sunset's recent activity

  1. Comment on Blocking of unverified apps on Android starts in Brazil and other three countries in ~tech

    sunset
    Link Parent
    Here, I made a meme since laughter is often a better way to change minds than arguments https://i.imgur.com/T74inwb.png

    Here, I made a meme since laughter is often a better way to change minds than arguments

    https://i.imgur.com/T74inwb.png

    7 votes

  2. Comment on Blocking of unverified apps on Android starts in Brazil and other three countries in ~tech

    sunset
    Link
    I install cameras and security systems for a living. The main camera manufacturers are all Chinese (Dahua and HikVision being the biggest where I live) A few years back, due to Trump nonsense, the...

    I install cameras and security systems for a living. The main camera manufacturers are all Chinese (Dahua and HikVision being the biggest where I live)

    A few years back, due to Trump nonsense, the app for HikVision cameras (HikConnect) got removed from the Play Store. It's back now, I guess Trump got his bribe, but for a long time I had to download an APK and side-load it for customers, just because the US had yet another stupid spat with China. It was annoying for the customers, but at least it was an option.

    Now if it happens again, I'd need to convince each customer to do nonsense like enabling developer options, waiting 24 hours (?!) and so on.

    I do not understand why as a European, I need to rely on a fascist-loving US company to approve what I install.

    It's really depressing how many people I see, even here where people are intelligent, supporting this awful garbage.

    37 votes

  3. Comment on Someone ‘torturing’ LLMs in a robot prison has triggered the dumbest debate in AI yet in ~tech

    sunset
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    The truth is that we don't know what's conscious because we don't know what consciousness is. How about we err on the side of not being monsters? We truly sucks as a species. Our first reaction to...

    The truth is that we don't know what's conscious because we don't know what consciousness is. How about we err on the side of not being monsters?

    We truly sucks as a species. Our first reaction to creating something intelligent is to hate it, and now apparently to torture it. I am ashamed of being human.

    11 votes

  4. Comment on Interview: Firefox’s chief on why he hopes a redesign will help win users from Chrome in ~tech

    sunset
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Privacy is irrelevant, the overwhelming majority of people straight up don't care. Seriously, it's been decades, at some point tech geeks simply need to put their heads out of the ground and face...

    Privacy is irrelevant, the overwhelming majority of people straight up don't care. Seriously, it's been decades, at some point tech geeks simply need to put their heads out of the ground and face reality: The overwhelming majority of people never have and never will care about privacy. At all.

    The fact that FF continued to bark up the privacy tree as their market share was collapsing, was 100% part of the problem. It's like having a sinking ship with a bunch of holes in it, while the captain is polishing the wooden figurehead because a couple of carpenters on board are really obsessed with it.

    I don't think FF can do anything to fix things now. You say chrome is "buggy plugin hell" but that's not the average person's experience at all. The average person doesn't know what a "plugin" is. They open chrome, it works fine (no bugs) and does what they want. They'll stick with it.

    IMO FF fell behind due to organizational issues. I was a big fan and wanted to donate a few years back. But when I looked into how, I straight up couldn't. Turns out FF was spun off as its own company and I couldn't donate to it, and they were actually being financed by other corpos (ironically, mostly Google). While the non-profit I could donate to was doing a bunch of unrelated side-projects, including charity stuff for Africa, stuff like that. I ended up not donating, I wanted to support my browser, not solve 3rd world problems. At that point I knew FF was doomed, their interests were misaligned. By their structure, they couldn't be supported by their users and were instead funded by their competitor (Google) and a bunch of other corpos trying to sell you stuff in the browser.

    IMO from the very start, FF should have been a non-profit financed through donations. And they should have concentrated spending every cent on improving FF instead of doing side projects.

    6 votes

  5. Comment on Trolley problem, again in ~humanities

    sunset
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    To add to the criticism of the Trolley Problem: It really annoys me that it's giving certain, deterministic, known outcomes, while real life is anything but that. The moral intuition and decision...

    To add to the criticism of the Trolley Problem: It really annoys me that it's giving certain, deterministic, known outcomes, while real life is anything but that.

    The moral intuition and decision making of humans has evolved over millennia based on real life situations, not on some ridiculously fake made up scenario that will never happen. The "paradoxes" you see are not showing inconsistency in human morals, it's just showing the thought experiment is really fucking stupid and wasn't designed well.

    To give exact example: The entire gotcha of the Fat Man corollary relies on you believing that throwing a fat person in front of a trolley would somehow stop the trolley. That's really fucking stupid, it's just not how physics work. Sure, the experimenter could tell you it would stop it 100%, and you can agree to accept that as a given for the thought experiment... But deep down your subconscious will be screaming at you that there's a big chance you'll just be killing an extra person, because you evolved intuition on how physics and inertia works.

    Also, deeper structures in your brain (instinct for self-preservation) knows that if you try killing someone with your hands, they might fight back and hurt you too. Again, the experimenter can assure you the fat person won't grab you and kill you by dragging you with them. But your brain didn't evolve in magical "we are 100% certain" made-up world, we evolved in actual real-life situations, where pushing people has real risks.

    And I see zero implementation for any of this nonsense in real life. Everyone keeps bringing up self-driving cars for a reason, it's literally the only actual example anyone can think of. And it's completely useless in this example too - if your car is about to crash, you don't spend 816 miliseconds contacting Elon Musk's server to ask whether the life of 2 shoemakers is more valuable than 1 barista, 1 cook and a half-eaten sandwich. Instead, you do the sensible thing and apply the brakes.

    The whole Trolley Problem discussion reminds me of classic philosophy. I understand (and admire) the desire to understand how something works and to try figuring it out by thinking about it... But at some point the thinking becomes so esotheric and detached from reality (and frankly up its own ass), it ends up having very little value in the real world. Hence why progress in our understanding was so slow until actual empirical science showed up.

    4 votes

  6. Comment on What is your pet peeve with language acquisition? in ~humanities.languages

    sunset
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    Too many exceptions to the rules that you have to memorize (looking at you German)

    Too many exceptions to the rules that you have to memorize (looking at you German)

    4 votes

  7. Comment on The literary world’s DEI checklist in ~books

    sunset
    Link Parent
    Do you mean tildes? It leans left, which is fine, I also lean left. What I don't want is for opposing views to be silenced and turn it into circlejerk. Nothing in the article was "borderline...

    Do you mean tildes? It leans left, which is fine, I also lean left. What I don't want is for opposing views to be silenced and turn it into circlejerk.

    Nothing in the article was "borderline offensive". I am glad OP shared it.

    7 votes

  8. Comment on The literary world’s DEI checklist in ~books

    sunset
    Link Parent
    Strongly disagree. Just because you disagree with something politically doesn't make it objectively offensive. Tildes shouldn't turn into another bluesky far-left circlejerk.

    Strongly disagree. Just because you disagree with something politically doesn't make it objectively offensive.

    Tildes shouldn't turn into another bluesky far-left circlejerk.

    11 votes

  9. Comment on Do you think you're special? in ~talk

    sunset
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    Not really, and frankly teaching people that they are has been a complete societal disaster. Teach everyone that they are the main character, then do surprised pikachu face when they behave like one.

    Not really, and frankly teaching people that they are has been a complete societal disaster.

    Teach everyone that they are the main character, then do surprised pikachu face when they behave like one.

    15 votes

  10. Comment on What is your dream game? in ~games

    sunset
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    Linear 3rd person space opera. With how popular the mass effect series were, you'd think there'd be more, but nope.

    Linear 3rd person space opera.

    With how popular the mass effect series were, you'd think there'd be more, but nope.

    11 votes

  11. Comment on Owners mourn spoiled food after firmware update bricks Samsung smart fridges in ~tech

    sunset
    Link Parent
    I've heard pretty much everything outside of screens and phones is very iffy with Samsung, especially home appliances.

    I've heard pretty much everything outside of screens and phones is very iffy with Samsung, especially home appliances.

    17 votes

  12. Comment on There's a new "Google Jail" for independent wikis in ~tech

    sunset
    Link Parent
    Time to bring back StumbleUpon to stumble upon web rings!

    Time to bring back StumbleUpon to stumble upon web rings!

    3 votes

  13. Comment on I want an RPG with reverse leveling in ~games

    sunset
    Link Parent
    With an idea like this, you would obviously need to design the entire game around it to make it work. You can't just slap it on top of an existing game (like Skyrim) which was designed with...

    With an idea like this, you would obviously need to design the entire game around it to make it work. You can't just slap it on top of an existing game (like Skyrim) which was designed with regular leveling in mind, of course it will be terrible experience.

    I do agree with your general point though, and assume that's why we haven't seen any serious implementation of the idea.

    I just think there is a lot of untapped potential, both narratively as well as in gameplay if done well.

    4 votes

  14. Comment on Everyday/week seems to fly by as I get older, how to change one's perception? in ~life

    sunset
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    Sorry for being pessimistic, but this is just part of being human. It will get worse the older you get.

    Sorry for being pessimistic, but this is just part of being human. It will get worse the older you get.

    11 votes

  15. Comment on I want an RPG with reverse leveling in ~games

    sunset
    Link Parent
    I googled it, and while they seem to be doing something quite original, I don't think it fits. If I understand this correctly, every time you die, you lose some health but gain attack. If you die...

    I googled it, and while they seem to be doing something quite original, I don't think it fits.

    If I understand this correctly, every time you die, you lose some health but gain attack. If you die ~55 times, you get perma-killed and have to start over. Though with each run you can unlock things that help you permanently for the next run.

  16. Comment on These cookies are 3D-printed and made of recycled plastic in ~science

    sunset
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    Why are they 3D printing it? If I understand this correctly, they used a bunch of modified bacteria to create some of the ingredients, then added starch, sugar, etc. to create the "slurry"... and...

    Why are they 3D printing it? If I understand this correctly, they used a bunch of modified bacteria to create some of the ingredients, then added starch, sugar, etc. to create the "slurry"... and then are 3D printing it for whatever reason? Why not just bake the resulting slurry?

    Costing around $60 per kilogram (2.2 pounds) to produce, they’re far from an economical solution to world hunger. However, the SIU Carbondale researchers believe they can improve the yeast’s efficiency and, with scale, reduce costs.

    I don't get it. If they want to bring the price down, why are they adding 3d printing to the process?

    In any case, I've been seeing articles like this for decades. I doubt anything will come out of it, the price never comes down enough for stuff like this to be viable. Maybe I'm wrong and this one will be the real deal, but I somehow doubt the guys 3d printing cookies will be the ones bucking the trend.

    Food is dirt cheap to produce in massive quantities and we already make more than we need to feed anyone on earth. The issue of world hunger is logistical (getting the food to where it's needed) and obviously ideological/political.

    6 votes

  17. Comment on I want an RPG with reverse leveling in ~games

    sunset
    Link Parent
    Understandable, lol. It really makes no sense narratively, especially in story-heavy games like CP2077 and BG3, I don't blame you at all. At least most games started having "Are you sure? This...

    Understandable, lol. It really makes no sense narratively, especially in story-heavy games like CP2077 and BG3, I don't blame you at all.

    At least most games started having "Are you sure? This will end the game." dialog before the final quest, giving you a hint now is the time to do unfinished side-quests.

    5 votes

  18. Comment on I want an RPG with reverse leveling in ~games

    sunset
    Link Parent
    This is a very interesting idea, I especially like the concept of not telling the player, lol. Maybe it could have some kind of addiction mechanic too, so when people figure it out eventually,...

    This is a very interesting idea, I especially like the concept of not telling the player, lol.

    Maybe it could have some kind of addiction mechanic too, so when people figure it out eventually, they can't stop using the drugs even if they want to.

  19. Comment on I want an RPG with reverse leveling in ~games

    sunset
    Link Parent
    I think you can compensate if you design the skill tree around the leveling down idea. Make the top ability of the tree super-overpowered supernova or whatever and start the player with that...

    I think you can compensate if you design the skill tree around the leveling down idea.

    Make the top ability of the tree super-overpowered supernova or whatever and start the player with that selected as they play the tutorial. When they level down for the first time , they lose the top ability. Now they have to use one of the two next-to-best abilities. I mean, they could use lower stuff too, but it makes no sense to use some weak "sparks" spell when you can blast the enemy with a massive fireball.

    But eventually you do lose the fireball too, so now you do have to use the "sparks" spell. But it's so weak, you need to learn to cast "oil" on the enemy first before sparks, to make them vulnerable to fire.

    As you level down further, you have to learn and use more and more of the game mechanics to be able to defeat the enemies, while early on you just blasted everything with the fireball.

    1 vote

  20. Comment on I want an RPG with reverse leveling in ~games

    sunset
    Link Parent
    I don't like it because I think it destroys pacing in story-telling. I don't feel any urgency even though narratively the world is supposed to be under direct threat, while I'm running around...

    I don't like it because I think it destroys pacing in story-telling. I don't feel any urgency even though narratively the world is supposed to be under direct threat, while I'm running around looking for someone's lost cat. And by the time I do get back to the main quest, I'm kinda tired of the game because I did so much side content. And I'm not as invested in the story because the thing that invested me happened 80 game hours ago. It's just bad pacing.

    Not having the side content is an option, but then the game becomes very linear and there is no replayability, nor any choice in what you want to do. It's good to have side content, and I do want people to play the side content. I just think it should be paced, so you don't end up abandoning the main story for too long. Leveling down puts a limit on how much you do and puts actual weight in deciding what to do.

    I do agree with your point that it's punishing gamers and that players will probably find it annoying, which is probably why we don't see it implemented. I just think there's a lot of potential there - and as the souls games have taught us, what some people see as annoying game design, looks like a fun challenge for others.

    6 votes