delphi's recent activity
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Comment on Does generative AI have a natural limit without a major innovation? in ~comp
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Comment on Does generative AI have a natural limit without a major innovation? in ~comp
delphi Link"GenAI" is a really useless term for what the question here actually is, and without getting into it I really don't like how the term has become to used, especially in circles that don't much..."GenAI" is a really useless term for what the question here actually is, and without getting into it I really don't like how the term has become to used, especially in circles that don't much think about the topic and use it as a shorthand for "the product I don't like". Yes, obviously you mean LLMs and image diffusion models, but stay with me here.
Let's say that we get full, real Artificial Intelligence. Cmdr Data, Durandal, GLaDOS, Nick Valentine. A computer that is indistinguishable from a human in terms of their inner life. Would this not still be generative? Would these systems, human by any philosophical definition, generate their output? Don't humans do that now? I don't think it's a meaningful distinction.
As for your question, I personally do not think that LLMs are or can ever be conscious, but I'm not an expert. I don't think LLMs get us to the point of Strong AGI. It's certainly worth examining, I think that research that Anthropic did a while back where they injected thought vectors into an LLMs reasoning space and it could retrieve the general "shape" of these ideas was fascinating, and while I'm pretty cynical about this I'll err on the side of caution and say that, sure, maybe, in some way, whatever's going on inside any given model may approximate the same mechanisms that in humans eventually cause sentience to emerge.
But are we weeks, months or even years away from OpenAI releasing Consciousness-as-a-Service? I don't think so.
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Comment on Would it make sense to wrap my Calibre library in a Git project? in ~tech
delphi (edited )LinkGit is the wrong tool for this. There's better ways to version control a directory with many files like this, but admittedly, it's not the WORST idea. If you keep it offline and don't share it to...Git is the wrong tool for this. There's better ways to version control a directory with many files like this, but admittedly, it's not the WORST idea. If you keep it offline and don't share it to a code forge like GitHub you don't even have to ignore anything. I would still use a classic backup solution like Borg or Restic.
I'll expand on this:
metadata.dband and.caltrashI would leave untracked. A regular cron job to back up the database file separately will do fine if you WANT to version it, but it changes with every interaction, so expect your repo to grow quickly. Also keep in mind that .epubs are .zip files, which are binary blobs, and git won't be able to meaningfully delta them. Not a big deal if your books are just a couple of megabytes at most, but with comics, that's bad.Also, while you can do this and git will let you, it's not a good workflow. Staging, committing and writing messages for every commit is maybe not as seamless as you want it to be. If it was my library, I would use a regular backup app to make deltas every hour, every day or every week depending on how often you interact with it.
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Comment on Recommendations for e-ink tablets? in ~tech
delphi Link ParentThis nerd sniped me. After extensive testing, I've determined that it feels most like a medium-blunt Faber Castell 9000 pencil on Harmony Enviro 300 Paper, on a wooden desk. That being said, this...This nerd sniped me.
After extensive testing, I've determined that it feels most like a medium-blunt Faber Castell 9000 pencil on Harmony Enviro 300 Paper, on a wooden desk. That being said, this is the "closest" in terms of feel. It's still not identical, far from it. The digital pen has much less friction, albeit not as bad as, say, a Galaxy Note. Nowhere near. Better than an Apple Pencil on an iPad Pro, even.
I tested a Palomino Blackwing 602, a Mitsubishi Hi-Uni, a Faber Castell 9000 and a Faber Castell Grip 2001, Caran d'Ache Technograph 777, Staedler Mars Lumograph 100 and Staedler Noris 120, Dixon Ticonderoga #2. All Pencils are HB (#2).
In terms of paper, I tested Mondi ColorCopy 100 and 120, Ovol Enviro Harmony 100, 160 and 300, Mondi Nautilus 120 and 160, Antalis OLIN 160 and 200, and Mondi DNS 160.
Hope this helps (?)
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Comment on Recommendations for e-ink tablets? in ~tech
delphi LinkI own a Remarkable Paper Pro and it's very good for my exact use case. That's taking notes, reading and marking up PDFs, and nothing else. If you need a web browser, you won't be happy here, but...I own a Remarkable Paper Pro and it's very good for my exact use case. That's taking notes, reading and marking up PDFs, and nothing else. If you need a web browser, you won't be happy here, but to me that's kind of the point.
Getting files on it is painless, though. It comes with a quite well designed app that drops itself into the share sheet on your phone, so you can send PDF or link directly to it. Set its primary Wifi network to the one sent by your phone in personal hotspot mode, and you essentially have it connected all the time.
There's also a first party Google Drive integration, although I've never used it.
Edit: I also want to point out that all of the alternatives, Kindle, Onyx and Supernote, are all using EMR pens, like the earlier Remarkable 2. I can't stand those pens, and really love the feeling of the new Paper Pro/Move/Pure pen on the display. It's as close as I've ever seen one of these devices get to a pen-on-paper feel, although it's still miles from the real thing.
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Comment on Searching for neighbours on the indie web in ~tech
delphi LinkI don't have a button - maybe I should - but I am a proud member of both the IndieWeb and XXIIVV web rings. Hello! https://rmv.fyiI don't have a button - maybe I should - but I am a proud member of both the IndieWeb and XXIIVV web rings. Hello!
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Comment on rsync and outrage in ~comp
delphi (edited )LinkI have to deeply respect Tridge's godly patience in dealing with the people that want to strangle him for daring to use a tool he quite clearly knows how to use properly and (knows the limitations...- Exemplary
I have to deeply respect Tridge's godly patience in dealing with the people that want to strangle him for daring to use a tool he quite clearly knows how to use properly and (knows the limitations contained therein).
As for
rsyncitself, it's software. It'll have bugs. To me it doesn't matter if the bug was introduced by the maintainer by hand or by an AI tool. As much as the Mastodon puritans are foaming at the mouth about this, there's no rule that says that you have to be this bug-free to be load bearing software. If that was the case, the world wouldn't run on Excel and Acrobat.At this point, it seems like the only real recommendation is to turn off LLMs co-authoring feature so that Claude and Codex don't sign the commits with their logo as well. This doesn't fix the underlying problem, if there is one, but would at least prevent further harassment from unkind people who just want to be angry at someone who develops a free utility for free, on their own time, on their own dime.
If this had happened to me I'd've burned
rsyncto the ground. Fuck these people. This is just as unreasonable as Lennart Poettering receiving death threats oversystemd. -
Comment on What are people's experiences with using Kagi? in ~tech
delphi Link ParentI'm not learning a language right now, but my husband is learning German. So, he's reading a book, and when he encounters a sentence he can't quite parse yet, he drops it into Kagi on the German...I'm not learning a language right now, but my husband is learning German. So, he's reading a book, and when he encounters a sentence he can't quite parse yet, he drops it into Kagi on the German to German setting, with the output set to a more manageable level like A2 or B1, to get the gist. Then, individual words go into the dictionary translation mode.
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Comment on Clanker: A word for the machine in ~tech
delphi LinkHaving grown up in the age of the Matrix and James Bond in popular culture, I personally don't associate "Agent" with a human, but a function first and foremost. James Bond isn't a secret agent...Having grown up in the age of the Matrix and James Bond in popular culture, I personally don't associate "Agent" with a human, but a function first and foremost. James Bond isn't a secret agent when he's relaxing in Monaco, and Agent Smith literally was an AI.
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Comment on 100 years of television design in ~design
delphi LinkWould have loved to read more of this, a shame that the "100 years of television design" on display only reach from 1920 to 1970.Would have loved to read more of this, a shame that the "100 years of television design" on display only reach from 1920 to 1970.
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Comment on What are people's experiences with using Kagi? in ~tech
delphi Link ParentThis being enforced on the search engine level means that as long as you have it set to be your default Omnibox engine, it will work exactly the same way. !w (query) will be passed to Kagi, which...This being enforced on the search engine level means that as long as you have it set to be your default Omnibox engine, it will work exactly the same way.
!w (query)will be passed to Kagi, which passes it directly to wikipedia. No need to set this up on a per browser basis. -
Comment on 'Stop Killing Games' movement gains momentum: California Assembly passes game protection bill in ~games
delphi Link ParentYou're right in everything you've said, and I do want to stress that this is a good idea, even if I think the wording is a little unfortunate. But then again, I also work in government. I'll...You're right in everything you've said, and I do want to stress that this is a good idea, even if I think the wording is a little unfortunate. But then again, I also work in government. I'll prefer something like "Right To Play" or "Keep Games Playable" or "Game Continuity Act".
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Comment on 'Stop Killing Games' movement gains momentum: California Assembly passes game protection bill in ~games
delphi LinkI really like the intention of "Let's make sure video games can run and be maintained well after their publisher folds", but the whole framing of "Stop Killing Games" really irks me. It's just so...I really like the intention of "Let's make sure video games can run and be maintained well after their publisher folds", but the whole framing of "Stop Killing Games" really irks me. It's just so provocative and unreasonable. As if Ubisoft is going around with a big scythe looking for projects to pull the plug on. Like, no, it's mismanagement and people who don't care. This isn't malice, this is apathy.
I agree with the idea, that single player games shouldn't require active online DRM, and that online match-based games should probably offer some way for users to run custom servers after the official ones shut down and also provide the players with server software to run (it's not crazy, Valve has been doing this since time immemorial and the sun hasn't collapsed), but the way this is phrased is just stupid and loud to me, most likely to get as much media attention as possible for what's a very basic and reasonable request for legislation.
P.S.: I think it's also a little naive to assume that this will somehow "fix" games the publishers have abandoned. The Crew is offline, so sure, that one gets a pass, but we've seen it from Valve that every game that offers unrestricted custom servers gets botted and cheated to hell and back. Not once have I had a good time on a custom TF2 server.
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Comment on What are people's experiences with using Kagi? in ~tech
delphi Link ParentYes, at least on the iOS app there is a search feature, although tapping one of the categories doesn't work now that I check it... regular full text search works fine though.Yes, at least on the iOS app there is a search feature, although tapping one of the categories doesn't work now that I check it... regular full text search works fine though.
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Comment on What are people's experiences with using Kagi? in ~tech
delphi Link ParentI've been in the Beta since essentially day one, and it's been really, really good. They're a little AI brained, and I doubt they can keep up the momentum as that tech gets more expensive, but for...I've been in the Beta since essentially day one, and it's been really, really good. They're a little AI brained, and I doubt they can keep up the momentum as that tech gets more expensive, but for now it's very good at collecting stories, extrapolating from different sources and showing biases and deeper information (although when it fails, it does fail hard, I've seen it consider the Onion a real source once). Crosswords are fun too and the design is just very modern and competent
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Comment on What are people's experiences with using Kagi? in ~tech
delphi LinkI dig Kagi. It's not often that I really love a product, and it makes a testimonial sound very inauthentic, but it's absolutely true. Kagi fixed my problems with the web. It feels like classic...I dig Kagi. It's not often that I really love a product, and it makes a testimonial sound very inauthentic, but it's absolutely true. Kagi fixed my problems with the web. It feels like classic Google back in 2010 did. It just works. It's incredibly good, and the family plan feeds me and five friends for 20 bucks a month. No-brainer. Kagi Translate is hands down the best machine translator. Better than DeepL, by leagues. You can set the damn desired output level! You get to choose if you want an A1 - C2 style translation! It's incredible for language learning, and has a dictionary!
You can search any site directly with customisable "bangs" and "lenses" and "snaps" - I have set it up so
!r (query)searches reddit thru Reddit's engine,@r querysearches Reddit using Kagi (like site:reddit.com), and the Forums lens will limit the search index to known good forums the list of which the Kagi team maintains, but you're welcome to make your own.Don't like listicles? Filter them out! Don't like AI? Filter it out! Don't like videos, news, documents in your search results? Filter! Them! Out! It's YOUR damn search query, this is how everything should work! And of course, this goes without saying, but you're paying for it, so there's no ads either!
I'm just gonna keep going. It's got so many good ideas. Ranking domains manually is amazing, I pin Wikipedia results to the top and block Pinterest from ever showing up, it doesn't collect any user data, so no search history either (a plus for me), it's not weirdly cagy about adult content like Google and Bing are, it just gets me the damn results. It's a joy to use, and it's deeply, deeply customisable. They let you bring your own CSS, for god's sake. Even their AI search is good, because by default, there's none! What an idea, Google! Will wonders ever cease? And if you do want it, just add a "?" to the end of your query, and that will trigger it, a delightful UX pattern that I hope everyone else copies.
That's not to say it's perfect. I don't really like how much they're focusing on the "Assistant", a sort of multi-model (not multi-modal) AI experience (which is to say, I never use it, and if it disappeared I wouldn't mind), Kagi News is a blatant and not very good rip off of Particle News, The image search is passable at best but usually subpar so I still use Google Images quite a lot.
But it genuinely gives me hope for a better web.
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Comment on What are your personal crackpot conspiracy theories about the world right now? in ~talk
delphi (edited )LinkI'm convinced that those one-time codes that Apple generates when you log in on a new device are not random. There has to be a file somewhere on Apple's servers that has a list of acceptable,...I'm convinced that those one-time codes that Apple generates when you log in on a new device are not random. There has to be a file somewhere on Apple's servers that has a list of acceptable, aesthetically pleasing codes. 545860? Absolutely that one's in there. But 115167? Not a chance
Btw excellent use of the
hats.tinfoiltag -
Comment on If you let AI do your writing, I will come to your house and kill you in ~tech
delphi Link ParentThere's nothing wrong with Canva, and even the issues I have with it are nowhere near as foundational as I do with AI, but it's just... it's like a microwave meal. Alton Brown (TV chef) said in an...There's nothing wrong with Canva, and even the issues I have with it are nowhere near as foundational as I do with AI, but it's just... it's like a microwave meal. Alton Brown (TV chef) said in an interview that sometimes he'd just walk out of the grocery store mid-shop because he sees what crap the other people buy that don't have his sensibilities. With Canva I feel very similar. With not much more effort, you could make a really nice poster, learn a new skill in the process, but instead you make the graphics equivalent of microwaved Salisbury Steak. It's kinda offensive to me, but I can't fault anyone for using it.
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Comment on If you let AI do your writing, I will come to your house and kill you in ~tech
delphi Link ParentNot really, no. I'm not that mad about it. 80% of text on the internet, probably more, is just digital shipping foam to keep the bits from rattling around on the datacenter hard drives. I really...Not really, no. I'm not that mad about it. 80% of text on the internet, probably more, is just digital shipping foam to keep the bits from rattling around on the datacenter hard drives. I really could not care less about people doing copywriting for their job or social media captions with AI or whatever. I am the last person to give those categories of - really, I struggle to call it 'writing' - a fair chance.
I do worry though when someone makes something they're meant to be proud of, nominally, like handmade trinkets or art, and then use AI to write the product listings and Canva for the graphics. That gets to me a bit, personally, as an artist? Like, if I care about this, I'd do it myself. But hey, free country. Do what you want, I guess.
Wholly agree on the problem about creative writing though. If you mean to make a point, then I'd like you to present that point, because if you can't be bothered to write it, I can't be bothered to read it.
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Comment on If you let AI do your writing, I will come to your house and kill you in ~tech
delphi Link ParentTo me it's also not very funny? Like, either they don't, in which case they're empty threats and they're making a fool of themselves, or they do, in which case there's now evidence of intent, and...To me it's also not very funny? Like, either they don't, in which case they're empty threats and they're making a fool of themselves, or they do, in which case there's now evidence of intent, and I kind of fail to see the comedy in either one. I get the message, but it's just... not very funny. Idk
I get the mechanisms you're referring to, I know how back propagation and reinforced learning works, I understand pretaining as a concept, and you're spot on on the analysis in any other part, but I have to ask - "they just regurgitate text and can't have any original insight" - is that really true?
Like, get this. I've absolutely seen the model do "original" things before, even if they were just deterministic flukes. I can absolutely get the model to string together words and sentences in a way that - aside from the library of Babel, grumble grumble - no human being has ever said. Now granted, I can also do that with a random number generator, but therein I think lies the point.
If we can get it to do that, we can get it to do that in code, or maths, or poetry, or whatever. Will the output be coherent, good, any of those? Doubtful, doubtful, but it will absolutely be "original". This is pedantic, sure, but I kind of reject the notion that "LLMs can't be meaningfully creative" when the mechanisms in place are in concept so close to a human synthesising knowledge from their learned experiences. And god knows humans are capable of writing nonsense as well.