SirMaster (u/SirMaster)

SirMaster commented on TikTok's 'addictive design' found to be illegal in Europe nytimes.com/2026/02/06/bu... · Posted by u/thm

wackget · 2 days ago

It's way more complex than "no self control". Social media is addictive by design and is peddled at such scale that it is literally impossible to ignore. It's also backed by billions upon billions of dollars.

Pitting the average person up against that, then blaming them for having "no self control" once they inevitably get sucked in is not a remotely fair conclusion.

SirMaster · 2 days ago

People keep saying this and yet, I have never used any of these short form video services or really any social media outside of desktop websites like hackernews and reddit. Even on reddit I just subscribe to a few niche and mostly technical subreddits. It seems extremely easy to ignore it all.

SirMaster commented on TikTok's 'addictive design' found to be illegal in Europe nytimes.com/2026/02/06/bu... · Posted by u/thm

wackget · 2 days ago

You are not acknowledging the fact that the companies producing these addictive apps are very much doing it intentionally. They are specifically making it as engaging as possible because that's how they make money. And they have billions of dollars to sink into making their products as irresistable as possible.

The average person has zero chance against all-pervasive, ultra-manipulative, highly-engineered systems like that.

It is, quite simply, not a fair fight.

SirMaster · 2 days ago

>The average person has zero chance against all-pervasive, ultra-manipulative, highly-engineered systems like that.

So you are saying I am not an average person because I have the willpower to simply not install the TikTok app or watch short form video on any platform?

Has the bar for the average person really sunk this low?

SirMaster commented on Bitcoin tumbles below $70k, wiping out gains since Trump 2024 win reuters.com/business/bitc... · Posted by u/JumpCrisscross

SirMaster · 3 days ago

Bitcoin goes up, bitcoin goes down, you can't explain that.

Seriously though, bitcoin has always been highly volatile, is this really a story?

SirMaster commented on AI needs to augment rather than replace humans or the workplace is doomed theguardian.com/technolog... · Posted by u/PaulHoule

danaris · 4 days ago

Well...now you have! ^_^

SirMaster · 4 days ago

I also define work like that.

SirMaster commented on Xcode 26.3 – Developers can leverage coding agents directly in Xcode apple.com/newsroom/2026/0... · Posted by u/davidbarker

SirMaster · 5 days ago

I don't think I'm ready for my phone apps to get even more sloppy...

I wonder if they used this internally to write iOS 26? Would explain some things...

SirMaster commented on New York’s budget bill would require “blocking technology” on all 3D printers blog.adafruit.com/2026/02... · Posted by u/ptorrone

SirMaster · 5 days ago

But not CNC machines?

SirMaster commented on Finland looks to introduce Australia-style ban on social media yle.fi/a/74-20207494... · Posted by u/Teever

tartoran · 8 days ago

No, HN is more like a forum. It doesn’t have dark patterns and addictive engineering built in, even if it could itself be addictive. There ‘s been functionality built in to limit time spent on HN for a long time. Look at noprocrast setting for example. Even if HN could be seen as social media it’s not in the same category of destructive social media a la Facebook/Instagram/Tiktok

SirMaster · 8 days ago

What about Reddit? What about 4chan?

SirMaster commented on Waymo robotaxi hits a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica techcrunch.com/2026/01/29... · Posted by u/voxadam

Mawr · 9 days ago

So you say, with hindsight. Regardless, what you would do is irrelevant. The question is: what would the ~average driver do? If you tell me the average driver goes <=14mph in that situation, I'm gonna look at you funny.

SirMaster · 9 days ago

I say because I actually do when I drive through places like active school zones like that.

I don't care what the average driver does, that's a dumb excuse IMO. I care what I do. If I am going to make my car self-driving, it better be at least as good if not better than me if I am going to trust it to transport my family etc.

We should hold self driving to a higher standard than "average driver" because average is bad.

SirMaster commented on Waymo robotaxi hits a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica techcrunch.com/2026/01/29... · Posted by u/voxadam

jobs_throwaway · 10 days ago

Computers can take all of those things into account as well

SirMaster · 10 days ago

Can, but don't.

It doesn't seem like self driving cars take into account the icy conditions of roads for one simple example.

SirMaster commented on Waymo robotaxi hits a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica techcrunch.com/2026/01/29... · Posted by u/voxadam

jobs_throwaway · 10 days ago

Yup. And to add

> Waymo said in its blog post that its “peer-reviewed model” shows a “fully attentive human driver in this same situation would have made contact with the pedestrian at approximately 14 mph.”

It's likely that a fully-attentive human driver would have done worse. With a distracted driver (a huge portion of human drivers) it could've been catastrophic.

SirMaster · 10 days ago

If I was a human driver in that contextual situation I wouldn't even be going 14mph in the first place...

u/SirMaster

KarmaCake day1543October 8, 2015View Original