Dan L

Red crumbly planet - "Whose Side are You On?" - Anakin Skywalker & Darth Vader... "Wait a minute..." scrabblezard: "This is what American politics is like"

Maybe the best first page (as opposed to first line or first paragraph) that I've ever read, although as I say I've never really noticed the first page of a book before.

It's weird that in forty years of reading books I've never really thought about the page as a unit of storytelling, but reading this page it struck me as a superb first page.

For context, there are 1.64 billion cars in the world, most of which run on fuel which, when burnt, causes or exacerbates respiratory diseases.

Believes in a diety that punishes transgressors.

Believes the ills they are suffering are spiritual in origin.

Doesn't see any possible connection between these ideas.

Not knowing anything about Ed Gein, and also not realising it was a Ryan Murphy show, I watched the first episode. Utterly tedious. Its only redeeming feature was that the screen was so dark I couldn't see anything so it was easy to ignore.

Abundance: Big Tech’s Bid for the Democratic Party The Tech Right has gained major influence in Washington by funding Republicans. The Abundance faction has taken a different route: funding Democrats.

I kind of assumed Ezra Klein was a well-meaning-but-naive centrist liberal. This article outlines pretty clearly that no, his actual politics are pretty reprehensible, however he self-indentifies.

newintermag.com/abundance-bi...

That would work if we were talking about people being mean to AIs because of a perceived effect *on the AI*, but what sparked this ludicrous debate was people being mean about AIs *in order to entertain other human beings*. It wasn't even directed towards actual LLMs, it was just being posted about.

I'll believe an algorithm is a real person when I see it summarily executed in the street by cops.

To paraphrase an old political compass meme, "everything is eugenics, apart from actual eugenics, which is fine".

What behaviour are you characterising as "being an asshole" here? Because the original post you were replying to was about people merely saying that algorithms aren't people, which I would say is far from "being an asshole".

Why do you assume that opposition to LLMs is "blind hatred" rather than a logical response to the demonstrable harm they are doing to our society?

Is there a better example? Because at the moment I don't think your point is valid at all.

And, further, I think it's indicative of the reason these people refuse to defend marginalised minorities that they seem to equate those minorities with unthinking unfeeling algorithms who exist solely to do their bidding.

I think it's definitely worth pointing out that the people attempting to defend the rights of LLMs are the same people who refuse to defend the rights of actual human beings who can suffer.

I don't (I still say thank you to cash machines), but if somebody wants to I see no reason to criticise, it does literally zero harm. Whereas I think this current ludicrous push to equate being mean to algorithms with actual bigotry has the potential to be extremely harmful.

Crucial phrase: "if it can feel". LLMs are just complicated flowcharts, they absolutely cannot feel.

Arson isn't a crime because of the suffering experienced by the house, fucking hell.

A tweet by @sketchesbyboze reading "one of my favorite things in the Talmud is the intense debate about whether the plague of frogs in Exodus was a million tiny frogs or one *very large* frog", accompanied by an illustration of a human sized frog walking down a path.

Portland never stops being Portland.

I think my irony meter has finally broken. I have completely lost the ability to identify who is serious and who is joking.

Like… it's kind of right there, no?

What is this a response to?

that's not a very nice way to refer to London museums

Bluesky, settle an argument for me. What is this?

a) a beautiful piece of interior decor that brings to mind the myth of Persephone

b) a horrifying creepy object that looks like a million spiders are about to burst out of it, and which makes me itch every time I look at it

"and a costly universal preschool program the socialists cherish"

Yeah fuck them kids, why don't they get a job?

Also it tastes foul, but frankly even if it had been delicious it would not have been worth the trauma of preparation.

Prime Plant-Based Meats Buy raw plant meats online & cook a feast 🔥

Who in the entire world has ever thought to themselves "I don't want to eat the flesh of an animal, but I wish my food oozed a blood-like substance when raw, smelled like wet cat food and was called Juicy Marbles"? An utterly baffling product. Zero stars.
juicymarbles.com/en-ca

2/ 1 more "Jokes @docatcdi.com Might Like" I tht was VERY CLEVER...not quite CaTURDay, but WTHay! @carolineheldman.bsky.social @brodiesmom68.bsky.social @abediona.bsky.social @saltyoldman.bsky.social @themrrudy.bsky.social @yodamonkey2.bsky.social @drginnymac.bsky.social @gmf1369.bsky.social tbc...

It's not the worst episode of Doctor Who ever, but I think it might possibly be the episode about which there is the least to say. It doesn't have any hugely problematic or cringeworthy bits, but it also doesn't have any good bits, it's just... there. Barely.