I'm going to get pedantic. That's why I've been using this exact term "LLM" instead of "AI" for the last few years.
The "artificial" implies that it has man-made origins, yet serves the *same* purpose. Richard here argues that it doesn't fit because it does not, in fact, serve the same purpose. You can argue that for certain people it can serve the same purpose, like if you're a CEO who replaces low-level support staff with chatbots - but then it's an artificial support staff, not artificial intelligence.
I largely share your sentiment, I had a tape player as a kid, and the second I could get a CD player and burn my own CDs I never looked back. One thing that I don't see mentioned often is how battery-hungry these players were as well.
Must be a regional thing, because where I live, mass internet adoption pretty much started in the 90s with the dedicated Ethernet connections. As such, every PC had its own IP address, it was a time before home routers. Later, the dreaded NAT was introduced, but the ISPs kept their "LAN" networks free. People hosted all sorts of things. It was a common practice for people to host an FTP server, a game server, an IRC and such on their home computers, and that "LAN" was not subject to the internet speed limit that was capped at around 600kb/s while the LAN would go as fast as the hardware allowed.
The "free" hosts were already harbingers of the end times. Once, having a dedicated IP address per machine stopped being a requirement, the personal website that would be casually hosted whenever your PC is on was done.
People mourn general-purpose computing, because the writing is on the wall for future generations. The living room computer is dead, your average "normie" only has a phone, and maybe a tablet these days. What really opened my eyes to this is how kids I was teaching 3D printing design to were constantly asking if they can use a 3D printer with their phone.
Laptops, desktops and servers are becoming more and more niche, and if we don't do anything it dies with our generation (or maybe a generation after that).
> 800$ for 720p screen and 3GBs of RAM
> Can't even use a bank app with it
I'm sorry, but this will never see adoption wide enough to be useful.
I can't imagine paying 800 and still having to carry a "backup" phone for payments, public transit and such.
Call me selfish or old-fashioned, but my approach to open source software I make is just to "throw it out there".
And what I mean by that is unless one of my projects is going to go big and have enough users to generate revenue either from sponsorships or something like Patreon - I'm making open source software for me, myself and I. So you can have my source code and some instructions about how to get it running, but don't expect me to also be your guide or tech support. My intention in throwing it out there is to help out people who have the same exact issue as I do and are willing to get it working, not to be a donor for all the help vampires around.
If this comes to fruition, my next phone is going to be Harmony OS. I hate the CCP with passion, but if there's sideloading on Harmony - that's where I'm going to go.
Python 2 situation opened my eyes to this. To this day I see a lot of py2 stuff floating around, especially around work environments. So much so, in fact, that I had to make scripts that automatically pull the sources of 2.7.18 and build them in the minimal configuration to run stuff.
Adding to this - that's why I insist all my students should learn touch-typing, for at least 10 minutes per lesson. It really changes how you interact with your computer, and how much touch typing quickly makes you able to type as fast as you can think changes your approach to automating things in a quick script or doing some bash-fu. A very underrated skill in todays world.
I've been using shorthands for websites for a while now, "aw pipewire" looks for "pipewire" on Arch Wiki, "c cassandra" looks through my confluence, "re hotas" is for reddit and so on. It's very easy an intuitive. I'm using Vivaldi, but I'm pretty sure it's a feature in many other browsers that let you add a custom search engine.
I think that if you'll focus on just the HTML5 and new stuff without any consideration for legacy things it's still a big undertaking but not impossible. There are projects focused on new browser engines, for example - Servo.
I had to modify userChrome.css twice to make it work over time, because obviously, you don't want the old tab bar there at the same time as TST. But also it was very unstable for me because every time I needed the left bar for something other than tabs it would crash or hang or get stuck. The rest of the browser would keep working fine, but the tab bar would not receive clicks or something like that. I had to restart Firefox every time that happened.
As for privacy containers - you can easily switch profiles in Vivaldi. It's not integrated to the same degree where you'd get tabs from many profiles in one window, but it works for me.
If you like Firefox Containers you should also know that, ironically, unlike Chrome Firefox doesn't have proper site isolation. [0]
I've been using Firefox for as long as I've been on the internet, but I got really tired of using it just because "It's not chromium". Mozilla been doing really stupid and frustrating decisions that made me feel like I'm in an abusive relationship. I've been eyeballing Vivaldi for a long time, and Firefox breaking compact mode finally broke the camel's back for me earlier this year.
When I switched to Vivaldi I felt like it's 2003 again, and I've just switched from IE to Firefox. Every single thing Mozilla removed from Firefox over the years is here, and most of the stuff I used hacky addons that would often break is here too! In the core browser, as first-class features, without the need to fiddle with userChrome.css or look through obscure flags. It really is a breath of fresh air and it puts into perspective how many excuses I've made for Firefox over the years. It's not worthy of being my browser, simple as.
Mozilla took my fundamental addons that separated Firefox from other browsers, they took my RSS reader, they took my cool Torrenting and Email clients that were a part of the browser itself. The TreeStyleTab requires you to go through obscure and hidden config files that often break with updates and the extension itself is not stable and fiddly. On top of that, I had way more Firefox extensions that aren't even different from Chrome extensions in major ways. In Vivaldi, I just get a nice panel with RSS, Calendar, Translator, Email client, Notes, whatever I want! The adblocker is built-in, the privacy features are built-in, you even get to put your tabs wherever you want. It has theming support that is as good as Firefox Colors, and it has custom search keywords that replace DuckDuckGos bangs for me more often than not. It even has the dark mode among other page filters, a screenshot tool, web page tiling! All the things that would turn my Firefox profile into a slow extension pile that barely works and longs for death.
Mozilla's "goals" of removing key features meant for people who actually would want to use a "google alternative" are laughable, and it's as bad on "privacy" axis as Chrome is because you have to use something like LibreWolf to get the actual privacy from it, very much like you have to use ungoogled-chromium with Chrome. If they think that turning the browser into a Chrome clone with some bumper stickers that say things like "Proud not to use Blink" and "We do say privacy a lot", then it's already dead to me.
The problem here is how tobacco smokers are affecting people around them. Passive smoke consumption is very dangerous, and the smokers tend to ingore any regulations for smoking. Take public bus stops for example, if someone starts smoking while waiting for the bus you usually don't want to start a scene by asking them to stop, and you wouldn't call the police on them, because it's really stupid to bother the cops for such a tiny thing they wouldn't even catch in time.
The workplace can be really affected too. Offices may be free of smoke now, but have you ever been a construciton worker? And hell, even living next to a smoker is really uncomfortable, if you live in an apartment building it's always a nuisance when they smoke and it gets sucked into your place if you have a window open. I just really don't want smokers anywhere near me, but the reality is - they are all over the place, and when you try to limit the places they can partake in their habit or complain they always act like they're the victim and their rights are getting violated.
While both alcohol and weed can give you altered reality experience, tobacco can not. Tobacco smokers are a major annoyance and a nuisance to the public, on top of killing themselves slowly, so if the tobacco cigarrets would've been strictly illegal and you coldn't smoke in public I can't imagine people willing to organize into small secret clubs to smoke a few cigs a day in a place you have to go to.
I am very happy with NixOS progress. It is my OS of choice for personal servers, nothing comes close to how great it is.
I've been learning Nix for the past few months, and it's been a challenge tho.
And I agree with your very broad statement, our views aren't opposed to each other. Just don't confuse "the society" and "me, the individual". As an individual, I don't care about retribution, I never said that if someone steals from me then I would track them down and kill them. Instead, I only care about one thing - preventing crime against myself, with lethal force if available.
If I'm allowed to protect myself and my rights with lethal force and the society as a whole manages to lower the crime rate through any mean, be it through a better prison system, rehabilitation, or other means - that would only mean I would never have to use my right to protect myself with lethal force, and I'd be happier as a result. But I still wouldn't give up that right.
See, I'm not an american, as I've mentioned before. I can see both points, and this is my view of the situation, that you are free to call hypocritical, yet I wouldn't be able to offer anything better:
Both views are right depending on your vantage point. Yes, criminals as a class/as a whole deserve pity and rehabilitation if they are apprehended by the law. I see no point in just punishing people for extended amount of time, especially because it's proven not to decrease the repeated offense.
If someone's in custody and receives the sentence - yes, give them the rehabilitation and help, let them enjoy the second chance and all that - because that would make people more safe, as opposed to less safe, that's a good outcome.
However, I would also say - do not expect mercy or pity from individuals you're committing a crime against. I don't think it's reasonable to expect someone who's a victim of a crime to offer any sympathy or moral consideration to the criminal in the act, and we should not look down at or punish people using lethal force to prevent a crime. IMO and individual has every right to protect himself in any possible way, as long as it prevents him from becoming a victim. I would never be able to accept that sometimes it's better to let someone commit a crime against you to not victimize them instead.
Can we have both? My opinion is that yes, I see no contradiction here. I don't think we should have the same standards for the justice system and the individual.