ArbitraryValue

@ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A Completely Natural Conversation in the NYC Reddit⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Nah if I’m going to shill for any Manhattan grocery store, it will be Fairway. It’s also really expensive but it feels like being in the sort of store you’d go to if you were rich, not like being ripped off. Their cheese counter has prices per 1/4 pound for some of the cheeses but then if you get some $15 per 1/4 pound cheese it will taste so good that you’ll think it was worth it. I haven’t been in years but I still long for that cheese.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A Completely Natural Conversation in the NYC Reddit⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t think that’s actually an unusual conversation for people who live in Manhattan to have. The comments about relative prices are accurate in my experience - I live on the same block as a Gristides and I still never shop there because of how expensive it is, even compared to Whole Foods. I get most of my groceries in Brooklyn on the weekends.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Good luck, mom⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  My mother loved Dr. Mario. She would sometimes encourage me to skip school (“Are you sure you feel alright? You look like you might be sick . Maybe you should stay home just in case.”) and we would play it until my ten-year-old self got bored first. However, she had zero interest in even trying any other games.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Deez peets⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  As if human legs aren’t the weird ones - they evolved from feet into hands and then into weird hands that we walk around on and call feet.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Fabulous through the ages⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I see a dimetrodon.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨"And my dick fucks your wife more than you do. What's your point?"⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Serious answer:

  That’s cool. What makes it special?

  Sometimes people talk about how expensive something they own is simply because they’re proud that they could afford it and even when they’re being tone-deaf, there’s no benefit to getting offended when you could just move the conversation along instead. (Although you might have to listen to them talk about watches.) If they were trying to brag, now they’re stuck trying to explain why the watch is actually worth what they paid and you’re the one judging them.

  Cars (and watches) aren’t so expensive that a middle-class person can’t plausibly already own the one he would buy even if money was unlimited. My former mother in law was bothered by the fact that I owned an old car, but when she would bring it up I would just say “I really like the 2008 model.” She couldn’t argue with that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I've started playing The Witcher. No, not the good one.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Heh, I loved the first one and then I tried the second one, hated how they changed the combat, and quit.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If AI was going to advance exponentially I'd of expected it to take off by now.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  An exponential function is a specific mathematical concept, like a circle or an even number. I’m not sure what you mean by “asymptote” here - an exponential function of the form y = x^k asymptotically approaches zero as x goes to negative infinity, but that doesn’t sound like what you’re referring to.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If AI was going to advance exponentially I'd of expected it to take off by now.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s exponential along its entire range, all the way back to negative infinity. It also is not an asymptotic function.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AI Training Slop⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Your facial data isn’t private information. You give it away every time you go outside.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I hope i don't get downvoted for this⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  There are a lot of cute people out there walking around with their feet visible, and if you stare at their feet while talking to them, they’ll just think you’re shy.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Silicon Valley cities hit with request for residents' emails to train AI⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s really clever. (And the people pissed off aren’t potential customers anyway.)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I do it around town all the time⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  The guy selling your the property is much less likely to rip you apart with his powerful fangs than the wolf would be in the analogous situation.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Life hack⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I saw a guy yell at the gate employee. The guy’s flight had arrived late and the employee was telling him that the door to his connecting flight was already closed so she could not let him board even though the plane hadn’t left yet. Eventually a manager showed up and got yelled at too and he opened the door and let the guy on the plane. So it can work.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Calm down⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Divide by zero error.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Good morning here is a terrible idea.⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  As if 21st century kids have the patience to learn to play a musical instrument voluntarily…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Plant shaming should be a thing⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  plant has mouth

  humans put words in the plant’s mouth

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Comfy cozy⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Obviously the average American isn’t directly participating in making the major decisions, but what the average American wants still generally has far more influence on the future of the world than what the average citizen of any other country wants.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Comfy cozy⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Well, I have the option of leaving. It’s not purely hypothetical for me because I’m not originally from the USA - I was just a kid when I came here, so it wasn’t my decision but it was a decision and I can see myself making a similar decision to go somewhere else. Maybe I will need to leave if things in the USA get a lot worse but for now living in a blue state still seems like a better option.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Comfy cozy⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Eh, at least the USA has agency - we get to choose which stupid direction to take half the world in, while most other countries are just along for the ride.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The fact that some dogs are used to the groomers and some aren't is wild.⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  What I don’t get are the dogs that are aggressive towards other dogs. It’s like having a person who feels an irresistible compulsion to attack strangers.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨There is significant evidence that Grok actually inserted information about “white genocide” in South Africa into prompts that didn't appear to be related to this topic.⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Are you aware that there is a significant population of white people in South Africa and a long history of racial conflict there between them and the black majority? The white minority ruled over and oppressed the black majority until the end of apartheid in the early nineties and the idea that the majority could now be persecuting the minority is not ridiculous per se the way that you imply it is, although the general consensus outside of the circles Trump listens to is that such persecution isn’t happening.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨There is significant evidence that Grok actually inserted information about “white genocide” in South Africa into prompts that didn't appear to be related to this topic.⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Ah yes, an “unauthorized modification”. It must have been the janitor pressing buttons accidentally while mopping the mainframe room.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Uncultured⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Their true purpose is sinister.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When We Are No Longer Needed: Emerging Elites, Tech Trillionaires and the Decline of Democracy⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  There is a very good reason for the super rich to support the rule of law: it protects their own wealth and power. Even if they may want to be aristocrats in a highly stratified society like, for example, 19th century Britain rather than a modern democratic welfare state, they don’t stand to benefit from the transition to a modern autocracy. 19th century Britain was very much a nation of laws where the government would protect the rights and property of the super rich whereas modern autocrats quickly co-opt them into personal lenders whose well-being is entirely at the mercy of the autocrat.

  Thus, while some super rich individuals may support populist autocracy either due to idiosyncratic personal beliefs or short-term political expediency, transitioning to it is not in the best interest of the super rich as a class. Rule of law isn’t the same thing as democracy but I don’t see a global movement towards rule of law without democracy - the two are in the present day apparently inextricable.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Whenever a beast is shown on screen⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t think they stomped loudly (except maybe when they ran) but I don’t see how they would be able to move through the undergrowth without snapping a lot of branches. (Or how they could move through dense forest at all.)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Whenever a beast is shown on screen⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I have a hard time imagining a stealthy t-rex. He’s going to be making some noise even if he tiptoes.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨‘The Worst Internet-Research Ethics Violation I Have Ever Seen’ | The most persuasive “people” on a popular subreddit turned out to be a front for a secret AI experiment.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  That was definitely inappropriate, but it would still have been inappropriate if it was made up by a human rather than by an AI. I think it’s useful to distribute between bad things that happen to be done by an AI and things that are bad specifically because they are done by an AI. How would you feel about an AI that didn’t lie or deceive but also didn’t announce itself as an AI?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨‘The Worst Internet-Research Ethics Violation I Have Ever Seen’ | The most persuasive “people” on a popular subreddit turned out to be a front for a secret AI experiment.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  ChangeMyView seems like the sort of topic where AI posts can actually be appropriate. If the goal is to hear arguments for an opposing point of view, the AI is contributing more than a human would if in fact the AI can generate more convincing arguments.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Let's do it⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Sorry, I’m not into gorillas.