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.

Last week’s thread

(Semi-obligatory thanks to @dgerard for starting this)

  • sc_griffith@awful.systemsEnglish
    20·
    2 months ago

    just heard a podcast ad for amazon prime saying it causes “involuntary deal squeals” followed by a categorization of different kinds of customer grunts and squeals according to product. not making this up

      • self@awful.systemsEnglish
        7·
        2 months ago

        I swear I keep seeing Amazon ads in this same icky dehumanizing “cute” style, like some of the annoyance-based ads I vaguely remember from when I still had cable TV. is this just what ads become every time a corporation decides you have no other choice? (yes, almost every time)

      • mountainriver@awful.systemsEnglish
        11·
        2 months ago

        “…37%… That means nearly one in four…”

        Eh, no it doesn’t, it means nearly two in five. Which is worse.

    • BlueMonday1984@awful.systemsEnglish
      11·
      2 months ago

      So you’re saying that they’ve got books worth at least a grand which their owners are literally using to flaunt their wealth?

      I’m legally obligated to say stealing is legally and morally wrong buuuuuuuut

      • Charlie Stross@wandering.shop
        16·
        2 months ago

        @BlueMonday1984 Betcha the authors aren’t getting paid industry-normal royalties (10-15% of net receipts) on those Veblen goods …

        (A few of my novels have been sold as limited-run signed first editions. Typically for 50%-100% more than the normal hardcover price, so maybe 3-5% as much as this nonsense. Cost of goods for a leatherbound, gilt-trimmed luxury edition is maybe $5-10, plus 10% of the cover price for the author. So someone in the middle is making serious bank.)

      • Charlie Stross@wandering.shop
        18·
        2 months ago

        @froztbyte Your term of art in economics to describe this shitbaggery is “Veblen goods”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good

        “a type of luxury good… for which the demand increases as the price increases, in apparent contradiction of the law of demand, resulting in an upward-sloping demand curve. The higher prices of Veblen goods may make them desirable as a status symbol in the practices of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure.”

          • Soyweiser@awful.systemsEnglish
            5·
            2 months ago

            If there is an elevator in the apartment, the driver has to take the stairs, contractually. Of course people who order that don’t live in high rise apartments where the driver can reach the door, so everybody wins.

  • self@awful.systemsEnglish
    18·
    2 months ago

    one of OpenAI’s cofounders wrote some thoroughly unhinged shit about the company’s recent departures

    Thank you, guys, for being my team and my co-workers. With each of you, I have collected cool memories — with Barret, when we had a fierce conflict about compute for what later became o1; with Bob, when he reprimanded me for doing a jacuzzi with a coworker; and with Mira, who witnessed my engagement.

    • FredFig@awful.systemsEnglish
      16·
      2 months ago

      I am in awe of the sheer number of GPUs… whose lives ChatGPT has changed.

      If it was just this one line, this would be in the top 10 funniest things ever written around genAI. Too bad the rest of the rambling insanity ruins it.

    • Sailor Sega Saturn@awful.systemsEnglish
      14·
      2 months ago

      I can’t be the only one reading that super passive aggressively right? “Thank you Barret, whom I hated. Bob, for ruining my hot Jacuzzi date. And Mira, for existing.”

    • jax@awful.systemsEnglish
      8·
      2 months ago

      lmao this is weird as fuck, reminds me of the bullshit Lex Fridman comes up with, I can totally imagine him saying things like this

  • rook@awful.systemsEnglish
    15·
    2 months ago

    Somehow I managed to mention the wordpress lawsuit on last week’s thread instead of this one, so let’s try again.

    Matt Mullenweg, the wordpress(.)com guy and current owner of tumblr, tried to shakedown competing blog product WP engine (which builds on the same open source software that his company does) for 8% of their revenue (https://goblin.band/notes/9yjrc2logimd1tr3 h/t to froztbyte who was also on the old thread for some mysterious reason) or he’d say mean things about them at a conference where they were one of the sponsors. And they didn’t pay up, so he compared them to cancer.

    And now they’re suing him.

    https://notes.ghed.in/posts/2024/matt-mullenweg-wp-engine-debacle/

  • Mii@awful.systemsEnglish
    15·
    2 months ago

    I am sure this is totally not sketchy in the slightest and the people behind it have no nefarious agenda whatsoever.

    • froztbyte@awful.systemsEnglish
      10·
      2 months ago

      fuck that’s gross

      where’d you find/run across that? can’t tell if it’s a normal ad or some gig-site thing or what

      • Mii@awful.systemsEnglish
        11·
        2 months ago

        Saw it posted on Reddit. It’s apparently from clickworker.com which is a weird-ass website by itself at first glance, with great pitches like this:

        People are happier if they are more financially independent. We can help you achieve this.

    • Soyweiser@awful.systemsEnglish
      9·
      2 months ago

      Ah yes the advertisement which causes T&S people (who have seen some things) to go on long rants on why you should never put pictures of your kids online publically.

  • gerikson@awful.systemsEnglish
    15·
    2 months ago

    A lobsters states the following in regard to LLMs being used in medical diagnoses:

    If you have very unusual symptoms, for example, there’s a higher chance that the LLM will determine that they are outside of the probability space allowed and replace them with something more common.

    Another one opines:

    Don’t humans and in particular doctors do precisely that? This may be anecdotal, but I know countless stories of people being misdiagnosed because doctors just assumed the cause to be the most common thing they diagnose. It is not obvious to me that LLMs exhibit this particular misjudgement more than humans. In fact, it is likely that LLMs know rare diseases and symptoms much better than human doctors. LLMs also have way more time to listen and think.

    <Babbage about UK parlaimentarians.gif>

    • self@awful.systemsEnglish
      14·
      2 months ago

      nothing hits worse than an able-bodied techbro imagining what medical care must be like for someone who needs it. here, let me save you from the possibility of misdiagnosis by building and mandating the use of the misdiagnosis machine

    • YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systemsEnglish
      13·
      2 months ago

      Also please fill in the obligatory rant about how LLMs don’t actually know any diseases or symptoms. Like, if your training data was collected before 2020 you wouldn’t have a single COVID case, but if you started collecting in 2020 you’d have a system that spat out COVID to a disproportionately large fraction of respiratory symptoms (and probably several tummy aches and broken arms too, just for good measure).

    • Soyweiser@awful.systemsEnglish
      9·
      2 months ago

      The question (which doesn’t matter) now is, does he really understand crypto? Or did he get at the right conclusion because he thinks that everybody else, like him, is just scamming all the time?

      • bitofhope@awful.systemsEnglish
        7·
        2 months ago

        Given the kinds of crowds he hangs out with (i.e. mostly other rich people and political elite) is that not an understandable conclusion?

    • froztbyte@awful.systemsEnglish
      8·
      2 months ago

      anything that makes yglesias have a bad day is generally a good thing

      but it sounds like the orange man understands the crypto market perfectly: the numbers are all made up and everyone’s lying

    • YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systemsEnglish
      6·
      2 months ago

      I mean there are definitely some brain rotted crypto bros who would buy shares at face value because it’s totally gonna go to the moon guys

  • skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    14·
    2 months ago

    a twitter thread by sv ceo where comment section wants to do some recreational union busting, political assassinations and automating away longshoremen (lmao) over checks notes black friday bringing slightly less profit to mass retailers. to which i say, fuck your black friday then

    and he says that it’ll affect elections? specifically in “don’t do anything visible in interest of unions or trump will win” kinda way? what kinda madhouse is this americans explain https://xcancel.com/typesfast/status/1836498432510562788#m

    • froztbyte@awful.systemsEnglish
      13·
      2 months ago

      fuck your black friday then

      the institutionalisation of it is/was also just fucking nuts

      and then in recent years it’s slowly been creeping out into other countries too, with other vendors in other places aping “black friday deals”

      I have no mouth and I must scream

    • bitofhope@awful.systemsEnglish
      16·
      2 months ago

      Ok.

      The usual lifecycle of an anime fan looks something like this: they are introduced to the format with great IP – the Attack on Titan anime or the One Piece live action show or one of the miHoYo games.

      I don’t know how things are in Japan, but I’ll be damned if I ever meet someone who gateway series into anime was a live action adaptation of One Piece.

      AI companions, an evolution of classic visual novels, are the most popular for anime characters and IP.

      The most popular what for anime characters and IP?

      Anime studios are adopting new AI technologies to create content faster and more cost effectively, but they are also iterating on new core loops with AI-native character interactions.

      Some of them probably are. Screw them.

      VTubing has transformed the way millions of anime fans interact with their favorite characters in new social and parasocial relationships by allowing any fan to roleplay as the characters themselves.

      You can’t just casually throw “social and parasocial” in there and then describe a purely parasocial relationship. Apologize to Shannon Strucci.

      Also this is like saying television has allowed us to roleplay our favorite Radio announcers. They seem to be under the impression that the vtuber phenomenon is about people digitally cosplaying their favorite anime character together when it’s more like an actor putting on a performance as an original character. And for the big ones, a bunch of Japanese style idol industry bullshit layered on top.

      While audience inteeaction is usually a part of it, the nature of the medium remains highly asymmetric.

      Ready to dive in? Let’s jam.

      Keep Cowboy Bebop’s name out of your filthy mouth.

      Anime entered the mainstream in the 2000s with popular shounen anime like Naruto, One Piece, and now Attack on Titan.

      I might be behind the times but even I don’t think AoT is new. At least say Jujutsu Kaisen or something.

      This affinity has led to one of the most popular use cases of AI recently – AI waifus and husbandos.

      May all your subculture in-jokes die a dignified death before a VC firm references them in a blog post.

      Waifu / husbando culture derives from visual novels, and AI companions are the logical extension of these animated storybook games.

      “Mai waifu” was originally a funny engrish quote from Azumanga Daioh and was used to refer to any favorite character. The non tongue en cheek relationship simulation aspect merged with the meme later on.

      Originally, visual novels were serialized books with anime-styled pictures in between.

      This doesn’t seem to be what the linked Medium article is saying and seems like they’re just mixing up light novels and visual novels.

      While there are many practical use cases for AI-simulated human interactions – AI as therapist, as teacher, as assistant, etc.

      Practical, huh?

      For instance, character.ai’s top characters are all from Genshin Impact; Raiden, Yae Miko, and Hu Tao take some of the top spots at 390M, 202M, and 113M messages respectively as of the time of this blog, compared to Elon Musk at a mere 40M messages.

      To be fair I’d rather take almost anyone, gacha game character or not, other than Elon Musk as my conversation partner, whether simulated or real.

      The majority of top anime games and visual novels are role playing games that feature a romance mechanic, and so it’s natural for fans to want to deepen their connection to their favorite IP and characters through active interactions.

      Factually dubious claim aside, how hard is it to write “series” or at least “anime” like a real human being with feelings instead of “IP”.

      I’ve watched some anime series and felt things about them. I’ve never given a shit about an anime IP. Why would I, never owned one.

      UGC Democratizes Creation for Anime Fans Anime is the new playground for content creation. Fans often engage with anime IP by creating their own versions of art, novels, and games, and innovation is happening across the stack.

      Pixiv has existed for ages. Even before that was doujinshi, and people have made art, original and derivative, since before the beginning of civilization. Your idea of modding custom animu avatars for shovelware Love Plus sequels is not new.

      There are a few notable reasons for the popularity of these games. The first is that there’s clear player demand against a shortage of high quality anime IP games; one example is Palworld’s recent success as the “Pokemon with guns” game, selling over 25M copies in a month across Steam and Xbox Game Pass.

      Palworld is evidence of a lack of high quality anime games much like all nonblack nonravens are evidence of a lack of nonblack ravens.

      The second reason is that the anime IP licensing landscape is notoriously difficult to navigate for developers, creating a potential undersupply of games.

      It’s actually incredibly easy to create and publish media based on anime and get away with it. You just can’t do it too professionally. If you love democratizing art so much, go to Comiket.

      Also there are tons of licensed games based on anime what the hell are you talking about?

      Some startups like Kasagi Labo, Layer, and Story Protocol are tackling this issue to make IP more democratized and easier to access.

      Misspelled “plutocratized” there. Also had a double take checking out the third one: “Story is the World’s IP Blockchain, onramping Programmable IP to power the next generation of AI, DeFi, and consumer applications.”

      Beyond UGC platforms, AI models and tools are enabling first-time creators to make compelling anime content that previously would only have been possible with a team of professionals.

      I’m sure I will continue to be as thrilled as I have been up to now to see more art made by people who can’t make art and filling the gap with statistical average of all art ever.

      On the other side of the spectrum, professional game studios are leading the charge for high production-value consumer experiences that build on or create new IP. Anime games are some of the highest grossing in the games industry, accounting for 20% of spend on the mobile app store despite only having usage penetration of <3%.

      Sounds great (not), but I heard someone say there was a lack of high quality anime IP games. Surely you can’t both be right?

      There are two ways that anime game studios broaden the horizon for players. First, they usually create the highest quality games of the most popular IPs like Dragon Ball, Pokemon, or Dragon Quest.

      Consistency, what’s that? Maybe invest in a bigger context window so you can remember what you generated a few paragraphs ago.

      For now, we’ve been covering mostly free-to-play (F2P) mobile games. However, there are several successful PC/console anime games as well: Doki Doki Literature Club, the Persona series, the Final Fantasy series, the Fire Emblem series, and Phoenix Wright, just to name a few.

      Doki Doki Literature Club is a fully original freeware pay-what-you-want indie game that became a viral sleeper hit. You’re comparing it to Final fucking Fantasy? From a business perspective? Hell, despite the art style it’s not even Japanese! The only connecting thread between these games is that they have vaguely anime style art in them.

      Anime is also leading the way for digital play, turning previously passive consumption of linear media into a new dynamic form of entertainment.

      It’s really not.

      • YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systemsEnglish
        8·
        2 months ago

        I agree that the Doki Doki Literature Club reference was out of place, but consider that the whole post is predicated on the assumption that anime is a radical new art form that is revolutionizing [$Product] while itself being revolutionized by the new technologies designed by a16z’s stable of startups (the ones they haven’t cashed out yet). DDLC is niche enough that the intended audience will feel clever if they know about it, but successful enough that there’s a nonzero chance they’ll have heard about it.

        It also has the most anime title they could find.

    • YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systemsEnglish
      12·
      2 months ago

      Some notes:

      • Who told Mark Andreesen about the overlap between possible AI suckers customers and weebs? Are we going to get a16z’s next hot take - “Furries are eating the world?”

      • I’m sure most of the audience here can fill in their own 700+ word rant about the breadth of anime as a visual style, so I’ll leave that as an exercise to the reader. However, unlike the older trends of assuming that whichever shonen is currently most popular (the kids still like at least one Dragonball, right?) is representative or dismissing anything with the relevant aesthetic as “some weeb shit I won’t like”, here the writers manage a much more impressive feat. They acknowledge the breadth of what anime contains, but completely fail to ask the basic question: “why do people like this?” Similar to the original prompts for this kind of rant, they’re assuming the art style and Japanese cultural background are the primary reasons why anyone connects with anything anime, and then expand from that premise. I’m pretty sure this is a root cause of why the whole article feels like it was written by goddamn martians.

      • Are vTubers playing existing characters a thing? What little I’ve seen isn’t linked to existing stories (that’s what humans call “IP”) but rather focus on original characters who have their own shit going on. Even ignoring the attempt to shove genAI into everything (as though everyone is going to want to make their own vTuber avatar and stream it someday?) this seems like assuming that the people going to watch the finals of the local Battle of the Bands are going in the hope of getting an autograph from Kurt fucking Cobain.

      • There has been some criticism of gacha games as being monstrously exploitative and basically gambling targeted at kids and/or teens, but consider just how much money it makes. These people are ghouls.

      • Going back to the genAI we set aside two bullet points up, I do think anime has a unique property there. It simultaneously has a much stronger visual identity than many other aesthetics, including photorealism, but also has a massive number of scrapable examples to train off of. The more consistent style makes it easier to replicate statistically and what visual abberation you still get is less likely to fall deep into the uncanny valley. The outputs I’ve seen from even older anime genAI were better than their contemporaries, but still pretty easy to pick out. Something about shading or gradient or something, probably because since anime is drawn rather than captured like a photo there’s no detail that’s fully incidental. GenAI, of course, has no actual purpose and so all details in every output are incidental. That gives the output a weird unfocused quality I think?

      In conclusion, I’m starting to suspect that VCs don’t have souls and/or don’t interact with any human being outside of potential partners-in-somehow-not-crime or potential victims.

      • bitofhope@awful.systemsEnglish
        7·
        2 months ago

        Are vTubers playing existing characters a thing?

        I think I’ve seen some people do things with Live2D models of Touhou Project characters, but that particular AY PEE is famously extremely permissive about derivative works. If you squint, you might count cases where a vtuber version of an existing character is backed by the artist or company who already owns the rights to that character, which is not unheard of.

        Other than that, no. VTubers playing characters from existing anime is not a thing that happens much. If anyone’s confused why that’s the case, consider a context where a someone who isn’t a corporate robot might use the term “IP” (as in intellectual so-called property).

      • Amoeba_Girl@awful.systemsEnglish
        8·
        2 months ago

        That might actually be the most infuriatingly US-centric post I’ve ever read, and that’s really saying something! God!!!

        And it’s talking about “The World” in the title of course!

    • blakestacey@awful.systemsOPEnglish
      11·
      2 months ago

      iterating on new core loops

      We’re sorry, but the brainrot is too far advanced. Amputation is your only hope.

      • bitofhope@awful.systemsEnglish
        10·
        2 months ago

        Back in the day they let you nuke a self-styled god-emperor’s fascist resource extraction empire of genocidal death cultist twice, but nowadays you can’t even spare one little warhead for a16z?

        Ok maybe this sneer is a little edgy even for my own tastes. Up it goes anyway.

    • istewart@awful.systemsEnglish
      6·
      2 months ago

      this mf’er watched all the naruto filler and fuckin’ loved it

      emails SHFiguarts every week from their work address, “Deluxe Mecha-Naruto when???”