arsCynic

joined 2 weeks ago
MODERATOR OF
[–] arsCynic@piefed.social 14 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

Zen, LibreWolf, and Waterfox strip Firefox clean of AI.

Zen is a feature powerhouse like Vivaldi, without the bloat. LibreWolf is privacy focused and ships with uBlock Origin by default.


Zen is my main browser. LibreWolf at work for stability. Waterfox works on PC and Android, but I only use it on the latter so can't vouch for its performance on the former.

There are even more Firefox forks, but these are the one's I use.

[–] arsCynic@piefed.social 26 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (2 children)

Zen, LibreWolf, and Waterfox strip Firefox clean of AI.

Zen is a feature powerhouse like Vivaldi, without the bloat. LibreWolf is privacy focused and ships with uBlock Origin by default.


Zen is my main browser. LibreWolf at work for stability. Waterfox works on PC and Android, but I only use it on the latter so can't vouch for its performance on the former.

There are even more Firefox forks, but these are the one's I use.

[–] arsCynic@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

What the fuck indeed. I asked why in the comment section, because that's her YouTube channel.

[–] arsCynic@piefed.social 7 points 2 days ago

What’s the next best thing to changing operating systems?

Screenshot of Office Space, Milton and stapler at 00:32:56

[–] arsCynic@piefed.social 8 points 2 days ago

it explains so much of these people’s behavior

Indeed. For me, realizing the cause of problems continues to be instrumental to keep things in perspective when solutions are often too complex to contemplate. However, in this case the conclusion is clear: a wealth/power cap has to become normalized. The inverse of vaccinations, you take money away so the indefinite growth mind virus doesn't grab hold to infect or impact society.


Thank you for having invested time and thought into my essay, it makes it all worthwhile, truly.

[–] arsCynic@piefed.social 9 points 2 days ago

God I can feel that Charizard Pokémon Red cover in my soul.

[–] arsCynic@piefed.social 51 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

To those who sometimes feel bad by comparing themselves to "more accomplished" peers, the one-page CV on her website is clickable, it's actually six pages. Then realize your peers or you will never match Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski, so be kind to yourself. You do matter too, firefly: https://ncase.me/fireflies/.

She's a one-in-a-century human such as Leonhard Euler: brilliant scientifically, ethically, and most importantly, still kind.

Quote from her talk Exploring Many Worlds at 35:31:

Q: “Graduate school is hard. I was once told by my dissertation advisor that it's not how smart you are, it's really how disciplined you are. And I was wondering if you could give us your reflections about persistence and tenacity in the context of advancing in your field.”

Sabrina: “I think the craziest thing is that you actually get advice like that. You get told things that no one should be telling you, that you're doomed or whatever. So if I wasn't happy doing this more mathematical research, that I should leave, and not that there's, maybe, ways to change it. So I think that persistence is a tricky thing because, again, it's like this cost-benefit analysis of where do you want your future to be, who do you have to deal with in the meantime to get there and whatnot. I think that maybe the sociology needs to change in that it shouldn't be like "this is the way things are", kind of that tough advice [tough love] type of thing. I don't like it because it sucks, it gets rid of diversity of thought.”


PS Sabrina didn't actually say "no" to Jeff "the unethical" Bezos, because she wanted to work for Blue Origin and held an internship there. Choosing theoretical physics instead doesn't mean she flipped him off—however nice that would've been indeed.

[–] arsCynic@piefed.social 129 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

It actually does cause brain damage. I mentioned it in an essay (What if I paid for all my free software?):

For one, power causes brain damage which renders rich people literally incapable of knowing what is best for others:

“Subjects under the influence of power, he found in studies spanning two decades, acted as if they had suffered a traumatic brain injury—becoming more impulsive, less risk-aware, and, crucially, less adept at seeing things from other people’s point of view.”

“And when he put the heads of the powerful and the not-so-powerful under a transcranial-magnetic-stimulation machine, he found that power, in fact, impairs a specific neural process, “mirroring,” that may be a cornerstone of empathy.” ―Power Causes Brain Damage, by Jerry Useem for The Atlantic.‍[16]

[–] arsCynic@piefed.social 26 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Suspect hypothesis, not conspiracy theory. Especially in the USA it's not far fetched at all.

[–] arsCynic@piefed.social 69 points 2 days ago (9 children)

“In June 2021, Reiner said that he was working on a 10- to 13-episode TV project covering the relationship between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. The project, he said, would cover the leaders' childhoods up until the point where their lives cross.” ―https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Reiner#Political_views

Hmm 🧐.

[–] arsCynic@piefed.social 1 points 6 days ago

Honestly that’s the best I got.

I'll take whatever of that sparse good stuff that's given us.

[–] arsCynic@piefed.social 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (3 children)

Well, we don't do witch hunts anymore.
[Accidentally checks world news.]
Oh goddammit.

Technologically we've witnessed wonderful advances. Appendicitis? Appendectomy. Rotten tonsils? Yeet them yonder. However, psychologically and ethically, when reading back to societies from 2000 years ago, we haven't improved a bit as a species.

206
God Bless America, Or Else! (media.piefed.social)
submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by arsCynic@piefed.social to c/politicalmemes@lemmy.world
15
skateboarding (piefed.social)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by arsCynic@piefed.social to c/newcommunities@lemmy.world
 

!skateboarding@piefed.social

∈ {🛹}

Rules:

  1. ✅ Post relevant to skateboarding.
  2. 💢 Don’t act in bad faith. E.g., no ad hominem arguments, no plain juvenile behaviour to belittle others.
  3. 🚫 No posts that link to Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, or any other corporate billionaire-owned cesspools. YouTube is “fine”, for now.
view more: next ›