mack123

@mack123@kbin.social
mack123,

AI will certainly be a challenge for web sites. I think we must accept that the end of the 2010s internet is upon us. Add supported web sites, that offer the user as the product, will start to slowly disappear. That is not really a bad thing though. The drawback for us users is that services will start to cost money.

I read a comment by Bill Gates recently where he suggested that most people will interact with AI through personal assistants. This actually feels like a good point from him. A PA that actually works will add a lot, to a lot of people. Which goes to your point about how normal users will stop interacting with the web though an unfiltered browser and start using AI to access the web. Companies who sell actual good and services online should be safe as their income is not dependant on advertising.

I suspect normal users will end up paying for the search engines used by the AI. On some form of tiered approach. Apart from a few oddball users, like us here in the fedverse who will find other ways to make things work.

mack123,

This would be very useful. I would argue for the universal link to go to the user's home instance, where the user should already be logged in and able to interact with the post. That is if the user has a default set. Otherwise the magazine's home instance makes sense for a unknown user.

It would be a core feature on activity pub itself though, with limited use on kbin.

mack123,

Agreed, custom aggregators for kbin and the fedverse in general, will become a thing.

I can see a view that combines the hot posts from each of my subbed communities, with the top 1 or two posts from each featuring, filtering over a time constraint or some other ranking system.

A client side implementation would be possible, but expensive in api calls. Server side should be easier. Maybe even defining a query language of sorts that can be user customised, if we wanted to be really fancy.

Some form of weighted rank, combining activity and interaction. I am subbed to some slow communities that are just starting. Maybe having a post or two in 24 hours where I would want those posts to rank highest. Subbed fast paced communities would then rank lower if we factor frequency and interaction on a per community basis.

Do lifetime warranties make something BIFL?

I’d like a place where warranties aren’t a factor when discussing BIFL items. I know that some feel otherwise but for me the appeal of BIFL is NOT frugality (though it often overlaps) but rather in owning high quality, long lasting, repairable items. It also has an aspect of sustainability as I hope to only buy one of...

mack123,

Life time warranties do contribute significantly to a buy it for life decision. Lets take automotive tools. I use mainly Gedore tools to maintain my vehicles. A few years ago I found a clapped out, worn, ratchet in a second hand toolbox I bought. Took it to my local dealer to find out about replacing the mechanism and they outright replaced the ratchet with a brand new one. At no cost to me and I was not even the first owner.

My own set Gedore of sockets and spanners are still in perfect condition after 20+ years of use. Yes I paid double store brand prices back in the late 90s for them, but I am sure they will be heirloom tools one day.

It really depends on what you are buying, but lifetime warranties does contribute to the decision.

mack123,

Agreed, It looks fairly easy to disassemble and clean. I would attempt that before replacing. You may find a YouTube vid or two showing how. Pvc thread tape is your friend. Dirt in the valve will stop it from closings properly as pressure builds.

OpenAI says it could ‘cease operating’ in the EU if it can’t comply with future regulation (www.theverge.com)

In addition to the possible business threat, forcing OpenAI to identify its use of copyrighted data would expose the company to potential lawsuits. Generative AI systems like ChatGPT and DALL-E are trained using large amounts of data scraped from the web, much of it copyright protected. When companies disclose these data sources...

mack123,

It is an area that will require us to think carefully of the ethics of the situation. Humans create works for humans. Has this really changed? Now consumption happens through a machine learning interface. I agree with your reasoning, but we have an elephant in the room that this line of reasoning does not address.

When we ask the AI system to generate content in someone else's style or when the AI distorts someone's view in its responses. It is in this area where things get very murky for me. Can I get an AI to eventually write another book in Terry Pratchett's style? Would his estate be entitled to some form of compensation? And that is an easier one compared to living authors or writers. We already see the way image generating AI programs copy artists. Now we are getting the same for language and more.

It will certainly be an interesting space to follow in the next few years as we develop new ethics around this.

mack123,

Just got Elite Dangerous running today on my fresh Ubuntu. Loaded the modules for the z52 hotas, copied my bindings from my windows instance and there she flies. That makes 3 out o3 for my most played games in Ubuntu.

So far ED is running flawlessly. I need an equivalent for ED market connector though. But that can be manual gor the moment.

mack123,

Agreed on your point. We need a way to identify those links so that our browser or app can automatically open them through our own instance.

I am thinking along the lines of a registered resource type, or maybe a central redirect page, hosted by each instance, that knows how to send you to your instance to view the post there.

I am sure it is a problem that can be solved. I would however not be in favour of some kind of central identity management. It is to easy a choke point and will take autonomy away from the instances.

mack123,

That should just work. You view the post on your own instance and reply there. That reponse trickles to the other instances.

It may take a while to propagate though. The paradigm is close to that of the ancient nntp news groups where responses travel at the speed of the server's synchronisation. It may be tricky for rapid fire conversation, but works well for comments of articles.

mack123,

I loved Scalzi's Old man war series. Good entertaining sci fi, with some interesting questions to ponder under the stories.

mack123,

I have to agree here. Generative AI has so much potential for games. Especially RPG style games for believable NPC characters. But the rights environment is very murky.

I expect it to be resolved relatively soon though. a combination of generally trained AI with subject specific training should do the trick. In the same way we would train a helpdesk bot on company specific information.

The remaining question though is what of the original broad dataset the source model was trained on. There things are less clear.

mack123,

And that is where things gets interesting. The ethics of the situation. Even beyond copyright issues. Was your AI trained on data that you have the rights for, or not?

We then have to think of the base model. How was that trained? I have not formed a well reasoned opinion yet as to the ethics of training on social media and forum style data.

For me, personally, I don't have an issue with my own posts and responses ending up as AI training data. We can also argue that those posts were made on public forums, therefor in public. But does that argument hold true for everyone. Underlying that question, we have to consider the profit motif off the companies. There is a major difference between training for academic purposes and for corporate purposes.

Valve is probably smart in steering clear of the entire mud bog at this time. Not enough is known of how it will play out in both the courts and in public opinion.

mack123,

It reminds me of that old Honda riding instructions Engrish thing that circulated a few years ago.

HOW TO MOTORCYCLES

1962 Safety Rules from Honda

Taken from a 1962 Honda Motor Cycle Instruction Book Translated by

Honda for the American Motorcycle Rider

  1. At the rise ofthehandby Policeman, stop rapidly. Do not pass him by or

otherwise disrespect him.

  1. I."hen a passenger of the foot, hooves in sight, tootel the horn trumpet

melodiously at first. If he still obstacles your passage. tootel him with vigor

and express by mrd of mouth, waming Hi, Hi.

  1. Beware of the wandering horse that he shall not take fright as you pass

him. Do not explode the exhaust box at him. Go smoothingly by.

  1. Give big space to the festive dog that makes sport in roadway. Avoid

entanglement of dog with wheel spokes.

  1. Go soothingly on the grease mud, as there lurks the skid demon. Press

the brake foot as you roll around the comers, and save the collapse and tie

up.

mack123,

We never got those on TV this side of the world, South Africa. I did read a lot of his short stories growing up though. Pulp paperbacks with cracked glue and cello tape where their backs used to be. Even the smell of those can feature directly in a Bradbury short.

mack123,

Same here. There is an element of horror/fantasy in there as well. I recently enjoyed Netflix's Black Mirror, which reminded me strongly of the Outer Limits style.

mack123, (edited )

The group started with the first Thargoid invasion. With the burning stations. Focussing on rescue and salvage of personal and equipment out of Thargoid destroyed ports. Builds, faq and targets.

The current invasion has given us a lot of work. Now we focus with IDA and smaller factions to evacuate and clear alert systems. Phill, our current commander in green, picks the most urgent systems and we take it from there.

Mostly a non violent group, avoiding direct conflict, but with no fear. If you see a red, shieldless Beluga boosting out of a burning station, being pursued by a swarm of goids, please clear the way 😴

Its honest work and makes a trackable difference to the war effort. I had a lot of good interactions and role play opportunities during the initial stages of the war. It is something to experience, flying in, defenceless, with goids swarming around a burning ground port and the anit xeno guys giving them a good fight. Using the text in game comms to request cover and so on.

PDES Discord

Edit: fixed my horrid spelling

mack123,

The game is beautiful.

I take long breaks from ED, sometimes months at a time. But there is something special to getting back into your ship. Firing up those thrusters and lifting off from the godforsaken rock you are parked at. Space coming out to meet you.

I have tried to play other space games/sims, but nothing has else has given me that sheer sense of vastness.

Cmdr Dadnik
Pilot Buur Pit Squadron
Seconded to PDES (Port Disaster Evacuation Service) for the duration of the current emergency.
Inara Profile

mack123, (edited )

Well if you can deel with a very crusty Latvian ass, look for The Yamiks on youtube. He loves / hates the game, but knowledge is good. Agreed with the tutorials mentioned by @HidingCat.
Another YouTube channel worth exploring is Better Atronomy. A level headed German sounding bloke who is very technical.

There is an Elite Dangerous magazine here that had not taken off yet, but I am monitoring it from time to time. Ask questions.

Open can be dangerous, but the galaxy is vast. Expect ganking in high traffic systems. Fly in either Private or Solo when visiting engineering systems. There is a new commander safe zone that should at least get you started.

The game, is at best incomplete. I use inara.cz extensively as a companion resource. But that is for when you have left the starter area.

Never Fly without a Rebuy is a motto to live by.

Eddit to remove mention of eddb.io, which is no more. Inara does most things eddb did almost as well.

"Antiwoke" magazin on kbin.social posting bullshit like "how to end Wokeness" and "Time to reject the extrem trans lobby harming our society" How to report ? he is the moderator of that magazin. (calckey.social)

@ernest how do I report a Magazin on kbin.social ? There is a usere called "ps" who is posting to his own "antiwoke" Magazin on kbin.social. Please remove this and dont give them a chance to etablish them self on kbin.social. When I report his stuff it will go to him because he is the moderator of the magazin? Seems like a...

mack123,

Sometimes the mobile U/I wins, but I decided to let it stand regardless of replying to the wrong comment. Maybe the troll learns something, though I doubt it.

Red Hat strikes a crushing blow against RHEL downstreams | The Register (www.theregister.com)

A superficially modest blog post from a senior Hatter announces that going forward, the company will only publish the source code of its CentOS Stream product to the world. In other words, only paying customers will be able to obtain the source code to Red Hat Enterprise Linux… And under the terms of their contracts with the...

mack123,

As a very long time reader of The Register, I actually enjoy their headlines. They have always had a tabloid style to them. Even before clickbait was a thing and I have seldom been disappointed at the contents of anything I have clicked on. So agreed, a quality site.

Arstechnica and The Register are my tow oldest daily reads.

mack123,

Some books just beg to be read again and again. I am on my 3rd copy of The Lord of the Rings, 2nd of Dune. The advent of good reading apps, like fbreader on Android saved my Ian M. Banks collection from a similar fate. That said my copy of The Algebrist is starting to show its age.

So yes rereading a good book can be fun.

mack123,

I was looking for 1 in my old pc junk boxes, to show my 12 year old what they looked like. Not a single floppy survived.

mack123,

I recently rediscovered the genre while looking for remixes of classic commodore 64 game tunes. Surprisingly effective as background while working.

mack123,

I loved David Eddings as an easy read with a good story. It was my start into reading fantasy. Feist's Magician is another brilliant book and the beginning of a long adventure.

mack123,

I am freezing, just looking at that.

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