skybrian's recent activity
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Comment on Agentic AI can change campaign operations in ~society
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Agentic AI can change campaign operations
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Comment on Fascist, thus inefficient in ~movies
skybrian LinkA bit of Star Wars fan fiction. It's readable without a Tumblr account, but just barely.A bit of Star Wars fan fiction. It's readable without a Tumblr account, but just barely.
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Fascist, thus inefficient
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Comment on Reading Lolita in the barracks in ~life
skybrian LinkFrom the article: [...] [...] [...] [...] [...]From the article:
What every South Korean man agrees on is that serving in the military is a dreadful experience. The chief agony reported by draftees isn’t the plutonium-happy neighbor to the north but the hazing and abuse — physical, mental, and sexual — that have long defined military life.
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The hierarchy was absolute, based on ranks that were determined strictly by time served. [...]
[...]Even within the same rank, your month of enlistment mattered. An August recruit (me) was forever junior to a July recruit of the same year; it was common to call someone by their enlistment month. I was, for a time, simply “August.”
It is easy to mistake the military for an unimaginative institution, but a glance at South Korean hazing culture reveals that creativity is alive and well in these unlikely places. By the time I enlisted, the most brutal forms of physical hazing [...] were officially banned. Even so, there were creative offerings that could teach American frat bros a thing or two.
The more innocuous ones involved forcing new recruits to dance or sing on command. On the gastronomical front, a marine once forced a private to eat an entire box of chocolate pies (1,980 kcal). There was simulated solitary confinement, where a person could be denied all communication with the outside world — no calls, no visits, no leave.
For the low-ranking, many forms of “self-improvement” were forbidden. Going to the gym was out of the question. Lying down was considered too comfortable; one had to sit with a perfectly straight back. The privilege of changing the TV channel or adjusting the fan was reserved for seniors.
The simplest chores were inflated into laborious rituals. Every night, the most junior private from each platoon would line up with tissues. A senior would then make them squat and, with the tissue, pick up every single pubic hair from the communal bathroom floor.
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Strangely, the whole ordeal was aggravating but not exactly humiliating. The philosopher Sidney Morgenbesser captured this psychology aptly. After being beaten by police during a campus protest, he was asked if he had been treated unfairly or unjustly. He responded: “Unjust, but not unfair. It was unjust because they hit me over the head, but not unfair because they hit everyone else over the head.”
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There was also a general sentiment that a private had not yet “earned” the right to study, meaning that during the first year of service, even using an available carrel would draw unwanted attention. This wasn’t so much anti-intellectualism as a form of deprivation grounded in a clear understanding of education's value — they knew exactly what was being withheld.
My solution: night watch duty. [...] A universally hated task, as you can imagine, since your sleep was interrupted by shifts that came around every two or three days. But it also meant an hour of solitude, an hour to read unwatched.
One night, loath to put my book down halfway through, instead of waking the next person, I just kept on reading. I figured I would get chewed out for the screw-up later. But the men whose shifts I covered were only too glad not to be woken up. Eureka.
I started covering others’ shifts — often three hours from 1 to 4 a.m., sometimes two from 4 to 6 a.m., when loudspeakers blared the start of the day. A fair trade. More sleep for them, more reading for me. My late nights were made possible only by military-grade instant coffee and the kick I got from my own insufferable self-romanticization as a reader by night, soldier by day.
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For all its byzantine rituals, the governance itself was simple: two platoon leaders formed a duopoly, issuing rules and diktats. Every few months, new platoon leaders were selected according to some mysterious criteria set by the officers. (One clear requirement was that they had to be at least corporals.) The cliché that power corrupts seemed true. It was as if the green shoulder patch identifying the platoon leader, once sewn onto his uniform, became a kind of radioactive implant that initiated a decay of character.
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As for why we never reported anything to the officers, as you can now see, it was because they were apathetic to our welfare. Besides, the system exacts a vow of omertà from its members. To snitch to the officers was to commit the ultimate taboo, guaranteeing retribution beyond imagination — what exactly that was, we didn’t know, because I never saw anyone try.
I had trouble understanding the logic that sustained the dramas of the barracks — how violence seemed to obey a transitive property, with each man inflicting what he had once endured. A cluster of privates who had enlisted in close succession — e.g., July, August, September, October — would form a natural cohort. And time and again, once a new platoon leader was selected, the man we had hoped would be our Jesus Christ turned into a Grand Inquisitor. We underlings nursed the same fantasy: when one of us became a platoon leader, we would finally bring about reform.
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Reading Lolita in the barracks
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Comment on US withdraws from sixty-six international organisations in ~society
skybrian (edited )Link ParentIt's not much comfort, but here's something that might result in some restraint: there are stricter US laws governing what the military can do in the US than outside the US. Example: the drone...It's not much comfort, but here's something that might result in some restraint: there are stricter US laws governing what the military can do in the US than outside the US. Example: the drone strikes during the Obama administration would be illegal domestically.
The Trump administration might ignore laws anyway (for example, killing people who have surrendered during the attacks against boats near Venezuela), but legally, it does unfortunately have more freedom of action outside the US.
Capturing Maduro sure seems like it ought to be illegal, but I couldn't really say what US laws it breaks. It would be good to see what lawyers have written about it.
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Comment on US withdraws from sixty-six international organisations in ~society
skybrian Link ParentIt seems like the Civil War was about as extreme as a stress test could get?It seems like the Civil War was about as extreme as a stress test could get?
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Comment on Feeling weird about my career with respect to AI in ~life
skybrian (edited )LinkI want to write a blog post about this, but briefly, I think video games are a useful metaphor for speculating about the future of programming. Traditional programming is like a first-person...I want to write a blog post about this, but briefly, I think video games are a useful metaphor for speculating about the future of programming.
Traditional programming is like a first-person shooter. Sure, you might have nice tools, like maybe an auto-aimer or a really big gun, but you’re fundamentally driving one character. Or if you’re multi-tasking then it’s like a turn-based RPG where you directly control all the members of your party.
There are also games like Lemmings or the Sims or RimWorld where you have somewhat indirect control over multiple characters, by giving them tasks or controlling their environment. They might interfere with each other and won’t do quite what you want and that’s part of the challenge. Fortunately you can restart the level if you need to. This is what it’s like to write software using coding agents. I am writing software with one coding agent and I can report that it’s fun and educational. It probably helps that it’s a personal side project. I’m still wary about running more than one at a time; it seems like running around spinning plates?
There are also RTS games where you control a small army in real time and frantically scroll around giving them orders. People are trying to write orchestrators to make software development like an RTS, but this is currently a crazy science project. Maybe it will be practical in a year or two. It seems stressful to me; I prefer turn-based games.
Zooming out a bit more, there are games like Sim City or strategy games where you’re managing large populations of NPC’s (which may or may not be explicitly modeled). There’s no equivalent to this yet, but maybe it will happen if they can get the coding agents to coordinate well enough?
Writing code in assembly is still needed in certain niches. I wrote a bit of assembly as a kid and took a course in college where we wrote assembly. Even back then, it was taught as something you should understand rather than something you’re likely to do much of at work.
Similarly, I expect that hobbyist programmers will be able to play the programming game at whichever zoom level they like and people will do some software development at each level as part of their education. Commercially, I expect that there will be lots of demand for people who are comfortable managing coding agents and cleaning up their messes. It’s a different game, but it’s still software development. You are giving the coding agents tasks by giving orders (essentially, writing bug reports) and attempting to control how they do it by editing AGENTS.md and other documents that the agents refer to.
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Comment on Dell's CES 2026 chat was the most pleasingly un-AI briefing I've had in maybe five years in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentThis reminds me of how Google used machine learning in its many services before LLM’s. Sure, it was there and powered many features (including search), but the user didn’t need to know or care how...This reminds me of how Google used machine learning in its many services before LLM’s. Sure, it was there and powered many features (including search), but the user didn’t need to know or care how the algorithms work. Similarly, these NPU chips could be in the background.
For developers to care about the NPU’s and use them in their apps, though, they need to be exposed in an API, hopefully in a standard, portable way. As we’ve seen with GPU’s, that can take some doing.
For web developers, I see that Chrome has an experimental Prompt API that’s hidden behind a flag. It looks like there’s been little progress coming up with a web standard.
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nullschool earth: a visualization of global weather conditions
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Comment on What are some stories of progressivism gone wrong in implementation? in ~society
skybrian Link ParentIt seems like privilege and discrimination can be more complex than is often acknowledged. I don’t know enough of the history to make confident claims, but there’s a story about police forces in...It seems like privilege and discrimination can be more complex than is often acknowledged. I don’t know enough of the history to make confident claims, but there’s a story about police forces in US cities having a lot of Irish back when the Irish were also discriminated against. Presumably being Irish was helpful for getting certain jobs, but not generally.
Similarly, in certain businesses or certain neighborhoods, perhaps being Asian actually is an advantage?
The presumptions we make at a nationwide level about others having unearned advantages or disadvantages are often a simplified version of the actual situation any given person faces.
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Comment on Mystery trader garners $400,000-plus windfall on Nicolas Maduro's capture in ~society
skybrian Link ParentThis is all justified as a way to get more useful public information, but I think the value of that information is pretty sparse and low-value because it’s opaque. It’s a Ouija board. You get out...This is all justified as a way to get more useful public information, but I think the value of that information is pretty sparse and low-value because it’s opaque. It’s a Ouija board. You get out changes to a number on a graph and nobody really knows why. Confident whales can lose and there’s no way to check their work.
Perhaps the conversation around a prediction market could have some value, like someone betting and then posting evidence to try to convince others.
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Comment on Grok AI generates images of ‘minors in minimal clothing’ in ~tech
skybrian LinkX blames users for Grok-generated CSAM; no fixes announced [...] [...]X blames users for Grok-generated CSAM; no fixes announced
On Saturday, X Safety finally posted an official response after nearly a week of backlash over Grok outputs that sexualized real people without consent. Offering no apology for Grok’s functionality, X Safety blamed users for prompting Grok to produce CSAM while reminding them that such prompts can trigger account suspensions and possible legal consequences.
“We take action against illegal content on X, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary,” X Safety said. “Anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.”
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X did not immediately respond to Ars’ request to clarify if any updates were made to Grok following the CSAM controversy. Many media outlets weirdly took Grok at its word when the chatbot responded to prompts demanding an apology by claiming that X would be improving its safeguards. But X Safety’s response now seems to contradict the chatbot, which, as Ars noted last week, should never be considered reliable as a spokesperson.
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While some users are focused on how X can hold users responsible for Grok’s outputs when X is the one training the model, others are questioning how exactly X plans to moderate illegal content that Grok seems capable of generating.
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Comment on The year of the 3D printed miniature (and other lies we tell ourselves) in ~hobbies
skybrian (edited )Link ParentI think that's slightly exaggerated at the end. Customers collectively do get somewhat of a say, because product launches from big companies do fail fairly often. Lots of Google's products failed...I think that's slightly exaggerated at the end. Customers collectively do get somewhat of a say, because product launches from big companies do fail fairly often. Lots of Google's products failed to get traction (by their standards) and they eventually cancelled them.
It might not seem like it because it's about whether it's popular with other people and the company does decide whether to keep trying or pull the plug. We don't have control over this as individuals.
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Comment on You are a better writer than AI (yes, YOU!) in ~creative
skybrian Link ParentIt seems like there ought to be a way to use an LLM to help people with mediocre English skills that improves grammar and usage without making other things worse? But getting that to happen might...It seems like there ought to be a way to use an LLM to help people with mediocre English skills that improves grammar and usage without making other things worse? But getting that to happen might require someone to write new software to provide the right scaffolding.
Maybe it will get better at some companies as best practices become better known, but it will take time to develop those.
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Comment on The year of the 3D printed miniature (and other lies we tell ourselves) in ~hobbies
skybrian LinkFrom the article: [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...]From the article:
Every time a new 3D printer startup graced the front page of Hacker News, this proclamation would echo from the comments section like a prophecy from a very boring oracle: "This will destroy Games Workshop." Reader, it has not destroyed Games Workshop. [...]
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Since the beginning of the game, 40k casual games have allowed proxies. Proxies are stand-ins for specific units that you need for an army but don't have. [...]
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So players had proxies. Anything from a Coke can to another unit entirely. Basically, if it had the same size base and roughly the same height, most people would consider it allowable. "This empty Red Bull can is my Dreadnought." Sure. Fine. We've all been there.
This is where I first started to see 3D-printed miniatures enter the scene.
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When I was invited to watch someone print off minis with a resin 3D printer, it reminded me a lot of the meth labs in my home state of Ohio. And I don't mean that as hyperbole. I mean there were chemicals, ventilation hoods, rubber gloves, and a general atmosphere of "if something goes wrong here, it's going to go very wrong." The guy giving me the tour had safety goggles pushed up on his forehead. He was wearing an apron. At one point, he said the phrase "you really don't want to get this on your skin" with the casual tone of someone who had definitely gotten it on his skin.
In practice, the effort to get the STL files, add supports, wash off the models with isopropyl alcohol, remove supports without snapping off tiny arms, and finally cure the mini in UV lights was exponentially more effort than I'm willing to invest. And I say this as someone who has painted individual eyeballs on figures smaller than my thumb. I have a high tolerance for tedious bullshit. This exceeded it.
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Here's the thing: getting the raw plastic minis is not the time-consuming part.
First, you need to paint them. I take about two hours to paint each model, and I'm far from the best painter out there. I'm solidly in the "looks good from three feet away" category, which is also how I'd describe my general appearance. Vehicles take longer because they're bigger—maybe 10-20 hours for one of those. We're talking somewhere in the ballpark of 150 hours to paint everything that you need to paint for a standard army.
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The printer didn't give them more time. It didn't give them more skill. It just gave them more unpainted plastic, which, brother, I have plenty of already.
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So the next time someone tells you that some new technology is going to "disrupt" something you love, ask yourself: do they actually understand why people love it? [...]
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The year of the 3D printed miniature (and other lies we tell ourselves)
20 votes -
Comment on US strikes Venezuela and says its leader, Nicolas Maduro, has been captured and flown out of the country in ~society
skybrian Link ParentThere's plenty of cheap crap made in China, but there is high-quality manufacturing too. For example, Apple products are manufactured there. Since I don't know much about the Chinese navy, I would...There's plenty of cheap crap made in China, but there is high-quality manufacturing too. For example, Apple products are manufactured there.
Since I don't know much about the Chinese navy, I would want to read more it before drawing any conclusions. Have you read anything good?
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Comment on What are some stories of progressivism gone wrong in implementation? in ~society
skybrian Link ParentIt's not in the title anymore, and the stories are not all about hiring. Also, I think it's healthy for us to be able to talk about mistakes made by "our side" on Tildes, hopefully in a respectful...It's not in the title anymore, and the stories are not all about hiring.
Also, I think it's healthy for us to be able to talk about mistakes made by "our side" on Tildes, hopefully in a respectful way. I was pleasantly surprised that someone was willing to do this, and there are some decent stories.
From the blog post:
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