I just, like, how much more fucking cartoonishly villainous can you be? "The nazi salute giving half-trillionaire who cut aid programs for the poor runs a child porn site that is powered by poisoning a Black neighborhood"
Whenever I read about the lopsided economics of AI, I dread what will happen once the honeymoon will have ended and companies need to make money again. I hope efficiency will be at a level by then that the 20€/month price bracket will work out without brutal enshittification or privacy nightmares.
"In the end, the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable—what then?" - George Orwell, "Nineteen Eighty-Four". (1/6)
I am sure everyone in the Kanzleramt who prepared this meeting, the people who bought a golden frame, made sure it's not too expensive given the recent rise in gold prices and Germany's laws limiting the value of gifts on levels below a luxury Airbus 350, who coached Merz how to be just the right kind of manly, are now very happy about the outcome of the meeting.
It's good to know that what the chancellor of Germany, one of the most important allies of the United States, discussed with the president of the US of A, one of Germany's most important allies, during the first ever meeting between both heads of state is at the top of the US president's mind right now.
One of those "back when I was a kid" musings: It's quite remarkable how much teenagers these days are marketed to. When I was that age in the 90s, the only places you saw any ads made for you was when buying one of those slightly cringe (print!) magazines or watching TV. Maybe some fashion posters? But I don't remember any, so maybe they too were directed to parents?
30min into the E1 of Adolescence (Netflix). A young boy is brought into custody, suspected for murder. Kind kid, smart, good family, lot's of uncertainty. The series takes it time. Everyone is kind when they take his details.
Reminds me what an accomplishment the rule of law is. It allows you to stay human, even with a could-be-monster, to separate justice from revenge, maybe even punishment in the rawest sense, to overcome the Lacardian game of looking for scapegoats.
https://mastodon.world/@missmythreyi/114172216154128046
Brit crime dramas just seem to be better at creating atmosphere than their American counterparts , especially with their use of sound design, establishing shots - they just take their time to let scenes breathe and it makes a world of difference.
Love that it transcends network flavour, they do that on netflix, apple, or amc
The limbed and headed machine of pain and undignified suffering is firing up again. It wants to walk the desert. Hurting. Longing. Dancing to disco music.
(I mean, yeah, their prose can be decent, too. And it's a great tool for editing.)
So: If you are "against AI" and have been for a while, give it a try. There are principled reasons against it, but it is a powerful tool. Both can be true, and you don't have to sacrifice it totally to make a point. Same as with every tech.
And: It's still important or maybe more important to know a lot. I feel for those kids who might never learn to write. Much of writing is thinking, and it's not the writing that LLMs are good at, but as a prothesis for better thinking.
Asta [AMP]
Terence Tao
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