o7___o7

joined 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (3 children)

The word "deranged" is getting a workout lately, ain't it?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

“...this particular bad thing shouldn’t happen to someone like me! it must be that no one else tried hard enough to fix it till now...”

Ugh, but also, good point. It's like Engineer's Disease fucked The Secret and made something even worse.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (4 children)

Jesus Christ.

This guy is a classic example of kook magnetism with a side of Dunning-Kreuger.

Job history is sus as hell too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Barsky

Some dweeb with a journalism degree gets a job at a hedge fund right out of grad school, bombs out, "goes back to" journalism. Newspapers can't get enough of this kind of guy; not surprised TERF Island's paper of record picked him up nor am I surprised that they think RFK Jr might be good actually.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

prediction 1: he dies halfway through. funniest way would be another pandemic gets him

I'm anticipating an Elvis re-enactment.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I hear you. I should clarify, because I didn't do a good job of saying why those things bothered me and nerd-vented instead. I understand that an author doesn't necessarily believe the things used as plot devices in their books. Blindsight a horror/speculative fiction book that asks "what if these horrible things were true" and works out the consequences in an entertaining way. And, no doubt there's absolutely a place for horror in spec fic, but Blindsight just feels off. I think @Soyweiser explained the vibes better than I did. Watts isn't a bad guy. Maybe it's just me. To me, it feels less Hellraiser and more Human Centipede i.e. here's a lurid idea that would be tremendously awful in reality, now buckle up and let's see how it goes to an uncomfortable extent. That's probably just a matter of taste, though.

Unfortunately, the kind of people who read these books don't get that, because media literacy is dead. Everyone I've heard from (online) seems to think that it is saying big deep things that should be taken seriously. It surfaces in discussions about whether or not ChatGPT is "alive" and how it might be alive in a way different from us. Eric Schmidt's recent insane ramblings about LLMs being an "alien intelligence," which don't call Blindsight out directly, certainly resonate the same way.

Maybe I'm being unfair, but it all just goes right up my back.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (6 children)

Oh man where to begin. For starters:

  • Sentience is overrated
  • All communication is manipulative
  • Assumes intelligence has a "value" and that it stacks like a Borderlands damage buff
  • Superintelligence operates in the world like the chaos god Tzeench from WH40K. Humans can't win, because all events are "just as planned"
  • Humanity is therefore gormless and helpless in the face of superintelligence

It just feeds right into all of the TESCREAL nonsense, particularly those parts that devalue the human part of humanity.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (10 children)

Peter Watts's Blindsight is a potent vector for brain worms.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

oh no, nothing is protecting us, you're 100% right there. Eating food is about to become a much more dicey proposition.

It is still safe to assume that the ghouls who run Pfizer and ConAgra will bend their resources to protecting the bag from a disposable nutjob.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago

It's like an old-timey quilt. You have to build in an imperfection to show humility.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

I did not expect Ed to have such a great stage presence. a++ would get mad again

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Just wanted to note that I'm seeing the same thing, something seems to have gotten hung up in the "Active" sorting algorithm.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (10 children)

Hot Take: the damage from RFK Jr will be limited by the fact that he's messing with the money for several large industries, particularly agriculture and pharmaceuticals. They have bottomless pockets and aren't afraid to bribe the bribable. There will be damage, but he'll be crushed like a bug in the end.

Also, he clearly annoys the orange guy, can offer him nothing in return now that the election is over, and has already been the victim of a ritual humiliation (e.g. being forced to partake in a McDonald's meal for the camera), which is the first sign of a Trump guy being de-emphasized.

18
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

Looks like a local boy did good.

I linked the /r/nashville post since it has a good description of the website. Users can see a history of rent prices for a given property and its neighbors, which gives some leverage in negotiations. For more context, local rent prices are down 6% from highs.

I'm curious to see if it takes off, and how robust it is against adversarial tactics like bogus reports and nuisance lawsuits.

EDIT: Fixed "Blocked" issue by linking to archive

EDIT2: Also linked to the correct archive page

9
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

Rojava has built what seems like a robust, equitable, bullshit-resistant mutual aid system in the face of incredible resistance. The idea of a system that can be an autonomous administration in some areas while operating--possibly legally--in parallel with a nation-state government in others is something I find very appealing.

I'm having a hard time understanding how the underlying system works in detail. I think this is largely due to a language barrier.

Any recommendations for Bookchin/Öcalan type reading for beginners? I've procrastinated on it because I hate reading theory (and it's always embarrassing to need hand holding at my age), but needs must. I haven't had much luck turning up English language stuff that lays out how the system works in a way I could share with a casual observer.

174
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

John Mulaney gets paid by prompt fondlers to tell jokes at a party. He spends 45 minutes telling them that they are idiots, which is nice.

 

When you think MURDER, think MARCUS MUNITIONS!

42
submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

(Found by way of @[email protected])

Tweet 1 - Oct 19, 2023:

I'm sorry but if you're paying $200k for a smart contract engineer you're ngmi

"no, the smart contract needs to be perfect and audited" bro hit $100k in daily volume then worry about it being perfect

Tweet 2 - Jun 5, 2024:

tldr; got $40k drained just now

i was submitting OP retro grants app. had to make github repo public for a sec. forgot i had my secret key in there (cuz i'm quite literally retarded, my IQ is 26). got drained of everything.

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