d32's recent activity

  1. Comment on Can you recommend some visual aids for 'The City and the Stars' by Arthur C. Clarke? in ~books

    d32
    Link Parent
    Honestly, I'm not sure! Every art available online seem to point in a different direction :) Examples:...

    Honestly, I'm not sure! Every art available online seem to point in a different direction :)
    Examples:

    https://www.myconfinedspace.com/2022/09/22/a-farewell-to-diaspar-steve-r-dodd-inspired-by-arthur-c-clarkes-the-city-and-the-stars/a-farewell-to-diaspar-steve-r-dodd-inspired-by-arthur-c-clarkes-the-city-and-the-stars/
    https://arturoperez.artstation.com/projects/aGXLRX
    https://www.amazon.com/City-Stars-Millennium-SF-Masterworks/dp/1857987632

    3 votes

  2. Comment on Can you recommend some visual aids for 'The City and the Stars' by Arthur C. Clarke? in ~books

    d32
    Link
    OK, the Tildes hive is probably going to hate me for this, but... I asked ChatGPT to use its new image model to come up with what you are asking for. Here's the result:...

    OK, the Tildes hive is probably going to hate me for this, but... I asked ChatGPT to use its new image model to come up with what you are asking for. Here's the result:
    https://files.catbox.moe/fw3u23.png

    3 votes

  3. Comment on Good time to buy a gas/diesel car (in the EU)? in ~transport

    d32
    Link
    You can't time the market. Don't try to time the market. If you see them going down, you may consider buying one. Don't assume any direction their value will take afterwards.

    You can't time the market. Don't try to time the market. If you see them going down, you may consider buying one. Don't assume any direction their value will take afterwards.

    3 votes

  4. Comment on Fits on a floppy - a manifesto for small software in ~tech

    d32
    Link Parent
    I didn't mean you - you are free to choose your biases based on any rational, commercial and whatever other reason yourself. I was just surprised to see "a manifesto for small software" - title...

    I didn't mean you - you are free to choose your biases based on any rational, commercial and whatever other reason yourself. I was just surprised to see "a manifesto for small software" - title sounding quite general - focusing strictly on apple.

    5 votes

  5. Comment on Fits on a floppy - a manifesto for small software in ~tech

    d32
    Link
    Why the apple bias? Small Linux or Android apps don't count?

    Why the apple bias? Small Linux or Android apps don't count?

    2 votes

  6. Comment on The tech billionaires who want to pave over the universe: Adam Becker’s More Everything Forever in ~society

    d32
    Link

    It’s about how tech billionaires have developed a religion based on poorly-interpreted science fiction, poorly-understood cognitive psychology, thanatophobia, and the need to feel morally justified about making unreasonable amounts of money.

    The end result is that the world’s richest and most influential people are working for a future in which AI Jesus solves all our problems and all the matter in the universe is turned into computers for simulating happy humans.

    Becker does an excellent job of breaking down the inaccurate scientific, mathematical, and moral beliefs underlying these goals. Nanotechnology and neuroscience don’t work the way these groups think they do. Neither does space travel.

    EA philanthropists, when helping current real people, often take into account whether they’re from an ethnic group that they think is more likely to contribute to AI alignment.

    Jeffrey Epstein is involved, of course.

    you can see it in the redirection of far too many societal resources to solving a problem with a technology that’s probably not possible, for a future that’s probably not possible—and away from real and higher-probability existential problems like climate change, pandemics, or even cometary impacts.

    Becker points out that humans have a long history of counterproductive, septic belief sets. The difference here is that billionaires have way, way too much power to act on those beliefs, and to push others to act on them as well. His proposed solution: tax billionaires out of existence

    12 votes

  8. Comment on Looking for an online spreadsheet to share with others (not Google or Microsoft) in ~tech

    d32
    Link
    Nextcloud with Collabora installed is probably the best you can get... But not very good. Server side graphics rendering makes it clumsy to use. Onlyoffice is much better usability wise, but it's...

    Nextcloud with Collabora installed is probably the best you can get... But not very good. Server side graphics rendering makes it clumsy to use.
    Onlyoffice is much better usability wise, but it's russian, so I wouldn't recommend that.

    2 votes

  9. Comment on Introducing EmDash — the spiritual successor to WordPress that solves plugin security in ~tech

    d32
    Link Parent
    Hopefully the other way around. I don't want to see reimplementation of an arbitrary proprietary approach to the problem as a distinguishing factor between providers - I'd rather see the feature...

    Hopefully the other way around. I don't want to see reimplementation of an arbitrary proprietary approach to the problem as a distinguishing factor between providers - I'd rather see the feature implemented in a standard way not requiring any special form of support from the server.

    4 votes

  10. Comment on Balcony solar is spreading across the US in ~enviro

    d32
    Link
    (This looked like an advertisement for the first view, but - IMO - turned out as a nice review of the trend and a political commentary on top of it)

    The balcony solar movement is running hot in Germany, and now it is spreading into the US like gangbusters, just in time for US President Donald Trump’s war in Iran to send the cost of coal through the roof alongside oil and natural gas.

    (This looked like an advertisement for the first view, but - IMO - turned out as a nice review of the trend and a political commentary on top of it)

    9 votes

  12. Comment on Introducing EmDash — the spiritual successor to WordPress that solves plugin security in ~tech

    d32
    Link Parent
    Actually no, what that statement omits is "...but without the single selling feature mentioned in the headlines." (plugin sandboxing).

    Actually no, what that statement omits is "...but without the single selling feature mentioned in the headlines." (plugin sandboxing).

    7 votes

  13. Comment on "CEO said a thing!" journalism in ~tech

    d32
    Link Parent
    This is spot on. They pretend he said something... well not meaningful, but at least grammatically comprehensible, thus lying to the readers.

    translating them to coherent English

    This is spot on. They pretend he said something... well not meaningful, but at least grammatically comprehensible, thus lying to the readers.

    12 votes

  14. Comment on "CEO said a thing!" journalism in ~tech

    d32
    Link Parent
    Those especially bother me. The demented fascist clown (those are honest observations, not insults) says everything and nothing in each 200 word sentence he babbles, why would you cite him?

    Those especially bother me. The demented fascist clown (those are honest observations, not insults) says everything and nothing in each 200 word sentence he babbles, why would you cite him?

    15 votes

  15. Comment on What non-software jobs exist for a newly graduated CS major? in ~life

    d32
    Link Parent
    I would call it slavery, but I'm a cynical man from a different part of the world. Sorry OP for not being helpful, wish you all the best in your situation anyway. Try not to get frustrated and...

    I would call it slavery, but I'm a cynical man from a different part of the world.

    Sorry OP for not being helpful, wish you all the best in your situation anyway. Try not to get frustrated and learn how to sell your experience.

    11 votes

  16. Comment on Executing programs inside transformers with exponentially faster inference in ~comp

    d32
    Link
    I think this is silly. The described "workarounds" to the stated problem are not really workarounds, they are solutions. There's nothing more practical than expand the capabilities of the models...

    I think this is silly. The described "workarounds" to the stated problem are not really workarounds, they are solutions. There's nothing more practical than expand the capabilities of the models than to give them access to tuned, curated set of tools. Model cannot do the math? Give it calculator. Model cannot do turing complete code execution? Give it entire computer!
    Why would you hardcode computer into the model? How will you do updates/changes? How will you handle its access control? To use their analogy, why would you turn a human into frankenmonster cyborg airplane when you can just let him use the airplane?

    7 votes

  17. Comment on Hisense TVs show ads during normal operation in ~tech

    d32
    Link Parent
    Yeah, some of the TVs actively scan for wifi networks that they could use and connect automatically. Plus there have been ideas about TVs coming with pre-installed sim cards (just like cars are...

    Yeah, some of the TVs actively scan for wifi networks that they could use and connect automatically. Plus there have been ideas about TVs coming with pre-installed sim cards (just like cars are now) as the means to circumvent the attempts to keep them offline.

    13 votes

  18. Comment on What are people using instead of VS Code? in ~comp

    d32
    Link Parent
    Yes, they are in the "extend" phase with their "open source" project.

    Yes, they are in the "extend" phase with their "open source" project.

    7 votes

  19. Comment on I don’t know if my software engineering job will still exist in ten years in ~comp

    d32
    Link Parent
    I guess this is the only thing you can control, somewhat.

    I guess this is the only thing you can control, somewhat.

  20. Comment on The average US college student is illiterate in ~life

    d32
    Link Parent
    Yes, of course you are right. But still, as a pedestrian you cannot just bet on the driver being just or even sane. You do that 500 times and you die.

    Yes, of course you are right. But still, as a pedestrian you cannot just bet on the driver being just or even sane. You do that 500 times and you die.

    1 vote