antlion
@antlion@lemmy.dbzer0.com
- Comment on At any moment you could have a moment that you think about for the rest of your life. 1 week ago:
Likewise any time you think about something from the past, it could be the last time you ever think of it.
- Comment on Do the needs of the many outweigh the whims of the few? 1 week ago:
But they could afford to buy beef from better sources. They could afford for their employees to have a career instead of a job. They could do that and still cost less than McDonalds. Yeah they’re alright compared to the big corporations but they are not improving the world - they are extracting profit from it.
- Comment on Why Americans Can’t Buy the World’s Best Electric Car 2 weeks ago:
Rivian’s financial statements provide insight into its per-unit losses, though calculating an exact figure requires analyzing multiple variables. The company’s cost of goods sold (COGS), which includes direct production expenses, regularly exceeds revenue, leading to negative gross margins. According to its latest SEC filings, Rivian reported a gross loss per vehicle of approximately $39,000 in 2023, though this figure fluctuates based on production volume and operational efficiencies.
Not exactly a number they put in a press release, but as a publicly traded company it is published quarterly.
- Comment on Why Americans Can’t Buy the World’s Best Electric Car 2 weeks ago:
Rivian is losing about $30k per vehicle, but with much lower production numbers.
- Comment on Holy sh*t: Jack Dorsey just Announced Bitchat(A secure, decentralized, peer-to-peer messaging app for iOS and macOS that works over Bluetooth mesh networks) Licensed Under Public Domain. 2 weeks ago:
Airdrop is two people at a time. Say we had a group of 8 people I don’t want to do 7 air drop exchanges to get all the photos.
- Comment on Holy sh*t: Jack Dorsey just Announced Bitchat(A secure, decentralized, peer-to-peer messaging app for iOS and macOS that works over Bluetooth mesh networks) Licensed Under Public Domain. 2 weeks ago:
I wanted something like this for weddings or group camping type events for sharing photos to multiple others at once.
- Comment on Does seeing daylight create an illusion of being a little more warm? 5 weeks ago:
And when it’s sunny on the snow it’s about 4-5 C warmer.
- Comment on Why do some people hate drinking water? 5 weeks ago:
Sorry to hear about your current condition. I have recently stopped drinking coffee, and cut down on the beer, so I’ve been conscious to replace that fluid.
As gout symptoms are very diet related, if I was in your position I would do some sort of fast or juice cleanse for a week or two. Not only does it reset your body, but it also resets your taste buds, making it easier to maintain a healthful diet.
Keep in mind you can also get a lot of water from foods. Not just salad but smoothies or yogurt bowl or steamed vegetables.
- Comment on Why do some people hate drinking water? 1 month ago:
I don’t like drinking water because the fact is you don’t need that much of it. When I was hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, walking 12 hours per day, I drank at most 3 liters, plus a pint for breakfast and a pint for dinner. So that’s 1 gallon total for extreme physical activity. In such a day I would pee maybe 3 or 4 times.
In normal life in an arid climate my water needs are about 1-1.5 liters. But this can entirely be covered by coffee or tea, a fizzy water, and maybe a beer or bedtime tea.
The only reason for the hydration obsession is excessive salt intake. Because salt and water are always a balancing act, excessive hydration will likely lead to salty snack cravings. If it didn’t we’d have a lot more cases of hyponatremia. The only serious side effect of being in the yellow pee club is kidney stones, but those are better prevented by lemon water and avoidance of spinach than excess hydration. I have no complaints of constipation or dry skin.
Drink when you’re thirsty. Eat when you’re hungry. Rest when you’re tired.
- Comment on Anker is recalling over 1.1 million power banks due to fire and burn risks 1 month ago:
It’s been super reliable. Perhaps at 10 years old they’re extrapolating the failure curve and worried about many more fires.
- Comment on Anker is recalling over 1.1 million power banks due to fire and burn risks 1 month ago:
Different use case. I used this one for hiking the pacific crest trail in 2016, and a few other hikes since. Amazingly, the power banks haven’t even gotten much lighter than this model, and those that are lighter are less reliable. It would be nice is NiMH could match the energy density of lithium, but it’s hard to compete with the lightest solid element.
- Comment on Working on studying Speleomantes italicus from its only known population in Germany 2 months ago:
First I did a habitat analysis, which was tricky because they said north facing slopes, but what they really meant was topographically shaded. Then we were surveying to find them inside of the search areas (and outside as well), in order to protect them under the endangered species act. They were always buried under rocks. Usually they were just photographed, documented, and then placed back under the rocks.
- Comment on Working on studying Speleomantes italicus from its only known population in Germany 2 months ago:
I spent some time in 2009-2010 working around a very close relative: Hydromantes brunus
- Comment on After they kill Wikipedia history will be AI hallucinations. 2 months ago:
I think you misunderstood. The terminally ill cancer patient is getting urine salts from cancer free individuals. Nowhere on Wikipedia did anybody claim a benefit from the drinking of one’s own urine. Leave that to the alchemists.
- Comment on After they kill Wikipedia history will be AI hallucinations. 2 months ago:
There’s not really any conspiracy except one. Every billionaire and corporation seeks to profit above all other ethical considerations. I don’t know who’s correct regarding Burzynski, and I hope I’m never in a place to decide. But I don’t think it’s difficult for billionaires to brigade and rewrite any narrative that may profit them.
Wikipedia is great, but I don’t think it should be viewed as trustworthy or definitive as a source. In the same way billionaire-owned news corporations cannot be trusted to tell the whole truth. Wikipedia is a great place to start, but we could all use more practice following to source material, and to some extent I think Wikipedia reduces critical thinking.
- Comment on After they kill Wikipedia history will be AI hallucinations. 2 months ago:
But the evidence says nothing of the construction. The only thing carbon remnants indicate is that the pyramids are at least that old. That they were used and inhabited that long ago. If you believe they were constructed at the time, I would ask what evidence is there? Scant radiocarbon dating is not a definitive story to believe. Lichen in the granite quarry? Remnants along the road? A bakery and some mortar dust does not explain or date the construction of mountains of granite with no mortar between joints.
- Comment on After they kill Wikipedia history will be AI hallucinations. 2 months ago:
The pyramids in Egypt were dated by radiocarbon dating, but those dates only indicated that the pyramid structure was inhabited or used at that time - it says nothing of the construction date. Yet the pyramids have dates with no cited references on Wikipedia. What is so wrong with saying that we don’t know with any certainty how, when, or why the structures were built?
- Comment on After they kill Wikipedia history will be AI hallucinations. 2 months ago:
I don’t believe anything because I haven’t had terminal cancer or the treatment. I’m guessing you haven’t either. It’s not about choosing a side. It’s an illustration of corporate interests controlling the narrative from scientific journals, to media, social media, and Wikipedia. It would be naive to believe they can’t or don’t edit Wikipedia.
- Comment on After they kill Wikipedia history will be AI hallucinations. 2 months ago:
One example:
pierrekorymedicalmusings.com/…/the-fdas-relentles…
From what I can gather this urine salt treatment has actually cured many terminally ill cancer patients. Medical journals refuse to acknowledge it because he didn’t give a placebo to patients (which would be unethical because they would die). Because the treatment is based on multiple compounds in the salt, it cannot be isolated, patented, and profited from. So it must be discredited and buried. Plus if it really works as well as it seems to, it would warrant further research funding into drinking urine, and possibly home remedies. Nip it in the bud.
- Comment on After they kill Wikipedia history will be AI hallucinations. 2 months ago:
It’s already happened, and is still happening. So is it dead? Or maybe it’s been a half-aware zombie all along.
- Comment on After they kill Wikipedia history will be AI hallucinations. 2 months ago:
They don’t need or want to kill Wikipedia. They just need to heavily edit it. Kind of a dream come true for those pushing a narrative.
- Comment on Python Performance: Why 'if not list' is 2x Faster Than Using len() 3 months ago:
But the first example does the same thing for an empty list. I guess the lesson is that if you’re measuring the speed of arbitrary stylistic syntax choices, maybe Python isn’t the best language for you.
- Comment on Python Performance: Why 'if not list' is 2x Faster Than Using len() 3 months ago:
Could also compare against:
if not len(mylist)That way this version isn’t evaluating two functions. The bool evaluation of an integer is false when zero, otherwise true.
- Comment on The weather is definitely changing. 4 months ago:
The weather is always changing. You mean to say the climate is changing. It’s a very important distinction. And I’m not refuting what you said but I’m having a pleasant and normal feeling spring at my location.
- Comment on What's easier to shoot, a bow or a firearm? 4 months ago:
As a former 8 year old Cub Scout, bows are incredibly hard to use. I was an excellent marksman with a rifle.
- Comment on Sergey Brin says AGI is within reach if Googlers work 60-hour weeks 4 months ago:
Free will comes from the “heart”, not the brain. It doesn’t fit in the materialistic view of science. Our bodies are quantum electric fields, and those fields interact. In my own experience I would say emotions or intentions don’t translate fully from video, but in person I can feel them.
Maybe if they add a quantum processor to the computer it can gain free will (disguised as random chance). But I think we have more to learn about the nature of consciousness before AGI is anywhere close to having free will.
And why is free will necessary for intelligence? New discoveries require curiosity. Scientific breakthroughs require new connections and discernment of truth. If the computer is doing research, it needs to decide when to stop looking, who to ask questions to, how far to dig, designing further experiments. Without free will you just have a big fancy encyclopedia.
The dangerous side of free will is manipulation, subversion, exploitation, deception, etc. So yeah I hope they don’t figure it out.
- Comment on Sergey Brin says AGI is within reach if Googlers work 60-hour weeks 4 months ago:
Free will is what sets us apart from most other animals. I would assert that many humans rarely exert their own free will. Having an interest and pursuing it is an exercise of free will. Some people are too busy surviving to do this. Curiosity and exploration are exercises of free will. Another would be helping strangers or animals - a choice bringing the individual no advantage.
You argue that wants, preferences, and beliefs are not chosen. Where do they come from? Why does one individual have those interests and not another? It doesn’t come from your parents or genes. It doesn’t come from your environment.
It’s entirely possible to choose your interests and beliefs. People change religions and careers. People abandon hobbies and find new ones. People give away their fortunes to charity.
- Comment on Sergey Brin says AGI is within reach if Googlers work 60-hour weeks 4 months ago:
AGI requires a few key components that no LLM is even close to.
First, it must be able to discern truth based on evidence, rather than guessing it. Can’t just throw more data at it, especially with the garbage being pumped out these days.
Second, it must ask questions in the pursuit of knowledge, especially when truth is ambiguous. Once that knowledge is found, it needs to improve itself, pruning outdated and erroneous information.
Third, it would need free will. And that’s the one it will never get, I hope. Free will is a necessary part of intelligent consciousness. I know there are some who argue it does not exist but they’re wrong.
- Comment on Srinkflation is actually enshifitation when you think about it. 4 months ago:
Shrinking sizes is only part of it. Every ingredient/component is getting cheaper, less durable, less nutritious. Some companies try to offer higher quality but most people can’t afford it.
- Comment on Study Shows Glaciers Have Lost '3 Olympic Swimming Pools Per Second' Since 2000 5 months ago:
Aye! Standard front loading washer loads per week would be another good one.