heraplem's recent activity
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Comment on If AI is sentient then so is ‘Age of Empires II’ in ~tech
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Comment on ‘Donkey’: Eddie Murphy ‘Shrek’ spinoff sets summer 2028 release in ~movies
heraplem LinkHistory shows that spin-offs starring a comic relief character rarely work. The earliest example I'm aware of is Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, starring Falstaff (the comic relief...History shows that spin-offs starring a comic relief character rarely work. The earliest example I'm aware of is Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, starring Falstaff (the comic relief character of Falstaff from the Henry IV plays) and often considered Shakespeare's worst.
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Comment on If AI is sentient then so is ‘Age of Empires II’ in ~tech
heraplem Link ParentI think that's pretty controversial! For flies I would say "probably", and for everything above I would say "certainly".I’d still expect something like this to be a pretty uncontroversial take:
I think that's pretty controversial! For flies I would say "probably", and for everything above I would say "certainly".
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Comment on Kings of the losers in ~life
heraplem LinkThis doesn't seem like a very good "experiment", for several reasons, most importantly that it actually agrees with the core incel logic. At best, it shows that incels shouldn't hate women for...Andrew Thomas also works as a therapist. He has incels as patients. Sometimes he conducts an experiment with one. He asks him to search for office staplers on Amazon and narrate it step by step. Okay, says the patient, there are ten thousand results. So he filters; 4 or 5 stars, not too expensive, fits at least two hundred tacks, only in the color red. “And then I tell him: you picky bastard! What’s wrong with the blue staplers? How can you be so narcissistic and have such high standards?”
This doesn't seem like a very good "experiment", for several reasons, most importantly that it actually agrees with the core incel logic. At best, it shows that incels shouldn't hate women for being pickier than men, but I think even that is somewhat doubtful.
To be clear, I'm not necessarily saying that the core incel logic is even wrong; rather, I'm saying that this experiment is simply not saying anything that they're not already saying.
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Comment on Comedian Ronny Chieng tells Harvard to ‘Destroy AI’ as graduates cheer in ~tech
heraplem Link ParentWould that it were true.Our generation’s upcoming battle…is going to be people with substance versus people with shallow knowledge, it’s going to be mastery versus faking it, it’s going to be people with good taste versus tacky.
Would that it were true.
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Comment on US FBI says Google engineer used internal search data to win $1.2M on Polymarket in ~tech
heraplem Link ParentThat's a problem for the organization whose information is being used, not society at large. So yes, it might be bad for Google if someone makes Polymarket bets using their information, and Google...That's a problem for the organization whose information is being used, not society at large. So yes, it might be bad for Google if someone makes Polymarket bets using their information, and Google would be justified in firing them, but does that harm society at large?
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Comment on US FBI says Google engineer used internal search data to win $1.2M on Polymarket in ~tech
heraplem LinkI fail to see why this should be penalized. The "pro-social" argument for prediction markets is that they help people make better decisions by more accurately forecasting the future. If someone...I fail to see why this should be penalized. The "pro-social" argument for prediction markets is that they help people make better decisions by more accurately forecasting the future. If someone has inside information, shouldn't we (according to the foregoing logic) encourage using it to make bets in order to make the forecast even more accurate?
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Comment on If you let AI do your writing, I will come to your house and kill you in ~tech
heraplem Link ParentI fundamentally disagree with this sentiment. I engage with art because it is a kind of communication with other humans across space in time. I have absolutely no interest in anything produced by...I fundamentally disagree with this sentiment. I engage with art because it is a kind of communication with other humans across space in time. I have absolutely no interest in anything produced by an AI, regardless of its "objective" merit.
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Comment on OpenAI is preparing to file for an IPO in the coming weeks in ~finance
heraplem Link ParentOpenAI in particular may already be past their prime, as Anthropic looks pretty well set to become the dominant player in their space.OpenAI in particular may already be past their prime, as Anthropic looks pretty well set to become the dominant player in their space.
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Comment on When Richard Dawkins met Claude in ~health.mental
heraplem Link ParentI don't think that LLMs are conscious, or even particularly "close" to being conscious, but I keep seeing people say things like this, and it seems to me like people are missing the point. I mean,...The code that's running isn't doing any sort of conscious calculations. It has no self-awareness. It is random word generator running on top of a statistical model, that is itself just a glorified lossy compression algorithm of the frequency of word groupings in large sets of textual data.
I don't think that LLMs are conscious, or even particularly "close" to being conscious, but I keep seeing people say things like this, and it seems to me like people are missing the point.
I mean, I could describe the human brain in a similarly dismissive way. It's just a bunch of chemical signals being transmitted through a bunch of cells, right? There's no magic there.
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Comment on Why I find woke criticism of veganism and effective altruism so outrageous in ~society
heraplem (edited )LinkI agree with the overall sentiment of the article. I think the arguments in favor of veganism are so sound—and, moreover, if those arguments are correct, then their ethical implications are so...I agree with the overall sentiment of the article. I think the arguments in favor of veganism are so sound—and, moreover, if those arguments are correct, then their ethical implications are so damning—that basically every common argument against veganism is both comically bad and also a transparent psychological defense mechanism.
But this article strikes me more as a single slap in a particular slap fight than a reasoned defense of veganism. Maybe that's an unreasonable critique—maybe the article never purported to be a reasonable defense of veganism—but, even so, I don't really see its value. Very short on light and very long on heat.
(That said, it did point me to this article on "reasonable moods", which I find very compelling in general, even if I'm skeptical of some of its specific claims.)
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Comment on What I learned about billionaires at Jeff Bezos’s private retreat in ~society
heraplem Link ParentTraveling 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.I think "even the weather felt expensive" shows his hand. It's Santa Barbara, so of course the weather is usually good. What does that even mean?
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Personally, I'm a bit of a biological chauvinist; i.e., my prior is that organic brains are more likely to be conscious than non-organic "brain-like things" of similar or even greater complexity. Actually, I have some doubt that digital brains can ever be conscious on any scale of complexity.