Personal chat thread

Anything that doesn't quite fit in elsewhere...
Tadasuke
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Re: Personal chat thread

Post by Tadasuke »

Today I'm getting visited by an American who voted for Trump twice and even took part in the 2021 United States Capitol attack. That person thinks Trump was sent by God and Hillary and Biden by Satan. That person thinks that this world was created by Satan and only by good deeds you can get to heaven, which was created by God. That person also thinks the Pope is evil and works for the devil. All close family to that person died from obesity and that person is also obese. That person's children are not yet obese. That person is trying to become slim, but has failed so far. That person has not been vaccinated and has not vaccinated that person's children. Thinks Covid vaccines are bad for your health. Makes a living by selling Essential Oils and uses them everyday. Crazy if you ask me.
Global economy doubles in product every 15-20 years. Computer performance at a constant price doubles nowadays every 4 years on average. Livestock-as-food will globally stop being a thing by ~2050 (precision fermentation and more). Human stupidity, pride and depravity are the biggest problems of our world.
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wjfox
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Re: Personal chat thread

Post by wjfox »

Tadasuke wrote: Sun May 15, 2022 10:46 am Today I'm getting visited by an American who voted for Trump twice and even took part in the 2021 United States Capitol attack. That person thinks Trump was sent by God and Hillary and Biden by Satan. That person thinks that this world was created by Satan and only by good deeds you can get to heaven, which was created by God. That person also thinks the Pope is evil and works for the devil. All close family to that person died from obesity and that person is also obese. That person's children are not yet obese. That person is trying to become slim, but has failed so far. That person has not been vaccinated and has not vaccinated that person's children. Thinks Covid vaccines are bad for your health. Makes a living by selling Essential Oils and uses them everyday. Crazy if you ask me.
If that person was a relative of mine, they wouldn't be welcome to visit. Even if they were a family member.
Tadasuke
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Re: Personal chat thread

Post by Tadasuke »

wjfox wrote: Sun May 15, 2022 11:13 amIf that person was a relative of mine, they wouldn't be welcome to visit. Even if they were a family member.
They are not a family member.
Global economy doubles in product every 15-20 years. Computer performance at a constant price doubles nowadays every 4 years on average. Livestock-as-food will globally stop being a thing by ~2050 (precision fermentation and more). Human stupidity, pride and depravity are the biggest problems of our world.
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wjfox
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Re: Personal chat thread

Post by wjfox »

Tadasuke wrote: Sun May 15, 2022 2:57 pm
They are not a family member.
Well then, that's even more of a reason not to invite them. Is it really necessary for them to visit?
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Yuli Ban
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Re: Personal chat thread

Post by Yuli Ban »

My review of virtual browsing: 7/10. The Quest 2 is still a bit blurry even when properly set, and the weight of it on my face makes it a bit annoying, especially when I yawn and wind up dropping a few tears that require me rubbing my eye. These make it cumbersome. The blurriness gives me a very, very slight headache when I use it for longer than 30 minutes. Maybe not even a headache but definitely an uncomfortable upper sinus/forehead sensation that goes away as soon as I take off the headset. As I've been in this headset for 2 hours, that sensation hasn't gotten worse at all, but it's still there.

HOWEVER, it is a dream come true. I've never been lazier: just laying down, staring up at the ceiling, (almost) fully comfortable, able to set my screen wherever I want it to be— I've LITERALLY, unironically LITERALLY been waiting eagerly for this exact moment for at least 8 years. As far back as 2014, I'd fantasize of being able to write, type, and browse while laying down without the need to stare at a fixed screen somewhere in the room. Of course up until I got the Quest 2, I fully expected this to be a feature of AUGMENTED reality. I still do. When I inevitably buy a pair of Apple AR glasses (or whatever other brand sells mixed reality smartglasses or smartgoggles), I'm certainly going to use them mostly for virtual browsing.

Still, this is a very fun and dream-fulfilling way to spend my time.


On that note, I'd like to stress that I literally bought a high-end, raytracing-capable supercomputer of a PC and a fairly high-end VR headset... and 98% of what I do with it is "browsing the internet and watching YouTube." I have a bunch of games all set up and ready to go, from Steam games to emulations, and yet I don't think I've even opened Steam once in the past month. I suppose it just feels better to know I have the capability in case I ever want to play some decent games or watch VR videos.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
Tadasuke
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Re: Personal chat thread

Post by Tadasuke »

I prefer to play in 4K 60fps on normal screens, rather than VR at the moment. It looks crisp, unlike VR and doesn't cause headaches, nausea or eye strain. You can play for 2 hours more comfortably. Imo, VR is not ready yet. I'm going to try ray-traced Doom from 1993.
Global economy doubles in product every 15-20 years. Computer performance at a constant price doubles nowadays every 4 years on average. Livestock-as-food will globally stop being a thing by ~2050 (precision fermentation and more). Human stupidity, pride and depravity are the biggest problems of our world.
Tadasuke
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Re: Personal chat thread

Post by Tadasuke »

Ray-traced Doom (1993) is more fun to play than the original one, because of additional graphical effects, looks better and runs well on my 6700 XT. The old Dooms from the 90s are my favourite ones, still very playable and there are new levels being made (even by John Romero himself). However, only the first few levels have ray-tracing added (for now).

I followed an artist (anime style) for many years and now I unfollowed him, because while his old works were original, creative, with a tint of eroticism, now his works are just vulgar, obscene, derivative and unimaginative. Probably because of people from Patreon. The artist wants to earn money doing stuff like that, while in the past he was fully independent, without a Patreon account. So he could do whatever he wanted, not what the market expected. It's sad, seeing how more companies, studios and individual people fall to greed.
Global economy doubles in product every 15-20 years. Computer performance at a constant price doubles nowadays every 4 years on average. Livestock-as-food will globally stop being a thing by ~2050 (precision fermentation and more). Human stupidity, pride and depravity are the biggest problems of our world.
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wjfox
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Re: Personal chat thread

Post by wjfox »

I needed to buy some new clothes, so this afternoon I went to Westfield, the big shopping centre in Shepherd's Bush. My first trip into central/West London since March.

Very few people wearing masks now. I would say less than 5%, although numbers were perhaps a little higher on the tube. I felt quite self-conscious wearing mine. I can understand why people might think it's "over", and in some ways it is, but I'd rather stay cautious for now.

Anyway, it was great to be out and about. I got some new shirts/T-shirts, and new pillows to help me sleep better.

After this 2-month gap in my social life, I'm expecting the next few months to be a lot busier as I meet up with various people for drinks/meals, music, and walks – London is awesome in the summer. 8-)
Tadasuke
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Re: Personal chat thread

Post by Tadasuke »

I was a weird kid, because I instinctively felt that we are undergoing huge transformations in the world and that my generation's future won't be like my grandparents future. My grandparents generation was telling me how life will be, assuming that it will go like theirs. They turned out wrong. Not only I don't have a girlfriend, wife or kids, but also they did not foresee any of the changes we are seeing. They didn't even think about AI, robots or the Internet. They thought we would still watch TV instead of roaming the Worldwide Web or playing video games. My life is already very, very different from my grandparents life. They did not foresee Wi-Fi, LTE and Bluetooth. Things are so different nowadays. But you could predict some things, perhaps even nuclear diamond batteries. There were for example stylus operated palmtops in the late 90s, so it was logical that they would evolve into finger operated smartphones with many features.

My mistake was that I was too optimistic, but I was fundamentally right that everything is gonna be different. I talked about how we could upgrade our bodies, change our DNA, turn into cyborgs or upload our minds into computers when I was 9 years old. I questioned the logic that everyone is going to age and die. I didn't think that it's so simple and that nothing can be done. They told me that God is the answer, religions etc. I also did ask why we don't just grow meat, eggs or produce milk without animals, whether science can do that, because I thought that's the rational thing to do. Growing whole animals just to kill them and eat them seemed cruel and primitive.

So I am slightly proud that I thought about some things even before I started reading books about future, but I definitely was too optimistic (about everything). Probably my depression is caused by my perfectionism and by my excessive optimism. But yeah, we are slowly seeing things go forward. Life is not the same as in 2002. Now Covid accelerated some changes like remote work or remote learning, but I still hate how crappy webcams are. I first tried video calling in 2005 and it wasn't much worse than today from what I remember, except we needed separate webcam and microphone instead of it being built-in. I do video calls, but they don't feel futuristic at all, probably because of the quality, which is not native 4K HDR. Changes are becoming obvious, but there's still a lot to be desired.
Global economy doubles in product every 15-20 years. Computer performance at a constant price doubles nowadays every 4 years on average. Livestock-as-food will globally stop being a thing by ~2050 (precision fermentation and more). Human stupidity, pride and depravity are the biggest problems of our world.
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Ozzie guy
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Re: Personal chat thread

Post by Ozzie guy »

I am upgrading to a better job in a similar field.

There is about a 90% chance I will get the job they are just doing final background checks etc.

I still work for a call center but now I will only represent a single government organization through the private company I will work at instead of thousands of companies.

I will now get $28 and a bit Australian an hour which is a bit over $20 USD an hour.

After training upon permission from a supervisor I will be able to work from home.

The role is only a casual position though (this does mean I get paid extra on weekends I think 1.5X base pay on Saturday and 2X base pay on Sunday).

For this position I do have to drop one of my weekly psychiatrist appointments which I am happy to push for.



Whist I do have significant issues in my life which are impossible to fix I think I am getting into the position where I can somewhat comfortably glide through years until full AGI radically changes the world. Especially now after the Gato breakthrough and the expected date of proto AGI being before the end of 2023.

I guess in a week or so I will edit this post or make a mini reply to this post confirming if I got the new job or not.
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