chundissimo's recent activity

  1. Comment on 2024 United States Election Megathread in ~news

    chundissimo
    Link Parent
    Recent MAGA election lawsuits are certainly hard to compare to Bush v. Gore. But, everything I understand about that SCOTUS decision has led me to believe they essentially delivered Bush an...

    Recent MAGA election lawsuits are certainly hard to compare to Bush v. Gore. But, everything I understand about that SCOTUS decision has led me to believe they essentially delivered Bush an election he should have (barely) lost. What details am I missing?

    14 votes
  2. Comment on 2024 United States Election Megathread in ~news

    chundissimo
    Link Parent
    The batshit one’s sure, but Bush v. Gore shows the court is okay with meddling as long as they have a fig leaf to cover their partisanship…

    The batshit one’s sure, but Bush v. Gore shows the court is okay with meddling as long as they have a fig leaf to cover their partisanship…

    15 votes
  3. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    chundissimo
    Link Parent
    I just started Way of Kings recently and I’m really enjoying it. Sanderson really does not hold your hand in it though unlike Mistborn where he felt more eager to explain the world. Not a...

    I just started Way of Kings recently and I’m really enjoying it. Sanderson really does not hold your hand in it though unlike Mistborn where he felt more eager to explain the world. Not a complaint, just an interesting stylistic difference.

    2 votes
  4. Comment on Los Angeles Dodgers win the World Series, defeating the New York Yankees in five games in ~sports.baseball

    chundissimo
    Link Parent
    As a Padres fan, the best outcome would have been somehow them both losing and we all agreed there was no winner this year.

    As a Padres fan, the best outcome would have been somehow them both losing and we all agreed there was no winner this year.

    5 votes
  5. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    chundissimo
    Link Parent
    I’ve been playing since it was in alpha and it’s wild to see how far it’s come. I’ve ignored a lot of the DLC despite it being very cool stuff; it just overwhelms me mechanically.

    I’ve been playing since it was in alpha and it’s wild to see how far it’s come. I’ve ignored a lot of the DLC despite it being very cool stuff; it just overwhelms me mechanically.

    2 votes
  6. Comment on US airlines now required to automatically refund you for canceled flight in ~transport

    chundissimo
    Link
    I’ve had an absurd number of bad flying experiences this past year due to delays and cancellations, so I’m very glad to see this go into effect

    I’ve had an absurd number of bad flying experiences this past year due to delays and cancellations, so I’m very glad to see this go into effect

    16 votes
  7. Comment on Let's talk 'underconsumption core' in ~life.style

    chundissimo
    Link Parent
    Not a parent, but I’ve thought a lot about kids’ relationship with screens, but I’d never thought more specifically about advertising. Very cool to see your approach has a noticeable, positive...

    Not a parent, but I’ve thought a lot about kids’ relationship with screens, but I’d never thought more specifically about advertising. Very cool to see your approach has a noticeable, positive impact. Kudos to you for being a thoughtful parent!

    4 votes
  8. Comment on Never missing the train again, thanks to Rust in ~comp

    chundissimo
    Link
    Great project. I’m tempted to build something like this so I don’t always have to pull out my transit apps

    Great project. I’m tempted to build something like this so I don’t always have to pull out my transit apps

    3 votes
  9. Comment on What Facebook has done to us in ~tech

    chundissimo
    Link Parent
    I like to have longer form second screen content that I can give 50% of my attention to while playing certain games that aren’t high octane

    I like to have longer form second screen content that I can give 50% of my attention to while playing certain games that aren’t high octane

    7 votes
  10. Comment on Looking for a Switch game thats fun but requires little commitment in ~games

    chundissimo
    Link Parent
    I came here to suggest Balatro! I think it fits the bill perfectly. Pretty easy to learn too.

    I came here to suggest Balatro! I think it fits the bill perfectly. Pretty easy to learn too.

    4 votes
  11. Comment on I quit teaching because of ChatGPT in ~creative

    chundissimo
    Link Parent
    Could be, depends on where money gets dumped in that period. If it continues as it is now with a hyper focus on scaling LLMs and applying carelessly to every domain, I’m more convinced of a bubble...

    Could be, depends on where money gets dumped in that period. If it continues as it is now with a hyper focus on scaling LLMs and applying carelessly to every domain, I’m more convinced of a bubble pop. But then again LLMs have leaped things forward and the same can be said about deep learning and back propagation a decade or so ago. So maybe in a decade we’ll get another groundbreaking change in the field.

    5 votes
  12. Comment on I quit teaching because of ChatGPT in ~creative

    chundissimo
    Link Parent
    I hear ya, I just think it’s gonna be a while before people actively prefer that. LLMs are quite impressive but as it stands now (which is not forever), they fall short on reasoning tasks. Yes,...

    I hear ya, I just think it’s gonna be a while before people actively prefer that. LLMs are quite impressive but as it stands now (which is not forever), they fall short on reasoning tasks. Yes, I’ve seen how they perform against ARC datasets, but I’m still not convinced by the landscape of architectures. Perhaps with some fundamental changes, or perhaps clever use of previous research like some of the blending of LLMs going on with RNNs or even RL.

    I agree that’s not the fun or rewarding part but it’s an essential step that’s gonna be hard to surmount. And that’s even when hand waving away programming altogether which I’m still not convinced will be the case any time soon. I’ve certainly got a skeptical bias in this arena, but I’m just not impressed by what I’m seeing these days when it comes to programming or software engineering.

    5 votes
  13. Comment on I quit teaching because of ChatGPT in ~creative

    chundissimo
    Link Parent
    I wouldn’t be so certain about AI being a threat to programming any time soon. Especially if you mean professionally as a software engineer. Software engineering is much more than writing code....

    I wouldn’t be so certain about AI being a threat to programming any time soon. Especially if you mean professionally as a software engineer. Software engineering is much more than writing code.

    Maybe we’ll reach a day where AI is good at requirement gathering, understanding users and building interfaces, writing maintainable code (although maybe that won’t matter), long-term planning, prioritization, etc. I really just don’t see that happening within the next 20 years, but who knows.

    26 votes
  14. Comment on Historic US ship could soon become the world's largest artificial reef in ~enviro

    chundissimo
    Link
    Artificial reefs are super cool! Kind of pricey in some cases (like this one), but they really can be great for certain ecosystems. It takes a while for life to form around it, but it’s...

    Artificial reefs are super cool! Kind of pricey in some cases (like this one), but they really can be great for certain ecosystems. It takes a while for life to form around it, but it’s otherworldly looking once it does. I dove a very small one once and it’s pretty neat, although not great for the claustrophobic.

    6 votes
  15. Comment on Is the world really running out of sand? in ~engineering

    chundissimo
    Link Parent
    Whenever I see pours I always wonder how much “wading” time concrete workers have. In other words, how long does concrete typically stay “liquid” enough to walk through it (in the proper clothing)...

    Whenever I see pours I always wonder how much “wading” time concrete workers have. In other words, how long does concrete typically stay “liquid” enough to walk through it (in the proper clothing) without being too concerned about it hardening? Minutes, hours, or days?

    4 votes
  16. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    chundissimo
    Link Parent
    Update: I finished Caves of Steel and I’m glad I did! Not my favorite Asimov book, but I enjoyed it more in the second half

    Update: I finished Caves of Steel and I’m glad I did! Not my favorite Asimov book, but I enjoyed it more in the second half

  17. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    chundissimo
    Link Parent
    Yep! I read the first three and loved them. I enjoyed the first one best (again maybe because it was a little more short story formatted). But I really enjoyed The Mule as a character. I heard the...

    Yep! I read the first three and loved them. I enjoyed the first one best (again maybe because it was a little more short story formatted). But I really enjoyed The Mule as a character. I heard the quality drops off after the third and I felt I had gotten enough out of that series at that point.

    2 votes
  18. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    chundissimo
    Link
    I’ve read a lot of Asimov, but I had never read any of his Robot books until now. Recently finished I, Robot and absolutely loved it. Now I’m on Caves of Steel and it’s kind of feeling like a...

    I’ve read a lot of Asimov, but I had never read any of his Robot books until now. Recently finished I, Robot and absolutely loved it. Now I’m on Caves of Steel and it’s kind of feeling like a chore to read. The world building is good, but I don’t love any of the characters. I also feel sometimes that Asimov’s strength is short stories and his writing style sometimes falls apart for me when it’s longer form. Not sure if I’m gonna finish but I’m about 40% through.

    3 votes
  19. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    chundissimo
    Link Parent
    I just started recently and I nearly regret it; I knew this game would grip my brain immediately. I lost nearly an hour today after sitting down and thinking “well I’ll just spend a few minutes...

    I just started recently and I nearly regret it; I knew this game would grip my brain immediately. I lost nearly an hour today after sitting down and thinking “well I’ll just spend a few minutes fixing this production line real quickly”. It’s very addicting but it feels much more rewarding than the kind of MMO addiction I’ve tried to minimize. Instead of “number go up” dopamine it’s “look at my gloriously efficient and horribly complex monstrosity I’ve built” serotonin.

    2 votes
  20. Comment on wordfreq will no longer be updated partly due to AI polluting the data in ~comp

    chundissimo
    Link
    NLP isn’t really my field, but I’ve definitely felt this in the broader field of software engineering. Feels like there’s a thousand ill conceived companies “disrupting” some industry or another...

    The field I know as "natural language processing" is hard to find these days. It's all being devoured by generative AI. Other techniques still exist but generative AI sucks up all the air in the room and gets all the money. It's rare to see NLP research that doesn't have a dependency on closed data controlled by OpenAI and Google, two companies that I already despise.

    NLP isn’t really my field, but I’ve definitely felt this in the broader field of software engineering. Feels like there’s a thousand ill conceived companies “disrupting” some industry or another with LLMs. They’re all somehow able to raise millions despite glaring core business model issues, while startup funding has pretty much dried up for everyone else since the end of the zero interest era.

    Even companies who have no foothold in “AI” are shoehorning it into their products or stretching the truth to claim they are so they can excite their investors. It all feels like a bubble and honestly I’d like to see it pop.

    13 votes