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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: July 9th, 2023

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  • Yeah I don’t know what the algorithm pushes on others but I definitely see more conservative propaganda than I like…… I’ve even started seeing shite like parasites causing diabetes and other insane health conspiracy theories

    I suppose all the dating and gender role nonsense is most likely of the stuff pushed on me to affect someone, because it’s widespread, not too extreme, and starts with a grain of truth before heading off the rails







  • The problem is this is the way it’s being pushed. This is how it’s being sold. There are no guardrails.

    …… and that’s the biggest problem. I’m frustrated as hell on the commits I’ve had to unwind because someone doesn’t know how to check the changes before committing, then has it try to fix itself, again without checking on the changes , then again. It’s horrible.

    …… and I’ve seen it too. Trying to have it do only code reviews - the ai points out useful things but then wants to commit a crapload of changes without going over it with me first.

    …… and people are playing with mcp agents, which are really great for letting the ai get data from systems and integrate with those systems . But with few to no guardrails. There’s no no review, the user doesn’t necessarily follow what’s changing, it just gets done. Sometime badly very badly

    We’re all focused on whether the ai works, and it does do a pretty good job with coding but the tools don’t keep the human in the loop, or humans don’t know how to stay on the loop




  • For sure, any longer term presence outside orbit will hinge on finding resources. And i don’t think it even matters if we’re able to harvest helium-3 or something that might be worth bringing back, but to be able to use enough resources to make it affordable. Every pound lifted from earth to outside orbit will always be too expensive and local resources much much more affordable. While it starts with shelter and radiation shielding (ie live underground), we’ll need to generate bulk consumables like water, oxygen, fuel, and we’ll need to grow at least some of our own food

    But we don’t even know if we can live on the moon. Microgravity has bad long term health effects such that we really don’t want to spend more than a year there. Does the moon have enough gravity to be substantially better?

    If we do establish a larger off earth presence, we’ll have to compromise on enough gravity for long term health and livability vs as little gravity as necessary to keep space accessible


  • I agree that large colonies are an enticing science fiction image that doesn’t look likely.

    But we’ve proven that we can support an “international space station” to maintain a continuous scientific presence in space. A great next step is the same but on the moon. It seems quite possible with relatively little technical development. This is desirable to advance our technology, our science, our society, to use our imagination to look forward , to have hope, to see a positive future for humanity.

    Here’s the problem with fixing local problems first: you can’t. You either stagnate, looking within, looking behind, looking down, and still have the same local problems or you take a portion of your civilizations product and also move everyone forward.

    Here’s the problem with using those resources: it’s not enough to matter. The space program is a tiny percentage of the government budget, almost invisible next to what is needed to fix our problems. If you want to fix our local problems, it starts with social justice, environmental justice, safety nets, quality of life and most importantly equity in taxes, and greatly reduced income inequity. Elon musk’s wealth will soon be 40x NASA’s entire annual budget yet is barely taxed. If we were able to tax one persons wealth at a mere 2.5%, we could fully fund NASA at no cost to anyone else. Most of us pay a lot more than 2.5% of our income so why is he excepted?




  • Fast chargers aren’t the only option

    • Tesla already has fast chargers with megapack, and with solar. There are fast chargers that don’t impact the grid much
    • we definitely need to build out destination chargers. Charging at work is no different from at home, except for when. And build out of solar can make peak energy available just when needed
    • there are proposed answers such as streetlight chargers

    Obviously we don’t have an answer yet, haven’t built out the infrastructure, but we do have options

    Imagine places like Kansas city or Chicago or LA.

    I’m imagining park and ride stations with fairly slow charging. People in the suburbs can leave their car on a slow charger all day and take a train into the city.

    • My home charger is 50a which is too fast for this.
    • My work has 30a chargers and most people take turns for half a day
    • so we’re talking 15-20a, or again, something smart enough to spread the load


  • That can be a dangerous line of thought ……

    Started thinking of my legacy and

    • I’m divorced
    • I’ve been bad at keeping up with friends
    • I’m unlikely to have grandkids and am estranged from my only niece
    • I live far from my family
    • my kids can’t afford to live in my town
    • I won’t be able to leave a house or other inheritance
    • even if one of my kids has kids I’m not sure I can run around with them anymore

    Everything I’ve done has no lasting value. I’ve always loved tech and can fix the problem of the day but a year or two later that’s no longer relevant


  • I’ve read the same but am skeptical because no one ever pulls out any numbers. I know every country does that same thing to some extent so just saying they do it doesn’t mean anything.

    I’ll believe it when I see actual data

    It’s also not necessary for the current reality to have happened. Following the K.I.S.S. principal, the current Chinese car industry is explainable by consistent government policy over many years, out in the open, so why are we blaming it on things we don’t o ow or don’t see? I’m not saying it’s not there, just that we’d be in the same boat whether it is or not


  • I’m pretty sure maintenance still is a bottleneck. I did have to get warranty work done and the wait was significantly longer than I’ve waited for warranty work on traditional cars. I haven’t read much about it in the last year or though, so who knows.

    But do you even have to goto Tesla? Certainly the drivetrain and any software is highly proprietary but it also rarely needs attention. The shop I use for inspections claims they can do wear items like tires, brakes, suspension

    Body work on the other hand is probably a nightmare. Actually it’s a nightmare for traditional vehicles and can only be longer for Tesla based on lack of parts inventory



  • wouldn’t necessarily say that from what’s visible outside the information confines of the CCP is cheating.

    I do have to say I’m skeptical of all the claims that they are subsidizing industry and this is a problem. They are. In the open. And that’s normal. I have yet to read a convincing story that they are doing this enough to be substantially different from every other country. And being consistent over multiple years is clearly not cheating

    Chinese companies have a deserved reputation for industrial espionage and not respecting intellectual property. I haven’t read complaints recently so does that mean they’ve cleaned up their act?