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VirtualOdour

@VirtualOdour@sh.itjust.works

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VirtualOdour ,

Watching his videos he's a clever snd self aware guy more than capable of thinking for himself. Hate Elon but you don't need to shit on the disabled by acting like being in a wheelchair means you can't think for yourself

VirtualOdour ,

You are literally the same mentality as the coal rollers

Tech that could improve life for everyone and instead of using it to make open source software or coding solutions to problems you attack it like a crab in a bucket simply because you fear change.

VirtualOdour ,

I use it all the time and it's brilliant when you put in the basic effort to learn how to use it effectively.

It's allowing me and other open source devs to increase the scope and speed of our contributions, just talking through problems is invaluable. Greedy selfish people wanting to destroy things that help so many is exactly the rolling coal mentality - fuck everyone else I don't want the world to change around me! Makes me so despondent about the future of humanity.

VirtualOdour ,

Yeah, it's an obvious sign they're either not coders at all or don't understand the tech at all.

Asking it direct questions or to construct functions with given inputs and outputs can save hours, especially with things that disrupt the main flow of coding - I don't want to empty the structure of what I'm working on from my head just so I can remember everything needed to do something somewhat trivial like calculate the overlapping volume of two tetrahedrons. Of course I could solve it myself but just reading through the suggestion it offers and getting back to solving the real task is so much nicer.

VirtualOdour ,

Yeah but didn't you see the sovereign citizens who think licenses are magic posting giant copyright notices after their posts? Lol

It's so childish, ai tools will help billions of the poorest people access life saving knowledge and services, help open source devs like myself create tools that free people from the clutches of capitalism, but they like living in a world of inequity because their generational wealth earned from centuries of exploitation of the impoverished allows them a better education, better healthcare, and better living standards than the billions of impoverished people on the planet so they'll fight to maintain their privilege even if they're fighting against their own life getting better too. The most pathetic thing is they pretend to be fighting a moral crusade, as if using the answers they freely posted and never expected anything in return for is a real injustice!

And yes I know people are going to pretend that they think tech bros won't allow poor people to use their tech and they base this on assuming how everything always works will suddenly just flip Into reverse at some point or something? Like how mobile phones are only for rich people and only rich people can sell via the internet and only rich people can start a YouTube channel...

VirtualOdour ,

Why do people roll coal? Why do vandalize electric car chargers? Why do people tie ropes across bike lanes?

Because a changing world is scary and people lash out at new things.

The coal rollers think they're fighting a vallient fight against evil corporations too, they invested their effort into being a car guy and it doesn't feel fair that things are changing so they want to hurt people benefitting from the new tech.

VirtualOdour ,

Meta and Google have done more for open source ai than anyone else, I think a lot of antis don't really understand how computer science works so you imagine it's like them collecting up physical iron and taking it into a secret room never to be seen again.

The actual tools and math is what's important, research on best methods is complex and slow but so far all these developments are being written up in papers which anyone can use to learn from - if people on the left weren't so performative and lazy we could have our own ai too

VirtualOdour ,

The reality is 99% of people that create images or music have little to no real creativity, it's far higher for text.

You can be crazily creative with thrown paint and make images you can stare at for hours or you can do the most generic shit with a hundred brushes and 12 years of art education.

Of course a creative person can use ai in fascinating ways to create visually stunning images. The better tools get the more control we have over output and the more intricate and ¹complex the things we'll make. I've seen loads of really cool things from ai which are every bit as creative as anything else, as with all art you have to seek out creativity and originality.

VirtualOdour ,

I bet you'd get upset if someone pruned your trashy videogsme collection.

Is it really so hard just to let people enjoy what they enjoy without being a dick about it?

VirtualOdour ,

I think the point is you can put a fully updated new Linux on a decade old ThinkPad but with windows you'd need to buy a whole new laptop to run modern stuff also it would be unusably slow

VirtualOdour ,

Put in western or Texas and that's what you get, the west is a huge area even just of America but the word is linked to a lot of movie tropes and stuff so that's what you get.

This is also only when the language is English, ask in urdu or Bengali and you get totally different results, in fact just use urdu instead of Indian and get less turbans or put in Punjabi and you'll get more turbuns.

Or just put turban in the negatives if you want

VirtualOdour ,

Articles like this kill me because the nudge it's kinda sorta racist to draw images like the ones they show which look exactly like the cover of half the bollywood movies ever made.

Yes, if you want to get a certain type of person in your image you need to choose descriptive words, imagine gong to an artist snd saying 'I need s picture and almost nothing matters beside the fact the look indian' unless they're bad at their job they'll give you a bollywood movie cover with a guy from rajistan in a turbin - just like their official tourist website does

Ask for an business man in delhi or an urdu shop keeper with an Elvis quiff if that's what you want.

VirtualOdour ,

Anyone with different opinions, obviously.

VirtualOdour ,

I defend a lot of misunderstood ai but this doesn't have any good qualities even if it wasn't a scam

VirtualOdour ,

Ha big doenvotes from the incel faction.

It's always so funny when people push these obvious self tells, like yeah you're not going to be a good match with everyone so a lot of conversations die but as soon as someone starts blaming an entire gender for not being able to hold a conversation its a pretty clear sign they're the problem.

VirtualOdour ,

Pickup lines are worse than just saying hey, like wow you copy pasted a cliche from a Google search! What is she supposed to do with that? How is that a conversation?

VirtualOdour ,

Cancer you say? Like the star sign?

But seriously the campaigns are about spotting signs and importance of early treatment

VirtualOdour ,

I think this is a more significant point than most people want to admit, it's not just iPhones, people choose status over fairness pretty much every time - they'd rather pay more to feel better than others.

The car market, computers, clothes, food - literally everything. It's true in all the porest and richest circles even when like iphones and a lot of fashion the more expensive product is objectively worse.

It's not capitalism inventing this it's always been a thing and capitalism simply leverages it. I move in probably the least capitalist circles as an open source obsessive and dev, people choosing to share their work free so others can benefit but the mentality is there too, its in the eco obsessive communities too - I don't think it's totally universal amywhere but it's prominent everywhere.

I've come to belive that the Marxist ideals don't cover enough of what people really need, they're idealistic and somewhat how we'd want to think of ourselves but it's similar to dieting, deciding in a serious mood to eat only kale and beans feels like who we want to be but when we try and live that way we realize that we're not that person.

We need to focus on achievable steps in the right direction which allow us to feel good about the change we're making while also letting us fill our needs, even those lazy and embarrassing ones that the idealized version of of lacks.

We need to learn to understand and enjoy other forms of status but also we need to learn to reward those status symbols in others just as we reward economic status symbols even if we pretend to ourselves we dislike them. People in expensive clothes get treated better because it symbolizes the power they have to make an economic difference - even the fact iphones are feature restricted money milking machines only plays into this, it signals that you've got enough money not to worry about them adding $500 to the price for no reason or stinging you for a dozen subscriptions and this makes it seem like you're the most likely person to be able to help them if they're in trouble or give them things they xouldnt otherwise have.

Yes this is bad greedy nasty thinking and no one wants to admit it's part of them but this is how the math in our brain works. We can't help it, and when we ignore it or pretend it doesn't exist or that we can wish it away that doesn't change reality.

I don't know what the solution is, I'd like to hope we can at least shift it from being solely economic to respecting skills too, I dont know but we need to make it socially rewarding to be a benefit to society rather and make good choices.

VirtualOdour ,

I didn't know who to side with but you've switched to a deceptive argument so I'm not giving you thy benefit of thy doubt anymore.

It's very clear he's using common English usage of all to mean significant majority, pretending not to understand this and trying to win on semantics makes it seem like you're an untrustworthy orator.

VirtualOdour ,

Yes but how often do you call? People like us make up like 1% of their calls, 90% come from people asking 'how do I download the Google?' or 'I saved a picture of my cat where did it go?' and 9% is people with general questions they could have found online but they didn't want to get into it.

VirtualOdour ,

But also first language information systems are a real problem in India especially with government services. These tools are gong to make it much easier to provide vital services and connect people to the appropriate services.

Discord Shuts Down ‘Spy Pet’ Bots That Scraped, Sold User Messages (www.404media.co)

Discord banned a mass of accounts that were part of a service that scraped and sold user data, including messages posted across servers and what voice channels they joined, 404 Media has learned. The move comes after 404 Media reported on the service, called Spy Pet, last week and verified it was selling access to genuine user...

VirtualOdour ,

Because it's embarrassing, there's enough cringe here as it is how am I supposed to say to people 'hey come and try out lemmy' when they're gong to see this sovcit Facebook mom stuff?

VirtualOdour ,

Business lesson, : never build a factory because it won't pay for itself in the first year.

And yes I know it's hard to hear but Meta's vr is doing really well in the areas they targeted, industry, academia, and special use. This is likely to end up a profitable part of their business for a long time.

VirtualOdour ,

I hope this gets some serious scrutiny, they better find actual evidence. Would be so easy for the principle and police chief to be friends.

'Vortex Cannon vs Drone' - Mark Rober shows off tech from a "defense technology company that specializes in advanced autonomous systems". That seems bad

I've enjoyed Mark Rober's videos for a while now. They are fun, touch on accessible topics, and have decent production value. But this recent video isn't sitting right with me...

VirtualOdour ,

Lemmy is slipping into a weird form of pacifism where they're really hype about certain types of violence (punch a nazi, execute billionaires, etc) but also hate democracies working together to defend against attack because they see government as a nebulous evil and they'd rather people die than admit their edgy ideology is overly simplistic.

And yes I know the west has been involved in bad wars predicated on lies, the west isn't the only place where people lie and do awful things for personal power and wealth, democracy isn't perfect but it's a work in progress best effort to work on making things better and it's actually working pretty well really all things considered. I certainly think having tools to defend it against attack is a sensible and good thing especially something as elegant and accurate as just smashing attacking drones with percussive force. Far less likelihood of civilian casualties or ecological damage.

VirtualOdour ,

Yeah it's very odd, it's probably one of the least scary things around at the moment - makes no sense everyone worked up about a clearly defensive measure that's far less likely to hurt anyone accidentally compaired to alternatives like spraying bullets or airburst missiles.

I really don't get what makes it scary, it's like being in a house fire when you live above a gunpowder factory but you're worried you'll drown because one of the taps is dripping

VirtualOdour ,

It's a really good video about a great drone project that he obviously loves, I don't get what your problem with it is? He wasn't sponsored, but still said good things about people delivering blood in inhospitable regions using clever tech and organization?

I think most of us watch his videos because we're interested in this sort of stuff

VirtualOdour ,

Such a weird take, I just watched a program about education resources, was that bad because they didn't also cover all other problems our society faces?

VirtualOdour ,

He's not even in an education system he made a video on YouTube, but still you've got to recognize 'ban all Christians from any form of education system' is utterly wild?

VirtualOdour ,

That's just because they're much cheaper, actual American drones are much more capable but they can't afford them

VirtualOdour ,

That's such a simplistic and idealistic world view, you really think the rest of the world would just be a utopia of mutual love and respect if it weren't for the existence of the evil race?

People the world over are all just human there are lovely Americans, lovely Arabs, lovely Chinese and Japanese and Ghanaian... however there are also greedy and manipulative people in all these places, people who will hurt others to get in a position of power - this is a reality of life, things are complex and sometimes interests and established beliefs clash leafing to conflict. This happens everywhere all through history.

The world is work in progress, its a lot if hugely difficult challenges many which come with added surprises and difficulties and unintended consequences.

VirtualOdour ,

Of course there isn't just like there isn't when a human makes a mistake on the battlefield, you think that every civilian killed by an American soldier in Afghanistan resulted in a trial and punishment? American hasn't executed amy soldiers since 1961 (for rape and attempted murder of a child in austria, not during war)

Honestly at least the military code will obey orders and only focus on the objective rather than rape and murder for fun.

VirtualOdour ,

Ai can balance a physical triple pendulum and move between positions fluidly just using vision alone, a human has no chance at coming close.

We're genuinely in the sci-fi robots are better than humans phase of history, by 2030 you'll be used to seeing impressive things done by robots like dude perfect videos with people setting up crazy challenges like 'I got my robot to throw THIS egg through THIS obstacle course and you'll never belive how it did it!'

VirtualOdour ,

You say that like the current models are the end of the line but understanding why film making techniques are used isn't impossible even just for a llm based system. Designing new styles isn't out of reach for ai either, sure you can God of the gaps it and say there's a mysterious sliver of soul required but practically it'll be able to be every bit as original as any human, probably more so as it has more knowledge to work from.

I know it's desirable to hate on ai because it's scary or popular but nailing your colors to the argument that it'll never be able to do certain things is already an exhausting game of moving that goalpost every time a new model emerges and that's only going to continue.

VirtualOdour ,

We also need to start using tech to lower our cost of living and our dependence on corporations, these tools are making open source and community projects much easier so combined with local microfabrication we'll be able to create the things we need for ourselves.

I already barely watch anything made by a corporation and manage to keep informed and entertained, I use my computer for everything from coding to video editing and CAD design without using proprietary software. the tools are getting constantly better and with ai coding tools helping the devs that's only going to increase, it's helped speed up my coding hugely.

When ai is capable of replacing meaningful amounts of jobs it'll be able to hugely improve the productivity of anyone doing anything positive for community projects but also the cost to compete will continue to fall, we've seen this happen endlessly with giant monopolies losing the market to swarms of smaller businesses undercutting with better products especially in niche roles.

Huge retail giants have crumbled simply because internet marketplaces make it easy for a hundred garage run business to undercut them, the customer gets better products and the person earns more and lives a better life than if they'd been working for the big corp.

Maplins is a great example, I don't know if you had them in the US but they sold electrical stuff like components, gadgets and batteries but their choice was painfully bad and prices ridiculous compared to even just the early ebay that destroyed them.

Here in the west things were pretty good because we exploited 2/3rds of the world for cheap labour and easy resources, I get people would love to get back to that but the world largely due to improved education and communication through tech is moving away from that which is why one person working a low paid job in the US can no longer afford the labour output of a 100 impoverished 3rd world workers. Personally I prefer a world where everyone is equal and comfortable but maybe that's just me.

The only way things will get better is by going forward, we can't go back and there are no other paths open to us - use tech to lower the cost of living and to depower the monopolies.

VirtualOdour ,

So you'd fight to defend the worst excesses of capitalism? That's kinda funny to me, I guess it's America brain rot where you can literally only imagine people happy if they're being exploited by a corporation.

Lowering the bar to self expression and creativity is a great thing, those people will live better lives being able to create their own projects and being able to enjoy and learn from other peoples content.

Beside its not going to be overnight, that's why we need to focus on transition and creating solutions with new tech rather than covering our eyes and crying until it's too late.

VirtualOdour ,

All we get is endless doomism and bewailing the tragedy of ai being able to do proples jobs, are you in a different reality and how can I get there?

I wish people would understand the positive things these technologies bring so that we can collectively bring the positive bits into existence sooner

VirtualOdour ,

It's not really about the ai making a complete movie though it's about emerging tools allowing creators to make their vision.

But yes they'll be making complete movies every bit as enjoyable as marvel sooner than you can imagine. And movies with emotion and message that speak to people on deep levels, that's really not as hard as you might want to think.

And yes we do, making movies is just an easy to play with toy the real work is going to understand these tools so we can use them to do things like generative design of 3d printable items to set metrics so you can just say 'my dishwasher broke' and it'll look at the photo, analyze the problem, design a replacement and offer fabrication options. That's the sort of thing this leads to, being able to have repairable and upgradable hardware, being able to customize your life and live better for cheaper.

It's a world where the impoverished that used to toil in sweatshops so we could have cheap clothes can get world class education in their first language with questions answered and conceps demonstrated using examples they can understand and with clear and well constructed visual aids. Allowing them to create the things they need to improve their lives and recreate the local sustainability we tore from them.

If this allows someone with a fascinating life story and perspective to express themselves and create their vision then it's a great thing, I'm looking forward to seeing random movies from obscure areas of the world and I won't miss corporate and polished made by the numbers Hollywood the slightest bit.

VirtualOdour ,

It's probably one of the biggest potential saviors tbh, having robots efficiently construct wind turbines and solar arrays in inhospitable locations will help us transition from oil far faster and more efficiently.

I know a lot of people want to go back to having half the world impoverished so we can exploit their cheap labour like in the good old days but technology already helped them access education and stuff so that game is over.

VirtualOdour ,

You don't think humans install wind turbines or build solar farms? How do you imagine they come into existence?

They're multitasking robots able to do a range of complex tasks, sure they'll stock shelves oneday but the most cost effective and therefore first uses will be in hostile environments where it's very expensive to have humans work. Undersea welding for example is a brutal job which requires all sorts of safety and habitability stuff that makes it hugely expensive even before the high wages those people earn - cutting this from the cost of infrastructure projects will make it much tcheaper for offshore wind projects. Especially as working conditions and human considerations make it impossible for continuous work where as robots can just work until its done.

My dad was the first of our male line to live over 35 in five generations, he was also the first never to work down a mine - people just used to accept poor people dying as the cost of living comfortably lives, the work needed to be done so someone had to do it... just as how I can't imagine being in the situation of my grandfather so too will humanity move beyond the destruction of our lives that forced drudgery brings upon us.

Rich people don't choose to stand stacking shelves all day, there's a reason for that. Do not fight to keep such awful things, fight to make a world where we can live well without needing them

VirtualOdour ,

Do you mean agi? Llm is a textbook definition of AI in computer science

VirtualOdour ,

I'm just hoping fares go down so I can get s cheap holiday. As long as it cradhea on the way home I'm fine with it

VirtualOdour ,

Yeah, especially when it's a total nothing product 'we removed the useful bits of a phone and charge a big subscription for the free tool most people disable or ignore'

I feel like no one even needed a review to know this is trash

VirtualOdour ,

They've had an ai assistant baked into everything for years, though it barely even registers as ai because it's so shit but that's what siri is.

VirtualOdour ,

It absolutely is, it's machine learning and natural language processing. It's not exactly the same as chatGPT and often called weak ai but we'll be calling chatGPT weak ai in a couple of years when we've moved on from LLMs

VirtualOdour ,

The world has changed massively in my lifetime, when I was a kid fascinated by animation it was flickbooks, cinefilm stop motion, or 8 frames of pixel art. Now there's blender and a hundred other open sources tools as well as almost infinite learning materials online all free and made by people passionate about the topic. The same is true for everything, if you wanted to reach something the library might have had a brief article in Britannica but now you can instantly get into real detail. These things have hugely improved many people's lives, and they're growing.

Open street map is fast becoming the best and often only map in many areas, thousands of normal people working together on something they believe in are helping practically change the world for the better. Aid agencies, cyclists, local businesses and workers all use maps derived from osm. Drawing in roads and buildings from satellite images, looking up transport information, and all the small things build up to a huge resource that's freely accessible for everyone's benefit.

I could list similar examples for hours, thingiverse where people share designs to be 3d printed and work together improving them - for people like me with limited money it's a total life changing resource, and 3d printing is evolving too - ai design tools are already starting to turbocharge this process, we're not far from someone being able to explain in their native language a problem they have and be guided through cresting an effective and cheap solution using locally available parts.

The world isn't perfect yet but it's a lot better than it was.

VirtualOdour ,

That's what a transition is though, the new things need to be tested and built up but it's pointless making green hydrogen if there's nothing using it so we need both to be developed at the same time.

We're moving towards having good uses for excess power at peek generation which will make wind and solar much better investments, personally I prefer sequestered SAF but hydrogen has a great chance of helping stabilize the grid which will make transition much easier

VirtualOdour ,

We need to push for easier ebike carriage and charging on trains, also investment in lowering the cost of home delivery through an efficient postal service otherwise most people will still see a benefit to owning a car.

Of course families with kids are hard to convince entirely but with safe and comfortable cycling infrastructure they can be a lot less car dependent especially if bike to rail to bike is easy and affordable.

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