In a completely unsurprising turn of events, Nate Silver continues to suck https://www.garbageday.email/p/nate-silver-s-big-list-of-grievances

@thomasfuchs basically it is a research assistant who is enthusiastic and never gets tired, but is not completely reliable.

@thomasfuchs that's the thing to warn people about. Sourcing (label the ingredients) and warning that you need to double-check and build upon this starting point YOURSELF, not use it as a magical "do my work" button.

@thomasfuchs I am just one data point, but I look VERY CLOSELY at these outputs, and it's rare for the LLM to screw up a summary of a scientific study in my experience over a few hundred data points.

@thomasfuchs right, it always requires centaur -- human review. But I ardently stand by the words "using only well regarded scientific studies from reputable sources in the last 10 years"

@thomasfuchs the Internet Explorer releases (or non-releases) did FAR more damage to the web

@thomasfuchs don't piss off my mom

@thomasfuchs well, if many people willingly use it, it is doing SOMETHING they need, yes? Whether that "something" is good and useful is a different discussion.

@nuintari @thomasfuchs "everything is broken"? How are we getting anything done, then?

@thomasfuchs who the fuck needed all this infinite content is the better question to ask

@thomasfuchs not quite. I've found using language like "using only well regarded scientific studies from reputable sources in the last 10 years" can be pretty magical. Basically, can you summarize and aggregate scientific study results properly? This is one of LLM strengths. Slightly lossy compression for words, just adjust the quality slider up to around 97%.

@thomasfuchs I brag about how many Substack newsletters I have unsubscribed from permanently until they switch to Behiiv or some other sane alternative. Substack company leadership is broken beyond any chance of possible repair.

@stroughtonsmith build webapps instead, my friend. Much better ROI.

@grishka "no plan survives contact with users"

@chris_e_simpson @sjvn you don't say?! https://infosec.exchange/@codinghorror/115153916316130150

@sjvn for example..

@sjvn if only everything ever published on the web was Creative Commons!

Atwood's Third Law: Content licensing is now the hardest problem in computer science.

I have very much soured on the usefulness of mouse-hover type user interface behaviors. For one thing, useless in an era of dominant touch displays (how does one "hover" a finger), and second, I keep getting hovers I don't want obscuring work I am trying to do..

Apple could make so much money just using their off-the-charts SOC design skills to compete with nvidia on GPUs. Even after all these years -- the incredible increase in trajectory started around 2014-2015 -- their in-house SOCs are VASTLY more efficient and powerful than literally everyone else in the industry. It isn't even close.

I regret to inform everyone that cat has happened again