theparadox

@theparadox@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I tire of this life⁩ ⁨⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  At least until the corrupting force of micro-plastic-capitalism causes your house to get seized and you must begin the adventure of a lifetime to retrieve it!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What options of resistance are programmers creating to not submit to AI culture?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t think it’s at the point where it helps people code more easily, but maybe I’m just exclusively experiencing edge cases and turning to it for the wrong uses. I’ve only had failures. Hallucinations that waste my time, and flawed algorithms.

  My favorite was a few weeks ago when I was having a rough day and needed a complicated algorithm to make a decision based on an inputted date. I told it that if I plug in value A to its algorithm, the answer is wrong. It went step by step explaining its "reasoning"and it returned the correct answer and then at the pivotal step it plugged in a different year than was in A, for just that step, and then proceeded to confirm to itself that if you plug in A, you get the right answer.

  Maybe someday it will help, or maybe some problems it is useful for, I’ve just never had that experience.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Metal on the inside, business on the outside⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Lol, my partner loves BTBAM. I was going to mention them as well.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Metal on the inside, business on the outside⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I know Plini, will check out The Omnific!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Metal on the inside, business on the outside⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Another great band!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Metal on the inside, business on the outside⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Arch Echo
  Intervals
  I’m also a fan, I just didn’t want to go too nuts with my list because I needed to get to sleep! I’ll check out the rest.

  Also; I think mentioning Protest the Hero in the context of instrumental music does a HUGE disservice to Rody Walker’s vocal talents and lyrics.

  Agreed. I honestly mentioned PtH just to mention them. I often can’t work to their music because my brain fills in their vocals for me, which is sometimes too distracting.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What options of resistance are programmers creating to not submit to AI culture?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I disagree. Even high level languages will consistently produce the same results. There may be low level differences depending on the compiler and the system’s architecture but if those are consistent you will get the same results.

  AI coding isn’t an extremely human readable higher level programming language. Using an LLM to generate code adds a literal black box and the interpretation of the user and LLM’s human language (which humans can’t even do consistently) to the equation.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Metal on the inside, business on the outside⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I love working with instrumental metal, typically prog or “djenty” stuff, in the background. Sometimes a bit of post-rock.

  I was surprised how many of us there are. A lot of “professionals” I know listen to metal. Engineers, developers, IT folks. It will randomly come up and everyone will say something along the lines of “Oh, really, you too?”

  Been listening to a lot of Their Dogs Were Astronauts recently. In the interest of sharing my personal favorites bands to work to, because I found a number of them from random mentions in forums:
  Their Dogs Were Astronauts (mostly instrumental)
  Wide Eyes (mostly instrumental)
  Caligula’s Horse (instrumental only tracks available)
  Polyphia (mostly instrumental) Protest The Hero (instrumental only tracks available)
  TesseracT (instrumental only tracks available)
  Apocalyptica (started covering Metallica as cellos quartet instrumentals, now has a number of original songs with guest vocalists)
  Collapse Under The Empire (post rock, mostly instrumental)
  Parhelia (post rock, mostly instrumental)
  Opeth (occasional instrumental tracks, started as death metal, evolved into more prog metal)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Simpler times?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  This was kind of me in early high school. There was this badass goth chick who, looking back, was very likely “flirting” with me quite a bit. Admittedly, I had my own absurd style that definitely had shades of goth too.

  I recall she bit my arm so hard she drew blood… on more than one occasion. I absolutely had a thing for her so I didn’t mind. She was a grade or two older and had a boyfriend who was either from another town, dropped out, or already graduated. I’d never met or seen him though. Me and her did hang out a few times in random secluded places after school or during down time but nothing romantic ever happened - just talking.

  Looking back on it as a more mature adult, and vaguely recalling her stories, I am pretty sure she had a fucked up childhood and home life. I wouldn’t be surprised if the boyfriend situation was more fucked up than I realized.

  Shortly after graduating high school, I met some people who actually knew the guy (he had allegedly been their dealer a few years prior lol) and apparently I looked a lot like him, only I was a few inches taller and less skinny. The number of times I was mistaken for him was crazy. I guess she had a type? I hope she’s doing ok.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Could a minority in US Senate essentially disolve the federal state?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Here’s the problem: SCOTUS more or less Ok’d the previously illegal “pocket rescission”.

  This means the administration can literally decide to not fund anything appropriated by Congress. That makes negotiations for funding anything pointless. There has to be a line somewhere. At least (for now I think) the administration can’t fund things without congressional approval. It’s literally the only leverage Democrats have.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨"I’m Canceling My Subscription": Xbox Players Call to "Boycott" Game Pass "Hard" Over 50% Price Increase As Microsoft’s Website Crashes from Mass Cancellations⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Friday, Oct 3 is one of those sales… tomorrow as of this comment.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why Shouldn't I Use A Small Gaming PC⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Three concerns:

  • Heat - Will degrade faster and perform worse than it likely can because it will throttle itself
  • Upgradability - Looks like only SSD and Memory are serviceable.
  • Warranty - How is customer service? I have heard mixed reviews on most mini PC manufacturers.
• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Perfection.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  This reminds me of my elementary school computer teacher. That teacher, and his teaching us LogoWriter, changed my life.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Train your brain⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s also ok if you are using it in an effort to make workers obsolete and upend the entire economy.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How long do we have before PCs get locked bootloaders and corporations ban installation of "non-approved" software? (for context: Google is restricting sideloading worldwide on Android ETA 2027)⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  The situation is actually quite awful. I remember when TPM was palladium and there were apocalyptic talks in tech conferences about it being the end of general purpose computers. The idea that your computer could veto what it was used for.

  The backlash only set them back a few decades apparently. Everyone forgot and now it’s a literal requirement for the latest Windows and in two months they’ll stop supporting the old Windows…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Metal genres⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  It seems Tidal is streaming only. There is Qobuz but I hear them mentioned by people looking for Hi-Fi. Their streaming service seems to pay higher than average.

  I guess I’ll just have to assume the compensation is decent for digital purchases as well. Having Hi-Fi audio quality doesn’t hurt - I can always transcode it if I need to stream or convert it if I need to cram it in a small storage device.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Metal genres⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Random question - anyone know a good site to buy digital music that pays the artists somewhat decently? I’ve got a few artists I need to get albums from after bailing on Spotify and they aren’t on Bandcamp and don’t has album sales linked to their official sites. Hell, even physical copies of some albums are hard to come by in the US.

  I saw “7Digital” mentioned somewhere but I see there multiple listings for the same album at different prices (literally the exact same album, exact same quality) which makes me suspect it’s not as legit as I had hoped.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Young men are struggling in a slowing job market, even if they have college degrees⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s much easier to replace the business/marketing responsibilities with AI.

  Seriously. There is no much of a difference between a business boss confidently making up a solution so as to appear like they know what they are doing and AI hallucinating because it’s a bad look for AI to say “I don’t know”.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Feeling insecure about going to a 'girlie pop' concert as a 30 year old man, am i overthinking it?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Be aware of the venue and how crowded it could be. I’ve been to plenty of metal shows in my youth and been waaay to close the speakers. Surprisingly, what fucked my ears worse than anything was when I got invited by a girl friend to see the band “Live” (known for the song “The Dolphin’s Cry”) at a standing room venue. I was only like 20 but still being packed in tight among countless shrieking girls/young women gave me tinnitus for a week and my hearing has never been the same since.

  Really though, don’t worry about how you are perceived. Just have fun, but maybe bring ear plugs just in case. Hell, I likely should have worn earplugs for most of my concerts regardless.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨It's just loss.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Quick Internet search… ourworldindata.org/wild-mammals-birds-biomass

  They are referring to biomass.

  • 1 cow ~ 1200 lbs / 545 kg

  • 1 rat ~ 0.5 lbs / 0.25 kg

  1 cow ~ 2400 rats by biomass

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨oops⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  My ex would use St. Ives “Apricot Exfoliant” or something, which has powdered apricot pits and walnut shells. Those are waste products that I wouldn’t expect to cause problems but who knows.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The driver for my mouse occupies over 1 gb⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I mean, this was their idea last year…

  Forever “Subscription Mouse”

  I feel like “AI Mouse” is right up their alley.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Nobodywantstoworkanymore!!⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Well, we’d better punish labor be raising interest rates and unemployment. Then they’ll finally be willing to work.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Stung by customer losses, Comcast says all its new plans have unlimited data⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  They still make you jump through hoops to figure out what the upload speeds are for their plans.

  And the upload speeds, at least for me, are utter shit. I had to pay for their highest tier, 1Gb, to get 35Mb up. They upgraded me to 1.3Gb but I haven’t even been able to find upload rates for any plans on their website to see if their new 2Gb plan is any better. I’ve never gotten more than 42Mb up.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Bee Aware!⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Hi 👋 I’m your AI news assistant, trained on Apple Valley News! Have any questions about this story? Tap a prompt below or ask me about anything!

  And a terrible reminder of how things are going for us humans…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What techniques do bad faith users use online to overwhelm other users in online discussion and arguments?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Calling someone “blue MAGA” is the equivalent of saying “no you!”

  However, it’s time to stop pretending like some small group of “MAGA” conservatives have hijacked the party and taken things too far. The monied interests backing Trump are the same as have been backing Republicans for decades. The Federalist Society, the Heritage Foundation, etc. Mitch McConnell has been working to fill the federal courts with Federalist picks for a long time. Picking or just outright manufacturing court cases that would set new precedents. Hell, even those thinktanks are just recent iterations of the same interest’s attempts to shape the government as they see fit. Trump is just a nepo baby turned grifter who got lucky because his grift was actually effective at attracting and controlling the loudest segment of the Republican base.

  Trump just transparently said “As long as I get filthy rich, get to be king, and you keep [metaphorically] sucking my dick, I’ll keep my followers in line and use my position to put your people in power so they can implement your ‘Project 25’ or whatever.” Republicans mostly objected to him because he lacked subtlety and was transparently greedy and petty. He ignored the game of slow, subtle changes and manipulation through “decorum” that Republicans had become experts in. Unfortunately for us, that worked wonders on a subset of the population

  The people who helped those Republican politicians keep getting elected and basically wrote their proposed laws noticed Trump was popular. When it became apparent that Trump’s followers were loyal, the money jumped at the chance to fast track their vision and backed him completely. They helped tweak and hone Trump’s message to amplify his grifter magic. That plus some changes to election laws around the country, gerrymandering, and likely other more covert, extralegal vote manipulation got him back in power.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What techniques do bad faith users use online to overwhelm other users in online discussion and arguments?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  There is a series "The Alt Right Playbook" that covers a lot of bad faith and manipulative tactics, many of which are used online.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Now that's an interesting question⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  When I was a kid my mother’s boyfriend bragged of doing exactly this. He heard them having a conversation in another language at a gas station, approached them, and started speaking to them in German. When they were confused he allegedly said exactly the phrase. You are in America, speak English. He thought it was hysterical.

  He may have been full of shit, but the fact that he felt it worth bragging about said enough about him.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What do you think of anarchism?⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  What if we focused on resolving systemic issues that might provide motivation to prevent crime? What if we focused on rehabilitation instead of punishment for that that commit crimes anyway?

  Sure, you can take any idea to an extreme and shriek things like “authoritarianism!” but that means nothing.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is anyone planning on doing anything about trump creating a concentration camp at guantanamo bay?⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s important that while we are looking for solutions for the now that we also reflect on how it could have been prevented. If this is burned into our memories, maybe next time someone that represents us gains power we’ll force them to prevent something similar from happening again in the future.