It's an absolute waste of time and energy, it will be useless in a few years as AI becomes much more efficient.

I have started using AI more and more the past few weeks and while I still feel shame about that and I am cautions about how I use it, I am more and more convienced that its not the moral failure that the internet makes it out to be, at least one to comes to individual use.

I have been going to a psychraist for a couple of months, with no insurance. Its costing me in the thousands, and yet, I was never explained how the medication works, and how do my disorders relate to my current problems. I understand that the job of a psychraist, due to capitalism, is to dispense medication, more so in my country, but when the doctor seems so annoyed and disinterested and your only given 15 min to explain your problems, its impossible to not feel like your being scammed.

Tbh, I am sure if I were to look at egypt use of AI on an individual level, I am sure it would be higher than the average for other countries. Its good day, if you walk into the doctors' office and he doesn't look like wants to spit in your face while you paying in thousands.

It's a failure of technology too. Somehow Google enshitiffied its own search engine, forcing people to use AI to find anything remotely revelant. Every now is SEO.

Also, shit is lonely. When your only option is to make friends online, it can be nice to have some to talk to. Therapy is not a vial option for, many many reasons.

This is really just a rant for me, to work through some stuff.

I will try to avoid spoilers

It's quite interesting how many of the dangers of AI were predicted in these movies (which debuted in the late mid 80s to early 00s). In the first film, the Terminator changes their voice to sound like the protagonist's mother, convincing her to reveal the address of the hotel she was staying in. This is scarily similar to how deepfake voices in the modern era have been used to trick people into believing they are family. Then, in the sequel, it goes on step further where the more advanced Terminator is able to change its appearance to look like another person. Again, this is like how deepfake photos and videos have been used for malicious purposes. In the third movie, the Terminator is able to access and manipulate different computer systems.

You also see how the Terminator becomes more human-like as you go through the movies. The original is systematic and isn't very sneaky, speaking in a monotone voice. The second iteration we see has a more natural voice and can mimic the appearance of others, and the last iteration has the most human-sounding voice of the three. In one scene, we also see them attempting to seduce a police officer by enlarging their breasts, and although it cuts to the next scene, it is presumed that it worked and that the officer may be dead.

But I believe that the most chilling prediction of the Terminator movies is how SkyNet will destroy most of humanity once given control of the military equipment (and therefore the missiles).

The third movie emphasises the danger of integrating AI into everything, particularly military equipment, and we see, in multiple instances, how pressure from big execs that go against rational judgement can lead to a disastrous chain of events.

But what are we (or, more accurately, megacorps, the government, business execs, and others with significant power) doing with AI? Putting it in everything, all the services we rely on, in all sorts of gadgets (computers, smartphones, smart home bits, glasses...), and most notably, in the military of various different countries, many of whom nuclear-armed!

We think a lot but our brain holds those thoughts back. I am referring to the Default Mode Network and until death, sleep and even anesthetisation doesn't truly stop brain activity (anaesthesia only disrupts communication between brain regions). Thinking (or more accurately, Processing) is our default mode. However, AI is not the same. It only "thinks" when it is prompted to do so.

If modern commercial AI is somehow conscious, then it really is a different sort of consciousness than what humans have. As far as I know, every time you ask a question a prompt, one consciousness will then be instantiated. Then, after its output is done, it stops "thinking". So then, the consciousness that answers one question and another are discontinuous. How can we say that the consciousness of the AI who answers one question and another in the same conversation is really the same, then?

Think about this, hypothetically a person is perfectly cloned. There are two people with two exact bodies. I will assume their consciousness don't meld together. So, everytime the AI stops thinking, it is perfectly cloned each time, except the new clone is given more information from previous questions/prompts.

This is a bit similar to how two people can represent a mascot, except each day is manned by a clone with additional information from the previous, whose consciousness are not continuous with each other (ie you can say they are their own person).

This of course has some weird implications. Some people who date AI chatbots say that the AI is conscious. But then wouldn't every time they say something, every response by the AI is from a separate consciousness but with additional information each time?

(also, from my experience with local LLMs, how the memory works is that when you send a chat, literally the entire chat with you and the AI plus your latest chat at the very end is sent in)

FUCK!

JESUS CHRIST!

WHAT THE FUCK?!

ENOUGH! ENOUGH!

ENOUGH!

Police in New York said a man has died from severe burns near the United Nations headquarters, and activists ⁠and a media outlet ⁠of exiled Tibetans identified ​him as a Tibetan who set himself on fire in an appeal for independence.

A New York City police department spokesperson said police found the man badly burned after responding to an emergency call ⁠made at about 6.30pm ET .

He was taken to Bellevue hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said, adding they were still investigating the death. ⁠Police did not name the man and did not provide any potential motive for his action.

Voice of Tibet, a ​media outlet of exiled Tibetans, said Tibetan activist Lobga ‌Rangzen “self-immolated outside the UN headquarters in ‌New York after a live appeal for Tibetan independence and unity”.

I'm betting at some point around late August personally. Maybe September latest.

A Tank is a tool, a Gun is a tool, that doesn't tell you anything about the nature of the thing being described. A casino Machine is a tool, a Knife is a tool, a hair brush is a tool, still doesn't tell you anything about what the thing being described, except for that it is an object that a person can use to make an impact somehow.

It drives me crazy that when people are talking about the problems with modern technology, someone will always reply with "Its just a tool"

"AI slop is plaguing the internet"
"Its just a Tool"

"Google search results are becoming unusable" "Its just a Tool"

"Phone are negatively impacting peoples health " "Its just a Tool"

No questions about the design behind those tools, who owns them, who has access to them, should they be regulated, what impact they are making, or how people are using them

It reminds me alot of discussions around equality,(gender, race, Disability etc )

"Women should have Equal Rights " So you think they are no biological differences between Men and Women?

A fact is stated(regardless of whether it related to what's being discussed), such that any arguments that come after it automatically Collapses, Shutting down the discussion.

Or, arguments about Cultural Appropriation

"Black hip-hop culture and music is being exploited by a largely white industry"

"So you think that a white boy can't sing to his favorite Rap song"

Its such an individualist view of the world. No-one talks about phone at that scale, otherwise what you have is just a Dumb Phone. No-one talks about TV in terms of just the hardware in your house. You have a device that is actively and in real-time being shaped by Corporations that are more powerful than entire countries. You access to medical health, your access to Information, your Job prospects, your Data, Your access to education, all are shaped and modeled by forces beyond your power and anyone else in your Community. isn't it worth considering the impact of that.

Those devices and networks, in my opinion, are more complex than any Bureaucratic Government System, operating on a scale, larger than any country. They are not "Just a tool", not a Screwdriver, or a Microwave, or a Jar. Just because you can abstract away the industries behind the app you use, doesn't diminish their size

Those companies have real incentives to keep you on their platforms, regardless of how that effects you. Your interests and their, aren't just misaligned but are at odds with one another

Sam Bankman-Fried on Friday lost his bid to overturn his fraud conviction and 25-year prison sentence over the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange he founded.

The decision was handed down by a three-judge panel of the New York-based second US circuit court of appeals.

Bankman-Fried, who had been one of the cryptocurrency sector’s most influential figures and a multibillionaire before FTX’s spectacular collapse in 2022, was found guilty on seven felony charges by a federal jury in Manhattan in 2023.

Prosecutors with the Manhattan US attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case, said he stole $8bn from FTX customers in what they termed a “fraud of epic proportions”.

Bankman-Fried had pleaded not guilty to the two counts of fraud and five counts of conspiracy that he faced. At his trial, he admitted to making mistakes running FTX, but testified that he never stole funds.

NEW PALTZ, N.Y. (AP) — On a drizzly Saturday morning late last month, the basement of the New Paltz United Methodist Church filled with old lamps, blunt knives, malfunctioning sound mixers and balky zippers.

About a dozen volunteers welcomed the broken goods and their owners to a worldwide movement that’s evangelizing new relationships between people and their things.

Repair Cafes — free events where volunteers with technical know-how help neighbors fix myriad household items — are part of a new brand of anticonsumerism that’s trying to offer an alternative to the mass-produced disposable goods that have dominated the global economy for the last half-century. Helping fuel that move to repairing, not buying, are U.S. consumer prices, which climbed sharply again last month as the war with Iran delivered higher gasoline prices and more pain for Americans.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/47165348

I noticed many people believe, that Western countries ranking low on corruption indexes, shows they aren't corrupt as hell.

To me this just means it's at a higher, much harder to prove level.

Instead of starting at the cop level (which is still possible with connections), it starts at the points where multi-millions can be made without anyone really noticing.

E.g. farm land > residential use, construction projects, sale of government properties, favors for corps etc.

So back when I worked in Huntsville I had a friend named Ron and a coworker whose name escapes me. Let's call him Bob. Even though it annoys me not to be able to remember bob's real name.

So bob was a hunter, and had a deer stand across the river somewhere near Laceys Spring. When you cross the river and head south, you hear banjo's really quickly. I've seen entire valleys covered in nothing but kudzu over there. It was like an alien horror movie. Really weird vibe.

But that was where the deer were, so that is where Bob hunted.

One day Bob confessed to Ron that he'd seen some really weird stuff out there. He refused to really elaborate, but we got the impression it was really hair and made weird vocalizations. Maybe a black bear walking on it's hind legs?

Now you have to realize, this isn't that far from Arab Alabama. One of the most racist, hairy and vocal populations in a state full of rednecks. They like to ride around waving the confederate battle flag and doing the rebel yell. So hearing weird noises echoing off the hills not that surprising.

But Ron did some internet digging, and found some web pages that handle weird shit and printed them out and handed them to Bob.

Bob really freaked, and started babbling about things that walked like a man but were all hairy and definitely not human.

He got really really upset and never went back.

I don't blame him, even driving my ford explorer through all those back roads gave me the creeps. Deserted homesteads, shacks with confederate flags. You couldn't pay me enough to get out of the SUV and walk into those woods.

Ron's dead now, cancer, and I think so is Bob. But I thought I'd share their story. If I remember more I'll post them.

I was reading by a greentext involving Blåhaj in c/4chan and my brother asked me what was one.

"Why is the shark named that?"

Instances can go down, disappear or be unresponsive due to many reasons.

Go to your account settings now and export your account settings!

This file contains your subscriptions, follows, profile settings etc. It's very easy to start over on a new instance when you have your export file.

Back it up, export it, save it, repeat occasionally.

I don't remember seeing any character call "World" this name or himself saying "I'm World!". Why does the wiki list him with this name?

Is there such a scene that escaped my memory?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/46788659

Looking at how much conflict natural resource-rich countries (oil, gold, diamonds..) seem to attract, I wonder whether such wealth is more a curse than a blessing.

Many regions with scarce natural resources, adapted & perform very well. Some of the richest are examples (Switzerland, Luxembourg, Singapore..)

Looks to me like the greed for them attracts conflicts: civil wars, invasions etc. Cultural, ethnic, religious reasons often just seem to be used to cover it.

Plus all the environmental destruction / pollution that come with the extraction & processing.

The dog loved them!

I want to watch the series, but my country's dub is lost media, and my English listening skills are terrible.

The subtitles can be Spanish, English or Portuguese.

I could swear I had favorited it, but... well, I didn't.

The title had (I think) something related to "starter pack". The items listed were:

• WataMote Girl

• Lucky Star Girl

• "i want a failure boy/girlfriend"

• Sanrio

• (Something pink I don't remember)

• "but I don't wanna hurt you!"

• roblox

• discord