@mattlav1250@journa.host
@mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

mattlav1250

@mattlav1250@journa.host

Former UK politics staffer turned annoying tweeter and reply person. Defecting from THE OTHER PLACE in light of its impending decline.

Author of the Changster politics and policy newsletter in the UK.

Hoping to re-follow UK and US politics, media and pop culture accounts.

Specialist subjects include European and Middle Eastern history, climate and energy transition politics, urban policy and YIMBY activism.

Ask me about: Direct-Solar Green Hydrogen production. The Finnish Arctic.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

jynersolives, to Starwars
@jynersolives@mastodon.social avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    mattlav1250,
    @mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

    @jynersolives There's a lot of serious problems with it, both in terms of in-universe logic, and execution.

    Like several recent things its extremely deep into the Filoniverse, and assumes every star wars fan has been intimately following the plots and characters of a cartoon.

    But also, as you say, the characterisations feel forced and a bit off.

    It doesn't feel like Wren or Ahsoka are real people. Just one line descriptors.

    And Hera is practically a force ghost, popping up to give advice.

    mattlav1250,
    @mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

    @jynersolives agreed with all of that.

    Like I was saying before, the characterisation is just "I will say out loud what the plot requires me to be feeling or thinking" rather than earning any of those feelings or thoughts, or showing them manifest through the story.

    I didn't watch Rebels consistently, though I've seen enough occasional episodes to know the characters, and I 100% agree this was not what I picture Sabine Wren several years later being like.

    mattlav1250, to Hydrogen
    @mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

    Limitless ‘white’ hydrogen under our feet may soon shatter all energy assumptions:

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/07/13/white-hydrogen-disrupt-global-energy-net-zero/

    joelanman, to design
    @joelanman@hachyderm.io avatar

    When people say things like "I can't believe any designers worked on this", or "whoever designed this is terrible", I think... people are extremely naive about how much power designers have in 99% of organisations

    mattlav1250,
    @mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

    @joelanman Yep.

    See for example:

    https://youtu.be/NlBjNmXvqIM

    ppatel, to microsoft
    @ppatel@mstdn.social avatar

    Ah those sweet, sweet affiliate dollars! I'll be very curious to know how this affects advertising. This is a big aggrigation play.

    adds -powered tools, including AI-generated buying guides in the US, to its new Bing search engine and the AI chatbot in Edge.

    https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/29/microsoft-brings-new-ai-powered-shopping-tools-to-bing-and-edge/

    mattlav1250,
    @mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

    @ppatel Isn't this exactly what the EU has spent the past 6 years prosecuting Google for?

    w7voa, to Russia
    @w7voa@journa.host avatar

    presidential campaign apparently outsourcing merch marketing to . https://web.archive.org/web/20230628202921/https://twitter.com/robertkennedyjr/status/1674121401282834435 (h/t @jsrailton)

    mattlav1250,
    @mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

    @w7voa @jsrailton Its an AI diffusion generated image..as you can clearly see by looking at the "models" face...

    irfan, to ArtificialIntelligence

    This is probably obvious for a lot of people already but I've only recently realised or understood the dangers of algorithms. The only I consume is from , specifically . I've always thought it's really neat and useful, because I'm always being recommended things that I definitely would want to watch - mostly , , , , , etc. This has made me discover so many channels and content that have not only taught me so much but shaped me into who I am (which I also appreciate). So I never understood the dangers of algorithms when it's done right and has worked out so well for me (again, on YouTube).

    That is until I see what some others are being fed (also on YouTube) based on their viewing behaviours. I'm talking racist, sexist, extremist content that I've never seen before on mine. I don't get them because I never open up videos or links such as those, as I am perfectly aware what it'd do to my algorithmic feeds if I did. A lot of people though, especially the elderly who are far from tech literate, are oblivious to this fact. Once or twice, they might open up links shared across or by strangers or their peers of videos or articles containing dangerous content - even if they don't support what's being conveyed by said content, their (YouTube) feed will then be flooded by similar, dangerous content daily.

    Inevitably, they'd end up watching more of them, and might eventually even be convinced by them. The result of that is someone who was perfectly decent before, due to their tech illiteracy, end up being a victim to an algorithm that has made them into a person with worse morals without them even realising. A word of advice, don't underestimate the ability for this group of people, whom again would have truly been nice people, to be fooled and brainwashed by dangerous, malicious content. We have to remember that the kindest people, tend to also be the most gullible or vulnerable.

    I'm honestly surrounded by people who have fallen victim to this, and it's reached a point where there's really not much I can do to fix it.

    mattlav1250,
    @mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

    @irfan This,

    but also the even bigger problem is correlations you don't otherwise share, being forced upon you.

    For example, there is a certain demographic of men in their 20s and 30s who watch a lot of gaming videos AND a lot of anti-woke, anti-women 'masculinity' type videos.

    And the algorithm reflects that.

    BUT lots of young boys and others ONLY had an interest in gaming. But if they watch enough of them, pretty soon they're being served rightwing anti women, anti woke content.

    juddlegum, to random
    @juddlegum@journa.host avatar

    RFK Jr. knows how important it is to get TUCKER CARLSON'S SUPPORT IN A DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY

    This is all totally on the level

    mattlav1250,
    @mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

    @juddlegum RFK is the new Tulsi.

    MissingThePt, to random
    @MissingThePt@mastodon.social avatar

    All the online financial articles with no byline say buy Nvidia stock so

    mattlav1250,
    @mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

    @MissingThePt they must know something we don't.

    mattlav1250,
    @mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

    @MissingThePt Some of the same articles with no byline are also giving a strong buy recommendation on an obscure stock called 'Cyberdyne'.

    Weird.

    Beeks, to random
    @Beeks@mstdn.party avatar

    Searching for a workbench for my garage. Found a nice one from Home Depot but wanted to price check so I googled it.
    First 4 links are ads. Next 2 are Home Depot. Then MSN linking to Home Depot, and finally Pinterest linking to Home Depot.
    I say finally because the 5th non-ad is literally a scam website.
    WTAF ?
    I checked and way fewer ads and NO FREAKING SCAMS.
    I'm done. Google is dead to me.

    mattlav1250,
    @mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

    @Beeks I think the total collapse in the usefulness of Google Search as a functional product in the last 2 years or so is a really under-told story.

    I also think it's at least part of why there's such huge interest in AI chatbots...it feels like a return to the early days of the internet, when you could type something in, and get a simple answer, without being overwhelmed with layers of crap.

    erictopol, to random
    @erictopol@mstdn.social avatar

    Noteworthy: a new study comparing vs doctors for responding to patient queries demonstrated clearcut superiority of for improved quality and empathy of responses
    @JAMAInternalMed

    https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2804309

    mattlav1250,
    @mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

    @erictopol This is an absolutely absurd study structure.

    The data is from a subreddit Ask a Doctor.

    The human responses are obviously going to be conditioned by the nature of the forum...human beings will inevitably reply in brief, quick typed snippets, because that's the nature of the format.

    Real physicians are also going to stick to generalities as much as possible in this situation, as they'd be cautious about giving personalised medical advice to a non-patient.

    annaleen, to random
    @annaleen@wandering.shop avatar

    "It’s increasingly looking like this may be one of the most hilariously inappropriate applications of AI that we’ve seen yet." I am riveted by the extensive documentation of how ChatGPT-powered Bing is now completely unhinged. @simon has chronicled it beautifully here: https://simonwillison.net/2023/Feb/15/bing/

    mattlav1250,
    @mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

    @simon @HistoPol @heiseonline I don't know, seems pretty clear and precise language to me.

    He says "simulation" several times. He says "we were training it on" etc. There's a verbatim quote at the bottom with his exact language.

    I see plenty of reason to not believe their retrospective PR crisis denial...

    and also to question your own obvious desire to believe the denial because it "fits the narrative" you clearly are desperate to believe.

    mattlav1250,
    @mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

    @simon @HistoPol @heiseonline I'm saying that's the accusation you made of others, of motivated reasoning/believing, but it seems more fitting to turn it around.

    The denial is implausible nonsense on its face.

    He didn't mis speak and wasn't misquoted. The verbatim quote is right there, and clearly demonstrates what he was talking about.

    He was not describing a 'thought experiment'.

    mattlav1250,
    @mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

    @simon @HistoPol @heiseonline

    Accepting this denial seems impossible for anybody who isn't motivated to believe it to be true.

    Is my point.

    mattlav1250,
    @mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

    @simon @HistoPol @heiseonline I think its perfectly possible he completely made this up, trying to impress people with a provocative anecdote about a simulation that never really happened.

    But that's completely different from saying he was misquoted, wasn't really describing a simulation, just airing a thought experiment.

    He is explicitly referring to a computerized sim with training data, point scores etc

    Pretending otherwise is gaslighting.

    mattlav1250,
    @mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

    @simon @HistoPol @heiseonline And I'M saying it was NOT misreported..

    There is a verbatim quote taken down by the journalists who were present, and its clear and unambiguous what he was claiming, and that quote matches the way it was reported.

    The press were not irresponsible, they quoted an on-the-record pentagon employee delivering an official talk at a public conference.

    If that official was lying, how would they know that?

    mattlav1250,
    @mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

    @simon @HistoPol @heiseonline

    Again, while possibly invented, this is not a description of a thought experiment.

    mattlav1250,
    @mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

    @simon @HistoPol @heiseonline Thats not a remotely similar situation, as I'm sure you're aware.

    One is an example of incidents in which there are two or more parties, and one has an obvious incentive to lie or spin their own side, and its irresponsible to help them do so.

    The other is a public description by a senior military officer about an exercise he was involved in, with no obvious reason to spin other than vanity.

    mattlav1250,
    @mattlav1250@journa.host avatar

    @simon @HistoPol @heiseonline Also, I just don't know what you're expecting specifically when you say journalists should have 'checked'.

    WITH WHOM?

    HE'S A PRIMARY SOURCE!

    Should they personally raid the Pentagon Secret Simulations Archives for documentary evidence, before they quote a military official's speech at a public event?

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