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Comment It's not just you (Score 5, Insightful) 109

We've known since the beginning that incorrect responses make up 30-70% of LLM responses. Why? Because they're prediction engines, nothing more. They're fancy, and they sound human, but they're built to be convincing, not to be right. Error is built into the architecture. And it's getting worse. Even without model collapse, as we attempt to fix the issues, they will get worse and worse. It's built in.

This person sounds like they never heard about invented law citations that have gotten several lawyers in trouble. Or vibe coders that end up with a pile of garbage once they move beyond trivial apps. I think maybe they haven't been paying attention.

The solution is do what we know works - use systems whose architectures prioritise factual (or at least accurately referenceable) responses, instead of sounding good. That's not the current generation of LLMs. And it never will be. Wrong tool. Wrong job.

Comment Problem isn't the spreadsheet (Score 1) 95

which aren't in great shape perhaps due to the sheet's shortcomings.

This is such a bad take.

NZ healthcare is struggling is because the government wantonly slashed its budget, knowing that it wouldn't then be able to meet its commitments and service levels. That same government then demanded that things look and appear a certain way. Is it any surprise then, that they got watermelon metrics?

The truth is this: if you reduce a budget without understanding the impact, or removing the waste first, any organisation will struggle.

The spreadsheet isn't the problem.

Comment Re:Rian Johnson killed Star Wars (Score 1) 548

I'm sorry, but I don't buy it. I was considering writing a long, thought out response to this, illuminating the points that I think contradict your statement. But somebody else has already done it. I highly recommend checking out Everything Great About The Last Jedi.

I also don't think the star wars franchise has been ruined. However, there's an incredibly loud, vocal minority that's doing their best to ruin it, at the moment. It's a story. It's not your story, it belongs to the authors, directors, actors, and studios that pour their time, money, blood, sweat and tears into making it. You're free to dislike what they do, and what they say, but nothing that happens now, or in the future, can change your love of the OT, unless you let it.

Comment Likely caused by FOSTA (Score 2) 277

This appears to probably have been caused by FOSTA, which Congress recently passed. That's why it appears that many sites are coordinating these changes - the government is forcing them to by holding websites responsible for users undertaking illegal activities. More details can be found here:
https://boingboing.net/2018/03/22/craigslist-personals-shut-down.html
with some additional links to the Reddit announcement, and an EFF announcement of how Congress is censoring the internet.

Comment Re:State religion is wrong, but not evil (Score 1) 600

As I am not a democrat, and the views of Democrats weren't being reviewed, it's a proper attempt at derailing to act as if the issue raised is somehow nullified by your (possibly entirely valid) concerns about Democrats' viewpoints. I am not here to discuss those, and they would likely be a better fit for a different thread.

I really want to take this new article at face value, but the source is highly questionable. Add to that the perfectly reasonable academic refutation that you yourself cited, and the source loses all credibility, and we're back to square one.

If we've reached the point where you have to resort to personal attacks to try to convince others (you certainly can't convince the other side with personal attacks) that your viewpoints are valid, you're already in trouble. You raised a point. I refuted it with what should be very worrying data, as well as a reasoned argument for why your objections don't amount to a great deal, in the real world. You responded with flawed studies and personal attacks. I think we're done here.

Comment Re:State religion is wrong, but not evil (Score 1) 600

It's a graver concern because a) a majority of one of the dominant political parties wants it to happen, which makes it far more likely than any possible change toward Sharia Law, b) because it demonstrates a significant lack of appreciation for the text, spirit, or values enshrined in the Constitution, and c) the survey you cited includes no evidence that American Muslims agree with Sharia Law - there's no evidence in the article, at all - which means you have reality (Americans want a state religion) against a completely made up story.

Comment Re:Ben Franklin (Score 1) 1291

Mr Franklin, I know you're a Founding Father, but this is one of the worst examples of anecdotal evidence driving policy that I've seen. Where's your data?

I can assure you, from personal experience in both the UK, and the US, that there are lazy people everywhere. They make up a small portion of the populace, and are used as an argument to say that everybody who isn't working is like them.

Times are also different now, from when you were alive. The standard of living among the general populace doesn't hold a candle to what it is now. There were always jobs, or unexplored parts of America where people could make their fortunes. Most of them died destitute and miserable, but we don't need to get into that. In addition, America was poor. It wasn't a nation of power and wealth, nor was it a nation that accepted the idea of equality for all human beings. You'll forgive me for taking your words, which are backed by nothing, with a grain of salt.

Comment Re:How is this paid for? (Score 1) 1291

You're pretty solid, up to about here.

Flexible work, high VAT, low income tax, basic income, unregulated free market.

Unregulated free markets always tend toward oligarchy or monopoly. A basic income won't change that tendency, or its pernicious effects. Government would still be required to step in and ensure that companies don't destroy things which belong to all of us (water supplies, national parks, cities, etc). They would also be required to build roads and other infrastructure, and undertake pure research.

Government's role is reduced with a universal basic income, but it is by no means gone. There is a lot of really important, valuable work that governments do, largely invisibly, which needs to continue, no matter how we jigger the capitalist side of the economy.

Comment Re:Seize your Privilege (Score 1) 1291

Governments and corporations have not be very good at exploring high risk/high payoff scenarios. We need those areas explored. (How rapidly?) What alternative structures will accomplish this? The alternatives wouldn't need to be very efficient to be better than the current approach. A change in the laws to encourage thinks like corporations creating entities like Bell Labs was might suffice, but they need to be able to accumulate stashes of cash that cannot be raided except for advanced projects.

Government research is actually the entire reason that companies look like they do good things. Private companies are horrible at pure research. Instead, they take the output of pure research that looks promising and work to develop products that can make money off of it.

Drugs? Research done by government, and universities funded by government grants
Space exploration? Pioneered by government
Internet? Pioneered by government
WWW? Written by someone funded by the government

The raw truth is that private companies are horrible at high risk situations, as shareholders and enterpreneurs either don't have the stomach, or the wallet for it. Only government can take the risk that a billion dollars in research will pay off with nothing to show for it. Anybody else would be lynched by their investors.

Can we at least be honest about the role of government in capitalism? If we can, we can start to see that billionaires aren't the solution to the problem, they're beneficiaries of government policy. Share the wealth, guys. You've done very well, now make it available to the next person who wants to do something nobody's ever thought of before.

Comment Re: Disappointed (Score 1) 173

Mod parent up.

It's amazing. The first time I heard the term Social Justice Warrior, it was on a thread issuing personal attacks on Anita Sarkeesian. Then I saw it applied to Zoe Quinn. Then I saw it applied to anyone who defended their viewpoints. It was always used derogatorily. That's the only way I've ever come across it.

It's just amazing to me that people who wish to insult others could choose so complimentary a term and turn it into an insult. How many people, who believe in equality for everybody, would object to being called a warrior for social justice?

Check out the definitions at Urban Dictionary. There is no indication that it's a self-selected term, for a group of people. It's used as a pejorative, by people who wish to insult, belittle, or demean those with arguments they disagree with, exactly as parent suggested.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=social+justice+warrior

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