jstrebel

I absolutely love this paper and it's a shame that this research does not receive more attention. Everybody is raving about LLMs, but also everybody is ignoring the shaky foundations on which they are built (just think of training data poisoning). It is also a shame that there are no real software applications to my knowledge that really implement the iconic and categorical representations and try to build an AI system around it.

I played it yesterday, and IMHO, the visual appearance looks a bit inconsistent. On the one hand, you have the satellite, high-detail top-down landscape view and on the other hand, you have the very basic, geometric, small and uni-color shape of the boat. I would try to reduce the level of detail of the environment, so the overall scene gets easier to observe /understand visually. Can you zoom in on the boat a bit?

Well that's right, but only the currently elected parliament is allowed to stay during war times, not the president. So you cannot have elections, but the president cannot simply stay in power without them.

This is an AI-generated post where the first part is the hook for the second part, the ad.

I would agree - especially developers are prone to develop this "better than you" attitude. The detail-oriented job of a developer and the need for exactness and correctness of the code leads to a high transparency of the quality of someone's work and facilitates comparisons on a peer level. I have the feeling, developers treat their work as some kind of puzzle and look to see who can solve this puzzle quicker and better - a very competitive environment with clear rights and wrongs. If you have an edge, you can abuse this situation.

I tend to agree - just look at large parts of the Venture Capital / Start-Up scene. Chasing the coveted product/market-fit is a purpose in itself there (at least in the early stages). I guess it depends on what you define as "successful"...

I see this article as a piece of its time - it tries to bridge the divide between connectionists and symbolists. And that's exactly my problem with it: of course, you need a non-symbolic approach to sensor data processing, fusion, aggregation, category discovery etc. but it does not necessarily mean that a neural network is the only option. In the end, an ANN implements a mathematical function and as such, you as the system designer should be able to choose any mathematical framework for your lowest level.

You sound severly frustrated. You don't need another job, you need a good coach or psychologist to treat your burn-out (which is a form of depression) I can only speak for myself: yes, corporate it teams can be mentally draining, but working there will make you money more easily than in most other professions.

To be fair - J2EE (and its associated technologies like SOAP, XML) is a bit like alcohol. It is great when used in moderation, but gives you headaches when used excessively.

XML is great - if you don't believe it, then you might be interested in the pains of parsing JSON: http://seriot.ch/projects/parsing_json.html And don't get me started on YAML...

ChatGPT is just the beginning and a glimpse of what is to come. In its current form, it is rather generic and more of a tech demo. In the future, we will see much more specialized AI applications based on ChatGPT or similar technology, that are geared towards attractive use cases: - software developer support (StackOverflow on steroids) - News aggregation - the automatic newspaper editor or blog curator - Legal support - automatic law clerk

All jobs that use natural language as a tool or resource are fair game.

Strugatsky - Roadside picnic

A small sci-fi novel where a fantastic premise is explored. The most interesting part is the description of the role of the different characters in relation to the mystery (which is not explained in the book). See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadside_Picnic

Awesome! There is a whole world of Bluetooth devices waiting out there!

Some suffer from broken or outdated Android apps like my Eurochron A620 bluetooth thermometer - the only way to make it work on a modern Android version is to hack it like the OP did. (If only old apps would make their source code publicly available...)

So this article is very much appreciated.

All good thinking starts with the realization : "This is odd - why would it be like that?"

In my experience, my co-workers tend to accept many concepts / structures / processes for granted whose design is non-obvious, yet they accept them although they don't understand them.

They're relying on an illusion of understanding - better thinking starts when you realize that you had no real understanding to begin with. I am not sure that you can teach this from a book. It requires an inquisitive mind and the courage to think for yourself.

Well, humans are not made of silly putty, that can be shaped in any way by simple wishful thinking. Please read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blank_Slate

No, they weren't. They had only little interest in anything musical. Why would you start as a musician (and then fail), if music does not interest you?

That is a blatantly false answer. Of course, there is an ongoing debate about nature vs. nurture, which means that the genetic makeup of the individual strongly influences the individual's life. Look at musicality, look at sociopathy, look at general intelligence - all areas where genes exert their influence (as an example). So yes, you can try to grow around your talents, and develop strengths there. But by the same token, you should not try to grow in areas that you are not cut out for. No amount of whishful thinking or practice will turn me into a top-notch musician or singer, for example, as the genetic component is missing.

Bill Gates - How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need

Finally a book that approaches climate change from an engineering perspective and focuses on possible, constructive solutions.

If you have the slightest interest in rockets, you should read this funny and informative book. You don't need to be a chemist to follow. I have a hardcopy at home and recommend to read it this way, as the contents are sometimes densely explained and you want to look up some additional information on the Internet in parallel.

You made my day with that Skeelo reference!

XGalaga :)

There are tons of clones and forks: https://github.com/JoergStrebel/xgalaga-sdl

I know it sounds cliche, but maybe you should look at the bigger picture from time to time:

"A man came across three stonecutters and asked them what they were doing. The first replied, “I am making a living.” The second kept on hammering while he said, “I am doing the best job of stonecutting in the entire county.” The third looked up with a visionary gleam in his eye and said, “I am building a cathedral.”" https://www.harvardmagazine.com/breaking-news/three-stonecut...

Of course, IT applications in larger corporations tend to be boring and uninspiring by themselves, but they are there for a reason and they probably make someone's life easier and help other people to their job. For example, I am working on an IT system that connects individual dealerships to the corporate IT databases. My company uses this system to sell its products and communicate with its customers, so this system is really helping people.

Maybe try to look beyond the daily and mundane tasks of your job and see the purpose of your role.

I understand that you feel frustrated; your role does not match your expectations. So maybe you should find out the meaning and the purpose of your role. In the end, you are paid for adding value in the corporate environment; your contribution can happen in many ways, e.g. by hosting more effective meetings or by improving decision frequency and speed etc. Adding value in a corporation is not always about technical achievements, but also about improving the team and the game (as a social process). If this is not your cup of tea, you might be better served by a technical role in some specialized consulting company.

I received a warning messages from Google a couple of days ago. GMail is no longer supporting password-based login or special privileges for third-party apps. If your email client wants to access your GMail account, it must support OAuth2, so that it can use Google's own authentication service. For example, Mozilla Thunderbird works just fine (I tested it); I read that the latest versions of MS Outlook are also fine. For me, this is a high motivation to get rid of my GMail accounts, and move to some real, privacy-friendly email provider.

Honestly, I can relate to your situation - been there, done that. I think I am a step further now, I kind of found a fitting lifestyle for myself. The absolutely first thing that you really need to do, is finding a girlfriend.

Don't worry about being nerdy - there is someone out there waiting for you! You are an attractive man. Finding a spouse will dramatically improve your quality of life.

There are enough options to reach this goal. Online dating comes to mind, but it might take a while to find the right match, so hang in there!

I can pretty much relate - I cannot wrap my mind around Web3 /cryptocurrency / NFTs either. Fortunately, they have no bearing on my life whatsoever, so I tend to ignore them.

I think I get your feeling: there are giant Internet-based monopolies out there (e.g. Facebook, Amazon, Google...) which seem to be driven entirely by greed and power. Google's "Don't be evil" disappeared long ago. Those monopolies are no longer a force for the good and their technological allure has faded over the years.

If you are looking for exiting technology, you need to look outside the Web. I find autonomous driving and robotics really fascinating. I mean , the SpaceX rocket boosters return to Earth in a powered landing - how cool is that?

Tesla?

I am 43 now and employed in the central IT department of a big German car manufacturer. I can completely relate to the OP in terms of roles and responsibilities, but I would like to offer a different perspective on the meaning of your job: It does not matter whether you write code or not. As an engineer in IT, there are numerous ways to create value for a company, be it in software development, operations, IT-related purchasing, project management, agile leadership (SCRUM master) etc. Your core asset is your technical expertise - if you combine it with any business function, you have a very coveted skill set and probably a rewarding career. I myself changed between different roles (lead developer, maintenance manager, architect, build manager...) and different business domains (quality, customer service, manufacturing).

My core take-away is: create value and more around laterally in the company. You will gain valuable knowledge and you will be respected.

Nice puzzles, but very bad usability on smartphones.

Do yourself a favour and and disable the Google Play Services on your Android Phone.

Almost all apps will keep on working, the power consumption will decrease dramatically, your battery lifetime will be about 3days on one full charge. (My observations on a Samsung Galaxy A41).

I assume that the Google Play Services are the culprit that phones home all the time.

That piece reminds me of my doctoral thesis and its creation. It took me quite some time as I had a full-time job during the day, but in the evenings, on the weekends, I worked on my research. It was long, it was tedious, and I had my share of detours and fuck-ups, but I managed to finish it, defend it and graduate.

Please note: this approach is not for the faint of heart - working on one topic for years means that you can never really relax. There is always something to think about. So you should really consider if that's your cup of tea.