huginn
@huginn@feddit.it
- Comment on What is a good eli5 analogy for GenAI not "knowing" what they say? 1 day ago:
I’m not positive I’m understanding your term naturalistic but no neuroscientist would say “we are just neurons”. Similarly no neuroscientist would deny that neurons are a fundamental part of consciousness and thought.
You have plenty of complex chemical processes interacting with your brain constantly - the neurons there aren’t all of who you are.
But without the neurons there: you aren’t anyone anymore. You cease to live. Destroying some of those neurons will change you fundamentally.
There’s no disputing this.
- Comment on Cubic millimetre of brain mapped in spectacular detail 6 days ago:
but it isn’t so clear cut
It’s demonstrably several orders of magnitude less complex. That’s mathematically clear cut.
Where is the cutoff on complexity required?
Philosophical question without an answer - We do know that it’s nowhere near the complexity of the brain.
both our brains and most complex AI are pretty much black boxes.
There are many things we cannot directly interrogate which we can still describe.
It’s impossible to say this system we know vanishingly little about is/isn’t dundamentally the same as this system we know vanishingly little about, just on a differentscale
It’s entirely possible to say that because we know the fundamental structures of each, even if we don’t map the entirety of eithers complexity. We know they’re fundamentally different - Their basic behaviors are fundamentally different. That’s what fundamentals are.
The first AGI will likely still have most people saying the same things about it, “it isn’t complex enough to approach a human brain.”
Speculation but entirely possible. We’re nowhere near that though. There’s nothing even approaching intelligence in LLMs. We’ve never seen emergent behavior or evidence of an id or ego. There’s no ongoing thought processes, no rationality, no ongoing thought processes - because that’s not what an LLM is. An LLM is a static model of raw text inputs and the statistical association of raw text inputs with raw text outputs. Any “knowledge” encoded in an LLM exists entirely in the encoding - It cannot and will not ever generate anything that wasn’t programmed into it.
It’s possible that an LLM might represent a single, tiny, module of AGI in the future. But that module will be no more the AGI itself than you are your cerebellum.
But it doesn’t need to equal a brain to still be intelligent.
First thing I think we agree on.
- Comment on Cubic millimetre of brain mapped in spectacular detail 6 days ago:
This is exactly what I’m talking about when I argue with people who insist that an LLM is super complex and totally is a thinking machine just like us.
It’s nowhere near the complexity of the human brain. We are several orders of magnitude more complex than the largest LLMs, and our complexity changes with each pulse of thought.
The brain is amazing. This is such a cool image.
- Comment on After announcing increased prices, Spotify to Pay Songwriters About $150 Million Less Next Year 1 week ago:
If you find a better place to discover music please lmk (no sarcasm)
Their discovery sucks lately and I hate it.
- Comment on TikTok sues to block prospective US app ban 1 week ago:
I think I was mistaken on that point. They’re not publicly doing that - just selling ads.
- Comment on TikTok sues to block prospective US app ban 1 week ago:
Lamont v. Postmaster General(1965)
Supreme Court ruled that publishing propaganda in America is free speech. You’re not allowed to interfere with an American’s access to propaganda
- Comment on TikTok sues to block prospective US app ban 1 week ago:
No way in hell they’d ever argue data privacy.
That’s only for apple to pretend to care about while selling your data to brokers.
- Comment on Glorious Victory 1 week ago:
They won’t be back - they’re not leaving.
But that phrase also seems like pretty normal rationalizing in an apology.
If I had to bet it was mostly steam issuing refunds and pulling the game in more than 100 countries that changed their mind.
- Comment on Glorious Victory 1 week ago:
They specifically said “not moving forward”. Seems pretty clear and concise. No PSN requirement.
- Comment on I'd rather be an unknown fish in my own pond 1 week ago:
The only time I feel like an anonymous fish is when I’m in a huge city - when there are so many people every individual becomes invisible. It’s great.
- Comment on Huawei phone has a pop-out camera lens, just like a point-and-shoot camera 1 week ago:
When Apple offers small phones nobody buys them (see iPhone 13 mini)
When Android companies offer thick phones they lose out to the latest thin Samsung.
The phone manufacturers aren’t idiots - they do a lot of research into what will sell the most phones.
Battery life and thick < thin.
- Comment on Whistleblower Josh Dean of Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems has died 1 week ago:
It’s also a really common result of COVID
- Comment on Whistleblower Josh Dean of Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems has died 1 week ago:
Other article specified pneumonia was post intubation
- Comment on Whistleblower Josh Dean of Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems has died 1 week ago:
He went to the hostpital for trouble breathing.
In the hospital he was intubated. He got pneumonia and then MRSA in his blood.
- Comment on Huawei phone has a pop-out camera lens, just like a point-and-shoot camera 2 weeks ago:
The size of the sensor limits the size of the lens as well as the way the optics are formed for the stack.
You will never get starry bokeh from a stack of lenses that are so tight.
There’s a reason that you’ll have filmmakers shooting in larger and larger formats - it changes image quality and the type of lenses you can use.
- Comment on Huawei phone has a pop-out camera lens, just like a point-and-shoot camera 2 weeks ago:
It’s not what actual consumers prefer though.
People can say that all they want but the marketing facts are that the thinner phones have consistently won out.
- Comment on Huawei phone has a pop-out camera lens, just like a point-and-shoot camera 2 weeks ago:
Congrats: you just proved you’re not the average consumer.
- Comment on Not only are they watching you, they're judging you. 2 weeks ago:
8 million is dramatically underselling how many people live in the metro area - that’s only the city limits.
- Comment on Apple must open iPadOS to sideloading within 6 months, EU says 2 weeks ago:
6 months of time is effectively 24 hours in a corporation that large.
- Comment on Google layoffs: Sundar Pichai-led company fires entire Python team for ‘cheaper labour’ 2 weeks ago:
It’s not Google technically: it’s alphabet. Which is why they phrased it like that.
- Comment on Google layoffs: Sundar Pichai-led company fires entire Python team for ‘cheaper labour’ 2 weeks ago:
You’re missing the whole “growth starts to plateau so management looks for ways to cut costs”
And
“Product comparatively stable so it gets hired out to contractors who inevitably fuck it up because they’re cheap and there was 0 knowledge transfer but it’s too late you laid off the entire original team”
- Comment on ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say 2 weeks ago:
Yeah seems like we’re just of different opinions there.
I firmly believe that American companies have excruciating detail on every single user, as well as most non-users. That’s how they can do things like predict pregnancy before the rest of the family has been told…
And that was Target more than a decade ago.
And I also think, with ties to the Chinese govt
It’s worth noting that ByteDance has a board that is 3/5ths American. The company has a communist committee like all Chinese megacorps.
China has blocked Youtube because it contained content around Free Tibet & Tienanmen Square. American Congress has decided to ban Tiktok because it might have content that China wants people to see (maybe). There is no credible reason why besides “No totally, trust me it’s a problem”.
- Comment on ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say 2 weeks ago:
Although, I do think them providing “better” service is subjective.
Sure, better is always subjective
But there’s a reason it’s way more popular for short form video than anyone else despite coming after them.
It’s basically vine, right? Vine had an “explore” page, right?
Sorta. It’s short form video but vine was locked to 7 seconds. TT is anything up to 3 minutes.
But beyond vine: the “for you page” of Tiktok is an algorithmic beast unlike anything else. It is miles better at training to your likes than anyone else manages.
It seems like their main money plan besides ads is shopping. That’s been their major push for a year or so now.
With social media companies and ad tech in general it’s safe to assume that they’re all merciless and cutthroat. They will do anything to profile you better, short of the existentially illegal shit (IE the company would cease to exist if they were caught. Think breaking into your house).
That’s why it’s always hilarious when people tout whatsapp being e2e encrypted
- Comment on Manor Lords is off to a flying start on Steam, just hours after its early access release 2 weeks ago:
Based on reviews I’ve read there are some issues but it’s a small dev team (1 man shop iirc) and it’s the best medieval city builder since Banished according to reviews.
- Comment on Texas Attracted California Techies. Now It’s Losing Thousands of Them. 2 weeks ago:
I was asked to relocate to Texas for a position when I was hired. I said no thanks and went to the NYC office instead.
I know I wasn’t the only one to do this.
They were trying to hire in Austin and instead only found NYC talent. Tough break for them.
- Comment on ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say 2 weeks ago:
My point here is less that TikTok is totally cool with privacy (they’re not)
It’s that tiktok is just as invasive as all other mainstream social media but they provide a better service than any other social media.
That’s it: They do more with the exact same.
You can drop instagram straight into that sentence and it reads the same. Except Facebook tracks you even when you don’t have an account.
As soon as a user starts using Instagram, the company begins building a profile about them, including their interests, political leanings, sexuality, and every other variable that could impact the selection of videos they see.
- Comment on ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say 2 weeks ago:
Are you talking about the App Privacy page specifically?
Because that page is about as useful as “known to the State of California to cause cancer”
Any social media with advertising will have similar alerts as to what it might be collecting.
How would it be collecting that you might ask?
It’s not on your phone: Your browser and your apps are sandboxed from each other. They cannot read from each other. It’s a constant pain in the ass for session persistence, you end up having to use wonky nonce patterns to maintain sessions from app to browser & vice versa.
They’re collecting it from advertising ids that are on your browser. It’s the Google Ad Api - That’s it.
Go ahead, look at Instagram or Youtube. They’ll have the same laundry list of “Browsing history, Physical Address” etc.
TikTok isn’t conjuring that from thin air - It’s just that it, like any other advertising app, is using the publicly available data about you to advertise.
Again a side by side:
Which one is TikTok and which one is Instagram? Image
TikTok isn’t doing anything that the other apps aren’t also doing - The other apps are just fucking awful at knowing what you want to see.
- Comment on ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say 2 weeks ago:
Let’s play a fun game:
Which of the following 2 screenshots is TikTok’s permissions?
Is it the one that can prevent the phone from sleeping and runs at startup? The one that sends sticky broadcasts?
Or is it the one that accesses the AdId Api?
I’ll give you a hint: I already told you which one it is.
- Comment on ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say 2 weeks ago:
The sheer amount of privileges TikTok requires on your device
The fuck are you on about?
Tiktok has a total of 0 granted permissions from me.
By default it has the same perms as other similar apps: Google Advertising ID.
That’s it.
You can’t opt out of that: it’s Google.
If you give it a fuck load of perms that’s your fault. By default it has less access than Discord.
You’re just parroting bullshit you’ve heard elsewhere.
I’m a professional Android developer: Tiktok isn’t requesting anything strange. It asks for camera, audio, and storage access when you record a video. That’s exactly what you’d need to ask for: nothing more or less.
- Comment on ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say 2 weeks ago:
Yeah I’ve deleted Facebook and affiliated products since 2017.
Google social never made sense to me but even just for content YouTube does a terrible job showing me what I want to see.
Tiktok had honed in on things I found funny or interesting within an hour of picking it up. And I’m not talking mainstream sports or TV type content, I’m talking niche sub communities and creators with less than 1k followers.
Idk how they’re doing it (besides the obvious data collection) but they’ve got a well tuned algo.