Cypressed

moreover, I’m convinced the entire reason my generation (millennials) turned out to be tech-savvy was because adults didn’t understand it, were trying to control and curtail our usage, and we were mostly focused on finding ways to circumvent boomer and gen-x meddling in our usage.

LLMs are never going away.

Are you basing this assumption on the idea that they’re free to use? Because that’s not sustainable.

The every single time an AI company has tried to actually require compensation for the tokens burned for AI queries, even amounts that would hardly cover a fraction of the operational cost for that ‘work’, contracts have mass-canceled immediately.

You don’t have any control over token churn, either:
First of all, no matter how simple the prompt, LLMs can get stuck in thought loops that can chew through thousands of tokens before an answer can come out.
And second, every prompt you make not only eats a bunch of tokens incorporating the system prompt that can be billions of parameters long, but also includes every PRIOR prompt you put in, AND all their responses for “Context”, therefore token use increases geometrically for every next prompt.

The only thing holding its usage aloft is that nobody has had to pay up front. But the bill is racking up more and more every day for the power and cooling and facility upkeep, presently “paid for” by massive debts. When these firms that took out those debts file for bankruptcy, you do realize what’s owed doesn’t just magically poof into smoke, right? Even if a court literally ordered an injunction that those debts be stricken from the books as if they never happened, there is no financial firm on earth that wouldn’t find some backhanded way to balance the loss by shifting the burden to its other clients.

Maybe if any one of these companies posts a net profit, EVER, I might change my tune… but so far, this has been the emperor’s new clothes all over again.

… Depends on your definition of “okay”.

A maximally “good person” would not consider it OK to criticize someone’s religion, but they may criticize harmful activities that individuals perform, even if such individuals use their religion as an excuse to do harmful things–because it is not about religion, but rather about choices and actions.

However, I am admittedly not a maximally good person, no matter how much of a cinnamon roll I do wish I could be… And I draw the line a little further into the gray area, in that the thing that gives me pause is not “it’s a religion” but rather “participation in these activities–” this religion in particular “–strongly correlates with specific marginalized demographics.”

There is a very strong likelihood that dissing islam will also, with proverbial ‘splash damage’, hit people who are also going through a lot of awful shit with government leadership and legislation that somehow manages to STILL be more cruel and more corrupt than a given “global north” or “western” nation state.

So … It’s just awareness of context.

Also there is a chilling effect from all the highly publicized incidents where journalists are murdered for saying something that some individuals whom are Muslim do not agree with.

(although that does not make them look any worse than when israel murders journalists lately…)

Generally speaking, the normative population of christians (using the broadest possible definition in Literally Anyone Who Prays To Jesus) does not, statistically, suffer nearly as much oppression as muslims.

So … due to EXTERNALITIES, mocking islam itself, specifically, feels too much like ‘punching down’ for my liking. It is my hypothesis that there are other people hesitating to talk shit for the same or at least similar reasons. Meanwhile, mocking christianity is quite a bit less like ‘punching down’ because the most corrupt, powerful, dastardly sacks of shit on the planet dress themselves up as christians.

…That said, I do not think anyone has a leg to stand on as far as trying to dictate at other people that they are “allowed” to mock some religions but not others. I for one believe this is a personal choice that one must make for oneself. If you wish it did not happen, the extent of one’s individual influence is to choose not to oneself.

That dickhead wouldn’t understand responsibility if it tattooed a scarlet R onto his chest.

depends on the instance.

i really miss lemm.ee… it was just, y’know, nice. a nice place. with nice people. friendly, cheerful, open, welcoming.

then you have some instances that are rather uh … combative >.> i shan’t name names lest i accidentally summon their unwanted attention.

i’m new to my current instance and it’s a very cozy place so far. i worry i might be too edgy for the time being, but i’m hoping to sand those edges down, because goodness knows this cursed decade’s roughness has left me rough too. the Screaming Twenties have no brakes…