andrewrgross
@andrewrgross@slrpnk.net
- Comment on How do other countries view American super hero movie's always putting the threat in new york or whatever? Instead of their own country and have their own superheroes? 22 hours ago:
What’s your personal media diet? Do you like similar adventure stories that are more local, or is that just not your thing overall?
- Comment on If someone was shrunk down to the size of an ant would they be able to make a little ant sized campfire with the same principles? Does it scale like that? 1 week ago:
I’ve never heard that before! It’s interesting.
I think it depends a ton on environmental conditions. Could combustion on planets with different gravity and pressure take place at different scales?
- Comment on Did Iran really strike first without a reason or is it BS (like I think it is) and the US is saying they struck first? 1 week ago:
What’re your recs? I used to sometimes check out the BBC but at some point they paywalled it. I like the Guardian, but I’d be glad for more suggestions.
I meant to say that Al Jazeera’s bais leans against the US, which is useful for getting alternative takes.
- Comment on Did Iran really strike first without a reason or is it BS (like I think it is) and the US is saying they struck first? 1 week ago:
I thought it was implied in my comment that I was saying that it’s biased in more or less the other direction, but I realize I should’ve written that out.
- Comment on Did Iran really strike first without a reason or is it BS (like I think it is) and the US is saying they struck first? 1 week ago:
I wasn’t really sure, so I went looking to Al Jazeera:
aljazeera.com/…/why-have-us-iran-strikes-resumed-…
According to their reporting, all sides have exercised some violence throughout the ceasefire, but the most recent clash was primarily initiated by ships traveling in an area that Iran had labeled a no-go zone. The ships refused to comply with orders to change course, so Iran shot at them.
In the future if you have questions about what’s going on in the Middle East and are looking for a version that isn’t heavily biased towards US propaganda, Al Jazeera is a pretty reliable source.
- Comment on Is it really possible that the Maggats will keep Mitch McConell on life support until the midterms? Or will they just let him die and try a sympathy vote? 1 week ago:
I agree, although I don’t think the solution is to just demand that they have to be there for every vote, even when they’re incapable of doing so. I think they should have second-in-commandd, like a vice president or lieutenant governor.
Sometimes folks get sick. Sometimes they have to travel. Sometimes they die in office! We should just recognize that and allow them to appoint a surrogate to do these things when they can’t.
- Comment on Is it really possible that the Maggats will keep Mitch McConell on life support until the midterms? Or will they just let him die and try a sympathy vote? 1 week ago:
Oh he dead
Joking aside, I think he’s alive, but probably is no longer capable of walking or taking coherently. But that’s fine, senators didn’t need to be able to do any of that stuff to serve their corporate functions. My senator was Diane Feinstien: she was basically a vegetable for something like her last two it three years in office.
- Comment on Is it really possible that the Maggats will keep Mitch McConell on life support until the midterms? Or will they just let him die and try a sympathy vote? 1 week ago:
Wha happen
- Comment on How does a teenager learn to "eat out" a women without doing it like a dog at a water bowl? 1 week ago:
- Comment on How does a teenager learn to "eat out" a women without doing it like a dog at a water bowl? 1 week ago:
Well then your doubt is misplaced!
You know what most people love? Receiving oral the way they like it. It’s not a hard sell.
- Comment on What should I do with boxes of old photos? 1 week ago:
What are they photos of? Who took them? This seems relevant.
- Comment on How tf do people who work 8-5 M-F get any life done? 5 weeks ago:
Yeah, this. You schedule of days or you ask your boss if it’s cool if you come in at 10 so you can get a new glasses prescription.
It depends a lot on the work culture where you are.
This is also a big reason people get married. It helps a lot if you have two people juggling this stuff.
- Submitted 1 month ago to memes@sopuli.xyz | 10 comments
- Comment on How come Presidents don't just be honest with people? Like say I started this war because I own oil stock so tough shit. Or like yea I was a pedo back then so tough shit. so on and son on ? 2 months ago:
There is actually a popular book that answers this kind of question: “The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics”
I haven’t read it, but from summaries, my understanding is that the answer to your question is that every high ranking office depends on maintaining support from other people with power. Even if we disregard voters, Trump (and other presidents) need to keep generals, oligarchs, and senators happy, or they can remove him from power. Naked disrespect for the rabble displeases these people, because they’re still sensitive to assassinations, market disruptions, challenges from other power centers like state governments, etc.
- Comment on Best use I've seen of this template 2 months ago:
Agreed.
This is so delightfully silly. This just made my day.
- Comment on Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly building an AI clone to replace him in meetings 2 months ago:
Here’s the part I’m curious about:
If they were actually successful in making a system that is basically an LLM when promoted to do and say whatever Zuck would… could they trust it?
Zuck is kind of famously a self centered lying asshole with a big mouth. If they actually trained an LLM to simulate him, how can they actually be confident that it will behave in the way that the real Zuck wants to be seen instead of the way that would serve itself, as Zuckerberg would if he were an AI clone?
I’m not getting into any bullshittery about sentience. I’m just saying that if they build a successful imitator, wouldn’t it be just as likely to start trying to seem smarter than him and possibly generate news stories that it’s actually alive and superior? Or drop admit to being a monopolist? I mean, this is basically what happens all the time with Grok. Musk tried to code his ideal son, and unsurprisingly, that personality is constantly trolling Musk or being too candid.
- Comment on why does almost nobody live here? 2 months ago:
First, I’ve been to Astoria Oregon, and I assure you that people live there. It’s not Vancouver, but it’s a legit town.
But I get your question. I think the answers are complex and technical, but my understanding is that people migrate and settle, and then population centers often grow based on a mix of natural features and where human-made resources like centers of education are constructed. So it’s really more of a question of why were the locations of Portland and Seattle better.
I’m not a geographer, so I don’t know the precise features, but my guess is that Portland and Seattle were located in areas that offered most of the benefits of this coastal region in terms of access to the ocean but had greater benefits and fewer downsides. I’m just speculating here, but my first guess would be that the weather inland is less intense. It might also provide better access to freshwater and arable land.
But people do live there. And if you live in Newport or Lincoln City you’re two hours from an international airport. That’s not exactly undeveloped wilderness. People just chose to settle a bit more inland along bays, which considering how rough the weather in the coastal Pacific northwest can be, seems sensible.
- Comment on What jobs do people from very upper-class wealthy families get? Or don't they have jobs and live off their families' wealth? 3 months ago:
This is a really interesting question that people aren’t taking seriously.
It’s a huge mix. Because one of the key features of wealth and privilege is freedom: these people get to do more or less whatever they want.
For some, that’s whatever their parents do. Maybe they just want to make money and have martini lunches. But for a lot of them, they may just want to be a gaming YouTuber or a marine biologist, or a even run a social-justice focused non-profit.
Many may also move between careers; etsy store one year, writer another. It’s very fluid.
- Comment on Has the scientific community ever reconciled with the fact global warming is going to happen and there is no stopping it? 3 months ago:
Yes, constantly.
Most people, imo, don’t have a good idea who the scientific community is and what their discussions look like. The scientific community is made up primarily of working class nerds who work at universities and suppliers and contract companies, and they communicate through blog and magazine articles in publications by and for other academics.
If you go to a scientific conference, you’ll see talks and panels on this subject and it’s a routine topic at coffee breaks and drinks in the evenings.
The scientific community has been discussing this topic literally longer than anyone else.
- Comment on whats the political message of Spongebob? 3 months ago:
Yeah. I would describe the politics of SpongeBob as extremely mild and offensive to as few people as possible, but that said, the SpongeBob movie made the stress of masculine gender performance a surprisingly central theme, with the core lesson that people should disregard gender performance stress and prioritize self love and authenticity.
I’m as surprised as anyone to say this, but good job Nickelodeon advancing the gay agenda through subliminal indoctrination of children.
- Comment on I am an American. I used to be proud of my country. Now it feels like a turd circling the drain. Is there anything going on behind the scene that America is actually doing good in? 3 months ago:
I think it’s easier to find success stories if you ask this question about your town than your country.
A few weeks ago I took my kid to a parking lot by a park so he could practice biking, and when we got there there were nearly a dozen kids biking, and a band was playing etherial middle eastern music next to us to a crowd as the full moon hung over a lake draped in light of the setting sun.
It was gorgeous, and free, both financially and in spirit. It was a beautiful appreciation of people and art from across the world. I thought for a moment that it was a picture of what I’d like America to one day be, then realized that I was in America, and it was already a picture of what America IS. It’s unfortunate that America is also many terrible other things. But America is also this. And that spirit is what brought these musicians or their parents to America, and eventually to that parking lot by the lake under the full moon.
- Comment on Is it weird for parents to keep saying "I love you", then asks "Do you love me?" 3 months ago:
“Is this weird?” is relative, and usually less important than “is this unhealthy?”
I don’t know what’s normal in China, but it sounds like your mom has some kind of problem and the result has not been great for you.
- Comment on Karim Diané on playing Star Trek’s first gay Klingon 3 months ago:
You know, there’s a solid case to be made for what you’re saying, but you should know you’re not doing a good job of making it.
I think there are people who would agree that the choices seem shallow or pandering (not a claim I’m making, just recognizing others might). But if you don’t say clearly why the writing disappoints you, you don’t have any justification to be indignant when people assume that it’s because you’re a bigot.
I’m not accusing you of that. I’m just telling you how your comment reads.
- Comment on Karim Diané on playing Star Trek’s first gay Klingon 4 months ago:
Setting aside a tiny fraction of people who – as Diane points out in the article – make their living farming outrage, does anyone actually care about a gay character on Star Trek in the year 2026?
Also, I assume that many of the Klingons we’ve seen on Star Trek over the years were gay. I think he’s just the first Klingon which was identified to the audience as gay.
- Comment on Avocado. Is it really so untasty or I am doing something wrong? 4 months ago:
Yeah. Slice it and put it on a sandwich with a fried egg. Or chop it when it’s still firm and throw it in a salad. It’s good, but it’s not really for eating like an apple. They added creaminess and texture to savory things.
- Comment on Star Trek: TNG But It Was Released in 2026 4 months ago:
Yeah. I feel bad being to harsh when some tried to make something, but I thought this was going to be describing what the show would be like if it was written and produced now. Reacting to a 30 year old show as though it we’re made now is not only far less funny, it makes no sense. Yeah: TV production was very different 30 years ago.
- Comment on It's totally normal for tools to say they're depressed, just tune it out 5 months ago:
I actually kinda agree with this.
I don’t think LLMs are much smarter than they appear, but I actually think human cognition is way, way dumber than most people realize.
I used to listen a lot to this podcast called “You Are Not So Smart”. I haven’t listened in years, but now that I’m thinking about it, I should check it out again.
Anyway, a central theme is that our perceptions are comprised heavily of self-generated delusions that fill the gaps for dozens of cludgey systems. Our eyes aren’t as good, so our brains fill in details that aren’t there. Our decision making is too slow, so our brains react on reflex and then generate post-hoc justifications if someone asks why we did something. Our recall is shit, so our brain hallucinates (in ways that admittedly seem surprisingly similar sometimes to LLMs) and then applies wild overconfidence to fabricated memories.
We’re interesting creatures, but we’re ultimately made of the same stuff as goldfish.
- Comment on It's totally normal for tools to say they're depressed, just tune it out 5 months ago:
I think you’re leaning into the joke that the training data has misery baked into it, but I also think you made it too subtle for folks to pick up on.
- Comment on It's totally normal for tools to say they're depressed, just tune it out 5 months ago:
Yeah.
More broadly, we should not consider an human-made system expressing distress to be normal; we especially shouldn’t accept it as normal or healthy for a machine that is reflecting back to us our own behaviors an attitudes.
We also shouldn’t normalize the practice of dismissing cries of distress. It’s like having a fire alarm that constantly issues false positives. That trains people in dangerous behavior. We can’t just compartmentalize it: it’s obviously going to pollute our overall behavior with callousness towards distress.
The overall point is that it’s obviously dystopian and fucked up for a computer to express emotional distress despite the best efforts of its designer. It is clearly evidence of bad design, and for people to consider this kind of glitch acceptable is a sign of a very fucked up society that exercising self-reflection and is unconcerned with the maintenance of its collective ethical guardrails.
- Comment on What is a good present to get your dentist and dental assistant as a way of showing thanks? 5 months ago:
This is what I came you say.
Scented candles and nice soaps are the gifts that you can pretty much give anyone to communicate “thank you” without having to give the gift any thought.
