summerdown2

4 ms·

1.
by summerdown2 26d ago
> Voting is choose between two terrible candidates This framing makes it seem like the candidates are identically terrible. Which is never the case.
2.
by summerdown2 6mo ago
> I don't really know how to respond politely to downplaying genocide. Sorry. I don't intend to downplay genocide and I don't want to come across that way. What I'm trying to critique is (so far as I can read it from
3.
by summerdown2 6mo ago
> Trump is attacking allies too, but they’re both criminal. In other news, a mouse and an elephant are both mammals. If only there was some obvious way to tell the difference between them.
4.
by summerdown2 7mo ago
> My first instinct was, I had underspecified the location of the car. The model seems to assume the car is already at the car wash from the wording. Doesn't offering two options to the LLM, "walk," or "drive," i
5.
by summerdown2 1y ago
I suspect it's projection as a defense, because a number of Brits do see the US as some sort of failing police state that's snatching people off the streets. I guess if you get your attack in first you'll be able to go "
6.
by summerdown2 1y ago
> Trump says many things that nobody actually believes. It's not a valid argument to use the general case here. Because in the case of this particular statement, it clearly isn't true that "nobody actually believes" i
7.
A revolution in archaeology is transforming our picture of past populations(aeon.co)
50 points by summerdown2 2y ago|24 comments
8.
by summerdown2 3y ago
A scientific theory doesn't have to be wrong or right. It can simply be useful as long as the limitations are understood. Eg, the domains where it applies and the domains where you shouldn't use it. Isaac Asimov wrote a really gre
9.
by summerdown2 3y ago
To be honest, my ethical calculation comes out the other way around. If someone is playing honest with me in good faith, and they ask for a show of good faith back, I think reciprocity, good manners and ethics favour the idea that I should
10.
by summerdown2 3y ago
> I don’t like ads, but I think the only ethical options are posting to avoid them (preferably direct to artists) or watching ads I think that ethical position is weakened by the fact many ads are links to scams and unethical things. You
11.
by summerdown2 3y ago
I have heard good things about their customer service. But I put in my postcode to their site and the response was: > For your location, forecast download sync speed is 27-37Mb/s and forecast upload sync speed is 4.2-6.9Mb/s. I
12.
by summerdown2 3y ago
> If those companies using chat bots are failing to provide value, then they won't be competitive and they will go away. The difficulty is, this is obscured to the customer. Let's say I have a broadband account in a country wit
13.
by summerdown2 5y ago
I don't even mind the sponsored placements in my search. I'd just like a search for X to give me a page full of X, not random junk bearing no relationship to X.
14.
by summerdown2 6y ago
Is there any way to do that on ios? I first turned on my ipad, then sat for several minutes staring at a box on the screen that clearly wanted input but had no continue button. Only slowly did it dawn on me that there was a hidden scroll re
15.
by summerdown2 6y ago
There are loads of murder methods the author hasn't thought of. Just off the top of my head, you could have murder by: g-forces, laser (James Bond), removal of medicine, excitement to heart attack, introduction of disease, cannibalism,
16.
by summerdown2 6y ago
On the other hand, 30 million Raspberry Pis have been sold and an enormous number of people are learning to code as a result of free online resources. I'm not so sure the end of general-purpose computing for the masses is all that over
17.
by summerdown2 6y ago
Yes, I completely agree. I'm not sure whether it's one of his expected use-cases, but his work has made it so simple for me to get things from my writing group quickly onto my kindle. Plus, my own draft stories. As someone who spe
18.
by summerdown2 6y ago
You realise that's exactly the model of libraries, right? A small fee (taxation) in return for open access to literature, and in most cases music and film too.
19.
by summerdown2 6y ago
From your comments, I'd almost believe the government were doing well, rather than overtaking Italy in deaths per day at this point on the curve: https://www.ft.com/coronavirus-latest All the reports you've mentio
20.
by summerdown2 6y ago
From 'Yes, Prime Minister,' a comedy show in the UK in the 80s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSXIetP5iak
21.
by summerdown2 7y ago
My prediction: this will be the one post where the 1% rule doesn't apply, as a much larger number will be spurred into action by the topic in question - and end up actually saying something.
22.
by summerdown2 7y ago
Even if your life is dominated entirely by self-interest, and the interests of the rest of the population isn't important to you, don't you have any elderly relatives? Or friends with pre-existing conditions? Speaking only for mys
23.
by summerdown2 7y ago
Well, that was hugely frustrating. It reminded me of those satires of local newspapers, where the crash of the Hindenburg is described as "local man delayed." I get that the author has a real interest in missing documentation. And
24.
by summerdown2 7y ago
Cool! Have you seen this cartoon? It's something I remembered from way back, and finally found it again! http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2569
25.
by summerdown2 7y ago
Interesting. I tend to think you can surprise yourself. I write stories as a hobby, and my characters often surprise me. I'd say it's down to two things: a) Having to imagine a different personality's perspective, and b) Havi
26.
by summerdown2 7y ago
This sounds like a terrible rewrite. If I can think of places they fail, surely real life can come up with more. Essentially, this would lead to either: a) The tyranny of the majority, or b) The tyranny of those with strong preferences. Let
27.
by summerdown2 7y ago
Many people do! This is the 'architect' vs 'gardener' debate. A lot of writers start out with the notion of a story, then let it develop in the writing. If I remember correctly, Stephen King writes this way.
28.
by summerdown2 7y ago
Well, in writing terms, it seems to have worked for Ray Bradbury: > The best hygiene for beginning writers or intermediate writers is to write a hell of a lot of short stories. If you can write one short story a week—it doesn’t matter wh
29.
by summerdown2 7y ago
I recently spent time in hospital, and came away convinced that the one thing that could reduce the greatest amount of human suffering would be a really good 24/7 painkiller without long-term side effects. Time after time I saw patient
30.
by summerdown2 7y ago
There seems to be a gap in the argument between step 2 and steps onwards from 4. The experiment assumes that, given the opportunity, the universe will give a person the knowledge of how to extend their life. But of course that knowledge cou

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