AI - The Good The Bad The Ugly

[RustVendor]

I have not used Thunderbird for years. Back then I did not have an impression that it was better than outlook. But then again Outlook got worse IMHO so may be it is now.

Libre office is not very good. Again impression from about 10 years back. I would prefer Word.

All browsers are about same crap. I use Mozilla on my Linux boxes and my phone and I can't say it is that better than Chrome.

I am not defending MS. Please..... What they have done to products in the last few years ...
That however does not change my main point. Writing software is hard. Writing huge ecosystems is very very hard. Near impossible .

Large software projects are classic 90-90 projects. So almost all of them have a lot of problems.

I agree with you on the difficulty, my point in those other projects is just to say that if projects with a fraction of the funding and adoption can be in the same ballpark it's not unreasonable to ask more of the most widely adopted one. Like we literally have a catch phrase at my job " I blame Microsoft" because it comes up so much. My job isn't tech but it's all scientists that are good with technology and will use a lot of the deeper functions in Excel or Power BI. All programs have bugs for sure but that's why I'm saying the feature that should be chased is stability, not just even more features. I do think it would be better if there were more competition, MS gets the default because Windows is the default which means that OneDrive is the default which means that office is the default which means that SharePoint is the default. It's the definition of a monopoly because other programs will never have the same level.of integration just purely based on the fact that they don't also make the OS.

 

[miles888]

Almonds are food though.

And we literally supply 80% of the world's almonds and 100% of the US from CA farms.

Datacenters in the US don't supply 80% of the processing worldwide.

That's an apples and oranges comparison.

Water being converted to food through agriculture, and water being consumed to be coolant (primary or secondary) are two very different usages.

For example, construction uses 15%+ of ALL freshwater usage

Almonds use 15% of agricultural water in CA

But Ag water isn't ALL freshwater it's only a percentage

100% there needs to be changes in almond farming. But using that issue to dismiss concerns of freshwater usage of datacenters is just "whataboutism"

Almonds need 1.5-3.5 gallons per single nut grown.

That’s many gallons of water for 7 calories of food.

I don’t think freshwater usage is a problem for either area I’m just saying almonds use wayyyyyy more water than data centers.

People dislike data centers because they hate Elon Musk. It’s a political virtue signal.

 

[Shellbackitup]

Almonds need 1.5-3.5 gallons per single nut grown.

That’s many gallons of water for 7 calories of food.

It’s a waste of resources

It takes an average of 1,800 to 2,000 gallons of water to produce a single pound of beef

Are you a vegetarian or vegan or otherwise abstain from beef?

Would you say raising beef is a waste of resources too?

If not, I don't think your argument holds water

But you are entitled to your almond-hating opinion! Not everyone likes the same foods!

 

[Seeed]

I'm "in the industry" and I find AI VERY useful, and absolutely deplorable for other things.

1. It helps my work
2. It will replace me
3. It is used by stupid people to portray being smart. Makes people lazy. Don't learn or retain.
4. People use it to micromanage other peoples work
5. A real threat is audio and video based AI in all facets of society. What is real? Soon we won't know. Soon is very soon and on some level already today
6. We need regulation but that can't compete globally. The "race" is on
7. AI is literally training itself. This is mind boggling incredible and will help discover and evolve technology at a ridiculous pace. That is terrifying at the same time
8. Maybe im just the old guy complaining that land line is obsolete type thing but I still use it.
9. AI slop is a thing in almost all forms of meida, music, art, video etc. etcc. Its overwhelming the amount of garbage there is. Some content is getting harder and harder to discern but the clues are still there. i won't watch or consume anything if there's a hint if AI in it.

 

[han_solo]

Just curious what you guys think? I just got downvoted into oblivion on Reddit for the AI graphic. In the past it was fine, but now it seems like there's a disdain for anything AI. I'm noticing the sentiment is changing pretty rapidly and learning that I need to temper some of my own enthusiasm for the tech.

It's really unlocked some technical capabilities I've always dreamed of, since i wasn't a great programmer but working with dev's we've always been able to build some really cool stuff. Now, it's like having a full time dev, BUT ai slop is prevalent.

Curious what you guys think.. I know there's some of you who are in it, but also interested in people who are not and what your thoughts are so I can understand different perspectives better. I recognize I'm biased and interested in peoples opinions.

You should never change what you think based on other people's ideas . Never let herd mentality take ahold of YOUR mind . What if Copernicus tempered his believe about the sun being the center of our solar system .
And in relation to ai . I'm a doomer so
I can't stand the idea of racing towards a cliffs edge at full speed . I'm curious how many gauss you think to wipe a hard drive or processor at 20 ft .. ??

 

[mblat1968]

You should never change what you think based on other people's ideas . Never let herd mentality take ahold of YOUR mind . What if Copernicus tempered his believe about the sun being the center of our solar system .
And in relation to ai . I'm a doomer so
I can't stand the idea of racing towards a cliffs edge at full speed . I'm curious how many gauss you think to wipe a hard drive or processor at 20 ft .. ??

Please do elaborate on "You should never change what you think based on other people's ideas ." What else, other that other people's ideas are out there that should be considered?

 

[Wolkenflieger]

It takes an average of 1,800 to 2,000 gallons of water to produce a single pound of beef

Are you a vegetarian or vegan or otherwise abstain from beef?

Would you say raising beef is a waste of resources too?

If not, I don't think your argument holds water

But you are entitled to your almond-hating opinion! Not everyone likes the same foods!

Ounce for ounce, beef is far more bio-valuable than almonds. No comparison.

 

[Shellbackitup]

Ounce for ounce, beef is far more bio-valuable than almonds. No comparison.

It is indeed. And cattle are worth more than just their beef content.

It was an argument in the same vein for the sake of discussion, not because I believe almond farming in the central valley to be sustainable or ideal.

I just don't think it has much to do with AI.

 

[ikeo1]

It’s still quite close. We have an even spread of people that’s actually pretty cool.

 

[RustVendor]

It’s still quite close. We have an even spread of people that’s actually pretty cool.

View attachment 271464

In a way though it's 75% against

 

[miles888]

It takes an average of 1,800 to 2,000 gallons of water to produce a single pound of beef

Are you a vegetarian or vegan or otherwise abstain from beef?

Would you say raising beef is a waste of resources too?

If not, I don't think your argument holds water

But you are entitled to your almond-hating opinion! Not everyone likes the same foods!

Beef is a lot more nutritious than almonds

 

[Wolkenflieger]

Beef is a lot more nutritious than almonds

Indeed. Full protein chains, creatine, carnatine, K2 , B12. Cost/benefit is worth it for beef over almonds.

 

[cali_jazz]

I agree with you on the difficulty, my point in those other projects is just to say that if projects with a fraction of the funding and adoption can be in the same ballpark it's not unreasonable to ask more of the most widely adopted one. Like we literally have a catch phrase at my job " I blame Microsoft" because it comes up so much. My job isn't tech but it's all scientists that are good with technology and will use a lot of the deeper functions in Excel or Power BI. All programs have bugs for sure but that's why I'm saying the feature that should be chased is stability, not just even more features. I do think it would be better if there were more competition, MS gets the default because Windows is the default which means that OneDrive is the default which means that office is the default which means that SharePoint is the default. It's the definition of a monopoly because other programs will never have the same level.of integration just purely based on the fact that they don't also make the OS.

Who at Microsoft hurt you? Sounds rather personal. I haven't heard this much Microsoft bashing since the antitrust days.

I hope we can still be friends after I disclose that I worked for Microsoft for over 20 years, retiring in 2019.

You make some valid points about stability, but there's always been a balancing act between innovation and reliability. Microsoft certainly isn't immune to criticism, but calling its products "garbage" and attributing its success largely to monopolistic practices is over the top IMHO. I get that you and your coworkers have experienced frustrations with certain products, but extrapolating those experiences into sweeping judgments about the entire company strikes me as a bit myopic. And with AI reshaping the industry, I think it's far too early to judge where Microsoft will ultimately stand.

 

[Wolkenflieger]

Who at Microsoft hurt you? Sounds rather personal. I haven't heard this much Microsoft bashing since the antitrust days.

I hope we can still be friends after I disclose that I worked for Microsoft for over 20 years, retiring in 2019.

You make some valid points about stability, but there's always been a balancing act between innovation and reliability. Microsoft certainly isn't immune to criticism, but calling its products "garbage" and attributing its success largely to monopolistic practices is over the top IMHO. I get that you and your coworkers have experienced frustrations with certain products, but extrapolating those experiences into sweeping judgments about the entire company strikes me as a bit myopic. And with AI reshaping the industry, I think it's far too early to judge where Microsoft will ultimately stand.

I built almost my whole career on Windows OS. Mac couldn't even run 3D Studio Max, which was the standard among us game-developers. Nobody used Macs unless they were writing a PC to Mac port.

 

[Gawernator]

Who at Microsoft hurt you? Sounds rather personal. I haven't heard this much Microsoft bashing since the antitrust days.

I hope we can still be friends after I disclose that I worked for Microsoft for over 20 years, retiring in 2019.

You make some valid points about stability, but there's always been a balancing act between innovation and reliability. Microsoft certainly isn't immune to criticism, but calling its products "garbage" and attributing its success largely to monopolistic practices is over the top IMHO. I get that you and your coworkers have experienced frustrations with certain products, but extrapolating those experiences into sweeping judgments about the entire company strikes me as a bit myopic. And with AI reshaping the industry, I think it's far too early to judge where Microsoft will ultimately stand.

Thank you for Windows XP

I love you

 

[Wolkenflieger]

The fact that 3D Studio Max could run on Windows 95 was a huge game-changer for us in 1995. Saved us (companies) from having to invest thousands into SGI machines along with software that ran on them, only for SGI to die later. It gave individuals access at home so we could really learn 3d Modeling too.