this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2025
23 points (100.0% liked)

TechTakes

1750 readers
60 users here now

Big brain tech dude got yet another clueless take over at HackerNews etc? Here's the place to vent. Orange site, VC foolishness, all welcome.

This is not debate club. Unless it’s amusing debate.

For actually-good tech, you want our NotAwfulTech community

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Need to let loose a primal scream without collecting footnotes first? Have a sneer percolating in your system but not enough time/energy to make a whole post about it? Go forth and be mid: Welcome to the Stubsack, your first port of call for learning fresh Awful you’ll near-instantly regret.

Any awful.systems sub may be subsneered in this subthread, techtakes or no.

If your sneer seems higher quality than you thought, feel free to cut’n’paste it into its own post — there’s no quota for posting and the bar really isn’t that high.

The post Xitter web has spawned soo many “esoteric” right wing freaks, but there’s no appropriate sneer-space for them. I’m talking redscare-ish, reality challenged “culture critics” who write about everything but understand nothing. I’m talking about reply-guys who make the same 6 tweets about the same 3 subjects. They’re inescapable at this point, yet I don’t see them mocked (as much as they should be)

Like, there was one dude a while back who insisted that women couldn’t be surgeons because they didn’t believe in the moon or in stars? I think each and every one of these guys is uniquely fucked up and if I can’t escape them, I would love to sneer at them.

(Credit and/or blame to David Gerard for starting this. Also, happy April Fool's in advance.)

(page 2) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] maol@awful.systems 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I would also like to complain that I have finally started getting AI summaries in Google, and I may have to switch to a different search engine. Neither wanted nor needed!

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

The url manipulation trick doesnt work for you?

E: this I mean, somebody even made a site for it. My own setup is weird and I have ancient strange habits so I just added it to my search bookmark.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Elsevier doing some AI

"So, [Elsevier] added an AI question and answer to my article in Computer & Education.

The answers are wrong! They did not ask permission! The answers are WRONG!

How is this science?!"

[–] gerikson@awful.systems 8 points 1 day ago

misread as Eliezer, semantic content unchanged

[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 7 points 1 day ago

AI-Powered Wi-Fi 7 Versatile Outdoor/Indoor Mesh AP

we're at the "the washing machine without a dateclock is marked millenium-bug safe in its marketing brochures" level of stupid

(that might seem like a stupid comparison but it's one of the things I most viscerally remember seeing from that time (when I was still a youngin who was still largely years away from computertouching))

[–] BlueMonday1984@awful.systems 9 points 1 day ago

An AI faceswapper/nudifier's database got leaked thanks to its nonexistent security - unsurprisingly, its loaded with explicit images, including massive amounts child porn and almost certainly some revenge porn.

WIRED tried reaching out to the company behind the "imagery", but they nuked everything and closed their doors in response.

[–] BlueMonday1984@awful.systems 4 points 1 day ago

New video from Jessie Gender, providing one long sneer at gen-AI: How AI is Destroying our Dreams

[–] antifuchs@awful.systems 11 points 2 days ago

My favorite meme message board on the internet keeps putting out bangers, but this one is extra good and relevant http://www.b3ta.com/board/11416629

[–] swlabr@awful.systems 10 points 2 days ago (5 children)

NaNoWriMo? Na, No Mo'. Does this have anything to do with their bungled AI policy? Maybe, maybe not, but hey, the news article that I saw this announcement in thought that it was pertinent to mention.

[–] sc_griffith@awful.systems 9 points 1 day ago

considering their endless history of scandal, good riddance

[–] bitofhope@awful.systems 14 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Why does NaNoWriMo need a nonprofit anyway? What's next, No Nut November LLC?

[–] swlabr@awful.systems 10 points 2 days ago (2 children)

As funny as that is, I am sure that there are nonprofits that are aiming to stop fapping.

[–] sc_griffith@awful.systems 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)

however they are exactly canceled out by nonprofits aiming to promote fapping

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] V0ldek@awful.systems 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There's a fucking for profit that does this and it's used by the god damn USA Speaker of the House so that his son can monitor his fondling

[–] swlabr@awful.systems 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)
[–] mii@awful.systems 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I am fairly certain that their stupid AI stance at least played a role. I’m part of a largish writing community, where at least several hundred people did NaNo each year, a good part of them donated too. Last year, no one partook, instead we did our own internal thing.

If this happened across other communities too, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it did, they must have felt it financially.

[–] swlabr@awful.systems 6 points 2 days ago

I'll believe it! I didn't want to make that claim since I had no evidence.

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 6 points 1 day ago

Not dating your press releases on your own site is a choice. (Lot more places do this and it is driving me slowly mad) So, did they drop this yday? Some weird schrodingers april fools joke deflection attempt?

[–] gerikson@awful.systems 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Their dumb contraction should have doomed the project from the start...

[–] swlabr@awful.systems 11 points 2 days ago (2 children)

It is a CIA psyop to prevent revolutionary thought from arising in written media, in that it's a self-inflicted PIP that makes you feel inadequate in your creative writing ability. CIA funding (obviously funneled through NGOs via CIA front USAID) is how it's survived so long with such a stupid name. Of course, now that government spending on the CIA is going down, so is NaNoWriMo. All that's left is for it to be supplanted by some benevolent Chinese competitor that people will say steals your data, or something.

/s /s /s

[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 4 points 1 day ago

I demand you prove your assertion! preferably using wallspaghetti and alphabet soup, of course. so's I know it's totes legit and original!

(/s ofc, and link too (incase anyone didn't see that))

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 4 points 1 day ago

[This is what tankies actually believe!!2!one!!!]

[–] dgerard@awful.systems 19 points 2 days ago (1 children)

tip from a discord:

I've been doing some micro tasking to train LLM's the last few months to earn some extra cash, the last month it's all dried up, no tasks available. I can't help thinking that is a sign of a bubble deflating.

[–] MintyAnt@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

Please please please

[–] Architeuthis@awful.systems 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

SMBC using the ratsphere as comics fodder, part the manyeth:

transcriptionRetrofuturistic Looking Ghost: SCROOOOOGE! I am the ghost of christmas extreme future! Why! Why did you not find a way to indicate to humans 400 generation from now where toxic waste was storrrrrrrred! Look how Tiny Tim's cyborg descendant has to make costrly RNA repaaaaaaairs!

Byline: The Longtermist version of A Christmas Carol is way better.

bonus

spoiler transcription Scrooge: I tried, but no, no, I just don't give a shit. :::

Your mistake, distant future ghost, was in developing RNA repair nanites without creating universal healthcare.

[–] BlueMonday1984@awful.systems 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Gamers Nexus put out their April Fool's joke for this year, and became the first journalistic outlet to break Betteridge's law of headlines in the process.

[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

they should’ve had an overlay tracking counter in that opening montage, goddamn

[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 4 points 2 days ago

(just got to 4min:) “oh! it’s not just opening montage” ahahaha

[–] BlueMonday1984@awful.systems 8 points 3 days ago (3 children)
[–] swlabr@awful.systems 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

OpenAI: Nah, I'd become profitable

[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 7 points 2 days ago

every so often I think of how Rat-brain is just bleach-dyed "the power of positive thinking" for nerds who don't get out in the world enough

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 6 points 2 days ago

Finally Tim Pool will get what is wrong with AI

Jesus, fine, I'll watch it already, God.

[–] gerikson@awful.systems 5 points 2 days ago (2 children)
[–] gerikson@awful.systems 3 points 1 day ago

Additional "points" for the commenting system using local times in the user's browser, thereby timestamping further unfunny AFJ at 2 Apr in my timezone.

Hey wait a minute we already made that (obvious) joke here on Awful Systems!

[–] fullsquare@awful.systems 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Derek Lowe casually points to Yarvin and Thiel in his writeup on how trumpists are destroying american science, in part 7 specifically. nrx have fully broke containment

[–] o7___o7@awful.systems 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

On the bright side, Derek Lowe has also escaped containment, which is nice

[–] fullsquare@awful.systems 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] o7___o7@awful.systems 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Lots of politics outlets have been linking his recent work. He's done a great job documenting the consequences (and gravity) of the ongoing grant apocalypse for the AAAS journal Science. I've loved him for years for being the FOOF guy.

[–] gerikson@awful.systems 17 points 3 days ago (3 children)

I knew the HN reaction to Marine Le Pen being banned from being elected to public office would be unhinged, but weirdly I did not have "good, she's a woman and weak so now a strong man can lead RN to glorious victory" on my bingo card. More fool me, misogyny is always on the card.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43534140

[–] V0ldek@awful.systems 5 points 1 day ago

Misogyny is the free square, easy to forget

[–] maol@awful.systems 6 points 2 days ago

There's a comment in there about how well it reflects on the British system that Bobby Sands was allowed to stand as an MP for Sinn Féin despite being an IRA member and a prisoner. This ignores that a) Sinn Féin policy was and is not to take seats in the British parliament, so he wouldn't have been voting or sitting on any committees, and b) Bobby Sands died in prison on hunger strike.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] bitofhope@awful.systems 10 points 3 days ago (2 children)

A recent chapter of one of the official Touhou Project manga had a jab at crypto schemes. This isn't one of the works of art I expected to so explicitly dunk on these unscrupulous scams, but I welcome it all the more for that.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] o7___o7@awful.systems 3 points 2 days ago

OK hear me out: they make a new season of Hell Girl, but she only gets people who use gen ai

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›