this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2025
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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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Need to let loose a primal scream without collecting footnotes first? Have a sneer percolating in your system but not enough time/energy to make a whole post about it? Go forth and be mid: Welcome to the Stubsack, your first port of call for learning fresh Awful you’ll near-instantly regret.

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.

(Credit and/or blame to David Gerard for starting this. Also, happy April Fool's in advance.)

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 days ago (17 children)

Today on the orange site, an AI bro is trying to reason through why people think he's weird for not disclosing his politics to people he's trying to be friendly with. Previously, he published a short guide on how to talk about politics, which — again, very weird, no possible explanation for this — nobody has adopted. Don't worry, he's well-read:

So far I've only read Harry Potter and The Methods of Rationality, but can say it is an excellent place to start.

The thread is mostly centered around one or two pearl-clutching conservatives who don't want their beliefs examined:

I find it astonishing that anyone would ask, ["who did you vote for?"] … In my social circle, anyway, the taboo on this question is very strong.

To which the top reply is my choice sneer:

In my friend group it's clear as day: either you voted to kill and deport other people in the friend group or you didn't. Pretty obvious the group would like to know if you're secretly interested in their demise.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago (2 children)

So far I've only read Harry Potter and The Methods of Rationality, but can say it is an excellent place to start.

beware the man of one book

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago

"Drink deep, or taste not the fanfiction spring"

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Just had a video labeled "auto-dubbed" pop up in my YouTube feed for the first time. Not sure if it was chosen by the author or not. Too bad, it looks like a fascinating problem to see explained, but I don't think I'm going to trust an AI feature that I just saw for the first time to explain it. (And perhaps more crucially, I'm a bit afraid of what anime fans will have to say about this.)

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 days ago (3 children)

My University Keeps Sending Me Stupid Emails About AI, a continuing series:

A poster that reads "This house believes that AI is the future of climate resilient design". There is also a picture of a robot.

From the email:

The debate will be chaired by Michael Pike. Speaking for the motion are Prof. Gregory O'Hare (TCD), Maeve Hynes, Prof. Gary Boyd and Chatgpt assisted by Student Curator Ruan McCabe, all UCD. Speaking against the motion are David Capener (UU), Lucy O'Connell, Peter Cody and Meabh O'Leary, all UCD.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 days ago

Artificial Intelligence is the future of climate resilient design in the same way that asian pseudo-medicinal ED treatments are the future of the white rhinoceros.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Notwithstanding the subject matter, I feel like I've always gotten limited value from these Oxford-style university debates. KQED used to run a series called Intelligence Squared US that crammed it into an hour, and I shudder to think what that's become in the era of Trump and AI. It seems like a format that was developed to be the intellectual equivalent of intramural sports, complete with a form of scoring. But that contrivance renders it devoid of nuance, and also means it can be used to platform and launder ugly bullshit, since each side has to be strictly pro- or anti-whatever.

Really, it strikes me as a forerunner of the false certainty and point-scoring inherent in Twitter-style short-form discourse. In some ways, the format was unconsciously pared down and plopped online, without any sort of inquiry into its weaknesses. I'd be interested to know if anyone feels any different.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I have no knowledge or insight on the topic, but I used to get recommendations for "intelligence squared" videos on YouTube and I always thought it was a terrible, self-aggrandizing title for a series or event. Smart People Taking About Smart Things.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago

Intelligence Time Cubed now, that's the real deal.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

Intelligence^2^ didn't seem half bad when Robert Anton Wilson was the one talking about it way back when, in retrospect all the libertarianism was a real time bomb.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Those tariff rates, and especially the targets, were 100% pooped out by grok.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Elsevier doing some AI

"So, [Elsevier] added an AI question and answer to my article in Computer & Education.

The answers are wrong! They did not ask permission! The answers are WRONG!

How is this science?!"

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago

misread as Eliezer, semantic content unchanged

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago

An AI faceswapper/nudifier's database got leaked thanks to its nonexistent security - unsurprisingly, its loaded with explicit images, including massive amounts child porn and almost certainly some revenge porn.

WIRED tried reaching out to the company behind the "imagery", but they nuked everything and closed their doors in response.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I would also like to complain that I have finally started getting AI summaries in Google, and I may have to switch to a different search engine. Neither wanted nor needed!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

The url manipulation trick doesnt work for you?

E: this I mean, somebody even made a site for it. My own setup is weird and I have ancient strange habits so I just added it to my search bookmark.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I should probably give it a go!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

It works for me, if that means it also works for you I don't know. Not sure how much of this stuff is also region blocked etc.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 6 days ago (1 children)

tip from a discord:

I've been doing some micro tasking to train LLM's the last few months to earn some extra cash, the last month it's all dried up, no tasks available. I can't help thinking that is a sign of a bubble deflating.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago

AI-Powered Wi-Fi 7 Versatile Outdoor/Indoor Mesh AP

we're at the "the washing machine without a dateclock is marked millenium-bug safe in its marketing brochures" level of stupid

(that might seem like a stupid comparison but it's one of the things I most viscerally remember seeing from that time (when I was still a youngin who was still largely years away from computertouching))

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 days ago

My favorite meme message board on the internet keeps putting out bangers, but this one is extra good and relevant http://www.b3ta.com/board/11416629

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago (8 children)

NaNoWriMo? Na, No Mo'. Does this have anything to do with their bungled AI policy? Maybe, maybe not, but hey, the news article that I saw this announcement in thought that it was pertinent to mention.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Why does NaNoWriMo need a nonprofit anyway? What's next, No Nut November LLC?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago (2 children)

As funny as that is, I am sure that there are nonprofits that are aiming to stop fapping.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 days ago (1 children)

There's a fucking for profit that does this and it's used by the god damn USA Speaker of the House so that his son can monitor his fondling

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago (1 children)

however they are exactly canceled out by nonprofits aiming to promote fapping

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 days ago (1 children)

the Effective Onanism movement

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago

Refractorive Altruism

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago

considering their endless history of scandal, good riddance

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I am fairly certain that their stupid AI stance at least played a role. I’m part of a largish writing community, where at least several hundred people did NaNo each year, a good part of them donated too. Last year, no one partook, instead we did our own internal thing.

If this happened across other communities too, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it did, they must have felt it financially.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago

I'll believe it! I didn't want to make that claim since I had no evidence.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago

Not dating your press releases on your own site is a choice. (Lot more places do this and it is driving me slowly mad) So, did they drop this yday? Some weird schrodingers april fools joke deflection attempt?

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