He’ll walk away a billionaire. He gives zero fucks.

Not allowed for the commoners.

Interesting. You’re saying you can tell the difference between 320 kbps and FLAC? How long ago was this?

Anecdotal, but… I’ve been a musician for 36 years and have fantastic hearing not just for my age but for any age. I know, I have to get it quantitatively tested twice a year!

I can’t tell the difference at all between FLAC and 320 kbps from the same source. I can tell a difference between FLAC and 128 kbps, but it’s not huge. It sounds a bit dull, but I have to be looking for the difference and comparing the two. If you just gave me one or the other with no reference, I might suspect the 128 if it was a simple recording of a single instrument or a song I’m intimately familiar with, and even then I wouldn’t be sure of it. It just sometimes “feels” weird.

So I converted over 4 terabytes of my music stash to 320 kbps and cut the total space into less than 2. Feels good.

I’ll give AI this much credit. I have a rare disease that took me nearly two decades to get diagnosed. I saw over 20 doctors during that time, most of which had no idea while the rest misdiagnosed me.

I had a little intro script I wrote that explained my symptoms to keep it consistent. My roommate is a big AI proponent while I’m AI critical. At his suggestion, I signed up for a free trial for his favorite and gave it my little intro script. It processed for a few seconds, then spit out the correct diagnosis and subtype, then started asking if I had symptoms for a related comorbidity, which I do. That would have saved me 22 years of pain and confusion. WTF.

I’ve had a related chronic injury for this entire time that even my condition-aware doctors have been baffled by. I explained it in detail and AI barfed out its best guess. I worked with it until I had a possible rehab program, which is actually working.

So now I’m AI ambivalent. I strongly believe humans are at best passable doctors, but that the breadth of information for even one discipline is already more than most humans can properly understand and utilize. That’s how you end up with orthopedists that just specialize in one joint or dermatologists who concentrate on just a few conditions - there’s just too much knowledge for one person to handle all of it and that knowledge continues to grow. As medical science becomes even more advanced, I think practitioners will have to lean on technology in some form as the practice of medicine further outstrips human capabilities.

I couldn’t agree more. I got interest in higher-end audio equipment when I was younger, so I went to a local audio shop to test out some Grado headphones. They had a display of different headphones all hooked up to the “same” audio source.

60x vs 80x sounded identical. 60x to 125x, the latter had a bit more bass. 125x to 325x, the latter had a lot more bass and the clarity was a bit better. Then I plugged the 60x into the same connection they had the 325x in. Suddenly the 60x sounded damn similar. Not quite as good, but the 60x was 1/3 the cost and the 325x sure as hell didn’t sound 3x better. They just had the EQ set better for it.

Plus that was wholesome AF for a halftime show. It preemptively hit on so many potential criticisms that racism or prudishness are about the only two reasons left to criticize it.

I can’t help but see their comment as a joke. One can only hope

“Remain in your cube - The Freedom Force is en route to administer freedom reeducation. Please be sure to provide proof of medical insurance prior to forced compliance.”

Fuck, you almost sold me on GeForce Now. Owning is still a better value proposition for me because I get my games at… steep discounts.

But wait! They can pay for remote computing time for a fraction of the cost! Each month. Forever.

I fully expect personal computers to be phased out in favor of a remote-access, subscription model. AI popping would leave these big data centers with massive computational power available for use, plus it’s the easiest way to track literally everything you do on your system.

I had no idea! I worked IT in the early 2000s and I absolutely hated Dell computers. Nothing broke faster and more often than the Dell desktops.

Maybe we need a small, private company to come along and start making good consumer hardware.

I’ve always wanted to start a business like this. “Generic Brand” household goods. Not fancy, just solidly functional base models but with modular upgradability. Wish you bought the WiFi capable washer? Buy the module for $30. Everything would be fully user serviceable and upgradable (within reason), so parts sales ensure sustained income once market saturation is reached.

Fuck it, I’ll run for mayor of my city. Help me build a platform. I’ll start.

1. Left as fuck.
2. Evidence-based governance - no more “vibes-based” politics.
3. A cat for every home and a chicken for every yard.
4. Inflatable costume subsidy for low-income protestors.
5. …?

Plus most people have no combat training. I can handle aggressive drivers no problem. If masked thugs rush me with drawn weapons, I will very effectively shit myself at best, run hard at worst

The people it benefits would have to decide to not benefit from it anymore.

So not likely unless the alternative is even worse.

I really don’t care, do u?

Same, I have a 55" OLED and I game in 1080p. 4K looks a bit crisper, but my video card doesn’t like me when we do that.

I know! It’s like “She’s not an abuser. She hits me when she’s frustrated, but it’s not too hard and doesn’t usually leave a bruise. It’s just rough housing.” This actually was said to me last week. Mind fucking blown.

Absolutely. I have an overarching theorem about US “Conservative” politicians and donors that I’ve been challenging for decades but remains unchanged.

Tr;dr: the top brass are all fucking grifters.

Their primary strategy is doing whatever is most effective and expedient for increasing their socioeconomic power, even if that directly contradicts their previous and current actions and alleged principles. They’re only ostensibly aligned with conservative values because they’re the best for meeting that goal, especially because true social conservative voters are overall both less educated and intelligent, and therefore less critical.

Since noticing that, their actions are all quite consistent and predictable and the hypocrisy rarely surprises me.