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Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending Sunday 9 September 2024 (awful.systems)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/techtakes@awful.systems
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Need to let loose a primal scream without collecting footnotes first? Have a sneer percolating in your system but not enough time/energy to make a whole post about it? Go forth and be mid: Welcome to the Stubsack, your first port of call for learning fresh Awful you’ll near-instantly regret.

Any awful.systems sub may be subsneered in this subthread, techtakes or no.

If your sneer seems higher quality than you thought, feel free to cut’n’paste it into its own post — there’s no quota for posting and the bar really isn’t that high.

The post Xitter web has spawned soo many “esoteric” right wing freaks, but there’s no appropriate sneer-space for them. I’m talking redscare-ish, reality challenged “culture critics” who write about everything but understand nothing. I’m talking about reply-guys who make the same 6 tweets about the same 3 subjects. They’re inescapable at this point, yet I don’t see them mocked (as much as they should be)

Like, there was one dude a while back who insisted that women couldn’t be surgeons because they didn’t believe in the moon or in stars? I think each and every one of these guys is uniquely fucked up and if I can’t escape them, I would love to sneer at them.

(Semi-obligatory thanks to @dgerard for starting this)

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[–] 14 points 2 years ago (6 children)

every popular scam eventually gets its Oprah moment, and now AI’s joining the same prestigious ranks as faith healing and A Million Little Pieces:

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who stepped down as Microsoft CEO 24 years ago, will appear on the show to explore the "AI revolution coming in science, health, and education," ABC says, and warn of "the once-in-a-century type of impact AI may have on the job market."

and it’s got everything you love! veiled threats to your job if the AI “revolution” does or doesn’t get its way!

As a guest representing ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, Sam Altman will explain "how AI works in layman's terms" and discuss "the immense personal responsibility that must be borne by the executives of AI companies."

woe is Sam, nobody understands the incredible stress he’s under marketing the scam that’s making him rich as simultaneously incredibly dangerous but also absolutely essential

fuck I cannot wait for my mom to call me and regurgitate Sam’s words on “how AI works” and ask, panicked, if I’m fired or working for OpenAI or a cyborg yet

I’m truly surprised they didn’t cart Yud out for this shit

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I’m truly surprised they didn’t cart Yud out for this shit

    Self-proclaimed sexual sadist Yud is probably a sex scandal time bomb and really not ready for prime time. Plus it's not like he has anything of substance to add on top of Saltman's alarmist bullshit, so it would just be reminding people how weird in a bad way people in this subculture tend to be.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    that’s a very good point. now I’m wondering if not inviting Yud was a savvy move on Oprah’s part or if it was something Altman and the other money behind this TV special insisted on. given how crafted the guest list for this thing is, I’m leaning toward the latter

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago

    I think if you want to promote something you don't invite the longwinded nerdy person. Don't think a verbal blog post would do well on tv. I mean, I would also suck horribly if I was on tv, and would prob help make the subject im arguing for less popular.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    working for OpenAI

    You probably are, if not by choice.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    unironically part of why I am so fucking mad that reCaptcha ever became as big as it did. the various ways entities like cloudflare and google have forcefully inserted themselves into humanity's daily lives, acting as rent-extracting bridgetroll with heavy "Or Else" clubs, incenses me to a degree that can leave me speechless

    in this particular case, because reCaptcha is effectively outsourced dataset labelling, with the labeller (you, the end user, having to click through the stupid shit) not being paid. and they'll charge high-count users for the privilege. it is so, so fucking insulting and abusive.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who stepped down as Microsoft CEO 24 years ago, will appear on the show to explore the “AI revolution coming in science, health, and education,” ABC says, and warn of “the once-in-a-century type of impact AI may have on the job market.”

    christ

    billy g's been going for years with bad takes on those three things (to the point that the gates foundation have actually been a problem, gatekeeping financing unless recipients acquiesce to using those funds the way the foundation wants it to be used (yeah, aid funds with instructions and limitations..)), but now there can be "AI" to assist with the issue

    maybe the "revolution" can help by paying the people that are currently doing dataset curation for them a living wage? I'm sure that's what billy g meant, right? right?

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