical." And in fact, I've come to feel that it's...It's funny you say that.
During my time playing around with GPT-4 recently, I've noticed that its writing style tends toward the "diplomatically clinical." And in fact, I've come to feel that it's a bit similar to my natural writing style. Or in other words, I've thought "Gee, I kind of sound like GPT-4 when I talk, don't I."
Of course, I've been writing and speaking this way for a lot longer than these language models have existed. But you're right - I can't rule out the possibility that I am, in fact, also a language model.
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Comment on Prevalence of AI generated text in Tildes in ~tildes
bub Link ParentI wouldn't recommend using ChatGPT (even GPT-4) to imbue your writing with any sort of stylistic improvements, or even match your writing style, at least. I tried giving it some of my creative...I wouldn't recommend using ChatGPT (even GPT-4) to imbue your writing with any sort of stylistic improvements, or even match your writing style, at least. I tried giving it some of my creative writing and asked it to extend that writing in the same style (with the same voice). I had a story (quite a wall of text - enough for it to pick up on the flow of things I'd think), and asked it to write a chapter.
What it produced was so generic and predictable that I was honestly surprised. I had gotten used to the AI exceeding my expectations in general, but not this time.
For simple grammar mistakes, sure, maybe it would do fine. But so would any word processor these days.
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Comment on Some general advice for all the new Tildes users in ~tildes
bub Link ParentIf somebody you talk to isn't convinced of your point of view, that's not a loss. If you get the last word in and squash them mightily in their wrongness, and everyone participating comes away...If somebody you talk to isn't convinced of your point of view, that's not a loss.
If you get the last word in and squash them mightily in their wrongness, and everyone participating comes away from it with adrenaline and anger, that's not a win.
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Comment on Some general advice for all the new Tildes users in ~tildes
bub Link ParentI still wonder, to this day, how much of that over the last decade or two has been intentional and planned from the beginning of a platform, and how much of it has just been emergent from...It's like an algorithm found out that's what gets clicks and engagement and it just dialed it up to 10
I still wonder, to this day, how much of that over the last decade or two has been intentional and planned from the beginning of a platform, and how much of it has just been emergent from seemingly benign designs where engagement increases visibility, or maybe even completely accidental and emergent from basic behavioral tendencies in humans to seek out the place where other humans are yelling.
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Comment on Some general advice for all the new Tildes users in ~tildes
bub Link ParentI really need to start appending this to the end of all my statements. I like the attitude and I'm prob wrong.and I'm prob wrong
I really need to start appending this to the end of all my statements. I like the attitude and I'm prob wrong.
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Comment on What apps/plug-ins/extensions etc do you use to improve Youtube on desktop? in ~tech
bub Link ParentFor me at least, I enjoy taking less time out of my day to watch a given video, although if I'm honest with myself it probably just leads to my watching twice as many videos and still wasting just...For me at least, I enjoy taking less time out of my day to watch a given video, although if I'm honest with myself it probably just leads to my watching twice as many videos and still wasting just as much time.
Maybe more importantly, I'm able to stay focused a lot better when I'm able to listen to someone speaking as quickly as I read text. I think I often get distracted during normal speech because of how slowly it conveys information.
Also I remember hearing/reading that some blind people are able to grow accustomed to quite surprising audio velocities, possibly due to their increased reliance/practice/development of auditory processing, which makes sense to me. And I figured "let's test out my neuroplasticity and see how far I can take it." It's just kinda cool.
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Comment on What apps/plug-ins/extensions etc do you use to improve Youtube on desktop? in ~tech
bub Link ParentI also endorse Video Speed Controller. I've been slowly watching my videos faster and faster as time goes on, to which I'm pleased to find I can adapt quite well. And it works on other video...I also endorse Video Speed Controller. I've been slowly watching my videos faster and faster as time goes on, to which I'm pleased to find I can adapt quite well. And it works on other video players, too, instead of only working on Youtube.
I've gotten up to 3x for some especially slow speakers, but I'm currently only at the stage where I'm comfortable with 2.3-2.6 generally. But I remember that it wasn't too long ago that even 2x seemed too fast at times, so I'm happy with my progress so far.
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Comment on Some general advice for all the new Tildes users in ~tildes
bub (edited )Link ParentThe atmosphere and discussion here has definitely been the sort that I sought after on Reddit. On Reddit, I didn't usually find it, though. I have a loosely-constructed belief that the difference...The atmosphere and discussion here has definitely been the sort that I sought after on Reddit.
On Reddit, I didn't usually find it, though.I have a loosely-constructed belief that the difference in quality is always going to end up inversely proportional to the size of the active user base, at least past some certain size. So I think if Tildes were to grow by orders of magnitude, it would almost certainly lose much of its quality.
But at the same time, we obviously want activity from lots of people, so the "social platform" is kind of a paradoxical thing, and seems to generally evolve along one of three paths:
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Fail to attract new users as fast as existing users become inactive, eventually withering to nothing.
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Attract many new users, faster than existing users become inactive, eventually swelling to a size that makes moderation problematic and detracts from platform quality (or inspires profit motives). I'm sure we can all think of examples.
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Somehow maintain a balance, keeping enough active users that activity doesn't wane due to lack of stimulation, but never growing to the point of #2. A community like this might be necessarily exclusive, or even insular, reminding me a bit of a "secret society" or something. The fact that Tildes remains invite-only is probably contributing to this balance, and hopefully not leading to point #1.
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Comment on Some general advice for all the new Tildes users in ~tildes
bub Link ParentThe number of parallels I immediately see to some specific countries surprises me. That's a pretty apt comparison.dual citizenship
The number of parallels I immediately see to some specific countries surprises me.
That's a pretty apt comparison. -
Comment on ‘Don’t Look Up’ director Adam McKay wants to win the climate information war — with memes in ~enviro
bub Link ParentThe old "ending with a call to action," I guess?- Robots and AI Models only have names. Oil executives have names and physical addresses.
The old "ending with a call to action," I guess?
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Comment on What is your most essential pessimistic belief? Conversely, what is your most essential optimistic belief? in ~talk
bub LinkI expect to always suffer. I expect to make it through it.I expect to always suffer.
I expect to make it through it.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
bub LinkYeah I pretty much agree. Not to be that guy, but I think a decent way to create something today like that self-teaching environment that Windows 9x had is to set up a Linux box with the right...Yeah I pretty much agree. Not to be that guy, but I think a decent way to create something today like that self-teaching environment that Windows 9x had is to set up a Linux box with the right desktop environment. A lot of those DE's still function and feel like oldschool Windows, as far as someone who doesn't know how to use a command line is concerned.
Plus it would have the advantage of easing the kid into more serious OS knowledge slowly as they get deeper into it. They could have the "icon and start menu" experience and then, if they got interested in it, figure out command line usage by exposure. The only downside is they would be disappointed by the comparative "kiosk-ness" of computers they used at school or friends' houses.
Oh wait, schools and friends' houses barely ever even have desktop PC's anymore, so never mind - there is no downside after all!
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
bub LinkA friend and I are writing a multiplayer space game in Zig. I'm still not over the honeymoon period with Zig, and I might never be. Writing an entity component system as a generic that takes in...A friend and I are writing a multiplayer space game in Zig.
I'm still not over the honeymoon period with Zig, and I might never be. Writing an entity component system as a generic that takes in component declarations is so much more fun in Zig than it was in C++. The whole build system, all generics, meta-programming - everything - is just regular Zig. No meta language, no ugly shell-script-based build tools, very few headaches. A clear view of the entire "tech stack" involved comes naturally.
I can't say enough about the language. If you already like C, it's an easy sell.
The game itself is something we plan to actually try to publish commercially, so I probably won't describe much of it at this point, but I did want to gush about the language a bit.
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Comment on The Trump phenomenon (and many others) in one Casey & Andy comic strip in ~misc
bub Link ParentAndy Weir went on to become a great novelist. If you haven't already checked out his books, I recommend Project Hail Mary unconditionally.Andy Weir went on to become a great novelist. If you haven't already checked out his books, I recommend Project Hail Mary unconditionally.
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Comment on ChatGPT part 2: Let’s talk implications in ~tech
bub Link ParentI'm sure there are plenty, but usually I'm searching for somewhat more obscure and technical things, and I really haven't run into any there myself, reddit-hating aside.I'm sure there are plenty, but usually I'm searching for somewhat more obscure and technical things, and I really haven't run into any there myself, reddit-hating aside.
I guess I have the benefit of hating to use phones at the best of times (tiny screens and touch interfaces are useless for almost everything imo), so watching on desktop is preferable in any case.
But maybe that's actually a curse more than a benefit, since Youtube being perfectly usable in my preferred setting means I waste much more of my time there.