andrewrgross
@andrewrgross@slrpnk.net
- Comment on [deleted] 3 days ago:
This isn’t a question most of us have had in the shower. I think that transferring guardianship of children for profit is largely considered unethical. I believe it is legal in some circumstances. I’ve been told that orphanages can sell orphans to other orphanages. I’m not really sure what context you’re asking about, though.
- Comment on Sergey Brin says AGI is within reach if Googlers work 60-hour weeks 5 weeks ago:
I’m a materialist, so I think digital consciousness is totally possible. But then I’m also a bit of an animist too, so maybe you’re right.
I agree overall, though. It’s so much more epistimology than actual technology, and the field seems to be half grifters and half cultists. Which doesn’t really inspire confidence that this is in any way a genuinely useful commercial venture.
- Comment on Sergey Brin says AGI is within reach if Googlers work 60-hour weeks 5 weeks ago:
What is the point, though?
If you made AGI, you’d have a computer that thinks like a person. Okay? We already have minds that think like a person: they’re called people!
I get that there is some belief that if you can make a digital consciousness, you can make a digital super-conciousness, but genuinely stop and ask what the utility is, and it’s equal parts useless and evil.
First, this premise is totally unexamined. Maybe it can think faster or hold more information in mind at one moment, but what basis is there for such a creation actually exceeding the ingenuity of a group of humans working together? What problem is this going to solve? A “cure for cancer”? The bottleneck to cutting cancer isn’t ideas, it’s that cell research takes actual time and money. You need it synthesize molecules and watch cells grow, and pay for lab infrastructure. “Intelligence” isn’t the limiting element!
The primary purpose is just to crater the value of human labor, by replacing human workers with workers with godlike powers of reasoning. Good luck with that. I’m sure they won’t come to the exact reasoning as any exploited worker in 120 nano-seconds.
It’s like Jason’s problem-solving advice in “The Good Place”:
“Any time I had a problem, and I threw a Molotov cocktail… Boom, right away, I had a different problem.”
Sure. Let’s work ourselves to death forTHIS.
- Comment on Are conservatives mad about trans people or they just mad they get walk around out of the closet while they have to leave the white sheets at home? 1 month ago:
I sincerely mean this with no disrespect: while that sounds quite reasonable, it is thoroughly sophomoric and misinformed.
I think your impressions sound like very rational assessments that happen to be unfortunately based on bad underlying information.
Before I elaborate, would you mind telling me: what has been your personal first-hand experience meeting transgender people who are out to you? And what state do you live in?
Also, if you’re comfortable, what would you cite as a source of news and information that has guided your thinking on this issue?
- Comment on Amazon’s killing a feature that let you download and backup Kindle books 1 month ago:
Yep. Not to gloat, but I never touched Amazon’s ebook marketplace.
My current e-reader is a second-hand Kindle that has a permanent message asking if I would just please connect to a WiFi network just one time just for a moment PLEEEEEASE.
I get my books from libgen, Gutenberg, or Kobo, and keep them on my computer. They’re organized in Calibre, and I transfer them over on a USB cable.
- Comment on Poll: What's the cross-over between fans of Trek and solarpunk? 2 months ago:
Oh, you’re right. On my desktop it shows up, but I originally replied on mobile. That explains it.
- Comment on Poll: What's the cross-over between fans of Trek and solarpunk? 2 months ago:
I generally agree, although the use of replicators is a point of departure.
Solarpunk typically emphasizes degrowth and an end to scarcity that comes from a move away from endless consumption.
It’s not a criticism. Just an artistic difference responding to the 60s vs the new century.
- Comment on Poll: What's the cross-over between fans of Trek and solarpunk? 2 months ago:
I would also say that in general, Star Trek seems to steer slightly around discussing the actions needed to proactively achieve their society. It’s an end point, and you can find some info here and there about how they got there, but it’s really treated as the result of a magical tech breakthrough that resolved class conflict with the wave of a hand.
Anyway, solarpunk and Trek are definitely fellow travelers. But their tones aren’t identical.
- Comment on Poll: What's the cross-over between fans of Trek and solarpunk? 2 months ago:
Oh. They’re different servers! That’s actually a very clever joke. I’m sorry I didn’t pay close enough attention to appreciate it.
That got a chuckle out of me. Heh.
- Comment on Poll: What's the cross-over between fans of Trek and solarpunk? 2 months ago:
I think you replied to yourself…
It’s not quite: a key feature of solarpunk is nature, and our relationship to it. Trek is definitely aligned in concept, but aside from specific episodes, our relationship with nature is not a central theme.
- Submitted 2 months ago to startrek@startrek.website | 17 comments
- Comment on ‘Lower Decks’ Series Finale “The New Next Generation” Review, Plus Mike McMahan Interview 3 months ago:
I largely reject the notion of “canon”.
Others can enjoy canon if they like, but stories don’t need it, and plenty of great ones have well known, obvious paradoxes.
I’ll just add the famous Dwayne McDuffie piece on this, “Six degrees of St. Elsewhere”. RIP McDuffie.
- Comment on If we're living in a simulation, why would the simulation creators allow the sims to ponder and speculate whether or not they live in a simulation? 3 months ago:
I like this observation a lot. Because I was going to say that if we couldn’t conceive of a simulation, we’d probably just speculate about the closest thing we could imagine.
- Comment on Technology Connections' thoughts on Mastodon 4 months ago:
I’m sorry he hasn’t liked it, but critique is how we get better. Hope Mastodon keeps growing.
- Comment on Linus Torvalds affirms expulsion of Russian maintainers 5 months ago:
Honestly, that’s the main thing I was thinking.
- Comment on 3D Printable Subaru Impreza 22B 5 months ago:
Damn, that’s rad as fuck
- Comment on NYCC exclusive new Lower Decks clip 5 months ago:
I’m sure whatever it is it’ll be very fun and funny. I’m looking forward to this.
- Comment on New "Lower Decks" poster 5 months ago:
This is very stupid in the best possible way
- Comment on New "Lower Decks" poster 5 months ago:
Hell yeah baby
- Comment on Why didn't the Discovery show-runners believe in the Federation? 5 months ago:
I think that as someone else pointed out, this is just a reflection of their tastes.
In a long running series like this, it’s not surprising that when every show is trying to find new conceptual territory, someone would go this way.
- Comment on Phonebooks 6 months ago:
Oh! Apologies, I just saw that someone else said something relevant and decided to post my comment as a reply to them instead of a top level comment. Sorry for the confusion!
- Comment on Phonebooks 6 months ago:
I’m from Pittsburgh. I think we ran a cross country meet in Hershey once.
The amusement park and factory tour are all quite charming. It’s hard to recommend one make a dedicated trip, but if anyone is ever on a road trip nearby, it’s worth the detour to stop by for a day.
Then again, my recommendation is 20 years old. It could be either better or worse now.
- Comment on Phonebooks 6 months ago:
They were starting by putting a finger in zero and then dragging to the number. And for zero they were dragging all the way to the stop.
You’re supposed to dial by putting a finger in each number hole and then dragging to the stop. So they dialed zero correctly, but only zero.
- Comment on Phonebooks 6 months ago:
I had one in my room! Such a good feel to it. Same with picking up and hanging up!
This was in the early 2000s, btw. They were already a relics, but landlines were still commonly used when I was in high school, so and it had such a handsome look to it and felt great to use. I have long thought that a product that would do incredibly well would be a cell phone charging dock where you put your phone in and while it’s charging it just acts like a landline rotary phone. The user experience is very, very gratifying, and if you’ve ever tried to hold a call while your phone is plugged into the wall you know how much better a solid headset with a coil wire would feel than that.
- Comment on Phonebooks 6 months ago:
I’m 38. I remember a few times when I was a kid needed to call a classmate urgently. Like, maybe i needed to know what math problems we were assigned as homework. For folks I knew well, I might have their number written down in a book in a desk drawer, but for anyone else I would have to look up their last name in the white pages and read down a list trying to find the right number.
Was their dad’s name Prescott? No, that’s not an ethnic match. Here’s a David. That sounds right. Oh! And it’s on Beacon! That’s the right neighborhood! That’s got to be it!
I think about it all the time. You could find your teacher’s house and just go drop off a fruit basket or something if you wanted. It was crazy! It was just assumed that if someone wanted to find your house it was probably for a sensible reason. Why otherwise? If you’re paranoid or a public figure then maybe you’d choose to be unlisted, but for anyone else there’s no point in it.
Simpler times, for sure. I’d still like to go back. I think it was worth it. The alternative doesn’t seem to work. We’re all getting constantly harassed with robo calls and stalked on line. At this point, the only people who don’t know where we live are the ones who might drop off a casserole. We’ve gained nothing.
- Comment on Stem cells reverse woman’s diabetes — a world first 6 months ago:
This is so exciting. I worked in a lab where we were trying to do this, and so I was very aware what a gold rush we were in. I’m so glad to see that it’s actually happening.
This is truly a watershed moment in science. This is going to mark a major turning point in cellular medicine from theory to commonplace. Eventually, this will end the pharma industry’s insulin cash cow.
But it’s even bigger than that. Because once we can engineer cells that produce a natural product, the next step is to engineer cells that produce synthetic medicines. Antidepressants, birth control, hormones, weight loss drugs, boner pills… The frontier is huge, lucrative, financially disruptive for pharma companies and life changing for patients. This is a big moment in history, and we all need to be fighting harder than ever to end for-profit healthcare. Otherwise we’re going to end up with subscription licenses to our own bodies.