theropost

Million dollar "dinners' seem to help.

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intell...

There are consultants who bring real value. They’re experts at the top of their fields, offering skills not available in-house. They help upskill staff, deliver results, and provide knowledge transfer that has long-term benefits. Those people deserve to be paid well for what they bring.

But too often, consultants are brought in to do work that existing staff could already handle or to maintain systems that should’ve been fixed years ago. It’s not always outright corruption, but it props up managers who rely on outside help to get by. And many of these consultants aren’t adding value — they’re just billing for work that could be automated or easily solved.

One example involved consultants paid to babysit an outdated system. It was generating massive reports, and instead of fixing the root issue, someone had to manually delete files every few hours. Thousands per week were spent when a simple script or hardware upgrade could have fixed it. It’s wasteful and completely unnecessary.

This isn’t rare. It’s everywhere. And while it’s not always illegal, it’s driven by self-interest, favoritism, and comfort. That’s where the real waste is, and that’s where the cuts should happen.

Consulting used to be about value. It was a profession grounded in skill, purpose, and a drive to contribute. Now, it’s often about milking the system. People leave the public service knowing they can return as consultants and get paid two or three times as much, just because of who they know.

We’ve replaced public service and merit with opportunism. Instead of building better systems and serving the country, we’re incentivizing people to exploit it. And the worst part is, it’s become normal. But it shouldn’t be. This is structural corruption — accepted, embedded, and everywhere.

My take on all this is that everyone seems focused on the U.S. dollar’s dominance, the empire, trade deficits, and exchange rates. And sure, there’s some validity to that, but the real issue, or really the real goal, is getting people back to work.

You might not see it, and maybe I don’t fully see it either, but as office workers, bureaucrats, and technologists staring at screens all day, we’ve lost sight of the fact that America no longer produces like it used to. Yes, there are still people out there working with their hands, feeding the country, and running small industries. But broadly speaking, the U.S. relies heavily on other countries for complex manufacturing — for actual building. Shipbuilding is just one obvious example. A lot of critical industries have withered to the point where they can't even meet domestic demand, let alone compete globally. Meanwhile, other countries are pushing forward in tech, producing better, more efficient, more productive products — and pulling ahead.

It’s not happening all at once. It’s a slow decay. Generational knowledge industrial skills, trades, machinists are all fading. And when those go, the backbone of resilience and self-sufficiency starts to collapse. A nation that can’t produce can’t stand. Export power becomes a dream.

And I think part of the issue is that we’ve become lazy. People don’t want to work anymore — they want things handed to them. Entitlements, bonuses, luxury homes, multiple cars, the works. But someone has to build all that. Someone has to maintain the food supply. Someone has to assemble the vehicles. Someone has to keep production alive. Yes, technology can help fill gaps, and we’ve done amazing things — and still do — but America’s edge in tech? That’s slipping away. China has surpassed the U.S. in key areas of advanced technologies, auto manufacturing, aerospace, and absolutely obliterating in shipbuilding. U.S. industry? Ashes in many places.

So what’s the answer? Unfortunately, hardship. Nobody likes to say it, but raising prices and tightening the belt forces people to make hard choices. And when that happens, the jobs that matter won’t be office jobs or desk jobs — they’ll be builders, machinists, welders, factory workers. Producers. And those jobs will start commanding the wages. People who’ve been unemployed or living on subsidies will be pushed — or pulled — back into that kind of work. Slowly, painfully, maybe, but steadily. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll rebuild that base. Maybe industry will return. Maybe factories and production will grow again.

That’s the end goal here; even if we don’t like how it’s being done. Even if it’s painful. Even if it doesn’t work the way it’s intended. Because maybe we’re not as strong as we think we are. Maybe we fail. It’s happened before — look at the USSR collapse. It was a fake economy built on fake production and apathy. They endured 20 years of hardship, and they’re still trying to catch up.

So yeah, that’s where I think we’re headed. Is Trump the guy to do it? He’s doing it. Someone had to. Is it the right way? I don’t know. Is it going to work? No clue. Will we succeed? Who knows. Or maybe we just keep punting the problem further down the road; business as usual — until it breaks completely.

But either way, the path forward is either a slow crumble followed by a rebuild, or a brutal reset with the hope of rebuilding something stronger on the other side.

That’s just my two cents.

It kinda just depends on the agenda, one source says it’s nothing, another says it’s a trillion, and that huge gap usually means someone’s trying to push something, like tougher laws or justify some policy shift. Half the time it feels like the facts don’t even matter, just the story they wanna sell.

It's hard to tell I can imagine some motivated individuals could utilize all sorts of packaging systems and embed them in third-party applications and so on, and extract pertinent information using this type of surveillance, and then sell this data to data brokers which would sell it to the large ad networks. I mean there's lots of ways to transcribe even most of the whisper models can run all the way down to 150 megabyte file not to mention the quantization versions of these models. I have something that I run on my computer for my server not throughout my house that does real Time transcription and whatnot but I use it for my own purposes, so you know someone who makes money off advertising or even selling insights about people, would certainly find ways to do this. I mean it's simply not regulated is it?

https://huggingface.co/spaces/jilangdi/whisper-web

this.

I regularly use the request data button on ChatGPT, then parse the JSON and output HTML for each conversation, and a DB to search for the file(s) when needed.

I've been running this and a quantized version of the QwQ model and comparing the responses - so far, QwQ is working better, though that could change as I use them more and compare the outputs

I completely agree. I’ve had the privilege of working with a very small team of engineers—a team with diverse life experiences and unique areas of expertise but a shared work ethic: the willingness to try. We always said that most of our time was spent failing, and that’s what made the moments of success so rewarding. When we finally succeeded, it wasn’t just about the victory; it was the culmination of relentless effort that allowed us to push forward, improve our product, and refine our ideas.

Our approach was unique. We engaged directly with the people who did the work, learning from their insights and challenges, and built tools specifically for them. It wasn’t an Agile team or a Waterfall approach, or any other rigid corporate framework. It was an ad hoc team that came together organically to solve problems—and solved them faster than large corporations, consultants, or armies of workers ever could.

With just four people, we scaled applications, built automation systems, and tackled complex problems that delivered multi-million-dollar savings across the board. The process was simple: no micromanagement, no unnecessary oversight. Everyone contributed based on what made sense, and we all collaborated freely to solve problems as they arose, moving seamlessly from one challenge to the next. It was innovation through cohesion—a kind of synergy that can’t be forced or replicated through standard processes. It’s the magic of the right people, in the right place, at the right time.

Over the years, the tools we developed have grown into critical applications used by professional organizations, with over 3,000 users relying on them daily to make their work hundreds of percent faster. Yet, when these tools are handed over to large organizations for "modernization" or "corporatization," they often end up spending exorbitant amounts of money, adding no meaningful features, and making the tools less effective. Teams of 30 people fail to replicate what our small team accomplished. It’s a strange and frustrating reality.

I’ve tried to find ways to replicate this success, but I think it comes down to that intangible element—a “ragtag team” dynamic where the right people come together with a shared drive and passion. It’s rare, and perhaps it doesn’t exist as it once did. Maybe it’s out there, but we need to find ways to enable and foster it.

Copyright laws, in many ways, feel outdated and unnecessarily rigid. They often appear to disproportionately favor large corporations without providing equivalent value to society. For example, brands like Disney have leveraged long-running copyrights to generate billions, or even tens of billions, of dollars through enforcement over extended periods. This approach feels excessive and unsustainable.

The reliance on media saturation and marketing creates a perception that certain works are inherently more valuable than others, despite new creative works constantly being developed. While I agree that companies should have the right to profit from their investments, such as a $500 million movie, there should be reasonable limits. Once they recoup their costs, including a reasonable profit multiplier, the copyright could be considered fulfilled and should expire.

Holding onto copyrights indefinitely or for excessively long periods serves primarily to sustain a system that benefits lawyers and enforcement agencies, rather than providing meaningful value to society. For instance, enforcing a copyright from the 1940s for a multinational corporation that already generates billions makes little sense.

There should be a balanced framework. If I invest significant time and effort—say 100 hours—into creating a work, I should be entitled to earn a reasonable return, perhaps 10 times the effort I put in. However, after that point, the copyright should no longer apply. Current laws have spiraled out of control, failing to strike a balance between protecting creators and fostering innovation. Reform is long overdue.

Same here, except it turned out a bit the opposite. My grandmother died in her thirties during the mid-1960s from kidney failure since a transplant wasn't really an option in our small town. She left 7 kids at the time.

It is still an incredible challenge to find a donor though, and even if one is found, there is a high risk of rejection - we still have a long way to go in this area of medicine.

I'm not so sure if it's entirely correct. I mean, there's always technology in every opportunity, but I think it's even worse. I believe we're heading into an era where all ideas are being stolen, even the greatest coding methods and principles. Even if people come up with insanely innovative ideas, all of this information is being stolen, categorized, detected, identified, bucketed, stored, and added back into a bigger machine. The companies with the most GPUs and the most capital to build infinite amounts of data centers will simply absorb all this information, while the rest of us are left with scraps and leftovers.

I guess that's kind of how it's always been, but it's also not the same. We've almost learned, in a way, that we can now mass-consume all the thoughts, information, and data from everything. But the only people who can truly parse through it and figure out things from it are those with infinite money, all the resources, and those at the top. I guess that's always been the way.

Yeah, it's a tough pill to swallow but honestly, the workforce as a whole is kinda coddled at this point. Most people don’t even realize they're being paid more than what they're actually worth. Like, we’re not really creating enough value or building enough stuff that justifies what we think we should be getting. The only reason our value holds up right now is probably cuz of the defense industry flexing its muscle to keep things stable.

But let’s be real, as other countries rise up and we start losing our grip as the top dog, we're gonna feel the pain. It could be a slow burn or maybe a faster crash, but either way, it's gonna suck. We’re gonna have to go through some serious hardship to get back to where we think we should be. Not based on what we think we deserve, but what we actually do.

And it’s kinda mixed messaging too, right? We somehow believe our labor is more valuable than others, but at the end of the day, it’s gonna come down to working harder. Longer hours, more back-breaking labor, real work, not just sitting in an office chair all day. We’re not entitled to cushy jobs forever, and things are gonna get a lot harder before they get better.

I used to have this problem too. Tried prescriptions, systane, hydration eye drops etc etc, but in the end but actually worked was baby shampoo rinsing my eyes twice a day and washing them it took some time but now it's completely gone. But for me I believe it was some sort of blepharitis that was blocking the glands that produced the lubrication my eyes needed, and now that I have a good routine, it appears to have solve the problem.

Blepharitis perhaps?

I personally never use a Word Processor, or any other electronic typing appliance, for the simple reason that I enjoy typing on my mechanical device.

Even if I were unfamiliar with a new keyboard, I'll still never use it. Instead, I'll consult the technical guides and follow examples.

I like typing, and I neither need nor want a word processor to do it

Certain things may seem strange, or that they take away from the experience, but sometimes it is simply progress... good or bad.

This is true, though an AMD 5700U mini PC might go for $300, or less if you can find a bargain. However, it will hands down dominate a N100. 2.5 to 3x faster, not to mention the APU (vega 7) for video/gaming capabilities. I was always Intel, but AMD has really stepped up in the last few years. Their APU line up is top notch, and pretty incredible for the mini PC market (and laptops). The newer gen are great too, but for the best bargains, then Zen 3 lineup is the way to go

Maybe that's a problem for me every time I've tried it completely denies such basic requests, I don't have to worry about how I word things I just want to get my answer based on my inquiry without having to subscribe to a proper way of speaking.

What are TOPs exactly? Are we using INT? Float? Just trying to grasp the comparison to a TFLOP for instance

Same, I don't think we can lump all different personas and natures into one bucket. Some people thrive, and enjoy doing, building, learning, and not staying in one place. Others enjoy sitting, relaxing, doing little, introspection, etc. It really depends on the individual, each has their own areas that give them meaning and joy.

I think it's this is more of a real point. Honestly if someone who works in a large bureaucratic organization, the amount of people who do next to nothing is astounding. Is that a bad thing? Yes to some degree, however we do need to have jobs for people to do no matter what and if this gives them something to do everyday and they feel like they're contributing something then maybe that's all they need to do.

Haha. Wow that sounds like paradise, I haven't been on Facebook for years but people around me are and I always look at them and think to myself... what the strange world you live in.

Perhaps AMD realizes that if they released something like this in a formal capacity, they might face a barrage of lawsuits, and IP claims from Nvidia. If this is completed through an Open Source project however, in which AMD is not directly funding, Nvidia would not have many legal avenues to attack. Just an opinion.

Where I'm from they have some of the highest tides in the entire world and there's an area not far from here that has always been sort of a local talking candidate for such a huge project.

https://earthsciencesociety.com/2014/05/01/a-tidal-power-lag...

Yes, lets celebrate their economic, cultural, and life expectencies. They have it all figured out.

42 million gigabytes per day, or if we are working with 30GB for 10min of 4k movies - 233,000 hours of ultra HD movies per day

Didn't the USA recently auction off its helium reserve properties?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Helium_Reserve

It failed to finalize a sale*

A definition of the word "Incognito" is to: avoiding being recognized, by changing your name or appearance. So, the name of the mode itself implies you are not being tracked. Yes, those who understand technology recognize this, however those who are not in the know would likely assume it means something different than what it actually is. This is at minimum disingenuous, and at maximum fraudulent.

Ah yes, that would be it. Thanks! I threwa quick C++ program together to do something similar using FFMPEG.