

whaaaat surely BYU, the school that claimed to have done cold fusion, is an upstanding pillar of academic research


whaaaat surely BYU, the school that claimed to have done cold fusion, is an upstanding pillar of academic research
Yeah, I’m somewhat paralyzed by it myself. It feels mean to spell it out like this, but fuck… I just cannot just let this rattle around in my head for any longer.
There is some cold comfort to know others see this too, that I’m not just driving myself crazy.
I’ve heard a lot of definitions of fascism, but the one that makes the most sense, that explains the most is this:
Fascism is what they call it when an empire takes the murderous and dehumanizing policies it uses on it’s periphery - it colonies invasions territories “frontiers” - and begins using them on the citizens of the “homeland” or imperial core.
Germany had concentration camps in its African colonies well before they started ghettoizing Jewish people. The United States has had “fascist” policies all my life and all your life. Those dehumanizing and murderous actions have just been turned outward. But your means always become your ends.
If you want to know the future of this country, look at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Look at the black-sites and the special rendition treaties. The water tables poisoned by depleted uranium ammunition. The families lost to drone strikes as so-called “collateral”. We have always been fascist. Those of us who just happen to live here, no different from the German citizens who simply didn’t know and did not ask too many questions.


I completely agree
The DNC isn’t stupid, it’s evil.
except for this. Two things can be true at once.


American elections are a popularity contest, we (the American populace) don’t take them seriously
That rather conveniently runs cover for the organization that does the most to decide what kind of campaign is run.
Like, oooh millions of people are disorganized and stupid. Shocker, Mr. Sherlock. But the small, powerful node of party leadership is also stupid and disorganized. That’s actually much more of pressing concern than, lol americans dumb


Well that’s funny, since you’re not actually prioritizing well. Talking about 3rd-party/abstaining voters is a wasted effort. You reach those people with broad, national messaging. The kind you and I, on a dinky little not-reddit, don’t have access to.
You really gonna stop and have this conversation with each and every individual you assume didn’t vote Harris? You think that’s gonna move the needle? In an electoral environment measured in the hundred millions? That’s not a very effective use of your limited rhetorical time.
Why not prioritize getting the Democrats to actually take this seriously, to run a campaign that activates non-voters?


Does this seem like the actions of a party that genuinely considers Trump an existential threat?
Does it matter?
OK, so we’re gonna quibble over 3rd party voters again, and just dismiss the fact that DNC leadership doesn’t take this seriously. Great.


I have pointed to the history, and your response is to say “nuh huh read more”


“There’s always never-ending conflict in the middle east” is a rather convenient position to take for the globe-spanning military super-power that’s been meddling in the region for more than half a century.


OK, but she didn’t have time to run a better campaign because a lot of influential people (Harris included) in the Democratic party decided it was better to hide Biden’s deteriorating condition than confront it.
Does this seem like the actions of a party that genuinely considers Trump an existential threat?


algorithm that’s been modelled after the real world structure and behaviour of neurons and how they process signals
Except the Neural Net model doesn’t actually reproduce everything real, living neurons do. A mathematician in the 70s said, “hey what if this is how brains work?” He didn’t actually study brains, he just put forward a model. It’s a useful model. But it’s also an extreme misrepresentation to say it approximates actual neurons.


The term AGI had to be coined because the things they called AI weren’t actually AI. Artificial Intelligence originates from science fiction. It has no strict definition in computer science!
Maybe you learn up a little. Go read Isaac Asimov


Literally, LLMs are extensions of the techniques developed for autocomplete in phones. There’s a direct lineage. Same fundamental mathematics under the hood, but given a humongous scope.

Damn, these look kinda fun…
The logistics of the Holocaust was enabled by IBM tabulation machines; this comparison isn’t that much of a stretch.