[–] 7 points 2 weeks ago

The problem with GenAI is that the inference cost grows linearly with usage, and the constant creation of new models means the training costs are also not recouped.

probably even slightly more than linear at this point as they use up so much electricity and other resources that it becomes more and more expensive to serve more users. User 1 is easy, that's just the existing data center. User 1 million, well, you need a new datacenter and drive up hardware prices, but it's fine. User 10 million, you need to build/rent gas power plants, figure out where to get water from, RAM and everything costs 5 times as much as it used to, bribe local politicians to build despite backlash etc.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 weeks ago

    Wealth inequality > income inequality.

    Most CEOs are closer to you and me than to the billionaire class in terms of wealth/wealth growth. And a lot of CEOs are just overpaid MBAs making sure there's a steady stream of money to the owner class, not owners of companies.
    Conversely, all billionaires could get 0 salary and would still make more in a minute than you do in a lifetime, purely by appreciation of their assets/stock. Not that we shouldn't do it through progressive taxes, but nothing will change for the better if all you do is limit CEO pay, in terms of equality.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

    Yes. Just to be clear, I do think he overall has a pretty good track record, from what I know. I certainly don't follow him religiously and especially since Trumps second term I have very little interest in US late night TV, too much US on the news anyway. That was just the one instance that comes to mind. Also the one instance when I was worried that he might start to boomer, though luckily it seems that was not the case.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

    The one thing I remember is when he had a guest appearance on TDS and pushed the Covid lab leak theory. Which afaik is pretty debunked scientifically now and already was shaky back then (the honest take would have been "we don't know"). I remember most virologists back then already said that there's no evidence for it. And TDS has a pretty big audience, that does repeat its talking point regularily, so sure, you can say it's just comedy, but people do listen to these things, it does influence public discourse and I did find it a bit irresponsible at the time. Especially since a lot of the show is about commenting on actual news.

    Does this make him the devil incarnate? no. And some of the backlash for that one thing was way overblown. But then his reaction was mostly just saying how the backlash was stupid, and I would have liked a more nuanced/reflective response. If you have such a big platform, comedy or not, you should consider the effect of your words more carefully imo.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 weeks ago

    Oh I did not know that.

    Though I have no doubt an optional referendum would happen (it just needs 50k signatures). Plus the SVP, while the biggest party, is only like 30% of government, so it's doubtful they could push this through by themselves.

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  • [–] 7 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

    Switzerland is a Schengen country, so a ban of Schengen tourist visas for Russians would mean they also can't apply for swiss tourist visas, as swiss visas are Schengen visas, i.e. the same rules apply. So unless switzerland exits Schengen, which would require a popular vote, it shouldn't matter.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 weeks ago

    "western food" is something that only exists in foreign countries anyways, like "asian food". If it is something that is available, it's not really what I'm used to from home, but some weird mish-mash of what someone thinks the typical american/british/german/other (in that order) eats. And on top of that, it's usually terrible quality, not due to a lack of skill, just well, not having the right ingredients, not knowing the nuances of the food or what it's supposed to taste like. So between a postmodernist interpretation of what someone thinks I eat, or proper local food, I really don't understand why you'd ever not eat the local food.

    But it's not only western people. Japanese/Taiwanese/Chinese traveling in Switzerland do like to buy/bring instant noodles and cook them at the hotel instead of eating local food (not that there really is local swiss food, there's like 3 dishes and then it's mostly an amalgam of italian, french and german cuisine). Part of that is the high price, but not only. And from the few times I traveled in other european contries with friends from those asian countries, it seems common enough that they prefer to eat at asian restaurants. Except for italy, where everyone loves the local food.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 weeks ago

    From what I remember last time I read up on this, in conjunction with global warming, there is roughly a line from Paris to Frankfurt where more north than that, temperatures cool down because of AMOC collapse, and south of that temperatures are higher than pre-industrial because global warming outweighs AMOC collapse cooling.

    But of course those are just relatively rough projections, and it's average temperature, the extremes will still be way worse. So it's not like Frankfurt will have peachy weather while the rest of the world goes to shit.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago

    funny, I like it for the opposite reason. If I am buying a lot of groceries and want to pack them into my shopping trolley nicely, but there's a line of 10 people behind me at the cash register. So I need to rush to put everything in as the cashier will just put more and more stuff on the conveyor to the point where other peoples groceries end up mixed with my stuff, because there's only two lanes and the person right behind me only had 5 things, so the cashier is already handling customer 3 while I'm still packing.

    With self checkout, I can decide the speed I want to pack at, make sure I don't put fragile stuff at the bottom, can take it nice and relaxed. there's 6 other terminals, so it doesn't feel like I'm the one blocking the line. Just an overall less stressful experience.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    I wouldn't say the last ones, though close. E.g. the number of economists saying that income inequality and not paying fair wages is bad (for the economy, mind you, not out of concern for people) far outnumber politicians saying the same, in my experience. Though neither group is very large, unfortunately…

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    Left is the picture from the posting, right is google street view.

    This shit really ruins everything, luckily it's bad enough in this case to easily spot. AI gibberish on the sign, no small balcony in front, rock wall next to the street missing, pretty mountain in the background that doesn't exist, weird blue pole.

    I hate how this turns the whole internet adversarial, even more so than it already was. You really need to double- and triple-check everything and trust nothing, unless you want to turn up some place and get let down. I really don't understand what drives people to do something like this. And I don't know how this can go any other way than the internet just becoming completely useless.

    Bonus pics from inside:

    Note how the lamp seems to have grown more leaves in between shots, and how the fireplace door wraps around the corner in one picture, but not in the other, as well as lacking any handle to open it.

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