V17's recent activity
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Comment on Are there any video games that are/were popular in your country, that the rest of the world hardly knows about? in ~games
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Comment on Are there any video games that are/were popular in your country, that the rest of the world hardly knows about? in ~games
V17 Link ParentAs a central European I can confirm that I only heard about it from memes on reddit.As a central European I can confirm that I only heard about it from memes on reddit.
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Comment on Are there any video games that are/were popular in your country, that the rest of the world hardly knows about? in ~games
V17 Link ParentHow could you not mention Bulánci/Combat Pillows?! It's a simple 2d action game that became popular likely simply because it was freeware and supported hot seat multiplayer for up to 4 players....How could you not mention Bulánci/Combat Pillows?! It's a simple 2d action game that became popular likely simply because it was freeware and supported hot seat multiplayer for up to 4 players. Almost every school PC had it at some point. A relatively recent remake exists, but like most remakes it supposedly sucks.
I would add Vietcong to the list as well. I don't think it was that popular abroad but here I'd say it was almost as popular as Operation Flashpoint for a short while.
I think it may be worth mentioning that Czechoslovakia also had some ZX Spectrum scene, though I have no idea if there was anyone prolific exept František Fuka aka Fuxoft, who made probably something like two dozen games. Most were text adventures released only in Czech language, but there were other genres too, some mentioned at Moby Games. Of course videogames and computers in general were quite niche at that point, but in the context of the scene "our" games were known and significant.
There were some other games that were more known locally but were slightly more niche, like Quadrax, which was originally a ZX Spectrum game, and its tough puzzle gameplay created a small but dedicated group of fans, so unofficial sequels come out to this day. Perhaps Fish Fillets is better known, a similar genre and no doubt influenced by Quadrax.
Oh, and maybe Gates of Skeldal? A "blobber" style grid based RPG, inspired by games like Eye of the Beholder. Not nearly as mainstream as something like Mafia or H&D, but every fan of the genre knew it at one point.
The question was not just about local games though, and I wonder how many games that were seemingly quite popular here and possibly among our neighbors were not much known in the west.
Games that come to mind as possibly being in this category are Knights & Merchants, a sort of Settlers-like realtime strategy from Germany (which I know has some games mostly only known locally, the only one I can remember is the Clonk series), and Soldat, a side scrolling multiplayer action game. Both really good games, at least for the time. Maybe the Rage of Mages games?
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Comment on We can fix the future, Star Trek shows us how in ~humanities
V17 Link ParentThe difference is that I had reasonable expectations that I was going to enjoy Star Trek, whereas I find "internet leftist" discourse to usually be terrible, and it's not because I'm against...48 minutes is basically the length of an episode of Star Trek, so if you can do 650 of those you can probably do this too.
The difference is that I had reasonable expectations that I was going to enjoy Star Trek, whereas I find "internet leftist" discourse to usually be terrible, and it's not because I'm against leftist policies in general (I love our socialized healthcare and higher education) but precisely because "modern lefttists" tend to really suck at planning actual policies and thinking through their consequences. So my expectations here are very low, but due to the relation to Trek my interest is not entirely zero.
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Comment on We can fix the future, Star Trek shows us how in ~humanities
V17 LinkI'm not going to watch a 48 minute video on this, that's just too much. I have to say I'm a bit shocked by the topic though. I'm a big Star Trek fan, seen at least 650 episodes, most of them...I'm not going to watch a 48 minute video on this, that's just too much.
I have to say I'm a bit shocked by the topic though.
I'm a big Star Trek fan, seen at least 650 episodes, most of them twice, some more. And the optimism and utopia is one of my favorite things about it (though it certainly isn't the only part of "trek politics" and imo some western socialists willfully ignore other parts of the ideology of Trek, but that's for a different discussion).
That said, in my opinion one of the core features of Trek is that it's not "political" in the sense that it never explores actual policies. It does not explore how we're supposed to reach that utopia, how it works on the inside, how specifically is it governed, what is regulated and how etc. It says nothing about the things that are actually important!
I agree with its humanism and simple philosophical questions, but trying to follow it in terms of politics seems like a terrible idea because it usually doesn't actually provide any solutions.
Does the video disprove this in a reasonable way?
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Comment on Cuba’s Communist Party approves opening economy in unprecedented move in ~society
V17 Link ParentI guess I'm biased, living in a post-communist country, but in my opinion the reason is clearly "because a variation of this is what always happens". I agree. Now imagine what they could do if...I don't know why folks seem eager to blame communism
I guess I'm biased, living in a post-communist country, but in my opinion the reason is clearly "because a variation of this is what always happens".
Frankly, I consider the ecological and medical wins that Cuba has managed to be damn impressive, considering the situation they've been stuck in.
I agree. Now imagine what they could do if they didn't live under an evil, oppressive, corrupt and inefficient system.
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Comment on List of films adapted into novels in ~books
V17 LinkI remember randomly discovering and reading Total Recall maybe two decades ago, which is a particularly funny one as it's a book based on a film based on a short story. It wasn't good, but it was fun.I remember randomly discovering and reading Total Recall maybe two decades ago, which is a particularly funny one as it's a book based on a film based on a short story. It wasn't good, but it was fun.
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Comment on How funerals keep Africa poor in ~life
V17 Link ParentI strongly agree with this in general, but I'm not convinced that the kinship society angle makes more sense than for example the fact that the pan-african movement tried to adopt marxism as an...I strongly agree with this in general, but I'm not convinced that the kinship society angle makes more sense than for example the fact that the pan-african movement tried to adopt marxism as an antithesis to the ideology of the colonizers - something that arguably affects the economic development even more negatively, and as opposed to kinship vs poverty you can't really argue that the cause vs effect is the other way around, strong kinship existing as a way to deal with poverty.
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Comment on What is your eleventh favorite video game? in ~games
V17 LinkI don't think looking at Steam charts makes sense necessarily, it's dominated by multiplayer games that eat a lot of time, but sometimes were played because friends played them or they were more...I don't think looking at Steam charts makes sense necessarily, it's dominated by multiplayer games that eat a lot of time, but sometimes were played because friends played them or they were more addictive than good.
I needed to give it a bit of thought, but after a while the game that popped up as not necessarily top 11, but as a game that was very memorable, unique and gave me good memories and yet there's zero chance it's in top 10, is Borderlands 1.
I loved the atmosphere. Lonely space western with a combination of sillines, brutality and a feeling of genuinely being at the frontier, with scarce resources, crazy people, monsters and no help coming - despite all the ludonarrative dissonance stemming from how the actual game worked. The controls felt consolishly sluggish and the gunplay sucked, but the idea of an infinite number of guns was cool when seen for the first time, and the rare guns system was tuned so that finding a unique weapon really gave you something extra that lasted for quite some time.
Some parts of the game were boring or too repetitive, and of course the ending sucked, the story was not nearly as good as the setting, and like I said, the gunplay and controls - those are the reasons for never reaching top 10. But still, the art design was often really good, soundtrack was excellent, some of the places were cool as hell and the atmosphere and novelty were great, so was playing it with a friend.
Sadly the sequels, despite undoubtedly improving on some things, mostly threw out what I liked about the original: the lonely desolate space western atmosphere. And while they improved on the gunplay, it was still quite poor compared to most shooters with a small set of fully handmade guns, and the loot system was retuned so that rare weapons lasted shorter.
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Comment on Singer Oliver Tree dead at 32 following tragic helicopter crash in ~music
V17 Link ParentNot helicopters! Helicopters in general are afaik more dangerous, but especially private helicopters, where the pilots usually do not fly nearly much and as often. With helicopters that seems to...As a side note, it seems like this happens far too often with celebrities. I wonder if anyone has compared the death rate of celebrities in aircraft versus the general population. Air travel is by far the most safest way to travel for most people, but celebrities seem to die that way all the time.
Not helicopters! Helicopters in general are afaik more dangerous, but especially private helicopters, where the pilots usually do not fly nearly much and as often. With helicopters that seems to play a big role, more so than with planes.
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Comment on Does generative AI have a natural limit without a major innovation? in ~comp
V17 LinkThis is literally a billion dollar question. Nobody really knows. Imo the answers are Yes, though no idea how different the technology is going to be from the one we have now - it could be just...This is literally a billion dollar question. Nobody really knows. Imo the answers are
Is gen AI going to take us to general intelligence?
Yes, though no idea how different the technology is going to be from the one we have now - it could be just incremental development from LLMs gradually taking us someplace else, not necessarily a paradigm change. I think it can be as little as a decade away, depending on whether/when we manage to get to recursive improvements, using AI to improve itself.
(to be clear this worries me a lot, and I wish it didn't happen, but I think it will)
Will gen AI get to a place where it's "intelligence" and reasoning is actually better than the sum of Humanity?
"sum of Humanity" is very strong, I wouldn't bet on that specifically, though I guess it depends on definition. I think there's a big difference between a theoretical best possible sum of humanity, our potential, and a realistic sum of humanity, humanity that is uncooperative, tribalistic, irrational and full of conflicts. The latter, of course, seems more likely to be beaten.
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Comment on Does generative AI have a natural limit without a major innovation? in ~comp
V17 Link ParentAs a regular user since about ChatGPT release I don't think so. ChatGPT 4 was a huge step forward, and so was o1, the change to "reasoning" models that are now standard. Since then the gains have...As a regular user since about ChatGPT release I don't think so. ChatGPT 4 was a huge step forward, and so was o1, the change to "reasoning" models that are now standard. Since then the gains have been seemingly small, but also I haven't tested any of the frontier models that are hidden behind the higher tier subscriptions or in the case of Anthropic currently paused, and in the grand scheme of things the time since "reasoning" models proliferated has been incredibly short, we're just used to really fast development.
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Comment on "The therapeutic industry is platonic prostitution" in ~health.mental
V17 Link ParentJust want to say this is a very good observation. I suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome, which is a complicated illness that is not nearly about feeling tired, and aside from a couple big issues...(To be completely frank, I think small stresses like these are actually a lot worse for mental health than major trauma — or at least that seems to be the case for me. I would rather have significantly more trauma than I already do than, say, fret about my job security or develop a chronic pain condition. Sometimes to get an elephant out of the room, you need to stop staring at the elephant and assess the room.)
Just want to say this is a very good observation. I suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome, which is a complicated illness that is not nearly about feeling tired, and aside from a couple big issues it is composed of twenty little things that are not a big problem on their own, but it is painfully obvious how together they make dealing with everything in life so much harder, whether it's big traumatic events or small nonsense.
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Comment on "The therapeutic industry is platonic prostitution" in ~health.mental
V17 LinkReading that feels like clearly you're missing something about yourself, but I can't say I know what it is. Despite that I can't say I disagree with many things you say. I have successfully used...Reading that feels like clearly you're missing something about yourself, but I can't say I know what it is.
Despite that I can't say I disagree with many things you say.
I have successfully used therapy in the past more than once, and I think it's true that:
- It doesn't work every time/for every kind of problem/for every kind of person
- Some people tend to recommend it too much without understanding it or your problems, it's trendy to do so
- There's a ton of mediocre or bad therapists, and finding a good one that fits you is both hard and crucial (true for some countries even more than others as local regulations differ, seems to be worse in the US for example)
All of those apply even more if you don't know what exactly you want from therapy. However, not remembering important issues in your life and feeling deeply impersonal, despite the neccessity of some professional distancing, do not happen with a good therapist.
I think it's also trivally true that long-term stable tight-knit groups of people can help a lot with all kinds wellbeing, we're probably evolutionally programmed to need them, and that industrialization and urbanization made those much less common.
I think it's still possible to build and have something like that, it's just not easy or automatic. "Have you tried therapy?" may be common, but it's certainly not something every friend is going to tell you when talking about your problems. I think it may be hard to build a group like that when you're already going into it full of your own trouble. It's different when you're already part of a functional group and you talk about it gradually, vs. when you're in deep shit and need to try to find new friends who can handle it.
That said, although I empathize with you in some ways, clearly what you say either isn't the whole picture or doesn't generalize, because there are many people who are reasonably content without living in traditional tight-knit communities and while living objectivelly difficult lives. Without understating the importance of social enviromnent, I think there's clear evidence that contentment may not be too dependent on external things.
There are two reasons why mindfulness became popular. The first is somewhat shallow similarly to therapy, it's where the term "McMindfulness" comes from and can be discarded, but the second is that it truly is a useful tool when wielded right, because it allows you to gradually uncover and understand your subconscious thought processes better and even slowly rewire them. People often stop at the fact that it can give you some grounding, calm you down and lessen the intensity of emotions, but you can use it for much more than that.
Of course, it still has similar issues to therapy - it's much easier to do it and it works better when you're not already in deep shit and when you kind of know what you want out of it.
But I do believe that some sort of metacognition, learning to examine and change how your brain functions every day, by default, is necessary to get out of a mentally difficult long term situation.
I've seen people who had issues that seemed broadly similar in magnitude and complexity to yours (it is of course not exactly possible to judge that over text), who had success with ketamine assisted psychotherapy. Psychedelics in general seem to function as a shortcut for rewiring your brain into less "difficult" pathways, when used properly in a controlled environment, and ketamine especially seems to be relatively low-risk in terms of difficult experiences compared to say psilocibin. Also more accessible.
That is the one thought I have in terms of potential help. Despite everything that you say I don't think the solution must be external.
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Comment on Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5 in ~tech
V17 Link ParentWasn't there recently an article about AI companies starting to be profitable because of different agent pricing models for end customers (subscriptions) and enterprises (usage tokens only)? I'm...But instead - even though they aren’t profitable as afaik don’t have a clear plan - they deliver an even more expensive model…?
Wasn't there recently an article about AI companies starting to be profitable because of different agent pricing models for end customers (subscriptions) and enterprises (usage tokens only)? I'm an end user and don't have a Claude subscription, so I never checked.
Also I think there's a good chance that in the background they're doing both.
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Comment on Proton sponsors far-right French YouTuber, claims lack of awareness in response to backlash in ~society
V17 Link ParentLike many things on reddit, that change was quiet, randomly enforced and annoying as shit. I remember when isthereanydeal.com started to be very useful, it is made primarily by a dude from a...Like many things on reddit, that change was quiet, randomly enforced and annoying as shit. I remember when isthereanydeal.com started to be very useful, it is made primarily by a dude from a discussion board I frequent, and I recommended him to start a subreddit to build a community. It was banned in a few weeks for being ran by the author of the product, but there were already a couple company-run subreddits at the time and later in that year the rule was seemingly thrown out altogether.
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Comment on A man died and all I've got left of him is a porn CD in ~life
V17 Link ParentPár pařmenů had some funny lines, but it was unbearably long for what it was, for me at least. Nice flashback though. I was quite surprised to find that Slovaks have their own Pár pařmenů, except...I still have Pár pařmenů - Lord of the rings re-dubbed into czech... what? Satire? Comedy? Just a bunch of teenage dudes doing funny [questionable] jokes and references. They managed to redub the wholr zhing though and it kept pace throughout the movie!
Pár pařmenů had some funny lines, but it was unbearably long for what it was, for me at least. Nice flashback though. I was quite surprised to find that Slovaks have their own Pár pařmenů, except it's Harry Potter and it was in my opinion funnier, or at least more condensed. It's called Dano Drevo a turnaj Mekyho Žbirku, the whole thing is on Youtube and it seems to have a bit of a cult following.
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Comment on A man died and all I've got left of him is a porn CD in ~life
V17 Link ParentInteresting! I think the important difference is that gaming consoles were rare here, we all used home computers and went from ZX Spectrums and rarely Amigas straight to IBM PCs. So we were used...Interesting! I think the important difference is that gaming consoles were rare here, we all used home computers and went from ZX Spectrums and rarely Amigas straight to IBM PCs. So we were used to sharing games on floppy discs (and tapes before that, but I'm too young to experience that) and so I guess switching to CDs happened naturally.
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Comment on A man died and all I've got left of him is a porn CD in ~life
V17 Link ParentAhaha, when you write it like that... :D I can't be sure since it's been so many years, but I think it was a short time period before DVDs became common, when most people still used VHS tapes...But I don't think I knew anyone who burned a custom porn CD/DVD like it was a mixtape, lol...
Ahaha, when you write it like that... :D
I can't be sure since it's been so many years, but I think it was a short time period before DVDs became common, when most people still used VHS tapes (perhaps due to cost?), but CDs and CD burners were relatively common, so warez in general was downloaded by one person and then shared with others on CDs.
I remember watching The Matrix from a burned CD, for example.
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Comment on A man died and all I've got left of him is a porn CD in ~life
V17 (edited )Link ParentWe were poor and dial-up was quite expensive here. You would 100% get busted by your father for downloading such large files until you got some sort of broadband (and even then the monthly...We were poor and dial-up was quite expensive here. You would 100% get busted by your father for downloading such large files until you got some sort of broadband (and even then the monthly download limits were quite small for a couple years at the beginning), whereas CDs were affordable, so that's what we used for all warez - sharing music and especially videogames was common as well, since it was all financially completely out of reach for kids.
After broadband connection became ubiquitous, p2p boomed here as well. DC++ was quite popular, which was not centralized, you'd have to connect to various "hubs", and those at the time were often truly local - you'd have your town's hub full of warez, ran by a few students from a local high school.
And I'm saying this because specifically in Nick's town those students were later busted by the police, their PCs confiscated. No idea how that court case ended, but at the time it was a bit of a shock.
I can confirm that Moorhuhn was very popular in Czechia as well. Moorhuhn Winter Edition seemed like the peak of the franchise among non-gamers. I think the reason for the popularity was that you could easily compare hiscores, and it was simple but not trivial to master, so people in non-gaming environments like offices could easily compete with each other.
What I loved about it as a kid was that it had many (semi-)secrets and tricks you could do to increase your scores. For example you could shoot out all the tiny lights in a village in the background and if you did, a flock of small chickens worth the most points flew out from behind. You could shoot each for 25 points, but if you shot just in front of its head it would change the direction of its flight, and if you did it 3 times in a row it would die of fear I guess, which was worth 50 points.