ContrarianTrail

joined 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

10 year old me didn't have much expectations about the future but I'd say 15 year old me would be most surprised about the fact that I have a girlfriend. If you were to then tell me that not only do I have a girlfriend but I also have a house and the truck I've always wanted it would literally blow his mind.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago

Of course, it’s okay. Being able to say “I don’t know” is a sign of intelligence in itself.

A huge number of people form opinions based on very limited knowledge, but these opinions then become part of their identity, and they feel compelled to defend them tooth and nail. I think the middle ground here is the idea of “strong opinions, loosely held,” meaning you have an opinion, but you understand it’s based on the best knowledge available at the time. You leave room for new information and allow your opinion to evolve. In fact, most opinions probably should be like that. There are very few views I hold that I feel are almost guaranteed not to change.

The Dunning-Kruger effect plays a big role here. When someone gains a moderate amount of knowledge on a subject, they often feel like they have a good understanding of it. But as they keep learning, they realize just how little they actually know. Uninformed people, by contrast, don’t know what they don’t know. These are the ones who write comments on social media pretending they’ve solved complex issues with simplistic solutions like “just do X,” while completely ignoring all the nuance. When you then try to introduce that nuance, they dig their heels in, taking it as a personal attack rather than a critique of their idea. This happens because they didn’t leave room for new information - they locked in their opinion, made it part of their identity, and threw away the key.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

I have never used the app anyway. I used Flamingo and when they killed 3rd party apps I've just been using browser instead. Lets me block ads that way too.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

LLMs are AI. There’s a common misconception about what ‘AI’ actually means. Many people equate AI with the advanced, human-like intelligence depicted in sci-fi - like HAL 9000, JARVIS, Ava, Mother, Samantha, Skynet, and GERTY. These systems represent a type of AI called AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), designed to perform a wide range of tasks and demonstrate a form of general intelligence similar to humans.

However, AI itself doesn't imply general intelligence. Even something as simple as a chess-playing robot qualifies as AI. Although it’s a narrow AI, excelling in just one task, it still fits within the AI category. So, AI is a very broad term that covers everything from highly specialized systems to the type of advanced, adaptable intelligence that we often imagine. Think of it like the term ‘plants,’ which includes everything from grass to towering redwoods - each different, but all fitting within the same category.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 2 days ago

I'm starting to feel like more and more of these comics here are just political opinions not even intented to be entertaining.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

I used their free email for years with no issues

[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 days ago (1 children)

10 year old is too young to walk alone to town but 16 year old can be trusted with a car.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 days ago

I don't think tax cuts alone are going to make it possible to live off single person income.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

All I have seen is that self driving cars will decide to kill people because they cannot make decisions about life in a way that preserves it.

Do you have any examples?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 days ago

Male genital mutilation isn't really a thing where I'm from so I'd say probably not.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago

Got too close for comfort nevertheless.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago (3 children)

I'm no phycisist but I'd bet that the claim "it consumes no energy" is almost certainly false. I get what they mean but this isn't exactly a honest way to describe it.

 

This is especially true with luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Prada. People are either trying to impress others with fakes, or they’ve actually paid full price to become walking billboards.

Similar thing with iPhone cases that have a cutout for the Apple logo. That's just hilarious.

 

To be honest, the case is still the original one, but almost every other part has since been replaced. Now, I’ve taken it back to the shop where I bought it 20 years ago and asked them to upgrade the motherboard, CPU, and memory - the last of the original parts.

So, is it still the same computer?

I also like that I can just keep replacing parts on an existing product rather than buying an entirely new device each time. That's exceedingly rare feature these days.

 
 

I often get the sense that I'm in the only one here doing manual labor but I'm sure there are others.

Identify yourselves.

 

For reference, the price for fixed-cost plans is around 10c/kWh.

As someone who’s been constantly running an electric heater in the garage while painting my car, I was quite lucky with the timing.

It’s not literally free, though. Transfer prices are fixed, and there are taxes and some other minor costs associated with it, so where I live, it still adds up to around 6c/kWh even when the price drops to zero. The cheap prices are due to an excess of wind power, but once the wind dies down, prices usually spike hard.

 
 

Because I don’t, and pretending to feels dishonest. I’ll listen if they want to talk about it, but I’m not going to act interested, and I certainly won’t ask about it on my own. What I’m trying to figure out is whether people actually care, or if they’re just playing a social game that I’m simply not interested in.

I’m probably on the autistic spectrum, which likely explains this to some extent. But that’s not an excuse - being an asshole is perfectly compatible with autism, so before dunking on me, please realise I probably agree with your criticism.

 

I read that half of Americans couldn’t cover an unexpected $1,000 expense. This sounds crazy to me. I understand that poverty exists, but the idea that an adult with a job doesn’t even have that amount saved up seems really strange.

What’s your relationship or philosophy with money? What do you credit for your financial success, or alternatively, what do you blame for your failures?

For the extra brave ones: how much savings do you have, and what are you planning to do with them?

 

Personally I'd say cave diving. I was contemplating between that and free ~~climbing~~ soloing but I honestly rather fall to my death than drown in a claustrophobic, dark, cold, silted up cave.

 

Browsing social media, it’s apparent that people are quick to point out problems in the world, but what I see less often are suggestions for how to solve them. At best, I see vague ideas that might solve one issue but introduce new ones, which are rarely addressed.

Simply stopping the bad behaviour rarely is a solution in itself. The world is not that simple. Take something like drug addiction. Telling someone to just stop taking drugs is not a solution.

view more: next ›