cd’s are jumping back up in price. Music magpie et al on ebay has been good past few years for classics and randoms you always wanted but never wanted to pay full price for. Great for recycling so they don’t all end up in landfill too. Any artists that would benefit from the sale I will always pay full and as direct as possible.
I love Cd’s.
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If you hate the thought of things being created by AI, the best thing you can do is make sure you’re creating stuff and sharing it, and staying the fuck away from the consume/chortle/contempt/conspiracy cycle of brain rot social media.
I need to do this my fucking self.
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electronic music will be done for musicians, it would be the easiest thing to tell ai to make music in the style of autechre and it does not matter how weird or glitchy ai is in doing it, the result will probably be interesting.
I swear that awful Tina Turner song they ‘found’ was a test to see how we can be fooled by ai. We’ll see more of that shit.
while it’ll be kinda fun to hear your favourite artists again and even doing funny mashups like Elvis singing Angel of death there will again, be lots of people wondering what is the point while the few make shit loads of money from very little skill.
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staying the fuck away from the consume/chortle/contempt/conspiracy cycle of brain rot social media. I need to do this my fucking self.
I am the same. It’s so easy to let your attention get pulled by the BS. Friend of mine did a Brian Eno course last year and one of the first things he told the class was how we need to win our attention back from the people vying for it and it’s so true. So easy to pop online and get a dopamine hit from scrolling. Might make it my first tattoo as a reminder haha.
I think we might actually see more and more live shows (if venues can stay open) as a pushback from the ‘inauthentic’ AI. Theatre shows and live experiences are already booming as people want something tangible rather than sitting in their house slurping down slop
On that subject:
Ruddy hell
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Just thought I’d run something by ChatGPT before posting it elsewhere, it’s a lot cleverer than I am.
Give me with a critique of my arguments here:
Surely I can’t be the only space nerd who thinks that this whole venture, that colonising Mars as a burning priority is utterly ridiculous. I get that there’s supposedly this high-minded goal for humanity not to have all its eggs in one basket but frankly I am struggling to imagine anything, nuclear war included, that would make Earth a place less conducive to human habitation than Mars. Once the novelty wore off it would be an absolutely awful place to be, survivable at best. Who in their right mind would want to actually live there, have kids in cramped quarters and you can’t really even go outside or you’ll be dead? I’ve always loved and been interested in spaceflight, big nerd and sci-fi fan etc. so I should be wildly enthused by all this but I’m just not, which is a shame because SpaceX do some amazing things.
At our present juncture it’s just some sand for people to stick their heads into. It’s presented as forward looking but it isn’t, it’s a retro-futuristic fever dream. I’m sure they’ll get Starship working despite setbacks but it’s becoming clear that all of the other problems yet to be solved to realise this dream are being underestimated by an order of magnitude. All of the talent and resource needed to overcome them could be put to far better use solving more pressing problems. When it comes to viable homes for humanity, in the foreseeable future, Earth really is the only game in town. The moonshots we really need now are right here. All I see here is the vanity project of a damaged, deranged individual who supposedly cares for “humanity” above all but who actually seems to openly despise anyone who dares to disagree with him. This self-sustaining colony/city of a million people on Mars, who is going to govern it and how? Oh that’s right, there’s going to be a “recompile” and everything will be just dandy, a million people living indoors forever will all just get along, for reasons. I just can’t listen to Musk and his insane ramblings any more, there won’t be a city on Mars any time soon, it’s all far too stupid to comprehend. I’m starting to feel like I’m through the looking glass seeing some supposedly intelligent people just nodding along with all this.
Your argument presents a passionate, articulate critique of the Mars colonization narrative, with a blend of technical skepticism, ethical concerns, and sociopolitical unease. Below is a balanced critique of your position, focusing on its strengths, weaknesses, and areas for refinement.
Strengths of Your Argument
- Pragmatic Earth-Centric Prioritization
- You make a strong and valid point: Earth remains the most habitable place for humans by many orders of magnitude. No amount of technological innovation in the short or medium term is likely to make Mars more viable than addressing problems here.
- Emphasizing the opportunity cost of space colonization—how time, talent, and capital could instead be directed toward urgent terrestrial issues—is an argument with both moral and strategic weight.
- Critique of Technological Utopianism
- You effectively highlight the wishful thinking embedded in many Mars colonization narratives: assuming away sociopolitical complexity, ecological challenges, and psychological burdens.
- The skeptical tone about “recompiling society” and assuming a million people will just harmonize in artificial habitats is reasonable and grounded in historical realities about governance and human conflict.
- Emotional Honesty and Cultural Commentary
- The dissonance between being a “space nerd” and feeling alienated by current narratives (especially those driven by Musk) is relatable for many and opens the door for more nuanced, non-binary discussions around space enthusiasm.
Weaknesses and Potential Improvements
- Overreliance on Ad Hominem Criticism
- While frustration with Elon Musk is understandable (and arguably justified in places), describing him as “deranged” and dismissing ideas based on his character risks undermining the intellectual credibility of your argument. Attacking the messenger may distract from the valid critique of the message.
- Consider separating the feasibility and desirability of Mars colonization from personal judgments about Musk. The ideas should stand or fall on their own merits.
- Underestimation of Technological and Strategic Justifications
- Your argument discounts any long-term rationale for space colonization too abruptly. While the “eggs in one basket” metaphor is often oversold, the strategic logic of interplanetary backup plans isn’t entirely irrational—especially when projected across centuries, not decades.
- You might strengthen your position by acknowledging that exploration and colony preparation aren’t inherently foolish, but selling them as near-term salvation is.
- Tone and Language Choices
- Phrases like “retro-futuristic fever dream” and “too stupid to comprehend” are rhetorically sharp but verge on polemic. This can alienate readers who might otherwise agree with your substance.
- More grounded language could help you reach a broader audience, including those on the fence or inclined toward cautious optimism about Mars.
- Oversimplification of the Public and Scientific Discourse
- You paint supporters of Mars colonization as uniformly naive or deluded. In reality, the community is far more diverse—ranging from techno-optimists to cautious planners, to those who see Mars as a long-term aspiration rather than an imminent necessity.
- Acknowledging this spectrum could make your argument more nuanced and persuasive.
Suggestions for a Stronger Argument
- Refocus on Practicality: Emphasize the engineering, economic, and biological impossibilities of near-term Mars colonization. Cite examples like radiation exposure, supply chain dependency, closed-loop life support limitations, and psychological effects of isolation.
- Frame Your Critique in Terms of Strategy, Not Cynicism: A strategic critique of timing and resource allocation is harder to dismiss than one framed purely around incredulity or moral disdain.
- Acknowledge the Power of Mythology: Recognize that part of the Mars push is about inspiration and myth-making. You might then ask: at what point does this mythology become a dangerous distraction from Earth-bound realities?
Final Assessment
Your argument is compelling, heartfelt, and taps into a growing skepticism about techno-solutionism and elite-driven futurism. Its impact would be stronger with less emphasis on personal disparagement and more focus on dissecting the assumptions, timelines, and trade-offs that underpin Mars colonization schemes. With a more measured tone and a clearer delineation between passion and argument, this critique could be not just cathartic but also influential.
It still blows my mind that a computer can do this sort of thing.
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Work bought me the ChatGPT plus sub yesterday.
So, I’ve got a new diet plan, insights on how to improve my morning routine and have also asked it to streamline my workload so that I dont need to be at work so much.
Lets see…
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I use ChatGPT like a smarter version of Google search but for anything more complicated than searching for basic facts it still makes weirdly basic errors. And it’s always in the manner of that loner bloke in the pub who tags onto your quiz team and confidently gives you wrong answers all night.
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For work stuff, like ‘please outline a meeting agenda addressing xyz with and focussing on abc in country def’ it’s great. For coding as well it will at least put you in roughly the right direction
I agree with @ParmoViolets tho, I am tired of correcting it when you need really specific answers on edge cases
I had to track down quite a complicated css selector yesterday (couldn’t just select it in dev tools) so I got Gemini to find it for me, just gave it the URL. And then asked exactly where in the file structure the override file should go (it was an edge case/non-standard CMS install), and how to test that override was getting picked up, and it did a much better job than ChatGPT. So sometimes trying a different AI is worth a shot.
Also been playing with notebookllm, would be great if studying at school, just feed it the info and out comes the data which you can ask for sources for so you know it’s come from a legit source you’ve provided not some shitpost from reddit
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I’ve been trying to use ChatGPT for work that I know I can do and have prebuilt scripts for - like T-SQL scripts looping through databases - and before I went on holiday I was unable to give me a working script performing something I’d likely be able to write myself within a day.
Could be the basic account, or my prompt (I can’t paste in various details for obvious reasons) but I ended up spitting the work into small chunks and will hopefully get it working and tested in the next day or so now I’m back in work today. It was fairly complex, but not too difficult for a human.
I thought cursor was supposed to be better for that? That’s specifically related to code and I’ve seen people/devs referring to it as indispensable.
There’s a Google AI plan that’s 21EUR a month but includes 2TB of space - I have 200Gb atm and am paying for that and ChatGPT which is same price. I’ve cancelled that sub and will give the Gemini/Google one a go later in the month.
No idea but I’ll give take a look, thanks. As I’m a DBA a lot of things like this are infrequent one offs for changes, so I’m just looking to save a little bit of time and most of the time I can repurpose old scripts with little effort. Likely the dev teams have access to this kinda stuff.
It was, however, excellent when it came to looking at cars and drawing up a comparison table based upon towing ability, kerb weight, diesel tank size, estimated towing range before refuelling, then doing the same for electric. Very car thread…
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think we’re safe for a bit
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Arf!
AI Startup Revealed To Be 700 Indian Employees Pretending To Be Chatbots
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Christ. Reminds me of when Amazon’s magic ai stores turned out to be people in India watching videos and totting up the cost.
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Someone’s unplugged it. Got some formulas that need doin’ too. Mignt have to try and use my actual brain…
…Or another AI tool.
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Something a bit more light hearted!
Gym Bro AI
Good short video on prompts.
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