randcraw (u/randcraw)

randcraw commented on Dependable C dependablec.org/... · Posted by u/RossBencina

accelbred · 10 days ago

Is there a way to force reader mode or force text not to be justified like that? I'm having a difficult time reading the content (on mobile at least).

randcraw · 10 days ago

On an iPad I can't read the web page at all. The insert at the upper right overlies and obscures the main body of text.

It'd also be a good starting point to be more concrete in your ambitions. What version of C is your preferred starting point, the basis for your "Better C"?

I'd also suggest the name "Dependable C" confuses readers about your objective. You don't seek reliability but a return to C's simpler roots. All the more reason to choose a recognized historical version of C as your baseline and call it something like "Essential C".

randcraw commented on Trials avoid high risk patients and underestimate drug harms nber.org/papers/w34534... · Posted by u/bikenaga

randcraw · 12 days ago

It's understandable that unusual patients are seen as confounding variables in any study, especially those with small numbers of patients. Though I haven't read beyond the abstract, it also makes sense that larger studies (phase 3 or 4) should not exclude such patients, but perhaps could report results in more than one way -- including only those with the primary malady as well as those with common confounding conditions.

Introducing too many secondary conditions in any trial is an invitation for the drug to fail safety and/or efficacy due to increased demands on both. And as we all know, a huge fraction of drugs fail in phase 3 already. Raising the bar further, without great care, will serve neither patients nor business.

randcraw commented on Americans no longer see four-year college degrees as worth the cost nbcnews.com/politics/poli... · Posted by u/jnord

abeppu · 20 days ago

> Don't expect universities to sit still and do nothing.

> The popularity of residential degree programs may be ending, due to insanely high cost.

I think the problem is that universities _have_ been changing in the direction of _delivering less_ at the same time that they cost more. The article cites public schools doubling tuition in inflation-adjusted terms since 1995, but simultaneously:

- student-faulty ratios have gotten worse

- schools use under-paid adjuncts for a larger share of classes

- good schools often trade on the research record of faculty, but the success of those prominent faculty often mean they can get course buyouts / releases, so they're not teaching anyway

- much has been published about administrative bloat in universities but for example see 2010 vs 2021 numbers here https://www.usnews.com/education/articles/one-culprit-in-ris...

Rather than trying to make new online offerings, I think schools need to lean out their staff, and cut back on programs that don't have to do with instruction. Even better would be if federal funding eligibility was tied to schools demonstrating that at least X% of their budget goes to instruction, where that X should ratchet up over time.

randcraw · 20 days ago

The author neglects to observe that doubling tuition over 30 years equates to only a 2.35% inflation rate. That sounds pretty close to the US inflation rate during that time, so increases in tuition cost have been held in check pretty well.

randcraw commented on Americans no longer see four-year college degrees as worth the cost nbcnews.com/politics/poli... · Posted by u/jnord

randcraw · 20 days ago

As the article says, this change in opinion has been very big and very recent. Don't expect universities to sit still and do nothing.

I see several possible reactions. One is to do what Georgia Tech and U Texas are doing -- to offer online degrees for MUCH reduced cost, like $10k. Will such 30 credit MS degree programs (that don't require BS first) replace 120 credit BS degrees? That makes a lot of sense to me.

The popularity of residential degree programs may be ending, due to insanely high cost and the need to retrain often as AI automation changes the employment picture rapidly and unpredictably.

randcraw commented on We're losing our voice to LLMs tonyalicea.dev/blog/were-... · Posted by u/TonyAlicea10

LogicFailsMe · 23 days ago

I would be intrigued by using an LLM to detect content like this and hold it for moderation. The elevator pitch would be training an LLM to be the moderator because that's what people want to hear, but it's most likely going to end up a moderator's assistant.

randcraw · 23 days ago

I think the curation of all media content using your own LLM that has been tuned using your own custom criteria _must_ become the future of media.

We've long done this personally at the level of a TV news network, magazine, newspaper, or website -- choosing info sources that were curated and shaped by gatekeeper editors. But with the demise of curated news, it's becoming necessary for each of us to somehow filter the myriad individual info sources ourselves. Ideally this will be done using a method smart enough to take our instructions and route only approved content to us, while explaining what was approved/denied and being capable of being corrected and updated. Ergo, the LLM-based custom configured personal news gateway is born.

Of course the criteria driving your 'smart' info filter could be much more clever than allowing all content from specific writers. It could review each piece for myriad strengths/weaknesses (originality, creativity, novel info, surprise factor, counter intuitiveness, trustworthiness, how well referenced, etc) so that this LLM News Curator could reliably deliver a mix of INTERESTING content rather than the repetitively predictable pablum that editor-curated media prefers to serve up.

randcraw commented on Implications of AI to schools twitter.com/karpathy/stat... · Posted by u/bilsbie

ubj · a month ago

One of my students recently came to me with an interesting dilemma. His sister had written (without AI tools) an essay for another class, and her teacher told her that an "AI detection tool" had classified it as having been written by AI with "100% confidence". He was going to give her a zero on the assignment.

Putting aside the ludicrous confidence score, the student's question was: how could his sister convince the teacher she had actually written the essay herself? My only suggestion was for her to ask the teacher to sit down with her and have a 30-60 minute oral discussion on the essay so she could demonstrate she in fact knew the material. It's a dilemma that an increasing number of honest students will face, unfortunately.

randcraw · 25 days ago

It's not that hard to prove that you did the work and not an AI. Show your work. Explain to the teacher why you wrote what you did, why that particular approach to the narrative appealed to you and you chose that as the basis for your work. Show an outline on which the paper was based. Show rough drafts. Explain how you revised the work, where you found your references, and why you retained some sources in the paper and not others.

To wit, show the teacher that YOU did the work and not someone else. If the teacher is not willing to do this with every student they accuse of malfeasance, they need to find another job. They're lazy as hell and suck at teaching.

randcraw commented on · Posted by u/xbmcuser

watwut · a month ago

Which media and what headlines?

randcraw · a month ago

And which continent, country, province, city, or neighborhood are we talking about? The differences between EV and ICE sales is the same (or trending the same) across all of these regions? Certainly claiming that would be a lie.

randcraw commented on FSF announces Librephone project fsf.org/news/librephone-p... · Posted by u/g-b-r

monero-xmr · 2 months ago

Most importantly is to continue supporting web browser access and open web protocols. Then anyone with a web browser and device can use all the apps.

randcraw · 2 months ago

Exactly. A simple phone that runs a browser I can trust that's also capable of running web-based apps is all I need. I already avoid running apps on my iphone whenever possible.

The phone I really want is as uncomplicated and open as possible and beholden to no corporate economic interests or privacy invasions.

Now that I'm retired I'm looking for a project to immerse myself in. This sounds like just the ticket.

randcraw commented on Daniel Kahneman opted for assisted suicide in Switzerland bluewin.ch/en/entertainme... · Posted by u/kvam

airbreather · 2 months ago

I saw someone interviewed who had set the criteria of being able to enjoy some ice cream with his children and grandchildren at the regular family dinner on Sunday late afternoons.

He said that alone made life worth living, for him and them, but once any deteriorating conditions rendered him permanently unable to participate in this weekly activity then he felt it was time to go.

Maybe having a pre-set condition like this is less arbitrary, and also allows everyone involved to understand as the time comes closer.

randcraw · 2 months ago

I think this is a fair measure of any life -- are there enough positives to offset the negatives? And that includes the cost (and the benefit) of your suicide on others. No one but you should be able to make that call. All that remains then, legally, is to ensure you are well informed about the de/merits of your choice and sane enough to make the call.

Of course, even if you lack legal permission, suicide doesn't strictly _require_ legal or medical assistance. An autonomous exit is always an option, though generally less painless than assisted.

randcraw commented on Daniel Kahneman opted for assisted suicide in Switzerland bluewin.ch/en/entertainme... · Posted by u/kvam

iamacyborg · 2 months ago

I really didn't get on with that one. Felt very much like a book that could have easily been shortened down to an essay and suffered for the additional length.

randcraw · 2 months ago

The coauthors of Noise simply don't write as well as Kahneman did. The lack his focus and tight narrative thread.