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Comment Re:Supercomputer vs PC. (Score 1) 53

Don't expect AI to ever use only a small amount of compute. You can do a lot by pre-training, but there are limits.

OTOH, I'm rather sure that the current algorithms are a lot more wasteful than a later version will be. A factor of 100 wouldn't surprise me. Personally I think the way to handle it is with a raft of Small Language Models, each one tuned to a specific context, and a higher system that switches context as appropriate. (I've seen signs in the news that we're already headed that way.)

Comment Re:They won't depreciate that much (Score 1) 53

Moore's law may be over, but the 3D version of it is just getting started. The real problem is moving the heat away from the chip. I think we're in the early part of the ramp up of 3D chips.

N.B.: That it's actually do-able was proven decades ago, but only for custom sculpted 1-off chips in a lab setting. (I believe it was the Tennessee Valley Authority...but I'm more sure about the Tennessee than about the rest.)

Comment Re:"Costing tens of thousands of dollars each..." (Score 1) 53

AFAIKT, China is 4-5 years away from "breaking into this market", if they market is the upper end of the chips. Possibly even a bit longer. OTOH, for many purposes their chips are already good enough, so they'll break into it at the lower end as soon as they have enough chips for export. (Aren't they already doing that?)

Comment Re:Who asked for this (Score 2) 74

I'm a game programmer, 20 years in the industry shipping dozens of games across the entire history of consoles starting from the PS2/GC era up to and including the consoles of today. Take it from me, the fact that console hardware is fixed ensures the experience of running games designed to push hardware to their functional limits is far more stable/hassle free.

If you don't wanna play games that do that, then this might not be as big of an issue. But the fixed hardware of a console simply cannot be discounted. Valve is not stupid for making a "verified on our console" program. The console platforms spend OODLEs of money ensuring that console games are by and large rock solid. (Counter examples not welcome, I'm just saying in comparison to the arbitrary hardware landscape of the Windows PC install base)

Also console OSes are designed for their main purpose - turn it on, play the game, stop playing the game whenever you like, come back to the game whenever you like. They're optimized towards that experience in a way that a general purpose PC struggles to do (admittedly Steam's big picture mode is pretty good, but you can't totally handwave away the fact that Windows is running in the background)

I'm not against gaming PCs, I have a nice one, it's my main daily game driver. (Also have a PS5, because I'm not only a developer, I'm also a customer!)

Comment private (Score 1) 108

Does that decline in college preparation also hold for students coming from private or Catholic schools ?  Does it hold for traditional  HOME-SCHOOLED kids. And does it also hold for people entering the "skilled" trades ? Are new writers from The Paris Review and The NewYorker less literate than previous generations. Question really is: has America stopped preparing it's able citizenry for intellectual challenge.  Of-course in previous eras  ---  if you didn't work smart, then  you didn't get laid and didn't eat.

Comment Nudge (Score 1) 111

I've noticed this kind of thing a LOT lately. Evidently this book is out called Nudge that tells its readers to annoy the shit out of their customers until they 'install the app". Because evidently running in the background and draining your battery constantly harvesting your data and monitoring your location is more profitable than actually selling the service.

I booked air tickets on a website and it was deliberately irritating, pausing for a long time between screens, showing a QR code and saying, 'tired of waiting? our app is much faster!" Hell, even Youtube is unwatchable without a Google account and giving them your real name, address, phone number for 2FA, email, backup email to cross-check databases. And once you've done all that. the jack-in-the-box pops open and it's like, let's get your social, your tax return info for last year, last three places of employment, and then upload a photo of yourself holding your ID. And your selfie cam photo wasn't clear, our facial recognition can't read it. Nice try scammer, your application has been denied. We'll be keeping the info you already entered, though.

China is like this, an entirely real-name internet. You can't so much as order food delivery without all of this. Simply entering the country requires facial scan and fingerprints.

1984 was a warning, not a role model.

Comment Re:There is no unmet demand in the US (Score -1, Troll) 194

Why should America finance our most aggressive and deadly existential enemy ?  Of every dollar whisked to a Chinese owned company 90-cents ends up in CCP weapons pointed at us. Very imprudent behavior. You are US ... aren't you ... or are you one of the rats-nest of Chi.com agents posting on slash-dot &  pimping-the-ride for CCP expansionist agendas ?

Comment YAAF (Score -1) 194

Yet another American folly. China does what ? "...Bloated by excessive investment, distorted by government intervention, and plagued by heavy losses ..." Can you believe China fell for it ?

First we tried to  teach Chinese religion, but they were too smart even for the Jesuits --- who conquered Japan. Then we tried to teach THEM politics, but we nothing better to offer than another warlord .  Then we tried to teach them modern science & medicine , but China loves rogue bats. Then we tried to teach them industrial finance ... and they said WOW --- 'let's get it on!' So they build  roads & bridges  ... & cars like  1960s  GM, but it's 2025 and ... GM and China automakers go broke.  You would think an 8,000 year old culture --  rich & corrupt when Euro-whites were running around in bear-skins --- would believe St Paul, not Rousseau or dear-Lord-almighty ... Greenspan ! 

Comment Re:Visual Studio is a great IDE, but... (Score 1) 40

Curious what Mac you're using? I'm getting a new personal laptop somewhat soon, and the M5 chips look really nice. How much RAM do you have? I've currently got an M1 mini with 8GB of RAM that works pretty well but it tends to start bogging down when using containers and having a bunch of youtube tabs open. I'm not sure how much of the Apple Tax on memory I need/want to spend.

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