wervenyt's recent activity

  1. Comment on Google backpedals on new Android developer registration rules in ~tech

    wervenyt
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    Google has still yet to prove that they're capable of keeping scams off their own services, and this announcement is so vague that it may well just be "use adb" in the end. If you can't install...

    Google has still yet to prove that they're capable of keeping scams off their own services, and this announcement is so vague that it may well just be "use adb" in the end.

    If you can't install what you want, when you want, you don't own the device. If you need one, then it owns you.

    17 votes

  2. Comment on An AI-generated country song is topping a Billboard chart, and that should infuriate us all in ~music

    wervenyt
    Link Parent
    Really, my initial point was that appealing to textbooks is unconvincing. I've outlined my reasoning there. When it comes to the intrinsic value of human construction heavily edited by...

    Really, my initial point was that appealing to textbooks is unconvincing. I've outlined my reasoning there. When it comes to the intrinsic value of human construction heavily edited by profitseeking conglomerates as opposed to automated construction heavily edited by profitseeking conglomerates, I'm just not convinced. Beyond that, I don't disagree that it would be bad for a bad textbook generator to replace the currently mediocre textbook industry. I just think that's a matter of time, given how LLMs at their theoretical best can do summary quite well, rather than something intrinsic to the humanity of the drafters of such texts.

    Aside: as mentioned in my other reply, I don't think all textbooks are useless, topic-focused books can be excellent references and primers can be excellent introductions, my gripe is with specifically those Sociology 101 type, overly broad and pseudoobjective, examples.

  3. Comment on An AI-generated country song is topping a Billboard chart, and that should infuriate us all in ~music

    wervenyt
    Link Parent
    Insofar as a person's Broca's area matched words to the ideas drawn from source materials, yes, they're written. Personally, the claim that neurons make the difference in pattern matching has yet...

    Insofar as a person's Broca's area matched words to the ideas drawn from source materials, yes, they're written. Personally, the claim that neurons make the difference in pattern matching has yet to rise to proven.

    I'm being a little overbroad here, I'll admit, and am thinking of the intro textbooks that pretend to articulate a broad number of topics within a subject as a survey, not the more traditional textbooks which are effectively original works focused on pedagogy.

  4. Comment on An AI-generated country song is topping a Billboard chart, and that should infuriate us all in ~music

    wervenyt
    Link Parent
    I'm not sure I've ever learned something from a textbook that wasn't better delivered in lecture, seminar, or primary texts, so the distaste was intended. But that's definitely subjective. To the...

    I'm not sure I've ever learned something from a textbook that wasn't better delivered in lecture, seminar, or primary texts, so the distaste was intended. But that's definitely subjective.

    To the point at hand: so the value is in curation, then? If it's A-alright for a publisher to shop around for an expert willing to write a textbook that fits their series schema, who then borrows liberally from secondary sources (nonderogatory, but not original) to fill the 400 large format pages of the manuscript, which is chopped and revised by the publisher comprehensively, wouldn't it stand that if the AI bots were better at curating fact and providing citation, then there's no problem with it? Is it literally that a person arranged the words? Because I'm not sure that's the value, real or economic.

  5. Comment on An AI-generated country song is topping a Billboard chart, and that should infuriate us all in ~music

    wervenyt
    Link Parent
    Textbooks strike me as literally publishers paying a clerk to strip the identity from their source texts in order to package and sell them as an all-in-one, in a way morally similar to these...

    Textbooks strike me as literally publishers paying a clerk to strip the identity from their source texts in order to package and sell them as an all-in-one, in a way morally similar to these language models. Sure, they give citations, but...economically? What's the distinction?

  6. Comment on Libertarianism is dead in ~humanities

    wervenyt
    Link Parent
    I feel that. We can't let bitterness be our guide, though. It'll chain us to a radiator and break our knees if we let it.

    I feel that. We can't let bitterness be our guide, though. It'll chain us to a radiator and break our knees if we let it.

    1 vote

  7. Comment on Libertarianism is dead in ~humanities

    wervenyt
    Link Parent
    That attitude will not serve you to keep asking questions, you know.

    That attitude will not serve you to keep asking questions, you know.

    3 votes

  8. Comment on Libertarianism is dead in ~humanities

    wervenyt
    Link Parent
    I see! Just wanted to clarify, thanks.

    I see! Just wanted to clarify, thanks.

    1 vote

  9. Comment on Libertarianism is dead in ~humanities

    wervenyt
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Fascism, these days, is more of a phenomenon than an ideology. When nationalism and violence is fetishized in majority demographics to distract an electorate from corruption and institutional...

    Fascism, these days, is more of a phenomenon than an ideology. When nationalism and violence is fetishized in majority demographics to distract an electorate from corruption and institutional decay, that's most of fascism. When political discourse is entirely aestheticized, such that what individuals enjoy is treated as identical to political good, and it becomes acceptable to demand excision of the unpleasant on no further grounds.

    What do you think?

    6 votes

  10. Comment on Libertarianism is dead in ~humanities

    wervenyt
    Link Parent
    To expand on your point: Liberalism is rooted in a secular ideal, which in our democracies get reduced to materialism, as every other teleology is too nuanced or personal for election. The 'common...

    To expand on your point: Liberalism is rooted in a secular ideal, which in our democracies get reduced to materialism, as every other teleology is too nuanced or personal for election. The 'common good' then is constantly being revised in ways that comport to demands of economy. Since it's the sole anchor, revision of the economic paradigm is slow and very susceptible to bias, not just from power holders but the whole of society, as the models drift out-of-sync from the physical reality they claim to mirror. In terms I don't love: liberalism, in the long term, always trends toward reaction.

    Aside: I'm not sure you're using personal property in a way that's very common? If you maintain the personal/private distinction, (left/center) anarchists are entirely compatible with socialist coalition, and if you conflate them, then a whole lot of socialists believe in many shades of personal property ownership.

    3 votes

  11. Comment on Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani’s supposedly radical policies as ‘normal’ in ~society

    wervenyt
    Link Parent
    No, yup! I just wanted to make it clear to anyone who might have taken my nauseatingly expounded points in the wrong way. A huge issue in our political discourse is simple cynicism. It's...

    No, yup! I just wanted to make it clear to anyone who might have taken my nauseatingly expounded points in the wrong way.

    A huge issue in our political discourse is simple cynicism. It's reasonable, but, obviously, not productive. Even if it's "just" NYC, model implementations of novel solutions are going to be a huge part of dispelling our collective malaise.

    1 vote

  12. Comment on Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani’s supposedly radical policies as ‘normal’ in ~society

    wervenyt
    Link Parent
    Yeah, I'm definitely not hoping for their failure here. Municipal infrastructure is deeply undervalued in american politics outside of the anticar contingent.

    Yeah, I'm definitely not hoping for their failure here. Municipal infrastructure is deeply undervalued in american politics outside of the anticar contingent.

    1 vote

  13. Comment on Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani’s supposedly radical policies as ‘normal’ in ~society

    wervenyt
    Link Parent
    So, I do think there's a meaningful distinction between government-run grocery stores and healthcare. That doesn't mean that the potential harms of a municipal grocer match those of a national...

    So, I do think there's a meaningful distinction between government-run grocery stores and healthcare. That doesn't mean that the potential harms of a municipal grocer match those of a national chain, but just for discussion's sake:

    First off, grocery stores are not providing government-approved and regulated services. Sure, the FDA and USDA mandate a minimum of safety and product categorization, but, in food, these are watchdog agencies which greenlight based on hygiene and label accuracy, as contrasted to how medical practices are affirmatively approved or else delegitimized. This kind of regulation is very practical for science-based methodologies, but from the perspective of the medical practitioner itself, removes almost all means of distinguishing their service from competitors. A doctor can be good enough at their job, or not. Some may excel, but for the most part, methods either work or won't. Aesthetic concerns and intangible aspects of care that move the needle are important, but supply is so constrained, and cost is so high, that for 80+% of patients, all that matters is them getting seen by a doctor.

    Insurance is similarly regulated, and as such the competing businesses are more-or-less all selling an interchangeable set of coverage packages, and, in order to compete with one another, overpromise, and underdeliver as a matter of course. Not-for-profit entities can survive, apparently, but they're not the ones able to court employer contracts.

    As such, a public option in the insurance realm more or less can only operate on a lower overhead than any private one, even one owned by the insured. They don't need advertising, they don't need to roll their own payroll, may not even need a new office building depending on execution.

    Grocery stores, on the other hand, are selling products based primarily on customer demand, everything from food staples to luxury produce to bottom-dollar shelf stable foods to cleaning supplies to clothing to medications to vices. Bodegas, not quite the range of products offered by a Walmart, but the principle is the same. This means that a shoestring-budgeted government-backed grocer could easily pop up and provide the absolute staples, none of the other products, and through competitors losing the main draw to their location, outcompete. At which point, a huge amount of consumer choice is excised from that market sector, and minority consumers (e.g. halal or vegan adherents) may be effected.

    On a state or national scale, this becomes hugely problematic. Eminent domain would allow for a nationally-backed entity to literally just seize locations, and those buying preferences set by bureaucrats/the vast majority of demand would have huge impacts on the entire economy.

    As always, a decently run institution offering staples at-cost should only act as a correction to market failures, as you point out. The issue is, quite simply, that requires a kind of cautious approach to execution that almost never happens on electoral schedules. It also leaves open quite the opportunity for graft going forward.

    3 votes

  14. Comment on Is vaping less harmful than smoking, and does it help people quit? in ~health

    wervenyt
    Link Parent
    If you don't mind another dry herb vaper's opinions, these are the core points I have picked up over the years: on-demand is a must, unless you're looking for that "accidentally waste half a...

    If you don't mind another dry herb vaper's opinions, these are the core points I have picked up over the years:

    • on-demand is a must, unless you're looking for that "accidentally waste half a joint" vibe

    • as such, convection is preferable, as heating more than a tiny quantity through conduction is impractical on-demand

    • glass/ceramic or metal airways only (some woods are fine), anything else will ruin the taste of the weed, and possibly poison you

    • replaceable batteries and/or external heat source is huge for a portable (charging sucks, and heat will degrade lipo cells)

    • how the vape bowl loads is a matter of personal preference, since whether you hate filling capsules or inhaling tiny fragments of bud when you load a stem via suction, but I don't really mind loading either my pax or my vapcap, though the pax is definitely fiddly

    • bowl/chamber size, on the other hand, is a huge consideration! Most on-demand/convection vaporizers have small bowls, and that can be disconcerting, but properly used, they're extracting 90+% of the cannabinoids without combusting, and combustion destroys most cannabinoids. So a 0.1 g bowl in a convection vape will hit like you smoked half a gram, minus the effects of carbon monoxide. On the other hand, a .3 g convection bowl will deliver more than 1 FGCSE (full-gram cannabis smoke equivalent), in under a minute (too much, if you ask me)

    I've owned a couple dynavap models, a pax, a very out of production boutique vape called the Milaana, which was basically a wooden box with a slot for a glass stem and one for an 18650 wired to a mechanical switch and a giant resistive heater wrapped in glass, a stickybrick, and a stempod.

    I would highly endorse anything like the stempod/milaana, where you can push 50+W of power instantaneously and your breath is the only thing that brings the heat to the flower. However, they suck for sharing. A new user will definitely either combust or get nothing. Hypothetically, with a great vape mod, you could set a temperature for the coil and just pass it around, but at that point you don't want a stranger's advice.

    The dynavap proposition is the one I always come back to. Some of them have notches that allow for the user to downsize their bowl, bringing it from 0.10-0.12 to 0.7-0.8 or 0.3-0.5 g (ranges based on flower density), and some of the stems fit onto water pipes, so as long as you're happy to heat the bowl for a guest, it can be a nearly identical experience to a normal bong rip. It's also a good size for use on the go, and after about three heating cycles (torch-hit-cool) you've extracted most of the substance, so it can be a true one-hitter replacement as much as a bong stem.

    2 votes

  15. Comment on Study suggests that the Universe's expansion 'is now slowing, not speeding up' in ~space

    wervenyt
    Link Parent
    Appreciate the background!

    Appreciate the background!

    2 votes

  16. Comment on Study suggests that the Universe's expansion 'is now slowing, not speeding up' in ~space

    wervenyt
    Link
    I'm no physicist, but I am glad about this update to the models. The idea that spacetime was apparently constantly accelerating in volume is the kind of notion that undermines cosmic meaning...

    I'm no physicist, but I am glad about this update to the models. The idea that spacetime was apparently constantly accelerating in volume is the kind of notion that undermines cosmic meaning comparable to god's non/existence, if you ask me. It's bad enough we (existences) will all eventually freeze out to stasis, and the idea of crunch/bang cycles is daunting, but that's far more compatible with our minimally-intuitive notions of energy and time than some kind of self-consumption that also approaches infinity.

    9 votes

  17. Comment on Is vaping less harmful than smoking, and does it help people quit? in ~health

    wervenyt
    Link Parent
    Exactly. The hobbyist vape scene has tons of guidelines and warnings taken from scientific research and is (at least used to be) proactive in boycotting bad products and informing less-interested...

    Exactly. The hobbyist vape scene has tons of guidelines and warnings taken from scientific research and is (at least used to be) proactive in boycotting bad products and informing less-interested ecig users. When diacetyl was found in ejuice, they went lengths to communicate how unacceptable that was. When polyethylene glycol was being used as a substitute for propylene glycol, same thing. When dry-burning coils was found to produce dangerous metal vapors, the recommendations shifted away from that.

    But no. None of this was done within the establishment of medicine, none of this proactively prevented people from potential harms, so it's all bunk, not worth crediting or even considering. Instead, in north america at least, the response has been to team up with the tobacco companies to all-but ban trustworthy manufacturers and distributors from the marketplace. Now half the college kids I see are using some trash disposable that's probably shooting cobalt and antimony down their throats hourly.

    7 votes

  18. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    wervenyt
    Link Parent
    I took those elements as much more a comment on the role of author in the world, someone who butchering and rendering real humanity into pastiche or pablum. I mean, I loved that section with the...

    I took those elements as much more a comment on the role of author in the world, someone who butchering and rendering real humanity into pastiche or pablum. I mean, I loved that section with the cat, but we cannot know the mind of a girl like that without having been that girl. We cannot even know the mind of the landlord. But we fool ourselves as readers that this guy sitting at a desk has insight, and in the end he's left unawares as to what's really going on.

    I wasn't just BSing, though. That's an interpretation that's new to me, one that's totally valid, and I'm going to be considering it whenever I reread the book next. I'm sorry to hear you hated it. Good news! This time, contra our Pynchon exchange, the author's other books don't even come close to that kind of metafiction.

  19. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

  20. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    wervenyt
    Link Parent
    Oh! Well. I don't think he made it up. It's definitely delusional, but I got the impression that the doctor is actively trying to record things, and that the parts that happened away from the town...

    Oh! Well. I don't think he made it up. It's definitely delusional, but I got the impression that the doctor is actively trying to record things, and that the parts that happened away from the town with Irimias were not part of his narrative. I understand, though, if that's the reading that makes more sense to you.