this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2024
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TechTakes

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Big brain tech dude got yet another clueless take over at HackerNews etc? Here's the place to vent. Orange site, VC foolishness, all welcome.

This is not debate club. Unless it’s amusing debate.

For actually-good tech, you want our NotAwfulTech community

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Have a sneer percolating in your system but not enough time/energy to make a whole post about it? Go forth and be mid!

Any awful.systems sub may be subsneered in this subthread, techtakes or no.

If your sneer seems higher quality than you thought, feel free to cut’n’paste it into its own post, there’s no quota for posting and the bar really isn’t that high

The post Xitter web has spawned soo many “esoteric” right wing freaks, but there’s no appropriate sneer-space for them. I’m talking redscare-ish, reality challenged “culture critics” who write about everything but understand nothing. I’m talking about reply-guys who make the same 6 tweets about the same 3 subjects. They’re inescapable at this point, yet I don’t see them mocked (as much as they should be)
Like, there was one dude a while back who insisted that women couldn’t be surgeons because they didn’t believe in the moon or in stars? I think each and every one of these guys is uniquely fucked up and if I can’t escape them, I would love to sneer at them.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

this ape is a message
we considered ourselves to be a powerful yacht club
this ape is not an ape of honor
no highly esteemed juice is slurped here

-- more falafel please, SA

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

@dgerard this ape is a message, and part of a blockchain of messages

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

afab boyfriend on Bluesky:

ME READING WARHAMMER 40K BOOKS IN 2018: this setting is so fucking dumb. No way a society would let their entire technological infrastructure be controlled by a handful of fanatics that have convinced themselves that computer code is literally God

ME NOW: Ah,

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Scott Aaronson: "Open Letter to Anti-Zionists on Twitter"

Posting here rather than in a separate thread because I'm probably the only one who rememembers him from the old /r/sneerclub days, but he's an endlessly fascinating figure to me - his ability to view literally every possible scenario through the lens of "poor innocent little smol-bean Scott just wants to discuss things rationally, but is persecuted by his ontologically evil foes and their self-righteous dupes" - doesn't matter if it's feminists objecting to his older incel-y posts, Sneer Club dunking on him, cops arresting him for stealing from an airport store or leftists not being fans of the genocide he supports... He must always be the victim. His enemies must always be unreasonable and motivated by hatred of him, specifically.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

And now, maybe, I can at last go back to happier topics, like how to prevent the destruction of the world by AI.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

What's he referring to when he says he's most famous for something about confronting radical feminists with his personal issues?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (7 children)

my god, you missed out on that?

here is way too much background reading!

  • commenter on Shtetl-Optimized talks about the rapey "nice guys" she suffered at college
  • Scott Aa takes this as a brutal personal attack on him
  • Laurie Penny tries to be nice about it
  • Amanda Marcotte? not so nice about it
  • Scott Alexander weighs in with one zillion words, unreadable, so relentlessly awful that Scott demands readers not form an opinion of him based on a thousands of words essay he worked hard on and chose to publish
  • Elizabeth Sandifer with the correct and readable opinion of this bilge (also long, but worth it)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Don't forget how Arthur Chu wrote a response grounded in empathy, and Aaronson decided that Chu wants him dead. Really.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (2 children)

So, a lesswrong suggests gathering "The Best Tacit Knowledge Videos on Every Subject," where "tacit knowledge" is defined as "knowledge that can't properly be transmitted via verbal or written instruction". The low-hanging fruit is that the recommendations under "Finance" are Keith "Roaring Kitty" Gill of GameStop fame... and Martin Shkreli.

The higher-hanging fruit is the seeming conviction that just because a lesswrong saw somebody drone on about a thing in a YouTube video, it can't be explained in written words.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Yeah i feel like there’s several obvious fruit on this tree:

  1. “Tacit” knowledge?

  2. YouTube is words, folks.

  3. Lots of things *are* difficult to learn from words, famously. Colors of you can’t see, flavors you haven’t experienced, emotions. You can’t learn them from video either.

  4. I personally would ask Shkreli advice on many things: How to earn hard time; How to go to the special hell: What’s the best song on Once Upon a Time in Shaolin? Maybe not on finance tho.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Wow the LW “tacit knowledge” root post is a trip.

“This tacit knowledge is a form of intellectual dark matter, pervading society in a million ways, some of them trivial, some of them vital. Examples include woodworking, metalworking, housekeeping, cooking, dancing, amateur public speaking, assembly line oversight, rapid problem-solving, and heart surgery.”

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Shkreli is probably good for teaching you how to use Excel at 90wpm?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Esperanto-pushing F-droid forum poster goes ballistic when maintainer explains the language can't be added:

Why you simple don’t start learning Esperanto? Why should the whole world learn your stupid and illogical* language? Is F-Droid project international or only for english people?

(via this 404 media post)

I honestly did not know there were axe-crazy Esperanto fans online.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I honestly did not know there were axe-crazy Esperanto fans online.

Oh, there are always those.

These kind of speakers can be found also offline. It's funny they are the result on one hand of the fondness to our little language and the reactions towards it by speakers of other languages. Esperanto gets a shitload of bad reputation and the resistance to it then creates such personalities.

In some sense they rightfully act like they act.

Funny that this thread re-appeared during the xz "scandal". I had a little bit of fun regarding it, when it initially appeared in the f-droid forum.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (4 children)

Yeah I mean I shouldn't be surprised really. I'm more surprised it took me so long to realize they were around. If nothing else Esperanto seems to have been losing mindshare to other conlangs like Toki Pona.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

klingon still the all time fave

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

that 404 media link is gonna be so handy to keep in my back pocket for when the worst people I know in open source inevitably start pushing back against the idea that the toxic ecosystems they created are a gigantic source of problems

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

note: this is not sneer-worthy because it's hague-worthy

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I've just been staring off into space for the last half-hour trying to process this. This is legitimately a nightmare scenario. The ML and automation systems here are being used in conjunction with human policy decisions to turn a military intelligence function into an accountability sink. This is how you square the circle and turn a self-defense force into an agent of ethnic cleansing without needing to change the low-level organization to effect that goal. Everybody gets to maintain plausible deniability just enough that they can answer any uncomfortable questions and justify their actions to themselves, and by the time anyone starts to really question or investigate those justifications the job is largely done. I don't know that I could construct a clearer example of how this technology can be used to the worst possible effect.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

bet you won't read about it on lesswrong

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Of course not, the victims are brown people.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (8 children)

Because I feel like picking on him again: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/04/02/google-podcasts

The only Google services I use are YouTube, Google Search, Gmail, YT Studio, Chrome, and Google Keep. Oh, and the Nest app.

It’s rather glorious living a nearly Google-free digital life.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

lol. the only google services i use are search , youtube, gmail (in the isolated browser containers), and the android phone. seems the apple licker is not degoogled at all.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

While I love a good Gruber-sneer, he does qualify each existing choice extensively. I don't find the post as hypocritical as the edited extract would imply.

His gratuitous dumping on Android users is sneer-worthy though.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I have got to be honest, the justifications in the full post are half the reason why I’m sneering so hard. it’s possible I’ve got some anger left over from how much it fucking sucks to degoogle

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Okay, but apart from YouTube, Google Search, Gmail, YT Studio, Chrome, Google Keep and Nest, what have the Romans ever done for us?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I haven’t been bitten by Google killing an app or service since Google Reader, because I never again trusted them. I suppose this might be a lot more difficult for Android users, but I honestly don’t even remember the last time I added a new Google app or service to the set of tools I rely upon.

yeah he sure as fuck won’t be bitten by trusting anything Google made after Reader, like say their thermostats that are embedded into his house (which he says don’t count because ???)

also:

YouTube, Google Search, Gmail, Chrome

when your Google-free life includes all of their major products plus shit you can absolutely do without like Keep and Nest

also also, because I keep fucking looking at it and getting mad:

I suppose this might be a lot more difficult for Android users

imagine being this fucking shitty about having bought an iPhone and being above the age of 13

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I have a couple of Android devices and even with Android added to my list of Google products, I'm pretty sure I use fewer than Gruber.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

it’s very inconvenient but I’ve managed to mostly de-google my couple of Android devices where practical — and there is a noticeable performance benefit to running without google play services, using Firefox, and installing simpler open source odroid apps instead of ad-filled play store ones, at least for the older tablets I recycle into purpose-specific computing devices

gruber, meanwhile, goes out of his way to replace safari with chrome on his Apple devices and then brags about being google-free on his blog

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'm currently in the position of both having gotten as much google shit out of my life as possible, and also needing to track it fairly extensively for a work context (because 95%+ of our userbase is low- and midrange android)

I cannot say "fuck google and all they do" enough times to emphasise how this experience really makes me feel

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

it absolutely sucks to be forced to use and develop for Google software at work (seriously, what in the fuck is wrong with Google’s docs and APIs?)

if there’s a silver lining, it’s that being forced to be intimately familiar with google’s garbage for work has made me a lot more eager to eliminate as much of it from my personal life as I can

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

when you’re such a Daring Fireball that you continue to use all of google’s products even when good alternatives are available, but insist you’re making a point by boycotting google

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (3 children)

(PDF) The Role of Blockchain in 6G: Challenges, Opportunities, and Research Directions.

So this buzzword laden document was published by the IEEE. As far as I can tell it doesn't actually say much besides a breathless stream-of-consciousness about how blockchain and AI will make everything amazing and is terribly relevant to wireless communication protocols because reasons.

But... just read it. If you can make it to the end without your brain oozing out of your ears then you win the grand prize!

“Extreme edge”: 6G networks need to facilitate the spatial translation of many core services from the cloud to the edge networks for achieving extremely low latency communications and instant networks. The trustworthy coordination and transparent resource bookkeeping can be attained with blockchains in these systems [20].

In 4G, AI was not yet applied, while in 5G there is already a limited partial use. We expect a much deeper integration of AI on all levels of the 6G network communications with the ultimate goal to make our society super smart, super efficient and more green.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I smell bullshit written by spicy autocomplete, or at the very least it has LLM drivel pasted into it in various places.

In Europe, GDPR directives are important drivers which will become more stringent in the coming years. Better decentralization will enable higher security especially in terms of availability for this critical domain.

Lol what? The EPRS has quite unambiguously stated that there are multiple points of tension between blockchain tech and the GDPR, and that "decentralization == security" is a false assumption for various reasons. There's also the elephant in the room that every person maintains the right to all copies of their data at all times (mainly articles 16 and 17 GDPR), which is a problem if it exists in an uneditable distributed ledger.

The conclusion of that study was, and I quote, "that it is not possible to assess the compatibility between 'the blockchain' and EU data protection law", and the only reason why it even might be compatible is mainly because of "the uncertain definition of 'erasure' in Article 17 GDPR". But even then they only admit that there could by hypothetical beneficial use cases but fail to find any with current blockchain tech.

Source: Blockchain and the General Data Protection

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

those bits of the GDPR were not written with blockchain in mind at all. However, I am reliably informed that the authors were quite delighted to find they'd preemptively made it actionably pretty much illegal to put PD on a blockchain

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

I hate 'edge' in its new form as pseudotechnical marketing guff. Frex, "AI-driven MCU market surge sparks innovation in global and Chinese firms for edge AI"

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

boy oh boy the IEEE has fallen pretty fucking far hasn’t it

Internet of Everything (IoE)

The IoE is more general than IoT and has the purpose to seamlessly connect in an intelligent way people, processes, data and things [27]. It is expected that the IoE will re- invent business processes and business models. First, processes are optimized and automatized thanks to digital technology. Second, due to the usage of digital technology, new business models in different industries become possible. For instance, Nike is now also entering the market of healthcare via the introduction of its smart cloths and shoes.

the IoE is defined as the internet of things but more so. fucking brilliant. I can’t wait to use digital technology in my industry. also I can’t wait for Nike to deny my insurance claim because my shoes decided I was too active to be sick.

The role of the blockchain in this domain will mainly be to make the decision process of the machine learning methods more understandable and coherent as all the underlying elements on which the decisions are made can be traced back.

something tells me the only reason this piece of shit was published was to reputation wash uncited claims like this one. this one specifically is a horseshit claim we’ve seen before, earlier in the generative AI hype cycle — it’s the nonsensical idea that a blockchain could somehow be used to add a verification and attribution layer to an LLM’s training data set

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV): UAVs or drones will also present an important part in 6G as high-data-rate wireless connectivity will be required. Here, blockchain can play a major role to contribute to the protection of the security and privacy of the drones and the thereby collected information [32]. Li et al. [33] also illustrate the significance of 5G in UAV context. IBM has even filed a blockchain patent to address drone fleet security.

There are several blockchain based application for drones. First of all, the blockchain technology can help to arrange identity management. Next, also air traffic management can be arranged in a secure, accurate and efficient way. Finally, insurance companies can use the stored records in case of events or disputes.

there’s a bunch of points in this document where the writing goes from the style of a confused undergrad assistant to what’s almost definitely an LLM fabricating shit. fucking behold: the blockchain will somehow secure the communication link with your UAV and authenticate it with air traffic control (what? also, these are things that existing cryptosystems are good at that blockchains specifically are fucking worthless for) and it’ll also help with your… drone insurance…?

all of this is almost certainly an LLM generating bullshit that sounds drone-related

finally, they didn’t even finish the conclusion paragraph:

An exponential growth of demand anticipated for the 6G telecommunication in the information era, by 2030. The role of blockchain to eliminate limitations foreseen with the future massive demands and the the contribution to escalate the service values in telecommunication identified in the paper. The future research directions also presented in the paper.

what do these words mean? is this what research is now?

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