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Mikina

@ Mikina @programming.dev

Posts
5
Comments
306
Joined
3 yr. ago

  • Removed

    Openvibe 1.6 doesn't like your ungoogled phone

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  • I've seen this warning in a lot of apps, like Teams, Messenger or some authenticators, and some of the time I could simply ignore it and continue using the app. I think some of apps simply use it for push notifications that I can get by without.

    Not all, though. Sometimes it simply doesn't work.

  • CEO of Song-Generating AI App Says People "Don't Enjoy" Making Music With Instruments

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  • Suno was what radicalized my stance on AI, and I refuse to use any of it.

    As a solo hobbyist game dev who struggles with art, I had a pretty reserved approach for AI for stuff like art, animation or most notably voice acting, which makes the game a lot better but is really hard to do if you're not a native speaker or don't have a budget. My plan was to start with AI filling in places I couldn't do, but then pledge that 100% of the first sales will go towards paying an actual artist/VA and replace the assets as soon as possible. That felt like a fair compromise.

    And then I tried Suno. You see, as a programmer, my line of work isn't really threatened by AI. Quite the contrary - it hinders the learning process of so many new programmer who will end up missing core skills, that it kind of increases my job security.

    And since stuff like VA is something I don't really understand, I mostly considered it as an asset that AI can temporally provide.

    After trying Suno, which makes something I am passionate about - I've tried and failed for the past few years to learn instruments, and starting a band and making music is one of my so far unattainable dreams, it was so, so devastating. To see something you've actively struggled with, dreamed about, and made an effort for to overcome the challenges, unsuccessfuly so far, be overtaken by a literal three word prompt, making a better song I probably ever will - it's so heartbreaking, demoralizing and awful. Which is something I haven't realized when thinking about art I was not invested into, but now, thanks to Sunk, I see how it must feel for every artist, and I refuse to support any of it. It gave me determination and motivation to make the effort towards meeting people who do VA or assets I need, and collaborating, even if it postpones everything by a long time.

    Fuck AI, and fuck this guy. The product may be useful and is pretty mindblowing, but it comes at a cost of making a lot of artists demotivated and miserable. Also, saying that "music is hard, people don't want to" just adds salt to the wound, insult to the injury, and is really fucked up thing to say, after the product you've made affected and demoralized artists at large so much. Seriously, fuck that guy.

  • StackOverflow has lost 77% of new questions compared to 2022. Lowest # since May 2009.

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  • I usually just look into the docs, for most of the more basic things, search engine will find you the related function, and the docs usually have usage examples.

    Also, learning to work with and read a documentation will be one of the best skills you can acquire as a programmer. I was so glad I was used to docs, because when I started to work with libraries that are under NDA (porting games on consoles, most prominently PS5), where the only resource you have are docs and internal forums without any kind of tutorials, being able to figure out what you need from docs is really nice skill to have.

    I have tried using AI for non NDA programming questions, and usually I've ran into an issue that it simply just halucinates even on basic questions. For example, I was trying to figure out how to prevent Quest from sleeping, so we can run long-running automated tests, and all of the solutions were adb parameters that do not exist. Unless it's something super basic, AI will probably just send to you the wrong direction.

  • Cybertruck blast suspect was a ‘Rambo type’ who loved Trump, family says

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  • I'd also add that IMO, it's also heavily caused by misalignment of social network personalization algorithms. It's very probable that someone developed a ML algorithm during the early years of FB/YT/Google (not LLM, just some kind of feedbacky ML), that takes data they have about you as input, and selects what posts to show you next to maximize your time spent scrolling on the app.

    You have unimaginable amount of data (with literally billions of active users), and it could've been running and getting better for the last decade.

    The algorithm gets better and better at gluing you to the screen, at manipulating and changing people. My theory is that one of the best ways how to keep someone glued to a social network is radicalization and introduction into a conspiraci theory. It probably removes you from "normal" people around you IRL, because you're now wierd, you feel smart because you've "figured out the truth", you don't spend time with people around you or read "traditional" media, because they are lying and don't get you, and the only safe space you have is the echo chamber on the social network. That sounds like a pretty good recipe how to keep people interacting on the platform, and there's not really a way how to prevent it, assuming it's a ML algorithm driving it. No one knows how it works, and it only works with one goal - maximize app time at all costs.

    Just take a look how good some ML models are at the task of "text -> image". Now imagine it has billions of people and a decade to experiment, with a task "person -> next content to show". It's horrifying to think about what it would be able to manipulate you into, and it is even better at it that the image models, because it had exponentially more data and room to experiment in real time on real people.

    Also - there's no way how to fight back. Even if you know about it, there are tens of thousands people like you, who are also "immune" to this approach. But the ML algorithm gets to experiment on them, and if there is a way how to manipulate even them, it will figure it out. Because it knows what approach won't work on people like you. The only way you can prevent this is by not using anything that has a personalized feed - no Google search, no FB wall, no YT recommendations, etc. This probably doesn't lead to radicalization in this case, because the goal is to keep you in the app, not radicalize. For now, at least. Thankfully, people managing the biggest social networks are reasonable people who are just running a business, and they have no reason to change the goal of the algorithm into something else than screen time, right?

  • Spirituality Is Secure Attachment with Reality

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  • This series emerges from conversations with friends and Claude AI...

    At least they admitted it early in the article, so I didn't have to waste my time.

  • Leaked Documents Show OpenAI Has a Very Clear Definition of ‘AGI’

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  • Thank you, it was an interesting read.

    Unfortunately, as I was looking more into it, I've stumbled upon a paper that points out some key problems with the proof. I haven't looked into it more and tbh my expertise in formal math ends at vague memories from CS degree almost 10 years ago, but the points do seem to make sense.

    https://arxiv.org/html/2411.06498v1

  • AI in reality

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  • While I haven't read the paper, the comment's explanation seems to make sense. It supposedly contains a mathematical proof that making AGI from a finite dataset is a NP-hard problem. I have to read it and parse out the reasoning, if true, it would make for a great argument in cases like these.

    https://lemmy.world/comment/14174326

  • Leaked Documents Show OpenAI Has a Very Clear Definition of ‘AGI’

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  • Lol. We're as far away from getting to AGI as we were before the whole LLM craze. It's just glorified statistical text prediction, no matter how much data you throw at it, it will still just guess what's the next most likely letter/token based on what's before it, that can't even get it's facts straith without bullshitting.

    If we ever get it, it won't be through LLMs.

    I hope someone will finally mathematically prove that it's impossible with current algorithms, so we can finally be done with this bullshiting.

  • The World Depends on 60-Year-Old Code No One Knows Anymore (COBOL History lesson)

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  • It was only two years, and it was basically half nornal computer science classes, and half working with engines, making a game with classmates and mentors from the industry throughout the year, and learning about rendering, AI behaviors (the videogame kind, not LLMs). The graphics part was about shaders, lighting, post-processing, global illumination, renderers and math, not modeling. It was mostly technical, but we had some game desing classes.

  • WSL documentation fix initially rejected because AI has difficulty understanding markdown tables

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  • Having AI not bullshiting will require an entirely different set of algorithms than LLM, or ML in general. ML by design aproximates answers, and you don't use it for anything that's deterministic and has a correct answer. So, in that rwgard, we're basically at square 0.

    You can keep on slapping a bunch of checks on top of random text prediction it gives you, but if you have a way of checking if something is really true for every case imaginable, then you can probably just use that to instead generate the reply, and it can't be something that's also ML/random.

  • David Gerard: "Microsoft refuses pull request to put documentation in readable table form because LLMs are bad at parsing tables…"

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  • This is my favorite sentence from his replies.

    I've learned today that you are sensitive to ensuring human readability over any concerns in regard to AI consumption

  • The World Depends on 60-Year-Old Code No One Knows Anymore (COBOL History lesson)

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  • I forgot to add that I had a Masters in Game Development and Computer Graphics, which definitely helped, but I still learned most of my gamedev skills by regularly attending gamejams and working on my own projects. I've also started working in gamedev for the past year, and I wouldn't say that it teaches you much, since you are missing out on 80% of actuall development and only crunch JIRA tickets and bugfixes, as a junior that is, without being exposed to the more important parts or other skills. Assuming you join a larger studio with game in progress, in an indie studio with team of 10 people, you'll probably have a lot more responsibilities and impact on other stages of the game's development.

  • The World Depends on 60-Year-Old Code No One Knows Anymore (COBOL History lesson)

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  • This isn't true. If you can get by while working part-time, you still have at least 40 hours every two weeks to work on your game.

    It's one of my biggest regrets, that after school I immediately jumped into full-time job, even though I realistically could live comfortably with 1/3 of the pay I was getting, since young+no familly+no car+shared living reduces your living costs by a very large margin. My best friend did that and has been working only 2 days per week since. I was trying to keep up with him, working on our game in my free time, but it's simply not feasible to build on top of 40 hours per week of regular job, and then do anything meaningful on your side projects. I barely struggled to get myself to do at least 20h of work per month on the project, missing deadlines, and it sucked.

    He, on the other hand, kept our game project afloat and moving forward, with 60+ hours per month, while also writing and running a large LARP for 100 of players, directing his own theater group, and in general successfully working on a lot of projects, including several smaller games.

    The best advice I can give, if you want to be a game developer, is to 1) not work in gamedev and 2) work part-time. The IT salary should net you a comfortable life even on part-time pay, assuming it's not gamedev. Smaller studios will have difficulties keeping afloat if they need to pay you, and in larger AAA studio you will be the same code-monkey crunching JIRA tickets as you would be in any IT job, but for a lot less money. And the design freedom you get when your livelyhood doesn't depend on your art's success, be it games or anything else, is totally worth it.

    For example, this game has been developed solely in free time, without anyone getting paid for working on it. It's not AAA and the development takes a long time, but it definitely doesn't need to be a fulltime job.

  • AI Is Lying to Us About How Powerful It Is

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  • It's a fucking math function. Numbers go in, numbers go out. It's a glorified text suggestion.

    If your results are, that it's hiding away information or trying to lock files used for it's configuration, then you specifically allowed it to do it, or more probably you have no idea how file locking works in the first place.

    I hate this kind of AI doomsaying with passion, because it makes zero sense and only sways the discussion away from actual problems, while also being comparable in it's bullshitism as anti-vaxers are.

    I mean, the problem they talk about is kind of missalingment, but because they are making nonsensical claims about how the AI is trying to go rogue, instead of actually talking about the real dangers of misalignment (like manipulating people into extremism to maximize their engagement on platforms, or not being factually correct), which will always be a limitation of any ML algorithm and is a reason why it shouldn't be used for 90% of cases it's being used in.

    The article is literally cold reading. They are trying so hard to push their bullshit narrative, that it's painful to read. A software that locks his configuration file when running? Oh, I guess my git is also AI gone rogue, and doesn't want me to delete it.

    Lol.

  • Don't reply "just Google it"

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  • What I mean by that is that it doesn't shove the AI summaries into your face, and they are only generated if you actually click on a different tab.

  • Don't reply "just Google it"

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  • I just use Kagi, which seems to be pretty good at filtering bullshit by default, and have mabually downranked reddit and twitter, ot any other site I found and don't like. But it's been a long time since I used other search, so I can't compare it much since I'm used to it. Never really had any problems with not finding what I need.

  • Don't reply "just Google it"

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  • I'm using Kagi, but as of right now I'm not sure if I can recommend it. The last year with it was amazing, but for the past few days I've been getting blocked searches from my VPN out of nowhere. That would be a dealbreaker for me, but I hope it was just a mistake and they will fix it. It's the first time it has happened in the year or so I've been using it.

    Apparently, they are also adding a bunch of AI features, but I only noticed it when I was looking up the feature page, and I haven't noticed any of it in my feed before that - so I guess they don't push it on users and it's optional somewhere out of the way, so don't let that discourage you. (Though, it would've discouraged me, if I saw that before I started using it. But as of now it doesn't affect you unless you look for it, I guess)

    Other than that, the search is awesome. But since I'm using it exclusively for like a year, I can't really compare it with other engines, it's possible that I'm just used to it.

  • Don't reply "just Google it"

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  • I've never had issues with looking anything up. By downranking Reddit and using a search engine with a good indexer that downranks bullshit and generated websites, which mine is really good at, I haven't noticed much change from how it was before.

    But I agree with the second part. That's something that never occured to me, and it makes sense. I was usually trying to answer questions I knew, and never had the urge to reply "just google it", so it doesn't change much for me, but it's a really good point I never realized.

  • Digital consumption keeps me from getting better at my job

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  • I highly recommend reading Digital Minimalism, which deals with exactly what you are talking about. It's a great and inspiring read, even if you don't actually go through with it.

    From what I remember, it mostly talks about how to approach any kind of technology as a tool, though a pretty simple process - honestly think about what your goal is (networking, getting information about new topics, keeping up to date on events...), and properly decide whether the technology is actually The Best way how to do it, while minimalizing any drawbacks.

    Some examples I remember are:

    • I have to use social networks to stay in touch with my friends and family. - Is that really the best way? Isn't it better to make sure to visit or call them regularly, so they can tell you what they have been up to, instead of you passively seeing it from soulless posts? If your goal is to have a meaningful connection with them, is chatting in a group-chat the best way and better than talking less often, but in person?
    • I have to stay up-to-date on news. - Is endlessly scrolling through clickbait articles for hours the best use of your time? Wouldn't just subscribing to a physical newspaper/journal, that you get to read every day/week/month, accomplish the same thing while also saving you an immense amount of time?
    • I need to have a smartphone so I can be reached at any time. - Do you need to have a smartphone for that? Isn't dumb phone way better, since you don't get distracted with other stuff? And are you sure that you have to reply immediately, and it won't wait until the evening? Will setting up regular 30 minutes per day, to check and answer your personal mails/IMs be sufficient, and if someone needs to reach you immediately, they can always call you.

    Most of the arguments in the book were thought-provoking, and from what I've tried implementing, it has made my life a lot better. For example, switching my phone to a dumb phone (and carrying a powered off smarthphone that I can make a hotpost for, if I really need an app for something) made my away-from-computer life a lot better and peacful, and it was really easy to get used to that. Once you start considering anything you do on a computer from the pragmatic point of view, and ask yourself what your goal is, and if there isn't a better way - the answer usually is yes, there is.

  • Google unveils 'mind-boggling' quantum computing chip - BBC News

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  • But can it run AI?