Many projects require replicatable builds. Generative AI is driven by noise so I am not sure if it has any role in optimization or code gen. I guess we could share an RNG seed with source but honestly current tool chains are too slow as it is and ML would likely make it much worse. I want faster edit/compile/debug cycles and compilers already do insane optimisations. Ken Thompson’s Reflections on Trusting Trust becomes much scarier if your code generation is being driven by a black box of billions or parameters nobody understands. An adversary could embed anything in there.

The machine translation origins of LLMs make them really good at inspecting text and looking for things that look like known bugs. It must be a game changer for security researchers who already know what sort of problems to look for but don’t have enough hours in the day to search the haystack manually. If some of that knowledge was available in a good quality FOSS local code analysis tool it might be irresponsible not to use it. We can’t be dependent on commercial vendors and closed models.

Using LLMs to analyze code for problems makes a lot of sense. It is just an extension of the rule based analysis we already do. It is very much a better hammer rather than a replacement of labour/thinking/taste. The programming languages we use are often difficult for humans to reason about reliably and hide a lot of errors. Our programming languages still suck (yes even Rust). If one day clang of gcc ships with a local LLM to lint code for security problems I would probably run it occasionally even on my hobby code despite being an AI hater.

If people are identifying errors using LLMs and fixing them by hand I am fine with that. It seems like a good use of the technology. If they start vibe coding drivers I want it declared so I can disable them or move to BSD.

Sounds like a bullshit headline but it is an eternal truth that the owners of capital demand slave labour. Take the work houses away and they demand chattel slavery. Take the chattel slaves away and they want convict labour. Take the convict labour away and they want undocumented foreigners to exploit. Take that away and they casualise work and pay people in tips or commissions. Take that away and they export work to countries that will do all the things they can’t do at home.

The investment in LLMs is purely a scam at this point but much of the initial enthusiasm was driven by the disdain for labour. Highly skilled labour like engineers keep arguing with the MBAs that their cost cutting is going to kill people or destroy the company and that really upsets them and risks the bonuses and share buyback program.

While the drudgery of work isn’t great, I would much prefer the capital class invested in R&D and equipment to make their skilled, specialized workers more productive and improved our remuneration and conditions as happened in previous generations before the MBA apocalypse. Instead they are trying to cut us out. Too many people are living paycheck to paycheck and unable to afford housing as wealth inequality escalates.

Mistreatment of animals or brain cells in a box isn’t the same as putting a child to work in a mine but the mindset that drives us in this direction is.

Working my way through Person of Interest again. Just watched one where a search company was directing suicidal inquiries to ads instead of helplines. And that was before they get bought by the evil AI overlord. Its surreal seeing Palantir, Flock and all the tech companies race to implement a dystopia no sane person would ever want and there is so little push back. What the fuck is wrong with regular people?

It will take ages for them to build capacity and they will probably be wary of growing too fast since demand and prices could drop quickly when the AI boom goes bust. Likely CXMT is already supplying a lot of the consumer market under the stickers. China will be the big winners in the long term. This will be a gift for them.

Not sure it’s possible to fight machine generated slop on the big platforms now. People who invest a lot of time and effort are being squeezed out. Businesses that don’t give a fuck about quality upload multiple low effort videos a week across multiple channels getting massive views, probably most from gaming the system.

Sad for the people who spend months researching, writing and producing videos but this might be the end of the ride as far as making videos as a day job. The platform doesn’t value them or their loyal viewers.

The creators facing burnout who don’t leave out of disgust will join the slop machine and start championing it. Starting to see it already.

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If your so called free society has laws to protect child murderers and racists but nothing to support the right to join a labour union it’s not a free society. Go back to the beginning and try again.

There is no repair without firmware. All hardware needs to be documented and ship with source. It hasn’t been enough to be able to buy physical parts since perhaps the 80s or 90s. Everything is controlled by software. Without that right to repair is a joke. Meanwhile the surveillance industry and their well greased govt supporters are trying to lock down software. Can’t have it both ways.

I have been using Linux for 30 years. Never recommend anything to anyone. It’s their decision to make. I will answer questions if asked but I try and be conservative. Lots of people don’t need computers and would be better off without them or only need something simple to do their jobs or play games. Also my experience doesn’t translate to normies. Inlaw was asking around for laptop recommendations and I just shut my trap. They can buy a Mac or a box store Windows laptop and it will do the job and I won’t be on the hook for support.

I am not a preacher and Linux is not a religion. It is an effective tool for technically minded people to get shit done. Nothing more. If companies want to turn it into a product and an experience like Valve or Google then it will end up in more or less polished consumer ready products but that is nothing to do with why I use it.

Shut them down. It would be a huge net win for people everywhere. It is horrible seeing friends, family, clubs and institutions all captured by meta. They are a blight on society.

Framework have been available in Australia for years. A few years back I ordered one and it shipped from Taiwan to regional South Australia in about a week. I was pissed off because they almost beat an order from PCcasegear. They are manufactured in and ship from Taiwan, not trumpistan.

I bought a 13" years ago. I thought I would have upgraded the cpu/motherboard, battery, speakers, screen by now but I could never justify the cost for the benefit. So it is the same as the day I bought it. I have bought cheap laptops for kids schooling and had to replace one for what would have been a repairable fault on a Framework but there is a massive price difference and could not justify another Framework. It is a shame. Their stuff needs to be a lot cheaper but it is a chicken and egg with volume.

When they made a cheap “chromebook” class plastic school laptop for kids it ended up costing more than a vastly more powerful mac (even before Apple released their cheap models). The low volume manufacturing had heaps of problems reported on their forums. Its strictly for the fans sadly. People with lots of disposable income who buy one in every colour. I would have loved to buy a similar looking product at a mainstream price and with modern specs but it makes no sense with current cost of living pressures.

The “good idea” isn’t the data centers but the stock pumping. You propose something insanely difficult and expensive (also hopelessly impractical and stupid in this case) and because it is so difficult and expensive you claim you can monopolize the market if you succeed which is the ultimate dream of every capitalist but you just need some insane amount of investment to get there. Then when the money runs out you go back and ask for more and exploit sunk cost fallacy. All the while valuations increasing. It is an amazing way for already rich scammers to get much, much richer than could happen in a sane economy and slurp up huge amounts of capital that otherwise could have gone into more productive endeavors.

Obviously in any well regulated economic system this shit would be subject to some proper oversight to protect the interests of the majority, particularly all the people whose pensions and livelihoods are at risk when this all goes to shit.

End of an era for just about everything. Streaming is all enshitified. The job market is shit. Democracy is falling apart. Decades of progress being undone. It’s just the way it will be until people get sick of all this shit and start doing things differently and move on. All the great old companies are dead. Either turned to zombie brands or run by zombies. I remember how excited I was to buy my first Sony Trinitron, my first walkman, my Sony component stereo, first PlayStation.

There are very harsh fines for driving with a phone elsewhere. And smaller vehicles and better infra for pedestrians.

Windows isn’t scary. It’s weird and kind of pathetic. Always has been.

RAM has always gone through huge price cycles as long as I can remember. You buy when it is good value then don’t when it goes up. The industry always responded to high prices by building too much capacity so after a few years the prices all crashed.

This time it feels different. We don’t have the huge diversity of producers we once did. The 3 big remaining players clearly operate as something like a cartel. I doubt they are responding to current shortages with huge new fab investments.

Lots of PC part manufacturers and retailers aren’t going to make it through to the over side of this. I think it could lead to massive long term changes for the DIY market.

The worst thing about vulture capital targeting young manipulable tech bros for their get rich schemes is that has created a self perpetuating mono culture of spoiled rich grifters with stunted emotional maturity that never progressed beyond teenage boy. The have been allowed to dominate everything and are shaping the rage baited, meme ridden, dumbarse, ignorant dystopia. Lets just pull the plug on them and stop giving them money. Then they will all fuck off back to their mum’s basement to play video games and jerk off to their ai.

I love tech. My brain loves soaking up new things. Currently writing my first ever game engine in my 50s in c with my kid based on books and include files. Better late than never.

The technology was never the problem. It’s the money people. Always was. The Marxists got that bit right. Some of the tech bros are from a tech background but their culture and motivations aren’t like mine.

The money person these days follows the drug pusher/pimp model. They want to control you and have you on a hook. Everything has gaming machine mechanisms built in to keep you coming back. You can’t walk away. They have all your data, all your connections. You are helpless. A victim, but you walked right into it. Final victory for them is to lobotomise all your higher order thinking skills. Your just a body to lie there and be fucked.