nothis's recent activity
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Comment on Where do we go from here? (Regarding AI) in ~tech
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Comment on Where do we go from here? (Regarding AI) in ~tech
nothis LinkThe rise of the internet in the late 90s is a perfect analogy and my best guess: Yes, it will change work, not in the way companies expect (there will probably be a crash as they realize it’s not...The rise of the internet in the late 90s is a perfect analogy and my best guess: Yes, it will change work, not in the way companies expect (there will probably be a crash as they realize it’s not as smooth as they want it to be) and, eventually, it will, like the internet, make certain tasks 1000x faster but not 100% of tasks. Maybe 10%. Humanity will get 10% more efficient and move on.
There are many examples of inventions of machines that can do the work of 100 people (think of electricity and conveyor belts) but it never ends with companies just hiring 1% of people to keep output the same. No, they’d rather produce 100x with the same amount of people. It might be a rough transition and some specific jobs might be gone. But in the end, we’ll just be the bosses of a bunch of AI workers soon and it will be unglamorous and normal. There was a surprisingly optimistic article about AI job replacement in the Economist, recently: https://archive.ph/ZI9gx
Software development will need people who can judge the result written by AI. In the art and design space, what I do not see mentioned is that AI mostly competes not with specialized professional service but with things that had long been automated: Stock photography, free Wordpress templates, Photoshop filters. There has long been a tier of “$20 on Fiverr” and that’s what I see AI replacing. In art, pretty much since photography was invented, the product is very much the artist, the concept, the context. No one is hanging an AI-generated oil painting of their kid on their wall, but they might hang one drawn by a person. Another analogy would be people playing chess despite computers being “better” at it for decades.
As to doomsday scenarios: They warned about GPT-2 being “too dangerous for the world” in 2019 and pulled this fearmongering as publicity every year since. What I’m seeing is AI following instructions and failing, but now with access to command line tools. It sounds better to call it “dangerous” or “misaligned” than calling the system broken. Of course it can look up how to access a website, apply hacks and whatnot. That shit is well documented and not in any way more impressive than the type of programming we’ve come to accept AI being capable of for a while now. It’s good at this. But if once it actually finds the answers to those tests, it stops because it has no more reason to look further. It’s just an LLM unleashed on a system with imperfect security. The same tools can be used to harden internet infrastructure and after maybe a few tough months, I believe most loopholes and exploits will be gone from the internet. It’s not a given that any online service can be hacked, that assumption is based on human error and that might soon be over.
So, yea… everything will get 10% more efficient. We’ll move on.
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Comment on Epic Games Store will support Linux "soon" in ~games
nothis Link ParentIt's important to remember that corporations aren't your friend but for any bullshit Valve has done in the past, they outdo themselves with moves like this. Out of all the "big" game companies,...It's important to remember that corporations aren't your friend but for any bullshit Valve has done in the past, they outdo themselves with moves like this. Out of all the "big" game companies, they're the ones I most believe to have the long-term health of the industry in mind.
Valve fully committing to Linux support and doing the long, hard work of actually making it a viable gaming platform is probably the best thing that happened in games tech in decades. Their goals were absolutely utopian in 2012 and now having a Linux machine for serious PC gaming is pretty much standard (if still niche in comparison). Proton is absolute magic.
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Comment on Any significant changes to Tildes are extremely unlikely in ~tildes.official
nothis Link ParentYea, it’s essentially my half-assed application of Dunbar‘s Number to social media moderation. You only get to see the posts of people you’re friends with and if you want more than 1000 friends or...Yea, it’s essentially my half-assed application of Dunbar‘s Number to social media moderation. You only get to see the posts of people you’re friends with and if you want more than 1000 friends or something you have to apply for a broadcast license that will be reviewed and can be revoked. Tongue-in-cheek but I legit think it would make the world a better place.
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Comment on Any significant changes to Tildes are extremely unlikely in ~tildes.official
nothis Link ParentTildes reminds me of an internet era where people spun up their own forum software and had communities with their own moderation, tone and range of topics. There were general discussion ones with...Tildes reminds me of an internet era where people spun up their own forum software and had communities with their own moderation, tone and range of topics. There were general discussion ones with tens of thousands of users (but realistically a few hundred at most who are active), like tildes. Somehow, communities are better when they have a human limit, when they do not constantly threaten to spill into the “infinite” of social media spaces. It’s depressing to have every major internet community now live on one of maybe 5 mega-platforms. It also seems unhealthy.
I vaguely remember a similar thread where I once pointed out that I believe modern “social” media behaves more like a “broadcast” than anything genuinely social. The cut-off for the distinction is probably a few thousand users. Maybe tildes could never be a platform of millions without sacrificing its ideals. Maybe the better way of thinking of it as a solution is having other people spin up their own “tildes” (I believe the code is open source?). The site as it currently stands is proof that you can have something stable and alive that lives outside the reddits and discords of this world.
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Comment on Apple announces significant price increases for MacBooks, iPads, more in ~tech
nothis Link ParentI‘m on refurbished Macs and stick with them for many years. Feeling pretty good about upgrading to a 64GB/4TB M1 Max recently. I need the 4TB for work everything else is icing on the cake. That...I‘m on refurbished Macs and stick with them for many years. Feeling pretty good about upgrading to a 64GB/4TB M1 Max recently. I need the 4TB for work everything else is icing on the cake. That config would cost like 7000€ new, now, it’s absurd.
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Comment on What are your personal crackpot conspiracy theories about the world right now? in ~talk
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Comment on What are your personal crackpot conspiracy theories about the world right now? in ~talk
nothis Link ParentNow hold on there… what?!The real conspiracy is that Star Wars is actually harder Science Fiction than Star Trek.
Now hold on there… what?!
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Comment on What are your personal crackpot conspiracy theories about the world right now? in ~talk
nothis Link ParentHow is that a conspiracy theory? This goes all the way back to George Lucas opting to get merchandise rights over a salary with the first first movie. Somehow, Andor was also produced, though.How is that a conspiracy theory? This goes all the way back to George Lucas opting to get merchandise rights over a salary with the first first movie.
Somehow, Andor was also produced, though.
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Comment on You can finally change the goofy Gmail address you chose years ago in ~tech
nothis Link ParentDamn. Happily, my name isn’t common/international enough for that, apparently. I went 10 years without spam, then registered for some nuts newsletter “ironically” (yea, stupid) and apparently they...Damn. Happily, my name isn’t common/international enough for that, apparently. I went 10 years without spam, then registered for some nuts newsletter “ironically” (yea, stupid) and apparently they registered me for a bunch of third party trash news that does not have a proper unsubscribe. Never got an accidental email due to my name (once got an incorrect health insurance payment for name similarity though, but no email involved).
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Comment on You can finally change the goofy Gmail address you chose years ago in ~tech
nothis Link ParentA bank employee once casually mentioned how surprised he was that I have a “clean” first-name.last-name@gmail.com address without numbers and whatnot. I’d didn’t realize how rare this has become....A bank employee once casually mentioned how surprised he was that I have a “clean” first-name.last-name@gmail.com address without numbers and whatnot. I’d didn’t realize how rare this has become. Got it in like 2008.
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Comment on Digg has shutdown (again) in ~tech
nothis Link ParentCynical guess. I dug up the email with the invite and this is the instruction to activate: Didn’t know how else to interpret this other than the app being a requirement. I first opened this email...Cynical guess. I dug up the email with the invite and this is the instruction to activate:
Download the Digg app on iOS or Android first. Once it’s installed, come back and tap the button below to sign up. That’ll make sure your invite opens directly in the app!
Didn’t know how else to interpret this other than the app being a requirement. I first opened this email in Firefox on a desktop and it was immediately put off.
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Comment on Digg has shutdown (again) in ~tech
nothis Link ParentI‘m sure both were actually websites running in some wrapper so you don’t get any of the advantages of your own browser.I‘m sure both were actually websites running in some wrapper so you don’t get any of the advantages of your own browser.
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Comment on Digg has shutdown (again) in ~tech
nothis Link ParentYou’d need to de-commercialize those spaces. Add some friction and splinter up communities with no easy way to find each other. That’s what I miss most about the classic forum style communities of...You’d need to de-commercialize those spaces. Add some friction and splinter up communities with no easy way to find each other. That’s what I miss most about the classic forum style communities of the past where each niche interest had like 50 forums and you had to try and see which had people on it whose in-jokes you liked and house rules you found appropriate.
Discord is probably the closest modern equivalent but chat is so ephemeral, it can not really produce a lasting source of information. Plus discord, again, is a commercialized space that inevitably drifts towards connecting everything into one mega-community, that’s where the money is because the size of the community creates this user vortex. It’s inevitable.
I don’t buy the “bot” reason, btw. They just needed to hit some number to make it commercially feasible and if they had hit it, that “bot problem” would have been addressed in a different way than shutting everything down.
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Comment on Digg has shutdown (again) in ~tech
nothis Link Parentlol, I got mildly curious, signed up for an invite but had it sitting in my inbox for months since I realized it was only an “app” and not a website and I was like… uh… not doing that. Guess I can...lol, I got mildly curious, signed up for an invite but had it sitting in my inbox for months since I realized it was only an “app” and not a website and I was like… uh… not doing that. Guess I can delete that invite now.
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Comment on Russians confront wartime internet cuts with public shrug, private fury in ~tech
nothis Link ParentThat switch from black lists to white lists is what I always think about when people claim that everything on the internet can be easily bypassed. Liberal governments choose to let those loopholes...That switch from black lists to white lists is what I always think about when people claim that everything on the internet can be easily bypassed. Liberal governments choose to let those loopholes open. They don’t have to.
We already have a situation where, even without enforcement, people spend their time on the internet on like 5 websites, increasingly apps.
The idea of a sprawling, adapting internet that is somehow resistant to censorship is naive.
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Comment on Good News Everyone! - a thread and a challenge in ~talk
nothis LinkI subscribe to this newsletter for a while now, and it tends to be a highlight of the week: https://fixthenews.com/I subscribe to this newsletter for a while now, and it tends to be a highlight of the week:
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Comment on Unfuck Google Drive (It's Gemini garbage, of course) in ~comp
nothis (edited )Link ParentI pay for Dropbox for 10 years now and never looked back. I need that shit professionally, deal with very large, lots of small and often oddly named (foreign names and whatnot) files. I also need...I pay for Dropbox for 10 years now and never looked back. I need that shit professionally, deal with very large, lots of small and often oddly named (foreign names and whatnot) files. I also need to send quick, direct links that immediately download. I also like the automatic versioning that lets you retrieve old versions of files for a duration, saved my ass many times. No service I checked does it as well as Dropbox, still, IMO. They try to push some bullshit additional feature here and there but you can mostly ignore it. Also there is a factor of consistency and reliability. I switched to different services in the past (and listen to friends who try different ones, especially “free” offers) and a lot of them changed or disappeared over a few years. I don’t see Dropbox going anywhere unless they do something monumentally stupid.
Cloud backup services are essential, nowadays. Pay for them. For example, on iOS get the iCloud level that can hold all your photos. Absolutely worth it.
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Comment on What is happening to Japan? in ~tech
nothis LinkOne of the few youtube creators who still feels genuine. We used his videos to get a feel for the country while planning an extended trip to Japan which was my favorite travel experience ever. I...One of the few youtube creators who still feels genuine. We used his videos to get a feel for the country while planning an extended trip to Japan which was my favorite travel experience ever. I watched this video earlier and trust his opinion 100%, great take on alarmist social media content in general as well.
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Comment on Messenger, a cute little 3d browser game in ~games
nothis LinkThis is amazing. How does this run so well and look so good? Is it just Unity? Any story of how this came to be? The website just says "we craft interactive real-time experiences" and nothing else.This is amazing. How does this run so well and look so good? Is it just Unity? Any story of how this came to be? The website just says "we craft interactive real-time experiences" and nothing else.
More a cultural loss than a true fear but I believe it is becoming hard to determine if content online is made by a human being. Only solution would be government-ID and even then people could use/steal that to run a bot. Genuine human-made content might become rare and open internet communities might some day no longer make sense. That‘s sad.
AI drone swarm wars are among the more real fears I have for the future. I guess it’s already happening in Ukraine, you bet there’s AI making kill decisions in some devices.
But is that more scary than nuclear war? A meteor hitting earth? A new Spanish flu type virus (nature never needed a lab for that)?
We’re surrounded by danger. AI can have its place in that but, again, it’s just adding like 10%… or maybe just 1%. It’s adding one global danger scenario to, what, dozens? Hundreds? It’s a new scenario to worry about but not the first and not the last.