konmok

No, fascism has a pretty clear definition, just read Ur-Fascism. DHH fits that to a T. You just don't know what fascism is, or you're struggling with some cognitive dissonance.

> The latest studies demonstrate model collapse is not a given

Which studies? [edit: I'll assume you mean these two given by @dorolow: https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.01413 https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.07515]

> It can't be used as the -only- data source of course, but that's not how it is being used

Right, so human data creation would also have to scale up exponentially, and that's not gonna happen.

> because there's no difference between synthetic data and the data people can create

I mean, that's obviously false, otherwise model collapse wouldn't exist. The difference is statistical, but it's there.

> It is accelerating how quickly researchers and engineers can do their jobs. > https://news.mit.edu/2026/ai-helps-design-new-materials-that...

That's pretty clearly a hype article, the headline even says "The CrysVCD tool developed at MIT COULD cut the huge amounts of time and money spent". I'm asking for empirical measurements of timelines, not hypotheticals.

> This is only the beginning, too... Look ahead a year or two.

Lol that excuse is getting really old

> Quality data can be created synthetically at an exponential rate as models improve

No it can't? Every time the labs try this we see model collapse, e.g. shoving goblins into every conversation.

And I have seen zero evidence that AI is accelerating materials science in any meaningful way, let alone photonic computing.

Eh. An intelligence with perfect knowledge of the entire universe, unlimited memory, and infinite processing speed, would have a tendency to go boom. But the real world has limits, and intelligence, even superintelligence, does not equate to godhood. Some tasks are still hard no matter how smart you are.

Plus, we have no real reason to think LLMs are anywhere close to AGI or ASI. So arguments like these are just distracting from the very real, very present danger that LLMs pose: information breakdown, societal collapse and environmental destruction. In other words, this is criti-hype.

I wouldn't really call cruelty or dishonesty a "skill".

Sometimes it's used to uncover crimes, but very often it's used to invent crimes that never actually happened, or used to deceive a courtroom when they don't actually have evidence.

Those are rocks, which are not made from the same stuff as satellites. (Also, the article says it's 44 tons, and other sources suggest around 50 at most.) In any case, I don't think anyone here is "freaking out", I just think this issue merits investigation.

This kind of thinking is exactly what led to the ozone hole in the first place. Let's actually investigate our assumptions this time.

The USA opioid epidemic was caused by gross government negligence and corruption. Is it really a stretch to think that a policy solution could have prevented the majority of the harm? And do you really think there wouldn't be enough food and shelter to go around, if the government decided to get serious about poverty relief?

That is not a reliable source at all.

Incorrect. Seems like you haven't really investigated this topic at all.

https://www.newsweek.com/map-data-centers-built-drought-hit-...

That source says data centers use a lot of water. Less than all almond farms combined, sure, but it doesn't support the parent argument. It's also 3 years out of date, and not relevant to protests against all the data centers that have not yet been completed.

Who is "we"?? Some places do have water shortages. And regardless of whether the power goes out or not, more power consumption = higher prices + more pollution.

Source on that water claim? Everything I've seen suggests the opposite.

I don't want any of those things, really (besides solar panels I suppose). I avoid plastic as much as I can. But, let's take your boots example. I recently went looking for a pair of well-made boots that don't contain plastic. But that eliminates something like 99% of the available offerings, and most of the remaining are luxury brands that can cost upwards of 600 dollars. I don't have that kind of budget, so I had to compromise. Do you see the problem here? If I want decent boots without a luxury brand fee, I HAVE to give these chemical companies my money. Extend that to clothing, groceries, furniture, devices, etc etc.

I avoid this stuff as much as I can without upending my life, and I'm still forking over much of my spending to companies that can pollute my land, water, and air with near impunity. I didn't choose this shit!

There are so many low-hanging fruit to choose from if you want to protect children online, so it makes zero sense to start with the option that deprives every adult of their rights.

> But aren't we glad it happened?

No. Or rather, I wish it happened very differently, and much slower. The rush to make every new city and development "car-friendly" had negative consequences that will last centuries. That's why my city isn't walkable and has awful public transportation, and biking is a recipe for disaster. Not to mention the insidious environmental and health effects!

Of course cars have their place in efficient modern transportation, but we would live in a much better world if their development and integration had been slower, more carefully considered, and more criticized.

Sure, it could be positive in some distant future utopia.

But the short-term impacts here and now are really, really bad. People are getting hurt (through water consumption, vibe-coded security disasters, IP theft, data center pollution, loss of job security and therefore healthcare in the US, LLM psychosis, inability to find reliable information, etc.) We're not actually obligated to sacrifice these people on the altar of "progress". We can slow down! When our society is capable of even somewhat protecting us from these harms, then maybe I'll stop being an LLM hater.

Is this sarcasm? I thought C didn't fix the size of int because they were trying to make C programs "portable" between architectures with different natural word sizes. It was a mistake, but I remember that as being the stated reason. I'm happy to be corrected if I'm misremembering my history though.

I don't think it's in bad faith.

The distinction between a language and its standard library gets blurry even in theory, and in practice they're nearly inseparable. If a language's standard library has four ways of doing almost the same thing, and they're all fundamentally broken, that's a problem.

Apple markets to a very different customer base.

Why do you keep sponsoring Rails World and giving laptops to David Heinemeier Hansson? After the community reaction last time, don't you understand the message you're sending with this behavior? Are you not concerned about the rise of fascism and white nationalism, trends which gain legitimacy in part through corporate endorsement of people like DHH?

I don't think the level of reliability necessary for a file manager is achievable with vibe coding. This is an area where small bugs can cause immediate and catastrophic data loss.

If you're shopping for a file manager, I recommend avoiding any project that incorporates a significant amount of LLM-generated code. Maybe in theory it could be reviewed as thoroughly as handwritten code; in practice that never happens.

It would certainly help. And how does that additional spending compare to the defense budget, or the cost of going to war?

I'm wondering the same. There are some master&dynamic models that are mostly made from metal/leather, but they're above my usual price range. I'm not really an audiophile, I'll settle for lower audio quality, but I'd prefer to wear one that doesn't have me constantly guessing whether I'm poisoning myself.

Neato introduction, but the text reeks of LLMs so I stopped reading.

I guess so, but if you have to keep lifting weights at home to stay competent at your job, then lifting weights is part of your job, and you should be paid for those hours.

Why the scare quotes? Would you like to be more explicit about which ideology you think she fell into, and why you consider it extremist?

edit: this book? https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/1/23895069/walter-isaacson-...

Is there any evidence that Rust proponents did it, or are people assuming that because Rene has been critical of Rust? That would be horrible if true, but I'd rather not jump to conclusions that fast.

The problem with this thinking is that the US government regularly engages in actual conspiracies, which the public only finds out about much later. COINTELPRO, MKULTRA, the Tuskegee experiments, Operation Paperclip, the list goes on [1].

So, while it's true that the overwhelming majority of conspiracy theories are dumb nonsense, it remains unwise to dismiss a theory just because it is a "conspiracy theory".

[1] This is almost certainly true of other governments as well! I'm just less informed there.