kenc's recent activity

  1. Comment on AI is a mass-delusion event in ~tech

    kenc
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    ... ... From the conclusion, it seems there are 3 paths that AI can go: The AI bubble bursts, everyone wakes up from this delusion and we return to a world without AI The promised AGI happens and...

    This is the AI era in a nutshell. Squint one way, and you can portray it as the saving grace of the world economy. Look at it more closely, and it’s a ticking time bomb lodged in the global financial system. The conversation is always polarized. Keep the faith.

    ...

    Lately, I’ve been preoccupied with a different question: What if generative AI isn’t God in the machine or vaporware? What if it’s just good enough, useful to many without being revolutionary? Right now, the models don’t think—they predict and arrange tokens of language to provide plausible responses to queries. There is little compelling evidence that they will evolve without some kind of quantum research leap.

    ...

    Good enough has been keeping me up at night. Because good enough would likely mean that not enough people recognize what’s really being built—and what’s being sacrificed—until it’s too late. What if the real doomer scenario is that we pollute the internet and the planet, reorient our economy and leverage ourselves, outsource big chunks of our minds, realign our geopolitics and culture, and fight endlessly over a technology that never comes close to delivering on its grandest promises? What if we spend so much time waiting and arguing that we fail to marshal our energy toward addressing the problems that exist here and now? That would be a tragedy—the product of a mass delusion.

    From the conclusion, it seems there are 3 paths that AI can go:

    1. The AI bubble bursts, everyone wakes up from this delusion and we return to a world without AI
    2. The promised AGI happens and the world is saved/destroyed
    3. AI plateaus and performs just good enough as the article describes. It might contribute some good solutions to certain issues but nothing life-changing, while making the world a whole lot worse.

    While I certainly wish 1 is our future, I don't think we can ever go back to a pre-AI world, even if the AI bubble should burst. I do hope I'm wrong though. I personally believe that 2 won't happen, at least not in my lifetime, which unfortunately makes 3 the most likely scenario in my eyes

    38 votes

  3. Comment on Murderbot | Official trailer in ~tv

    kenc
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    sorry, it was just my own assumption from the trailer. Would love to see at least the first 2 books in the first season though, especially if we get an appearance from ART

    sorry, it was just my own assumption from the trailer.

    Would love to see at least the first 2 books in the first season though, especially if we get an appearance from ART

    1 vote

  4. Comment on Murderbot | Official trailer in ~tv

    kenc
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    I'm cautiously optimistic of this, but I'm liking what I see so far. 10 episodes does seem a little long for the first book though. Also, its (their?) inner voice (the narration) seems a bit too...

    I'm cautiously optimistic of this, but I'm liking what I see so far. 10 episodes does seem a little long for the first book though.

    Also, its (their?) inner voice (the narration) seems a bit too cheery to me, I always imagined it to be more low and monotonous.

    6 votes

  5. Comment on The future is Niri in ~comp

    kenc
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    I really want to try Niri, but I'm still hesitant to switch to Wayland just because it sounds like a lot of work.

    I really want to try Niri, but I'm still hesitant to switch to Wayland just because it sounds like a lot of work.

    4 votes

  6. Comment on Bluejeweled in ~games

    kenc
    Link
    Just a thing I saw this morning that made me chuckle. Have a great Sunday!

    Just a thing I saw this morning that made me chuckle. Have a great Sunday!

    13 votes

  8. Comment on Recommend your social/softer science fiction books in ~books

    kenc
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    I'd like to recommend A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. Its an Aztec science fiction, heavy on politics and with themes on colonialism and xenophobia. There's also a lot of discussion on...

    I'd like to recommend A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. Its an Aztec science fiction, heavy on politics and with themes on colonialism and xenophobia. There's also a lot of discussion on their language, grammar and poetry.

    I would love to give a better review, but its been a while and maybe worth a reread

    3 votes

  9. Comment on Books I read during 2024 that were published during 2024 in ~books

    kenc
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    holy crap, 260 books?! I'm barely breaking 30 a year, where do you find the time? from your list, I have only read The Mercy of Gods (my very short review is here), and rated it rather poorly...

    holy crap, 260 books?! I'm barely breaking 30 a year, where do you find the time?

    from your list, I have only read The Mercy of Gods (my very short review is here), and rated it rather poorly unfortunately, but I'm still excited for the rest of the series

    6 votes

  10. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    kenc
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    The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey, writers of The Expanse series, which are a favourite of mine (both books and TV series). The plot describes a much advanced alien species capturing a planet...

    The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey, writers of The Expanse series, which are a favourite of mine (both books and TV series).

    The plot describes a much advanced alien species capturing a planet of humans (not Earth), and follows an enslaved research team as they navigate and survive under alien rule.

    Overall 6/10 for me. Its an interesting premise but I felt the execution to be a bit off. I cared little for most of the characters, but the mystery of the aliens kept me reading.

    That being said, I am looking forward to the rest of the series because

    Some spoilers for the book Of the "great enemy" the Carryx are at war with, which are hinted at to be humans, although more technologically advanced than those that were captured.

    And building on that,

    Major spoilers for the ending of The Expanse My headcanon is that this series takes place in the far future of the Expanse universe, after the ring gates were shut down at the end of Leviathan Falls. Anjiin is probably an isolated settlement that managed to develop separately, while the more advanced humans are possibly those that managed FTL travel.
    5 votes

  11. Comment on Passport photos in ~arts

    kenc
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    “Passport Photos” looks at one of the most mundane and unexciting types of photography. Heavily restricted and regulated, the official passport photo requirements include that the subject needs to face the camera straight on, needs a clear background without shadow, no glare on glasses and most importantly; no smile.

    It seems almost impossible for any kind of self-expression.

    The series tries to challenge these official rules by testing all the things you could be doing while you are taking your official document photo.

    16 votes

  13. Comment on Great shows with a truly satisfying ending? in ~tv

    kenc
    (edited )
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    I remember being blown away by Dark's ending. Its been a while, so maybe its time for a rewatch. Edit: For those who have not watched it, Dark is known for having an extremely complex plot, so...

    I remember being blown away by Dark's ending. Its been a while, so maybe its time for a rewatch.

    Edit: For those who have not watched it, Dark is known for having an extremely complex plot, so much so that Netflix created a website that provides a (spoiler-free) guide to the show's characters and timeline, episode by episode. For some, this can be a bit off-putting - I had a few friends give up on the show because they couldn't follow the plot at all.

    But please don't be discouraged by that! The ending does tie up a lot of plot points with little to no loose ends.

    21 votes

  14. Comment on Beating every possible game of Pokémon Platinum at the same time in ~games

    kenc
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    All the techniques shared to sync and desync the games are incredible, but memory mail is absolutely genius. I would love to learn about all the others that didn't manage to go into the video due...

    All the techniques shared to sync and desync the games are incredible, but memory mail is absolutely genius. I would love to learn about all the others that didn't manage to go into the video due to time.

    3 votes

  15. Comment on Time as a grid in ~tech

    kenc
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    Thought this was pretty cool, so I took a shot at a simple implementation in the terminal. I also added a stopwatch mode but the milliseconds zooming by gave me a headache lol

    Thought this was pretty cool, so I took a shot at a simple implementation in the terminal. I also added a stopwatch mode but the milliseconds zooming by gave me a headache lol

    7 votes

  16. Comment on There will be blood in ~enviro

    kenc
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    From the article,

    From the article,

    “When we humans have unleashed a new species on an unsuspecting fauna, when we have transformed ecosystems so that previous balances become undone, how do we fix the problem?” Warwick asks. “Should we fix the problem? Should we play god, or should nature be left to take its own course?”

    9 votes

  18. Comment on "Privacy-Preserving" Attribution: Mozilla disappoints us yet again in ~tech

    kenc
    Link
    The link shows how to disable PPA via the UI, but if you're looking to disable it in about:config, set dom.private-attribution.submission.enabled to false. Or add this to your user.js:...

    The link shows how to disable PPA via the UI, but if you're looking to disable it in about:config, set dom.private-attribution.submission.enabled to false.

    Or add this to your user.js:

    user_pref("dom.private-attribution.submission.enabled", false);
    16 votes

  19. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    kenc
    Link
    Completed 2 books recently, and started on a third. I finished reading Radicalized by Cory Doctorow. It's a collection of four short stories about future dystopias. They all felt very Black...

    Completed 2 books recently, and started on a third.

    I finished reading Radicalized by Cory Doctorow. It's a collection of four short stories about future dystopias. They all felt very Black Mirror-esque, and I can definitely see the first story, "Radicalized Bread", being very plausible in our near-future. I did enjoy reading it, but man was it depressing.

    For a more fun read, I moved on to System Collapse by Martha Wells (of the Murderbot Diaries series). I've read and loved all the previous novels and novellas, and while this book doesn't beat some of my personal favourites (the first 3 novellas), I definitely welcome more adventures of Murderbot and friends.

    Finally, in an effort to explore other genres that are not sci-fi, I started Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. It came highly recommended from a friend and is about an elderly lady and an octopus. I'm only about 10% in so there's not much to say, but have been enjoying it so far.

    2 votes