5 ms·
This kind of filler-laden writing will be quickly eradicated, like the cockroach, but by AI. I had bing or copilot, whatever microsoft is calling it in the edge
by kleton 3y ago
This kind of filler-laden writing will be quickly eradicated, like the cockroach, but by AI. I had bing or copilot, whatever microsoft is calling it in the edge sidebar answer the question I clicked the bait for.
> According to the article, they solved the cockroach infestation by using a new product called Combat, which was a bait that contained a slow-acting poison that could kill roaches through various mechanisms of transfer, such as feces, vomit, cannibalism, and necrophagy. The bait was attractive to roaches and could wipe out entire colonies, even if only a fraction of them ate it. The product was developed by American Cyanamid, a chemical company, and tested by Austin Frishman, a cockroach expert. The product was launched in 1985 and became a huge success, reducing cockroach complaints and populations across the country. The article claims that this was a forgotten achievement in the history of pest control, and that the roaches are slowly coming back due to behavioral resistance to the bait.
Source: Conversation with Bing, 12/27/2023
(1) The Cockroach Cure - The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2023/11/cockroach-bait-invention-combat/676167/ https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2023/11/cockroa....
(2) Cockroach Infestation - Signs, Prevention, and Control of Roaches. https://www.familyhandyman.com/article/cockroach-infestations/ https://www.familyhandyman.com/article/cockroach-infestation....
(3) How To Get Rid Of Roaches - This Old House. https://www.thisoldhouse.com/pest-control/reviews/how-to-get-rid-of-roaches https://www.thisoldhouse.com/pest-control/reviews/how-to-get....
(4) How To Get Rid Of Roaches – Forbes Home. https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/pest-control/how-to-get-rid-of-cockroaches/ https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/pest-control/how-to-....
- makeworld 3y agoIt was entertaining to read.
- oconnor663 3y agoI think it's a transcript of a podcast, to be fair. But yeah I had the same reaction.
- CommieBobDole 3y ago>This kind of filler-laden writing will be quickly eradicated It's a transcript of a podcast. I agree it was annoying to read, but the purpose of a podcast is not maximum-efficiency transmission of information.
- throwawaysugar 3y ago[flagged]
- striking 3y agoIs it such a travesty that someone decided to include a personal anecdote as a throughline? Does every article published need to be hard-hitting "journalism"? Sometimes it's nice to listen to something with some personality, something that isn't so plain. I'm not in a rush today.
- throwawaysugar 3y ago[flagged]
- Hovertruck 3y ago>> It's a transcript of a podcast. > That's almost the perfect definition of "lazy journalism". They produced, edited, interviewed multiple people including one of the people who worked directly on the project in question, and then provided a transcript of their conversation to make it accessible to a wider audience and that's lazy journalism?
- moogleii 3y agoAgree there was a lot of filler, but to be fair, your odd out-of-place zinger is just as annoying as the podcast. Fairly unattractive. And the cycle continues.
- throwawaysugar 3y agoExcept this is a comment section for discussion, so it's appropriate to discuss and point out this issue which IMHO contaminates nearly all forms of media today.
- webdoodle 3y agoAll good conversations ebb and flow, and the interview process is just trying to distill the conversation to some entertaining or useful end. Some would use A.I. in an attempt to distill it more, and may find some gem or morsel worth consuming, but miss the depth and value of the conversation itself. It may be time saving for information transfer, but at the expense of the connection that a conversation grants the participants (and to a slightly lesser degree listeners). Remember that this technology was developed for the NSA because of the data deluge it's surveillance systems created. Who had time to listen to hours of recorded phone calls looking for potential dangerous activity? Speech to text helped alleviate the problem for a short while, but when the internet took away the monopoly the phone companies had on long-distance calls, the volume of international calls went ballistic, and the NSA needed a way of filtering the data to something more useful. In comes A.I. to the rescue!
- datameta 3y agoWhile I will certainly find AI summarization useful I think in this case the summary misses the human experiential component that we get from the recollections of the host and guest.
- throwawaysugar 3y ago[flagged]
- jurassic 3y agoIf your time is so valuable, why are you spending it creating throwaway accounts just to hate on somebody else's content? If you don't like it, just move on. You're not adding anything to the conversation here.
- kibwen 3y agoThere's an incredible recurring phenomenon of people registering throwaway accounts on HN to talk shit while also claiming that they "don't care" about the topic. The irony is stupefying.
- datameta 3y agoIn my case the turning point of roach infestation in the late 80s was not something I have memories of so I was curious what it was like to live through. They touched on an important point, I think, where the widespread nuclear anxiety from the cold war and national pervasive roach anxiety began to dissipate at about exactly the same time.
- ninkendo 3y agoPrecisely what I don’t care to read. Especially when they start the article giving background, tease that there’s an important thing coming, and then instead of getting to the point, it starts an interview which resets the conversation back to talking about the background again. I absolutely hated everything about the way this article was written.
- J_Shelby_J 3y agoI understand what you mean, but if you subscribe to the Atlantic it’s because you actually want long form writing from some of the best essayists of our time. It’s not for everyone. Especially when our attention spans are shorter than ever.
- wolverine876 3y agoI agree about the writing, and I gave up on the article. How do you know it's accurate? How do you know which details are accurate? For example, was it called Combat, or was that another product in the article (maybe a failed one)? What important information was omitted? Issues like that make the summary useless, IMHO. (Not a criticism, but a point about the value of information with unknown accuracy.)
- graphe 3y agoAI summaries have been common on Reddit for almost a decade now. Where does the problem of "accuracy" come in? They weren't even using LLMs
- wolverine876 3y agoHow does that address the issue? Being common on Reddit (or any social media) isn't evidence of a good idea. It could be just as accurate or inaccurate on Reddit, for years. > "accuracy" How could there be scare quotes around accuracy? You question its reality or importance?
- graphe 3y agoWhere is there ANY evidence that these summaries aren't accurate? Until you produce it, it's as substantial as ghosts and evil spirits.
- wolverine876 3y agoThe burden of proof is the reverse, in any field of knowledge it's on the person making the claim. I could make up anything in the world (and many people do); it's the requirement for support that separates truth from fiction, science from fraud, fact from misinformation. You can't publish a scientific paper without evidence, and say 'it's true until someone proves otherwise'; it's false until you prove it. Same in a courtroom or anywhere else. Until there is sufficient evidence that the summary is accurate, there's no reason to believe that it is. fwiw, all caps is against HN guidelines. I'm mentioning it because there seems to be a rash of it this week.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]