heraplem's recent activity
-
Comment on What I learned about billionaires at Jeff Bezos’s private retreat in ~society
-
Comment on Suggest media in which the antagonist is an idea or an abstract concept rather than a person or intelligent entity in ~talk
heraplem Link ParentIn a similar vein, there's "The Library of Babel" by Borges, which is an acknowledged influence on Piranesi, and I would be surprised if Borges weren't an influence on House of Leaves as well.In a similar vein, there's "The Library of Babel" by Borges, which is an acknowledged influence on Piranesi, and I would be surprised if Borges weren't an influence on House of Leaves as well.
-
Comment on Apple announces Macbook Neo, a new budget Mac in ~tech
heraplem Link ParentMaybe it's a difference in perspective. For me, "basic web browing" means 100+ tabs, which reliably brings my laptop to its knees.No, you won’t be doing Xcode on it, but basic web browsing and pages document editing is fine.
Maybe it's a difference in perspective. For me, "basic web browing" means 100+ tabs, which reliably brings my laptop to its knees.
-
Comment on Apple announces Macbook Neo, a new budget Mac in ~tech
heraplem Link ParentmacOS has pretty good memory management, but there's limits to what you can do with software. I have an 8gb Air, and I feel the limitation pretty much constantly. 8gb just is not enough for the...macOS has pretty good memory management, but there's limits to what you can do with software. I have an 8gb Air, and I feel the limitation pretty much constantly. 8gb just is not enough for the modern world.
-
Comment on Bun is joining Anthropic in ~tech
heraplem Link ParentIsn't that kind of the point, though? It sounds like you're saying "That was never going to happen, so we didn't really lose anything," but then I can just as easily say "This was always going to...Isn't that kind of the point, though?
It sounds like you're saying "That was never going to happen, so we didn't really lose anything," but then I can just as easily say "This was always going to happen, so we didn't really gain anything."
Libre software has become a sacred cow. It demonstrably does not do what it was supposed to do, and yet we still treat it like an unquestioned good.
-
Comment on Bun is joining Anthropic in ~tech
heraplem Link ParentAnd this exact situation has led to corporate capture, enshittification, and the complete defanging of what once seemed to be a movement with radical potential.Lots of good work on open source projects gets funded by tech companies.
And this exact situation has led to corporate capture, enshittification, and the complete defanging of what once seemed to be a movement with radical potential.
-
Comment on US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to end all monkey research in ~science
heraplem Link ParentRight, I understand the reference. What I mean is that there are actual living humans who might think of themselves as paperclip optimizers; but most of them are probably optimizing for net human...Right, I understand the reference. What I mean is that there are actual living humans who might think of themselves as paperclip optimizers; but most of them are probably optimizing for net human welfare (or, more generally, intelligence-weighted sentient welfare) over the lifespan of the universe, and they would probably reason that the suffering incurred by experimenting on a few less-intelligent primates now will likely be vastly outweighed by a resulting future decrease in human suffering.
-
Comment on US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to end all monkey research in ~science
heraplem Link ParentI guess it depends on the referent of "paperclip", but I think most (living, human) paperclip optimizers would make the exact opposite judgment: they would say that the suffering of a few primates...I guess it depends on the referent of "paperclip", but I think most (living, human) paperclip optimizers would make the exact opposite judgment: they would say that the suffering of a few primates in the present would be justified by the prevention of a nigh-incalculable amount of human suffering in the future.
-
Comment on A new era of intelligence with Gemini 3 in ~tech
heraplem Link Parent40% of Americans own no stock whatsoever.if you held well diversified market funds
40% of Americans own no stock whatsoever.
-
Comment on Former PM Katrín Jakobsdóttir has said the Icelandic language could be wiped out in as little as a generation due to the sweeping rise of AI and encroaching English language dominance in ~humanities.languages
heraplem Link ParentWe said similar sorts of things in the early days of the Internet.At the same time, I wonder what we could achieve as a species if language barriers no longer existed.
We said similar sorts of things in the early days of the Internet.
-
Comment on Prospect of life on Saturn’s moons rises after discovery of organic substances in ~space
heraplem LinkThis is coming off the heels of the discovery of mineral formations on Mars that look a lot like they were created by microbes in the past, and in fact are a potential definite signal if we can...This is coming off the heels of the discovery of mineral formations on Mars that look a lot like they were created by microbes in the past, and in fact are a potential definite signal if we can get them to Earth. Exciting times: it's looking increasingly likely that, within a decade or so, we will have concrete evidence of alien life in the Solar System, at least in the past, and possibly in the present.
-
Comment on Conservative activist Charlie Kirk shot and killed at Utah college event in ~society
heraplem Link ParentLet me ask you, and this is a legitimate question, because I'm not tuned in to the intricacies of right-wing online subcommunities: would you have identified them as groyper memes before the...Let me ask you, and this is a legitimate question, because I'm not tuned in to the intricacies of right-wing online subcommunities: would you have identified them as groyper memes before the shooting? Or only afterward, when people started spreading this idea around? Because I strongly suspect that this is a memetic self-defense; i.e., what the kids call "cope".
If actually pieces of queer culture I'd expect the other "memes carved on bullets" to match that.
Eh. Helldivers isn't the first video game I'd associate with extremely online queer spaces (I'd think of things like Disco Elysium, Fallout: New Vegas, Celeste, Ultrakill, Touhou, and Team Fortress 2), but it doesn't seem like that much of a stretch to me. Extremely online queer spaces are heavily steeped in video game culture.
As for Bella Ciao, I'd never even heard of it before all this, so all I have to say there is that the song was originally associated with the Italian Resistance and was apparently having A Moment on TikTok before this, so I think it's more likely that it was being used with its original connotation. Same with the direct reference to fascism, actually.
I mean, let's look at it this way. Suppose the shooter actually is a groyper. I'd say, then, that he did a pretty poor job of getting his message across, engraving his bullets with two messages whose most straightforward interpretations are left-wing, and no explicitly right-wing messages.
-
Comment on Conservative activist Charlie Kirk shot and killed at Utah college event in ~society
heraplem Link ParentI've seen a lot of people framing it this way, and I don't agree. These are exactly the kinds of things you find in certain self-aware and self-deprecating online queer spaces.And the evidence itself always came back to "If you read this, you are gay lmao” and “Notices bulges OWO what’s this?”. That is very much mocking of two liberal identities.
I've seen a lot of people framing it this way, and I don't agree. These are exactly the kinds of things you find in certain self-aware and self-deprecating online queer spaces.
-
Comment on Conservative activist Charlie Kirk shot and killed at Utah college event in ~society
heraplem Link ParentExtremely unlikely. This sort of thing almost never happens, and it would be a colossally stupid thing to do in the age of smartphones. The shooter seems to have gotten away without anyone having...How possible is it that this might be some sort of play to deflect from further attention on the Epstein list?
Extremely unlikely. This sort of thing almost never happens, and it would be a colossally stupid thing to do in the age of smartphones. The shooter seems to have gotten away without anyone having taken any useful photos or videos of them, but all it would take is one person with a smartphone at the right time and place to completely screw the whole plan over. Also, the conspiracy would have to extend at least from the head of the FBI all the way down to campus police. Not remotely plausible.
-
What's the most feasible way to exit modern society?
In short: the prospect of generative AI becoming increasingly prevalent has been gnawing away at me for a long time now. It's looking like there are no limits that will matter in the near future....
In short: the prospect of generative AI becoming increasingly prevalent has been gnawing away at me for a long time now. It's looking like there are no limits that will matter in the near future. But interfacing with generative AI in basically any capacity instills in me a kind of existential horror and revulsion that I don't think I can live with in my day-to-day life. Unfortunately, it seems that generative AI will soon become unavoidable in any white-collar career path, to say nothing of casual exposure in everyday life. I try as hard as possible to shield myself, but I doubt that will be realistically possible for much longer.
I'm in a graduate program, but I'm not confident that my field will still be relevant in five years. Even if it is, I'll almost certainly spend a lot of time interfacing with generative AI, the thought of which makes me nauseous.
Frankly, I'm so disgusted with what the world has become and what it is becoming that it's turning me into kind of a nasty person IRL.
So I'm musing on ways to get out. On finding a way to make enough money to stay alive while having as little contact with the digital world as possible.
Anyone have any experience/ideas?
47 votes -
Comment on Explain Linux controversies to me in ~tech
heraplem Link ParentGnome 3 came out back when lots of UI designers were trying to create a unified UI that would work both for desktop and mobile. To my knowledge, no one has yet managed to do this in a satisfying...Gnome 3 came out back when lots of UI designers were trying to create a unified UI that would work both for desktop and mobile.
To my knowledge, no one has yet managed to do this in a satisfying way: basically all attempts so far have just ended up creating something only half-usable in both paradigms.
Gnome 3 is one of the better attempts. It works pretty well on desktop—if you like its defaults and have no desire to change anything. Because the "meta-controversy" with Gnome 3—and, IMO, the real source of the controversy—is that, compared to every other Linux DE/WM/compositor/whatever, it offers essentially no customizability. In addition to just being kind of frustrating, the lack of customizability goes against a general OSS cultural norm of making highly flexible and configurable software. In some ways, Gnome 3 feels more like a corporate product than an OSS project—people compare it to Apple, except Apple has more thought put into their stuff (or, well, supposedly they did at the time; from what I gather, macOS hadn't become the mess that it is today).
Also, and related, Gnome 3 has taken a very "my way or the highway" approach. It doesn't play nicely with software outside of its ecosystem; again, this breaks OSS cultural norms.
For what it's worth, the counterargument from the Gnome folks is that customizability and "openness" carries a maintenance burden, so reducing that stuff ensures Gnome's quality.
Of course, only greybeards care about this stuff anymore, because what ended up happening is that the Web just kind of ate everything UI-related.
-
Comment on Explain Linux controversies to me in ~tech
heraplem (edited )Link ParentIt was both. KDE 4 was borderline unusable when it came out due to bugs, shoddy UI design, and general sluggishness. KDE 5 is basically a fixed version of KDE 4, and it's probably the best DE for...KDE 4 was controversial with some considering it unusable and some considering it promising.
It was both. KDE 4 was borderline unusable when it came out due to bugs, shoddy UI design, and general sluggishness. KDE 5 is basically a fixed version of KDE 4, and it's probably the best DE for your average user.
-
Comment on Is the AI bubble about to burst? in ~tech
heraplem Link ParentThe chess analogy is imperfect because only human chess is economically viable. You can't sustain sponsorship for an engine chess league. People want to watch humans play chess, and it turns out...More and more and more domains will get chessified where you can use a computer to help learn, but you will never beat it.
The chess analogy is imperfect because only human chess is economically viable. You can't sustain sponsorship for an engine chess league. People want to watch humans play chess, and it turns out that they don't much care if computers are better.
In any domain where the product is the point, "you can use a computer to learn but you can't beat it" means that that domain ceases to become an economically viable human activity.
I need to focus on being as good as possible at review and quality assurance.
Going to be honest, that sounds like hell. I'm legitimately unsure I'll be able to live in that world.
-
Comment on Can AI-generated photos be art? in ~arts
heraplem Link ParentMaybe my claim as stated is wrong, in the sense that there are, numerically, more people creating photorealistic art than there ever were in, say, the 1600s. I don't even know that I buy that, but...I used to lurk reddit a lot, especially fantasy art subs, and it was really common for artists to aim for photorealism.
Maybe my claim as stated is wrong, in the sense that there are, numerically, more people creating photorealistic art than there ever were in, say, the 1600s. I don't even know that I buy that, but I'll grant it for the argument's sake.
How about this, then: photorealistic art is, in a general sense, an artform in decline, or even already at the end stage of decline. It was once culturally dominant; but as photography became commonplace, it withered. People may still practice it, but: it does not experience significant innovation; it does not attract top talent; it does not command cultural respect; it has essentially no cultural capital; it does not grant status or prestige or fame; for the vast majority of practitioners, it is not a viable career path; it is not something that most people are interested in or spend time thinking about, except occasionally when an impressive example pops up on their feed. It is a vestige.
I really don't think AI is going to kill hand made art.
See, I'm not 100% sure that this is true, even in a fairly strict sense.
The thing about "photorealistic" art is that, in fact, it does not look exactly like a photograph. At the very least, it admits compositions that are unlikely to ever occur in reality. But it also just looks different. That's part of the joy of looking at it.
But what if photorealistic art could itself be perfectly imitated?
AI art may have a creepy (to me) "AI-ish" look right now, but will it always? Certainly, the AI companies want us to think that, before too long, AI art will be indistinguishable from human-made art. I lack the technical knowledge or insider connections to know whether that's true, but I wouldn't bet against it.
What happens in a world where you can perfectly imitate that style? What happens when so few people are left practicing that techniques are lost, or when so few people are paying attention that all social and financial motivators vanish? What happens when you encroach on the habitat of an endangered species?
People don't just make art in a vacuum. This idea that humans will always find a way to carry on any particular art form is just wrong. Remove the material conditions that allow an art form to flourish, and you can sap its vitality, or even kill it outright. There are plenty of art forms that no longer exist, or exist only in tiny isolated pockets.
Everything has to end sometime: why not now?
-
Comment on Donald Trump administration sending National Guard troops to Los Angeles amid clashes over Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in ~society
heraplem LinkUnfortunately, I think it's very likely that this outcome was always intended, or at least expected. I don't know for sure what the right thing to do is here, but I'm afraid that giving them an...Unfortunately, I think it's very likely that this outcome was always intended, or at least expected. I don't know for sure what the right thing to do is here, but I'm afraid that giving them an excuse to mobilize the military is a catastrophic mistake.
Traveling to a popular tourist destination (which has good weather) during peak season (when the weather is best) is not something that everyone can afford to do.