Candescence 's BestNetTech Comments

Latest Comments (90)

• On the post: Tow Center Study Again Shows “AI” Sucks At Conveying Accurate News

  

  Candescence ( profile ), 20 Mar, 2025 @ 09:08pm

  I mean, the problem here is that these models are just fancy word-matching algorithms, they literally have no capacity for identifying what is correct or incorrect, all these models know is what seems correct based on what they've been trained on. Some of them are just better at being less wrong than others.

• On the post: GOG’s New Plan To Weaponize Its Community’s Wishlist Of Games To Pressure IP Holders

  

  Candescence ( profile ), 04 Feb, 2025 @ 06:25am

  Fun fact: there's at least one dedicated website hosting "pirated" fan-patched copies of NOLF that anyone can just download, that are fairly easy to find. Rock Paper Shotgun even linked to one of them in an article highlighting this. Speaks volumes about how the supposed rightsholders don't give a damn.

• On the post: Why Generative AI’s Lack Of Modularity Means It Can’t Be Meaningfully Open, Is Unreliable, And Is A Technological Dead End

  

  Candescence ( profile ), 04 Dec, 2024 @ 02:05am

  As far as I'm concerned, generative "AI" has numerous problems that evangelists have no real answer for. It's an extremely contentious technology (just ask artists who are understandably worried about such models being trained on their works and how it would affect their livelihoods), is extremely inconsistent, and I believe a "one size fits all" solution is going to be functionally impossible. Perhaps "bespoke" models for a very specific purpose using limited but relevant training data are going to be more viable, but general-purpose generative models are extremely limited by their training data, introducing a "popularity bias" to things (as in, how well it performs on a specific thing is based on how much data it has on that thing) and because these models are already scraping basically the entire internet, they're already running out of data. The idea of introducing "synthetic training data" to the mix has been floated, but it's an insane suggestion because AI-generated data has actually shown to degrade the quality of models that include it in training data. There's also studies suggesting that there's actually a threshold where the amount of data used to train a model results in diminishing returns to the quality of the model as well. You also can't actually improve these models after training them with new data on the fly, the only way to improve them is to start again from scratch. It's going to be an uphill battle at best for these companies to overcome these problems, if not outright Sisyphian. While machine learning is likely going to have some really interesting and beneficial use cases, I'm convinced that generative "AI" is very likely to be a dead end. These models are hitting rapidly diminishing returns despite the amount of power and data being put into them, and while "AI" has proven to be venture capital bait, last I checked it's also hasn't proven to actually be profitable for anyone. I wouldn't be surprised if generative "AI" goes the way of blockchain and NFTs. The fact that Apple has been slow to get in on LLMs and their approach feels so half-hearted is a massive red flag.

• On the post: Warner Bros. Still Cutting Off Harry Potter’s Nose To Spite His Face

  

  Candescence ( profile ), 09 Oct, 2024 @ 11:19pm

  Well, the fact that Joanne is an outspoken bigot and is just plain weird is probably a big part of it.

• On the post: Warner Bros. Still Cutting Off Harry Potter’s Nose To Spite His Face

  

  Candescence ( profile ), 09 Oct, 2024 @ 10:48pm

  Wow, this is patently idiotic. You want to encourage actions that help people get into a fandom, and this is not the way to do that. Idiots. Though, really, any bad publicity for this overrated series with a ghoulish publisher and a bigoted author is good.

• On the post: Press Struggles To Explain How The GOP Killed A Popular Broadband Discount Program, Driving Millions Of Poor Americans Off The Internet

  

  Candescence ( profile ), 29 Aug, 2024 @ 09:40am

  Well, for what it's worth, Manchin has no chance of being re-elected - his days were numbered the instant Jim Justice began running for Manchin's senate seat. Manchin also left the Democrats once that was obvious, and both he and Sinema are poised to lose all relevance along with their seats. He did briefly mull over the idea of challenging Kamala Harris at the DNC, but he quickly decided not to (likely because she'd completely destroy him and some important people also likely took him aside and told him to drop the idea or else).

• On the post: Ukraine Turns To Flying Machine Guns And Autonomous AI-Controlled Drone Swarms To Counter Russian Numbers

  

  Candescence ( profile ), 05 Jul, 2024 @ 07:21pm

  For what it's worth, the apocalypse in Horizon was caused by self-replicating autonomous weapons that used bio-matter as resources. We're thankfully nowhere near that stage, however, and hopefully, if we do get anywhere near that stage, it'll be banned first. Unfortunately, we already have a Ted Faro in the form of Elon Musk, but it's fortunate he's not in the business of making weapons... Yet...

• On the post: Phil Spencer Internal Comms Leak, In Which He Only Addresses To Most Fringey Conspiracy Theory

  

  Candescence ( profile ), 15 Feb, 2024 @ 04:04am

  It's not just Sony, Nintendo are wrecking Microsoft's shit as well, the Switch is still selling very well and is quite literally the third best-selling console of all time, and is currently only about 15 million units away from surpassing the Playstation 2 in terms of official sales numbers. Also, if recent inside info is correct, then the Switch 2 will be unveiled in March and released not long before the holidays, and leaked specs indicate that the Switch 2 will be able to run pretty much anything the Xbox Series S can, at least at lower settings. A lot of people tend to discount the Switch, but it's really been punching above its weight, especially with very impressive ports like Doom Eternal and the Witcher 3, despite having surprisingly old mobile hardware. If Nintendo maintains its current marketing strategy and don't do anything too drastic with the hardware, the Switch 2 is likely to eat Sony and Microsoft's lunch like its predecessor did. It's rather understandable why Microsoft is likely considering a pivot towards a more multi-platform approach while still keeping their toes in the hardware business. They have been bloody cagey about the rumors, though, but I'm not surprised considering said rumors have kinda gotten out of control and Xbox diehards are losing their fucking minds over them.

• On the post: Nintendo DMCAs ‘Palworld’ Mod That Puts Actual Pokémon Into The Game

  

  Candescence ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2024 @ 08:34pm

  That's misinformation. The twitter post "proving" that he made it all up has been conspicuously deleted and also the "reasons" were nonsensical - the supposed "smoking gun" was that he used the scale tool to demonstrate the similarities between the models, even though scaling doesn't actually change the geometry and even scaling on one or two axis can credibly demonstrate how a model was modified. Also, the motives are kinda irrelevant. Other people have also been examining the models and have been making similar findings, including one Palworld model that has a very similar skeleton to a Pokemon model, just with extra bones added on the ends. There's nothing conclusive, but there's a lot of red flags. https://x.com/themimegogo/status/1750601767031595407?s=20 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcmCuimN6YY

• On the post: Palworld Is a Great Example Of The Idea/Expression Dichotomy

  

  Candescence ( profile ), 26 Jan, 2024 @ 03:45am

  (Also wow I got my formatting mixed up, whoops.)

• On the post: Palworld Is a Great Example Of The Idea/Expression Dichotomy

  

  Candescence ( profile ), 26 Jan, 2024 @ 03:40am

  That's misinformation purely based on supposed discord messages and mere use of the [i]scale tool[/i] on [i]3D models.[/i] There are other people who are doing independent investigation of the models and also finding notable similarities, including at least one model having an identical animation skeleton.

• On the post: Does Elon Grok The Trademark Issues With ‘Grok’? AI Chip Company Groq Does

  

  Candescence ( profile ), 16 Nov, 2023 @ 05:39am

  Oh, no, I'm not. "Stranger in a Strange Land" is influential and revolutionary, but it's also sexist, homophobic, racist in at least one scene and has some interesting (aka warped) ideas about consent (which hilariously also involves Heinlein's self-insert character being sexually assaulted by the aforementioned sex cult and frames it like it was a good thing). Also, the cannibalism. Even one of its more positive ideas (that women can and should enjoy sex) is undermined by male characters calling sexually active women sluts and whores. It has some really cool ideas, but a lot of the book is flat-out bonkers even today. He also wrote Starship Troopers, an arguably jingoistic and fascist novel that the film adaptation basically turned into satire. Heinlein is a revolutionary and influential author, but he's also really goddamn problematic, especially in hindsight.

• On the post: Does Elon Grok The Trademark Issues With ‘Grok’? AI Chip Company Groq Does

  

  Candescence ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2023 @ 04:43pm

  There are so many things wrong with the use of the word "Grok" in this instance. It's ironic considering Elon is using a word for fundamentally understanding something on a deep level for an LLM that simply can't do that, or the fact that he somehow got it mixed up with Hitchhiker's, which is... How? Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Stranger in a Strange Land are two completely different books. You'd think Elon would remember which one involves the protagonist starting a creepy sex cult, for starters. (But really, "Stranger in a Strange Land" is a goddamn weird book with a lot of problematic elements and I'm frankly not at all surprised that Elon is apparently a fan of Heinlein's work.)

• On the post: Microsoft Suddenly Decides To Prevent Third Party Accessories From Working On Xbox

  

  Candescence ( profile ), 01 Nov, 2023 @ 08:59pm

  *further in ways that are detrimental to PC gamers Whoops, that goof slipped through.

• On the post: Microsoft Suddenly Decides To Prevent Third Party Accessories From Working On Xbox

  

  Candescence ( profile ), 01 Nov, 2023 @ 08:56pm

  Who said I had faith in Windows? There's still Linux, and considering Valve (the owner of THE largest PC storefront) has been actively investing in Linux through Steam OS and Proton as an active hedge against the enshittification of Windows and is easily in a position to lock Windows users out of Steam if they so desired to screw over Microsoft, Windows is no longer the only viable option for the vast majority of games now. And I have many issues with the Epic Games Store (and Epic's self-righteous positioning of itself as a champion of the little guy), but Epic is equally suspicious of Microsoft, considering Tim Sweeney's comments on the matter. Both Valve and Epic (who has basically one of the most popular F2P games on the market) both have Microsoft over a barrel. Microsoft are in literally no position to enshittify Windows further that are detrimental to PC gamers without Valve and Epic kicking up a massive fuss about it and highlighting it to hundreds of millions of users. And worst comes to worst, Linux is right there. I imagine Microsoft is still kicking itself to this day for not doing what Steam did first.

• On the post: Microsoft Suddenly Decides To Prevent Third Party Accessories From Working On Xbox

  

  Candescence ( profile ), 01 Nov, 2023 @ 08:40pm

  Considering I've heard Halo 5's campaign is a mess and I don't play much Halo multiplayer, I'd say that's not a huge loss. A bit baffling, though, considering the rest of the series is on PC now as of the MCC and Infinite, and last I checked Halo 5 Forge is on PC as well as a standalone thing??

• On the post: Microsoft Suddenly Decides To Prevent Third Party Accessories From Working On Xbox

  

  Candescence ( profile ), 01 Nov, 2023 @ 03:58pm

  See, this is why I prefer to game on PC. Which is where literally all of Microsoft's games are nowadays anyway, so I consider buying an Xbox to be pointless.

• On the post: Nvidia Embraces Modding Community For ‘Half Life 2’ Project, Valve Apparently Cool With It

  

  Candescence ( profile ), 26 Aug, 2023 @ 06:28am

  I'm not sure why you'd be at all concerned about Valve doing anything bad, Tim. Valve is historically very encouraging and permissive when it comes to modding, hell, Counter-Strike started as a mod and Valve hired the team who made it to make a commercial version of it, and that's not the last time they've hired modders either. You can literally find a bunch of mods officially listed on Steam as well, and you can easily access a bunch of modding tools straight from Steam itself courtesy of Valve. They literally let a bunch of talented folks sell a remake of the original Half-Life (now known as Black Mesa) on Steam. And that's not the only time games based on the Half Life IP have been sold on Steam due to the Source engine's rather permissive terms, though that hasn't always been a good thing - see Hunt Down the Freeman, which has rather infamously been pointed to as an example of Valve/Steam's lack of quality control. Also Portal RTX is an official add-on for the original Portal, so I can't imagine Half Life 2 RTX not being the same for the original game. So yeah I doubt there'll be any actual problems. Say what you will about Valve, but when it comes to fan works and modding, they really do right by their fans.

• On the post: Sigh: Rockstar Goes Right Back To Its War On Mods

  

  Candescence ( profile ), 21 Aug, 2023 @ 09:13pm

  Maybe we should distinguish Rockstar from Take-Two in all of this?

  I wonder at this point if it's Rockstar or Take-Two that's primarily responsible for clamping down on mods at this point. Because I feel it's usually the big publisher with a single-minded obsession with the bottom line that's more draconian than the developer. Granted I wouldn't be totally surprised if Rockstar was fine with its parent company's activities (not like they can actively speak out if they weren't though), but maybe we should avoid conflating the two unless there's more certain proof otherwise?

• On the post: Yes, In Theory, Elon Could Be Cooking Up Something Better Than Blocks, But In Reality…

  

  Candescence ( profile ), 21 Aug, 2023 @ 07:16pm

  Honestly, knowing Musk it's more likely that he's mad that people can actually block/mute him, floated this as a thought bubble, realized nobody else thinks it's a good idea, and decided to desperately pivot by saying "we'll replace it with something better!" While trying to come up with an idea that he can claim is "better" while still achieving his original objective.

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