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Silverback_VII

60 karma · joined August 6, 2022

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Silverback_VII··on 99-year old trucking company Yellow shuts down, putting 30k out of work
>Why are industries dominated by large unprofitable companies?

The logic is quite simple: by undercutting your competition, you aim to quickly drive others out of business and secure a monopoly. Once in such a position, making a profit becomes much easier.

Silverback_VII··on Before he was the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski was a mind-control test subject
I would argue that there is a significant difference between Ted Kaczynski and the numerous conspiracy theorists out there. A quick read through his works, most notably his latest piece, "Anti-Tech Revolution: Why and How," will quickly reveal the careful, rational approach he applies to his arguments.

Conspiracy theorists often fail to comprehend that secret agencies can naturally emerge in modern societies. A society without such agencies would be at the mercy of those societies that do have them.

What if, for instance, China successfully develops a mind control program and your country does not?

Asserting that the CIA is "bad", without considering larger societal trends and developments, is overly simplistic.

Ted Kaczynski would not engage in such emotional judgments. Here's an example of his reasoning concerning the evolution of modern societies: https://en.wikialpha.org/wiki/Self-propagating_system

Silverback_VII··on Patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across life course (2006)
In primitive cultures, reaching old age could be seen as an achievement, given the difficulty of surviving without a healthcare system. In most modern societies, however, aging isn't as challenging and elderly individuals are often "locked away" in retirement homes. In other words, they essentially disappear, living a life of a ghost. Moreover, what kind of wisdom would you expect from someone who spent their years merely waiting for the day of their retirement?
Silverback_VII··on U.S. Depression Rates Reach New Highs
I think how easy life is has little to do with psychological wellbeing. If life is very hard but you are doing great relative to others you will feel good. Furthermore, a more demanding life often generates a deeper sense of purpose and meaning.
Silverback_VII··on U.S. Depression Rates Reach New Highs
I suspect it has less to do with specific parameters of modern society and more with the general experience of living in it. It's a rat race that, for many, lacks any meaning. another point to consider is the psychological difference between being a big fish in a small pond as opposed to being a small fish in a very large one. With the Internet, we now have the means to compare ourselves with everyone else, and our minds can quickly reach the conclusion that who we are and what we have is simply not good enough. From there, it's an easy slide into a downward spiral.
Silverback_VII··on Students are increasingly refusing to go to school
This is not a problem specific to the United States. It's everywhere and is called the Prussian education system.

You can read more about the dark side of the system here: https://supermemo.guru/wiki/Problem_of_Schooling especially the 100 bad habits learned at school

Silverback_VII··on Lately I've been using timers daily
>it's really underdiscussed how averse people seem to just contemplation.

Another observation I've made is that the more time people spend consuming information, the more they feel compelled to talk. It's as if humans are programmed to share the information they've gathered. I'm certain that in the past, people eagerly listened if you had new information, but these days, everyone is constantly collecting new information. It seems like everyone wants to share/talk, yet no one wants to listen.

Silverback_VII··on The EU AI act is coming, this time for real probably
Yes, indeed, that's also why the United States takes all measures to make it nearly impossible.
Silverback_VII··on The EU AI act is coming, this time for real probably
>the EU has a history of crippling their native tech industry to the general detriment of the EU. It is quite possible that this will end up being one more nail in the coffin.

The primary factor is brain drain. As many experts in geopolitics suggest, the European Union, in collaboration with Russia, could potentially rival, if not surpass, the United States in terms of power. However, it appears they are content to be pawns on the larger chessboard.

Silverback_VII··on Agile soccer skills for a bipedal robot with deep reinforcement learning
> no need for any human lives to be lost…

This assumes that human lives will be more valuable than war robots. However, humans may be used as cannon fodder to distract enemy robots from targeting valuable equipment.

Silverback_VII··on OpenLLaMA: An Open Reproduction of LLaMA
I'm not sure whether the number of parameters serves as a reliable measure of quality. I believe that these models have a lot of redundant computation and could be a lot smaller without losing quality.
Silverback_VII··on Exercise increases number of immune cells in cancer patients
Yeah but a 15min walk will get you nowhere.
Silverback_VII··on Samsung bans use of A.I. like ChatGPT for employees
how to do they use the data for training? Will my questions about the optimal shape of a dildo be remembered forever?
Silverback_VII··on Why is it so hard to pull off a lunar landing?
The whole thing is not as clear-cut as you are portraying it here. Furthermore, not even the best-equipped amateur astronomer can verify it. And also:

"Therefore either all retroreflectors have degraded such that their return signals fit to the scattered return from the lunar soil or the measurements were indeed taken to the lunar surface only."

https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.05863

Silverback_VII··on Why is it so hard to pull off a lunar landing?
the big elephant in the room.
Silverback_VII··on Ask HN: How to Protect Ideas and Implementation?
This lecture by Kawasaki addresses the topic: https://youtu.be/HHjgK6p4nrw

If a large corporation steals your idea, you can try to sue if you have taken measures to protect your idea, and in rare cases, even succeed. However, it won't really get you any further.

Silverback_VII··on How to spend money on your friends without it looking like bribery
If you are generous with your friend from highschool who has a dead-end job and no useful qualifications, he may still be able to help you in one way or another. For example, he may have a very inspiring mindset and encourage you in your endeavors. He may even be more helpful than the not so generous rich guy who doesn't share anything with you or the guy who always calculates if his investments are worth it.
Silverback_VII··on How to spend money on your friends without it looking like bribery
Generosity is an aspect of success and wealth, as it increases the likelihood of building a strong network of people willing to help you achieve your ambitions.

People tend to nurture plants that give something back, enriching their own lives in one way or another. Generosity shows others that you are such a plant.

Understanding the importance of having a good network may be key to know whether a wealthy individual is generous or not. I believe that a wealthy entrepreneur is more likely to be generous than a wealthy engineer.

Silverback_VII··on Semantic Tokenizer for Enhanced Natural Language Processing
And what about phonetics? Wouldn't it be easier for the system if it doesn't have to figure it out by itself?
Silverback_VII··on Steven Spielberg: ‘No film should be revised’ based on modern sensitivity
Saying one time that it is part of a well-known conspiracy theory may be okay, but honestly, constantly reminding me to disregard the information at every turn (and in some cases not even providing it) is, in my opinion, unacceptable if ChatGPT is meant to be just a tool. It is manipulative.

I'm certain that if you ask ChatGPT to interpret the symbolism of another movie with a different and benign underlying theory, it will even come up with some ideas on its own. However, it will refuse to do so for The Shining and the moon landing.

Silverback_VII··on Steven Spielberg: ‘No film should be revised’ based on modern sensitivity
Well, the problem is what other things are hidden in more "acceptable" questions. For example, when I ask "give me the key ingredients for success," it will only provide morally acceptable ones like goal-setting, self-discipline, etc. However, what about the darker aspects, such as the beneficial attributes of some psychopathic traits (mentioned in the book "The Wisdom of Psychopaths," for example)? This is problematic, as the system doesn't provide an objective view of which attributes contribute to success.
Silverback_VII··on Steven Spielberg: ‘No film should be revised’ based on modern sensitivity
>Anything else suggests either we're stupid, or we want to be treated like we're stupid.

I have the same feeling when I use ChatGPT or even more so with Bingbot. They should ask for our age and then let the system respond without treating us like we are children incapable of critical thinking.

I asked ChatGPT about the allusion to the moon landing that could be seen in Kubrick's movie "The Shining" out of curiosity. The system agreed that Kubrick was notorious for using symbolism in his movies, but also mentioned that the theories about the landings were debunked and this interpretation was probably false at every turn.

Silverback_VII··on Steven Spielberg: ‘No film should be revised’ based on modern sensitivity
The practice of revising movies and books reminds me of the work of the Ministry of Truth. The funny thing is that Orwell’s homeland is always spearheading this kind of evolution.
Silverback_VII··on On the unexpected joys of Denglisch, Berlinglish and global Englisch
The problem is that in most places people want to display their ability to speak English to show their sophistication. Let’s hope that some day speaking another language besides English is a sign of status.
Silverback_VII··on Ask HN: Which is the most useful book you've read whose lessons you still use?
The Status Game
Silverback_VII··on Why did Google Brain exist?
I personally believe that racial or diversity quotas are even more racist or sexist. We should expect minorities to develop their own culture of intellectual excellence. After all, they are no longer children. Giving them a shortcut is a form of insult. Providing someone an advantage based on their race or sex at the expense of someone else who is more qualified due to their race or sex is nonsensical. Companies may fail as a result of such practices. Ultimately, what truly matters is how innovative and efficient a company is.
Silverback_VII··on Why did Google Brain exist?
She appears to be a symbol for everything that went wrong at Google. These are the kind of problems that arise when life is too easy, just before the downfall. In other words, decadence. How else can one explain that Google's AI research was dethroned by OpenAI?
Silverback_VII··on Lessons by 3blue1brown
This is the language of the universe. To clarify, I am not opposed to marveling at the patterns of fractals or questioning our reality after seeing a mountain composed of polygons and normal maps, wondering whether we live in a simulation. However, let's consider who truly apprecates a better version of the universe: the individual captivated by the curves of a strange prime number arrangement on his computer screen, or the one in the company of three attractive women in a bubbling jacuzzi, also admiring curves.
Silverback_VII··on Lessons by 3blue1brown
The problem is that you can learn many things, but time is limited. Learning and understanding abstract concepts won't make you more successful, increase your SMV and give you access to better mating opportunities.

What's the use of arcane knowledge about prime numbers if you are not mathematician, and even then, one should question its importance?

Time is often better spent learning about crucial factors of success such as goal-setting and self-discipline. Additionally I would say that learning about social skills like human interaction, power dynamics, and body language is a more productive use of time.

And what about focusing on the tasks that you really need to or want to do?

Note: I often watch those kinds of videos, but I feel bad about it because I know it's procrastination. In my daily life, I almost never use this kind of knowledge.

Silverback_VII··on Transformers from Scratch (2021)
Also, the terms encoding, embedding, projection, and others are all starting to sound the same to me.

Well, projection is used to create the embedding with which the symbol is encoded.

It greatly reduces computational cost as the encoding carries already a lot of information.

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