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Cake day: June 11th, 2023

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  • Interesting question.

    It’s different in the broad mechanics of the hype and the technology, obviously. AI isn’t really a basic information delivery mechanism like the 00s web was. It’s a lot more than that, thanks to the progress we’ve made since then. Plus, it has a lot more potential to impact artists and creative types. The web promised to propel them. Generative AI is threatening to make them completely obsolete.

    But a lot of the psyche/sales hype stuff is very similar. The dot com boom started out all about democratizing the world and giving everyone a voice. Then it quickly became a capitalist free for all of coming up with any and every idea to shoehorn the Internet (and especially the web) into every walk of life. And the venture capital money-grabbing frenzy that inevitably led to. So that second aspect is very similar to where we are at right now with AI. And the first aspect isn’t a million miles away from the frequent assurances that AI will better society.

    The technology stack for AI is more stable and well thought out than the nebulous web was. But it clearly still has some pretty big implementation challenges. Not to mention the resource/energy ceiling we are currently fighting against.

    The potential of AI to destroy huge swathes of professions is massively different from the early commercial web. Back then the web was widely seen as a new source of careers, not a career killer.
















  • I’m really sorry you’re in this situation. I can’t fully understand where you’re coming from because I can’t walk in your shoes. But I genuinely wish you the best. It sounds like you have a shit-ton of stress and are dealing with depression right now. I can relate to that part at least, and I really hope you can get some help from a counselor, because while they can’t help with some things, they can make a world of difference in other ways. Hopefully I don’t piss you off by saying this, but… sending you a virtual hug. Hang in there.


  • I think I know where you’re coming from on this. Linux is very cool in a lot of ways, and it is very flexible and fun to play with. But it does require an investment of learning and time to get more familiar with it. And that can be frustrating/overwhelming to face. And like you, I find the whole cult-like vibe around it annoying.

    I first got familiar with Linux many years ago, mostly out of curiosity. But also because I liked the ideas of using it and the idea of having another OS option other than Windows/MacOS. While I am still not a Linux expert, I feel like I can get around the OS competently. And in hindsight I think it was worth the time I spent getting familiar with it.

    Also, like you in not a pursuit when it comes to terminal use in Linux. Give me a nice UI option any day if the week. And to be fair, many Linux distro have come a long way with their UIs in the last 20 of so years.

    If you just want to tinker with a solid distro that has a decent UI, I recommend either Ubuntu or Zorin. Also, I recommend trying to pace yourself with learning it. Only pick the parts that interest you, and take your time learning about them. There’s no rush. Good luck.

    ETA: Also, if you want to play with a couple of different Linux distros, I recommend using a virtualization app like VirtualBox. You can just spin up virtual machines and install a distro on them. And if they don’t work out or you don’t like them you can just delete the VMs. And virtualization is a fun little rabbit hole in and of itself.


  • Here are some of the common complaints about Jill Stein:

    As the Green Party candidate she will pull in more third party votes than most (if not all) of the other parties. While those views are usually trivial in number in the grand scheme of things, they can have a big impact in let seeing states.

    She has not gone out of her way to criticize Trump, and has instead treated both Trump and Harris as being equally bad, even though Trump is arguably much more anti-environmental than Harris.

    This isn’t her first time coming in as what’s seen as a Democrat vote-spoiler candidate.

    From the perspective of some, she pops up every four years to try to take votes off the Democrat candidate and then seemingly disappears for another four years.

    She has a bit of a cult of personality thing going on - arguably moreso than either Harris or Biden.

    She’s in her mid-70s, and so no spring chicken. This has become more of a concern this cycle because a) she’s for years older than she was in 2020 (obviously), b) age has become more of a point of concern given how both Biden and Trump have apparently seen marked cognitive decline at less than 10 years her seniors.

    There’s some evidence to suggest she is cozy with Putin, who is clearly does not have America’s best interests in mind. For example, she was photographed at a fancy dinner sitting at the same table as him and several of his ‘crew’ (among others). The common excuse for this is “she didn’t choose her seating!” But equally there’s no reason she couldn’t have got up and moved or left the event.

    Photo of the dinner in question, with labels:

    I’m sure there are other points I’m missing. But those are the ones that spring to mind.