ThrowdoBaggins's recent activity
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Comment on Does generative AI have a natural limit without a major innovation? in ~comp
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Comment on Commodore Callback flip phone in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentIt took me a few re-reads to spot that you’re looking for past tense of “seek out” — I think “sought out” might be the words you’re looking for?I sook out T9 soft keyboards for years
It took me a few re-reads to spot that you’re looking for past tense of “seek out” — I think “sought out” might be the words you’re looking for?
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Comment on Website is unhappy in ~tildes
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentAlas this kind of phrasing has been forever broken in my brain. Any time I hear “(thing) person” I always immediately expand that into “half-(thing) half-person, like a weird centaur” My favourite...Caveat: not a computer person.
Alas this kind of phrasing has been forever broken in my brain. Any time I hear “(thing) person” I always immediately expand that into “half-(thing) half-person, like a weird centaur”
My favourite is “I’m not much of a people person”
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Comment on Website is unhappy in ~tildes
ThrowdoBaggins Link Parent“Your kind”...? You mean totally standard normal humans, right? (Anakin Padmé meme)“Your kind”...? You mean totally standard normal humans, right? (Anakin Padmé meme)
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Comment on What's a game you're dying to play that doesn't exist? in ~games
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentWhen I read you wanted the opposite, for a brief moment I was thinking about Viscera Cleanup Detail but that’s very much after the disaster, not patching up during. I really like your idea, and...When I read you wanted the opposite, for a brief moment I was thinking about Viscera Cleanup Detail but that’s very much after the disaster, not patching up during.
I really like your idea, and there’s a lot that could be borrowed from real life emergencies! Maybe you’re one of the first responders for the Haiti earthquake (2010, too soon?) or in NYC for 9/11 (2001, too soon?) or at the Chernobyl disaster (1986, too soon?) or on the lower decks of the Titanic (1912, too soon?) or the Great Fire of London (1666, too soon?)
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Comment on Our workplace LLM mass delusion in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentOh gosh, I just imagined you using an LLM to automate your replies and corrections to the boss’ post, and then realised that would be creating dead internet theory directly in your own company!Oh gosh, I just imagined you using an LLM to automate your replies and corrections to the boss’ post, and then realised that would be creating dead internet theory directly in your own company!
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Comment on Our workplace LLM mass delusion in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentIt is also that, but I doubt it’s exclusively that.It is also that, but I doubt it’s exclusively that.
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Comment on "Teachers are going to hate it": How social media apps hooked teens at school in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentI sometimes take a few days to slowly read through a comments section, and sometimes I forget what I was looking at when I come back. I read this sentence without context and immediately thought...We really shouldn’t be limiting the damages to children.
I sometimes take a few days to slowly read through a comments section, and sometimes I forget what I was looking at when I come back. I read this sentence without context and immediately thought you were advocating for open slather damage for children, for just the briefest moment.
/noise
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Comment on "Teachers are going to hate it": How social media apps hooked teens at school in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentWhile I’m not part of the above conversation chains, I’d like to contribute my own thoughts here too. For me, the question about changing Section 230 would not be about whether a...While I’m not part of the above conversation chains, I’d like to contribute my own thoughts here too.
For me, the question about changing Section 230 would not be about whether a platform-controlled algorithmic feed would lead to a “good” or “bad” outcome, instead my own thoughts dig deeper into whether actively shaping the feeds of users counts as the business flexing their free speech. To me the answer is clearly yes, it feels like pretty comprehensive editorial control even if it’s not producing the content itself.
If I was involved with developing policy, I might suggest that everything else from Section 230 stays in effect but consider an addition for identifying platform-controlled algorithms and feeds, and that content served via these algorithms counts as the organisation’s speech.
Of course nuanced policy is more complex than anything a Tildes conversation might be able to capture, but in general I think if the platforms have a toggle where on one hand, the user has full control of what they’re shown (e.g. timeline based, only from subscribed/followed users) versus fully platform-controlled (the current paradigm on most platforms) then what the user sees on their controlled feed would be immune under section 230 but what the platform controls would not have the same broad immunity.
Note that Section 230 still exists where a platform chooses to moderate their own content e.g. removing content it deems objectionable, this is already a carve-out. So I would hope that any change to 230 was carefully crafted to still allow content moderation, but more specifically target when the platform essentially chooses what you see in your feed.
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Comment on "Teachers are going to hate it": How social media apps hooked teens at school in ~tech
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentI’m probably an outlier in holding a pretty extreme belief, but if these rules mean fewer users for these social media sites (regardless of age), I’m okay with that extraneous outcome too....And I'd rather not have to prove my identity everywhere on the internet, too. "Think of the children" is once again being used as an excuse for mass surveillance.
I’m probably an outlier in holding a pretty extreme belief, but if these rules mean fewer users for these social media sites (regardless of age), I’m okay with that extraneous outcome too. Teenagers aren’t the only people negatively affected by social media.
Edit to add: especially since you’ve already pointed out the network effect, maybe as more people decide it’s not worth the effort and/or privacy risk to access social media, this could help unravel their grip as even more people continue to leave and decide it’s not worth it.
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Comment on What are your gaming idiosyncracies? in ~games
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentOh gosh I completely missed that, and I’m a bit embarrassed 😅 Condolences to your free time, your loved ones, and your obligations in life. I know how this usually goesWell, to tell you the truth I thought I was going along with a gag
Oh gosh I completely missed that, and I’m a bit embarrassed 😅
This conversation made me reinstall it
Condolences to your free time, your loved ones, and your obligations in life. I know how this usually goes
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Comment on What are your gaming idiosyncracies? in ~games
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentI got used to a TKL keyboard at work over the last few years, so I’ve enjoyed being able to have the mouse closer to the centre rather than so far over to the side. So when I accidentally lost an...I got used to a TKL keyboard at work over the last few years, so I’ve enjoyed being able to have the mouse closer to the centre rather than so far over to the side. So when I accidentally lost an entire glass of wine on my keyboard last month, I ended up replacing it with a keyboard where the numpad can be detached and reconnected on the other side. (And then found out about standalone numpads you can buy so they’re not physically required to be next to the keyboard 100% of the time)
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Comment on What are your gaming idiosyncracies? in ~games
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentOh wow, I was just making up numbers based on vibes and my general understanding of how the factory scales! I don’t think I’ve ever been able to push my own factory to less than 50 UPS or so, I...Oh wow, I was just making up numbers based on vibes and my general understanding of how the factory scales! I don’t think I’ve ever been able to push my own factory to less than 50 UPS or so, I get burned out well before achieving that kind of megafactory.
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Comment on GOG apologies for emailing Nazi runes to its followers in ~games
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentI can also see the difference (Three Cheers, iOS26, iPhone 16)I can also see the difference (Three Cheers, iOS26, iPhone 16)
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Comment on What are your gaming idiosyncracies? in ~games
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentAh, my wooden pick axe either collects cobblestone until it’s broken, or it helps smelt my first iron bars. It never survives for very long.Ah, my wooden pick axe either collects cobblestone until it’s broken, or it helps smelt my first iron bars. It never survives for very long.
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Comment on What are your gaming idiosyncracies? in ~games
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentNothing that 100,000 bots and 0.2UPS can’t fix! Just slap down the world’s biggest blueprint and leave it running for a week, I’m sure they’ll finish the job eventually!Paving that monster was uh, an experience.
Nothing that 100,000 bots and 0.2UPS can’t fix! Just slap down the world’s biggest blueprint and leave it running for a week, I’m sure they’ll finish the job eventually!
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Comment on How has inflation changed your quality of life? in ~finance
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentI’m renting the place I currently live in. The rental agreement includes exclusive usage of the place until such time as either party decides to end the contract. Exclusive usage is not...So, they have exclusive usage of it.
I’m renting the place I currently live in. The rental agreement includes exclusive usage of the place until such time as either party decides to end the contract. Exclusive usage is not sufficiently similar that you can redefine it as ownership.
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Comment on Do we want to stop all crime? in ~society
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentWith another bed! How scandalous! /noisefind my wife in bed with another bed
With another bed! How scandalous!
/noise
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Comment on Do we want to stop all crime? in ~society
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentWould the system balance competing ideas when deciding enforcement of laws? For example, driving dangerously fast even if not causing any accidents but certainly still elevating anxiety in many...Would the system balance competing ideas when deciding enforcement of laws? For example, driving dangerously fast even if not causing any accidents but certainly still elevating anxiety in many other drivers, balanced against the need to get the pregnant woman to hospital quickly because she’s about to give birth?
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Comment on What are your personal crackpot conspiracy theories about the world right now? in ~talk
ThrowdoBaggins Link ParentEverything is kiki or bouba! Everything!Everything is kiki or bouba! Everything!
This has been a vomit of words and thoughts, barely structured, so I urge the potential reader to exercise agency when choosing whether to read further. On my lunch break, I decided this has been worth my time to quickly write but wasn’t worth my time to edit further, so you, dear reader, should consider whether it’s worth your time to read.
My personal view is that current LLMs are incapable of becoming AGI because of their fundamental structure, in the same way that a propeller aeroplane won’t work in space. Sure, the plane can move fast through air and generate lift, and you could make the assumption that if you just give it more and more powerful engines and more and more efficient lift surfaces, eventually it can go infinitely up, but eventually you run up against the fact that propellers can’t work in a vacuum, and no matter how powerful your engines or how astonishingly efficient your lift, that doesn’t change the fact that it structurally requires air to function.
I view LLMs as having similar limitations. If you look at the very early models, you can see how they’re a very sophisticated word prediction machine, and that as it gets more and more powerful and absorbs more and more information from the wider internet, it will get more and more advanced. But by definition of being a word prediction machine, it will never be particularly great at novel ideas unless those ideas can be described by existing words.
You could argue the same applies to humans, but I believe humans are capable of much more complex thoughts than a language machine because we can think in concepts rather than exclusively in words, and therefore we can push new boundaries where words do not yet exist.
Additionally, where LLMs have struggled with non-language concepts, they have been given tools and harnesses to guide them, but I think these solutions hide the underlying problems. For example, if your entire universe is words, even words about mathematics, you will still struggle with maths. You can be given mathematics tools and when someone asks you a maths question, you can remember to use this tool to get you the answer, but fundamentally you still struggle with the maths if not for the tool.
Likewise I think there is a substantial limitation of the fact most LLMs are designed for a question-answer structure. There are millions of thoughts I have which aren’t questions, and aren’t answers to questions, but which still help me gain a better understanding of the universe around me. I wonder how much this lack of just “thinking thoughts” that LLMs can’t really do on their own which limits their final form.