BertramDitore
@BertramDitore@lemmy.zip
- Comment on Afghan Taliban authorities publicly execute man for murder 4 days ago:
Murdering a murderer for committing murder will never make sense to me.
- Comment on Scientific Exposure 1 week ago:
I don’t know what to tell you. Your experiences are your own, and I’m glad your lab takes care of you.
- Comment on Scientific Exposure 1 week ago:
Archaeology. But it was in the UK and I’m American so everything was a bit tougher than it should have been. My advisor for sure should have paid, and could have, but he was an asshole who didn’t bother to understand my situation.
- Comment on Scientific Exposure 1 week ago:
It’s a feedback loop. In order to raise your academic profile and potentially get a job, you need a solid CV full of peer reviewed publications. In order to get published in the first place, you often need money and institutional backing.
If you circumvent that cycle by self-publishing (a solidly logical idea btw), then you’ll have an even harder job getting people to take you seriously and will alienate yourself from “mainstream” academia. It’s messed up. Some open access journals have tried to solve this, with some success, but it’s a systemic problem.
- Comment on Scientific Exposure 1 week ago:
In grad school I remember being encouraged to submit a paper to a journal that would have charged me a few hundred dollars to put it in for peer review, and I told my advisor no, I needed to buy groceries, I would not throw my money away for an extra line on my CV. He got all flustered and it was a great example of why higher education is so fucked. My advisor, who ostensibly understood my background and means, could not understand how such a relatively small fee would be so prohibitive. He was incapable of understanding that I was essentially unemployed while enrolled as his grad student, and every dollar of funding went to bare essentials so I could continue breathing. He had access to discretionary funds for this exact kind of issue (I found out later), and didn’t think to offer.
Without independent wealth and deep personal connections it’s incredibly difficult to succeed in academia, regardless of the quality of your research.
- Comment on Why is superhero comedy Dispatch a million-selling success story? It could be that weekly release schedule 3 weeks ago:
Yeah the studio that made it, Adhoc, was founded by Telltale people. I’m glad they’re still making this type of game in an industry that’s weirdly resistant to this kind of storytelling, despite its popularity.
- Comment on Why is superhero comedy Dispatch a million-selling success story? It could be that weekly release schedule 3 weeks ago:
Sure, it’s a time management sim insofar as there are time limits on the “daily” minigame, but I’d characterize it more as team/skills coordination and management. And it’s really just a telltale narrative with consequential decision making, broken up by the minigame. I hadn’t ever played a game with those particular minigame mechanics, so maybe I’m missing something.
Is there trepidation with critical role? How so? I only recently got into watching their tabletop dnd, so I’m a pretty new fan. It’s actually one of those things I’m shocked stayed under my radar for so long…
- Comment on Why is superhero comedy Dispatch a million-selling success story? It could be that weekly release schedule 3 weeks ago:
I don’t think it has anything to do with the weekly release schedule, or that was my least favorite thing about it. Maybe that helped sell a few more, but it’s a polished game made from unique IP with a strong story that knows what it is, and an incredible cast of famous voice actors.
I’m not sure if people realize how huge of a following Critical Role has. They collaborated on the game and did most of the voice acting. I found out about it through them, and I had a blast playing it. It’s short, but packs a punch.
- Comment on Sir Tim Berners-Lee doesn’t think AI will destroy the web 3 weeks ago:
To me it definitely has gotten much worse, though everyone’s internet experience is radically different. 20 years is too far back, definitely not. But 5 or 10 years? Absolutely.
I don’t have accounts on and completely ignore all social media other than this, and have all my ads blocked everywhere. I don’t use streaming services, so no exposure to ads there either. That all makes my web experience (and I’m sure most other Lemmy folks) arguably way cleaner and content-focused than the vast majority of people who just use the mainstream internet as it is.
And yet it’s pretty difficult to find out basic things, and I think that’s a very recent development. It has always been nontrivial to figure out what’s true and what’s not and sometimes you had to dig a bit. SEO did a great job of poisoning things before LLMs. But now? I feel like 99% of what I find is unconvincing and just bad, and the sheer volume of rehashed bullshit makes it super hard to find something useful, let alone something real and truthful.
- Comment on Sir Tim Berners-Lee doesn’t think AI will destroy the web 3 weeks ago:
Just because he invented the WWW doesn’t mean he’s always right. In fact, he’s already wrong about this. The internet as a whole has gotten noticeably worse over the last few years.
- Comment on If you are not a real fan of Marvel or DC you have no right to come see these movies 4 weeks ago:
That’s not how slurs work. That word is a slur, even if your intention isn’t explicitly bigoted. But in the content of your comment, you’re still using it exactly the way a bigot would use it as a slur.
- Comment on If you are not a real fan of Marvel or DC you have no right to come see these movies 4 weeks ago:
That’s a wild take.
I think you have it the wrong way around: the movies are for everyone, the comics are for the super fans. Not much more to it than that, but getting this worked up about a fictional universe is not healthy.
Also, watch your slurs, most people don’t like ableism around these parts.
- Comment on Some meetings don't even need to be e-mails. 4 weeks ago:
I really appreciate it when colleagues check in right before a meeting via chat just to make sure at least one person has something they actually need to talk about. If not, we skip it and go back to our work. Some teams do this as a habit, others meet anyway just to shoot the shit if there’s nothing work-related to discuss. My team is the former, thankfully.
- Comment on The People’s Answer to ICE: Crowdsourcing Community Defense 5 weeks ago:
Of course we need mass protest, it’s critical for building solidarity and sending messages to those in currently power, but by itself it doesn’t solve the problems. Sites like the one mentioned in the article are kind of a bandaid, sure, but when real peoples’ lives are on the line, and a bandaid donated by the community could save their life, why would you dismiss it out of hand like that? Seems pretty crass to me. Bigger systemic solutions are way better, obviously, but when the current power structure is incapable of providing those solutions, local communities need to come up with their own.
An effective political movement needs protest to expose the problems and bring people on board, and then the movement needs to be get involved in local and national politics by running for office or working to elect people who share the values of those protesting, to convert that solidarity into political power. More than 7 million people turned out to protest last time. What, specifically, would be different about your full massive protest? How would you organize it differently to be more effective than the no kings protests? And would your new mass protest solve the practical problems the orgs in the article are working to solve on the ground right now?
- Comment on Banana 1 month ago:
I completely agree. I revisit them every year or two to see if my tastes have changed, but I still gag when somebody peels a banana anywhere near me. It’s an automatic involuntary reaction. They are the only food I can think of that give me an immediate gag relfex.
For example, I can be sitting at one end of a train, and I can tell when someone on the opposite side of the train starts eating a banana. I have to put my face in my shirt to stop myself from puking. I wish I liked them, they’re so freaking healthy, but nope can’t do it.
- Comment on Is there any way the average American can insulate themselves from the AI bubble bursting? 1 month ago:
This is a great question, I’ll be watching the replies. I had a similar thought this morning as I was checking how my very humble ETF investments were looking, and I remembered that NVIDIA is a chunk of one of them…
I don’t have much disposable income to invest, but I like to put a little bit in non-fossil fuel ETFs, and I feel like they’ll get super risky once the bubble pops (which I agree, it will).
- Comment on 'Our Genocide': How do Israelis feel about the war in Gaza? | On the Ground 2 months ago:
I’m not going to watch that, my emotional state can’t bear to see the hateful verbal diarrhea come out of their mouths. But it’s still really important. A recent poll from a mainstream Israeli newspaper found that 82% of Jewish Israelis are in favor of expelling Gazans from their homeland. The breakdown by religiosity is even scarier.
The same study found that among Jewish Israelis, 31% of the secular, 60% of the traditional, 59% of the orthodox, and 63% of the Haredi (a different kind of orthodox, even more extreme) are in favor of killing all Palestinians. Please let that sink in for a minute. As an American Jew, I am mortified by the atrocities being committed in my name.
These numbers might have changed a bit since May, but I’d argue that’s beside the point.
- Comment on Stop Talking to Technology Executives Like They Have Anything to Say 2 months ago:
That was an awesome piece. We need more people willing to speak out about all the obvious bullshit like this, but more importantly we need this kind of critical thinking to reach the people who are uncritically driving the continued use of these crappy-ass tools that are burning the planet. I’m thinking about CEOs (who will only do anything if it helps their bottom line), but also about your boomer co-workers who think ChatGPT is the fucking messiah and remind you about it every chance they get.
- Comment on Is there or has there ever been information illegal to possess or have? 2 months ago:
No doubt. It being illegal doesn’t mean it wasn’t morally justified and right in most cases. Just means it took more courage and personal risk to do the right thing.
- Comment on Is there or has there ever been information illegal to possess or have? 2 months ago:
High level leaks of classified material is the first example that comes to mind. The raw Wikileaks data, for example, was widely accessible and easily found by anyone with a quick search, and yet possessing that material was technically illegal, because it was never declassified.
- Comment on A One-of-a-Kind Roman Tomb with Bilingual Inscription: The First Monumental Discovery in Dibra, Albania 2 months ago:
Probably Greek, though it’s hard to tell, and you’re right they don’t say it. I’m not too familiar with the history of the region, but I believe that area shared a similar material culture as nearby Hellenistic states, and was eventually ruled by Rome, so Greek would make sense. Might be common-enough knowledge to locals that they didn’t even think to mention it, but anyone who knows for sure please correct me.
The thing that bothers me most about that piece though is the photos (not the publication’s fault). The archaeologists broke most of the basic rules of archaeological photography. If I was their supervisor I would have insisted they straighten their sections, re-clean, and re-take all those photos. Those are terrible shots of an amazing find.
- Comment on Why are eugenics bad seen? 3 months ago:
You’re seem pretty confident that eugenics would improve peoples’ lives, but why is that?
Eugenics has been used, many times, to justify the mass murder or mass sterilization of entire populations, based on unproven racism and hatred towards the Other, be it people with cognitive differences from the “norm,” or all Jews, or gay people, etc. Really whoever the “in” group doesn’t like.
Eugenicists think anyone that is Other or not in the shape of their ideal human, doesn’t deserve to live. But people who don’t think, act, or look like you still live fulfilling lives, so who gives eugenicists the right to decide who gets to live and who doesn’t? What makes their “ideal pure human” pure and ideal? The answer is usually white and Christian, which exposes the whole thing as absurd.
I’m sure the original post will get deleted, because these kinds of questions don’t usually last long after they’ve been answered, but there you go, I choose to believe you actually wanted a genuine answer.
- Comment on what books about personal boundaries do you know that don't mention god? 3 months ago:
You may be thinking of Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents. It’s an excellent book, I highly recommend it. It’s super short and taught me SO much about myself and my family.
- Comment on How long before the GOP tries to get the 23andMe data? 3 months ago:
Ehhh you might be underestimating their desire and capacity to do widespread illogical evil.
So much of the right’s “ideology” is based on insecurity and blind hatred, that genetic data could believably be weaponized for almost whatever they want. You’re definitely right that they think they get to decide who is a good American and who’s not, but why limit the consequences to deportation/disappearing when eugenics offers them much more permanent solutions?
Looking at the right’s generational project of clawing back civil and human rights, which has largely been successful, I can definitely see some right wing geneticist with a chip on their shoulder doing massive amounts of damage. There are no shortage of very intelligent people who do incredibly stupid and damaging things with their intelligence. Just look at American tech companies…
- Comment on Meta appoints anti-LGBTQ+ conspiracy theorist Robby Starbuck as AI bias advisor 3 months ago:
Yeah that’s well said.
- Comment on [deleted] 3 months ago:
Same, I really try to raise mine up at least once a day, but it doesn’t always happen. Your alarm idea is a good one, think I’ll try that.
- Comment on Meta appoints anti-LGBTQ+ conspiracy theorist Robby Starbuck as AI bias advisor 3 months ago:
While that’s gotta be a big part of it, I’m not sure that’s the true source of their hatred and bigotry, though it’s obviously not the same for every bigot. I think it boils down to an even simpler insecurity. Not necessarily an insecurity with their own gender, but more a feeling of jealous insecurity when they see people who genuinely know who they are and have put in the work to figure themselves out. Gender is just the easiest part of their identity to hate. I don’t think that insecurity is necessarily conscious, though the hatred certainly is, it’s more an enviousness of someone who is obviously secure with themselves and their body.
I had a similar reaction to the thumbnail. My first thought, before reading anything, was “huh, Meta found a lesbian who hates the rest of the LGBTQ community.”
- Comment on LAPD Eyes ‘GeoSpy’, an AI Tool That Can Geolocate Photos in Seconds 3 months ago:
Yeah I get that, and your frustration is totally valid, it’s just an insane uphill battle to continue producing original content without some evilcorp swooping in to steal all your shit and then resell it as their own. This is the only “solution” they’ve found to still making enough money to eat. But the extra friction is definitely a bit annoying, and they know that.
- Comment on LAPD Eyes ‘GeoSpy’, an AI Tool That Can Geolocate Photos in Seconds 3 months ago:
Their reporting is often based on FOIA requests, which are a public service, so they give free access to those articles without a paywall.
They have been open and transparent that they require a free account to read their free articles because it prevents LLMs from illegally scraping and plagiarizing their original reporting. Logging in to a free account is a small price to pay to ensure these actual journalists continue to produce excellent work.
- Comment on A corporate recruiter in Toronto who spent 3 weeks convinced by ChatGPT that he was essentially Tony Stark from Iron Man, agreed to share his transcript after breaking free of the delusion. 3 months ago:
Yeah, it’s really frustrating that we’re watching the grift in real time, and influential outlets like the NYTimes are making all the predicable mistakes and further inflating the bubble to the point where I’m starting to think it won’t be allowed to pop. It feels like there’s nothing we can do about it, because enough people have slurped up the slop and are convinced they already can’t live without it.
I argue with coworkers every day about the useless generated shit they put in front of me. I argue with friends who believe the grifters have their interests in mind. I’ve started arguing with executives at my company who are hinting that everyone has to start using LLMs. I argue with anyone any time they mischaracterize ChatGPT as AI and not an LLM. I argue with my colleagues who work in environmental sciences that they of all people should understand the practical harms these tools are causing.
It’s an uphill battle, and I feel like we’ve already lost. It’s exhausting seeing the direction we’re going, knowing it’s the wrong way to go, and yet being stuck on the stupid train going there.
