post_below's recent activity
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Comment on Enjoying reading in the age of LLMs in ~humanities
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Comment on Scientists uncovered the nutrients bees were missing -- colonies surged fifteen-fold in ~science
post_below Link ParentIt sounds to me like you're knowledgeable enough. Those are great solutions, and even a somewhat stripped down version of state constrained capitalism works great in a lot of places. Even the more...I think putting limits on capitalism and greed would help, encouraging people to think differently about consumption and needs would help, pricing externalities better would help, reconsidering our culture of “I consume therefore I am” would help. But I’m far from smart and knowledgeable enough to tell you which system would embody these things perfectly.
It sounds to me like you're knowledgeable enough. Those are great solutions, and even a somewhat stripped down version of state constrained capitalism works great in a lot of places. Even the more minimal version of regulated capitalism that is currently being dismantled in the US worked a lot better than the alternative (no regulation) for decades.
We don't need an alternative to capitalism, we just need a strong enough state to temper the worst of its excesses.
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Comment on Enjoying reading in the age of LLMs in ~humanities
post_below LinkI'm been thinking a lot about writing in the age of LLMs. Well said. I hate the idea that more and more writing will lack those things, and a lot more besides. This is likely true, provided the...I'm been thinking a lot about writing in the age of LLMs.
There seemed to be such a richness in the different ways people would construct arguments, structure those arguments, then deliver those arguments stylistically, not just from the perspective of being persuaded as a reader but also from the perspective of seeing how a given writer thinks, relates to the living tradition of language, and understands the world conceptually.
Well said. I hate the idea that more and more writing will lack those things, and a lot more besides.
The reality is, LLMs are capable of writing texts that, if you gave them to a seasoned reader 5 years ago, they'd say it was well written and indicative of a truly thoughtful mind.
This is likely true, provided the prompt was good, it was a top tier model, and with some iteration. But there's a caveat: There's a big difference between the first impression of AI prose and how it lands once you've seen enough of it to catch the repeating patterns. It's hollow... the signal to noise ratio is usually pretty dismal.
The problem is that isn't stopping people from using it, and those people are more likely to be from the demographic that has no particular love of writing.
Personally I don't see AI writing supplanting human writing. At least for now, at the current quality level of AI output. And I'm happy to see that people are still pushing back and rejecting obvious slop. It might be a hopeless fight but it seems totally reasonable to want organic reading material.
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Comment on Linux kernel czar says AI bug reports aren't slop anymore in ~comp
post_below Link ParentSome extra context... First, distillation doesn't really work, which would be the only important model building technique that would be lost if the big providers folded. The second tier model...If OpenAI and Anthropic both implode from the debt, where do these continually improved derivative models for local execution come from?
Some extra context... First, distillation doesn't really work, which would be the only important model building technique that would be lost if the big providers folded. The second tier model providers are building their models from scratch, they don't need Anthropic, or Open AI or Google to exist.
Also, a lot of model makers are releasing open weights, which means anyone can use those as a starting point to build their own models. If somehow the frontier AI companies were erased from the timeline, it would slow things down but in no way stop LLM tech from continuing to advance. It would take a complete collapse of civilization to do that.
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Comment on Claude Code's source code leaked in ~tech
post_below Link ParentHaha, I feel that. Do you mean this one? Definitely not slop.Haha, I feel that. Do you mean this one? Definitely not slop.
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Comment on Claude Code's source code leaked in ~tech
post_below Link ParentSadly that blog post is AI written too, though with better "don't use these AI tells" prompting and some post inference human editing. Still, it's better slop than the first slop.Sadly that blog post is AI written too, though with better "don't use these AI tells" prompting and some post inference human editing.
Still, it's better slop than the first slop.
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Comment on Claude Code's source code leaked in ~tech
post_below Link ParentI just want to confirm... the article is LLM slop and the conclusions are mostly just wrong. Everyone already knew how a harness works, and Claude Code had been decompiled before this leak. It's...I just want to confirm... the article is LLM slop and the conclusions are mostly just wrong.
Everyone already knew how a harness works, and Claude Code had been decompiled before this leak. It's still interesting, and there are a few insights a competitor might glean, but the way the article frames the situation is outright misinformation.
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Comment on The cognitive dark forest in ~tech
post_below Link ParentLike companies trying to drown out the competition could provide long before LLMs. The context of the original article is that implementation is now trivial. For example: Except they can't. Maybe...Like companies trying to drown out the competition could provide long before LLMs. The context of the original article is that implementation is now trivial. For example:
If whole projects can get one-prompted or agent-teamed it becomes just the money game.
Except they can't. Maybe someday, but until then the whole premise falls apart.
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Comment on The cognitive dark forest in ~tech
post_below Link ParentIt sounds like you're claiming AI coding agents are more capable than they are, and that you're not actually a software engineer. If that's true I imagine nothing I can say will change your vibed...It sounds like you're claiming AI coding agents are more capable than they are, and that you're not actually a software engineer. If that's true I imagine nothing I can say will change your vibed thesis.
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Comment on The cognitive dark forest in ~tech
post_below (edited )Link ParentThese tools cannot one shot production software. Or anything remotely close to that. Yes they can one shot low stakes applications that don't have to worry too much about security, user data,...These tools cannot one shot production software. Or anything remotely close to that. Yes they can one shot low stakes applications that don't have to worry too much about security, user data, performance, reliability and everything that goes with being a public facing app on the internet, or a load bearing piece of the financial system, or etc..
You seem to be suggesting a secret tier of LLM tools that we mortals cannot use. As far as I know there is no evidence that exists and (until this moment!) I hadn't heard anyone even suggest it. It would be financially irresponsible for a frontier model company to train a larger/better model and then not release it.
The top AI companies take the race they're in pretty seriously, and so do their investors.
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Comment on The cognitive dark forest in ~tech
post_below Link ParentOne thing the original author assumes, and your post seems to take as fact, is that it's actually possible to just press a button and turn an idea onto code. That could happen in the future, it...One thing the original author assumes, and your post seems to take as fact, is that it's actually possible to just press a button and turn an idea onto code.
That could happen in the future, it has not happened in the present. Full stop. If a big company saw an idea online that they thought was worth stealing they would need to assign a lot of actual humans to the problem. AI agents would make it faster, but it would be far from cheap.
Even if it was possible to press a button and get a shippable application (and I can't stress enough that it isn't) the code is only part of the process. You need to plan the architecture, design the UI, handle devops, hire and train some level of support, do code review, do alpha and beta testing, work out brand strategy and marketing and so on.
In theory a big company has existing pipelines to make all of the above easier, but in actual practice the more people and bureaucracy involved, the slower things get.
At best AI speeds up the process, it definitely doesn't revolutionize copying ideas, a tradition that predates homo sapiens.
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Comment on Three Cheers for Tildes: App updates and feedback (March 2026) — Version 1.5 can search for posts in ~tildes
post_below Link ParentYes LLMs are universally bad at UI minutiae. However they do a lot better if you give them a feedback loop. They can process visual input if you give it to them. In that realm they're both...Intricate UI issues
Yes LLMs are universally bad at UI minutiae. However they do a lot better if you give them a feedback loop. They can process visual input if you give it to them. In that realm they're both suprisingly good and bad in different ways at "understanding" what they "see".
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Comment on The bot situation on the internet is actually worse than you could imagine. Here's why. in ~tech
post_below Link ParentThere's so much more that you can do beyond saying please. Automated traffic and websites/apps have been in an arms race since before the dawn of the commercial internet. The balance has never..."Please don't scrape my site" is basically all the teeth you've ever really had unless you're behind something like cloudflare
There's so much more that you can do beyond saying please. Automated traffic and websites/apps have been in an arms race since before the dawn of the commercial internet. The balance has never really changed. Sometimes automated traffic gets ahead a little, more often identification and blocking is a little ahead. If you don't want to be scraped, and you have the time and expertise (or resources to rent time and expertise), you can block the vast majority of it. If you just want to block the larger part of it you don't need any of the above, just an out of the box solution (like Cloudflare).
Cloudflare collected a lot of techniques that people were already using and made them easily accessible but they aren't the only, or even the best, way to deal with bots.
At the end of the day bot net operators aren't usually particularly bright or technically proficient. They're after volume not quality. People who are skilled can make more money elsewhere (with the possible exception of state sponsored operations).
The volume of bots though, that is definitely going up, and quickly.
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Comment on Requesting your thoughts that may help me decide between moving to Chicago or Portland (Oregon)? in ~life
post_below Link ParentAlright, a few details... Portland is significantly more liberal/progressive than almost everywhere. If that's a major factor Portland wins. Portland is arguably a more beautiful city, especially...Alright, a few details... Portland is significantly more liberal/progressive than almost everywhere. If that's a major factor Portland wins.
Portland is arguably a more beautiful city, especially in terms of the setting. Chicago never struck me as a particularly aethetically pleasing city. At the same time Portland has spent most of the last 10 years losing the battle with homelessness and public drug use in downtown. It's finally starting to turn around but it will be a while before downtown has fully recovered. Portland had a crime wave that's breaking to some degree. Despite that it's still the safer of the two cities statistically. Once upon a time it was one of the safest cities in the country, time will tell if that will come back.
Chicago wins in most of the "real city" ways. Bigger, more options for most things, denser, better walkability. Cost of living is comparable, housing in Portland is a bit more affordable but Portland has been catching up fast. I personally think Portland is very walkable/bikable but the river and bridges do spread things out. Public transportation is just ok in Portland.
If you like weird, Portland wins. If you like the traditional city vibe, Chicago wins.
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Comment on Gemma needs help in ~comp
post_below Link ParentI see your point but it's a pretty clear Occam's razor situation. What we understand about how LLMs work sufficiently explains the behavior. There's no call for an alternate explanation. We just...I see your point but it's a pretty clear Occam's razor situation. What we understand about how LLMs work sufficiently explains the behavior. There's no call for an alternate explanation.
We just have a hard time not anthropomorphizing these tools, which makes the author's choice of language questionable. Click baity even.
I thought the most interesting part was the pre and post training difference. That's useful for training strategies.
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Comment on Requesting your thoughts that may help me decide between moving to Chicago or Portland (Oregon)? in ~life
post_below LinkI've lived in both but not sure the details matter too much, it sounds like you want Chicago. If you don't like the rain, and your love of the color green doesn't dramatically outweigh your...I've lived in both but not sure the details matter too much, it sounds like you want Chicago. If you don't like the rain, and your love of the color green doesn't dramatically outweigh your dislike of grey, you don't want to live in the PNW.
Climate change might change things up, but that would be a gamble.
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Comment on Google’s TurboQuant AI-compression algorithm can reduce LLM memory usage by 6x in ~tech
post_below Link ParentAnthropic is claiming a step change in an upcoming, larger than Opus, model release. But they'll need both memory and inference optimizations, they're already pushing the limits of their available...Anthropic is claiming a step change in an upcoming, larger than Opus, model release. But they'll need both memory and inference optimizations, they're already pushing the limits of their available compute due to skyrocketing demand. Maybe they've already integrated some version of similar optimizations. Google's is the latest headline but a lot of groups have been working on it.
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Comment on Pope Leo calls universal healthcare a 'moral imperative' in ~society
post_below LinkIf you'd asked me 15 years ago if I thought I'd kinda love two consecutive popes, I would have put the odds near zero. But here we are.If you'd asked me 15 years ago if I thought I'd kinda love two consecutive popes, I would have put the odds near zero. But here we are.
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Comment on Pope Leo calls universal healthcare a 'moral imperative' in ~society
post_below (edited )Link ParentOne thing you seem to have left out is that the health care triumvirate of corporate hospitals and clinics, health insurance and pharmaceuticals charge Americans more than people in other...One thing you seem to have left out is that the health care triumvirate of corporate hospitals and clinics, health insurance and pharmaceuticals charge Americans more than people in other countries pay.
I don't think it's realistic to blame the problem on government managed health care, except inasmuch as the government has failed to effectively regulate those industries. Single payer introduces a single point of negotiation with the health care industry. Which, combined with ongoing regulation and legislation, seems like a good way to bring prices down.
Meanwhile if we let the existing system determine prices, with more government subsidies, prices coming down seems unlikely. The free market has failed pretty spectacularly in terms of affordable, universally accessible care.
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Comment on Olympic committee announces a broad ban on transgender athletes and athletes with differences in sex development in Women’s events (gifted link) in ~lgbt
post_below Link ParentGood point, men in general seem to have a lot of opinions about this topic for no good reason. I suspect, without much evidence, that the general population doesn't have strong feelings one way or...Good point, men in general seem to have a lot of opinions about this topic for no good reason.
I suspect, without much evidence, that the general population doesn't have strong feelings one way or the other. Online it's a different story.
Agreed, I should have said qualified it with "completely". No question that it's already replacing a lot of human writing.