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PlzGivHugs

@ PlzGivHugs @sh.itjust.works

Posts
7
Comments
145
Joined
3 yr. ago

  • Do most Lemmy users know that they're in an echo chamber and their actions are perpetuating that?

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  • That which reinforces bias from innapropriate confirmation or unduly limits discussion of counter views.

    The problem is that if that toxicity is widespread enough, and accepted enough, it does interfere with any discussion of opposing viewpoints. When helpful comments that advance the discussion are consistently burried under dozens of unhelpful ones, it makes it difficult to have a meaningful discussion, and incentivses those whose opinions that go against the ingrained group-think to leave. Akin to the Nazi bar allegory, allowing that sort of toxicity to fester just chases off anyone who doesn't want to join in, leading to a echo-chamber.

  • Do most Lemmy users know that they're in an echo chamber and their actions are perpetuating that?

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  • The distinction is in the civility, not the topic. I just used AI because its one of the worst for it right now. People tend to see liking AI (or not hating it enough) as a good reason to attack people - again, not just death threats, but things like attacks on character, or other toxic behaviour. For a more mundane example, there was recently a post on the No Stupid Questions community, asking how Christians could justify not being homophobic or anti-abortion. The question itself, despite its validity, is downvoted significantly, and about half the responses are edgy, unhelpful quips rather than genuine attempts to answer the question - many of which with positive scores. That sort of thing is widespread, which quashes genuine discorse, thus, creates an echochamber.

  • Do most Lemmy users know that they're in an echo chamber and their actions are perpetuating that?

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  • I would argue Lemmy is less of an echochamber as I see more genuine LGBTQ2S+, Anarchist, Tankie, Antifa that reddit ever had. I think the smaller population here just chopped the top of the gaussian distribution curve, amd we have, relatively, a few less "normies". People passionate, and articulate about their things.

    I would argue that the open and often extreme hostility towards ideas that go against the group consensus still make it more of an echochamber. Like, for example, if you say something positive about AI and are spammed with deaththreats and other bad-faith character attacks, you're not going to stick around, and even if you do, you're not going to feel safe expressing that opinion, and that option will be effectively stompped out. This sort of behaviour is still very common, even outside of .ml, and just because some topics are more free than Reddit, doesn't mean the problem doesn't exist.

  • How do you feel about the current state of Lemmy?

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  • Personally, I haven't noticed a decrease in content, but I have noticed a significant dropoff in quality of content, and in it's place, has mostly grown toxicity. None of the racism, or anything that extreme (although, from what I've seen, my instance moderators have been doing a good job,) but so much of the content is insults, unhelpful snark, doomerism, elitism, and just general bad-faith arguments. It feels like all those who wantted to be helpful or supportive have given up or left, meaning no high-quality content and no meaningful discourse.

    That said, it also feels like a wider cultural shift thats happened in the last year or so. Online culture as a whole feels more toxic, with fewer places to go for positivity or constructivity, and far more hate and abuse.

  • What is the ideal gaming experience for you?

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  • Generally for me, its all about the flow-state - generally anything with a strong primary gameplay loop thats not too hard to learn, but impossible to master. Roguelikes specifically tend to scratch this itch, since the genre is all about finding a strong core gameplay loop, and than milking every drop of enjoyment out of it. Things like Slay the Spire, Roboquest, or Crypt of the Necrodancer. Others games I like, that do this really well are arcade indie games like Hotline Miami and Anger Foot, and esports titles like CS2 and DotA2.

    That said, my more niche interest in games is in hyper-specialized or experimental hardware. This includes more common stuff like VR, or flight sims with HOTAS, but also less intentional stuff. One of my personal favorites that unfortunately no longer works, was playing CS:GO with a joystick for movement. The analog movement allows for way more percise control in movement, and including allowing you to walk silently faster than is normally possibly. The downside is fact that you couldn't counterstrafe, although given that I almost exclusively use the Negev, it wasn't much of a downside.

  • Anyone got any informative YouTube channels that DON’T use AI slop?

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  • Time Ghost's channels are, IMO, the gold standard for history content. Its very in-depth, but they've so-far covered WW1 on their The Great War channel, WW2 on their World War 2 channel, interwar periods, and their current focus is on the Korean War on their channel, The Forgotten War by Indy Neidell.

    All of their channels focus on covering these time periods chronologically - usually one episode a week, covering that week's events. Most of these individual episodes are 10-20 minutes long, but again, they release a new one weekly, so it will take a long time to catch up. As well as these weekly episodes, they also create some specials covering specific topics, and they produce the occational long-form documentary, such as their 12 hour long video on Pearl Harbor or their 24 hour long video on D-Day.

  • Beyond Meat CEO 'It's Just Not the Moment for Plant-Based Meat' After Rebrand

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  • Genuine question: Does anyone actually find the Beyond Meat products to be a suitable replacement for meat? Like, I gave it a shot intentially once, and didn't really like it, but I also once got given it accedently at a fast food place and didn't look at the packaging. When I bit into it, I thought the meat had gone off or something, and didn't realize what had happened until I tried to return it. Its not like I'm against cutting back on meat or that, but I'd rather have something like a tofu burger over Beyond Meat.

  • What are the best things to say to someone with body type insecurity?

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  • When it comes to insecurities that are justified, I was obese, so I do have some experience. Words wouldn't have helped much, but actions would. When you have some kind of unappealing trait, people recoil from you. They won't look at you, they won't touch you, they just try to disappear from your general vicinity. Just being there and giving off the vibe that you are comfortable and happy being with me would have made all the difference.

    Also worth noting that its worth being careful what you say, even positive.

    Like, when you're obese, you know it and you probably hate it. At the same time, as was said, it feels like everyone is disgusted by your existance. For that reason, drawing attention to it in general can be othering. For example, being told "good for you" for ordering a salad or going to the gym wasn't a rare occurrence in my experience, and while positive on the surface, its just insulting and patronising.

    Also, for the same reason, don't try to be their doctor or therapist. There is likely any number of underlaying issues that maintain the obesity, be it trauma, mental health disorders (including many seemingly unrelated to eating, like depression or OCD), insulin resistance, diabetes, ect. ect. ect. People (and their doctors) know their own health history better than you do. Odds are, you're either going to be telling them something they already know for the millionth time, or even giving bad advice that can make it worse - esspecially as it relates to mental disorders.

    If you want to help, don't be patronizing, don't try to replace their doctor, just treat them like you would anyone else.

  • Is there any actual evidence that open source social media is less damaging to user mental health than commercial social media?

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  • Currently, no.

    The research on social media in general is already spotty and uneven. Most publicly available studys exclusively look at students, often use very small population samples, use exclusively self-reported data, and introduce other methodological issues. Thats not to say that the data is useless (esspecially given the near-unanimous results in the studies that are done) but its very incomplete. We have no idea which features, models, or topics are most problematic nor do we know how they affect different demographics. Given that we lack even that data, there is no way something as niche as the Fediverse or other forms of open-source social media will be covered.

  • Is private age verification technically possible and if so how?

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  • Most routers from ISPs come with "adult" content filtering enabled by default I think, at least the ones I've had have had this on.

    Not that I'm doubting you, but is this a common thing? I've never even seen it as an option here in Canada, both on ISP supplied devices and on separate routers. Is it just because I'm using cheaper devices, or because on my region?

  • Deleted

    Permanently Deleted

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  • Razer mouse software that supports the full range of configuration options available on Windows plus automatic profile switching based on active app.

    This has been a big sticking point for me. I'm using a Razer Naga (thats the one with the numpad on the side) and like to make use of those extra buttons - esspecially since I play a lot of more complex and/or more competitve games, but even for day-to-day use. Since it doesn't have on board memory, its useless on Linux, and that undoes about a decade of muscle memory (and requires me to buy a new mouse).

  • RentAHuman lets 500,000 humans work for AI bots with jobs such as counting pigeons for $30 an hour

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  • I looked at the site. Its just Fiverr, but without all the moderation/features that make the site usable, and with AI in the name. The majority of the listings were either obvious scams or were spam. Even those that weren't were pretty consistantly paying under $10 an hour. Beyond that, only one or two had anything to do with AI.

    Edit: actually, Fiverr is more a marketplace for those hiring. This is bounties, so its closer to Craigslist - esspecially given the lack of moderation or verification.

  • Do you still have faith in humanity?

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  • I don't think its changed significantly, but I also do think the impacts (good and bad) have become more far-reaching, and the bad esspecially has become more visible.

    We've always had a generally evil ruling class, and that evil always ranged from "just" stealing from the populus to genocide and torturing people for fun (just as today). Unlike historically, we're just aware of all of it, whereas a serf would barely know what their own lord was like, nonetheless one on the other side of the world. We've also always had those willing to work to build a better future. In the past, this was mostly limited to giving food and money, usually organized by religions organizations, and this continues, but we also now have thousands of other non-profits and tools, made and maintained by talented people who just want a better world. Think of all the people making educational videos, articles, software and more and giving it away for cheap or for free. Things like Wikipedia, VLC, and others would have caved to the rich and powerful decades ago if not for the fact that they're committed to making the world better.

  • Do you still have faith in humanity?

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  • As a whole, yes. We've managed to make it this far, and have strived for progress the whole time. On an individual level, absolutely not.

    Based on my own experiences and readings, I'd guesstimate that a good 10% of people are genuinely evil, and another 50% are morons. I would absolutely not bet on those odds when trying to get help. Still, that leaves another 40% who are decent enough to want good, and smart enough to act on it.

  • Fediverse

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  • And with good reason, given that high quality content is expensive. Even for a channel that is purely something as simple as video essays, if you're doing a good job, its going to take hundreds of hours of research and writing, nonetheless something more demanding.

  • Is Windows FOSS now?

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  • It is true that AI work (and anything derived from it that isn't significantly transformative) is public domain. That said, the copyright of code that is a mix of AI and human is much more legally grey.

    In other work, where it can be more separated, individual elements may have different copyright. For example, a comic was made using AI generated images. It was ruled that all the images were thus public domain. Despite that, the text and the layout of the comic was human-made and so the copyright to that was owned by the author. Code, obviously can't be so easily divided up, and it will be much harder to define what is transformative or not. As such, its a legal grey area that will probably depend on a case-by-case basis.

  • What do you belive is the best reddit alternative?

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  • Honestly, I forgot Mbin was a seperate piece of software. I was too focused trying to think of non-Fediverse alternatives. How is Mbin? I hear so little about it nowadays.

  • What do you belive is the best reddit alternative?

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  • Is there any alternatives other than PieFed and Lemmy? Given that even Lemmy still lacks the content to serve as a suitable Reddit alternative for most people, I can't imagine that theres anything else short of a bunch of disconnected, dedicated, niche interest forums.

  • What do you think about the scientific controversy on the impact of social media?

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  • Even outside of the content being viewed, there may be a huge difference in effect depending on who is viewing it. Almost all of the current studies are on University students, probably western demographic most able to socialize with others due to need, proximity, and free time. Debatably, they're also among the most impressionable groups as well, given that they're still not fully grown and are in the middle of trying to figure out and plan their lives. Intuitively, this would mean they're more able to take advantage of their time off social media, and more impacted by their time on it.

    This begs the question of if the effects will be the same in other populations. For example, in populations that are less able to socialize, does social media help reduce the burden, and if so, what platforms or elements have this effect versus more negative effects.

  • Source Memes @lemmy.world
    PlzGivHugs @sh.itjust.works

    Free TVs!

  • Not The Onion @lemmy.world
    PlzGivHugs @sh.itjust.works

    U.S. officials cracking down on people trying to bring valuable eggs across the border

    www.cbc.ca /news/world/us-border-fentanyl-eggs-1.7486369
  • Fediverse @lemmy.world
    PlzGivHugs @sh.itjust.works

    Does anyone have any good introductory, Fediverse infographics I could share?

  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    PlzGivHugs @sh.itjust.works

    What features would you like added to Lemmy itself?

  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    PlzGivHugs @sh.itjust.works

    What is a tip, fact, or piece of information that you want to share?

  • Ask Lemmy @lemmy.world
    PlzGivHugs @sh.itjust.works

    What is a niche interest or hobby you'd personally like to see represented more on Lemmy