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zev bonked 02 Jun 2023 22:54 -0700
original: dddaaannn@xoxo.zone

Putting Dumbass Computer Programs in Charge of Important Decisions Poses Existential Risk to Humanity, Experts Warn

Ability to mimic human dialog a stupid reason to assume computers are people, say people who program computers

zev honked 02 Jun 2023 20:37 -0700

Honking from Honk Fest West!

Honk Fest West sign

zev honked back 19 May 2023 14:05 -0700
in reply to: https://types.pl/users/wilbowma/statuses/110397198403088926

@wilbowma That looks weirder still to me, I'm afraid...for what I think the article is aiming to illustrate I would expect a simple strcpy(buf, "Hello world\n"), i.e. copying the string into the (undersized) allocated buffer. *buf = "Hello world\n" tries to store a pointer in a single char (the "first" one of the zero bytes allocated).

zev honked 12 May 2023 13:52 -0700

Utilization-to-merit ratios in API design: does anything else hold a candle to C++ iostreams? Will anything ever?

zev honked back 12 May 2023 00:00 -0700
in reply to: https://honk.bewilderbeest.net/u/zev/h/8T7XfKtFvTfNp71rrS

@mxshift ...after going by it on foot and stopping to watch the full display cycle I eventually realized it was the sign advertising for itself. I guess whatever shop had been using it went out of business and reverted it to its factory programming (and it's still showing the same thing nearly two years later -- I wonder how long it's been that way).

zev bonked 27 Apr 2023 13:31 -0700
original: corbet@social.kernel.org

Went for a bike ride this morning; quite windy, but nice anyway. The world is *finally* turning green.

Reflecting on the experience... on a bike, it's easy to notice (and complain about) a headwind. Tailwinds, instead, are much harder to notice. They can be a "I'm feeling good today, maybe I'm not in as bad a shape as I thought" experience, where you don't realize that you're getting help - until you turn the corner.

Life is kind of similar. It's easy to notice the headwinds (bad luck, discrimination, etc.) but just as easy to miss the tailwinds that make your experience easier and smoother than it could be. Tailwinds that others may not have.

A key to a good life (and a good bike ride) is to notice and appreciate the tailwinds.

zev honked 12 Apr 2023 04:49 -0700

Abusing the user:password@host URI format to give the appearance of a more legitimate domain is a clever technique that I don't think I can recall seeing before -- but given that, why not go straight for netflix.com? Such wasted potential!

screenshot of spam text message claiming to be netflix, with link to http://onlineupdatebilling.com:911@someothergarbagedomain

zev bonked 30 Mar 2023 23:38 -0700
original: glyph@mastodon.social

Every article about AI this week is like "Today, there's not yet a human who has eaten hot wings so hot that they spontaneously burst into flame. But, as we develop hotter and hotter sauces, we must confront the fact that one day — and that day may come very soon — one of the guests on Hot Ones will become The Inhuman Torch from Marvel Comics and annihilate the eastern seaboard in an all-consuming flame. We must prepare for that inevitable future."

zev honked back 20 Mar 2023 05:16 -0700
in reply to: https://mastodon.social/users/Ange/statuses/110054510321884936

@Ange @th

 ________________________________________________
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|]  ] ] ]   ]]]]     ] ]]                        |
|  ]     ]       ]  ] ]  ]                       |
|      ]  ]       ]       ]                      |
|]11]1111111111111111111]111111111111111111111111|
|22222]]22]2]2222222222222]2222222222222222222222|
|33]333333333]3333]333333333333333333333333333333|
|4444444]44444]4444444444444444444444444444444444|
|55555555555555]5]555]555555555555555555555555555|
|666666666666666]66666666666666666666666666666666|
|77777777]7777777777]7777]7]777777777777777777777|
|88888888]88888]8]]8888]888]888888888888888888888|
|999999999999999999999]99999999999999999999999999|
|________________________________________________|

zev bonked 09 Mar 2023 22:24 -0800
original: Obdurodon@hachyderm.io

I've heard a few people claim that GPT-style AI has helped them write more code. I'd be about a million times more impressed if it helped them write *better* code. The world really really really doesn't need even larger quantities of mediocre code.