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chung8123 commented on Slop Terrifies Me   ezhik.jp/ai-slop-terrifie... · Posted by u/Ezhik
snozolli · a day ago
Before we used to have to buy really expensive tools that were designed to last forever and perform a ton of jobs. Now we can just go to harbor freight and get a tool that is good enough for most people.

This just isn't true. First, cheap tools have always been around. I have a few that I've inherited from my grandfather and great-grandfather. They're junk and I keep them specifically to remind myself that consumer-oriented trash versions of better quality tools have always existed.

Second, Harbor Freight is the only consumer-oriented tool retailer that seems to be consistently improving their product lines. Craftsman, which was the benchmark for quality, consumer-oriented hand tools, dropped off a cliff in terms of quality around the mid- to late-2000s.

If you can afford professional-grade tools (Snap-On, Mac, Wera, Knipex, etc.) great. For the rest of us, Harbor Freight is the only retailer looking out for us. Their American- and Taiwanese-made tools are excellent. Their Chinese-made tools are good. Their Indian-made tools will get the job done, but it won't be pleasant. At least they give the consumer a range of options, unlike Snap-On, which gives you a payment plan.

chung8123 · a day ago
Using tools broadly but things like torque wrenches, AC vacuum pumps, and other specialized tools have mostly been too expensive to buy. Now I can buy a cheap version and it works good enough for most cases. It is not cheaper even with buying the tools to do the work yourself.

This is happening in other areas as well. The Chinese mini excavators and mini skid steers are changing what smaller landscape companies can do. They are not as good as a Kubota but they are 1/2 the price and 80% as good.

chung8123 commented on Slop Terrifies Me   ezhik.jp/ai-slop-terrifie... · Posted by u/Ezhik
chung8123 · 2 days ago
AI slop is similar to the cheap tools at harbor freight. Before we used to have to buy really expensive tools that were designed to last forever and perform a ton of jobs. Now we can just go to harbor freight and get a tool that is good enough for most people.

80% of good maybe reframed as 100% ok for 80% of the people. It is when you are in the minority that cares about or needs that last 20% where it is a problem because the 80% were subsidizing your needs by buying more than the need.

chung8123 commented on Slop Terrifies Me   ezhik.jp/ai-slop-terrifie... · Posted by u/Ezhik
kubb · 2 days ago
I wonder, will the rich start hiring elaborate casts of servants including butlers, footmen, lady's maids, and so on, since they'll be the only ones with the income?
chung8123 · 2 days ago
Who do you think is building the machines for the rich? All of these tech companies are nothing without the employees that build the tech.
chung8123 commented on Tech workers ask their bosses to pressure Trump over ICE crackdowns   washingtonpost.com/techno... · Posted by u/reaperducer
chung8123 · 20 days ago
It is the tech workers that have enabled all of this. Tesla, Meta, Google, X, don't run on their own. They need people that have decided to turn a blind eye to what they are enabling with their work.
chung8123 commented on Porsche sold more electrified cars in Europe in 2025 than pure gas-powered cars   newsroom.porsche.com/en/2... · Posted by u/m463
nikanj · 21 days ago
Look at the average car payment in the US, and the average car sale price

The ”americans can’t afford EVs” argument falls totally apart when the average(!) sale price is over $50k and you can get a perfectly good Leaf for $25k

chung8123 · 20 days ago
You need to compare apples to apples in that 50k sale price. People are not buying Versas that are 50k
chung8123 commented on Ford F-150 Lightning outsold the Cybertruck and was then canceled for poor sales   electrek.co/2026/01/13/fo... · Posted by u/MBCook
m463 · a month ago
I remember when tesla was young and elon talked about selling electric cars through dealers. He said it would not work, they would not be advocates, they would prevent sales.

And I think that is spot on.

I also suspect internally the thinking is that the f150 lightning costs more to make than sell, which means it won't get strong advocacy.

Thing is, I'm 100% certain years of tesla vehicles cost more to make than they sold for, just in the nature of developing new things.

chung8123 · a month ago
Tesla made a lot of their money selling carbon credits so it is likely some of their cars didn't break even.
chung8123 commented on Ford F-150 Lightning outsold the Cybertruck and was then canceled for poor sales   electrek.co/2026/01/13/fo... · Posted by u/MBCook
catigula · a month ago
>A pickup truck should just be max utility, especially if you're a manufacturer making your first one

I don't think this is actually true, most pickup trucks aren't designed for maximum utility. They're designed to sell a lifestyle.

chung8123 · a month ago
Not just trucks. Almost all cars sell a lifestyle.
chung8123 commented on Ford F-150 Lightning outsold the Cybertruck and was then canceled for poor sales   electrek.co/2026/01/13/fo... · Posted by u/MBCook
wffurr · a month ago
You can have all the weird lifestyle preferences you want that don't involve conspicuous waste of natural resources and accelerating anthropogenic climate change.
chung8123 · a month ago
I find most people with critical looks at trucks have not looked at their own habits the most. Some have but I bet there are a lot of meat eaters here talking about how wasteful trucks are.
chung8123 commented on FBI raids Washington Post reporter's home   theguardian.com/us-news/2... · Posted by u/echelon_musk
k2enemy · a month ago
Kind of ironic that there's a big overlap in the venn diagram between 2nd amendment enthusiasts and the crowd that is cheering on the government's authoritarian actions.
chung8123 · a month ago
There isn't, it just appears that way. There is a subset of people that are cheering on the government in this situation and they are 2nd amendment supporters but the 2nd amendment supporters are much larger than that overlap.

Things like this is just another way of trying to drive a wedge.

chung8123 commented on AI generated music barred from Bandcamp   old.reddit.com/r/BandCamp... · Posted by u/cdrnsf
autoexec · a month ago
> The thing is, you aren't entitled to distribution.

That applies to people spamming AI slop too. People are right to complain about spammers. Platforms are right to try to stop spam, even though everyone knows that spam is a problem that is never going be solved.

> Most musicians who make it these days work really hard at doing live shows, or growing a following on tiktok.

Live shows, by their nature, have almost zero reach. A performance for 40 people takes place once in a single location at a specific time and then it's over. You're either there when it happens or you missed it. A song on youtube or bandcamp can be heard by millions quickly over a few weeks or gradually over years. Social media was a massive boon for musicians.

Sadly, it will get substantially harder to grow a following on tiktok or any other social media platform if those platforms are flooded with AI generated garbage. Real artists will be harder to find. Anyone doing anything new will be drowned out by AI regurgitating everything old. When creative people can't succeed, the creativity they'd inspire in others is lost and everything stagnates.

chung8123 · a month ago
What you call slop others may enjoy. Calling stuff AI slop doesn't mean it isn't someone's art.

u/chung8123

KarmaCake day439May 5, 2022View Original