I haven't read those authors so I'm not sure if it's the same type of weird, but I recently read Hyperion which is both weird and good.

Favorite DE: Niri First DE used: XFCE DE you want to use in the future: Niri Honorable Mention: Hyprland least favorite: Anything non tiling, or maybe Hyprland due to a lot of minor annoyances Current DE: Niri longest used DE: i3 Current Distro: NixOS and Arch

You should try Niri!

From a quick search it seems like it's under 30%. Crazy.

Yeah I think you would need to get a fiber laser, but it probably wouldn't need much power.

I have heard of using diode lasers to burn off a mask for etching, though.

Favorite distro: NixOS First distro used: Ubuntu Distro you want to use in the future: SixOS, Asahi Honorable mention: Fedora Server Distro you liked the least: Ubuntu Distro you currently use: Arch, NixOS The distro you used for the longest time: Arch

I think laser engraving is probably the best way to make them at home, although just buying from a pcb service like jlc is the best option if you can wait.

Not sure what they're using, but OnlyOffice is pretty good

But there is also a middle ground - plastic surgery that isn't immediately obvious, but makes the person look "off". I think even the best models are still stuck at this level for now.

In the abstract, I don't really disagree with you. It definitely wouldn't replace human made things or human perspectives, though. (which, as a human myself, I value highly). But I do agree that If I could have a genie show me the most beautiful picture possible according to my tastes, I would still be very interested in seeing it even if nobody made it.

This is a complete hypothetical though. The problem is that the generative models we have now aren't actually good at much of anything, beyond purely functional stuff like boilerplate text or code. (and even that is somewhat debatable)

Firstly, nothing these models produce is art, which requires a perspective that they do not have. It isn't valuable aesthetically or or in a literary sense, either; what is produced will always be bland and unchallenging. To oversimplify, it is the 'average' of the training data - nothing original or innovative.

I think one big issue that isn't talked about enough is that it can look okay at first, but is actually shit. It ends up being a kind of information poison. It makes it harder to parse information, because useless junk is no longer obvious. Like finding what looks like a fresh apple, but is actually just the skin with nothing inside. Especially with llms, there are so many ways it can be subtly bad.

What scares me the most is it improving in the future to the point where I can't tell and it's poisoning me without my knowledge. It's noticeable already - I've listened to podcast interviews where the guest has picked up on chatgpt mannerisms, and it's really eerie, because it's destroyed their personal voice and they don't even notice. "AI psychosis" is definitely a real thing, and I think it's also affecting a lot of people more subtly.

"How can I tell if this is slop so I can know to hate it"

While this is a bit of an exaggeration, I see why you dismiss this at first. However, it's someone recognizing that they may not be able to sort high quality information from low (or not wanting the burden of doing so). Knowing it came from a human not only means it has some inherent value, but also means that we will be proficient in judging and sorting our own informational input.

It's really exhausting. So much of our society is built on evils that have been normalized, and it's very hard to be aware of that. It's definitely a burden to go against the norm.

I think the fact that you have empathy and are trying to minimize the harm that you do proves that you're not a piece of shit. And if you're anything like me, eating meat would likely be very upsetting for you, and would make you feel a lot worse about yourself. Right now, you're acting in compassion not only for the sentient beings that you are choosing not to eat, but also to yourself, because you are living in line with your values.

And just because you can desensitize yourself to the idea doesn't really mean anything about how you actually feel.

At this rate I'll be able to sell my ddr3 from over a decade ago and make a profit compared to what I paid originally

The issue with snaps is that they are proprietary, and are less space efficient and probably a bit slower. If that doesn't bother her than it's fine. You could also choose to use flatpak (also containerized like snaps) or just use apt (from the terminal or a gui)

Also OnlyOffice might be a better option for MS compatibility. You could also just run a VM if you need to.