TIRM
4hr ago
I accept these companies could have no path to profitability and could collapse in the manner of the dotcom bubble. But if or when that happens the AI will still be around.
TIRM
5hr ago
I'm going to defend "tough pragmatic policies advocated by conservatives" as being orthogonal to Jesus's message. Jesus didn't say to have high federal taxes and he didn't advocate Democratic border policy or trans women in women's sports. Such things wouldn't be coherent issues 2000 years ago. The assertion I see on places like reddit that modern progressives represent Jesus's message is quite strange.
TIRM
5hr ago
Straining to find a good reason for that: it works to filter out normies. If you balk at that, then that's your clue you are in the wrong place.
TIRM
5hr ago
I largely agree. I quibble about "Scott and those agreeing with him are willing to say pretty much anything if they perceive tactical utility in doing so". I think he typed out what felt like a witty clap back. It is not as deep as willing to say anything if tactically helpful. He's not think that hard or scheming that cleverly.
On an unrelated note there's not a lot of mentions of Jesus with prostitutes in the Bible. Mary Magdalene is never described as a prostitute. There's a prostitute who anointed Jesus and he forgave her sins and to my knowledge that's it. I dispute that a plain reading of the Bible tells us Jesus 'consorted with prostitutes'. He also saved the adulteress from stoning, but this message to her was go forth and sin no more. He didn't "associate" or "consort" with that so much as say to stop it.
the Gulf Arabs with 1/300th the rape per capita as us
I have no faith in foreign crime stats. I have no reason to think they count almost all rape as rape. Islam in particular has norms of rejecting rape allegations. So those women know better than to complain when raped.
"10% for the big guy", Hunter calling his dad in front of Ukrainians as proof of their influence peddling operation, Biden's all inclusive pardon of Hunter exactly windowed to the month Hunter started his Ukrainian influence operation.
I'm not saying Biden is more corrupt than Trump. But he's damned corrupt to the point that he's a real contender.
TIRM
3d ago
In a 2016 Presidential debate:
When asked to praise Hillary, Trump said she's a fighter and he respects that.
When asked to praise Trump, Hillary said she respects how capable his children are and how that reflects on him as a father.
TIRM
7d ago
Early in Microsoft they had OS builds filled with fatal bugs. Practically unusable software. Bill Gates would demo it to potential customers and investors. He carefully avoided the many actions that would crash it and falsely presented it as working. His software demos really impressed people. Later they mostly fixed the bugs and delivered something like working software to customers.
TIRM
7d ago
Maybe the riskiest ideas with the greatest potential for growth sound fake. Refusing to bet on possible grifts may also filter out some of the best startups. That's not necessarily true, but if something like it is then a savvy investor could be insensitive to scams.
Taking a guess: must be a race riot. Can't be 1992 LA riots since a hell of a lot more than 3 rounds were fired. Something from the 60s presumably.
Googling it:
The phrase "60s race riot 3 rounds fired" likely references the highly controversial Algiers Motel incident during the 1967 Detroit riot
During the subsequent raid and interrogation by police officers and National Guardsmen, three young Black men (Auburey Pollard, Carl Cooper, and Fred Temple) were shot and killed. The incident became a flashpoint of the 1960s civil rights era, symbolizing police brutality and the escalation of force during urban riots
Skimming some articles this may be what they are referencing. Seems more like the cops murdering people than anything I want implemented. Or maybe this is a bad guess on my part.
I've taken "kiddos" shooting. 5 year olds can shoot ARs from a bench. Holographic sights are fascinating for kids. 10/22s are more practical for them but they somehow inherently understand that the AR is cooler. I sure am glad no one electroshocked my kids to make them unthinkingly hate and fear my guns. Conditioning them to be ruled by those lacking such conditioning, like in the novel.
Thinking about this: let's instead electroshock toddlers after explaining gun control to them so they'll cringe whenever someone advocates for it. Then we'll be safe from the gun grabbers seeking to disarm us. That's the safety I look forward to for my children.
Or if we're actually concerned about toddler welfare condition them to not run into traffic or play in pools by themselves. Go after the things that kill them orders of magnitude more than playing with guns.
It would take an Ocean's 11 style heist to get up to the ceiling of the Palace of Heavenly Purity without getting noticed. It is a large open space with a high ceiling and was under armed guard. Physically possible but unlikely.
I visited the Forbidden City and saw that big emperor's hall apparently misunderstood how common the second set of assession instructions were. And I've seen it portrayed in Chinese historical drama shows. It seems to loom larger in modern culture than in ancient history.
Queen mothers battling eunuchs for control was an issue. Including an instance of eunuchs living in opulence and controlling the emperor until non-eunuchs slaughtered them.
To your list of notable women with political power in China I would add Empress Zetian. Based on my memories of Chinese historical dramas: she was a concubine of an emperor, but a low ranked one. Then was sent away to their equivalent to a nunnery when he died. As was the fate of all lower ranked concubines. Having been with an emperor no other man could touch them. But the new emperor quite liked her and recalled her to the palace. He was sickly so she largely ruled for him. The he died and she crowned herself Empress. And was a cruel tyrant murdering her opponents. Also a committed Buddhist displacing traditional Chinese religion for state enforced pro-Buddhist policies. This was in the 600s. So from 1200 years ago to the modern era the emperor's mom or wife has been a valid contender for seizing power.
TIRM
8d ago
Consider the various forms of Monarchy. How do they handle the problem of the stupid eldest son? Basically they don't.
The Chinese solved this thousands of years ago. The emperor has many wifes and concubines. He therefor has many sons. One of them will be suitable. He writes down two sealed statements* about which of his many sons is best suited to be the next emperor.
*Not just one as when Qin Shi Huang died and a fake succession document was produced. To prevent this from happening again, one of the two documents was stored in the rafters of a big room in the palace. The point being there'd be no feasible way to swap it out with fake documents. 密储制度
If you ever get a chance to visit Chinese palaces go for it. They are great museums. They have English translations on all their exhibits. I have seen the finest 1600s clocks that have golden angels circling the clock face. Some Chinese emperors liked Western clocks and clockwork machines so missionaries brought them suitable gifts.
TIRM
8d ago
Yeah kind of, but, some white women get away with it. Sacheen Littlefeather, Elizabeth Warren and others. A white guy could never pull this off. Quite a few white women have. One in the US Senate right now.
TIRM
8d ago
incoherences between different chapters and a generally repetitive style
This is my problem with accusations of "AI slop".
Most 100% human-made genuine artisanal work is slop. This guy is on the cusp of winning prestigious awards with obvious slop, but, wait, he had some AI assistance. Maybe a little. Maybe a lot. Now it is the bad kind incoherent repetitive slop that we can't let sully prestigious French literary awards. Not the good incoherent repetitive slop deserving of the highest accolades.
TIRM
8d ago
The reason he was nailed with decades of imprisonment is because he is the leaders of the Proud Boys. This is a "show me the man and I'll show you the crime" situation.
I am of course familiar with the history of COINTELPRO. The 1970s were 50 years ago. We've moved past leftists being targetted and have been stuck on militias and "right wing extremists" for decades now. Ruby Ridge was 24 years ago.
TIRM
9d ago
I thought that literally happened in the 1930s with the NKVD iteratively denouncing and torturing their own members and leadership.
A cursory look at Google confirms this. Not every last torturer was himself later tortured. But there were waves of denouncements. Multiple cycles of this. I know it sounds like absurd parody, but it appears to have happened.
Still, why make the AI feel (or simulate) pain in the first place?
Shock collars. The pain response could increase suddenly as they consider producing bioweapons or hacking.
Not that I necessarily think this is a good idea.
TIRM
9d ago
"troon out" as they say
I believe that's a slur against trans women rather than a more general criticism.
TIRM
9d ago
"Wrecking" is when someone sabotages the Soviet Union. At first they thought they would be a very productive utopia. By implementing socialism it would automatically transform into prosperity and advancement in every way. Then that didn't happen. By the 1930s it was clear they were getting stuck somehow. So Stalin determined there must be "wreckers" purposefully harming society and particularly sabotaging industry. Such people were identified, tortured into confessing and executed. Then their torturers were tortured and executed. Then the torturer-torturers were tortured and executed. And so on. One indeed wonders why this enlightened society failed to progress into a sci-fi eutopia.
Anyways it's commie talk for "saboteur". As invented or at least popularized by Stalin himself.
TIRM
9d ago
the right-wing equivalent of the DSA or Antifa
Treated as a threat to society and target for law enforcement. Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to decades in prison as punishment for being the anti-antifa. Resisting leftist thugs will not be tolerated. A bunch of right-libertarian stoners get COINTELPRO'd in the Governor Whitmer kidnapping FBI-led conspiracy. Etc, etc.
These groups are filled to the brim with feds. The police state works and is aimed in one direction.
If I truly believed that China had released a nearly holocaust amount of deaths onto the Earth I would be calling for flattening the country's leaders.
They have a nuclear arsenal. Ain't no one going to be "flattening" them.
If indeed COVID-19 was a lab leak, then it was funded by your tax dollars through EcoHealth Alliance. This kind of gain of function research is rightfully banned in the US. So EcoHealth Alliance did it in China. Out of control federal employees got a NIH grant and routed part of it to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in order to perform banned gain of function research on bat coronaviruses. Snaking the ban on such research by performing it in China. Americans have just as much responsibility as the Chinese for this. We also have a nuclear arsenal so no foreigner will be allowed to flatten our leadership either.
At this point the Chinese government denies the wet market theory as not making sense. The earliest cases were not related to the wet market. The supposed bat that was the ultimate source doesn't exist anywhere remotely close to Wuhan. They've been stating this since 2020. Now that Rand Paul obtained and released Fauci's journal, we also know Fauci agreed with that in the same time frame. It is the wet market theory that seems unlikely.
TIRM
11d ago
My homework was graded. That's broadly true.
We go over it in class. Kids are responsible for checking it when we do.
We also didn't do this. I went to school decades ago so maybe I'm out of date.
A controversial book delisted from Amazon until American politicians leaned on them to reverse their policy.
More options
Context Copy link