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submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by BlueMonday1984@awful.systems to c/techtakes@awful.systems

Want to wade into the rainbow-ridden surf of the abyss? 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 so 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.

(Credit and/or blame to David Gerard for starting this. Also, happy Pride Month, peeps)

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[-] fullsquare@awful.systems 3 points 3 hours ago
[-] swlabr@awful.systems 4 points 2 hours ago

Not that this is news to anyone here but hey there’s a bubble

[-] Soyweiser@awful.systems 4 points 2 hours ago

Time for another once in a lifetime financial crisis.

[-] fiat_lux@lemmy.zip 3 points 3 hours ago

Maybe that why it's felt like he's been somewhat more polite and explanatory of required knowledge in his latest posts.

I've got to give it to him, he found a winner and didn't give up.

[-] lurker@awful.systems 4 points 8 hours ago

On Anthropic (and some other AI companies) and AI consciousness the final paragraph is the best part:

”Moreover, we should be skeptical when most of the noise on this topic is coming from the industry itself. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has repeatedly dangled the possibility of AI consciousness in interviews. And his company’s research frequently makes bold claims about their models showing humanlike behavior, such as supposedly harboring “emotions.” Just remember that it’s easier for AI companies to string us along with wild Skynet doomsday scenarios instead of confronting the tech’s far mundane consequences currently playing out before our eyes.”

[-] samvines@awful.systems 6 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Around 4 years ago Google fired Blake Lemoine for saying that AI has feelings - which he testified was because when he spoke to it it just seemed to be intelligent.

He found Lamda showed self-awareness and could hold conversations about religion, emotions and fears. This led Mr Lemoine to believe that behind its impressive verbal skills might also lie a sentient mind.

Today's tech has not fundamentally changed or evolved but the difference is that now the industry needs the hype to keep the valuation high!

[-] lurker@awful.systems 3 points 8 hours ago
[-] YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systems 1 points 15 minutes ago

Heartbreaking: the worst state actually has a point. I fully expected this to be some unhinged nonsense about how chatGPT is too woke or something, but they're actually articulating some of the real harms pretty clearly. I'm not sure how well that translates to a theory of law that openAI can't weasel their way out of, but I'm actually rooting for the Florida Men here, at least tentatively.

[-] BurgersMcSlopshot@awful.systems 2 points 4 hours ago

Still a fuck-everyone-involved but not as much as the Elon suit.

[-] o7___o7@awful.systems 11 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

CW: USA Politics

That suppressed Democratic National Committe 2024 "postmortem" report turns out to have been pure slop, with essentially no references and entirely made-up charts and plots while also missing entire sections. The author can produce exactly zero interview transcripts or source data. It also neglects interrogating failures in addressing trans rights, the genocide in Gaza, or the affordability crisis.

The podcast "It Could Happen Here" does a good job of analysis (disgusted), but long-time sneerers will feel the futility of getting into the weeds with an extruded textual artifact:

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-it-could-happen-here-30717896/episode/whats-in-the-dncs-2024-autopsy-335696933/

Tl:dl the deeply institutionalist DNC chairman appointed his best buddy to the job with zero oversight, and this was the result.

[-] scruiser@awful.systems 6 points 14 hours ago

lesswrong continues to mix sinophobia in with its AI crithype: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/nmpzH6sLLtKsQhSPM/china-won-t-win-the-ai-race-but-would-it-be-much-worse-if-it

Previously, on awful.system: https://awful.systems/post/4103825

This article has the highlight of identifying the horrible cynical dystopian move of China's government in response to AI and LLMs of... checks notes... protecting worker rights and workers from mass firings

“An arbitration panel ruled in favor of a map data collector whose entire department was laid off and replaced with artificial intelligence. The panel found that the company’s adoption of A.I. was a voluntary move to remain competitive and did not warrant the employee’s firing. Companies that benefit from technology must, at the same time, adopt “social responsibilities” and protect worker rights, the panel ruled.”

The author feels the need to emphasize how bad China is.

There are quite a few examples of the Chinese state punishing people for speaking out about true problems.

There is Li Wenliang, a doctor who posted to a group chat about COVID before it was officially acknowledged and was forced to sign a police document admitting he had broken a law by spreading false rumours. His reprimand was later withdrawn.

The advantage of the US system appears to be a greater ability to be transparent, in particular for a concerned person in the know to blow the whistle publicly.

Hahaha, no... For example, in Florida, DeSantis has the home of a fired state worker raided for her accessing her old work email (trying to collect accurate COVID numbers, iirc).

This lesswronger is so close to getting it but doesn't quite make the leap to 'are we the baddies'. They list out some bad ways the US has used AI and they do acknowledge

But I’m very aware that I’ve been inculcated in a media and cultural environment that says, in its most kind form, be suspicious of non-Western states.

But somehow hold out on actually changing there mind or overcoming their biases.

[-] Soyweiser@awful.systems 2 points 2 hours ago

Re: the usa and whistleblowers.

At least there are some corrections about this in the comments right? The comments are not just agi fears and sinophobia right?

Narrator: ... You sweet summer child.

[-] o7___o7@awful.systems 4 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Shang Tsung contracting anemia after devouring too many souls.md

[-] istewart@awful.systems 8 points 17 hours ago

Speaking of Aella (I really shouldn't), many have probably already seen this Liberal Currents article that leans heavily on her web-survey sex research dataset:

https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-interracial-cuck-porn-theory-of-everything/

The publication seems to have plenty of traction on Bluesky, for what that's worth, but I think this particular example needs to be retained as an exhibit of the hazards of rehabilitating American liberalism. A low-level affinity for the existing tech industry is always there, as its growth underlaid the benefits that make liberalism appealing. And that means the doorway for entryism by the tech-fascist freaks is always open, and then you're never more than a couple fundraising cycles (whether electoral or investment) away from being right back in this exact same mess.

[-] CinnasVerses@awful.systems 7 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

Edit / the author of the article "is an economics student at George Mason University with interests in tax policy, immigration, and housing. He normally posts about politics on X and Bluesky and occasionally writes long-form articles and essays on his Substack." So he has probably taken a class with Robin Hanson.

As a palette cleanser to the messed up people on social media and in web magazines, I recommend reading Bob Altemeyer's book on the sex lives of students at a minor Canadian university. https://www.lulu.com/shop/bob-altemeyer/sex-and-youth/paperback/product-4414777.html People who search tube sites or fill out sexuality quizzes from an influencer are not typical people any more than Wikipedia editors are.

[-] blakestacey@awful.systems 9 points 19 hours ago
[-] Soyweiser@awful.systems 1 points 2 hours ago

Makes you wonder how much of rationalism is just contrarianism.

[-] CinnasVerses@awful.systems 7 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

"EA and Rationalist policy organizations are scaling in DC"

Just a reminder that the rationalists already own two event spaces in the Bay Area and the Effective Altruists briefly owned one in England and one in the Czech Republic as well as an institute at Oxford University. Both of their existing spaces are losing money and had to beg for it last winter.

"This project needs a champion, but it’s a thing someone can simply choose to do" sounds very different when it means "you can actually try slacklining with the cool strangers in the park" and when it means "someone could lend us another $20 million for 20 years on easy terms." And seeing the lesson of FTX as "don't look weird" not "effective altruists are fraudsters and hypocrites" is a take.

[-] istewart@awful.systems 5 points 17 hours ago

That's OK, the next set of bankruptcy lawyers will again conduct clawbacks

[-] Amoeba_Girl@awful.systems 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

A second vibecoded Aella website has hit the building

https://www.knockrup.com/

there's a lot of ladies i know without guys, but who want kids. and i go 'would you accept some rich guy paying u a ton of money to just have his kid as a single parent' and they're like 'idk man prob not' and im like 'waht if it was 5m' and they're all magically like 'oh yeah i would do it'

so i made a directory for this, but i am trying to find ladies who would actually like to list themselves with their moonshot baby-funding goal. if u know anybody who wouldn't mind making a profile pls let me know, i wanna publicize the directory but need enough seeded ladies first

[-] CinnasVerses@awful.systems 8 points 19 hours ago

Jeffrey Epstein fantasized about something very similar. Gwern has a blog post about a sperm bank which promised to accept only the highest-quality donations.

[-] sailor_sega_saturn@awful.systems 11 points 22 hours ago

Well that's one way to do seed funding.

[-] maol@awful.systems 11 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

A man who wants to knock up as many women as possible is definitely trustworthy ladies and you should definitely make him the father of your kids 👍

[-] istewart@awful.systems 8 points 21 hours ago

No way the facilitator will ever accrue any liability or get subpoenaed when the civil lawsuits (or worse) start flying!

Claude, write me an ironclad legal disclaimer, maybe something about this being for entertainment purposes only

[-] fullsquare@awful.systems 10 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

was that written specifically for elon musk

[-] Soyweiser@awful.systems 5 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Of course, Elon musks superbabies are what going to save us from the acausalrobotgod.

E: im using joking terms here, but this is an idea actually expressed by people at lesswrong.

[-] Architeuthis@awful.systems 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Sometimes I think it'll eventually come out that the inner circle rationalists already had a breeding program going by this time, deliberately mix and matching possibly oblivious parents according to desired characteristics like increased ability to mentally rotate shapes or an above average polymarket win/loss ratio, and there will be at least a few kids that will grow up having to deal with that shit.

[-] Amoeba_Girl@awful.systems 10 points 1 day ago

considering how much their philosophy aligns with the plot of dune, i'm afraid you may be right

[-] Architeuthis@awful.systems 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

their philosophy aligns with the plot of dune

Only in the Torment Nexus sense. Like, in the original books it takes 4000 years of tragedy and sacrifice at an immense scale to somewhat unfuck the direct implications of said breeding program and ensure humanity's continued existence.

edit: also the genetic engineering enthusiast faction/race are absolutely never presented in a good light.

[-] Amoeba_Girl@awful.systems 6 points 1 day ago

the 4000 years of necessary tragedy and sacrifice, aka the golden path, is also remarkably similar to the rationalists' teleology! specifically the longtermist stuff! i.e. it's okay to sacrifice lives today to ensure humanity's survival.

i think herbert's feelings about breeding programs are ... complicated. he never presents it as ethical but he does seem fascinated by the concept and he's very very into the idea of forging supermen from extreme environmental pressure. like "comes up several times per book" levels of fascinated.

[-] Architeuthis@awful.systems 5 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

the 4000 years of necessary tragedy and sacrifice, aka the golden path, is also remarkably similar to the rationalists’ teleology! specifically the longtermist stuff! i.e. it’s okay to sacrifice lives today to ensure humanity’s survival.

Only in the broadest sense where humanity survives into the far future by spreading so far and wide that no matter the scale of a catastrophe a significant part will always continue to thrive.

However, where longtermism is about papercliping the entire universe into compute to fulfil some vague utilitarian notion of virtual happiness quota, the GP seems to be more about crippling the substructure that ostensibly causes humanity again and again be reduced to the whims of some supreme authority, be it the automated thinking machines from their past or their current much harder to escape succession of psychic tyrants let loose by selectively breeding for something humanity had absolutely no natural defence against.

The GP isn't even a utopia, it's a response to an immediate incredibly out of the box problem, the inevitability of an eventual dynasty of space wizard genghis khans.

i think herbert’s feelings about breeding programs are … complicated. he never presents it as ethical but he does seem fascinated by the concept and he’s very very into the idea of forging supermen from extreme environmental pressure. like “comes up several times per book” levels of fascinated.

I think they come second to his concerns about ecology and humanity's relation to the environment. Post-desert fremen are basically water-fat cosplayers, and in general, other than the deliberately paradigm shattering kwisatz haderach, the end product of genetic adjustment are never presented as an apex for humanity, more like a good fit for their niche, like how post-emperor fish-speakers either peter-out or get subsumed by other factions.

[-] Amoeba_Girl@awful.systems 5 points 21 hours ago

No, the golden path isn't a utopia! It's the necessary breaking of eggs to make the survival of humanity omelet. It's sort of a more twisted version of Asimov's Foundation carried entirely in the mind of a being with perfect knowledge of causality. The details of the plot don't necessarily map neatly, but the aesthetics, the fantasy, the torture-versus-dust-specksness of it is what the rationalists are all about. (Another wrinkle is that in Dune I believe [haven't read beyond godemperor] ultimately the solution is to create a being that escapes prophecy, a neat little transcendent conjuration. Solving alignment doesn't quite have the same oomph but it is also essentially a magic trick you can do if your freethinking and selfreliance stats are high enough. Also remember Rat!Harry's patronus is a Human! Benevolent AI should be seen as the liberated, transcendent form of the human mind.)

Have you read the Dosadi Experiment? It's a very strange book and a good way to get a high dose of Herbert's obsessions from a new perspective.

To be clear I love Dune, and I find Herbert fascinating because his ideas always find themselves in tension and are often baffling and muddled enough to provoke entertaining discussion. But the more you scratch the more unambiguously evil he is.

[-] gerikson@awful.systems 8 points 1 day ago

"seeded ladies" I see what you did there

[-] BurgersMcSlopshot@awful.systems 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

This is what you get when you take Dr. Strangelove (the character in the movie of the same name), Mr. Beast, and a bunch of K and mix it into a slurry and mainline it.

[-] Soyweiser@awful.systems 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

She made it and doesnt even have enough women who want to be listed yet? You would expect 'the best sex researcher' in the world to have more reach.

Wonder how many women you can message 'I offer two fifty' before you get banned. But im not going to give her an email of mine.

This also must be so bad for the kid.

[-] gerikson@awful.systems 7 points 1 day ago
[-] Evinceo@awful.systems 7 points 1 day ago

I'm waiting for someone to try this then they get black bagged and dragged to whatever event by someone who bet they would attend.

[-] rook@awful.systems 7 points 1 day ago

This seems like it is probably a good thing.

https://leidendeclaration.ai/

It does feel a bit “art of war” though… someone patiently explaining to a bunch of people who really should know better that they shouldn’t do obviously bad and wrong things.

[-] CinnasVerses@awful.systems 7 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

someone patiently explaining to a bunch of people who really should know better that they shouldn’t do obviously bad and wrong things.

In March 2025, someone skeeted that "Master Sun says: do not lead your troops into land where there is nothing for them to eat" seems obvious but Pete Hegseth would not remember that his troops needed food. One year later his aircraft carriers were feeding sailors spoiled meat and had a shortage of working toilets.

[-] Soyweiser@awful.systems 1 points 1 hour ago

Troops are apparently crowdsourcing toiletries.

Us military has fallen a long way from 'this is our warship that makes icecream for everyone'.

[-] antifuchs@awful.systems 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I see a bunch of people riffing on how The Art of War is obvious etc etc, but it seems few people keep in mind that this is advice for very powerful people of the time, the kind of guys who would be kicked in the head by a horse every day.

People who understand how power and lack of resources fucks with a person don’t usually get to tell armies to go fight a war, so those who do need to be told by a guy they’d let execute their favorite wife. (Also, probably the whole Seinfeld Is Unfunny trope…)

[-] blakestacey@awful.systems 7 points 1 day ago

The take I usually see on The Art of War nowadays is that it's full of dunderheadedly obvious advice because it's written for men who have inherited an army, or in modern parlance, nepo baby failsons.

So apparently Trump's National Design Bureau has been busy. I think the substack here may be slightly too conspiratorial. A lot of the staging environment stuff indicates (imo) a desire to replace or create something that may or may not actually include the capability to do so, especially when it requires working with other federal agencies or otherwise establishing human and organizational infrastructure in addition to the digital. That being said there's something very bad about the US government taking the same attitude to privacy, accountability, and information security that silicon valley normally does, especially when doing so is actively violating several laws.

[-] CinnasVerses@awful.systems 6 points 1 day ago

Major investment analysis firm Morningstar is looking for words on the SpaceX IPO and picked "We think the company has been significantly overvalued and investors will have opportunities to buy the stock at more attractive levels after the IPO" (Independent UK).

Even something as simple as picking a Total US Stock Market index fund instead of a S&P500 fund or NASDAQ-100 fund would reduce your exposure. If you control your investments, disinvesting is not that hard.

[-] schnoopy@awful.systems 10 points 1 day ago

Dunno if it's been posted yet but apparently microsoft is starting to get sick of losing money and changed billing for copilot. The subreddit is melting down https://old.reddit.com/r/GithubCopilot/

Very funny to watch

[-] TinyTimmyTokyo@awful.systems 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Everyone knew it was going to be a total shitshow once the free money ran out. Copilot is just the first shoe dropping. Getting out the popcorn.

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this post was submitted on 31 May 2026
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