I guess the competition lost lots of time in focusing on image and video generation. While they're fun gimmicks, I still really haven't seen the value in AI-generated image/video, especially when considering the greater costs involved.
Doubling down on coding was just infinitely smarter. Has there actually been a successful company which uses AI images and video effectively?
Hehe, I remember doing stuff like wearing 8 t-shirts back in the day to try and travel for £1 around Europe.
Currently feel like I'm living on the edge by 1-bagging an Osprey Farpoint 40. My heart races every time I'm at the gate, and I feel I've perfected a masterclass in illusion by angling my body, distracting the gate staff, moving my hands to draw attention, etc (note: I probably look like an idiot - but it's fun to dream).
The optimal solution is just to weigh everybody as they board the plane and bill them accordingly, lol. But I don't think that'd go down too well.
If these jackets can hold 5kg, and there's 200 passengers donning them, that's a ton of weight, which is about $100 per flight in extra fuel?
Wonder if the fairest way to charge for this is aa ringfenced externality tax on the product itself; calculating the average amount of fuel such products burn in an average lifespan. Would be preferable to airlines dictating what you can and can't wear...
Vaguely reminds me of that planet in Hitchhiker's Guide that started to lose too much mass to tourists leaving. So,
> Thus today the net balance between the amount you eat and the amount you excrete while on the planet is surgically removed from your body weight when you leave; so every time you go to the lavatory there, it is vitally important to get a receipt.
I looked up videos on YouTube about this topic, but the few that I clicked were AI slop with the prompt of something like "Generate a video from the contents of this article, use clip art videos and English male narration".
Performative nonsense. Nike's shareholders have tens of trillions of dollars of assets and some of the brightest brains at their disposal. If they wanted 'fashion waste' solved, they have the tools at their disposal.
If they truly wear a sports engineering company, and not a marketing company selling dream, they'd take pride in helping the world become a better place.
However, that'd be harmful to the ideology their wealth extraction model is based on.
Always thought a 'foreign legion' type setup would benefit here. If people are passionate about certain regions of the world, or courses, they should be able to opt into it. Would create competition across national armed forces, too.
Would be interesting to see which theatres would be most attractive to recruits, and which military operations would be off the table through nobody believing in them. Could potentially mitigate the idea of 'signing up to die for corporate interests' if you had agency in what you're potentially fighting for.
I've bounced between viewpoints so many times in life regarding legalisation of drugs. It's a fascinating argument.
Something which has always grounded my beliefs is the comparison to alcohol.
Imagine we walked into bars and were presented with unmarked bottle of clear liquid, and had to order "1 alcohol, please!", where the alcohol % and quality of the drink was totally random. It'd be fucking chaos.
I think I've settled on the "drugs should be legal" but heeavvviillyyy regulated and marked. I wouldn't mind going to a bar and ordering a very weak MDMA drink, or going to a shisha cafe with weakened opium, weed, crack, etc.
Also, it seems the way drugs are punished criminally is totally wrong. Why not lock people up for false advertising rather than 'strength'? I.e if you're heavily cutting drugs, you should be strung up for manslaughter. It would put pressure on the manufacturers to label and regulate themselves.
I believe harm reduction is the answer. There are people who will be curious to try substances no matter what you do -- and no matter for what reason.
Here is some of what the US has been doing ever since the "war on drugs" started:
- Ban the sale of such substances, forcing users to resort to the black market.
- Lock up anyone who uses or possesses such substances, training users that there is no help for them.
- Lock up anyone who helps or intends to help anyone else use or possess such substances, training users that there is no helping others.
- Censor information on how to reduce the risks of substance use, forcing users to put themselves in more danger. (Contrary to apparent popular belief, this does not dissuade users, only harm them.)
- Censor information on how to produce or obtain such substances, preventing the discovery of reliable sources.
- Engage in relentless fearmongering about how terrible and bad such substances are, encouraging users to entirely disregard all warnings about substance use.
In my opinion, here is what one should actually do:
- Regulate the production and sale of such substances. Don't force users to resort to the black market.
- Encourage harm reduction and responsibility towards substance use. Don't train users that there is no help for them.
- Warn only of the real risks and concerns about substance use. Don't train users to disregard very real dangers by flooding them with fake ones.
- Offer reliable sources for such substances. Don't force users to resort to dubious leads.
Recent research into psilocybin therapy, for instance, is very exciting. I've been using psychedelics at home for years, and I dream of a world where known quantities and potencies of such things can be reliably sourced over-the-counter for such use. I don't know if I'll live to see the day.
Also note that none of this prevents helping users who genuinely need it -- users with less self-control, for instance, or harmful dependency. But forcing them all into terrible shame, withdrawal and eventually an utterly preventable death, is the same kind of bullshit that looked at building more homes and then invented anti-homeless architecture instead.
This tread's been incredibly insightful. I'm speechless as to the dystopian things which are happening throughout the world, which seemingly receive no friction whatsoever :/
It's genuinely a very nice place to live. Spent a year out there, and have no complaints. Felt my QoL was amazing. I was outside all the time, doing shit, and being incredibly social and involved.
Was trying hard to think of a complaint, but.... ha, nothing. I guess I was truly happy at that point of life. Bravo Spain! :)
If you don't have to live on local salary or employment, sure it's like being forever on vacation. Try living on local salary.
It's a paradise for geo-arbitrager and retirees with higher pension. In recent times with all the hype that it has created among North Americans, it's only getting that much more expensive and unaffordable for locals.
I started my career in Spain and saw it going nowhere. So left for northern Europe as fast as I can. That's what lot of native young population does.
Nah, if the meta shifts too far, people will just prompt for lower quality like errors, the same way that if Pangram use gets too widespread, people will just start using anti-Pangram prompts and rewrite services. And since people largely don't notice or care, even here, that meta shift is going to take a long time.
Remember hearing about Albania during the Cold War.
They turned away from the Soviets because the Soviets only wanted them to be an agricultural nation, and wouldn't allow them to develop their own industry.
When the powers that be refuse to invest in themselves and demand that external providers must be used, it does make you wonder...
Doubling down on coding was just infinitely smarter. Has there actually been a successful company which uses AI images and video effectively?
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