theparadox

@theparadox@lemmy.world

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⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why Shouldn't I Use A Small Gaming PC⁩ ⁨⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
Three concerns:
- Heat - Will degrade faster and perform worse than it likely can because it will throttle itself
- Upgradability - Looks like only SSD and Memory are serviceable.
- Warranty - How is customer service? I have heard mixed reviews on most mini PC manufacturers.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Perfection.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:
This reminds me of my elementary school computer teacher. That teacher, and his teaching us LogoWriter, changed my life.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Been seeing a lot of posts about replacing Spotify and such, so I wrote up a guide on how I did just that⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:
This is a dumb question but I’ve really wanted to use Pangolin and I have trouble finding it clearly explained whether or not it works, with authentication, for applications that are not browser based. For example, if I wanted to connect to my self hosted home git server from VSC via ssh would that be possible through Pangolin? Obviously I could use it to log in to the web interface but what about apps/applications that I need to punch into my home network? The authentication is browser-based so in my mind it would not.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Been seeing a lot of posts about replacing Spotify and such, so I wrote up a guide on how I did just that⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:
I’ve been working on the same and ran into the same issue. If not Bandcamp, I’ve had success on Qobuz. Their streaming payments to artists, last I checked, is substantially higher than anywhere else I’ve looked. I’m hoping the same is true of their music sales but I’m sure half of that is dependent on the labels, which likely have something to do with their not being on Bandcamp… or maybe that’s just my cynicism. I know little about how things work in the industry I just want to pay artists for their amazing work.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Train your brain⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:
It’s also ok if you are using it in an effort to make workers obsolete and upend the entire economy.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How long do we have before PCs get locked bootloaders and corporations ban installation of "non-approved" software? (for context: Google is restricting sideloading worldwide on Android ETA 2027)⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:
The situation is actually quite awful. I remember when TPM was palladium and there were apocalyptic talks in tech conferences about it being the end of general purpose computers. The idea that your computer could veto what it was used for.

The backlash only set them back a few decades apparently. Everyone forgot and now it’s a literal requirement for the latest Windows and in two months they’ll stop supporting the old Windows…
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Metal genres⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:
It seems Tidal is streaming only. There is Qobuz but I hear them mentioned by people looking for Hi-Fi. Their streaming service seems to pay higher than average.

I guess I’ll just have to assume the compensation is decent for digital purchases as well. Having Hi-Fi audio quality doesn’t hurt - I can always transcode it if I need to stream or convert it if I need to cram it in a small storage device.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Metal genres⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:
Random question - anyone know a good site to buy digital music that pays the artists somewhat decently? I’ve got a few artists I need to get albums from after bailing on Spotify and they aren’t on Bandcamp and don’t has album sales linked to their official sites. Hell, even physical copies of some albums are hard to come by in the US.

I saw “7Digital” mentioned somewhere but I see there multiple listings for the same album at different prices (literally the exact same album, exact same quality) which makes me suspect it’s not as legit as I had hoped.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨It Took Many Years And Billions Of Dollars, But Microsoft Finally Invented A Calculator That Is Wrong Sometimes⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:
I think it would be infinitely better for an LLM to walk a user through the use of the formula in their specific use case rather than do it for them… but that won’t sell as well because most people don’t want to learn to use a spreadsheet they just want to do a thing and move on to something else. This is how it is sold and this is why it is used, in most cases. It’s not a hammer that people misused despite there being nothing in the sales material about it’s usefulness as a bludgeoning device against other humans. LLMs, spreadsheet copilot included, is commonly packaged and sold as a magic solution that will just do the work for you, with an asterisk and fine print stating that it’s for entertainment purposes only and that whoever isn’t liable for any false information or whatever bullshit clause they come up with. People use it as it is sold to them and that’s what worries me.

another optional tool at users’ disposal.

I just had my place of work upgrade me to Windows 11 this week. In order to install office, I was directed by Microsoft to download the “Office 365 Copilot” app which downloaded the office installer. Copilot is not subtle. It may be technically optional but good lord does it want you to know about and use it for everything.

And no, I didn’t try it yet. I will likely be trying it and Gemini soon out of curiosity. Last time I tried to use it I was given hallucinated nonexistant python modules and powershell commands that wasted my time. It’s been a year or so though.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨It Took Many Years And Billions Of Dollars, But Microsoft Finally Invented A Calculator That Is Wrong Sometimes⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

it’s not a replacement for a human brain, it’s an assistant.

This is what I think AI and automation is generally good at and should be used for - mitigating unpleasant or repetitive work so that the focus of the user is productivity/creativity.

This is what this integration is for - it’s not a replacement for a human brain, it’s an assistant. As are all LLMs.

The context is something we disagree on wholeheartedly. Those funding and fundraising for AI and an enormous subset of those using are not looking to use AI in the way we are talking about. The prior are hoping to use AI to extract value from it at the expense of people who would otherwise need to be paid, or they and claim it can do anything and everything. Those using it, many of them, do not have a sufficient understanding to comprehend the solution. They are basically “vibe coding”. Tell the LLM to do something they aren’t knowledgeable about, then keep telling it to fix the problems until they don’t see problems anymore. Yes, spreadsheet formulas are likely simpler than an app but I know people who use AI for Google Sheets and they rarely test any results, let alone rigorously.

Anecdotal, sure, but I don’t have enough faith in humanity to presume everyone else is doing something wildly different.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨It Took Many Years And Billions Of Dollars, But Microsoft Finally Invented A Calculator That Is Wrong Sometimes⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:
I think the concern is that you can come up with a number of formulas that will get correct answers for some combinations of values and not others.

If you do not understand the logic of the formula, and what each function does, how do you verify they are correct and will always give you the results you think they will? Double check every result in it’s entirety?
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Feeling insecure about going to a 'girlie pop' concert as a 30 year old man, am i overthinking it?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:
Be aware of the venue and how crowded it could be. I’ve been to plenty of metal shows in my youth and been waaay to close the speakers. Surprisingly, what fucked my ears worse than anything was when I got invited by a girl friend to see the band “Live” (known for the song “The Dolphin’s Cry”) at a standing room venue. I was only like 20 but still being packed in tight among countless shrieking girls/young women gave me tinnitus for a week and my hearing has never been the same since.

Really though, don’t worry about how you are perceived. Just have fun, but maybe bring ear plugs just in case. Hell, I likely should have worn earplugs for most of my concerts regardless.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨ICE agents pointed guns at a US citizen when she walked out on to her yard to ask why they were arresting her (legal immigrant) partner.⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:
They people who most vocally claim it is for use against a tyrannical government are happy that their government is abusing their black and brown neighbors.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Women are anonymously spilling tea about men in their cities on viral app⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:
For me, it’s hard to say one or the other is worse. It might depend on circumstances. Is someone making a false claim of rape worse than someone raping someone, or worse than a child rapist, serial rapist, etc? In damage collectively done to all victims, quite possibly. However, the intention of the false witness isn’t usually to delegitimize the claims of other victims. It’s usually shortsited and desperate - a desire to avoid social consequences or to punish the accused. I suspect such false claims are also more common among a younger, naive, immature population. It’s fucked up and selfish, surely. As fucked up as feeling you have the right to use another person’s body for your own physical pleasure or to assert dominance or whatever shit goes through a rapists mind? I don’t know.

Frankly, I’ve never been the victim or perpetrator of either crime, nor have I even been in a situation where either crossed my mind. All I’m qualified to say is that I wish neither crimes would happen to anyone.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Women are anonymously spilling tea about men in their cities on viral app⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:
People who pretend to be victims upset me almost as much as people who victimize others (they are not equal, but it is still so fucked up). Victims have a rough enough time already being taken seriously. It doesn’t take more than a few false positives to completely take the air out of legitimate accusations from victims. I wish there was some way to solve this problem.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Gen Z's 'overemployed' solution for a broken economy: 5 jobs and $3K per day. It's totally legal⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:
AI will likely not be taking many jobs - it’s continuing to be unreliable for most circumstances.

That’s not to say all circumstances. Regardless, the industries that use it heavily will likely destroy themselves. Having people doing that work is how you prepare them to do the more difficult work that AI is even more unlikely to succeed at… so you are starving yourself of a workforce for the more important jobs in your industry. The pool of people with X years of experience will shrink to nothing, and they won’t be willing to hide newbies.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨It's just loss.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:
Quick Internet search… ourworldindata.org/wild-mammals-birds-biomass

They are referring to biomass.
- 1 cow ~ 1200 lbs / 545 kg
- 1 rat ~ 0.5 lbs / 0.25 kg
1 cow ~ 2400 rats by biomass
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨oops⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
My ex would use St. Ives “Apricot Exfoliant” or something, which has powdered apricot pits and walnut shells. Those are waste products that I wouldn’t expect to cause problems but who knows.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Facts and minds⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
Sounds like they are. If you are willing to debate, you are very likely “emotionally attached” to the side you are advocating for.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Stung by customer losses, Comcast says all its new plans have unlimited data⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

They still make you jump through hoops to figure out what the upload speeds are for their plans.

And the upload speeds, at least for me, are utter shit. I had to pay for their highest tier, 1Gb, to get 35Mb up. They upgraded me to 1.3Gb but I haven’t even been able to find upload rates for any plans on their website to see if their new 2Gb plan is any better. I’ve never gotten more than 42Mb up.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why does Apple make a minority of developers finance the entire App Store?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
Clearly the author doesn’t understand how capitalism works. If Apple can pick you up by the neck, turn you upside down, and shake whatever extra money it can from you then it absolutely will do so.

The problem is that one indie developer doesn’t have any power over Apple… so they can go fuck themselves. The developer is granted the opportunity to grovel at the feet of their betters (richers) and pray that they are allowed to keep enough of their own crop to survive the winter. If they don’t survive… then some other dev will probably jump at the chance to take part in the “free market” and demonstrate their worth.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm looking for an article showing that LLMs don't know how they work internally⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
More than enough people who claim to know how it works think it might be “evolving” into a sentient being inside it’s little black box. Example from a conversation I gave up on… sh.itjust.works/comment/18759960
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Bee Aware!⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

Hi 👋 I’m your AI news assistant, trained on Apple Valley News! Have any questions about this story? Tap a prompt below or ask me about anything!

And a terrible reminder of how things are going for us humans…
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Anthropic's Claude 4 could "blackmail" you in extreme situations⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
I think the word “learning”, and even “training”, is an approximation from a human perspective. MLs “learn” by adjusting parameters when processing data. At least as far as I know, the base algorithm and hyperparameters for the model are set in stone.

The base algorithm for “living” things is basically only limited by chemistry/physics and evolution. I doubt anyone could create an algorithm that advanced any time soon. We don’t even understand the brain or physics at the quantum level that well. Hell, we are using ML to create new molecules because we don’t understand it well.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Anthropic's Claude 4 could "blackmail" you in extreme situations⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

I think you’re either being a little dismissive of the potential complexity of the “thinking” capability of LLMs or at least a little generous if not mystical in your imagination of what the purely physical electrical signals in our heads are actually doing to learn how to interpret all these little shapes we see on screens.

I don’t think I’m doing either of those things. I respect the scale and speed of the models and I am well aware that I’m little more than a machine made of meat.

Babies start out mimicking. The thing is, they learn.

Humans learn so much more before they start communicating. They start learning reason, logic, etc as they develop their vocabulary.

The difference is that, as I understand it, these models are often “trained” on very, very large sets of data. They have built a massive network of the way words are used in communication - likely built from more texts than a human could process in several lifetimes. They come out the gate with an enormous vocabulary and understanding of how to mimic, replicate it’s use. If they had been trained on just as much data, but data unrelated to communication, would you still think it capable of reasoning without the ability to “sound” human? They have the “vocabulary” and references to mimic a deep understanding but because we lack the ability to understand the final algorithm it seems like an enormous leap to presume actual reasoning is taking place.

Frankly, I see no reason for models like LLMs at this stage. I’m fine putting the breaks on this shit - even if we disagree on the reasons why. ML can and has been employed to achieve far more practical goals. Use it alongside humans for a while until it is verifiably more reliable at some task - recognizing cancer in imaging or generating molecules likely of achieving a desired goal. LLMs are just a lazy shortcut to look impressive and sell investors on the technology.

Maybe I am failing to see reality - maybe I don’t understand the latest “AI” well enough to give my two cents. That’s fine. I just think it’s being hyped because these companies desperately need VC money to stay afloat.

It works because humans have an insatiable desire to see agency everywhere they look. Spirits, monsters, ghosts, gods, and now “AI.”
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Anthropic's Claude 4 could "blackmail" you in extreme situations⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
Yes, both systems - the human brain and an LLM - assimilate and organize human written languages in order to use it for communication. An LLM is very little else beyond this. It is then given rules (using those written languages) and then designed to create more related words when given input. I just don’t find it convincing that an ML algorithm designed explicitly to mimic human written communication in response to given input “understands” anything. No matter *how convincingly" an algorithm might reproduce a human voice - perfectly matching intonation and inflexion when given text to read - if I knew it was an algorithm designed to do it as convincingly as possible I wouldn’t say it was capable of the feeling it is able to express.

The only thing in favor of sentience is that the ML algorithms modify themselves and end up being a black box - so complex with no way to represent them that they are impossible for humans to comprehend. Could it somehow have achieved sentience? Technically, yes, because we don’t understand how they work. We are just meat machines, after all.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Anthropic's Claude 4 could "blackmail" you in extreme situations⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
LLMs (Large Language Modles, like Claude) are not AGIs (Artificial General Intelligence). LLMs generate convincing text by mapping the relationships between words scraped from their training material data. Even if they are given “tools” that give them interfaces to reference new data or output data into other systems, they still don’t really learn, understand, comprehend, gain actually awareness, or feel… they just mimic their training data.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What techniques do bad faith users use online to overwhelm other users in online discussion and arguments?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
Calling someone “blue MAGA” is the equivalent of saying “no you!”

However, it’s time to stop pretending like some small group of “MAGA” conservatives have hijacked the party and taken things too far. The monied interests backing Trump are the same as have been backing Republicans for decades. The Federalist Society, the Heritage Foundation, etc. Mitch McConnell has been working to fill the federal courts with Federalist picks for a long time. Picking or just outright manufacturing court cases that would set new precedents. Hell, even those thinktanks are just recent iterations of the same interest’s attempts to shape the government as they see fit. Trump is just a nepo baby turned grifter who got lucky because his grift was actually effective at attracting and controlling the loudest segment of the Republican base.

Trump just transparently said “As long as I get filthy rich, get to be king, and you keep [metaphorically] sucking my dick, I’ll keep my followers in line and use my position to put your people in power so they can implement your ‘Project 25’ or whatever.” Republicans mostly objected to him because he lacked subtlety and was transparently greedy and petty. He ignored the game of slow, subtle changes and manipulation through “decorum” that Republicans had become experts in. Unfortunately for us, that worked wonders on a subset of the population

The people who helped those Republican politicians keep getting elected and basically wrote their proposed laws noticed Trump was popular. When it became apparent that Trump’s followers were loyal, the money jumped at the chance to fast track their vision and backed him completely. They helped tweak and hone Trump’s message to amplify his grifter magic. That plus some changes to election laws around the country, gerrymandering, and likely other more covert, extralegal vote manipulation got him back in power.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What techniques do bad faith users use online to overwhelm other users in online discussion and arguments?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
There is a series "The Alt Right Playbook" that covers a lot of bad faith and manipulative tactics, many of which are used online.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Only people with money don't understand that being morally just while poor means your threading a needle through a litany of only bad choices.⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
My interpretation of this might be different, but I agree wholeheartedly with my interpretation.

Being morally just doesn’t just mean “not causing harm” directly. It means striving to not cause harm both directly and indirectly. As someone who lives in the USA, our entire society is built off of exploitation. The less expensive something is, the more heavy the exploitation likely is. The cheapest manufacturing is done in countries where labor is exploited or even enslaved, where the manufacturing process can pollute and poison the area with little consequence (to the manufacturer), and where the powerful can force deals on the government to let them extract valuable resources and pay a fraction of its value - depriving the locals and nation prosperity. Even when buying US food products, the food industry mostly relies on extremely poor conditions for the animals it keeps, taking advantage of farmers it buys from or employs, and may even employ migrant children for dangerous slaughterhouse labor.

Avoiding these kinds of practices throughout most supply chains is sometimes impossible and usually more expensive the more thoroughly you manage to avoid the practices. Even then someone has to check in and constantly verify that the practices are legitimately avoided and not just greenwashing or fraudulent.

It’s really quite depressing.