papasquat's recent activity
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Comment on Nintendo has hired a company to dox Reddit users so they can sue them for piracy in ~games
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Comment on Why is Google Gemini saying we should die? in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentAt long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create the Torment NexusAt long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create the Torment Nexus
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Comment on Selfishness in AI in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentI certainly am, but I think there may be a sort of filter bubble effect going on there. Most people I interact with online are completely over them, however my parents have started sending me AI...I certainly am, but I think there may be a sort of filter bubble effect going on there. Most people I interact with online are completely over them, however my parents have started sending me AI generated images they see on Facebook and still think they're great.
I think a lot of non techie people are just now starting to be widely exposed to them and either can't tell they're AI generated, or are still amazed that they are AI generated.
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Comment on OpenAI, Google and Anthropic are struggling to build more advanced AI in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentThe hype isn't necessarily about an expectation for LLMs to get better; they're already very good at what they do, which is generating convincing looking text. The hype has more to do with the...- Exemplary
The hype isn't necessarily about an expectation for LLMs to get better; they're already very good at what they do, which is generating convincing looking text. The hype has more to do with the potential applications of that technology, which we've barely scratched the surface of at this point. Right now, we're still using the technology mostly in its most raw form, that is, passing text to it via a field and receiving its text output directly. There are way more applications for it to be integrated into applications and application pipelines, most of which will be pure gimmicky garbage, but likely much of which will be genuinely useful.
It sort of reminds me of the development of lasers. At first, a super powerful beam of coherent light was merely super cool. Shortly after, they started being used in their most raw and obvious applications; dumping tons of power into a small spot to cut or destroy things.
Now, the modern world wouldn't be remotely achievable without them. They enable high bandwidth long distance communication, optical disc storage, lithography, audio, microscopy, and about a million other things. The average person likely uses hundreds of lasers every day without even knowing it, and taking them for granted. It just took a while to figure those use cases out.
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Comment on Selfishness in AI in ~tech
papasquat LinkWe're in this weird transitory phase where many people don't see AI generated content for what it is yet; low effort garbage. Imagine you're a kid, and for your birthday, your parents get you a...We're in this weird transitory phase where many people don't see AI generated content for what it is yet; low effort garbage.
Imagine you're a kid, and for your birthday, your parents get you a dollar lollipop from the store.
You'd probably be pretty damn disappointed because lollipops are extremely common, take virtually zero effort to acquire, and aren't unique at all. You can go to a bank and get a lollipop on a tellers desk for free.
Imagine now you're a kid from the 1500s in Europe and you get something resembling a lollipop from back then. You'd probably pretty damn pleased. Sugar was expensive as hell. The skills needed to boil it and refine it and put it on a stick are pretty damn specialized. This is something that for many people would have been a once in a lifetime experience. It's really special.
I imagine for a certain amount of time between then and now, there was a period of industrialization, where lollipops were both easy and cheap to produce, but not everyone knew that yet. For some of those people, receiving a lollipop as a gift was still special and pretty cool.
That's where we're at right now. Custom videos, custom art, and custom music generated by AI aren't yet considered by everyone as disposable trash that someone put no effort into making, so this whole "woahhuhh, a heartfelt custom video" schtick in the mentioned apple add still sorta works.
That's not going to be the case in five years once the jig is up.
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Comment on If our worst fears about Donald Trump play out, how will we know when it's time to leave? in ~society
papasquat LinkIt would have to be really, really bad for me to consider it. As in, rounding up people of a similar ethnicity as me into camps bad. I think things are definitely going to get worse, but my entire...It would have to be really, really bad for me to consider it. As in, rounding up people of a similar ethnicity as me into camps bad.
I think things are definitely going to get worse, but my entire life is in the US. My friends, my family, my dog, my job. While I think it would be interesting to live in another country for a while, I have no desire to live anywhere else long term.
I only speak English, I'm only well familiar with American culture and norms, I'm not interested in being a perpetual outsider somewhere else, unless I absolutely had to for my freedom (meant in the most literal, physical way) or safety.
For better or worse, I'm here for the long haul.
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Comment on If our worst fears about Donald Trump play out, how will we know when it's time to leave? in ~society
papasquat Link ParentI think OPs question is about something far more pressing. There's a difference between wanting to leave, which a lot of people feel, and have felt for a long time, since well before trump even...I think OPs question is about something far more pressing. There's a difference between wanting to leave, which a lot of people feel, and have felt for a long time, since well before trump even arrived on the scene, and leaving by any means necessary
If you knew the death squads were on your way to your house, for instance, you wouldn't worry about paperwork or procedures or ADHD, you'd leave by any means possible, legal or not, whether or not you got to keep your bank account or job. OP wants to know where that line is for most people.
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Comment on The man problem | “Why are men moving right?” in ~life.men
papasquat Link ParentEveryone keeps talking about policy here, but in reality, policy really doesn't matter. I wish it wasn't the case, but it's true. Basically no one is voting for trump because they like his policy...Everyone keeps talking about policy here, but in reality, policy really doesn't matter. I wish it wasn't the case, but it's true. Basically no one is voting for trump because they like his policy proposals. Most people don't even know what they are, because he changes his mind constantly and contradicts himself regularly.
They're voting for him because he feels like a subversive middle finger to the status quo. That's what he ran on in 2016, it's what he ran on in 2020, and it's what he ran on again in 2024.
Many, maybe even the majority of people feel like they're being fucked over by a shadowy cabal of rich assholes in smoky rooms.
Whether or not that's true, and whether or not the world is really so simple that you can blame all of our problems on an amorphous group of elites is completely beside the point. Trump has demonstrated that you can run a successful campaign by saying "I'm going to punish the people that make your life worse."
Kamala Harris didn't run her campaign that way. She brought a message of unity, pragmatism, and sensible governance. To people very well informed in politics and the day to day workings of a government, that's a very appealing message. Most people aren't well informed though. They have a vague notion of what the government is responsible for and think that the president somehow has significant influence in global macroeconomics. They don't get fired up by someone saying that our systems need an overhaul, that human rights need to be protected, that we need to look out for our international allies. They get fired up by someone who talks about going for the jugular.
Compare Harris' campaign to Bernie's 2016 campaign.
Bernie Sanders is, in many ways, the left's answer to Trump. He's edgy, he gets fired up, he talks about who specifically is fucking you over, and he is confident in his plan to fix it. He never had the broad appeal with the base to actually make it to a general election, but there's a very real reason why a lot of young men who voted for, or wanted to vote for Bernie in 2016 are now voting for trump.
Both of them come off as aggressive champions willing to fight a perceived enemy that have wronged their base. Kamala didn't come off that way, and biden didn't come off that way either.
If the Dems have done the calculus and think that young men are the demographic they need to get them a win, they need to draft a campaign that appeals to them, and we know the things that get young men amped up. It's not messages of inclusiveness and fairness, and it's definitely not a message that says they're the problem. It's a message of aggression, edginess, danger, and conflict. Testosterone is a very powerful motivator, as much as the Democratic party would like to pretend it's not.
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Comment on Is ADHD really that debilitating? in ~health.mental
papasquat LinkFor me, no, but ADHD, like all mental disorders comes in degrees. Even unmedicated, I can generally remember to do a handful of regular tasks, but it's a bit like a death by a thousand cuts. Right...For me, no, but ADHD, like all mental disorders comes in degrees. Even unmedicated, I can generally remember to do a handful of regular tasks, but it's a bit like a death by a thousand cuts.
Right now, I can remember to take out my trash, I can remember to do my laundry, I can remember to feed my dog and myself, I can remember to brush my teeth, I can remember to vacuum, but I've automated away almost every aspect of my life I can. I don't pay any bills manually. I have a lawn service that automatically comes. I have my mortgage, property taxes and insurance managed automatically in an escrow account.
I'm close to my limit for manual tasks. If you add one or two more regular things I need to remember doing, the whole thing would fall down like a house of cards, stressing me the fuck out in the process.
When I get like that, I just shut down, don't do anything and spend my time browsing the Internet or playing videogames instead.
I think it's extremely unlikely that having to remember to track your menstrual cycles alone would be beyond the capacity of virtually anyone with ADHD if that's the only, or main disorder they have. The problem is that no adult has no other responsibilities, especially women.
When you stack it on top of the absolute mountain of other things the average has to do on a regular basis to prevent their lives from falling apart, it can cause the entire thing to come apart at the seams.
That's why, when I contemplate taking on an additional regular responsibility, I'm extremely careful about it, evaluating all the other things I have to do and being realistic with how much I'll remember to do it after all the other stuff I have to do.
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Comment on Make it ephemeral: Software should decay and lose data in ~tech
papasquat LinkThe authors premise doesn't even hold true here. Physical data doesn't auto delete, and in fact is often times far more resilient than digital data. Egyptian hieroglyphs and sumeran poetry exists...The authors premise doesn't even hold true here. Physical data doesn't auto delete, and in fact is often times far more resilient than digital data. Egyptian hieroglyphs and sumeran poetry exists carved in stone from thousands of years ago. There are physical, readable books that are older than my great great grandfather.
On the other hand, the copy of office space I downloaded into a hard drive in 2005 is almost certainly unreadable due to bitrot.
Even mirrored, backed up data in cloud storage providers likely won't exist there anymore if I don't interact with them in a couple decades as their licensing agreements change, ownership shifts, and monetization strategy is flipped around.
Compare that to the sticky note the author referenced. If I wrote that note and then didn't touch it, it would almost certainly outlive me.
Digital data is inherently extremely ephemeral. Users only get the impression it isn't due to gargantuan, monumental efforts. At the end of the day it's still more ephemeral than most physical records.
If you're not looking at the modified fields of files and cleaning up useless ones, thats on you, just like keeping a messy desk is.
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Comment on Make it ephemeral: Software should decay and lose data in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentA default of not receiving email at all provides more security and privacy to the user as well. The tradeoffs aren't worth it though. I like being able to find an Amazon shipping notification in...A default of not receiving email at all provides more security and privacy to the user as well. The tradeoffs aren't worth it though.
I like being able to find an Amazon shipping notification in my email from 10 years ago. Stuff like that comes in handy all the time. Do I really care if someone gets access to that decade old shipment notification? No, probably not.
I would say that the majority of the time, stale, old data is far more valuable to me than it would be for any attacker, and I can honestly say I've never had a moment where I've looked at data and thought "man, I sure wish my computer automatically deleted that after an arbitrary timeframe"
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Comment on Apex Legends dev team update: Linux and anti-cheat in ~games
papasquat Link ParentI don't have hard evidence besides what the gaming companies themselves have released on it. Riot has released some pretty compelling...I don't have hard evidence besides what the gaming companies themselves have released on it.
Riot has released some pretty compelling https://www.leagueoflegends.com/en-us/news/dev/dev-vanguard-x-lol-retrospective/ on the results of enabling vanguard on league of legends. Independently verifiable data is going to be close to non-existent in this area, because the specific usage data and implimentaton details of anti cheat measures are some of the most closely guarded IP in the games industry.
Anecdotally, if you compare the prevelence of cheaters in riot's games versus just about any other popular competitive games, even ones released after league/valorant, you can tell a difference.
Also, you can look for yourself to try to find working valorant cheats versus CS:GO cheats. The cheaters themselves are saying on their forums how much more expensive and hard to find valorant cheats are.
A lot of people have said that riot's approach is "lazy", as if it's somehow the easy way out, but it's really quite the opposite. Riot made massive investments in anti cheat, and are far more effective at it because of those investments. It sucks that that effectiveness comes at the price of invasiveness and compatibility, but fundamentally, this is an inevitable result of the principle that if you don't control the endpoints, you cannot guarantee that they're doing what they say they are.
I wish there were a better way around this, but there really doesn't seem to be. Valve made a noble effort, but a lot of people seem to view "AI" as some sort of magic dust that can divine the difference between legitimate player actions and cheating, but it really cannot in a reliable way.
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Comment on Valorant is winning the war against PC gaming cheaters in ~games
papasquat Link ParentThe only thing I really use my computer for is games. If it can't play the games I want it to play, I might as well not have it. I also like playing competitive games where playing with a cheater...The only thing I really use my computer for is games. If it can't play the games I want it to play, I might as well not have it. I also like playing competitive games where playing with a cheater completely ruins the fun of the game.
It's a pretty good tradeoff in my case, and does make a lot of sense.
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Comment on Traceroute isn't real in ~tech
papasquat LinkMost competent network engineers know this, and traceroute can be a useful tool to those people, but it's shocking how many people both within and outside of the networking field in IT don't...Most competent network engineers know this, and traceroute can be a useful tool to those people, but it's shocking how many people both within and outside of the networking field in IT don't really know how networks operate on a fundamental level. It's one of those things that seem simple at first glance, but any time you take a magnifying glass to literally any concept in networking, you realize it's so much more massively complex than you could ever imagine.
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Comment on Apex Legends dev team update: Linux and anti-cheat in ~games
papasquat Link ParentJust to echo what stu2b50 is saying, the cheating situation is really god awful in CS2. Most of the player base has been begging valve for kernel level anticheat, but they're not going to get it...Just to echo what stu2b50 is saying, the cheating situation is really god awful in CS2. Most of the player base has been begging valve for kernel level anticheat, but they're not going to get it because of the steam deck, which runs linux. FACEIT is so popular mostly because of that issue.
I understand that kernel anticheat is a bitter pill to swallow, and it would be great if less obtrusive, server side methods were as, or more effective, but they really just aren't. Kernel anticheat isn't a panacea; cheating still happens in games that implement them, but it significantly raises the barrier for cheat developers, which means cheats become much more expensive to develop and purchase, and thus less prevalent in those games.
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Comment on The misogynistic, bigoted and crude US rally remarks Donald Trump hasn’t disavowed in ~society
papasquat Link ParentYeah. I tend to enjoy comedians like that too. I think Shane is hilarious. I think Nick Mullen is one of the funniest people to ever live. There are people who can use racism to make fun of...Yeah. I tend to enjoy comedians like that too. I think Shane is hilarious. I think Nick Mullen is one of the funniest people to ever live. There are people who can use racism to make fun of racists, or poke fun at weird racial hangups. That stuff is funny to me. The issue is that every so often, one of those comedians goes full mask off and you find out, oh no, nevermind, they actually believe all of that stuff, and their comedy isn't about being funny, it's about promoting their actual political opinions... ahem, Sam Hyde.
Unfortunately it seems that a lot of the Austin comedy scene may be like this.
I was really shocked and disappointed when I heard that Tony Hinchcliffe did a set at that rally, despite not really being a fan of his to begin with. It just makes all of his stuff retroactively lose all humor for me.
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Comment on No, raising the minimum wage does not hurt US fast-food workers in ~finance
papasquat Link ParentI've often thought that in cities, something like an adult meal plan would be super useful. Something like a place that you pay a monthly subscription to and you can go to a cafeteria, or network...I've often thought that in cities, something like an adult meal plan would be super useful.
Something like a place that you pay a monthly subscription to and you can go to a cafeteria, or network of cafeterias to eat healthy, but unfancy food that's easy and cheap to prepare in bulk, just like you do in college.When I was deployed in the military, one of the nicest parts is that I never had to worry about meals. I just showed up to the mess tent, they gave me food, I ate, and I went back to doing my job.
I think that would fill a huge niche for the "never cooks meals at home" crowd, and could potentially be affordable due to economies of scale.
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Comment on Non-college educated White men used to be ahead in the American economy. Now they’ve fallen behind. in ~finance
papasquat Link ParentAnd some white men are immigrants, and some are young. Voting blocs aren't mutually exclusive, nor are they supposed to be. They're useful groupings of people with a similar characteristic that...And some white men are immigrants, and some are young.
Voting blocs aren't mutually exclusive, nor are they supposed to be. They're useful groupings of people with a similar characteristic that tend to vote in similar ways. Immigrants are one such bloc, as are women. -
Comment on No, raising the minimum wage does not hurt US fast-food workers in ~finance
papasquat Link ParentFrance and the US are extremely different places economically. Free healthcare and other social programs make it so that you don't need to make nearly as much to have a livable life as you do in...France and the US are extremely different places economically. Free healthcare and other social programs make it so that you don't need to make nearly as much to have a livable life as you do in the US.
The restaurant industry is one of the most competitive there is, with tons of small businesses. The people who own restaurants are not generally living large and enjoying massive profits from their businesses. They're usually scraping by and under the constant threat of bankruptcy, because as a luxury good, the service they provide is the first to go in hard economic times. Their customers also tend to be more price sensitive than almost any other commonly engaged with industry. If a steak costs 35 dollars instead of 30, you can just not eat that steak and cook one at home instead. If you need gas however, it doesn't matter if that gas is $2.50 a gallon or $4.00 a gallon, you're getting gas.
I promise you, if a restaurant was just raising it's prices out of line with it's competitors out of pure greed, that restaurant would very quickly cease to exist.
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Comment on No, raising the minimum wage does not hurt US fast-food workers in ~finance
papasquat Link ParentNot sure what makes you say that. Restaurants notoriously operate on razor thin margins in most cases. They mostly rely on high margin items like beverage sales to stay afloat, because food sales...- Exemplary
Not sure what makes you say that. Restaurants notoriously operate on razor thin margins in most cases. They mostly rely on high margin items like beverage sales to stay afloat, because food sales barely turn a profit in most places. Their biggest expense is also labor. The only reason they'd do heavy automation and shrinkflation is if their competitors are also doing it, because generally customers don't like those things, and it would hurt them on the competitive marketplace.
There are many industries where margins are huge and the owners can skim huge amounts of profit off the top, and any cost increase can easily be absorbed by them. Restaurants are generally not one of those industries.
The hard, black and white truth is that paying another person to order, cook, and serve your food, then clean up after you is an expensive luxury, that in the last few decades, the average person has taken for granted as just a normal every day way to live, and that can only exist with extremely cheap labor.
Personally I'd rather restaurants continue to raise their prices to whatever it costs to pay their staff a fair wage. That means a lot of restaurants go out of business because people can't afford to eat out as often, but I also don't necessarily think that's the worst thing in the world in the long run.
I'm struggling to understand what's disgusting about this.
I'd agree that Nintendo does and has done some pretty despicable things with regards to IP protection, but this seems pretty normal to me.