this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2025
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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

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Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 31st August 2025 - awful.systems (awful.systems)
submitted 3 days ago by BlueMonday1984@awful.systems to c/techtakes@awful.systems
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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.)

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[–] YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systems 4 points 40 minutes ago (1 children)

So the fucking Cracker Barrel rebranding thing happened. I'm going to pretend this is relevant here because the new logo looked like it was from the usual "imitating Apple minimalism without understanding it in the least" school of design. They've confirmed that they're not moving forward with it, restoring both the barrel and the cracker to the logo, so that's all good. That's not what I want to talk about.

No, what's grinding my gears is the way that the rollback is being pitched purely as a response to conservative "antiwoke" backlash, and not as a response to literally nobody liking it. This wasn't a case of a successful crusade against woke overreach, this was a case of corporate incompetence running into the reactions of actual human beings. I can't think of a more 2025 media dynamic than giving fucking Nazis a free win rather than giving corporate executives an L.

[–] swlabr@awful.systems 1 points 18 minutes ago

I think I mentioned Doughboys in this sack somewhere, so talking about CB is fair game

[–] fullsquare@awful.systems 6 points 14 hours ago (4 children)

new zitron https://www.wheresyoured.at/ai-bubble-2027/

[–] scruiser@awful.systems 3 points 7 hours ago

I like how Zitron does a good job of distinguishing firm overall predictions from specific scenarios (his chaos bets) which are plausible but far from certain. AI 2027 specifically conflated and confused those things in a way that gave it's proponents more rhetorical room to hide and dodge.

[–] Architeuthis@awful.systems 4 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Zitron taking every opportunity to shit on Scott's AI2027 is kind of cathartic, ngl

[–] scruiser@awful.systems 3 points 7 hours ago

I like how he doesn't even bother debunking it point by point, he just slams the very premise of it and moves on.

[–] fullsquare@awful.systems 2 points 11 hours ago

it's a long one and right behind paywall there's a

Table Of ContentsHow I Am Justifying "Guessing" NVIDIA, And What Will Happen Soonest Nevertheless, NVIDIA Will Accelerate The Collapse If Its Stock Falters Big Tech's Bubble Burst Moment Will Be When Growth Slows Capital Expenditures Are The Next Thing To Go CoreWeave — A Timebomb For The Markets and AI Writ Large How Does CoreWeave Collapse? The End Of AI Startup Funding How The Collapse Of Funding Begins — A Scenario (Chaos Bet) Costs Are A Brewing Scandal In Generative AI — Another Chaos Bet The Curious World of Anthropic and OpenAI, And My Own Suspicions About Their Businesses How About Anthropic's Costs? An Important Note: Anthropic and OpenAI's Costs Are Dramatically Underrepresented Because Neither Company Pays For The Construction Of (Or Owns) Their Infrastructure Questions About OpenAI's Revenue And Costs OpenAI Is Using Cal State's "Edu" Contracts To Pump Its Paid Business User Numbers — And It's Unclear How Long It Keep A User In Its Numbers What About Government Contracts? OpenAI Is Using "$1 for a Month" Subscription Deals On Teams To Juice Business User Numbers — And Offering Deals For ChatGPT Plus For $10-a-month To Stop User Churn (REMINDER: OpenAI Loses Money On Every User Anyway) I Believe OpenAI's Costs Are Worse Than They Seem — Where Is All The Money Going? OpenAI Will Burn At Least $3 Billion On Salaries In 2025, And May Spend As Much As $8 Billion — With Any Layoffs Guaranteeing An Industry-Wide Panic Compute Costs Are Likely Astronomical, Burning At Least $15 Billion — If Not $20 Billion — In 2025 Alone OpenAI Is Bleeding Out, And Could Run Out Of Money By End Of Year Chaos Bet: Microsoft Kills OpenAI By Blocking Its Non-Profit Conversion Even If Microsoft Agrees, OpenAI Does Not Have Enough Time To Convert To A For-Profit By The End Of The Year Chaos Pick: OpenAI Does Not Convert, And Does Not Receive More Money From SoftBank Alternate Chaos Pick: OpenAI Does Convert, But SoftBank Can't Get The Money How Does OpenAI (or Anthropic) IPO? I Believe Both OpenAI and Anthropic May Be Overstating Revenues And User Numbers, Using The Media To Launder Their Reputations What Happens Next? So Why Did You Say 2027?

[–] swlabr@awful.systems 6 points 14 hours ago (5 children)

RE: (meta?)speculation about the quantum bubble. So the preceding two tech bubbles tried to worm their way into the arts: NFTs, and slop. How do we think the quantum hucksters are gonna try co-opt craativity?

[–] scruiser@awful.systems 4 points 6 hours ago

Lots of woo and mysticism already has a veneer of stolen Quantum terminology. It's too far from respectable to get the quasi-expert endorsement or easy VC money that LLM hype has gotten, but quantum hucksters fusing quantum computing nonsense with quantum mysticism can probably still con lots of people out of their money.

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 7 points 13 hours ago

No idea, but the big problem area to look out for imho is when it gets matched with quantum woo again. And if people manage to link that to computers.

[–] istewart@awful.systems 5 points 13 hours ago

Automobile advertising

[–] BlueMonday1984@awful.systems 6 points 13 hours ago

Quantum as a concept doesn't really have any way to co-opt creativity that I can see - its a rather "science-y" concept in the public eye, far away from anything associated with the arts.

Probably won't stop the hucksters, though - they'll happily make shit up if it means butting in on artists' turf.

[–] FredFig@awful.systems 4 points 13 hours ago

At the risk of doing some "founder mode" idiot's homework for them, impermanence is inherent to a lot of artforms, and I can see some insane and vague pitches to use quantum to "capture the magic moment". Or maybe they tie it back into NFTs with quantum technology that comes up with every variant of the bored chimpanzee at once.

[–] gerikson@awful.systems 5 points 17 hours ago

Enjoy this malicious prompt trying to find crapto secrets after a compromise

https://semgrep.dev/blog/2025/security-alert-nx-compromised-to-steal-wallets-and-credentials/#header-6

[–] Architeuthis@awful.systems 13 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (4 children)

This hits differently over the recent news that ChatGPT encouraged and aided a teen suicide.

transcriptKelsey Piper xhitted: Never thought I'd become a 'take you relationship problems to ChatGPT' person but when the 8yo and I have an argument it actually works really well to mutually agree on an account of events for Claude and the ask for its opinion

I think she considers the AIs far more knowledgeable than me about reasonable human behavior so if I say something that's no reason to think it's true but if Claude says it then it at least merits serious consideration

[–] blakestacey@awful.systems 9 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

"When the 8-year-old and I have an argument, it actually works really well to mutually agree on an account of events... and then take cocaine together."

[–] YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systems 4 points 5 hours ago

Acknowledging/validating each other's feelings and finding a mutually-agreeable understanding of the conflict is already the hard part that most parents and kids aren't willing to do. Talking to a chatbot after that just seems like you don't understand the fucking point and are still trying to "be right" or whatever.

[–] gerikson@awful.systems 11 points 17 hours ago

In 12 years we'll get a book "My Mom Outsourced Raising Me to AI and it Broke Me"

[–] nightsky@awful.systems 15 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

When an 8 year old thinks an AI is "far more knowledgeable than me about reasonable human behavior" that could lead a person to self-reflection. Could.

[–] madengineering@mastodon.cloud 4 points 15 hours ago

@nightsky @Architeuthis Computer programs are generally written to be basically polite for customer service purposes.

A generative text program that opened chats with "Ugh, what do you want THIS time, loser?" would likely find itself ....corrected.... by the parent company on short order.

[–] kgMadee2@mathstodon.xyz 5 points 19 hours ago

@nightsky @Architeuthis the kid's not wrong, though 😭

[–] BlueMonday1984@awful.systems 10 points 21 hours ago (6 children)
[–] blakestacey@awful.systems 3 points 5 hours ago

From elsewhere in the replies:

My husband and I took a disagreement to Claude today, by happenstance. It was very helpful!

---TracingWoodgrains, who apparently feels that he is qualified to judge any other human being, ever, in spite of evidence to the contrary

[–] scruiser@awful.systems 7 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

I have context that makes this even more cringe! "Lawfulness concerns" refers to like, Dungeons and Dragons lawfulness. Specifically the concept of lawfulness developed in the Pathfinder fanfiction we've previously discussed (the one with deliberately bad BDSM and eugenics). Like a proper Lawful Good Paladin of Iomedae wouldn't put you in a position where you had to trust they hadn't rigged the background prompt if you went to them for spiritual counseling. (Although a Lawful Evil cleric of Asmodeus totally would rig the prompt... Lawfulness as a measuring stick of ethics/morality is a terrible idea even accepting the premise of using Pathfinder fanfic to develop your sense of ethics.)

[–] blakestacey@awful.systems 5 points 6 hours ago

Not everything that Yud writes feels like it should be read in the voice of Augustus St. Cloud, but a lot of it sure does.

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 10 points 15 hours ago

That is his concern and not the billionaires behind it messing with the systems so much you cant prompt override it? Please tell me this guy doesnt work in AI alignment.

[–] Amoeba_Girl@awful.systems 10 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Yes dude, that's the main thing you should be concerned about of course. AI tools couldn't possibly be bad in and of themselves, it has to be human tampering. You've always been very clear about that part.

[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 7 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

it has to be human tampering.

and of course we all have root on the prompt, where - at will - we can just instantly impose all manner of will on the corporate vendor chatbot. y'know, the chatbot operating in a service structured as much as possible to try to do what the corporate vendor wants to desperately maintain

(it continues to astound me that anyone takes yud seriously, at all, ever)

[–] Amoeba_Girl@awful.systems 15 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

tfw your gifted child syndrome resentment of adults is powerful enough to make you forget about your life's work

[–] scruiser@awful.systems 4 points 7 hours ago

I was trying to figure out why he hadn't turned this into an opportunity to lecture (or write a mini-fanfic) about giving more attack surface to the AGI to manipulate you... I was stumped until I saw your comment. I think that is it, expressing his childhood distrust of authority trumps lecturing us on the AI-God's manipulations.

[–] swlabr@awful.systems 5 points 17 hours ago

KP writing a paper for the journal “New Frontiers In Gaslighting Children”

[–] Architeuthis@awful.systems 8 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I feel dumber for having read that, and not in the intellectually humbled way.

[–] YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systems 3 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

I mean, tampering with the system prompt is definitely a kind of concern, given what we've seen happen with Grok's tenure as mechahitler or Replika users finding their girlfriend no longer wanted them. But "messing with system memory" is the kind of sci-fi nonsense that should stay in a cyberpunk novel.

[–] scruiser@awful.systems 5 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

system memory

System memory is just the marketing label for "having an LLM summarize a bunch of old conversations and shoving it into a hidden prompt". I agree that using that term is sneer-worthy.

[–] YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systems 4 points 5 hours ago

Thanks for the clarification. I had definitely assumed that he meant some kind of God-AI-level attack that revolved around live editing the data or state in RAM or something.

[–] Architeuthis@awful.systems 6 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

He has capital L Lawfulness concerns. About the parent and the child being asymmetrically skilled in context engineering. Which apparently is the main reason kids shouldn't trust LLM output.

Him showing his ass with the memory comment is just a bonus.

[–] blakestacey@awful.systems 4 points 7 hours ago

"I have Lawfulness concerns" is just another way of saying "I deserve to be shoved into a locker".

[–] YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systems 8 points 19 hours ago (4 children)

I regret to inform you all that Elon Musk appears to be completely addicted to AI-generated anime porn..

[–] blakestacey@awful.systems 7 points 12 hours ago

sex weirdo (derogatory)

[–] V0ldek@awful.systems 9 points 19 hours ago

I'm sorry but this is zero percent surprising like ye of course he is, he was addicted to anime porn before AI generation probably

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 3 points 15 hours ago

He isnt the only weird fascist attracted to digital porn. And not just the rank and file.

[–] JFranek@awful.systems 3 points 16 hours ago

He're hoping that the more he spends time gooning the more he'll leave the rest of us alone. crosses fingers

[–] blakestacey@awful.systems 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Look what they did to Notepad. Shut the fuck up. This is Notepad. You are not welcome here. Oh yeah "Let me use Copilot for Notepad". "I'm going to sign into my account for Notepad". What the fuck are you talking about. It's Notepad.

I should never have to open the settings in Notepad. Reason being: it's Notepad. God fuckin damn I hate the computer.

https://bsky.app/profile/iainnd.bsky.social/post/3lxdvmkua4227

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 5 points 15 hours ago

I know everybody here has heard of it, but in the small chance it breaks containment: use notepad++ it is great.

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