entitled-entilde's recent activity
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Comment on I think Tildes moderators and admins may need to make a decision regarding how to handle Harry Potter related posts in ~tildes
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Comment on I think Tildes moderators and admins may need to make a decision regarding how to handle Harry Potter related posts in ~tildes
entitled-entilde Link ParentIn fact we should worry about the white sheet manufacturers. The fact that this is offensive to our moral intuition is a product of society. It would be disastrous for capitalism if we did. Focus...In fact we should worry about the white sheet manufacturers. The fact that this is offensive to our moral intuition is a product of society. It would be disastrous for capitalism if we did.
Focus on buying / selling, this part is key. Imagine a farmers market. Person AA selling cakes is a KKK members; BB is not. You decide to buy from BB. AA starves to death. Where is the ethics in that? Furthermore, it turns out that BB uses the profits to buy a white sheet for their bed. The sheet manufacture wakes up one morning, turns on the news, and sees his work at a KKK march. A minority of their sales compared to beds. But there is nobody hiring at the blue sheet factory, so he is forced to enslave himself making white ones (much less to write poetry, enjoy a fine summer day, etc).
Now ignore those fundamental flaws, and focus on the practical. BB skips the bedsheets and buys some carrots instead. The carrot grower buys a lottery ticket and wins generational wealth to spend on his political preferences. Too bad, he's the head of the klan. Money is fungible, you can't control where it goes. And even if you could trace and weigh every potential path, at least in the United States you would find that it accumulates not with you or me, but with the ultra rich (like Elon Musk), who have access to exponential growth.
The buying / selling part is crucial. If I said you had to support the KKK to protect the sheet manufacturers, this would require you to compromise your sincere identity. But what you buy has no impact on your actual identity, despite what advertisers want us to believe. Practically speaking you wouldn't want to walk down the street in a white hood, but fundamentally the clothing you wear has no connection to who you are as an individual.
But I wanted the last part of my post to be concessionary. Given that the world is flawed, you may choose to boycott Harry Potter having conceded that the strategy is corrupted at its core, potentially counterproductive, etc. If you met Rowling one day and she offered objections similar to mine, you could simply remind her that earthquakes kill both the good and the bad. If arbitrariness bothers her, she should've thought of that when she got upset about transgender people.
My core issue is about moral obligation. I think we have many such obligations in our lives, which are centered on our sincere personal actions in the world. But given the core corruption of the system, and the imperfectness of trying to work within it, what we buy and sell is not one of them. So you can choose to boycott yourself, but to impose that as a measure of another's moral character is where things break down.
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Comment on I think Tildes moderators and admins may need to make a decision regarding how to handle Harry Potter related posts in ~tildes
entitled-entilde (edited )LinkMany people responding here have fallen for the false belief of something called "ethical capitalism". Essentially, in western countries, three ideas dominate: capitalism, social Darwinism, and...Many people responding here have fallen for the false belief of something called "ethical capitalism". Essentially, in western countries, three ideas dominate: capitalism, social Darwinism, and brand identity. All three of these are bullshit, yet somehow we decided to combine them into the 21st century's ethical system. "I am vocally against Harry Potter because I don't want money going to Rowling" is a symptom of this.
Given the political lean of this view, I don't need to go into detail on the "bullshit" point. Capitalism is how society exploits survival needs to make us slaves for others. The idea that buying one thing is good and another is wrong misses the inherent bad in buying / selling. Likewise, social Darwinism trying to rid a social gene pool of the "inferior" by harming the weak is awful. Yet it pervades every aspect of society, in this case making us think of a zero sum game where we make our money go a certain direction and wipe out others. All of this is packaged together into branding: "buy our product, would you want your friends to know you bought the competition that has 10% more evil?"
Even if you don't buy the fundamental wrongness of this "ethical capitalism", at least let us concede that it's a terrible moral economy. This is because money is fungible. Suppose you don't buy a Harry Potter book and keep the money in your wallet. The royalties don't go to Rowling, but neither does the bookstore profit. They decide to lay off their cashier. Medical bills piling up and fearing about what to eat next week, he drives home, parks in the garage, and leaves the engine on.
Spooked by my explanation, you decide instead to buy a coffee from the bookstore. The barista's wage is also paid, finally he's saved enough to quit this dead end job and start his podcast - his right wing podcast, where his real talent lies. Followers are amassed, a political movement is launched, and now that cup of coffee is leading to transgender people in camps. The coffee cup label told you the amount of caffeine, added sugar, etc, but not about this.
Swearing off coffee, you get in your friend's divested, green focused ETF. She tells you no royalties for Rowling, no wages for a reactionary barista. One of the companies is developing affordable drugs that might help the cashier - she's off to party with them tonight. But that company is also bundled in SPY. And JK's wealth is all in stocks. So now Rowling's enjoying your contribution to the exponential growth of her financial - and thus political - powers. Actually, due to wealth imbalances, every positive economic contribution you make is biased towards rich people's benefit. Hey, at least if you show someone your portfolio they'll see how ethical you are.
In the old days if you wanted to be ethical, maybe you sacrificed some food to a deity, said some prayers, did some meditation, etc. The Catholics may be on to something here. Why should they bother paying attention to whether the label on the wine bottle conveys their values or not? At the end of the day, it is transformed in its very essence to ethically sourced(?) blood. Well still don't drink too much. But my point is if you want to do good in the world, engage with people using your unique essence and pure intentions instead of making do with a corrupt system.
There is another argument we should consider, divorced from ethical capitalism. Imagine that you are a bit of a playboy. More than a bit. Every week you're out trying to land a girl. Sometimes you fib about who you are or what you want. Sometimes she drinks more than she wanted. One day you get diagnosed with a resistant strand of HIV. You ask your Catholic friend if this is God's judgement. But he's given up his belief, and says "surely not, because it is arbitrary for God to punish you while that scammer drug company CEO is doing great." Still wanting spiritual advice, you appeal to your Buddhist buddy. But he too is spiritually discouraged, and says "why should karma come for you and not that right-wing podcaster?" It does seem unfair, with the bills piling up and news of your layoff.
What they failed to consider is a world where divine judgement or karma or whatever is imperfect. And if what is natural is what is ethical, why should you not be imperfect? In this sense, I think people could go after Harry Potter, even if it is arbitrary. Even if the rules of the game seem flawed. Even if it is not necessarily effective to promoting good in the world. Much like protests can turn into riots and end up harming the people they claim to want to protect. In a way, because it is flawed it is also unique and sincere.
So here is my advice. First, practically speaking, if you want to talk about Harry Potter, I think you could probably do so by just using the off topic label anytime things get political. Tildes has a well balanced user moderation system, unlike say a Reddit where voices are wiped out by exponential (down) voting power. But you might also concede that sometimes conflict is arbitrary, and give up. Still, feel good knowing there is no special moral imperative for you to not enjoy the Netflix series. Just like I sympathize with someone who refuses to watch because there's too much pain there. It's not the core of ethics.
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Comment on Gamblers trying to win a bet on Polymarket are vowing to kill me if I don't rewrite an Iran missile story in ~society
entitled-entilde (edited )LinkThere is something bizarre about this situation, and the world we live in. Here the focus of the article is a less than credible death threat the writer received. We’re all outraged about this...There is something bizarre about this situation, and the world we live in. Here the focus of the article is a less than credible death threat the writer received. We’re all outraged about this death threat and talking about the major legal changes needed to stop it.
But the backdrop of this story is a missile that got fired at the writer’s city. So the actual threat of death by a tangible missile is kind of brushed off, pushed to the background, treated as commonplace, whereas the online death threat becomes the star.
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Comment on New York Times quiz: Who’s a better writer: AI or humans? in ~tech
entitled-entilde Link ParentI was 5/5 guessing which was AI. But the rules of the game were to pick the one you like best regardless of where it came from, and a few times I thought the LLM did a nice jobI was 5/5 guessing which was AI. But the rules of the game were to pick the one you like best regardless of where it came from, and a few times I thought the LLM did a nice job
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Comment on Is it worthwhile to run local LLMs for coding today? in ~comp
entitled-entilde LinkRunning local models is fun for hobby purposes like building an agent, fine tuning, or digging into text analysis with embeddings. For coding, not so much. Remember if your model makes a mistake...Running local models is fun for hobby purposes like building an agent, fine tuning, or digging into text analysis with embeddings. For coding, not so much. Remember if your model makes a mistake in a tool call, or runs out of context, the whole thing grinds to a halt. For me, AI coding should be fun and ergonomic, and this spoils it. If you want to try AI coding just go commercial. Claud code is 20$ a month which is not so bad. It’s possible that 2 years from now a local model is developed that could do great on any task with 32GB, so I get the temptation. But if you run a local model and hate the whole experience, that’s worse. At least have a backup plan for that memory if you do buy it
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Comment on Apple announces Macbook Neo, a new budget Mac in ~tech
entitled-entilde Link ParentBaseline models of their other lineups had 8GB of RAM until recently as I recall. There are many people still running MacBooks with this limit. So I think it’s not that big of an issue Though I’m...Baseline models of their other lineups had 8GB of RAM until recently as I recall. There are many people still running MacBooks with this limit. So I think it’s not that big of an issue
Though I’m pretty sure the Mac laptop I bought >10 years ago I upgraded to 16GB of ram, so I am of course a hypocrite :)
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Comment on Anthropic rejects latest US Pentagon offer: ‘We cannot in good conscience accede to their request’ in ~tech
entitled-entilde Link ParentMy impression from what I've heard from DOE researchers too is that the government, despite running multiple exascale machines, is actually lacking in compute power compared to industry. There...My impression from what I've heard from DOE researchers too is that the government, despite running multiple exascale machines, is actually lacking in compute power compared to industry. There used to be a lot of talk in academia about how we need to build our own LLMs to not be beholden to industry, and I've noticed a lot of that discussion evaporating...
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Comment on Chemist Hitler Louis nears three dozen retractions for image duplication, self-citation and more in ~science
entitled-entilde LinkBy my count, all but one of the 35 retracted works are published in journals that require the author to pay. Most of these are fallback journals for when you fail peer review. I don't get the...By my count, all but one of the 35 retracted works are published in journals that require the author to pay. Most of these are fallback journals for when you fail peer review. I don't get the motive here, that’s a lot of his own money down the drain for a publication record that says “I fail a lot”….
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Comment on ‘A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms’ just made ‘Breaking Bad’ lose its IMDB score record in ~tv
entitled-entilde Link ParentYou should watch it, it's a nice show. The interesting thing to me is that it's not really what you expect for game of thrones. It's a lot more... wholesome? Black and white? A little bit funny? I...You should watch it, it's a nice show. The interesting thing to me is that it's not really what you expect for game of thrones. It's a lot more... wholesome? Black and white? A little bit funny? I think it tracks what I see which is a greater interest in sincerity than cynicism or dark reboots than we had ten years ago.
I haven't read the novellas and do notice some "that went over my head" moments, but overall it is quite approachable.
Don't let this review bomb story over set your expectations though. I mean episode 5 is good, but like don't watch it thinking "this is supposed to be the best TV episode ever" or something. Episode 1-6 are basically an extended pilot episode.
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Comment on Scott A. on Scott A. on Scott A. in ~comics
entitled-entilde LinkI also enjoyed it, more for how deep the rabbit hole went than the added commentary. Add it to the dictator book club list? I’m in a good mood a it came within days of quality Manic Monday and Bay...Scott Alexander has put up one of his greatest posts ever
I also enjoyed it, more for how deep the rabbit hole went than the added commentary. Add it to the dictator book club list? I’m in a good mood a it came within days of quality Manic Monday and Bay Area House Party installments (celebratory deaths and good blog posts come in threes?).
Continuing off topic, the most intriguing thing from the Manic Monday post (on prediction markets) was:
Strange things happening on the COVID lab leak market, which has declined to 27%. This peaked at about 85% in 2023, declined a bit around the Rootclaim debate and my article on it, then stayed around 50-50 for a year or so. But for the past eight months, it’s been gradually trending downward, with no end in sight. Some of the change probably involves the discovery of a natural bat coronavirus with a furin cleavage site last October, but I’m surprised by the extent of the decline.
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Comment on Curl will end its bug bounty program by the end of January due to excessive AI generated reports in ~comp
entitled-entilde LinkI’m sure at some point their system could get overwhelmed but this seems pretty premature. 7 issues in a sixteen hour period, becomes 20 over sixteen days. It sounds like people were bored during...I’m sure at some point their system could get overwhelmed but this seems pretty premature. 7 issues in a sixteen hour period, becomes 20 over sixteen days. It sounds like people were bored during the holidays. Plenty of other open source projects get hit with similar “yes it’s a bug but not a real one” requests. Considering how critical curl is, and its history of real security vulnerabilities, getting rid of the bounty system is bad… I’d prefer they got more money for security people.
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Comment on Debunking the AI food delivery hoax that fooled Reddit in ~tech
entitled-entilde Link ParentI miss that podcast, they would’ve done a great job with this debunking storyI miss that podcast, they would’ve done a great job with this debunking story
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Comment on US strikes Venezuela and says its leader, Nicolas Maduro, has been captured and flown out of the country in ~society
entitled-entilde Link ParentWell as it turns out, there is a strategic reason: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/loud-noises-heard-venezuela-capital-southern-area-without-electricity-2026-01-03/ “Trump says Venezuela's...Well as it turns out, there is a strategic reason: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/loud-noises-heard-venezuela-capital-southern-area-without-electricity-2026-01-03/
“Trump says Venezuela's Maduro captured after strikes”
Absolutely bonkers.
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Comment on What do you leave out for Father Christmas? in ~talk
entitled-entilde Link ParentDairy farmers want you to know that’s a good strategyDairy farmers want you to know that’s a good strategy
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Comment on What are your predictions for 2026? in ~talk
entitled-entilde Link ParentSora2 maybe already fits the bill here.A new social media site whose core functionality is heavily AI powered is launched by a major figure/company in a billion-dollar campaign. It fails to meet investor expectations, but finds a very devout core audience.
Sora2 maybe already fits the bill here.
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Comment on Indie Game Awards rescinds Clair Obscur's GOTY wins over use of generative AI [for now-removed background assets] in ~games
entitled-entilde Link ParentPeople have used automatically generated assets, levels, etc since the beginning of video games. But put the term “AI” on it and people freak out.People have used automatically generated assets, levels, etc since the beginning of video games. But put the term “AI” on it and people freak out.
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Comment on AGI and Fermi's Paradox in ~science
entitled-entilde LinkNo this would not solve the Fermi paradox, it merely is adding to the premise. If your chain of logic is true, we should have already been wiped out by an AGI developed on another planet. Yet we...No this would not solve the Fermi paradox, it merely is adding to the premise. If your chain of logic is true, we should have already been wiped out by an AGI developed on another planet. Yet we don’t, so now we are left with the Fermi paradox in its standard form: if the universe is so big, where are all the aliens (or alien AGIs)
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Comment on Is trying to become an author insane in times of LLMs? in ~tech
entitled-entilde Link ParentMaybe we’ll all one day read an LLM book for the novelty, but it makes no sense as a genre. Somebody would have to curate it, which means reading thousands of LLM books to find the needle in the...Maybe we’ll all one day read an LLM book for the novelty, but it makes no sense as a genre. Somebody would have to curate it, which means reading thousands of LLM books to find the needle in the haystack? That’s not a viable strategy (and having LLMs grade other LLM books isn’t going to work).
But it’s kind of like worrying that the novelization of space invader play through will kill the sci-fi genre. The competition is not LLM books. It’s people preferring the interactive D&D type experience a chatbot could give to a book. Or if you write nonfiction, that people would rather ask a bot than read a technical manual, etc.
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Comment on An AI-generated country song is topping a Billboard chart, and that should infuriate us all in ~music
entitled-entilde Link ParentBeing told how you should feel about music is basically par for the course in western discourse. This goes across eras and genres. A lot of times the critiques are raising real issues, but it’s...Being told how you should feel about music is basically par for the course in western discourse. This goes across eras and genres. A lot of times the critiques are raising real issues, but it’s really about people having their identity tied to yet another commercial enterprise. Sorry for the tangent, it’s just a pet peeve of mine.
Amusingly, ten years ago if you talked about AI generated music people would probably marvel at how niche and creative of an exercise it is. Something reserved for serious academics.
Record companies are probably salivating at the chance to cut artists out even further. But imagine the irony if they get their clock cleaned by some TikToker with an AI generated next gen Gorillaz or Hatsune Miku and a well tuned agent system.
To circumvent the plot hole, please imagine that the profit margin of a coffee in my imaginary bookstore is equivalent to a given book. The right-wing barista set the coffee price too high, perhaps that's why the cashier's employment was so precarious. His poor fiscal expertise being another reason the public was foolish to vote for him is also canon.