Spzi

@Spzi@lemm.ee

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨MBFC Credibility - High⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Quality comment, well said.

  I’m not sure (take that literally, please) wether both causes deserve to be treated as equals, but I can very much vibe with the general spirit of your comment. That’s what I had in mind when writing the last paragraph of my previous comment.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨MBFC Credibility - High⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  This is like if Hezbollah bombed Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv. And then Hezbollah starts bombing israeli airports “pre-emptively” because “an israeli attack” (retaliation) is coming.

  Yes, exactly. They had good reasons to assume the other side is angry and might do something violent, because they themselves just did something very violent to them! So to protect themselves, they deprive their opponents of means of retaliation. Pre-empting the retaliation.

  Hitting someone and then hitting them again because you expect them to hit back does not seem very " self defensy" or “pre-emptive” te me.

  I get you. I would totally agree if this was about a school dispute. However in war, there are a number of things which can be done in self defense or to pre-empt an enemy attack which might seem counterintuitive at first, like for example destroying your own infrastructure, or investing in weapons with the intent to never use them.

  In war, an attacker can very well attack again to defend themselves and/or to pre-empt the enemy reaction.

  If you could hire one of two generals to protect your country; one which considers pre-emptive follow-up attacks and one who would rather let the other side strike back because it seems fair, who would you hire?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨MBFC Credibility - High⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  You expect a military force to sit tight, not move, not shoot, while they know the enemy is about to attack?

  Because, the enemy “is defending itself”?

  I’d love to hear that rally speech with which you would motivate your soldiers to just eat incoming rockets without using the tools they have to prevent being attacked.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨MBFC Credibility - High⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The strikes are only pre-emptive if we put on white-nationalism glasses and take away Lebanon’s right to defend itself. Israel attacked Beirut first.

  I guess as always with language, there are many possible interpretations. Yours is one, that’s right.

  To me, it came somewhat surprising to see you connected “pre-emptive” to moral judgements, or to the question who attacked “first” (which is a controversial and potentially infinite topic to track the actual honest true ‘first’ origin).

  Another interpretation is just military doctrine. The best defense is a good offense. Who cares who started the fight.

  In this interpretation, the IDF felt there might be an attack incoming, and prevented it’s adversary from doing so by striking first.

  Much like Hezbollah (or any other military force) would gladly pre-emptively strike their foe to protect their own troops. Doesn’t say anything about who started the overall conflict or even who’s right.

  You still have a point; by highlighting the reasons behind the strike, and painting it as a protective measure, it probably makes it easier for the reader to sympathize.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How many tries do you give a new friend?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Usually I stop after 2 or 3 attempts.

  You could also ask him directly. Maybe he’s generally not interested in lunching together, or he was just too busy to respond, or whatever. These questions can be awkward, but also deepen a friendship. A risk-reward mechanic in the game of life.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When people say two things "cannot be compared", they had to compare them to come to this conclusion. Are 'dissimilar' or 'unequal' better words?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Hehe, right! (technically). Context matters! When talking about fruit, people usually don’t include stellar objects when weighing their options. Still true when taking in consideration that “apples to oranges” is usually metaphorical and not really about fruit.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When people say two things "cannot be compared", they had to compare them to come to this conclusion. Are 'dissimilar' or 'unequal' better words?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I like that, especially this insight:

  when two things have very few attributes in common or the attributes they can be compared on are very broad, general or abstract, it is harder to compare them.

  ---

  A melon and a pogo stick are harder to compare, for their defining attributes hardly overlap except on a very abstract way.

  Good on you to say “harder to compare” :D

  it’s all semantic subjectivity. Poetry compares dissimilar things and equates unequal concepts all the time.

  Another thing worthwhile to point out; subjectivity. I guess that part bothered me too. “cannot be compared” attempts to establish some kind of objective truth, whereas it only can be a subjective opinion.

  The reference to poetry was nice, too.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When people say two things "cannot be compared", they had to compare them to come to this conclusion. Are 'dissimilar' or 'unequal' better words?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  My point works just as well with an arbitrary amount of options. Someone could say “These quintillion things cannot be compared”.

  The number of options is irrelevant to what I tried to address. Though my examples were only pairs, so sorry for causing confusion.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When people say two things "cannot be compared", they had to compare them to come to this conclusion. Are 'dissimilar' or 'unequal' better words?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Thanks for taking the time to write this detailed reply. I guess you’re right about the equivocation and I can see the irony :D

  Though I have not fully understood yet. Following your example, the two different concepts are …

  • in case A, we compare the value of a property (different top speed)
  • in case B, we compare the purpose or context-dependend usefulness of an attribute (different types of liquid container holders)

  What blocks me from fully agreeing is that still, both are comparisons. And they don’t feel so different to me that I would call them different concepts. When I look up examples for equivocations, those do feel very different to me.

  I still guess you’re right. If you (or someone else) could help me see the fallacy, I’d appreciate.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When people say two things "cannot be compared", they had to compare them to come to this conclusion. Are 'dissimilar' or 'unequal' better words?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Agreed, yeah. Guess I was taking the word too literally.

• When people say two things "cannot be compared", they had to compare them to come to this conclusion. Are 'dissimilar' or 'unequal' better words?
  Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ to ⁨showerthoughts@lemmy.world⁩ | ⁨25⁩ ⁨comments⁩
• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨fossil fuels⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  While you guys kind of have a point, the specific argument you put forward is rather weak. Transportation accounts for an almost negligible part of the overall emissions of a product. Bulk freight cargo is super efficient. If you want to moan about transportation emissions, look at single people sitting in tons of steel making short trips.

  The point you still have is that emissions are caused in the process of satisfying a demand. Consumers do have a partial responsibility. However I would object in that the problem cannot be solved from the consumer’s position. It is a market failure. Markets have no incentive to internalize their externalities, that has to come from a different place; e.g. politics. Carbon pricing is an interesting mechanic, since it utilizes that same argument for good.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨fossil fuels⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s true. A lot more could be said about this, on various levels in various directions. Ultimately I don’t think this systemic crisis can be solved on a consumer level. The attempt leads to the status quo; different subcultures with some people paying extra to calm their consciousness, while most don’t care or cannot afford. I’m afraid if we try to work with individual sacrifice against economic incentives, the latter will win.

  It’s also true that some companies use their economic power as a political lever, to influence legislation in their favor. Or as a societal lever, to sway public opinion in their favor. I guess this meme here tries to address that. I honor the motive. Just the chosen vehicle is broken. With mountains of evidence supporting the cause, however, there are plenty of other, perfectly fine vehicles available.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨fossil fuels⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  This meme is so wrong it is deliberate misinformation. The Guardian made an article which is probably this meme’s source. It even linked to the original source, the Carbon Majors Report. But blatantly misquoted the CMR. For example, CMR says something like “100 fossil fuel producers responsible for 71% of industrial GHG emissions”, but The Guardian (and meme posters) omit the italic bits.

  What do they mean with producers? Not companies like Apple or Heinz, but simply organizations which produce fossil fuels. Duh. Shell, BP, but also entities like China’s coal sector (which they count as one producer, although it consists of many entities). CMR also states 3rd type emissions are included. Which means emissions caused by “using” their “products”, e.g. you burning gasoline in your car.

  So yes, the downvoted guy saying “Consumer emissions and corporate emissions are the same emissions” is pretty spot on in this case, albeit most likely by accident. Rejected not for being wrong, but for not fitting into a narrative, which I call the wrong reasons. Please check your sources before posting. We live in a post-factual world where only narratives count and truth is just another feeling, because of “journalism” and reposts like this. Which is the infuriating part in this particular case. I guess you want to spread awareness about the climate crisis, which is good, but you cannot do so by propagandizing science and spreading lies.

  All that from the top of my head. Both the ominous TG article and the fairly short report are easy to find. In just a couple of minutes you can check and confirm how criminally misquoted it was.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Or we could do metric time⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Eventually, things settle at almost perfect ratios. Everything between creates some kind of friction.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨this one goes out to the arts & humanities⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  What does it even mean to bruteforce creating art? Trying all the possible prompts to some image model?

  Doesn’t have to be that random, but can be. Here, I wrote: “throw loads of computation power, gazillions of try & error, petabytes of data including human opinions”.

  The approach people take to learning or applying a skill like painting is not bruteforcing, there is actual structure and method to it.

  Ok, but isn’t that rather an argument that it can eventually be mastered by a machine? They excel at applying structure and method, with far more accuracy (or the precise amount of desired randomness) and speed than we can.

  The idea of brute forcing art comes down to philosophical questions. Do we have some immaterial genie in us, which cannot be seen and described by science, which cannot be recreated by engineers? Engeniers, lol. Is art something which depends on who created it, or does it depend on who views it?

  Either way what I meant is that it is thinkable that more computation power and better algorithms bring machines closer to being art creators, although some humans surely will reject that solely based on them being machines. Time will tell.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨this one goes out to the arts & humanities⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That depends on things we don’t know yet. If it can be brute forced (throw loads of computation power, gazillions of try & error, petabytes of data including human opinions), then yes, “lots of work” can be an equivalent.

  If it does not, we have a mystery to solve. Where does this magic come from? It cannot be broken down into data and algorithms, but still emerges in the material world? How? And what is it, if not dependent on knowledge stored in matter?

  On the other hand, how do humans come up with good, meaningful art? Talent Practice. Isn’t that just another equivalent of “lots of work”? This magic depends on many learned data points and acquired algorithms, executed by human brains.

  There also is survivor bias. Millions of people practice art, but only a tiny fraction is recognized as artists (if you ask the magazines and wallets). Would we apply the same measure to computer generated art, or would we expect them to shine in every instance?

  As “good, meaningful art” still lacks a good, meaningful definition, I can see humans moving the goalpost as technology progresses, so that it always remains a human domain. We just like to feel special and have a hard time accepting humiliations like being pushed out of the center of the solar system, or placed on one random planet among billion others, or being just one of many animal species.

  Or maybe we are unique in this case. We’ll probably be wiser in a few decades.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⌛⌛⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  This ambiguity is what I had in mind when I read “let me be clear”. Though now I get it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨xkcd #2908: Moon Armor Index⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  There’s a famous hill-top cemetery in the city, and sure enough I saw basically all of my classmates there too

  That was an unexpected dark turn. Glad you live to tell their story!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Can you help me with my JavaScript issue?⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  You can use more debug outputs (log(…)) to narrow it down. Challenge your assumptions! If necessary, check line by line if all the variables still behave as expected. Or use a debugger if available/familiar.

  This takes a few minutes tops and guarantees you to find at which line the actual behaviour diverts from your expectations. Then, you can make a more precise search. But usually the solution is obvious once you have found the precise cause.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨FediForum, an online unconference for discussing the future of the Fediverse, 19-20 March⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  From the title, I had a question and found the answer in the FAQ:

  What’s an unconference?

  An unconference is a conference in which the participants – rather than the organizers – decide which sessions happen each day and on which topics. In the many years we have been organizing unconferences, we have found that for complex subjects like the Fediverse, attendees get more value (and fun!) out of unconferences than from traditional conferences. Sounds disorganized? It did to us, too, until we actually experienced our first one. So don’t worry, it will be fine :-)

  Here are some suggestions for how to prepare for an unconference.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨xkcd #221: Random Number (9 Nov 2007)⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s already pretty cool! It surely does generate very random numbers. I still think you can take it a step – or a random number of steps, hah! – further by repeating the process a random number of times! Maybe this way we can reach maximum randomness. Probably need to reroll the number until it’s big enough for that.

  I would also check if the result is 4. If it’s 4, it should be discarded. 4 is not an actual random number but a joke random number from a comic.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨xkcd #173: Movie Seating (20 Oct 2006)⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  And group people based on how loud their snacks are.

  Also, am I the only one hating that person who keeps talking how the seating is suboptimal while everyone else tries to watch the movie?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do some websites have a "Continue Reading" button?⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Just a guess: to prevent bots from scraping the full content?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Six months after the initial reddit surge (graphs)⁩ ⁨⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I find the plateau quite puzzling (lemmy.world, but the total looks very similar):

  Image

  There was quite a steep increase, and then it suddenly stopped.

  I would rather expect it to slow down, than to stop that abruptly.

  We’re looking at a fairly large group of people making a decision to create an account on Lemmy. There are plenty of reasons to expect it to be fuzzy. Even if they all responded to one particular event in time, some would have done so immediately, others the next day, few more even later.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Six months after the initial reddit surge (graphs)⁩ ⁨⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yes, that’s true, but the number probably actually declined for a similar reason.

  Some created multiple accounts, others tried multiple platforms. Some were happy with lemmy and stayed, others did not.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Scientist Discover How to Convert CO2 into Powder That Can Be Stored for Decades⁩ ⁨⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Thus wouldn’t it be feasible to push that energy back in or back out using methods that may use the same amount of energy, though yield far greater results?

  Yes, it’s possible to improve efficiency, up to a limit set by thermodynamics. In this video, a scientist (granted, astrophysicist) talks about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBN9JeX3iDs

  Even if we built a 100% efficiency direct air capture system (which is impossible) to get down to 450 PPM CO2 levels by 2050, which is frankly too much already, and even in the more optimistic emission scenario – all of that still demands roughly 5% of the planet’s entire electricity production to be diverted to these machines.

  While capture is necessary, it will physically not suffice. We have to stop emitting more; keep fossil fuels in the ground.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Bring Karma back (if you want, no hard feelings pls), but without toxicity (maybe)!⁩ ⁨⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Right, it does display a karma value in the user profile page (not my own, but for others). Regardless from which instance that user is.

  It does not display user karma in threads, regardless on which instance. Does your experience differ?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Bring Karma back (if you want, no hard feelings pls), but without toxicity (maybe)!⁩ ⁨⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Lemmy.ml Karma Calculator

  Display Lemmy.ml Karma.

  Seems to not be so useful outside of lemmy.ml

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Bring Karma back (if you want, no hard feelings pls), but without toxicity (maybe)!⁩ ⁨⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Reddit was using karma for a long time and people stayed. The exodus happened when reddit announced charging for using their API, and everything that came along. Karma was no significant part of that story.