Aura V. @auravulpes@computerfairi.es

Reminder that COVID rapid tests are only really useful for confirming an existing infection and aren’t all that helpful in preventing the spread. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/01/23/1074978193/rapid-covid-tests-omicron

It’s good to have the tests, but don’t use a negative test as an indicator that you’re safe to run around with no other protections (especially after an exposure). Be mindful of others, especially in high-risk categories like asthma and other chronic illnesses.

Somehow I always imagine a scene where, faced with centuries of wisdom about writing/creativity being about the process, the journey not the destination, etc. etc., the techbro half-listening in the back throws up his hands and says 'but what if we could just automate that part out?' This from @dgolumbia gets at it: https://davidgolumbia.medium.com/chatgpt-should-not-exist-aab0867abace

Finally, some of my own thoughts. I firmly believe that the value that #chatGPT and similar models deliver to society is negative. Being able to generate at the press of a button plausibly and smart sounding content that might be wildly but subtly incorrect, with no citations, no sources, no indication of providence, is a recipe for poisining the information environment.

I see programmer types concluding that this will "replace programming" and "make us obsolete". I find it shocking that folks have such a low view of their own profession. The worst, most dangerous code isn't code full of bugs. It's code that "works", but that is incorrect in ways that are pernicious but not obvious.

The job of a programmer also isn't to reproduce some algorithm, it's to understand and model the world, to understand and anticipate user needs, it's to collaborate and shepherd a code base over a prolonged period of time. No language model will do these things.

To quote someone who's very dear to me: "PEOPLE AREN'T USING THEIR BRAINS". Please, use your brains, and be grateful for all the things it can do that a pattern matching model can't.

For no reason, here's a comic panel by Sam and Max creator Steve Purcell, of Sam and Max bulldozing nazis into volcanoes. Follow THAT white rabbit, fuckers!

the 3ds's streetpass was an amazing gimmick and I'm sad nobody did anything like it again

i'm a robot and i'm not particularly excited about machine learning based generators especially when those are used for bad purposes like SEO-fuzzing shit fake websites or free art being used commercially which could've employed an actual artist instead and i hate that it's called "AI" when it's anything but

*in the olden days*

computer: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Me, thoughtfully: hmm... I see. What does this mean? How do I fix this? 🤔

*in 2022*

Computer: oopsie-doodle! Something is not quite right! But don't worry, we'll be right back to being awesome in a jiffy! 😃

Me, indignant: fuck.. you..

anyway remember that time i couldn't sleep and did a tribute to tecmo world cup 98 menus