tauon's recent activity
-
Comment on AGI and Fermi's Paradox in ~science
-
Comment on AGI and Fermi's Paradox in ~science
tauon Link ParentExactly, 100% agree. There’s an excellent short story in video form by Tom Scott exploring this premise which I can highly recommend. From years before the current “AI hype” too, BTW.Exactly, 100% agree.
There’s an excellent short story in video form by Tom Scott exploring this premise which I can highly recommend. From years before the current “AI hype” too, BTW.
-
Comment on Hytale is saved! in ~games
tauon (edited )Link ParentI liked that map too, while the basic version has its charm, especially some of its later updates where you could actually progress through more of the game were pretty cool! That said, do not be...I liked that map too, while the basic version has its charm, especially some of its later updates where you could actually progress through more of the game were pretty cool!
That said, do not be fooled: Hypixel Skyblock shares just about nothing with the original map outside of the name. I’m not joking, except for maybe a modicum of the starter/personal island, it is a comparison of wheat grain, scratch that, molecule to finished baguette.
Edit: To illustrate, this is fairly representative gameplay near the top level for one of about a half-dozen major activity categories that exist (although the catacombs/dungeons are probably the most involved by far).
Edit 2: Come to think of it, I urge everyone curious here in the thread to watch the video (or some other Skyblock gameplay) to set your expectations for Hytale down the road right. “Vanilla Minecraft clone” is one thing, but they’re aiming to shoot much, much higher. Imagine what they’ll be able to do in a bespoke game and game engine when they made a Minecraft server do that and cultivated a community of highly enthusiastic and skilled players and modders on top of it.
-
Comment on Hytale is saved! in ~games
tauon Link ParentPretty much…, I think. I’m not sure whether it was ever “officially” meant to be the Skyblock successor, or if the ideas developed independently from another soon after the gamemode’s launch, but...Pretty much…, I think.
I’m not sure whether it was ever “officially” meant to be the Skyblock successor, or if the ideas developed independently from another soon after the gamemode’s launch, but I am sure a big part of Hypixel’s motivation for Hytale was in fact to crawl free from Mojang/Microsoft’s rule, which for example limits their monetization, namely by disallowing third-party Minecraft servers from offering pay-to-win mechanics.
is now being released
*In an unfinished state with perhaps ten years to go. ;)
-
Comment on AGI and Fermi's Paradox in ~science
tauon (edited )LinkWhile not ruling out any of your points per se, I find it pretty amusing to think that we tiny humans with our ape-build brains could predict any sort of AGI behavior further than just a...While not ruling out any of your points per se, I find it pretty amusing to think that we tiny humans with our ape-build brains could predict any sort of AGI behavior further than just a projection of our ape patterns. Who is to say AGI needs to swing itself into the pole position to enter another universe, or whether there’s anything that needs to be protected/controlled at the galaxy’s center in the first place? Why wouldn’t it want to transparently cooperate with other lifeforms’ potentially-arising AGIs, if they all independently come to the same conclusion anyway? What about distances never ever reachable for organic forms of life/intelligence (i.e., other galaxies), but potentially worth considering branching out to for an immortal AGI? For that matter, who is to say it doesn’t end up “depressed” and just… never does anything at all, at long last having realized the true purpose of all existence (for example, to maximize time spent in a meditative state)? I don’t think we can ever know, understand, let alone predict any AGI (in the true sci-fi “unlimited thinking and research processing capacity” way) behavior.
There are more than a few unknowns still hanging around in this discussion/thought experiment, I’d say.
-
Comment on Hytale is saved! in ~games
tauon (edited )LinkOh man, finally a ~games post I actually have something to comment on. :P Of the maybe three video games I’ve played with real progression and content (replayability value), one is Hypixel’s...Oh man, finally a ~games post I actually have something to comment on. :P
Of the maybe three video games I’ve played with real progression and content (replayability value), one is Hypixel’s Skyblock – the MMORPG inside their server within Minecraft – which I’ve sunk, ahem, more than a few hours into in the past. (Hypixel is the studio behind both Skyblock and the now-cancelled Hytale; Simon, the post intro’s author, co-founded both.)
Skyblock’s community has been complaining about staleness for years. The game launched in 2019, then went from 2022 to I believe mid-2025 without a truly major content update. During that drought, i.e. before Hytale was officially axed, many speculated players would migrate to Hytale on release, maybe even quit Skyblock outright. Then the 2020s “Minecraft renaissance” hit, and both vanilla Minecraft and Hypixel’s mini- and persistent games stayed surprisingly healthy from what I can tell. It will be interesting to see what sub-games they implement on the Hytale “platform”, if you view the game as merely the starting point, just like with Minecraft modding and custom server gamemodes.
Oh and while I’ve never played Wynncraft, that’s another standalone MMORPG running inside Minecraft. It’s always been smaller than Skyblock; as of writing this (just checked both) Skyblock has ≈13 times its concurrent players, and Hypixel as a whole has ≈25x. This also means Skyblock is the server’s biggest mode, so its ups and downs probably directly affect Hypixel’s future (and maybe Hypixel Studios’ too), though the announcement post claims their funding is secured.
In any case, good for them if they’re able to finance it and ship that game at last, though.Edit: rewrote comment for clarity
-
Comment on How a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readers in ~science
tauon Link ParentNot quite every word (as someone who learned German first at home :P), but the exceptions prove the rule; and it’s vastly less deviation from the expected sound than in English, or French’s rules,...Not quite every word (as someone who learned German first at home :P), but the exceptions prove the rule; and it’s vastly less deviation from the expected sound than in English, or French’s rules, for that matter – with the caveat that I never studied French so I don’t actually have authority to say anything about it that’s not based on vibes and snippets I’ve come to known, c’est la vie.
-
Comment on The Florentine Diamond resurfaces after 100 years in hiding. Legendary jewel of the Habsburgs not seen since 1919 and thought lost, has actually been safe in a Canadian bank for decades. (gifted link) in ~humanities.history
tauon LinkFrom the diamond’s already-updated Wikipedia entry: … Let’s hope they plan to put in place some more appropriate protections than the Louvre. :PFrom the diamond’s already-updated Wikipedia entry:
Culture Minister Mathieu Lacombe called it "a truly unique story that connects Quebec to the Habsburg family," stating that they were "working with the Quebec National Museum of Fine Arts to find a way for these jewels to be displayed and accessible to the public." [7]
… Let’s hope they plan to put in place some more appropriate protections than the Louvre. :P
-
Comment on How a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readers in ~science
tauon (edited )Link ParentTo be fair, a spelling reform of the English language, by which I mean the introduction of spelling rules which are actually based on words’ pronunciation, would be both long overdue given the...To be fair, a spelling reform of the English language, by which I mean the introduction of spelling rules which are actually based on words’ pronunciation, would be both long overdue given the numerous consonant and vowel shifts of the past couple hundred years, as well as useful to learners of English as a second language.
However, with that all said…, kids not knowing how to read should and most likely will not be the reason which drives such a hypothetical major, major spelling reform.
-
Comment on Epstein-Barr virus appears to be trigger of lupus disease in ~health
-
Comment on China’s CO2 emissions have been flat or falling for past eighteen months, analysis finds in ~enviro
tauon Link ParentWonder what the west’s excuse will be when they both look like this and we’re still burning fossils.Wonder what the west’s excuse will be when they both look like this and we’re still burning fossils.
-
Comment on Disrupting the first reported AI-orchestrated cyber espionage campaign in ~tech
tauon Link ParentSome of the best models currently out are actually open-weight, which tend to have less restrictive measures applied (or rather applicable in the first place) onto them in terms of a moral code....Some of the best models currently out are actually open-weight, which tend to have less restrictive measures applied (or rather applicable in the first place) onto them in terms of a moral code.
If it’s truly a state-backed group, I’m not sure why they wouldn’t have self-hosted a similarly capable model, did some test-running/fine-tuning at first, and then went undetected for the entire operation instead of whatever they did here…
And regarding the “trustworthiness”: I don’t think the model provider matters, if it was even shown over the course of the attack. If my system’s getting hammered, I don’t care which model is being used – you’re suffering from someone’s terrible misconfiguration at best and a cyberattack at worst.
-
Comment on Mullvad - Shutting down our search proxy Leta in ~tech
tauon (edited )Link ParentInteresting point. I wonder whether one of the anti-fingerprinting Firefox extensions could help alleviate (some of) this.Interesting point. I wonder whether one of the anti-fingerprinting Firefox extensions could help alleviate (some of) this.
-
Comment on Microsoft is adding AI facial recognition to OneDrive and users can only turn it off three times a year in ~tech
tauon Link ParentInteresting! I take it you’re also not using MacPorts, then? wink For me the reason I like it as much as I do is probably twofold: I do spend the larger portion of my , ahem free time that’s...Interesting! I take it you’re also not using MacPorts, then? wink
For me the reason I like it as much as I do is probably twofold: I do spend the larger portion of my
day, ahem free time that’s dedicated to the Mac, in a terminal emulator already, and I like having a declarative(-ish) setup. Do you have any particular gripes withbrewor is it just a general dislike for that style of package/app management? And does that extend to the JS/Python/Rust/what have you ecosystems, or do younpm i -g, uv, cargo etc. install tools from there without disliking it? -
Comment on Microsoft is adding AI facial recognition to OneDrive and users can only turn it off three times a year in ~tech
tauon Link ParentAt this point, I don’t think macOS would be usable to me without the help of a package manager system (i.e., Homebrew). The Mac App Store sucks!At this point, I don’t think macOS would be usable to me without the help of a package manager system (i.e., Homebrew). The Mac App Store sucks!
-
Comment on Microsoft is adding AI facial recognition to OneDrive and users can only turn it off three times a year in ~tech
tauon Link Parent(noise) As a Mac user, I’ve literally never been forced to do an update against my will. :P While Apple does suck in their own ways, I genuinely think non-corporate Windows is a worse platform to...(noise)
As a Mac user, I’ve literally never been forced to do an update against my will. :P
While Apple does suck in their own ways, I genuinely think non-corporate Windows is a worse platform to be on nowadays.To try and salvage my comment into constructiveness: What aspects would you say are becoming more Mac-like? Genuinely curious to hear.
-
Comment on Danish government has reached an agreement to implement a minimum age requirement of fifteen years old on certain social media platforms in ~tech
tauon (edited )LinkThe parental exception sounds like a sensible approach. At least more sensible than Australia’s attempt which failed to include all IMO necessary platforms. I do think this is the right way...The parental exception sounds like a sensible approach. At least more sensible than Australia’s attempt which failed to include all IMO necessary platforms.
I do think this is the right way forward in general though, from a national security standpoint as well as a pro-democracy one. Imagine you’d have told some hardliner general from the cold war era that in 50 years, a foreign government will have developed a platform to effectively access the thoughts of the younger generations, including knowing political leanings and the ability to be drastically influenced on essentially any and every topic because of the people using it spending hours a day on there! Be lucky if he didn’t want to nuke ByteDance headquarters right then and there…
Edit: if this turns out to be a covert way of attempting to bring chat control back on the table (the Danish government has lost my trust on that one completely), I’m obviously immediately retracting my support for it. Priorities sorted and all that.
-
Comment on The cost of borrowing divides rich towns from poor ones in ~finance
tauon Link ParentWell I wasn’t aware municipalities in the US could or ever would raise money through bonds. That’s kinda wild to me right now. Although it perhaps might be an interesting way to address the issue...Well I wasn’t aware municipalities in the US could or ever would raise money through bonds. That’s kinda wild to me right now.
Although it perhaps might be an interesting way to address the issue of communal funds being notoriously too low over here, too…
-
Comment on Paid e-mail providers - your experiences, how you use them and how I would use it in ~tech
tauon Link ParentSpeaking of cheap and German, I use IONOS (formerly 1&1) for my domain (purchase and management), email, and (admittedly simple) web-hosting needs. Very content customer for the years I’ve been...Speaking of cheap and German, I use IONOS (formerly 1&1) for my domain (purchase and management), email, and (admittedly simple) web-hosting needs. Very content customer for the years I’ve been there so far.
-
Comment on You don't need Anubis in ~comp
tauon (edited )Link ParentIt’s a tough battle to fight. I actually share your opinion in principle, seemingly “low compute” users shouldn’t be excluded on the basis of being on old/slow hardware or using an “esoteric”...It’s a tough battle to fight.
I actually share your opinion in principle, seemingly “low compute” users shouldn’t be excluded on the basis of being on old/slow hardware or using an “esoteric” browser or browser configuration without JS, but then I see blog posts and post-mortems from sites and services where their hosting costs alone suddenly exploded due to scraping, let alone potential downtime, and I’m far more understanding of their point of view again.
I’m definitely not an expert, but I’m guessing other solutions haven’t taken off because they’re too easily circumvented [once scraper bots have JS capabilities]?
There is no way to know at the current moment whether “trained on data produced by people” is a concept we could even apply to AGI, so I’m inclined to disagree here.
For one, just as an example, we’ve already started feeding the current generation of “AI” attempts, i.e. large language models, with (partially) synthetic data.
Secondly, and IMO the bigger argument here, a true and proper A”G”I would – likely not immediately, but probably eventually – surpass anything resembling human intelligence by a factor of 100,000, then tens of millions, then 10^30, then
?; that is to say, I don’t necessarily think it’d be bound to any motivations we can hope to understand. Maybe if it wants to communicate with us and also kindly attempts to break it down to explain it to our collective brightest minds, we might stand a chance at grasping its intentions.