TechTakes

Deep thinker asks why?

Thus spoketh the Yud: "The weird part is that DOGE is happening 0.5-2 years before the point where you actually could get an AGI cluster to go in and judge every molecule of government. Out of all the American generations, why is this happening now, that bare bit too early?"

Yud, you sweet naive smol uwu baby~~esian~~ boi, how gullible do you have to be to believe that a) tminus 6 months to AGI kek (do people track these dog shit predictions?) b) the purpose of DOGE is just accountability and definitely not the weaponized manifestation of techno oligarchy ripping apart our society for the copper wiring in the walls?

Kelsey Piper continues to bluecheck:

What would some good unifying demands be for a hostile takeover of the Democratic party by centrists/moderates?

As opposed to the spineless collaborators who run it now?

We should make acquiring ID documents free and incredibly easy and straightforward and then impose voter ID laws, paper ballots and ballot security improvements along with an expansion of polling places so everyone participates but we lay the 'was it a fair election' qs to rest.

Presuming that Republicans ever asked "was it a fair election?!" in good faith, like a true jabroni.

TIL musk has a nobel peace prize nomination for this year

Quality sneers in these (one, two) response posts. The original posts that these are critiquing are very silly and not worth your time, but the criticism here addresses many of the typical AI hype talking points.

Interesting slides: Peter Gutmann - Why Quantum Cryptanalysis is Bollocks

Since quantum computers are far outside my expertise, I didn't realize how far-fetched it currently is to factor large numbers with quantum computers. I already knew it's not near-future stuff for practical attacks on e.g. real-world RSA keys, but I didn't know it's still that theoretical. (Although of course I lack the knowledge to assess whether that presentation is correct in its claims.)

But also, while reading it, I kept thinking how many of the broader points it makes also apply to the AI hype... (for example, the unfounded belief that game-changing breakthroughs will happen soon).

I've been listening to faster and worse (see https://awful.systems/comment/6216748 ) and I like it so I wanted to give it ups.

(I think this and the memory palace are the only micro podcasts I've listened to. idk why it isn't a more common format)

ran into this earlier (via techmeme, I think?), and I just want to vent

“The biggest challenge the industry is facing is actually talent shortage. There is a gap. There is an aging workforce, where all of the experts are going to retire in the next five or six years. At the same time, the next generation is not coming in, because no one wants to work in manufacturing.”

"whole industries have fucked up on actually training people for a run going on decades, but no the magic sparkles will solve the problem!!!11~"

But when these new people do enter the space, he added, they will know less than the generation that came before, because they will be more interchangeable and responsible for more (due to there being fewer of them).

I forget where I read/saw it, but sometime in the last year I encountered someone talking about "the collapse of ..." wrt things like "travel agent", which is a thing that's mostly disappeared (on account of various kinds of services enabling previously-impossible things, e.g. direct flights search, etc etc) but not been fully replaced. so now instead of popping a travel agent a loose set of plans and wants then getting back options, everyone just has to carry that burden themselves, badly

and that last paragraph reminds me of exactly that nonsense. and the weird "oh don't worry, skilled repair engineers can readily multiclass" collapse equivalence really, really, really grates

sometimes I think these motherfuckers should be made to use only machines maintained under their bullshit processes, etc. after a very small handful of years they'll come around. but as it stands now it'll probably be a very "for me not for thee" setup

https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@lritter/114001505488538547

master: welcome to my Smart Home

student: wow. how is the light controlled?

master: with this on-off switch

student: i don't see a motor to close the blinds

master: there is none

student: where is the server located?

master: it is not needed

student: excuse me but what is "Smart" about all of this?

master: everything.

in this moment, the student was enlightened

https://www.theverge.com/news/614883/humane-ai-hp-acquisition-pin-shutdown

lol, lmao

edit: I've ragged on John Gruber in the past, but he's really lighting them up 🔥

https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/02/18/hp-buys-humane