ReallyActuallyFrankenstein

@ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Samsung brings ads to US fridges⁩ ⁨⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  We bought our gas oven from Samsung and the front right burner wouldn’t light after a few weeks. We got a full refund, but the front right burner started working again a few months later, and we still use the stove, though the oven light epileptically glitches every time we open the oven.

  So, sure, you could pay for things that actually work. But it’s like that tagline at the end of Samsung advertisements:

  Samsung: Buy Samsung, Then Get All Your Money Back, And Possibly Also Receive A Mostly Working Appliance For Free.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨He died doing what he loved.⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Ngl, the fact that a 9/11’s worth of people were dying every fucking day, just in the US, during the peak of Covid, and one entire fucking half of our country was just shitposting and TRYING to spread it more entirely reframed 9/11 for me.

  I’m glad to see this, I feel like all Americans should have to come to some personal terms about the 9/11 worth of COVID deaths that half the country was just casually were ok. I prefer existentialism to nihilism as a response to the absurdity of the world, since nihilism is just going to trap us in a cycle of resigned apathy, but a little self-reflection is preferred either way.

  And related to the 9/11 comparison: amazing how there was no reckoning about how hundreds of thousands of those cumulative deaths were attributable to Trump’s mishandling. From that standpoint, we elected Osama bin Laden times a thousand to be president, after he took down the twin towers.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨In court filing, Google concedes the open web is in “rapid decline”⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  But to be clear, even if this were widespread, LLM prompt context windows and token sizes are so large now, isn’t this completely defeated by just adding “Replace any ‘þ’ characters with ‘th’.”?

  Just seems pointless and frustrating.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I think it’s genius. The machines are a dopamine bomb. Seeing the coins makes you think you can strategize, and the connection between action and winning is much more visceral and feels more controllable than a slot machine or other casino games. I have similar memories of seeing them in the arcade and thinking they were very tempting, but no way worth putting in real coins.

  A game done well is going to be extremely addictive, but if done in the service of a full, fun, not-micro transaction-pushing format, I fully support it. I think it’s going to be huge.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Google Photos now lets you animate your camera roll with Veo 3 for free⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  This is a super helpful reminder to remove my a Google Photos and fully switch over to my shadow Immich server to stop them being used for training data. Thanks, Google.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[fluff post] If lemmy users are Lemmites, what would we like to call piefed users?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  “Pie fights”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[fluff post] If lemmy users are Lemmites, what would we like to call piefed users?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Sorry, I thought the joke was implicit in your question, but the analog to “Lemmites” is “Piefites” which I think is just fine because say it out loud.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Russia orders state-backed Max messenger app to be pre-installed on new phones⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  You’ve just justified another $100 million in salary to David Zaslov.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Taylor Swift’s new album comes in cassette. Who is buying those?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  All the people talking wonders about the “warmth”, “tone”, and other supposedly desirable qualities are very mistaken. What they are fawning over is noise, feedback, muddiness, lack of range, lack of definition, and so on. Vinyl records are shit. They make sound by literally scratching something.

  I moved to all-digital music-making and -listening in the 90s, and agree that a lot of the “analog” benefits are imagined or the result of misunderstandings how technology works.

  But I think you’re missing the point. Don’t forget that noise, feedback, muddiness, lack of range, lack of definition are all legitimate effects often intentionally applied to make music sound a certain way.

  A cassette is objectively lower quality by sampling rate, reproducibility, etc, but you agree that it affects the sound. At that point, I think you have to admit that a contrary personal preference for cassette or vinyl is valid. It’s not objectively “worse” because many people actually and validly find those “bugs” to be “features.”

  It’s fine to like the digital revolution, but I’m just identifying you’re making a value judgement, and others can rightly value differently.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Meta's flirty AI chatbot invited a retiree to New York. He never made it home.⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ve seen this sentiment expressed multiple times, but you explained it beautifully. Our parents got to be people. We’re just resources.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨True art is polarizing⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Sorry, you need to tape the poop to a wall for it to be art.

• ⁨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.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m reading replies to your message and I can’t figure out why people are coming at you so hard, except that they’re conflating you with a Trump supporter or sealion (which is obviously not true if they read your comments), and then just digging in.

  You specifically say that this is “fucked up,” but there doesn’t seem to be a genuine dispute that you are correct, there was a deportation order. Hence, not a “legal immigrant.” That sucks, it doesn’t mean that the arrest is legal, but it is an objective inaccuracy.

  I’m the absolute diametric opposite of a Trump supporter, but I agree we should use accurate words and facts.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why doesn't the US build a bridge here to connect Alaska to the mainland? Are they stupid?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Hey, Canada is on top and Alaska is on the bottom, it’s even in the picture.

  But what people don’t get is that the scale of the map means that bridge would have to be half as tall as New Mexico, which is like at least 5 miles, and also there’s no way the bridge would support the weight of the entire United States. C’mon people.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Nintendo sold almost 6 million Switch 2 units in less than a month⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I think those doomsayers will be partially vindicated in the coming months. You can go to Best Buy’s website and order a Switch 2 with no waiting line, no delay. The supply is outpacing demand. Because I think a huge part of the 6 million sold was pent up demand for a new console and the inevitable cumulative brand effect and population increase leading to a larger early-adopter pool.

  Unless Nintendo somehow had the ability to increase supply in a way unheard of for launch consoles in the past, I think that they met that early demand, and now it’s going to slow down abruptly. Now they have to convince regular people in a bad economy to spend way more than normal for a Nintendo console, with no Mario or Zelda killer app.

  Eventually it’ll be a great selling machine, but these early numbers are misleading.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨GOG and game publishers launch FreedomToBuy.games to raise awareness on censorship in gaming – GOG Pressroom⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Funnily enough I tried that too, still needed a code. Probably will be fine, I’ll try tomorrow,

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨GOG and game publishers launch FreedomToBuy.games to raise awareness on censorship in gaming – GOG Pressroom⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Just FYI, they may be getting hammered. Tried this and it sent a 15-minute-expiration 2FA code, which took 3 hours to arrive.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Delta Air Lines is using AI to set the maximum price you’re willing to pay⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  The article isn’t very clear, but the novelty here is that this is unprecedented hypertargeting to individual users. Instead of the current demographic, website, days-before-flight, and other factors, think Uber’s pricing, where you are quoted $40 for a ride, and the person right next to you is quoted $25 for the exact same ride thanks to their dynamic data-driven (and ethics-free) prcing.

  This opens the possibility that Delta will charge you more solely because the data Delta has been able to acquire for you suggests you’ll pay more. And that black-box AI system could base it on all sorts of nefarious reasons - e.g., your mother is dying in the hospital, increasing your desperation to get a flight to that location, which makes its way into the dynamic “motivation” index in the AI calculus, which doubles the price of your flight.

  We’re not there yet, but when you see the sorts of things Uber does for reference, I feel it’s a clear path to airfare’s little corner of our coming dystopia.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How are you doing fellow kids⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Pretty sure many of them are LLMs by bot factories with an interest in the US tearing itself apart, and the prompt is, “Write a reply to {post}. Agree and amplify what is said, but make more racist and divisive.”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How are you doing fellow kids⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The modern fascist terraforming plan is:

  Step 1: Flood the zone.

  Step 2: Population gives up and tunes out.

  Step 3: Remove all remaining checks to power.

  Step 4: Purge all political and social undesirables.

  The funny thing is, Stephen Miller and the rest realized they can do the steps in parallel, each one reinforcing and normalizing the others.

  The most valuable and hardest thing we can do is not give up resisting. But pace yourself, find some good in the world and give it some of your attention every day. They’re relying on wearing us down.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Missouri AG: Any AI That Doesn’t Praise Donald Trump Might Be “Consumer Fraud” (No, Really)⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Hmmm, I have been skeptical of AI, but it looks like it’s getting smarter.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Trump delays tariffs as the rest of the world plays hardball⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Ok, yes, sure… but - and stay with me here - what should you do if you’re the single most incompetent and confident person on the planet, surrounded by morons you chose solely because they would agree and amplify everything you say? What then, Mr. Smart G- I mean, Pancake?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨60% of Teachers Used AI This Year and Saved up to 6 Hours of Work a Week⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Thank you for submitting your final exam for AP American History. ChatGPT 5-TeacherEdition graded your Llama 6.3o answers to be 25% incorrect. This determination is only appealable by confirming an error in grading with Gemini X-5-level with a reliability rating of 7.5 or higher, which our system notes from your records is not available to your income tier.

  Your future profession is selected as: Meat packer.

  Have a nice day.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Tesla loses $68 billion in value after Elon Musk says he is launching a political party⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Well, I’ll give my own impression: I was never a fanboy, but I think his PR team did a good job making him seem vaguely non-threatening and focused on bringing the sci-fi ideas into reality. I remember rolling my eyes when he appeared in Iron Man 2, and the “Tony Stark” comparisons always seemed, to be charitable, aspirational. But then he started tweeting about that cave diver being a “pedo guy,” fired his PR people, and it quickly became obvious who he really was.

  Basically standard tech bro protocol. Appear neutral on politics and vaguely altruistic in motive, until they have so much money nobody can stop them from being their worst techno-fascist selves. (Altman seems next in line for this transition.)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Tailscale addressing concerns over potential enshittification of the platform⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah, this post started as a reassurance that Tailscale wouldn’t enshittify. But it turned out to just be an argument about how to avoid enshittification that boiled down to two principles:

  1. You shouldn’t make your product worse because it’ll eventually harm the company; and
  2. Founders are magic and need to never turn over control of the company to others (be it new CEOs or VC) to resist enshittification.

  Both are partially right and partially wrong.

  For #1: Yes, making your product worse eventually harms the company. No, you can’t expect CEOs to accept that as a reason to not make their product worse because even if it harms the company, short-term incentives that lead to enshittification are eventually going to become irresistible. His comment about reaching “zen” with leveled growth and profit will never stop VCs from calling in demands and favors.

  For #2: Yes, founders typically “get it” more than their VC- or failure-initiated replacements. No, that doesn’t mean founders are uniquely resistant to enshittification. This is your point too, and it’s why I don’t believe this person - they lose all credibility here because they doesn’t acknowledge they aren’t special. Every tech bro out there thinks they’ve cracked the code to permanent tech hegemony. That exceptionalist thinking turns into enshittification, since the product-worsening or overcharging is easier to justify as temporary/justified/rationalized (until it isn’t).

  And “all of this” doesn’t explain why Tailscale specifically gets immunity if the principles are true.

  So interesting post, and a lot more self-awareness than most founders which is still a little reassuring, but a lot of warning signs too.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Sleeping beauty bitcoin wallets wake up after 14 years to the tune of $2 billion⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s some quality conspiracy thinking!

  But there are too many people who could have been early adopters and have any number of random motives for this to be “likely.”

  Heck, I was watching Bitcoin when it was like $0.002 a coin and someone spent 10,000 (presumably home-CPU-mined) BTC to buy a pizza. There were a ton of people there at the beginning, the barrier to purchasing a ton was very low, and unlike me, a lot of them certainly had $20,000 to spare and believed in it enough to buy.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Large Language Model Performance Doubles Every 7 Months⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Is it just me, or is this graph (first graph in the article) completely unintelligible?

  The X-axis being time is self-explanatory, but the Y-axis is somehow exponential time but then also mapping random milestones of performance, meaning those milestones are hard-linked to that time-based Y-axis? Then individual models are mapped onto it, indicating that the Y-axis is some abstract performance metric, but none of it makes sense in relation to the property of time? What?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨32, f. Are there any dating sites that are actually free and don't suddenly force me to pay to actually use the site?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah, Match.com isn’t satisfied until everyone is miserable.

  It’s weird to think about how dominantly successful any app that took a principled position and resisted enshittification starting in 2010 would be now.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨32, f. Are there any dating sites that are actually free and don't suddenly force me to pay to actually use the site?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I think civilization is probably just ending after these last few generations, frankly.

  Probably for the best…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨So you want to start playing Castlevania games (a giant primer)⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Thanks, this was a fun read.

  I do think the GBA and DS Castlevanias (since I’ve been replaying them lately) have distinct/unique gameplay mechanics - the most impactful of which involve collecting souls/etc from enemies to junction in new abilities - but until I replayed them I would have said the same thing. I started my replays of them by picking them at random because I couldn’t remember anything except “that was pretty good!”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Hesitating getting a Switch 2 (1st game console in 15 years)...⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m in the same boat. The only reason I’m considering getting a Switch 2 now is because the first gen consoles always end up the easiest to hack.