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self_made_human

Kai su, teknon?

16 followers   follows 0 users  
joined 2022 September 05 05:31:00 UTC

I'm a transhumanist doctor. In a better world, I wouldn't need to add that as a qualifier to plain old "doctor". It would be taken as granted for someone in the profession of saving lives.

At any rate, I intend to live forever or die trying. See you at Heat Death!

Friends:

I tried stuffing my friends into this textbox and it really didn't work out.


				
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self_made_human


								

								

								
								
									
								
								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
Kai su, teknon?

				
				
				

				

					16 followers  

					follows 0 users  

					joined 2022 September 05 05:31:00 UTC
				


				
					

					
I'm a transhumanist doctor. In a better world, I wouldn't need to add that as a qualifier to plain old "doctor". It would be taken as granted for someone in the profession of saving lives.


At any rate, I intend to live forever or die trying. See you at Heat Death!



				

				
					
Friends:

					
I tried stuffing my friends into this textbox and it really didn't work out.


				

				

				

				

					

					

					
					
					

					
User ID: 454


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 21, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


However, the Supreme Court will not confront this head-on; they will do almost anything to allow B) to remain the case while pretending that it isn't and 4) does not attain.




Is that simply because they don't want to rock the boat? Even the current conservative-leaning SC? What if Sotomayor is replaced?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for April 23, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I was thinking about a post extolling the wonders of artificial sweeteners, courtesy of popping into the local Taco Bell and making good use of their unlimited drink refills.


All the Pepsi Max and Diet Coke a man could dream of, without the normal consequences on the waistline? Whoever made the nectar of the gods zero calorie deserves a Nobel, maybe two. And they're safe, last time I reviewed the claims about potential downsides I was thoroughly unconvinced.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 21, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I haven't been out of India for even a year now, and I can promise you I've never heard anyone call anyone else a Pajeet in real life, nor online. OP has a rather unusual online circle.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 21, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
My parents are on vacation in Kashmir, and were about 3 hours away from going to the same spot when the shooting happened and roads locked down.


Yeah. That was a fun thing to wake up to in Scotland.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 20, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It's been a while, but I recall enjoying the exploration of the ship itself, the tense standoffs with the aliens, and the drama around the potential of being the last humans alive on the ship. That last bit prompted some funky incest babies before Rama picked up more humans and made that approach obsolete. I don't remember if it was R2 or the sequel that had colony hijinks as the humans tried to settle/conquer the ship, but it was great nonetheless.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 20, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I never read the original RWR, but I did read the sequels and greatly enjoyed them, even if I don't think Clarke was particularly involved in the writing therein.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 21, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It's a shame that Papal candidates are renamed when entering office. I'd pay money for a Pope Pizzaballa just for the meme value alone.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for April 16, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I haven't used any spatial elements, just text, with abstractions of the game board. Think Choose Your Own Adventure, but with more structure according to the specific RPG framework.


You could probably cobble up some kind of program to create and update a game board, and then input it back as an image. A bit more advanced than I've seen the need for. You could also have (Gemini 2.0 Flash Experimental) output images in response, but you'd be sacrificing the intelligence of 2.5.


There is function calling as a specific toggle, but I'm not sure how it plays into MCP.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for April 16, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
New pastime:


I've always been a fan of simulating TTRPG sessions using AI. I thought Claude was great at it, but I was always hamstrung by low message/chat length counts on the free tier. Alternatives like ChatGPT 4o just weren't as good, and ran into rate limit issues just as they got interesting.


With Gemini 2.5 Pro Thinking, not an issue any more. It's a great writer, especially with some guidance, and for the purposes of fairness, I enabled code execution for the simple purpose of rolling random die. Works great, I'm enjoying my current Delta Green campaign set in 2027 where it turns out that advanced AGI research has rather interesting consequences when it comes to getting the attention of Lovecraftian entities. Mask on a Shoggoth, anyone?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for April 16, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Music recommend thread:


I find new songs in a rather haphazard way. Maybe a video on Reddit or YT has a bopper, which I then use some kind of audio recognition to identify and add to my playlist. Spotify manages to get me to add a song to my favorites at a rate of about 1 every 2 weeks. This time, it did share a banger, one I've got on repeat.


YouTube link: So Cold by Balu Brigada


The bassline has probably gotten people pregnant, I can't help but nod my head along.


(My taste in music borders on schizophrenic, not that I don't listen to mainstream music)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for April 16, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Wouldn't the "objective effects" of an Anki deck just be the benefits of spaced repetition? That's well established empirically AFAIK.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Quality Contributions Report for March 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Unfortunately not. And I've already checked.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 13, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'll take it over being plain old dead, and we'll have to see what future technologies can do in regards to full-fat uploading. Like living on through your genes, it beats utter non-existence.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 13, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
If that's how you see things, then you have the option of not creating such a simulacrum, and asking your family not to make one of you. If you're an EU citizen, you probably have stronger legal recourse, such as the people who successfully got ChatGPT to ignore their names.


I would be entirely fine with such a clone of me being around when I wasn't. I don't see it being any worse than people fondly looking back at pictures or videos of the deceased today, they're gone either way, and they're instantiating a replica in their brain to represent them.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 13, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Wouldn't it be great if your kids could see a healthier, better version of grandma?




Certainly, that's why I'm a transhumanist and a doctor.




No reason to wait until she's dead, just turn on AI grandma and avoid an awkward trip to the nursing home.




I presume you don't see yourself doing this, and neither do I (assuming my grandmas were anything but ash now). So most decent people who visit because of obligation or simply because they care will continue doing so. The people who had little inclination to do so won't, and I don't see this making much of a change on the margin.


So far, improvements in telepresence and telecommunications means it's easier for lonely old folk to speak to their families, leaving aside their issues operating a phone or a video app. The alternative wouldn't be a drastic increase in visits, it would be them being left even more in the cold than is already the case.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 13, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
He was commenting again a month or so back, so he's alive and well, and probably not in Alaska.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 13, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
A lifetime? More like 2 years. The only thing we can't do today (with good results) is the interactive AI avatar or real time video.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 13, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I fail to see what's so horrible about it. It's a pale shadow of true immortality, but it's better than nothing, and I don't see how ten copies is any worse than one. You could always get them to sync up, and if you can't, then a granny who has a different set of memories and doesn't remember what you said to her last week is not much different from a living one with dementia.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Scott: Come On, Obviously The Purpose Of A System Is Not What It Does
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I've run into people here, quite recently, who have used that phrase. My usual response is something along the lines that the purpose of anything is entropy maximization.


The meaning of life, as measured by what it does? Increase entropy.


The meaning of coffee? Just the same.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 7, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Fair enough. I can see what you meant.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 7, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
There is an inherent contradiction between:




This is the backlash to automation. This is the "wrecker class" implementing destructive policies in response to being automated away. This is just what it looks like. It doesn't say it on the tin. The talk is always about jobs, but the blame is misplaced for why they're going away. It's automation. It can cause people to reach for whatever tool can possibly cause shortages and contract the economy, just hoping that doing so somehow reverses the impacts of automation. Nevermind that the intermediate steps are "cause shortages" and "contract the economy".






If you're worried about how the PMC will eventually sabotage the progress of automation or just want to find a way to model how humans might be a bottleneck on the way to a glorious automated future, one might need look no further than current events.




The most charitable interpretation is a proof-reading error, otherwise it clearly claims that the PMC are both currently "wrecking" things and this is the way they might wreck things in the future. Given that the PMC, as we understand that class, are not in charge of the stupid economic policies instituted by the Trump admin, and likely the ones most against it, it seems ridiculous to blame them for the latter's actions.


Unless, of course, someone has a convincing argument for why the PMC is somehow responsible that I'm missing.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 7, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I find it rather interesting to claim that the PMC, the class most opposed to Trump, is somehow wrecking things. That's some 5D Chess with multiversal time travel right there, not checkers.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 7, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
https://old.reddit.com/r/DebateACatholic/comments/1gjnkac/concerns_regarding_the_historicity_and_the/


This has a substantial rebuttal. The core claims are hilariously overblown for anyone with even a passing familiarity with medicine or lab work.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 7, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


There's the rub, right? Miracles tend to be one-off historical events, not laws of nature you can subject to experiment, so you end up having to rely on witnesses. And witnesses are easily dismissed as liars or suffering from delusions




What about all those sites, like the grave of Padre Pio where pilgrims regularly report miraculous cures? Or the spring waters at Lourdes? The latter has 70 recognized miracles by the Catholic church, with OOMs more claimed over 150 years. I'm pretty sure if that if it kept up the pace, we could dispense with hospitals for all expenses paid tours.


Sadly, lying and delusions are the only sensible responses when it comes to such poorly documented incidents which conveniently avoid cameras and MRIs. Funny how that works, and even funnier that people take them seriously despite this.


It's a funny deity that throws fire and brimstone about in front of crowds of hundreds or thousands, yet shies away from electronic media or even film.




Though even the kinds of miracles that can be literally put under a microscope seem not uncontrovertable. Take Eucharistic miracles for which there are consistent findings that the material being examined is human heart tissue, that had been subjected to great stress, was very recently alive, of blood type AB, and with DNA that can't be sequenced. Some of the folks that investigate these even contracted with secular labs to do sample processing to avoid the appearance of bias.




My textbooks must have skipped over findings of such magnitude. I'd love to see evidence for these claims. It would have to be a great deal of evidence to overcome the inherent tallness of the tale.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 6, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm tactically refraining from writing a review. I suspect the reason this particular pc was several hundred pounds cheaper than others with similar specs was because of the abysmal 3.2 star rating. Apparently a bunch of people received it missing the CPU. Well, mine boots and runs well, and if it's just the 5080 doing all the heavy lifting, Nvidia has my stamp of approval haha.