papasquat's recent activity

  1. Comment on Tell US Congress: Stop the TikTok ban in ~tech

    papasquat
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    When has the government ever done anything about any harmful trends on other platforms? Those platforms self-police because of advertiser pressure, not government pressure. The only argument I...

    When has the government ever done anything about any harmful trends on other platforms?

    Those platforms self-police because of advertiser pressure, not government pressure.

    The only argument I could see is that if tiktok were domestically owned, it could have stronger data protection regulations, but considering the US has virtually nothing on the books regarding normal user data protection, that point is currently moot as well.

    3 votes
  2. Comment on Tell US Congress: Stop the TikTok ban in ~tech

    papasquat
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    Lots of things are net negatives to society. That shouldn't be a basis to whether or not it should be banned. You could make the same argument about fast food, television, alcohol, pornography,...

    Lots of things are net negatives to society. That shouldn't be a basis to whether or not it should be banned. You could make the same argument about fast food, television, alcohol, pornography, most entertainment in general, desserts, cosmetic surgery; basically anything that doesn't promote health and well-being.
    We live In a supposedly free society. It shouldn't be up to governments to allow us to access to what is good for us and restrict access to what isn't.

    5 votes
  3. Comment on Tell US Congress: Stop the TikTok ban in ~tech

    papasquat
    Link Parent
    Why would we hear about it? It's a trade secret. We don't know anything about how the algorithms of YouTube or Instagram work. All we know is speculation based on what goes viral and what doesn't....

    Why would we hear about it? It's a trade secret. We don't know anything about how the algorithms of YouTube or Instagram work. All we know is speculation based on what goes viral and what doesn't.

    But if the question is "does youtube/Instagram/et al have at their disposal a mechanism which they could use to artificially boost the number of people that see certain content" the answer is... Well yes, obviously.

    They designed the algorithms that do content ranking. They have full root access to the servers. They own the databases. They obviously have the capability to override or influence the algorithms they've built in order to show the content they want. It's their website. They could make it show rickrolls to all users every time they logged in if they wanted to.

    2 votes
  4. Comment on Tell US Congress: Stop the TikTok ban in ~tech

    papasquat
    Link Parent
    Censoring topics isn't illegal, nor should it be. We either believe in freedom or speech and live in a free society where people are allowed to do what they want as long as they're not hurting...

    Censoring topics isn't illegal, nor should it be. We either believe in freedom or speech and live in a free society where people are allowed to do what they want as long as they're not hurting others, or we don't.

    I agree with you, tiktok is a bad platform that does a lot of bad things, but I could name dozens of harmful things that people are perfectly legal to do. Part of living in a free society is giving people the freedom to do harmful things to themselves, or engage with bad people or organizations.

    If tiktok is truly an awful thing that the US government feels people should stay off of, they should spend their effort publicizing the evidence of that instead of trying to stop free citizens from using a legal platform that they clearly want to use.

    2 votes
  5. Comment on Tesla's gear-shifting problems known long before Angela Chao's death in ~transport

    papasquat
    Link Parent
    We've had middle ground for a long time. I drive a 2019 genesis. It has a nice touchscreen, but the air conditioner is controlled with knobs. The infotainment systems has knobs. It has a shifter...

    We've had middle ground for a long time. I drive a 2019 genesis. It has a nice touchscreen, but the air conditioner is controlled with knobs. The infotainment systems has knobs. It has a shifter on the center console, where you'd expect it to be.

    It has stalks for the signals, wipers, and cruise control. The seat controls are physically buttons on the left side of the drivers seat.

    The mirrors and doors are controlled with a pad on the left door

    I see no reason to break with convention unless there's a very very compelling reason to do so.

    Someone who sits in my car shouldn't need a tutorial on how to use it.

    I'd consider putting any of those functions onto a touchscreen to be a massive downgrade. I'd be giving up features in order to save the manufacturer money. It's not a premium option I'd expect to see in an expensive luxury car like a Tesla.

    I don't know why people still act like touchscreen = premium and expensive. You can get large touchscreens nowadays for less than 50 bucks. Thats likely cheaper than 3 of the knobs on my car.

    11 votes
  6. Comment on Tesla's gear-shifting problems known long before Angela Chao's death in ~transport

    papasquat
    Link Parent
    It's crazy to try to replicate f1 features in regular cars for aesthetic reasons. Formula 1 cars are notoriously some of the most difficult to control land vehicles to ever be built. They're only...

    It's crazy to try to replicate f1 features in regular cars for aesthetic reasons.

    Formula 1 cars are notoriously some of the most difficult to control land vehicles to ever be built. They're only driven by people who have been driving race cars since they were in single digit ages, and who devote the majority of their waking lives to being the best drivers on earth.

    The average driver wouldn't be able to take one around the block without spinning out or (likely) worse. Their yokes are custom built for each driver and notoriously complicated and uncomfortable because they have to be to fit into the absolutely tiny cockpit.

    I really wish car manufacturers, and Tesla especially would stop doing things because of how cool they seem or le epic meme. That kind of decision making process when designing a vehicle that weighs over a ton, capable of insane speeds should be literally criminal.

    14 votes
  7. Comment on Sorry. Your car will never drive you around. in ~transport

    papasquat
    Link Parent
    Yes, but the human tendency to prefer the devil you know makes that not such a big deal for people. Most people will not gawk at spending 10 billion to expand a major arterial in their city....

    Yes, but the human tendency to prefer the devil you know makes that not such a big deal for people. Most people will not gawk at spending 10 billion to expand a major arterial in their city. They'll protest and scream about 1 billion for a light rail line all day though.

    9 votes
  8. Comment on Sorry. Your car will never drive you around. in ~transport

    papasquat
    Link Parent
    The training those pilots get is also on that specific model of airplane, and understanding how all of those automated systems work on a deep level. I'd be willing to bet that you could ask a...

    The training those pilots get is also on that specific model of airplane, and understanding how all of those automated systems work on a deep level.

    I'd be willing to bet that you could ask a pilot to draw you a high level system architecture of how the autopilot system on their assigned aircraft works, and they'd be able to do it to a fairly accurate level.
    In cars though, the whole point of these automated driving systems is that the drivers are explicitly not supposed to know how they work. Auto manufacturers go to great lengths to not only market the fact that their cars are basically just magical boxes that take care of all the hard stuff for you, their self driving systems are probably the most viciously guarded piece of intellectual property that they own at this point.

    6 votes
  9. Comment on Sorry. Your car will never drive you around. in ~transport

    papasquat
    Link Parent
    I think you've got the nail on the head here. Ill admit that when I was a young nerd, I often fell prey to that mindset as well. With every problem, I often thought that there was always a...

    I think that many people have been conditioned to believe that technology (and nothing else) is the solution to literally every single problem, and that a more technological solution is basically always the better one.

    I think you've got the nail on the head here. Ill admit that when I was a young nerd, I often fell prey to that mindset as well. With every problem, I often thought that there was always a technological solution, and that if only those luddites got onboard, we could computerize and automate all of our problems away.

    After a long career in technology, and especially after I made the transition to cybersecurity, I've realized that in most cases, the opposite is actually true.

    Simpler solutions are better than complex ones, all other things being equal. Any increase in complexity in a system needs to be carefully considered with it's drawbacks, and that complexity needs to be defended and justified.

    Complexity for complexity's sake, or to look more "modern", or to save some engineer a few hours designing a more elegant, simple solution is endemic to most of the consumer landscape unfortunately. With each increase in complexity though, the points of potential failure are multiplied, potential security weaknesses are multiplied, and human's mental model of the system is hampered, making troubleshooting and evaluating much more costly and less effective.

    There are a lot of great advances in technology in automobiles. Fuel injection is incredible. Carbauration was always a clunky, terrible solution for fuel mixing. Various sensors around cars can make diagnoses much easier.

    But there are antipatterns there too. Infotainment systems with custom touchscreen OSes are buggy and prone to crashes on every car I've ever been in. Things like movable headlights are pointless show offs that don't do much. My car has electronic suspension that is supposed to dynamically stiffen or loosen based on how I'm driving. Do I ever notice it? Absolutely not. Will it help me avoid a crash ever? I very much doubt it. Does it require probably thousands of dollars of sensors, computers, and actuators? I would be willing to bet it does.

    10 votes
  10. Comment on Sorry. Your car will never drive you around. in ~transport

    papasquat
    Link Parent
    Honestly, building well thought out trains would fix the majority of urban design issues in North America over the long term. Development follows infrastructure. If you invest in trains and stop...

    Honestly, building well thought out trains would fix the majority of urban design issues in North America over the long term.

    Development follows infrastructure. If you invest in trains and stop investing in roads, people will prefer taking trains, development will coalesce around transit stops, and the problem will resolve itself after a few years.

    The issue with that is that our governments don't work like China or even most places in Europe. We don't have a ton of centralized power in our governments and small pockets of people have the power to stop development that will inconvenience them in the short term. Just building trains will negatively impact a lot of people in the first few years before they see any benefit from it. Eminent domain will kick people out of their homes, a lot of people will have cars that will become worth less and less as they become less useful ways of getting around, money and space being reallocated from roads to rail means that previously used roads may be demolished, some may be mostly abandoned to disrepair, and developments that were built in completely inefficient, illogical places (read:exurbs) due to artificial market forces caused by auto subsidization and rent seeking legislation will become less convenient, less affordable places to live.

    In places with political systems like ours, it's impossible to move quickly with big infrastructure projects. They need to be implemented in small chunks that can be completed relatively cheaply and quickly so that the benefits can be realized by constituents, and those successes can drive political will for the next phase.

    That means that instead of a massive, citywide regional or local train network, which may be the most economical and efficient way to implement rail, something like a small two or three stop line to already well populated areas must be rolled out along with housing development agreements beforehand, bike lanes, and other positive development projects all rolled out simultaneously. Once that gets implemented and people see the benefits of it, they're more likely to vote for other, similar expansions.

    16 votes
  11. Comment on The end of the MrBeast era in ~tech

    papasquat
    Link Parent
    MrBeast is peak logged out youtube

    MrBeast is peak logged out youtube

    1 vote
  12. Comment on Canadian pet DNA company sends back dog breed results from human sample a second time in ~life.pets

    papasquat
    Link Parent
    I just want to add to what @Markrs240b said below. Purebred dogs don't need DNA testing to tell that they're purebred, that's what the breed certification process is for. Additionally, there are a...

    I just want to add to what @Markrs240b said below. Purebred dogs don't need DNA testing to tell that they're purebred, that's what the breed certification process is for. Additionally, there are a lot of very good reasons why someone might get a purebred dog that don't have to do with vanity.

    Things like health, temperament, and intelligence are highly heritable in dogs. It doesn't form a whole picture obviously; each dog is unique and their own experiences and pure chance influenced those things as well, but genetics play a huge role.

    Good pedigree programs help ensure that dogs are good around adults and children, aren't overly aggressive around other dogs, are intelligent, are obedient, don't have major genetic health problems, and are all around good companions instead of menaces that will hurt you or destroy your home.

    Those breeding programs are why domesticated dogs even exist in the first place. They've obviously become more intentional and refined over the last 15000 years, but if dogs weren't continually selectively bred they'd very quickly revert back into wild feral animals that no one would ever want in their houses, or around their kids, which is basically what dingoes are.

    Those breeding programs are what keeps mutts as viable options as pets. Most mutts have a purebred ancestor within a few generations, which is why they're still great pets. Virtually no one would want a feral dog or dingo as a pet though. Evolutionary pressure very quickly selects against the aspects that people find positive in pets.

    12 votes
  13. Comment on Denis Villeneuve hates dialogue in film in ~movies

    papasquat
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    This is so plainly evident when you compare Ridley Scott's original 1982 masterpiece with Dennis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049. The original was a story about a man hunting and killing 4...

    I don't think anyone can charge Villeneuve movies with not having much story

    This is so plainly evident when you compare Ridley Scott's original 1982 masterpiece with Dennis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049. The original was a story about a man hunting and killing 4 fugitives who didn't want to be killed. That's it. That's the entire plot.

    Theres a ton of themes about the nature of humanity, who has the right to live and under which conditions, what we think of as authentic vs artificial and so on, and the special effects, cinematography, set design, costumes, sound, score are all incredible, which is why it's one of my favorite movies of all time, but the plot is absolutely dead simple.

    2049's plot by comparison is much more complex. The goal of the main character is unclear in the beginning. He finds a motivation, rather than being given one. There are new wrinkles throughout the story. It's unclear who is loyal to who in many cases. New developments change the main character's motivation multiple times. It's an extremely complex plot by blockbuster standards and it's still conveyed rather well without much dialogue.

    One of the things that I like about Villeneuve is that because his films don't have much dialog, actors are forced to convey their thoughts in much more subtle ways.

    One of my favorite scenes in 2049 is

    spoilersThe famous scene in the final act when K is walking along the bridge and sees the giant targeted Joi ad talking to him. He says nothing, but Ryan Gosling's facial expressions tell you everything you need to know in the scene; the realization that truly, his entire life was just a giant manufactured lie. He already knew wasn't special or authentic; he was grown in a vat like all the other replicants. The one thing he truly thought in his life that was unique and special, his love with Joi, was also just another artificial construct sold to him by a corporation. He of course intellectually knew that the entire time, but you can see Gosling's character internalizing it in that scene. Simultaneously realizing that Deckard, and his love for his daughter is the single authentic thing he's ever experienced in his entire life, and thus, worth dying for. It's a very powerful scene.

    5 votes
  14. Comment on Mexico aims to compete with Panama Canal by using cargo trains in ~transport

    papasquat
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    Two ships and two crews isn't the bad part. Two ships making half distance routes equals the same cargo moved and personnel costs as one ship making hre full distance route. The main issue i see...

    Two ships and two crews isn't the bad part. Two ships making half distance routes equals the same cargo moved and personnel costs as one ship making hre full distance route.

    The main issue i see is that loading and unloading cargo ships is extremely time consuming and labor intensive. It's a mutli day process that requires you paying lots of longshoreman to operate cranes, attach them to containers, secure them to railcars, safety people for the whole process, the support staff for those longshoreman, places for them to live and so on. In comparison, a cargo ship underway only has a crew of around 20. Fuel is your biggest cost. It's way cheaper to sail than to do lots of transitions between modes. So unless the panama canal is super, super expensive, or delays are extremely bad, its hard to see how transitioning from sea to rail back to sea would be competitive.

    2 votes
  15. Comment on Localsend opensource alternative to Airdrop in ~tech

    papasquat
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    This doesn't really seem like an airdrop alternative honestly. The nice thing about airdrop is that it allows you to share files to a nearby device. All you need to do is to be in Bluetooth range...

    This doesn't really seem like an airdrop alternative honestly. The nice thing about airdrop is that it allows you to share files to a nearby device. All you need to do is to be in Bluetooth range and select a file, and the protocol sets up the wireless link automatically and transfers the file.

    This solution seems like it requires being on the same wifi network. To me, that just seems like sftp but with some built in multicast discovery functionality; not nearly as useful. I wish there was a true open source airdrop alternative that replicated it's features but maybe apple doesn't allow enough access to the phones hardware to developers to do something like that?

    4 votes
  16. Comment on AI models found to show language bias by recommending Black defendents be 'sentenced to death' in ~tech

    papasquat
    Link Parent
    There are so many identifiers that are strongly correlated with race, that it would be impossible to anonymize a case such that a sufficiently trained model couldn't make a reasonable guess and be...

    There are so many identifiers that are strongly correlated with race, that it would be impossible to anonymize a case such that a sufficiently trained model couldn't make a reasonable guess and be better than random chance. Even simply the crime they're accused of alone gives a strong indicator. Black people tend to be accused of certain crimes at a much higher rate than white people, and vice versa.

    4 votes
  17. Comment on Dating apps have gotten so bad that speed dating is in again in ~life

    papasquat
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    I've met my significant other on a dating app (bumble). We've been together for 7 months, love each other dearly, and will most likely get married soon. It can happen, but man I went on a lot of...

    I've met my significant other on a dating app (bumble). We've been together for 7 months, love each other dearly, and will most likely get married soon.

    It can happen, but man I went on a lot of dates and almost fooled myself into settling for a lot of people who I merely sorta was okay with rather than truly fell in love with.

    7 votes
  18. Comment on What irrational video game requirements do you have? in ~games

    papasquat
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    A lot of game designers seem to conflate tedium with immersion. I assume my character, in their own time, is sorting through and organizing their backpack, just like I assume they're popping,...

    A lot of game designers seem to conflate tedium with immersion. I assume my character, in their own time, is sorting through and organizing their backpack, just like I assume they're popping, peeing, sleeping, eating, drinking, masturbating, getting sick and recovering, calling their parents if applicable, attending birthday parties, doing their taxes, and so on.

    I don't need to see every tedious moment of their lives, so I don't know why inventory management is the hill so many devs choose to die on and not, say, brushing your teeth as a mechanic.

    I do all that stuff in real life not because it's fun, but because I have to. I'd prefer to keep it out of the games that I'm ostensibly playing to fill my time with things that aren't the tedious necessities of life.

    8 votes
  19. Comment on A man who crashed a snowmobile into a parked Black Hawk helicopter is suing the government for $9.5M in ~transport

    papasquat
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    I think you'd have a responsibility to inform each party of the other ones activities. Of course, if the plaintiff here didn't actually talk to the land owner, and instead just heard through the...

    I think you'd have a responsibility to inform each party of the other ones activities.

    Of course, if the plaintiff here didn't actually talk to the land owner, and instead just heard through the grapevine that you were allowed to snowmobile here (which I expect is the case), then that ceases to be the landowners responsibility.

    The landowner definitely should have told the army/FAA that it was used as an active snowmobile trail though.

    Also, while I feel bad for the plaintiff here, lawsuits like this is exactly why landowners very, very frequently will not allow others to use their land, even though it costs them nothing, and they would have been all for it if it weren't for the threat of legal liability.

    The real long term effect of cases like this in the long run will mean that landowners just say "no snowmobiling on my land. Too bad."

    4 votes
  20. Comment on A man who crashed a snowmobile into a parked Black Hawk helicopter is suing the government for $9.5M in ~transport

    papasquat
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    Just a nitpick, but Blackhawks are definitely not stealth aircraft. They're extremely loud, extremely big, and have extremely large radar signatures. They're painted dark green, like all army...

    Just a nitpick, but Blackhawks are definitely not stealth aircraft. They're extremely loud, extremely big, and have extremely large radar signatures.

    They're painted dark green, like all army tactical aircraft, but I don't even think that would constitute camouflaged, much less stealth. Unless it was absolutely pitch dark without headlights, or you were going way too fast, or you were inebriated, it would be pretty hard to miss one sitting in the middle of a trail. They're roughly the size of a semi trailer.

    If this guy missed a Blackhawk, he would have just as, or even more easily missed a deer or moose walking through, a fallen tree, or a car or truck parked in that area as well, that is to say, he wasn't operating that vehicle safely at all.

    13 votes