papasquat's recent activity
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Comment on The mega-rich are turning their mansions into impenetrable fortresses in ~finance
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Comment on The mega-rich are turning their mansions into impenetrable fortresses in ~finance
papasquat Link ParentThey do. Warren Buffet pretty famously lives in a 6,000 sq foot house in a suburb of Omaha worth a million or so. He's been living in that same house since the 50s. I think there are a lot of very...They do. Warren Buffet pretty famously lives in a 6,000 sq foot house in a suburb of Omaha worth a million or so. He's been living in that same house since the 50s.
I think there are a lot of very wealthy people who don't like to show off their wealth. You just don't hear about them too much because it's not as juicy as the ones blowing 80 million dollars on ridiculous mansions.
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Comment on Joy of sharing a creation replaced by a longing sadness in ~talk
papasquat Link ParentYeah, but this isn't exactly uncommon. Bots, spam, and other malicious traffic absolutely infest public internet services. Blocking VPNs is one way to help cut it down.Yeah, but this isn't exactly uncommon. Bots, spam, and other malicious traffic absolutely infest public internet services. Blocking VPNs is one way to help cut it down.
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Comment on What's good in modern flashlights/headlamps? in ~hobbies
papasquat Link ParentHonestly I think it would be way easier to start a fire with a lion battery versus a AAA. For one, they have a higher nominal voltage, 3.8 versus 1.5, which means it's easier to make sparks with...Honestly I think it would be way easier to start a fire with a lion battery versus a AAA. For one, they have a higher nominal voltage, 3.8 versus 1.5, which means it's easier to make sparks with them. They also have way higher energy density.
Safety isn't really a concern unless you're shorting them with a thick wire for a long period of time. To make a fire you're generally looking at a tiny little spark for a fraction of a second.
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Comment on Something big is happening in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentIn real life, yes, that third realm exists, but in the context of the world the article that he posted paints, it doesn't. He makes the case that no knowledge work is safe from AI. "Rolling your...In real life, yes, that third realm exists, but in the context of the world the article that he posted paints, it doesn't.
He makes the case that no knowledge work is safe from AI. "Rolling your sleeves up" and actually setting up the infrastructure for these agents to produce software is knowledge work.
It's not as if Matt is physically installing server racks and building the data centers this stuff runs on by hand. He's not a carpenter or plumber or something, the few areas that he says are safe for now because they require robots to replicate. He's sitting in front of a computer doing the exact type of work he's trying to convince us that a computer can do better.
The fact that I can't open up Claude, say "become a writing assistant", and it automatically designs, codes, installs, and integrates a product with superior functionality to Matt's is why I say he's a liar, rather than a grifter. If AI has truly made knowledge work obsolete, then the people doing knowledge work wouldn't be the ones constantly trying to convince us of that.
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Comment on Russian general shot several times in Moscow in ~society
papasquat LinkMan, we've really stretched the definition of terrorist past its breaking point. Attacking a high ranking uniformed combatant in a war that you didn't start is somehow terrorism now? If that's the...Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quick to accuse Ukraine.
He said "this terrorist act" was aimed at "disrupting the negotiation process".
Man, we've really stretched the definition of terrorist past its breaking point. Attacking a high ranking uniformed combatant in a war that you didn't start is somehow terrorism now?
If that's the standard, is any wartime action not terrorism?
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Comment on Something big is happening in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentYeah. I touched on this in another post, but their actions don't make sense in the context the world they're describing. If software development is a solved task by AI, and human coders are...If it’s as good as they claim, proponents should not be building more AI tools, or even more software.
Yeah. I touched on this in another post, but their actions don't make sense in the context the world they're describing. If software development is a solved task by AI, and human coders are obsolete...
Why does everyone that writes these articles own a software development company? They make their money doing something that they're trying very hard to convince people has no value.
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Comment on Something big is happening in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentHere's what I don't get. If the AI revolution is truly here, and human work in the area of software development is fundementaly already obsolete, and AI is now so capable that it can effectively...Here's what I don't get.
If the AI revolution is truly here, and human work in the area of software development is fundementaly already obsolete, and AI is now so capable that it can effectively replace most human tasks then...
Why the FUCK would I pay Matt Schumer, the author of this article, 16 dollars a month for his AI writing assistant https://www.hyperwriteai.com/.
He just spent many pages breathlessly telling me that AI is more capable at complex tasks than humans. Why would I pay a human money that he then just skims off of and spends on openAI or anthropic tokens without providing me any value?
There are only two options I can see here are:
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Matt is a liar. He's blatantly inflating the capabilities of these tools that he somehow has unique insight into in order to generate hype like legions of liars before him. Maybe he doesn't know he's lying and has actually convinced himself of what he's saying while also maintaining the cognitive dissonance required to also believe that his product is valuable, or
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Matt is a grifter. He's selling a product that he very well knows is less capable than an GPT or Claude subscription, and which can do everything his product can do, and more, far better, and that the labor he's put into his product is just straight up inferior to what these tools can do natively.
There's no other options. He's painted himself into a corner.
That's what I don't get about these AI hype beasts. They're fundementaly arguing for their own lack of value. If they're to be believed, the idea of an "ai startup" is laughable. The only companies worth giving money to are the ones large enough to hire the world's best AI researchers and run the worlds most powerful compute clusters. So openAI, Google, anthropic, and meta. Anyone else with an AI startup, in their hype is to be believed, is just a parasite, grifting people who don't know better.
I don't believe that's actually true though. I just think they're liars.
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Comment on What are you working through? in ~life
papasquat Link ParentI work in technology, not a software developer, but work with a lot of them. I used to feel that way too, because I used to work for an extremely big bank, and I knew all of my rushed, frantic...I work in technology, not a software developer, but work with a lot of them. I used to feel that way too, because I used to work for an extremely big bank, and I knew all of my rushed, frantic efforts only existed to make some rich fucks a few more dollars, and I wasn't given enough time or resources to do it because they wanted a few more dollars.
I work for a local government now, and the pay isn't as good, but I actually feel like I'm doing things that makes people's lives at least marginally better.
I'm still rushed and frantic, but at least I'm rushed and frantic because we have a limited budget that I can fully inspect every aspect of. I can see that fire trucks, new park equipment, fixing potholes, and renovating community centers are competing with the resources that I use, and all of those things are objectively important too. I'm not slaving away to make a handful of people rich.
I didn't think that doing the same thing but for a different purpose would matter that much, but it turns out, for me at least, it matters a lot.
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Comment on Diablo | Warlock class cinematic trailer - New class for Diablo II, Immortal, and IV in ~games
papasquat Link ParentYou can respec in PoE2, but it's expensive. If I remember correctly there are aspects of your character that are locked in once you choose in the course of gameplay and can't be changed without...You can respec in PoE2, but it's expensive. If I remember correctly there are aspects of your character that are locked in once you choose in the course of gameplay and can't be changed without making a new character though.
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Comment on Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month in ~tech
papasquat Link ParentHonestly it's pretty irritating to me the amount of technology, open source, and security focused communities that have embraced discord with open arms. The platforms model flies in the face of...Honestly it's pretty irritating to me the amount of technology, open source, and security focused communities that have embraced discord with open arms.
The platforms model flies in the face of everything those communities stand for, and hopefully this is a wakeup call that we should have been advocating for and investing in open source, standard protocols instead.
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Comment on Diablo | Warlock class cinematic trailer - New class for Diablo II, Immortal, and IV in ~games
papasquat Link ParentI'm a big roguelike fan. One of the things I love about them is after a long day at work, I can just do a run, and even if I'm not googling the most optimal build or starts, I can just hop in,...I'm a big roguelike fan. One of the things I love about them is after a long day at work, I can just do a run, and even if I'm not googling the most optimal build or starts, I can just hop in, die, maybe try again with something new a couple times and then I'm good.
Despite playing arpgs since the first diablo, I never really got into them. I played through the campaigns once, had some fun, then dropped them. I didn't do the ARPG fan thing where I run bosses over and over and try to optimize my gear.
I tried with PoE2, but in the end, it just felt like I still had to do so much research to not permanently fuck my character up, or at least fuck it up badly enough that it would take a significant amount of time for me to fix it.
Even though it sorta feels similar to the roguelike experience, it really misses the non permeance and low stakes of roguelikes. The older I get, the less I want to play games with "stakes". So even though I know lots of people absolutely love the genre and PoE 2 specifically, I just decided that it wasn't for me.
Your milage may vary though of course.
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Comment on Liberals who were formerly far-left (communist, anarchist, etc.), what led to you coming to liberalism? in ~society
papasquat Link ParentI apologize, because I was coming at it from a very US centric point of view, and also injecting a lot of nuance going on in my own head into a very glossed over statement. What I should have...I apologize, because I was coming at it from a very US centric point of view, and also injecting a lot of nuance going on in my own head into a very glossed over statement.
What I should have said, was that very few people in the US identify as liberal and mean what they want it to mean. Yes, they identify as liberal, and they are liberal , but they call themselves liberal to distinguish from Republicans, however, moderate conservatives in the US are what the world would classify as liberals. They believe in free markets, personal liberty, civil rights, and strong private property.
The way it's used by both Republicans, and self identified liberals, however, is to distinguish themselves from "conservative" Republicans, which isn't accurate. There's a lot of overlap with Republican views and liberalism. A really huge chunk of Republicans would fit under the liberal umbrella, but that's not the way the term is used here, likely as a result of us having a political system that ensures only two parties can be viable at a time. So despite a big chunk of Republicans believing in free markets, private property, individual liberty, representation, and so on; you know, liberalism; never in a million years would they identify as liberal, nor would people in the US who identify as liberal identity them that way either.
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Comment on Liberals who were formerly far-left (communist, anarchist, etc.), what led to you coming to liberalism? in ~society
papasquat Link ParentThe thing that bothers me about Marxism is that Marx and Engles are so venerated that their writings become biblical, and "the revolution" becomes a goal in it of itself. The ultimate good is the...- Exemplary
The thing that bothers me about Marxism is that Marx and Engles are so venerated that their writings become biblical, and "the revolution" becomes a goal in it of itself. The ultimate good is the establishment of a communist state, regardless of if it actually helps people or not.
Ultimately, if you have a system where people are content enough to not revolt because they have healthcare and social services and strong communities that they're happy in, I generally view that as a good thing. M/L views it as a bad thing because it lessens the chances of a bloody revolution.
It seems to have lost the forest for the trees a bit there.
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Comment on Liberals who were formerly far-left (communist, anarchist, etc.), what led to you coming to liberalism? in ~society
papasquat Link ParentYeah, true, but understanding the historical context of those statements is pretty fundemental. The alternative to liberalism when liberalism was new was monarchs with an entrenched aristocracy,...Yeah, true, but understanding the historical context of those statements is pretty fundemental.
The alternative to liberalism when liberalism was new was monarchs with an entrenched aristocracy, so the idea that just because you were born a peasant, you didn't have to stay a peasant, and that you had some set of rights as a human that the king shouldn't be allowed to violate was pretty radical. That's sort of a baseline belief that most people have nowadays, so it's no longer much of a differentiator.
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Comment on Liberals who were formerly far-left (communist, anarchist, etc.), what led to you coming to liberalism? in ~society
papasquat Link ParentStrong social programs is a left leaning policy. That doesn't mean everyone that supports them is a leftist, because the terms left and right exist on a spectrum, they're not a binary choice....Strong social programs is a left leaning policy. That doesn't mean everyone that supports them is a leftist, because the terms left and right exist on a spectrum, they're not a binary choice.
Liberalism by today's standard in the western world is generally a centrist position, so you have social liberals as the left leaning wing and classical liberals as the right leaning wing. The absolute center in the US would be the current status quo (or at least what it was before Trump took office). That means that when people identify as a liberal in the US, they're really calling themselves a centrist. That's not generally what people who call themselves a liberal in the US mean though.
They're calling themselves a liberal to distinguish themselves from the right. They tend towards leftist views, namely using political power to dismantle and keep dismantled hierarchies they view as unjust, which is a, or even the key differentiator of left wing politics.
Thats contrasted with what the actual definition of what a liberal is, which is to use markets to dismantle those hierarchies.
So social liberals, or social democrats aren't leftists, but they tend towards the left.
Liberalism is a lot less muddy in places that aren't the US because of this weird liberal=leftist thing we have going on here.
And not to be prescriptivist, but words mean things, and when the US uses a political definition that means something entirely different from the rest of the world, it makes it extremely difficult to have a conversation online because people are operating under fundementaly different definitions of words.
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Comment on Liberals who were formerly far-left (communist, anarchist, etc.), what led to you coming to liberalism? in ~society
papasquat LinkDoes anyone actually identify as a liberal? The only two camps I can think of are People on the moderate left who don't know what a liberal actually is because they never looked into where these...Does anyone actually identify as a liberal?
The only two camps I can think of are
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People on the moderate left who don't know what a liberal actually is because they never looked into where these terms come from and what they actually mean, and identity as a liberal because they support strong social programs, equity, and a government that tries to reduce income inequality without knowing that those are leftist or progressive views or
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People who identify as "classical liberals" who are basically what we would call libertarians in the US, but without the mad-max-world private rolling militia flavor of extreme anarcho capitalists.
Only one of those are actually liberals, and it's not the one that right wingers mean when they call someone a liberal.
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Comment on Liberals who were formerly far-left (communist, anarchist, etc.), what led to you coming to liberalism? in ~society
papasquat Link ParentYeah... I kinda get that impression. I'm kind of more of a social Democrat myself, but the DSA's platform has always been confusing to me. They call themselves socialists, but then I see members...Yeah... I kinda get that impression. I'm kind of more of a social Democrat myself, but the DSA's platform has always been confusing to me. They call themselves socialists, but then I see members like AOC and Rashida Tallib explicitly NOT advocating for the abolition of private property, and instead have platforms that pretty closely align to my viewpoints, and I'm like... in what world are you a socialist?
Is the DSA just misnamed? Or are they really socialists that just use social democracy as a useful cover for their more left wing views and are just sort of pretending until they feel comfortable enough to abolish private capital? In the first scenario, it's just mostly confusing. In the second, it makes it harder to advocate for social programs without centrists thinking you're a secret tankie who wants the government to take their house.
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Comment on Elon Musk says SpaceX will prioritize a city on the moon instead of a colony on Mars in ~space
papasquat Link ParentOh man, it's been so long since I read the story of biosphere 2. I forgot how amazingly drama filled and weird it was. Also forgot that Steve Bannon was involved. It's criminal that this hasn't...Oh man, it's been so long since I read the story of biosphere 2. I forgot how amazingly drama filled and weird it was. Also forgot that Steve Bannon was involved.
It's criminal that this hasn't been turned into a real dramatic adaptarion. The whole story is so juicy and scandalous and strange. If you wrote it from scratch I would have thought it was a little hackneyed and unbelievable.
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Comment on Elon Musk says SpaceX will prioritize a city on the moon instead of a colony on Mars in ~space
papasquat Link ParentMaybe if something happened instantly all across the whole world in less than the day to poison the entire atmosphere, and that thing wasn't biological so there was no chance of it spreading to...Maybe if something happened instantly all across the whole world in less than the day to poison the entire atmosphere, and that thing wasn't biological so there was no chance of it spreading to the moon, or intentionally done so that the moon wouldn't factor into the plans of whoever did it.
I can't think of how something like that could happen though. Any more warning than that or anything less than total impact all across the world, and it would be easier to live in a hermetically sealed chamber on earth underground, or in the ocean, or just in a sealed biodome. At the very least, you still have the advantage of earth gravity and a magnetosphere then.
I think that's painting with an extremely broad brush. Reasonable for someone in New York City is not the same as reasonable to someone living in rural Kansas. Someone who's main hobbies involve going out and checking out new restaurants or museums may not want or need a lot of space, but someone into woodworking would.
A 6000 sq foot house is big, but it's not uncommon at all in the area where buffet lives. He also bought the place in the mid 50s for 31,500, which was completely attainable on a upper middle class income.
I get the point you're making, but Buffet is a particularly bad example. He's donated 60,000,000,000 to charity over his lifetime, continues to be the world's biggest philanthropist, and has set up a trust to donate virtually all of the rest of his wealth upon his death.
He's said he lives meagerly (compared to other well off people) because he doesn't feel that spending more money on himself would make him any happier, and he's probably right. I think there's a certain type of person that views attaining wealth as a challenge that gives them satisfaction, rather than hoarding wealth as a goal in it of itself as something that gives you status. Warren Buffett definitely seems like the former.