deathbird
@deathbird@mander.xyz
- Comment on OpenAI needs to raise at least $207bn by 2030 so it can continue to lose money, HSBC estimates 5 minutes ago:
Being backed by real things isn’t always great for a currency. A lot of the value in the economy is from the transformative effects of labor, not just rare metals.
207 billion is insane, but if this money was being moved around by the mass of people or their legitimate representatives rather than shareholders and VC investors gambling on the next big thing, that would stand a chance of laying to rest this kind of reckless waste.
- Comment on OpenAI needs to raise at least $207bn by 2030 so it can continue to lose money, HSBC estimates 14 minutes ago:
Bitcoin particularly is a pyramid scheme, but peer-to-peer payments via block chains are useful anyway.
I got theories on what would make a better token than BTC, but key to any utility would be little or no deflationary pressure.
- Comment on OpenAI needs to raise at least $207bn by 2030 so it can continue to lose money, HSBC estimates 1 day ago:
I’m guessing by fiat you mean government issued currency that is not backed by precious metals but by faith and credit of the issuing government.
They call it fiat because a government just declares how much of it there is.
Blockchain tokens are also fiat in this sense, it’s just that the protocol makes the declaration instead of a government.
The other notable difference is that I can buy things with USD or other government currencies. I can’t with blockchain tokens. I mean technically I can but they have to be converted first and the popular ones are mostly depictionary so you’re deeply disincentivized from using them as currency.
The value of USD comes from people taking it in exchange for goods and services, and the US government taking it as payment for taxes. The value of a Bitcoin comes from people giving you USD for it under the assumption that they can sell it for more USD later. Like a stock, but without the incidental fractional ownership of a corporation with actual capital.
It’s a cool concept though, and peer-to-peer digital payment is a good thing, but it cannot function as a store of value without a connection to the material world.
- Comment on Lawmakers Want to Ban VPNs—And They Have No Idea What They're Doing 1 day ago:
It’s not the logs or the data which they would be monitoring with an encrypted no-logs VPN. What they would be monitoring, presumably, would be the fact that you are using a VPN at all. That’s also what they would be trying to block. They might try to block it by interfering with access to certain ports or blocking certain IP addresses, but there would be limits. Even China can’t stop all VPN traffic to get around its firewalls.
- Comment on Burger King now selling "Mystery" menus 5 days ago:
Ngl I kinda think it could be neat.
There’s a food app called Too Good To Go that lets you pick up mystery bags of leftover food from restaurants for cheap, and if you’re not too picky it’s actually kinda fun paying $5 for a random meal.
- Comment on Microsoft says Copilot will 'finish your code before you finish your coffee' adding fuel to the Windows 11 AI controversy that's still raging 6 days ago:
When do you reckon they could last do that?
- Comment on Sam Altman and husband reportedly working to genetically engineer babies from having hereditary disease 1 week ago:
Rich asshole says he’ll invent something good but very expensive and so only available to the elite. People ITT: “Good things are bad!”
Yeah so, good for Altman, best idea he’s had probably. Spend the money before the bubble pops my dude.
- Comment on Sam Altman and husband reportedly working to genetically engineer babies from having hereditary disease 1 week ago:
Oh come on.
This guy couldn’t even get a train to run on time.
- Comment on iRobot’s revenue has tanked and it’s almost out of cash | "Roomba customers are understandably concerned about the impact these current financial troubles might have on their home cleaning robots." 1 week ago:
Why proprietary cloud-based IoT isn’t sustainable.
- Comment on Surprise EU rollback of 'GDPR' digital-rights rules prompts alarm 2 weeks ago:
My grandpappy started this here AI company with a handful of GPUs he whittled himself, and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let big gobmint regulations cost us the family business!
- Comment on FBI Tries to Unmask Owner of Infamous Archive.is Site 2 weeks ago:
I suspect they’re going after .is because they are more resistant to taking things down. But that’s speculation on my part. And even if I’m right, what is it that they actually are trying to remove?
- Comment on Breakthrough gel can regenerate tooth enamel within weeks 3 weeks ago:
I definitely saw lots of ads on AliExpress for gels that would regrow your teeth before their algorithm realized I wasn’t there for that.
- Comment on FBI Tries to Unmask Owner of Infamous Archive.is Site 3 weeks ago:
No for real, why? Why are they persuing this?
- Comment on Death of beloved neighborhood cat sparks outrage against robotaxis in San Francisco 3 weeks ago:
It is a bit frustrating how these different technologies are bunched under the same inaccurate moniker.
- Comment on Python Foundation rejects $1.5M grant with no-DEI strings 4 weeks ago:
If the article is to be believed there’s also a provision there saying that they cannot engage in any programs that advance or promote DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). That part’s new, and it’s honestly not well defined. What is DEI? Racial quotas and discrimination? Cultural acknowledgements? Anti-discrimination? All these things have been called DEI. Some of these things have been called the other. Without clarity, the likeliest definition is “whatever annoys the administration”.
- Comment on Python Foundation rejects $1.5M grant with no-DEI strings 4 weeks ago:
This exemplifies why the provision is so bad. DEI is a term of art, not a specific thing. Everyone is proud of PyPI for standing up for whatever they think DEI means, but they don’t define or explain it so it doesn’t actually mean anything. Or rather it can mean anything at all. That’s the danger to the organization.
- Comment on Python Foundation rejects $1.5M grant with no-DEI strings 4 weeks ago:
The way it’s written it’s impossible to know if you’re complying or not. They might have just said “don’t be woke” or “don’t piss us off”.
- Comment on Python Foundation rejects $1.5M grant with no-DEI strings 4 weeks ago:
An administration that uses LLMs and Ctrl + F and vibes for policy decisions that don’t sound good even before you realize they don’t make sense, and ignores courts and due process… it’s a hazard to touch.
- Comment on Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales isn’t worried about Elon Musk’s Grokipedia: ‘Not optimistic he will create anything very useful right now’ 4 weeks ago:
Yet another horrible thing that apparently exists. Boooo.
- Comment on Python Foundation rejects $1.5M grant with no-DEI strings 4 weeks ago:
Especially in light of how incompetent this administration is, and how bad it is at clearly communicating ideas, they made the only sensible choice. Maybe there’s more details in the grant terms itself, but from the article it looks like it just says “don’t advance or promote DEI”, and without explicitly defining what they mean by that they are setting up a trap.
PyPI is smart not to take the money.
- Comment on Another WSJ banger about why the poors aren't doing more 5 weeks ago:
The milestones have become outcroppings on a sheer rock face. Gripping like hell to one while searching for the next one. Stretching, grasping, searching, missing.
No rope.
- Comment on Ruby Central tries to make peace after 'hostile takeover' 5 weeks ago:
Yes, self-organization without the distorting effects of corporations, massive grants, or quasi-celebrities is best for most groups.
- Comment on A young woman was sexually assaulted while out DoorDashing. Two days after she reported the assault to DoorDash, they deactivated her account and she can't access the money she's owed. 5 weeks ago:
Technically I don’t even care that she filmed him within his home, although I’m sure he would and it’s not great behavior. The problem I have is that she posted it online. I feel like sometimes people forget that taking a picture or recording a video is one thing, and posting it online is a completely different thing, but because we see all these pictures and videos from other people online we forget that they made two separate choices in order for us to do so: they recorded the thing and they shared it with us.
- Comment on A young woman was sexually assaulted while out DoorDashing. Two days after she reported the assault to DoorDash, they deactivated her account and she can't access the money she's owed. 5 weeks ago:
She was told to leave the bag on the porch.
- Comment on A young woman was sexually assaulted while out DoorDashing. Two days after she reported the assault to DoorDash, they deactivated her account and she can't access the money she's owed. 1 month ago:
Okay but also don’t record people without their consent and post it publicly. Idk why she was suspended but that would be reason enough.
If you think it would be evidence of a crime and you felt like you needed it to pursue charges I could understand saving a photo or video privately to later turn over, but suppose dude got blitzed, ordered DoorDash, and passed out before it arrived, and you’re gonna share that with 8 billion of your closest friends? Gtfo
- Comment on Two New Windows Zero-Days Exploited in the Wild — One Affects Every Version Ever Shipped 1 month ago:
I expect it’s stuff like ATMs, Coinstar machines. Things that may need to phone home regularly but don’t need to sit online constantly.
- Comment on The Ensh*ttification of Everything with Cory Doctorow [1:49:08] 1 month ago:
Adam Conover has the smarm of Alton Brown with the deep knowledge of James Corden. Truly the Joe Rogan of the Left. But he has had some good guests on his show lately.
- Comment on 1 month ago:
Congratulations, you’re not an asshole. 🙃
Also apparently it’s already been forked 🎉
- Comment on Recommendations for the current sale 1 month ago:
Valid list.
- Comment on Crunchyroll Faces Cancelation: Why Anime Fans Are Choosing Piracy After Latest Update 1 month ago:
What do you think should be done to you?