adamc

13 ms·

211.
by adamc 2y ago
As someone who has gone back and forth between Windows and Mac OS... if Apple would stop trying to force me to log-in to use features I don't need, they would have a more compelling case. Windows is indeed a horrific data mining operat
212.
by adamc 2y ago
Even Word Perfect was much, much better at this than a typewriter. What made it hard to use was that you had to memorize a bunch of special function keybindings, as I recall. Yes, GUI word processors were much better than this, but even Wor
213.
by adamc 2y ago
I wrote papers in graduate school using a typewriter before switching to a Mac Plus. It was a Smith-Corona and used a cartridge "ribbon" and a special "correction ribbon" that lifted off the text (instead of using white-
214.
by adamc 2y ago
Yes, but having used both in that time period... tools on the mac were graphical and easily explored (open a menu and see what was available). People made plastic keyboard templates for WordPerfect and WordStar just to remember the commands
215.
by adamc 2y ago
I was an early user of Macs; the first computer I owned was a Mac Plus. I didn't own a PC until the 1990s. Most of the intro to this is credulous hooey. Macs weren't "bicycles for the mind" in some magic way that was dif
216.
by adamc 2y ago
Reading this, all I can think is there is so much subtext. Janis Joplin was a mess. A lot of the people mentioned were a mess. Yes, Caserta did some cool things, but there was a backdrop of being excluded people, broken people, that powered
217.
by adamc 2y ago
I don't think America fails on all of those. Our universities are probably the best in the world. There is a lot of freedom. And having a strong economy is generally a good thing -- there are jobs, which matters.
218.
by adamc 2y ago
I'd be all for free movement, but I doubt the EU would be enthused.
219.
by adamc 2y ago
FWIW, as an American, I see it as a mixed bag. Our economy is stronger, but it creates a lot of wealth inequality and unhappiness.
220.
by adamc 2y ago
I think we could safely classify that as pre-historic rather than historically.
221.
by adamc 2y ago
Sure, but no need to optimize for that until it happens. It's not clear to me that they will become profitable; they might go under.
222.
by adamc 2y ago
My take is that the differences matter according to purpose. If I'm eating a Big Mac to avoid being hangry, the fact that it isn't a gourmet experience may not matter to me. If I'm putting on a movie as a distraction to have
223.
by adamc 2y ago
I've asked it for things like book recommendations and gotten: - completely made up books - real books that were only marginally related - real books with really bad reviews I'd estimate that only 30-40% of the time did
224.
by adamc 2y ago
Do the math. It's bad.
225.
by adamc 2y ago
I dislike the pattern where we have to hook into their cloud.
226.
by adamc 2y ago
Glad to know that my aging eyes are not alone in either not seeing most of the differences, or just not seeing them as significant. Some day, when it gets fractional scaling, maybe that will matter to me. But I can wait.
227.
by adamc 2y ago
Kind of horrific.
228.
by adamc 2y ago
No expertise here, but wouldn't another strategy be to attack the sensors? Ideally subtly, but. And another strategy be to overwhelm the sensors? Have a million dummy subs that give off sensor readings suggesting they are real, when in
229.
by adamc 2y ago
Yep. Evolution is really just a description of the consequences of differential reproduction. Rare behaviors (adoption) that are not optimal but which are driven by drives (better motherhood) that may have big evolutionary upsides may simpl
230.
by adamc 2y ago
I love that one of the examples is a shopping list for groceries. Given the cost of the system...
231.
by adamc 2y ago
Good analogy.
232.
by adamc 2y ago
A good lawyer might argue insanity from that. You never know what the jury will buy. Insurance companies are not loved. I agree that murder is not a solution, but the reality is that we need a real health care system.
233.
by adamc 2y ago
I've known several musicians over the years. Things are steadily getting worse.
234.
by adamc 2y ago
That it works for the top 0.1% of musicians demonstrates literally nothing about what the effects are for musicians in general. This is like saying that because Stephen King makes good money, writers are fine. It is a willful misunderstandi
235.
by adamc 2y ago
Yeah, I just question if there are enough customers to make this work.
236.
by adamc 2y ago
Yeah, maybe for some purposes. In business, people sometimes pay for stock images but often don't have the expertise or patience to really spend a lot of time coaching a video into fruition. Maybe for advertising or other contexts wher
237.
by adamc 2y ago
That limits its value for industries like Hollywood, though, doesn't it? And without that, who exactly is going to pay for this?
238.
by adamc 2y ago
I wonder whether that is a more general problem. E.g., maybe technical decision-makers tend to listen to other engineers and not give enough considerations to financials and market expectations. People tend to hug their ruts.
239.
by adamc 2y ago
More generally, the puzzle is kind of stupid -- not as a puzzle, but as a representation of life -- because speakers do not speak according to the rules of mathematical logic. That doesn't make them liars, it just means they don't
240.
by adamc 2y ago
This is even what I expected, but I majored in math, so maybe that biased my response.

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