ContrarianTrail

joined 10 months ago
[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 1 points 7 months ago

I no longer use this account. My new one just is so fresh that I doubt you have anything on that one. I don't have you blocked on that account because I'm trying new approach to curating my feed and I'm using word filters now rather than blocking people when even they say something stupid.

Also, blocking doesn't hide my comments from you - just yours from me.

[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 0 points 7 months ago (2 children)

You got anything on me? (I had to unblock you to find this comment)

[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 1 points 7 months ago

A quick look at your comment history indicates that you're quite toxic yourself and it's no wonder you attract so much opposition. Leaving may very well be the right choice here and a service to the whole platform.

[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 0 points 7 months ago

Nah, I don't think she was serious about it. She was a frail old lady anyway.

[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

10 year old me didn't have much expectations about the future but I'd say 15 year old me would be most surprised about the fact that I have a girlfriend. If you were to then tell me that not only do I have a girlfriend but I also have a house and the truck I've always wanted it would literally blow his mind.

[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 12 points 7 months ago

Of course, it’s okay. Being able to say “I don’t know” is a sign of intelligence in itself.

A huge number of people form opinions based on very limited knowledge, but these opinions then become part of their identity, and they feel compelled to defend them tooth and nail. I think the middle ground here is the idea of “strong opinions, loosely held,” meaning you have an opinion, but you understand it’s based on the best knowledge available at the time. You leave room for new information and allow your opinion to evolve. In fact, most opinions probably should be like that. There are very few views I hold that I feel are almost guaranteed not to change.

The Dunning-Kruger effect plays a big role here. When someone gains a moderate amount of knowledge on a subject, they often feel like they have a good understanding of it. But as they keep learning, they realize just how little they actually know. Uninformed people, by contrast, don’t know what they don’t know. These are the ones who write comments on social media pretending they’ve solved complex issues with simplistic solutions like “just do X,” while completely ignoring all the nuance. When you then try to introduce that nuance, they dig their heels in, taking it as a personal attack rather than a critique of their idea. This happens because they didn’t leave room for new information - they locked in their opinion, made it part of their identity, and threw away the key.

[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 1 points 8 months ago

I have never used the app anyway. I used Flamingo and when they killed 3rd party apps I've just been using browser instead. Lets me block ads that way too.

[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 14 points 8 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (3 children)

LLMs are AI. There’s a common misconception about what ‘AI’ actually means. Many people equate AI with the advanced, human-like intelligence depicted in sci-fi - like HAL 9000, JARVIS, Ava, Mother, Samantha, Skynet, and GERTY. These systems represent a type of AI called AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), designed to perform a wide range of tasks and demonstrate a form of general intelligence similar to humans.

However, AI itself doesn't imply general intelligence. Even something as simple as a chess-playing robot qualifies as AI. Although it’s a narrow AI, excelling in just one task, it still fits within the AI category. So, AI is a very broad term that covers everything from highly specialized systems to the type of advanced, adaptable intelligence that we often imagine. Think of it like the term ‘plants,’ which includes everything from grass to towering redwoods - each different, but all fitting within the same category.

[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 2 points 8 months ago

Default lemmy feed is almost entirely left-wing content. By blocking half of these people it's still all left-wing content. As a Lemmy user I wouldn't really proud myself for having a diversified feed even if I didn't block anyone.

[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 0 points 8 months ago

I'm the same way. I don't block people I disagree with but my tolerance for assholes is quite low. I block multiple people each day and have been doing so for over a year. When I see a thread about Elon or Trump for example I just go in and find all the most toxic commentors there and block them. Again, not because I disagree but because I don't want to see incivil assholes in my feed. If I see someone write mean comments I assume that's what they do and I want nothing to do with them. Currently my blocklist is around 600 users long.

[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 3 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Tempered glass is much stronger than people imagine. It breaks easily with the proper tool but without one there's a good chance it wont no matter how hard one hits and kicks it.

[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 3 points 8 months ago

I used their free email for years with no issues

 

Every day, I see absolutely moronic comments getting upvoted while perfectly reasonable takes are downvoted. This would be a great opportunity to curate your feed by blocking these users en masse. Active curation like this is the only way to make social media even half-tolerable.

Whether you use it to filter out toxic users or to build an echo chamber, I think everyone should be free to do so. No one should be forced to share space with people they feel bring no value to the discussion - or, worse, make it more toxic.

 

This is especially true with luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Prada. People are either trying to impress others with fakes, or they’ve actually paid full price to become walking billboards.

Similar thing with iPhone cases that have a cutout for the Apple logo. That's just hilarious.

 
 

I often get the sense that I'm in the only one here doing manual labor but I'm sure there are others.

Identify yourselves.

 

For reference, the price for fixed-cost plans is around 10c/kWh.

As someone who’s been constantly running an electric heater in the garage while painting my car, I was quite lucky with the timing.

It’s not literally free, though. Transfer prices are fixed, and there are taxes and some other minor costs associated with it, so where I live, it still adds up to around 6c/kWh even when the price drops to zero. The cheap prices are due to an excess of wind power, but once the wind dies down, prices usually spike hard.

 

Because I don’t, and pretending to feels dishonest. I’ll listen if they want to talk about it, but I’m not going to act interested, and I certainly won’t ask about it on my own. What I’m trying to figure out is whether people actually care, or if they’re just playing a social game that I’m simply not interested in.

I’m probably on the autistic spectrum, which likely explains this to some extent. But that’s not an excuse - being an asshole is perfectly compatible with autism, so before dunking on me, please realise I probably agree with your criticism.

 

I read that half of Americans couldn’t cover an unexpected $1,000 expense. This sounds crazy to me. I understand that poverty exists, but the idea that an adult with a job doesn’t even have that amount saved up seems really strange.

What’s your relationship or philosophy with money? What do you credit for your financial success, or alternatively, what do you blame for your failures?

For the extra brave ones: how much savings do you have, and what are you planning to do with them?

 

Personally I'd say cave diving. I was contemplating between that and free ~~climbing~~ soloing but I honestly rather fall to my death than drown in a claustrophobic, dark, cold, silted up cave.

 

Browsing social media, it’s apparent that people are quick to point out problems in the world, but what I see less often are suggestions for how to solve them. At best, I see vague ideas that might solve one issue but introduce new ones, which are rarely addressed.

Simply stopping the bad behaviour rarely is a solution in itself. The world is not that simple. Take something like drug addiction. Telling someone to just stop taking drugs is not a solution.

 

The best conversations I still have are with real people, but those are rare. With ChatGPT, I reliably have good conversations, whereas with people, it’s hit or miss, usually miss.

What AI does better:

  • It’s willing to discuss esoteric topics. Most humans prefer to talk about people and events.
  • It’s not driven by emotions or personal bias.
  • It doesn’t make mean, snide, sarcastic, ad hominem, or strawman responses.
  • It understands and responds to my actual view, even from a vague description, whereas humans often misunderstand me and argue against views I don’t hold.
  • It tells me when I’m wrong but without being a jerk about it.

Another noteworthy point is that I’m very likely on the autistic spectrum, and my mind works differently than the average person’s, which probably explains, in part, why I struggle to maintain interest with human-to-human interactions.

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