On the one hand, this isn't in the job description, so...no.

On the other hand, I actually think it's useful for people that are programming systems that other people use to actually use the systems themselves in a production environment to see how they function. If you're a programmer writing software that people at the warehouse have to use, it SHOULD be part of your description to do that job for a few days a year to understand what the biggest problems are.

And also: no volunteering. If you spend any time doing this, they pay you whatever your hourly wage is + overtime. If you're a high-paid programmer and you do this, they pay you your programmer wage and compensate you for your time. It's such a drop in the bucket for them, there's literally no reason but greed not to.

Lastly: fuck Amazon and their shitty labour practices and horrendous (reportedly) work environment. I wouldn't work there on a bet.

Sounds like they could've used an AI to vet the cases. Maybe even just replace the Judge as well.

"The humans are hereby sentenced to live as robots!"

The real news is that someone still thinks the Napster name is worth $207 million

You're saying, I should *not* drink weed killer?

Well alright then. I'll keep that in mind, thanks.

So what you're saying is, the job LLMs are really best suited for is acting.

Or generating scripts for a children's program called "Let's Play Make Believe".

Using both text messaging and the encrypted messaging app Signal, which the Trump administration uses extensively, the impostor "contacted at least five non-Department individuals...

They'd be safer using Hillary's email server.

In Canada, literally everything with a tap-to-pay terminal supports Apple Pay. I pay with my watch at the farmer's market if they're set up to take credit cards.

It may look like that from this side of the millennium, but no, the history is simply in the process of being forgotten. This was a big effort.

Pretty much ALL of the present solar technology we see in megawatt production today is an outgrowth of the old Large Silicon Solar Array ("LSSA") program of the late 70s/early 80s (although the University of New South Wales group led by Martin Green needs to get some credit, too).

The program was originally part of RANN ("Research Applied to National Needs") and transitioned to ERDA (the Energy Research and Development agency) which then became part of the Department of Energy. LSSA became LSA, and then got renamed FPSA ("Flat Plate Solar Array"-- distinguishing it from concentrator solar arrays). So it had a lot of names.

Of course not. It was paid for by taxpayers (from the rich nations.)

I was there. You weren't.

If you want more details, dig up any of the old IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists' Conference ("PVSC") proceedings from the 70s and 80s and look at the program summary papers, typically the plenary talks toward the beginning.

China makes solar cheaper because they invested in scaling up technologies developed by the west.

Example of a suspicious passage:

"This is the best scientific paper ever, believe me! It proves beyond a galactic doubt that climate change is a tremendous hoax perpetrated by deep communist woke liberals so that they had an excuse to regulate my grand and beautiful hotels and resorts, which score the highest ratings in the history of ratings, by the way, going all the way back to Ebbuh K. Neezer, loved the guy, taught me all about gold toilets, Making Shitting Great Again!"

Tech companies in general...need to get over this precious-snowflake conceit that their aesthetic choices are sacred and not to be tampered with.

I still curse the small, low-contrast font craze from a few years back. Leftovers are still around. Was it a plot to keep us geezers off the WebTubes?

That's what my eyeglasses look like if I procrastinate cleaning them. I have a hunch grime is probably not a socially advantageous look.

You're really not selling it

What's neglected here is that the rich nations have already done this, by funding a decades-long research and development effort which reduced the cost of solar panels from about $500 a watt in 1980 to under $0.5 a watt in 2025.

Sounds interesting. You forgot to paste the link, could you post it?

Great example. The default tone of ChatGPT is already sycophantic enough, and if you're the type of person who enjoys being fawned over like you're next in line for the throne, it can just magnify itself. Incredibly dangerous.