bampop

@bampop@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨cant take it anymore⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s where you’re wrong. The cow is real but you can’t see it because it has 0% opacity. There’s not many “unexplained” events that still don’t make sense when you know there’s a transparent cow out there somewhere

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨An oopsie occured⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Would you like to leave any feedback to your driver? If you purchase a funeral wreath we can print your comments on a card and attach it

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨An oopsie occured⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Probably hit a fairground carousel

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨FBI Couldn’t Get into WaPo Reporter’s iPhone Because It Had Lockdown Mode Enabled⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Well… yes? AFAIK that was Alex Jones talking about endocrine disruption caused by atrazine in herbicides. Frogs turning gay seems a silly thing to focus on, but in principal the health effects of herbicides are a valid concern. By turning it into a joke, intentionally or not, he was doing his bit to invalidate serious concerns on the issue.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Ad blocking is alive and well, despite Chrome's attempts to make it harder⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  So weird that companies waste so much time trying to find ways to stop me from stopping them from wasting my time.

  Maybe they should do a study in exactly where the ad revenue comes from. I strongly suspect that people who use ad blockers, and people who potentially generate revenue from ads, are two non-intersecting sets.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨FBI Couldn’t Get into WaPo Reporter’s iPhone Because It Had Lockdown Mode Enabled⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s not by accident. Every right wing conspiracy is a ridiculous pastiche of the shit they are really getting up to, or intend to in the near future. No doubt Pizzagate was invented to make people incredulous about claims of secret cabals of kid rapists in elite circles. Every accusation a confession.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Beware: Government Using Image Manipulation for Propaganda⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I agree with what you’re saying, but also I think that after a crisis like the current one, there is potential to seriously examine general questions of how we got here, what systemic problems have led to this, and what weaknesses in our systems have been exposed by this. It’s a unique opportunity to fix what is broken, because all serious people can find common ground in the understanding that things have gone to shit lately and that it does need fixing. It’s a rare chance for good faith discussion and significant change. Well-informed proponents of positive change might actually be heard and taken seriously.

  The dangers of false propaganda using image manipulation is one important consideration but there are many, many others. You’d probably want to start with the failure of democracy in the USA and how the electoral system needs to be reformed.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Beware: Government Using Image Manipulation for Propaganda⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Previous presidencies have indeed done that, but that’s why this particular situation gives me a glimmer of hope. The rot is at the point where it all needs to be ripped out. All branches of government are loaded with MAGA appointees, the supreme court is politicized and disgraced, the whole Republican party is complicit in crimes against the nation. Business as usual just isn’t an option any more. I’m not saying that things are automatically going to get better, and unless there is a major cleanout of the Democratic party, it’s doubtful that they would. Just saying that there is a chance now that didn’t exist before.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Beware: Government Using Image Manipulation for Propaganda⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I mean, obviously it’s a bad thing in the short term. I’m sure the current administration will continue to lie in more egregious ways. For example, if there were no clear bystander videos, would the DHS be releasing doctored bodycam footage to show Alex Pretti pulling his gun and trying to shoot ICE officers? Does that sound far-fetched? It’s technically feasible. It might seem too big and blatant a lie, but that lie has already been told in words from the DHS and Trump administration. Why not embellish it further?

  And of course it’s enormously dangerous because no matter how blatant the lies are, there are many people who will accept them at face value, because they are too uneducated, or too locked into the “them and us” mentality to ever doubt the story that “their team” is selling them.

  So how could it be a good thing? Well, if the USA manages to rid itself of this cancer, the Trump administration will serve as irrefutable proof that government institutions cannot be considered intrinsically trustworthy, or relied on to act in good faith. There needs to be checks and balances like never before. That was always true, but knowing it and being able to act on it are two different things. The Trump administration’s eagerness to lie, cheat and cause suffering, even in the most clumsy and blatant ways, shines a clear light on dangers that were already there. It is an exemplary model of the abuse of power, and I hope that one day we will be in a position to take lessons from it. Maybe I’m being overoptimistic. It seems like the lessons learned from Nazi Germany were mostly the “how to do this” kind. But there is a chance to make things better here, not just better than they are now but better than they were before.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Lobster feast ⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  When I was a little kid I went to my grandparents house where they were having some party with a buffet. I ate what I thought was a grape, but in fact it was something I’d never tasted before: an olive. It took me about 30 years to start liking olives, for a very long time they just tasted like rotten grapes.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Mandola effect⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  So that’s it huh? We’re some kind of fellowship of the ring?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨You don't say.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Image

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨You don't say.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Not until you’ve filled the elevator with spiders

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s his biological job

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Good luck⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I used to do that but after a while the washing machine got a buildup of foul gunk that leaves little bits of crap stuck to everything you wash. Apparently an occasional hot wash is needed to keep the machine clean.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I’d get a whole bunch of these and keep a different book on each one, so you could just pick it up and read it. But it’ll never work, it’s too much trouble to keep them all charged.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨No AI* Here - A Response to Mozilla's Next Chapter - Waterfox Blog⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  What seems really off to me is that Firefox has one standout feature that people really love: extensions. You can customize your browser however you want. So it makes sense that if they wanted to integrate AI into their design that it should be done via extensions. They could produce a mozilla-approved pack of extensions which add whatever AI features they want to offer. That way any AI functionality is opt-in, and transparent in the sense that you have a specific feature set for each extension so you kind-of know what you’re buying into, rather than having a built-in set of opt-out features that are ill-defined and constantly changing. Such a radical and unnecessary change of their whole design philosophy seems very suspect to me.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I've always thought THIS was unfair⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Oh come on now, they don’t really have to do that until stalactites start forming

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Having a rough morning. I'm still pondering the question about beavers, and my kid asks me THIS⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  The tooth fairy can go where it wants, and can see in the dark. Why would it need to dig them up?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Marco Rubio bans Calibri font at State Department for being too DEI⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I thought you were kidding but I just had to know lol. Like to make a case for Papyrus being racist you’d firstly have to say who it’s being racist towards, and it’s just a bit… vague… for that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Marco Rubio bans Calibri font at State Department for being too DEI⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  OK I love that fonts stir up such strong feelings in people… but racist? How tf is a font racist?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Santa is working on those lists⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  He’s going to find out who’s naughty and nice

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Hey look, a giant sign telling you to find a different job⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Nah, you’re thinking of a hundred-plus-million dollar company. Being understaffed and disastrously managed is about right for a million dollar company.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Expecting a LLM to become conscious, is like expecting a painting to become alive⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  So I can outnumber my enemies

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Expecting a LLM to become conscious, is like expecting a painting to become alive⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I just don’t think this is a problem in the current stage of technological development. Modern AI is a cute little magic act, but humans (collectively) are very good at piercing the veil and then spreading around the discrepancies they’ve discovered.

  In its current stage, yes. But it’s come a long way in a short time, and I don’t think we’re so far from having machines that pass the Turing test 100%. But rather than being a proof of consciousness, all this really shows is that you can’t judge consciousness from the outside looking in. We know it’s a big illusion just because its entire development has been focused on building that illusion. When it says it feels something, or cares deeply about something, it’s saying that because that’s the kind of thing a human would say.

  Because all the development has been focused on fakery rather than understanding and replicating consciousness, we’re close to the point where we can have a fake consciousness that would fool anyone. It’s a worrying prospect, and not just because I won’t be immortal by having a machine imitate my behaviour. There’s various bad actors trying to exploit this situation. Elon Musk’s attempts to turn Grok into his own personally controlled overseer of truth and narrative seem to backfire in the most comical ways, but that’s teething troubles, in time this will turn into a very subtle and pervasive problem for humankind.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Expecting a LLM to become conscious, is like expecting a painting to become alive⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Well, that’s why we need clones with mind transfer, and to be unconscious during the process. When you wake up you won’t know whether you’re the original or the copy so it’s not a problem

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Expecting a LLM to become conscious, is like expecting a painting to become alive⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  People used to talk about the idea of uploading your consciousness to a computer to achieve immortality. But nowadays I don’t think anyone would trust it. You could tell me my consciousness was uploaded and show me a version of me that was indistinguishable from myself in every way, but I still wouldn’t believe it experiences or feels anything as I do, even if it says it does. Especially if it’s based on an LLM, since they are superficial imitations by design.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨To celebrate Oxford Word of The Year, Submit your worthy ones for rating in the comments⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Obviously anything by Mariah Carey would be a contender but I stand by my assertion

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨To celebrate Oxford Word of The Year, Submit your worthy ones for rating in the comments⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Fact: the best Christmas song ever is “All I Want For Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey. Search your feelings. You know it to be true.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨idk⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  AI generated content is what ought to be disclosed, and even then it’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I can see how it might usually be. But AI in general encompasses a broad range of tools which is bound to get broader and more ubiquitous with time.