skybrian's recent activity
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Comment on Stop Killing The Internet: No digital ID and no age verification in ~tech
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Comment on Technology Is Over in ~tech
skybrian LinkI wonder how today’s young people will look back on the AI bubble that we’re living through? Are there subcultures with the sort of techno-enthusiasm we had during the early days of the Internet?I wonder how today’s young people will look back on the AI bubble that we’re living through? Are there subcultures with the sort of techno-enthusiasm we had during the early days of the Internet?
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Comment on ‘This is crazy. This is insane’: Bill Gates has changed his mind about AI and jobs in ~comp
skybrian Link ParentYeah, fair enough. I think it's fairly inevitable that we're going to talk about articles like this one, in part because of who wrote it.Yeah, fair enough. I think it's fairly inevitable that we're going to talk about articles like this one, in part because of who wrote it.
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Comment on What are we in a golden age of? in ~talk
skybrian Link ParentThere's plenty of subtly wrong code in enterprise apps. I don't think it's all that different? The obvious bugs tend to get fixed. You and past-you does happens with time, but short-term exercises...There's plenty of subtly wrong code in enterprise apps. I don't think it's all that different?
The obvious bugs tend to get fixed.
You and past-you does happens with time, but short-term exercises in school don't have much time for that. Working with AI will get you to large scale faster.
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Comment on ‘This is crazy. This is insane’: Bill Gates has changed his mind about AI and jobs in ~comp
skybrian Link ParentI think posting an article to his own website is fine. Anyone can do that. I skimmed it and I didn't think he was saying anything new. Other people have made similar predictions, but nobody really...I think posting an article to his own website is fine. Anyone can do that.
I skimmed it and I didn't think he was saying anything new. Other people have made similar predictions, but nobody really knows. I didn't see any evidence that I thought was interesting, so I didn't reshare.
But apparently someone else thought it was worth writing a "celebrity has an opinion" story, and someone shared it here, so here we are.
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Comment on What are we in a golden age of? in ~talk
skybrian Link ParentI imagine a world where everyone is going to have their own custom software running on Linux, but it will be in a VM and they might not even know what they're running. Unless you ask the AI how it...I imagine a world where everyone is going to have their own custom software running on Linux, but it will be in a VM and they might not even know what they're running.
Unless you ask the AI how it works, and then you can go as deep as you want.
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Comment on What are we in a golden age of? in ~talk
skybrian (edited )Link ParentYes, there are things that are best learned by doing it yourself. For example, when you're learning math, you have to do the exercises. I think that's true of programming, too. However, there are...Yes, there are things that are best learned by doing it yourself. For example, when you're learning math, you have to do the exercises. I think that's true of programming, too.
However, there are other things that students might learn more easily learn by working with AI. For example, you might learn from the struggle of working on a large-scale program where you didn't write it all yourself. Many concepts from software engineering don't really sink in until you're working at a larger scale than is likely to happen when you're writing a program that you can keep in your head.
There are many different exercises we can learn from. If the software has bugs, that's part of the challenge. If the answers aren't always right, we learn to be skeptical and test things. In the real world, when we look for answers, we do sometimes get bad advice. The AI is going to let us down sometimes, but I still think it's more good than bad.
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Comment on Stop Killing The Internet: No digital ID and no age verification in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentFor the most part society has decided that children should have age-appropriate experiences. That’s why children are in schools designed just for them, for example. Parents buy them...For the most part society has decided that children should have age-appropriate experiences. That’s why children are in schools designed just for them, for example. Parents buy them age-appropriate books and toys.
There is still exposure to the adult world, though. The question is how much.
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Comment on Stop Killing The Internet: No digital ID and no age verification in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentMany businesses wouldn’t have anything for kids and that’s okay. There are many nonprofit websites. Running a website isn’t that expensive and there are many people who do it. Also, parents buying...Many businesses wouldn’t have anything for kids and that’s okay. There are many nonprofit websites. Running a website isn’t that expensive and there are many people who do it. Also, parents buying things for their kids is a thing and I’d expect child-locked devices to have a way to do that.
If there are parents who don’t care what their kids do on the Internet, that’s on them. There’s only so much we can do to control what people do in their own home. But the idea is that society should support the parents who do care by making it easier for them to manage their kids’ devices, and that should be enough to change the culture so that kids don’t have routine access to the adult Internet.
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Comment on Stop Killing The Internet: No digital ID and no age verification in ~tech
skybrian LinkAs I've written before, this could have been an HTTP header. Basically we should have two Internets, one for children and one for adults. This is like the difference between a children's library...As I've written before, this could have been an HTTP header.
Basically we should have two Internets, one for children and one for adults. This is like the difference between a children's library and the main library. It's not that adults never go into the children's library or children are never allowed in the main library, but they have a different intended audience, and children should be supervised in the main library.
So, it makes sense to have child-locked devices that send an HTTP header indicating that they're child-locked, and cooperating websites send different content. For example, there should be no advertising and you can't buy anything on the children's Internet, and websites for adults don't let you set up an account or log in if the HTTP header is present.
It's up to parents to give their kids child-locked devices if they're going to let them browse the Internet by themselves, and vendors shouldn't sell unrestricted devices to kids.
Also, child-locked devices stlll need extra filtering because it's not like every website is going to cooperate. But the more legit websites will, and there can be laws coercing them into cooperating if needed.
If you do that, no identity-checking is needed. And there's no particular age when kids are allowed in the adult library. It's up to their parents and teachers.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
skybrian Link ParentIt seems like using web apps instead of native apps might help a lot with this?It seems like using web apps instead of native apps might help a lot with this?
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Comment on Meta agrees to heavy restrictions on teen users in major lawsuit settlement in ~tech
skybrian (edited )Link Parent"Directly responsible" is doing a lot of work there. Websites don't kill people. Someone else had to be motivated to do it. Websites can motivate people to do terrible things under the right..."Directly responsible" is doing a lot of work there. Websites don't kill people. Someone else had to be motivated to do it.
Websites can motivate people to do terrible things under the right circumstances, but it's not direct. Often, what Facebook is responsible for is failing to stop people from using their systems to plan terrible things, or failing to stop them from indulging their own worst impulses. But the people have agency too.
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Comment on What are we in a golden age of? in ~talk
skybrian Link ParentI think it depends on how you go about it. With the right attitude you can learn from mistakes, too. Your own mistakes, other people’s mistakes, and the AI’s mistakes. You try stuff, it breaks,...I think it depends on how you go about it. With the right attitude you can learn from mistakes, too. Your own mistakes, other people’s mistakes, and the AI’s mistakes. You try stuff, it breaks, and you figure out why. Or these days, ask the AI why it broke, and then see if its explanation makes sense.
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Comment on What is the oldest file you still have? in ~tech
skybrian LinkDo scanned photos and documents count? If they do, the scans that my wife and I have from going through our parents' stuff are the oldest. That's what I see when I scroll all the way back in...Do scanned photos and documents count? If they do, the scans that my wife and I have from going through our parents' stuff are the oldest. That's what I see when I scroll all the way back in Google Photos.
Although, technically I've taken photos of much older things at museums. I didn't try to file them under their original dates, though :-)
Actual files: perhaps some of the floppy disks from the Commodore 64 at my Mom's house are still readable? I won't know if I still have them unless I take them to a service to be scanned.
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Comment on What are we in a golden age of? in ~talk
skybrian Link ParentMy guess is that it's going to get cheaper, but current prices aren't bad. I'm using Luna with a $20/month ChatGPT subscription (also used for asking questions). It's not free, but it's not that...My guess is that it's going to get cheaper, but current prices aren't bad. I'm using Luna with a $20/month ChatGPT subscription (also used for asking questions). It's not free, but it's not that expensive as hobbies go.
At today's RAM prices, I'd put off buying an expensive machine for local inference.
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Comment on What are we in a golden age of? in ~talk
skybrian Link ParentThis reminds me of how I randomly saw one of Hiromi's concert videos on YouTube a few years ago. Then I searched for all her other videos and made a playlist, started listening to her albums on...This reminds me of how I randomly saw one of Hiromi's concert videos on YouTube a few years ago. Then I searched for all her other videos and made a playlist, started listening to her albums on Spotify, went to see her in concert, and recently bought a book of sheet music from a store in Japan and started learning to play one of her songs.
Seems like I should listen to other jazz musicians more.
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Comment on What are we in a golden age of? in ~talk
skybrian Link ParentGoogle does seem worse than it used to be. Also, finding news articles is somewhat worse. It's harder to find articles that aren't paywalled in some way, and there are more bot challenges, though...Google does seem worse than it used to be. Also, finding news articles is somewhat worse. It's harder to find articles that aren't paywalled in some way, and there are more bot challenges, though I don't block cookies so maybe it affects me less. (I also have NYT and Washington Post subscriptions, which helps.)
I've had better luck with ChatGPT than with Google. It might be due to having a subscription, resulting in using a better LLM by default.
I can ask for a chart and if it doesn't find anything suitable, it might download the data and make one.
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Comment on What are we in a golden age of? in ~talk
skybrian LinkThis is a golden age for asking questions. Often I’m wondering how to do something and then I think, wait, I could ask ChatGPT about that! Of course, this happened before with search engines....This is a golden age for asking questions. Often I’m wondering how to do something and then I think, wait, I could ask ChatGPT about that!
Of course, this happened before with search engines. Those of us who are old enough can remember how cool it was to be able to search the web instead of going to the library.
But there are many questions that I wouldn’t bother to search on because I expected the results to be crappy, or I would try a different search that’s a bit more indirect but might dredge something up. That’s a mental block that’s no longer helpful. You can often ask questions in the most direct, naive way, and get good results.
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Comment on What are we in a golden age of? in ~talk
skybrian LinkIf you’ve ever wanted to write your own personal software, this is a fantastic time to do it. You might make a mess, but with AI, you will make messes much faster and learn from them. And if you...If you’ve ever wanted to write your own personal software, this is a fantastic time to do it. You might make a mess, but with AI, you will make messes much faster and learn from them. And if you manage to avoid getting too ambitious, you might even build something you actually use.
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Comment on An AI researcher writes about his crisis of faith in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentI’m not entirely sure how to define an “act of will,” but winning elections doesn’t seem like an “act of will” either, for the same reason: people will oppose you! Convincing people to vote for...I’m not entirely sure how to define an “act of will,” but winning elections doesn’t seem like an “act of will” either, for the same reason: people will oppose you! Convincing people to vote for your candidate instead of one of the others isn’t easy.
It's true that discussing new ideas is a prerequisite for implementing them, but there's a long and winding road at best from a discussion on an obscure forum and a large policy change. I think we can assume that whatever we discuss here probably won't be implemented, even if it somehow went viral?
(That includes my "this should have been an http header" idea. I posted it because I'd like to see it more widely discussed, but I'm not optimistic that it will get anywhere.)
Not mattering is freeing in a way. A butterfly shouldn't worry that flapping its wings might cause a hurricane even if it's technically possible.
We can still discuss politics, but it's for us, not for the unlikely and unpredictable effects of our conversations on people who aren't even here.