Andy

@ andrewrgross @slrpnk.net

Posts

90
Comments

794
Joined

3 yr. ago

Moderating

Fully Automated RPG slrpnk.net

7h ago

Bose open-sources its SoundTouch home theater smart speakers ahead of end-of-life
Jump
9

Andy @slrpnk.net 7h ago
I appreciate the distinction, but open source is always a spectrum, so I think the description is a reasonable application here.

18h ago

Grok Can't Apologize. Grok Isn't Sentient. So Why Do Headlines Keep Saying It Did?

This, 100%.

If I apologize to you, the apology is but the words themselves: it's the contract I make with you. It's a memorandum of understanding of how I fucked up and a promise not to do so again.

LLMs can write words, but they cannot understand their actions or make honest promises to modify their behavior. They cannot be accountable in any way. Blaming them is like an actual scapegoat: a blameless things meant to have a debt if sin transferred to it before it's sacrificed. Expect we're not even getting the sacrifice.

18h ago

How to vote?

Jump

Andy @slrpnk.net 18h ago

That's true. I don't think it's generally a problem, but I do find it funny when you see someone politely correct someone else deep in a chain where no one else is reading, and the correction says "0".

To anyone who downvotes like that: you look like an insecure clown.

2d ago

Can other countries impose sanctions on the US?

Jump

Andy @slrpnk.net 2d ago

Corey Doctorow had a presentation this past week at the C3 hacker conference arguing that all our allies only agreed to be ruled by US tech hegemony in exchange for free trade agreements, and if they want a win-win solution to getting f'd, they should repeal their laws against jailbreaking US tech.

Tech sovereignty is already (finally) an issue the rest of the world is waking up to. I hope they go much farther and faster.

2d ago

the ongoing merger of liberalism and fascism

Jump

Andy @slrpnk.net 2d ago

I'm not saying both sides are equally culpable. Obviously Trump, Biden, Obama, and all of their Sec. of State are the primary villain.

3d ago

the ongoing merger of liberalism and fascism

Jump

Andy @slrpnk.net 3d ago

You know, I've been keeping my mouth shut because I don't know that much about Venezuela...

But now that Maduro's VP has expressed a willingness to cooperate with Trump, I think everyone who disputed the claims that Maduro and Chavismo were corrupt has some explaining to do.

I feel like the leftists who supported Chavismo and the right-wingers who backed US intervention should all go out for drinks and commiserate over their foolishness for thinking that they could overlook their allies obvious corruption. Am I wrong?

5d ago

Guys, have you ever been asked this question: "If your mother and your girlfriend are both drowning, who would you save first?" How would you answer this question?

Jump

Andy @slrpnk.net 5d ago

First, the most honest answer is that it's a shitty question. This 'Sophie's Choice' promise is inherently designed to disrespect someone. In real life, you just react and try to save both, most likely based on who is a better swimmer, is closer, etc.

But the question between who you prioritize is valid. The answer is subjective, of course, but my advice would be that you prioritize your mother over a casual girlfriend/bf, but you prioritize a finance or spouse over your mother. And this isn't hard to explain to Mom. I did. I said, "Hey Mom: remember how Dad always put Grandma in front of you because he was such a wimp, and it made you feel absolutely terrible? Well good news: you raised a better man than she did."

She didn't love it, but she got it. And she respected it.

5d ago

Israel accuses Mamdani of antisemitism on first day as New York mayor

Jump

Andy @slrpnk.net 5d ago

I think this is a non event.

Mamdani has been publicly stating his opposition to the Israeli occupation for years. Israel's government has been accusing him falsely of antisemitism since he became known. And the NY press has tried to rattle him over it since Israel began attempting to smear him, with no effect.

This is like holding a press conference to announce that the Berlin Wall has fallen. Yes. That was the state of affairs yesterday and the day before, and presumably will remain so tomorrow.

This isn't something anyone needs to or will react to.

1w ago

Hacker Congress CCC talk by Cory Doctorow: 'A post-American, enshittification-resistant internet'

Jump

Andy @slrpnk.net 1w ago

It's pretty wild, because this is genuinely great politics and great policy. It's weird that folks haven't realized this and acted on it yet. Fingers crossed.

1w ago

How many minutes in travel until you are no longer close to a place

Jump

Andy @slrpnk.net 1w ago

That's what I said! Fifteen minutes isn't far. But it's no longer close.

1w ago

How many minutes in travel until you are no longer close to a place

Jump

Andy @slrpnk.net 1w ago

About twelve.

1w ago

Xi Jinping vows to reunify China and Taiwan in New Year’s Eve speech

Jump

Andy @slrpnk.net 1w ago

You can hate US imperialism AND hate Chinese imperialism.

It's actually quite easy if you just fucking hate imperialism.

1w ago

my argument is foolproof

Jump

Andy @slrpnk.net 1w ago

Could you throw this back in the fryer? I think I see a few uncompressed pixels.

2w ago

Trump wants to bring Japan's 'cute' tiny cars to America — but it may not be easy

Jump

Andy @slrpnk.net 2w ago

I think this is what it looks like when Trump is exposed to something that hasn't yet been assigned a position in our culture wars.

Yeah. Of course light duty electric vehicles are great. Everyone who has driven a golf cart knows that. You know what else are? Modern trains. You know what else? Bikes. And also ropeways, passenger ferries, funicular railways, and -- oh, right -- walkable streets!

Driving a one-ton box a half mile by yourself in traffic is pretty much beat by almost any other way of locomoting. The only reason we don't have these is that urban planners are appointed and promoted based on how car-horny they are.

2w ago

Global ‘mistakenly’ posted ’60 Minutes’ segment, CBS News says while issuing takedown order

Jump

Andy @slrpnk.net 2w ago

I feel like the biggest problem in getting people to react to torture is that it's so unrelatable.

I think a lot of people hear "stress positions", "24 hour lights", "pitch blackness", and they think, 'Well I've been tired before. I've been stuck in a hot airplane with the lights too bright. I've been in the dark before, these are minor discomforts.'

And I don't think they understand that the point of all torture is to induce suffering. If the people doing this aren't slicing someone's body parts off with hot knives, it's because you can get the same effect by telling someone to kneel on the ground and not letting them up for a full day, but there's less mess.

It makes me really sad that I think people are often able to get away with torture because a key part of modern torture has been finding techniques that minimize visual signs of damage and have no similarity to things most people have experienced, and thus sound benign.

Not mentioned in all of this is that torture is -- to many people's surprise -- actually very damaging for torturers too. The prison guards at this place are probably at an extremely elevated risk of intimate partner violence and suicide.

Fuck all it, especially weak-ass complicity in this fascist bullshit.

2w ago

What wisdom from someone else has stuck with you?

Jump

Andy @slrpnk.net 2w ago

This is really deep.

I also gotta say: I reserve more respect for anyone who changed their attitudes to something I admire than someone who always held them. Me? I'm pretty progressive. But it's not like I can take credit. I share similar views to most people with my upbringing. Holding these beliefs is about impressive as a ball rolling down a hill.

Questioning your beliefs and going somewhere else? That's an achievement.

2w ago

What wisdom from someone else has stuck with you?

Jump

Andy @slrpnk.net 2w ago

Get ready, because this is kind of cheesy stuff, but these two pieces of sports advice, taken together, have guided me for years.

First: a mentor of mine who was a pool shark taught me that when you're playing pool, there is always a best shot to take. Sometimes, when you've got no good options in front of you you want to just do nothing or quit. But no matter what, billiards offers a finite set of options of where to try and aim the cue, and if you rank them from best to worst, there is always a best. When you're in a bad situation, you find it and you take the best option. Often, that's either a harm reduction strategy, a long-shot that feels impossible, or a combo of both. But if you always do this you'll usually suffer far less harm in the aggregate, and if you take enough long shots you'll occasionally achieve a few incredibly improbable wins.

Second: A kayaking instructor taught me -- and this I'm told is true in many similar sports -- you go where your focus is, so to evade a problem, focus on the way past. If you see a rock, don't stare it it, you'll hit it. It doesn't matter if your brain is thinking "I gotta go anywhere except that rock!" If you're looking at, you're heading into it. If you don't want to hit the rock, instead you have to look at wherever it is you DO want to go. It takes a bit of practice, because your brain sees "rock!" more easily than "smooth water flowing between two rocks". But that's how you get down a river, and it's also how you work through almost any other problems in life that are rushing at you: don't focus ON them, focus on whatever is the preferred alternative. This is especially useful if the alternative is sort of a non-thing, like an empty gap between two problems. And it often is.

Taken together, you get the basic approach that has steered my problem solving throughout adulthood. And it really works.

3w ago

Japan eyes adding Japanese proficiency to permanent residency requirements

Jump

Andy @slrpnk.net 3w ago

They wanted to add a test to confirm you're a Japanese supremacist, but realized this test was easier to administer.

3w ago

US sanctions two ICC judges for rejecting Israel's appeal against Gaza investigation

Jump

Andy @slrpnk.net 3w ago

This is nuts.

I'm gonna set this next to "declaring opposition to fascism an FBI flag for investigation" on the shelf of ways to really say the quiet part out loud.

It's particularly wild to me because there's no specific benefit to the US here. Sanctioning them clearly achieves nothing. They're just going on the record as being opposed to the basic concept of war crimes prosecutions.

3w ago

Everyone is so close to grasping your unique vision!

Jump

Andy @slrpnk.net 3w ago

Real