soc's recent activity
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Comment on Siri, Alexa, Google - Who's using and having good experiences with voice commands? in ~tech
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Comment on Siri, Alexa, Google - Who's using and having good experiences with voice commands? in ~tech
soc LinkThe thing is, I generally won't use voice commands at all when I am out in public, but around the house and especially in the car, I find Assistant to be one of the most compelling reasons to use...The thing is, I generally won't use voice commands at all when I am out in public, but around the house and especially in the car, I find Assistant to be one of the most compelling reasons to use Android. Simple stuff like playing music or setting kitchen timers I can do without diverting by broader attention, just by yelling at my machine. When I take naps, I love being able to just mumble "ok google, set a timer for one hour" as I doze off, rather than forcing myself to sit up and make a timer. In the car, it's super nice to be able to just say "ok Google, find me a gas station" or "ok Google, play my podcasts." While I'm on the sofa, I love being able to adjust the lights and control playback by voice.
Overall, I was in a similar boat as you where I found the whole thing a bit creepy, but I think it really does add value to the way I interact with my devices, that I'm over the initial repulsion.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~comp
soc Link ParentYeah, I work on a lot of distributed network applications, and I've always avoided using the term "slave" as well. It's never been an issue to use "parent/child" or "controller/client" depending...Yeah, I work on a lot of distributed network applications, and I've always avoided using the term "slave" as well. It's never been an issue to use "parent/child" or "controller/client" depending on which fits better. But really, the exact terminology doesn't really matter at all, because none of these terms define a precise functional relationship like real documentation does, so it's sort of moot anyway.
Plus, I actually work with a pretty diverse team, and whether people want to admit it or not, it's sort of awkward to tell a black engineer to "go review the slave logs."
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~comp
soc Link ParentI assure you that I'm not offended by it, I just find it awkward, especially when there are a bunch of other ways to convey the same idea without invoking such touchy context. It honestly feels...I assure you that I'm not offended by it, I just find it awkward, especially when there are a bunch of other ways to convey the same idea without invoking such touchy context. It honestly feels like you are the one who is getting offended here.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~comp
soc Link ParentI don't know - I've always thought it was awkward terminology, and have always avoided it myself. I've never had any issue with using various other terminology which convey a similar relationship....I don't know - I've always thought it was awkward terminology, and have always avoided it myself. I've never had any issue with using various other terminology which convey a similar relationship. I understand that it's not condoning slavery, but you just can't ignore the linguistic pitfalls of choosing those words specifically when other words work just fine. I don't use the substitute terminology because I feel pressured to do so, I have chosen to avoid it for a long time just because it is potentially awkward in so many settings. Like, come on - if you have black developers, are you really going to stand there at a dev meeting and say "ok Jeremy - I need your team to conduct a review the slave APIs." It's just inelegant, and most people are going to avoid that interaction by simply substituting a different word.
it does not convey total control and ownership strongly enough.
Personally, I think it does that just fine, but really - this language is imprecise, and if you are working on or explaining a systematic relationship between application objects which requires that level of precision, then you are working on a technical level where that information is going to be communicated in more formal technical language anyway. Like, you are going to be looking at APIs and real documentation, so the high level language doesn't really matter anyway. Calling it a "worker" or a "client" or "reconfabulator" doesn't matter at all when you are working from an actual list of functional relationships between I/O and behavior.
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Comment on Inexperienced Programming Question in ~comp
soc LinkDefinitely Python - it does really well with file IO and string manipulation. An excel file should be a wrapper for a generic XML file of some kind which should be fairly simply to parse. This...Definitely Python - it does really well with file IO and string manipulation. An excel file should be a wrapper for a generic XML file of some kind which should be fairly simply to parse. This should take no more than a few hours and is really an excellent starter project for learning.
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Comment on Low effort post, but I don't care, concerning downvotes... in ~tildes
soc Link ParentMy guess is that it's a bit more than just "refusing." As a mod on reddit, I see this all the time - other than bans for obvious spam accounts - the most common reason we end up banning someone...Deimos asks them (either publicly or privately) to change their behaviour, and they refuse.
My guess is that it's a bit more than just "refusing." As a mod on reddit, I see this all the time - other than bans for obvious spam accounts - the most common reason we end up banning someone (or upgrading to a permban) is because people will flip out on you if you ask them to cool their shit. Like, we will remove a comment and say "hey man I know things can get heated but please refrain from using directed abusive language" and the immediate reaction will be something like "fuck you nigfag soyboy cuck don't censor me or I will rape your sister."
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Comment on Low effort post, but I don't care, concerning downvotes... in ~tildes
soc Link ParentBut you can use any consensus-based visibility mechanism to coordinate de-facto suppression if you assume that visibility is a zero-sum game. I'm still not entirely sold on the idea that downvotes...But you can use any consensus-based visibility mechanism to coordinate de-facto suppression if you assume that visibility is a zero-sum game.
I'm still not entirely sold on the idea that downvotes are the problem with reddit tbh. I think the way it is currently implemented does create problems, but I think downvotes are still a useful mechanism for first-line moderation.
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Comment on Logged off: Meet the teens who refuse to use social media in ~tech
soc Link ParentYeah, password encrypted backups on the cloud is probably "good enough," but without a 2FA token it's still vulnerable to phishing and password re-use. And token/authenticator 2FA is high friction...Yeah, password encrypted backups on the cloud is probably "good enough," but without a 2FA token it's still vulnerable to phishing and password re-use. And token/authenticator 2FA is high friction in terms of mass adoption.
One other thing I am exploring is Neural Cryptography, which offers an interesting possibility for small-scale trust propagation without the explicit need to maintain certificates and key archives. Your password defines a NN template and trust is established through something called "bidirectional learning" to synchronize network weights to produce keys. Even if someone gets your password they don't actually have your keys, just what is essentially half of a generator function, which still then requires many rounds of challenge/response to synchronize with a peer. Since this is an active process, it needs to be approved by all endpoints involved, meaning it is very strong with proper opsec (eg, people actually taking the time to verify re-sync requests), and one compromised node does not necessarily break trust across the entire network.
The major problem is that the synchronization process is computationally intensive, but these new "neural processors" which are making it into more and more phones might help with that.
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Comment on Write a quick poem! in ~creative
soc LinkIf man is what he is not And he is also condemned to be free If his existence creates essence from nothing And he defines that from what he can see Then must freedom be just an illusion? Or will...If man is what he is not
And he is also condemned to be free
If his existence creates essence from nothing
And he defines that from what he can seeThen must freedom be just an illusion?
Or will essence elude him till death?
Or is it simply a matter of seeing
That nothing is all he has leftPlays Fallout Boy at max volume
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Comment on On an internet run by personal information, what do you do to manage yours? in ~tech
soc LinkI don't put personal information on the internet. I don't use the same public handle across different social media platforms. I lie about things on reddit to make building a fingerprint difficult.I don't put personal information on the internet.
I don't use the same public handle across different social media platforms.
I lie about things on reddit to make building a fingerprint difficult.
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Comment on Logged off: Meet the teens who refuse to use social media in ~tech
soc Link ParentI have been kicking it around for two or three years at this point and have started the prototype three different times before life gets in the way. It's brilliant because it facilitates what I'd...I have been kicking it around for two or three years at this point and have started the prototype three different times before life gets in the way.
It's brilliant because it facilitates what I'd consider to be a framework for a truly secure, distributed, private social network which moves social networking into local meatspace, rather than allowing us to isolate ourselves at a distance. But it also potentially pushes all the right social networking buttons - "I know someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows Taylor Swift!"
More than anything though, it helps solve the critical problem with strong encryption - how do you get the unwashed masses to bother with it? This implements it in a way which gives the masses what they want - an entirely new way to be vain with cell phones. To the plebs, it's "six degrees of Kevin Bacon" in app form. To nerds, it's secure comms which doesn't paint you as a target.
My biggest problems so far:
- My knowledge of low level crypto implementation is like maybe a 6-7 out of 10 - not quite the level of expertise I'd consider sufficient to make the claim of "strong crypto."
- The key storage problem. This has two sides:
2.1 - How do you let people recover their keys after they inevitably lose their devices? Or do they just lose everything when that happens? People are not going to make local backups, and cloud backups would break the chain of custody.
2.2 - The biggest weakness to any PKI setup is always terminal security. Cell phones are basically the least secure terminals there are, and there's a thousand different ways to side-channel them. To really do this right, the secure channel would need a secure container at the application layer as well. - Peer to peer networking on cell phones is a huge headache. Running servers to link clients is fine since all the payload encryption is e2e, but that's just another thing I don't have time to do.
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Comment on Logged off: Meet the teens who refuse to use social media in ~tech
soc Link ParentThe whole "fourteen eyes" thing is such utter nonsense though. At best it is a red herring. If I was the CIA/NSA, this is exactly the sort of rumor I'd promote to drive people away from...The whole "fourteen eyes" thing is such utter nonsense though. At best it is a red herring. If I was the CIA/NSA, this is exactly the sort of rumor I'd promote to drive people away from established names which are run by knowledgeable engineers and professionals in the developed world, before starting up my own VPN honeypots in fucking Kazakhstan and Bulgaria.
I'm not going to recommend any specific VPN, but I will say that if the fourteen eyes folks wants to see what you are doing over a VPN, they are either going to compromise your terminal, or they are going to honeypot you, or they are going to MITM your key swap. A VPN is not, and should never be assumed as an effective tool against government actors or sufficiently motivated organized crime.
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Comment on Logged off: Meet the teens who refuse to use social media in ~tech
soc Link ParentPlease do not use NordVPN, just because they have the shadiest, most misleading ads. I hate how they try to scare people into being afraid that their ISP is spying on them, and then imply that...Please do not use NordVPN, just because they have the shadiest, most misleading ads. I hate how they try to scare people into being afraid that their ISP is spying on them, and then imply that using the VPN doesn't just shift that same privacy concern from the gateway ISP to NordVPN.
I thought for sure the internet nerd community would jump on them for these commercials, but I've been seeing the name pop up all over reddit and on relatively trusted youtube channels without even a mention of this.
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Comment on Logged off: Meet the teens who refuse to use social media in ~tech
soc Link ParentSee, of the ones you mentioned, snapchat is really the only one I like, specifically because it solves a lot of the issues with social media fatigue IMO. It makes no pretense about identity...See, of the ones you mentioned, snapchat is really the only one I like, specifically because it solves a lot of the issues with social media fatigue IMO. It makes no pretense about identity verification and doesn't herd you towards global visibility like facebook and twitter try so hard to do.
Like, for my part, the ideal social media platform would be a properly encrypted version of snapchat which would allow you to establish a secure connection with someone by exchanging public keys in person (like, tap to connect) or a slightly less secure connection by exchanging keys through a trusted middle node (someone you have met, who has met person C).
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Comment on Trump accuses Google of rigging search results to show mostly negative stories about him in ~tech
soc (edited )Link ParentAs someone who has pondered the nature of perception since I was a kid, this experience more than anything else has really convinced me that perception must not be in any way fixed or constant,...As someone who has pondered the nature of perception since I was a kid, this experience more than anything else has really convinced me that perception must not be in any way fixed or constant, and that reality itself is likely extremely subjective.
That's the only way I can wrap my mind around this. Before, I was willing to chalk up political difference as being largely a "nurture" thing with a handful of environmental factors determining how a given person would react after being exposed to basically the same "reality." Like a preference for chocolate over vanilla - I can wrap my head around that.
But now... I don't know. The sheer magnitude of the idiocy is just so alarming... I just have to conclude that there is no possible way that someone who is working with the same perception - "inputs" - as I am, could possibly generate this outcome. Like, these people should have choked on pudding long ago if their mental facilities are that lacking. We've put a hundred monkeys in a room, and they have turned into a duck. The basic laws of reality, as we understand them, should not allow it to happen.
It leaves me with one conclusion - that these people are simply working with different inputs somehow. That their perception of the world is somehow fundamentally different than my own.
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Comment on Lets take a personality test! in ~talk
soc LinkAverage on everything, except Openness, which I scored high on.Average on everything, except Openness, which I scored high on.
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Comment on Trump’s economic adviser: ‘We’re taking a look’ at whether Google searches should be regulated in ~tech
soc Link ParentBecause not doing that risks breaking the spell they have their followers under. The moment they acknowledge that the president's entire essence - everything he thinks, says, or does - is...Because not doing that risks breaking the spell they have their followers under. The moment they acknowledge that the president's entire essence - everything he thinks, says, or does - is pants-on-head moronic, they risk telegraphing that to others. And once these people step outside of the trump bubble, they probably won't want back in.
The GOP has hitched itself to an idiot and a traitor. Again. And these people wonder why conservatism is met with such hostility in so many venues. Gee, I don't know, maybe it's because "conservatives" have been electing traitors, criminals and idiots for going on 5 decades?
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Comment on Magic Leap is a tragic heap - Palmer Luckey's review of the Magic Leap ML1 in ~tech
soc LinkI honestly find it difficult to take anything Palmer Luckey says seriously, knowing that he has mostly just used his Facebook money to sit around and troll people on the internet, and may have...I honestly find it difficult to take anything Palmer Luckey says seriously, knowing that he has mostly just used his Facebook money to sit around and troll people on the internet, and may have actually funded neo-confederate causes.
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Comment on A growing share of Americans say it’s not necessary to believe in God to be moral in ~humanities
soc LinkI've argued for a long time that the sort of universalist meta-ethics which are taught in the church actually harms the formation of moral intuition, because it leaves one poorly equipped with the...I've argued for a long time that the sort of universalist meta-ethics which are taught in the church actually harms the formation of moral intuition, because it leaves one poorly equipped with the tools for synthesizing moral primitives, focusing instead on broad strokes and low hanging fruit. More than anything, it actually seems to make people think that morality is a commodity which they can accumulate and then cash in for an excuse to play fast and loose with their own value set.
If your phone was recording audio or video and sending it off to some remote location in any significant way, it would be almost impossible to hide, and someone would notice it pretty quickly. Lots of people monitor their home networks and watch for specifically this sort of thing. Even if the phone was programmed to only transmit this stuff via the cell network, infosec experts who test these things, and counterintelligence agencies of the world (the real people the NSA wants to fool) would pick up on that in a heartbeat as well.
The only way this kind of widespread mic or camera recording would work is if the phone was programmed to only connect to a secret network of government operated wireless gateways that nobody knows about, using a super secret spread spectrum waveform that nobody can detect. And if they were going to do this, they wouldn't just tie it into a voice command service.