mildly_benis
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User ID: 1305
mildly_benis
3d ago
Deepseek is by far most notable for being state of the art reasoner model, out of China, released openly, with credible promises of more such releases to follow.
Secondary would be culture/vibe contrast to US labs, amount of cope and panic generated, widespread positive reaction and adoption in China, insight into actual costs and margins on US side, proof smaller players absolutely should not take American AI lab people at their word when they say not to bother trying to compete.
Shock announcement indeed. I expected the US to continue to support and whitewash Israeli criminal behaviour, not literally perform janitorial duties.
Abysmal optics, all smiles and courtesies next to Bibi, announcing violent cleansing, US funded redevelopment, gift to Israel barely obfuscated by "they ALL want to leave", "uninvolved countries will pay", "everyone will live there afterwards". They way he was describing why the plan is needed today, an uninformed person would be excused if they thought a natural disaster struck Gaza, repeatedly.
I liked the post Dase wrote, machine part included; 'ai slop' is harsh, but I think it only applies here.
I know pretty much nothing about it. Chinese claims seem like a bit of a stretch. I hope the sea hosts a US naval humiliation.
mildly_benis
19d ago
The standard would be, extortion is when you abuse your power to benefit at the others expense. I do understand you can frame almost anything as merely hardball negotiations.
mildly_benis
19d ago
Trump’s order also includes a mechanism to escalate the rates if the countries retaliate against the U.S
I hope they do retaliate. This nakedly extortive behavior is supremely off-putting, especially when coupled with Trumps victimhood narrative. "Woe is me, empire expansive, everyone abuses us" is turning me into a Chyna simp.
I'm heavily biased, but I believe this direction is not unique. Back when the Russian invasion on Ukraine was fresh, the 'China or US dominance?' question got me baffled looks across the board from a diverse group of friends/acquaintances (context: Poland). Very different attitudes today, with how Ukraine was treated, with Trump blatantly attempting to cannibalize ally industries, with Chynese hedgies bearing great gifts.
90 days is already very harsh, please do not permaban him.
mildly_benis
30d ago
Fully expect to see domestic humanoid form factor robots come out of China in 2026 onwards.
I agree this is feasible, and wonder if plebs in Europe would be permitted to buy them. The fear that when imported at scale, they would essentially be a foreign army billeted all across the country, ready to pummel people to death at any time, seems inescapable?
Nightmare scenario: Chinese are building them by the millions, speed running unparalleled prosperity, having tons of fun. Meanwhile Europeans get to chose between overpriced, crappy Ameribots with the same risks, or Eurobots made impractically expansive by lethargic development and US sabotage.
mildly_benis
1mo ago
Ok, removed.
Certainly a good thing for Israel. They would prefer an ethnic cleansing fully realized, but a sea of ruins, 100k-200k dead and maimed, Hamas and allies crippled, with US support unwavering, is still satisfying, I imagine. I wonder if they will make serious efforts to keep the conditions in the area abysmal, and try to push the locals to emigrate, or take a different approach.
mildly_benis
1mo ago
Return from the Stars was my favourite, though it has been a decade.
mildly_benis
1mo ago
Perhaps https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2022/10/11/why-high-speed-rail-hasnt-caught-on/? I remember it making a good point for airports over high speed rail, at least good enough to sway me.
mildly_benis
1mo ago
Why attempt such a brazen, obvious lie, with approximately nothing to gain? Just baffing. Make me think I'm being psyoped somehow.
mildly_benis
1mo ago
timer rigged to the voice recognition too
Nothing so fancy! I did not try using triggers, holding out for AI assistants instead. By 'quite closely' I meant more that I tracked essentially every hour of the year, but making extensive use of Edit->Action->Divide functionality whenever I forget to switch activities.
I was going for detail initially, but unsurprisingly that risks burnout - I instead settled on pretty broad 'activities' that serve as baskets for everything other than distinct activities I definitely want to track - 'Sleep', 'Books', 'Anki', 'Mealprep', 'Exercise' etc. Baskets like 'Routine misc' (tasks that keep you from falling apart), 'Tasks misc' (small tasks that get you somewhere you want to be), 'Nothing' (exclusively bad, mindless web browsing goes here). I don't bother with activity tags, it's more clicks, more decisions, and rarely a tag is more justified than another activity.
It also helps the app has the widget that cuts the interaction to just Touch Widget -> Touch activity.
Working to have 'Nothing' diminish as % of total hours tracked, while remaining honest, is a nice goal, most tangible positive effect the app had for me.
I was tracking my daily activities quite closely this year - Simple Time Tracker (ignore the screens they show, dark version is far more visually pleasing) is one of those best-in-category things I wish I knew a good list of. I intend to continue, it's motivating and therapeutic both.
I'm at 429 hours of books for 2024, +/-13k pages, only 30 pages/hour. Far, far more than the year before - in my case at least, it came down to the combo of accessibility (god bless Anna and her archive), seamless switching to 'audiobook' with text-to-speech (Voice Aloud is awesome for books in all formats, or any text really, especially with the new Google Journey voices) and a wireless headset. Now if only I had an endless supply of genius-tier literature recommendations.
Safe in South America, as far as I can tell.
mildly_benis
1mo ago
I did try it a while back, based on a weak recommendation from here, as well. Was mostly curious if they managed to make at least one good show under the IP.
I hated it. Paper thin on all fronts.
mildly_benis
2mo ago
The panic in Canada, Mexico, and Europe over Trump's tariff proposals
My impression is that this 'panic' is considerably overstated, triumphalism and wishful thinking that translates into deranged twitter takes about Trump charming entire rooms of pliant European elites. Reminds me a little of the "we're the good guys again!" atmosphere among American plebs and elites both after the war in Ukraine began.
would European politicians be willing or able to accept it
It is, unfortunately, much easier to argue the opposite, as you do. And past the atlanticist status quo and soft power, there are tools like natgas supply blackmail, devastating sanctions liftable when negotiations with the Authoritarians are broken off, outright assassinations.
On the other side, I can't really think of anything other than business community revolt, establishment self preservation attempt after economic hardship translates to electoral sweep for the "far" right, uncharacteristically well executed Chinese influence campaign, some significant US blunder or distraction.
Great men of history urgently needed.
mildly_benis
2mo ago
I'm somewhat surprised they wouldn't wait for Trump to actually show he can do something, instead of reacting on his babble.
In any case, I very much hope this heavy handed approach backfires in the case of Europe. As things stand, helping to maintain US hegemony looks like certain pain, dubious gain. It's perverse how little the US is willing to offer, given their advantages and prosperity. Ideally the Chinese would come up with a straightforwardly superior counteroffer that gives Europe time to restructure while on the side-lines of the broader conflict.
mildly_benis
2mo ago
US is prosperous, prosperity is desirable, hardly a reason to pat yourself on the back. If you blur the distinction between the country and the empire, of course the enmity will be diluted.
mildly_benis
2mo ago
DO NOT GET INVOLVED!
US obviously is involved, has been for more than a decade. The proxies are remote enough for this to be an opportunity to throw a bone to the part of his base that wants less adventurism/imperialism. Trump is still a philosemite and for hostilities with Iran.
mildly_benis
2mo ago
I'm so glad you linked that manga, it's a ton of fun.
mildly_benis
3mo ago
There can be multiple losers
And there is a clear winner, too, the US.
Even Ukraine being ruined is a good thing if you take the longer view - sure, there will be tensions and resentment for some years, decades maybe, but these are people with a common language and culture. You can't rule out another reorientation in 10 years, so squint a little, and civilizationally degraded and depopulated Ukraine is weaker future Russia.
So would I, better no guarantees than false guarantees. False guarantees lead to complacency and Ukraine scenario for us.
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