adespoton
@adespoton@lemmy.ca
- Comment on If we replace most plastic with a non plastic alternative and would that really be better? 9 hours ago:
The solution isn’t so much to replace plastic as it is to eliminate “single use” from our way of life, except as needed for emergencies (eg, situations where the only way to be sanitary is by destroying the object after use).
If you eliminate the majority of non-reusable stuff from your life, the rest becomes much easier. The volumes of plastics would be much lower such that much of it could actually be recycled at least once.
The second bit is to always incorporate end of life into a product’s lifecycle. Shrink what’s allowed to go in landfills. Provide a system to reclaim and often re-use damaged or worn out materials. Design things so they can be easily parted (broken up into parts) so that if a battery dies, you take the old ones in for servicing and either get them replaced or refreshed, instead of tossing the entire device.
Groceries? I no longer use bags; I get the store to give me the flats it gets its stuff in, and I fill those up with my groceries. General shopping? I have a set of cloth bags that stay in my car and another I can shove in my pocket when I’m walking.
I’ve got a metal water bottle I take with me when I go places.
Rejecting single use will get us much further than rejecting plastic.
- Comment on I'm looking for an article showing that LLMs don't know how they work internally 4 days ago:
No, they really don’t. It’s a large language model. Input cues instruct it as to which weighted path through the matrix to take. Those paths are complex enough that the human mind can’t hold all the branches and weights at the same time. But there’s no planning going on; the model can’t backtrack a few steps, consider different outcomes and run a meta analysis. Other reasoning models can do that, but not language models; language models are complex predictive translators.
- Comment on I'm looking for an article showing that LLMs don't know how they work internally 4 days ago:
They walk down runways and pose for magazines. Do they reason? Sometimes.
- Comment on I'm looking for an article showing that LLMs don't know how they work internally 4 days ago:
The study being referenced explains in detail why they can’t. So I’d say it’s Anthropic who stated LLMs don’t have the capacity to reason, and that’s what we’re discussing.
The popular media tends to go on and on about conflating AI with AGI and synthetic reasoning.
- Comment on Is there a more convenient way to do this? 5 days ago:
If you have an iPhone, it has a built in translation app too, that does voice to voice with written summaries.
- Comment on [deleted] 2 weeks ago:
It’s like switching from cigarettes to chickory.
- Comment on Has the use of a comma instead of the word "and" in English news headlines always been a thing? 2 weeks ago:
Eats Shoots and Leaves
- Comment on will i fit in more with china/japan or russia or their communities in terms of acceptance/blending in? 2 weeks ago:
East Asian people tend to be more racist than Russians; the Rus themselves tend to feel superior to other Russians, but aside from that superiority, they’re likely to not care much about race.
Chinese and Japanese? Very insular.
Of course, if you’re living outside China/Japan/Russia, you’re going to have different interactions with people from there, many of whom will have left because they rejected the culture.
- Comment on [deleted] 2 weeks ago:
No lol about it. That’s either a thinly veiled death threat, or someone saying that they will keep bullying and harassing until the person goes away.
- Comment on [deleted] 2 weeks ago:
The content is open to interpretation based on context, but the «» indicates that English is likely not the quoter’s primary language.
So based on that, I have to ask: are you asking specifically about the nested idioms in the sentence?
- Comment on (i feel really stupid asking, but what the hell!) could i be of french descent? 2 weeks ago:
Most likely you have ancestors who lived in what is now France. Either that, or you have ancestors whose descendants moved around, and some of them settled in what is now France.
This could have happened before or after France became a nation.
Then again, it’s pretty likely that you have ancestors who lived in Africa.
- Comment on Propublica: US looks to revoke visas of Mexican politicians with alleged cartel ties 2 weeks ago:
“I’m sorry, you can’t come here. We have evidence that proves you have links to Donald Trump.”
- Comment on How are roundabouts made? 2 weeks ago:
Where I live, it’s all planned out in CAD, and then the inner concrete curb is calculated and broken up into sections, according to the plan.
Then the intersection being replaced (because that’s almost always the case) is dug up in the center and the concrete forms put in place and the center backfilled with gravel and dirt.
After the concrete has set, the asphalt machines re-level and pave the surrounding area. After this, brick is often added inside the concrete to provide an extra driving surface for large vehicles. Then plants or statues are added to the centre.
After all this, the lines and markings go on, and they’re just offset from the concrete curb, so nothing fancy needs to be done; the paint truck just has a little arm that stays over the concrete.
- Comment on Microsoft Teams will soon block screen capture during meetings 3 weeks ago:
The important bit:
Those joining from unsupported platforms will be automatically placed in audio-only mode to protect shared content.
And I presume everything except Windows 11 Teams will be considered “unsupported”.
- Comment on China has introduced a drone that flies like a bird. The new invention could turn the drone industry upside down 3 weeks ago:
Imagine a camera on the bottom of the body instead of where the eyes would be. Now have it circle like an eagle, flapping as needed. Telephoto lens.
- Comment on China has introduced a drone that flies like a bird. The new invention could turn the drone industry upside down 3 weeks ago:
The one thing it has going for it is covert surveillance.
- Comment on Should You Cover Your Laptop Camera When It’s Not in Use? 3 weeks ago:
Unfortunately, tape can’t mute the microphones.
- Comment on Trump would cut CISA budget by $491M amid ‘censorship’ claim 4 weeks ago:
Well, DOGE already fired a significant amount of the staff that wasn’t focused on private sector interaction. There’s nobody left who could take time to police online speech. So a large portion of that cut just means that there will be a hiring freeze for positions focused on government security and investigations.
- Comment on Why do we tolerate it that Luigi Mangione is being held in prison. We know its absolutely the least safe place he can be? 4 weeks ago:
The guards and administration want him alive.
People like Epstein die in prison because showing up in court runs the risk of taking down powerful people. People like Luigi always have their day to be dragged through the mud in court before they rot away forever in jail, with random reminders that they’re still alive and suffering.
- Comment on Why do we tolerate it that Luigi Mangione is being held in prison. We know its absolutely the least safe place he can be? 4 weeks ago:
Why are people generally in prison? Usually because they’re violent, drug addicted or at odds with the status quo.
Luigi is in prison accused of killing a man responsible for getting people hooked on drugs, marginalizing the already marginalized and poor, and ruining the lives of millions.
I think the inmates would be more likely to treat him like a hero.
- Comment on Hungary Rejects US Pressure to Reduce Its Chinese Economic Ties 4 weeks ago:
Well that’s an interesting stopped clock….
- Comment on Cuba stages May Day rallies as tensions mount with US 4 weeks ago:
Canada and Cuba need to have some shared celebrations. Maybe invite Mexico too.
- Comment on [deleted] 4 weeks ago:
Disqualifying? No. However, he’d run up against similar prejudices that make it difficult for a woman to win the presidency.
Remember that Pete Buttigieg was in the running at one point.
- Comment on “The masters of the universe are Jews,” former US Senator declares in Israel 5 weeks ago:
The reason for that is the behaviour of the state of Israel and has nothing to do with being Jewish or not.
- Comment on Kremlin says Russia ready for mass mobilization like in WWII 'at any moment' 5 weeks ago:
The US may overshoot when attempting to invade Canada.
- Comment on Why is my community modding everyone who comments? 5 weeks ago:
Just so you know, I’m a fellow Voyager user on lemmy.ca and I don’t see that anywhere I’m not a mod.
- Comment on How would you run a society? 5 weeks ago:
I wouldn’t. I’d set up at least four groups and let them run autonomously from each other. I might not even let them know that there’s other groups on the planet.
More chance of survival if there’s different groups trying different things. Strength in diversity.
- Comment on Does anyone else hate knowing stuff and looking "smart"? 5 weeks ago:
You missed “make my computer work” and “get me movies for free”.
- Comment on Does anyone else hate knowing stuff and looking "smart"? 5 weeks ago:
Knowing stuff can be a curse, especially when you’re 10 steps ahead of everyone else in the room and you know they’re just going to need the time to figure it out on their own.
But being smart means you know how and when to apply your knowledge. So you can provide the information when it’s actually useful and not when it just gets blank stares.
And knowing stuff but NOT talking about it all the time, and not using “told you so” means that when you DO speak, anyone who matters will listen and take you seriously.
I find that slipping useful knowledge into self-deprecating jokes is a useful way to get people to listen to it.
- Comment on Why does it seem like everyone is so good looking and beautiful nowadays? 5 weeks ago:
Of course not. That would be wasteful.