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 Discussion on answer by Jo Wehler: Ho…

Imported from a comment discussion on philosophy.stackexchange...
barbecue
Jan 27 12:47
@Hrach If you want to think in terms of a "purpose" for evolution, it would have to go beyond merely the reproduction of some sort of genetic material. The purpose of continuous reproduction could easily have been fulfilled by bacteria for billions of years. Instead we have all these wonky trees and whales and tarsiers and mushrooms. If you try to assign a purpose to evolution it has to include diversity, not just successful reproduction.
barbecue
Jan 27 12:47
@hrach Evolution doesn't have a purpose, but there are many obvious advantages to the survival of a population to be derived from group cohesion, from flocking and schooling to avoiding in-breeding. The survival of an individual is meaningless if there are no suitable mates available.
 

 Discussion on answer by Jo Wehler: Ho…

Imported from a comment discussion on philosophy.stackexchange...
barbecue
Jan 24 18:32
@hrach Evolution doesn't have a purpose, but there are many obvious advantages to the survival of a population to be derived from group cohesion, from flocking and schooling to avoiding in-breeding. The survival of an individual is meaningless if there are no suitable mates available.
 

 Discussion on answer by Avery: Did Wi…

Imported from a comment discussion on skeptics.stackexchange.c...
barbecue
Jan 17 11:28
@Shadur-don't-feed-the-AI Let me state it more clearly. If the goal of INCREASING UNPOPULAR ARTICLES is to increase donations, that is not going to be successful. I did not at any time say they have NO goal of increasing donations. I only said that that goal is not relevant to a push to improve participation in less popular topics which do not already have a lot of support from contributors. That is ALL I am saying.
barbecue
Jan 17 11:28
@Shadur-don't-feed-the-AI I have no problem with the importance of the info. My point was simply that how important the info is is unrelated to how popular it is, and if the goal is to increase donations, more emphasis on obscure and niche subjects is the worst possible approach.
barbecue
Jan 17 11:28
@Tim Maybe not directly, but there's a correlation. Which is more important? Taylor Swift or Nematodes? Economically? Nematodes. In terms of scientific value? Nematodes. In terms of impact on people's daily life? Nematodes. Page views? Taylor Swift.
barbecue
Jan 17 11:28
@tim Your argument makes no sense. You're claiming that Wikipedia's attempting to increase readership donations by greatly increasing the number of unpopular articles. That's literally the exact opposite of what they would do if that were their goal.
 

 Discussion between barbecue and Thori…

Imported from a comment discussion on security.stackexchange.c...
barbecue
Dec 31, 2024 15:51
@ThoriumBR Your answer isn't being downvoted because people think you don't know what you're talking about, it's because they think OTHERS won't know what you're talking about. You could reword your answer to make it clear that you are not encouraging people to share passwords with random strangers.
barbecue
Dec 31, 2024 15:27
@security_paranoid When you said "once I understood what you were saying I thought it was a good answer, but I had to read it a few times to understand" that's why the answer needs to be improved. An answer that must be read several times to understand is not a great answer, and needs to be improved. The goal for answers here is that they should be helpful to many other people of different levels of experience.
barbecue
Dec 30, 2024 20:14
@ThoriumBR I didn't downvote your answer, but I think the reason others did is because many people won't read the whole thing carefully. It's not that your answer is technically incorrect, it's that it doesn't encourage casual users to be wary, which is something they should be doing. That's probably why you have gotten downvotes.
barbecue
Dec 30, 2024 20:11
@thoriumbr I agree that this is not the biggest risk one should be worried about. But it's trivially simple not to take this risk, and more importantly, it represents a good habit. If your instinctive reaction to being prompted to upload password data to a web page is "It's ok, what are the odds?" then you're probably going to be careless more often. If you just make it a rule to never do that under any circumstances, you have one less possible problem to think about.
barbecue
Dec 30, 2024 20:11
@ThoriumBR You keep saying the attacker cannot possibly know exactly what platform is involved. But they don't have to know. They just have to be able to make educated guesses, and with automated tools, they can make lots of educated guesses very quickly. And they don't need to attack YOUR raspberry pi in the basement. They just need to get access to SOME machine and they have succeeded.
barbecue
Dec 30, 2024 20:11
" You pass the username and password, and it will give back a file with the password hash. That's all the attacker have. " This is not really true. In addition to the username and password, the host can collect the date and time of the request, the IP address of the requester, and whatever information is provided by the browser's user agent string, which often includes platform/OS and client type and version. There are also other risks such as misuse of tracking cookies, etc.
 

 Discussion on answer by Kate Gregory:…

Imported from a comment discussion on cooking.stackexchange.co...
barbecue
Dec 31, 2024 00:43
Whether salted or unsalted is the "default" is a different question from which one is "normal." Both are normal. I've never been in a grocery store that didn't provide both side by side. Some brands even use color coding to distinguish them, such as using yellow packaging for salted, and blue packaging for unsalted. The "default" in the US is salted, simply because it's the most commonly purchased. It's the type that is more likely to be found in someone's home at any given time.
 

 Discussion on answer by DjinTonic: Is…

Imported from a comment discussion on english.stackexchange.co...
barbecue
Dec 27, 2024 17:33
@tchrist Regardless, the question includes a direct quote from a third party, and this isn't ELL.
barbecue
Dec 27, 2024 17:33
@tchrist it was already addressed by DjinTonic in a comment on the question.
barbecue
Dec 27, 2024 17:33
@DjinTonic If I was writing a formal letter inviting someone to visit location, where I followed the normal conventions of formal English (avoiding contractions, minimal pronouns, etc) I would not say "drop by." I would use "visit" or maybe "arrive." If I was trying for a more casual, informal style, I would use "drop by" instead.
barbecue
Dec 27, 2024 17:33
Comparing "drop by" to "kumquat" or "lingerie" is a poor analogy. The others are better, but still not really comparable.
 

 Discussion on answer by littleadv: Wh…

Imported from a comment discussion on law.stackexchange.com/qu...
barbecue
Dec 19, 2024 00:35
@littleadv Your "literal definition" is not THE definition, it's only ONE definition, and a terrible one. It's way too broad, making it trivial to apply to any situation where any human feels frightened. "Have to prove intent in court" you say? Who cares? Once you slap the terrorism sticker on the file, you don't need to prove anything in court, because you've enabled the Bill of Rights cheat code for indefinite detention, "enhanced interrogation" and much more fun stuff. Even the extreme right-wing Cato institute warns against labeling ordinary crimes as terrorism.
barbecue
Dec 19, 2024 00:35
@jbentley Sorry, but that's unacceptable. By your definition, any act which instills fear and intimidation in any person is terrorism. Teacher makes you stand up and give a book report in front of the class? Terrorism. Squirrel drops an acorn on a police car? Terrorism. Nonsense.
barbecue
Dec 19, 2024 00:35
It's important to have a clearly defined definition of what terrorism is in order to have any chance of a reasonable discussion. Personally, I don't think the targeted killing of a specific single adult is exactly the same thing as blowing up a day care center full of children, but apparently others disagree.
barbecue
Dec 19, 2024 00:35
Using this logic, every racially motivated crime could be considered terrorism. Not saying that's a bad thing, but it's certainly not how they've been treated in the past.
 

 Discussion between Relaxed and barbecue

Imported from a comment discussion on law.stackexchange.com/qu...
barbecue
Dec 17, 2024 14:54
When someone interviews for a job there's at least some expectation that the interview will not be publicized to the world. Adding "AI" to the process 1) increases the risk of erroneous information being stored in a place the interviewee has no way to correct and 2) creates the possibility that the OP's information may be shared with others via the AI service.
barbecue
Dec 17, 2024 14:52
@Relaxed "AI" is just a marketing buzzword, we all know that this is just LLMs being used to create content or modify content created by humans. These things are useful, but also create new opportunities for problems which didn't exist before.
barbecue
Dec 16, 2024 20:21
I don't think " this is not a legal grey area" can really be applied to any third-party AI-powered service.
barbecue
Dec 16, 2024 20:21
@Relaxed That's why I specifically said "not just about." OP's concern is clearly not that someone recorded the interview, or that a transcript of what was said might be kept. Clearly the OP's concerns are with the requirement to consent to allowing a third party service to access his calendar, the creation of a permanent AI-generated record, and the fact that that record is factually incorrect with no easy way to correct it.
barbecue
Dec 16, 2024 20:21
This doesn't really address the concerns raised in the original question, which are not just about the recording but the automation, the errors, and the retention of those errors.
 

 Discussion on answer by tchrist: Why …

Imported from a comment discussion on english.stackexchange.co...
barbecue
Nov 25, 2024 14:18
As a person who was actually alive at the time, I can confirm that such lowercase typing was commonplace back in the 70s and 80s among early computer users.
 

 Discussion on answer by pinegulf: Did…

Imported from a comment discussion on skeptics.stackexchange.c...
barbecue
Oct 22, 2024 08:02
Why would anyone think that there's anything remotely unusual about conducting environmental impact studies when launching tons of explosive hazardous materials through the air?
3
 

 Discussion on question by Colin Tan: …

Imported from a comment discussion on skeptics.stackexchange.c...
barbecue
Oct 14, 2024 14:07
@RobbieGoodwin I'm utterly baffled by your confusing claims about what you seem to think I said, and what you seem to think I believe. I am at a total loss as to how you can think I accept or do not accept some people of some type or whatever it is you're trying to claim. Honestly, I find your comments incoherent and irrelevant.
barbecue
Oct 14, 2024 14:07
@RobbieGoodwin Finally, asking people to clearly define their terms and eliminate ambiguity is not "playing word games." Its an essential part of a rational debate, and anyone who dismisses such things has no interest in rational debate.
barbecue
Oct 14, 2024 14:07
@RobbieGoodwin This is my first comment which contains the word "episode" and I'm struggling to understand how you could possibly have interpreted anything I've said as meaning I think a single episode should result in a diagnosis, since I absolutely did not say anything like that. In fact, I very clearly stated that diagnosis of a chronic disease requires ONGOING symptoms. If you think that means a single episode, that's your misunderstanding.
barbecue
Oct 14, 2024 14:07
@RobbieGoodwin I did not miss either the question or the comment. I read them both carefully. Your comment was this: "Don't you think bi-polar disorder describes a personality type, not a disease?" And it was addressed to me. As a native English speaker, I assumed your words meant what they would usually mean, that you were asking me to consider if bi-polar disorder is really just a personality type rather than a disease. Is that what you meant?
barbecue
Oct 14, 2024 14:07
@RobbieGoodwin Whether a particular personality type rises to the level of a disease is a matter for doctors and patients to evaluate and diagnose, but simply dismissing bipolar disorder as just a personality type is a disservice to those who suffer from it, and more, to the friends and families of those who must deal with the often painful consequences.
barbecue
Oct 14, 2024 14:07
@ColinTan The title of this question asks one question, but in the body a couple of different questions are asked. You may want to adjust the wording of the title and/or the question body to better match.
barbecue
Oct 14, 2024 14:07
There are several definitions of chronic disease, but they generally have in common that the disease lasts for a long time, either continually or with repeated recurrences, and requires ongoing or repeated treatment of symptoms. Often chronic conditions cannot completely cured by medication, and even if all symptoms disappear, recurrence is likely. If a person has a condition which differs significantly from the definition, then it's likely a different condition.
 

 Discussion on question by Ronald Jane…

Imported from a comment discussion on diy.stackexchange.com/qu...
barbecue
Sep 25, 2024 03:56
This is an example of an XY Problem
 

 Discussion on question by Mari-Lou A:…

Imported from a comment discussion on english.stackexchange.co...
barbecue
Aug 25, 2024 12:58
These are fuzzy definitions. There can be more than one correct understanding of the same statement. Whether or not this particular statement is intended to be metonymy depends entirely on the original author, but claiming that such a phrase cannot possibly be metonymy is ludicrous.
 

 Discussion on question by CfourPiO: H…

Imported from a comment discussion on academia.stackexchange.c...
barbecue
Apr 15, 2024 12:30
The self-absorbed lack of empathy in these comments is disturbing. Falling asleep in the middle of the day is a common indication of not getting sufficient sleep, low blood oxygen levels, and is more common in older people. It's also a warning sign for apnea and a predictor for strokes, heart attacks, and other life threatening conditions. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2542950 But no, it can't be anything but a personal slight against you.
barbecue
Apr 15, 2024 12:30
@Tom, no it's not even remotely similar, what a ridiculous take. I can't even fathom thinking that someone falling asleep is a deliberate action. How absurd.
barbecue
Apr 15, 2024 12:30
@CfourPiO you make no mention of the supervisor's age or health. It's possible he's got an underlying health problem which is making it difficult for him to focus during your presentations. Instead of assuming this is some sort of insult or snub against you, consider the possibility that he may be suffering from a condition like sleep apnea or some other condition which makes getting a good night's sleep difficult.
barbecue
Apr 15, 2024 12:30
It is most definitely NOT rude to actually fall asleep during a presentation, any more than it would be rude to suddenly have a nosebleed during a presentation. It's a physiological response to conditions, not a deliberate snub. There's likely an underlying sleep problem or even a medical condition. Calling that rude is arrogant.
 

 Discussion on question by It'sMe: How…

Imported from a comment discussion on academia.stackexchange.c...
barbecue
Apr 5, 2024 21:21
When someone says this they're really defining usefulness as meaning having direct applications, and they're defining pure as not having direct applications. So when someone says "Pure math is useless because it has no applications" all they're realy saying is "Pure math is pure math because it's pure math." A 100% true statement that's also 100% useless and pointless. Ignore such nonsense.
 

 Discussion on answer by Edwin Ashwort…

Imported from a comment discussion on english.stackexchange.co...
barbecue
Mar 14, 2024 20:21
@Billj Why? I have no idea, it's the OP's opinion.
barbecue
Mar 14, 2024 20:21
@BillJ OP says '...but the colon is "more" than a comma and should ideally be "less".' which I interpret to mean they think the colon is too strong of a pause.
 

 Discussion on answer by JMS: Why isn'…

Imported from a comment discussion on politics.stackexchange.c...
barbecue
Mar 14, 2024 10:19
@JonathanReez No, I don't have to accept your bogus false dichotomy, sorry. It's perfectly OK to have different rules for humans than for algorithms.
barbecue
Mar 14, 2024 10:19
@JonathanReez OK, i'll play your stupid game. You might in fact have spotted a terrorist. But you might also just be a real asshole who is trying to stir up shit for some woman who turned you down for a date. So cops might ask you if you had previous interactions with her, when you first saw her, whether she was there on a certain date, why you waited so long to report her, etc. As a human being, you have a certain degree of credibility which can be evaluated based on various factors. You already know all of this, however, and are just posturing.
barbecue
Mar 14, 2024 10:19
@JonathanReez Your logic is impaired. Accepting tips from the public is not done casually, because it's well-known that the majority of tips will be worthless, and a lot of time will need to be spent vetting and verifying those claims. The fact that they come from humans, who can be interviewed and evaluated for their reliability is also a factor. Nobody can interview a facial recognition algorithm to determine how likely it is to be biased. Algorithms are trusted by dumb people because they are seen as magic. Smart people who understand how they really work don't place blind trust in them.
barbecue
Mar 14, 2024 10:19
@Obie2.0 clearly looking up ten random pictures and finding no false positives is rock-solid proof that racial bias doesn't exist at all in facial recognition. What more could you possibly ask for? This is THE SMOKING GUN that puts to rest once and for all the evil conspiracy that facial recognition is anything other than objective, accurate, and fair.
 

 Discussion on answer by NotThatGuy: A…

Imported from a comment discussion on philosophy.stackexchange...
barbecue
Mar 6, 2024 20:04
Let us continue this discussion in chat.