Getting real tired of everyone calling everything AI these days. Machine learning doesn't mean AI

No it's just straight up lazy and leading people to believe ChatGPT is out there solving archeological problems and is actually valuable. Just call it machine learning and go. Most non tech people won't care, and they won't keep having that association reinforced.

My point is you're arguing irrelevant semantics. They're out buying $500 million dollar superyachts. That's close enough to enough of their net worth being real money to make the distinction irrelevant.

For popcorn books I point more to like The Expanse series or something. Quick easy reads, nothing groundbreaking, but still relatively competently done.

I think part of my hatred for Ready Player One is just how many people raved about it as this new amazing book that was the pinnacle of modern sci-fi when a much better example already existed instead of just the vacation book you read it as.

Actually hold up. Why haven't we gotten a Snow Crash film yet? Dang it Hollywood

Sure, the yacht is only 500 million, that also doesn't include the 75 meter support yacht he often has sailing with it. Now add in his 4 private jets (roughly $250 million total), his three mansions on an almost private island off of Miami (roughly $240 million total), his roughly $40 million into his Washington DC house, his 30,000 acre ranch, his properties in Beverly Hills and Manhattan, and more I'm probably forgetting about (I know he owns more ranch land than just that 30k acre property, it's just the most well known since it now hosts his space company). Not even counting clothes (which Bezos is known to have a pricey watch collection despite wearing a "reserved" choice usually), food, and other expenses which definitely add up. That's a solid billion right there in real things he's bought.

Sure they can't tap the full "value" of their net worth, but the more they have, the more they can tap. And it's a disgusting amount. And they absolutely treat it as cash equivalent.

Go try and get an interest free loan from the bank.
Go "earn" a billion dollars in stock and try again.

I guarantee you'll have real money the second time. Sure they don't sit on cash but billionaires absolutely tap into that stock as equity and use it like cash. Many vehicles for doing so are well documented

I seriously don't get this constant "Valve is a monopoly, end them" bull crap. Yes they're a business. Yes they make money. Sure they've got flaws we should tackle. But they aren't out there trying to shut itch.io down or using legislation to stop you from hosting the game yourself. GOG and Epic aren't as popular because they don't provide a strong enough product to pull people away.

Offices also usually have computers and other things adding a bit insignificant amount to that heat.

That's your belief they're morally equivalent. Which is the core of the disagreement. Accepting the status quo is morally inferior is my belief.

Everyone should be doing what they can was more my point. I went for the biggest things for myself. I already was mostly vegetarian and didn't drive much so nothing to change there. Most of my carbon footprint was gaming, TV, and AC. Things I was able to work on easily. I do understand I'm fortunate enough to be able to add more insulation to my house and get more efficient appliances and so on. I do know we need to tackle things at the industrial level for best effect.

My point, again was that adding more power consumption and heat generation is definitely not the way.

I just, I comma splice so bad, no one can mistake it for AI, I just can't help myself. I think my ADHD, or something, leads to it, and other grammar issues that I've just never shaken.

And don't forget the ability to propel small lumps of metal real fast instead of energy based weaponry. Our advanced rock throwing was half of what they needed

I know for a fact you can run Windows 11 on 8GB of RAM. I just helped a friend install some software on his 8GB laptop. Now, did I spend five hours uninstalling so many things and snipping Windows down to size? Maybe. But it ran

And "AI" idiots who insist on burning entire areas just to generate shrimp Jesus memes

Do you like adventure?
Do you like nostalgia, especially for the eighties?
Do you like a relatable quirky hero?
Do you like a happy ending where the world is changed for the better?

If you said no to all of those then boy have I got the book for you!

Ready Player One promises a fun filled adventure where you get to go with a quirky but kind young man as he relives the best of the 80s on a virtual quest to find treasure left by the creator of a digital game. A real metaverse made by someone who isn't a lizard person in a skin suit and actually gets why we still only count to three, no more no less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shalt be three.

Instead we get Wade Watts, a down on his luck teenager who thinks obsessing over the tiniest details in old databases and memorizing the most boring list of facts from the 80s is the best thing ever.

This isn't a fun filled nostalgia trip. This is Wade masturbating over the fact he knows more useless factoids than you and touching himself while thinking about being Zuckerberg. Think of that weird kid from your class, thats right, that kid who spent all their time sitting in the corner and mumbling to themself about how everyone else just doesn't get how cool their obsession is. That's Ernest Cline and his book Ready Player One.

And don't even get me started on the "romance" plot where he chooses the girl in spite of/because of her physical deformity. Ho boy.

Things to read instead?

• Wikipedia articles about the 80s while you touch yourself. It'll be quicker and more enjoyable.
• Ender's Game - at least Ender is supposed to be rough and unlike others
• Snow Crash - the book Ernest Cline tried to write but had no idea why it's good

Mr Walken, boldly going where, no man, has gone before.

(In my head I'm hearing Walken give a Shatner impersonation)

I mean you're talking to a guy who has halved his total energy usage over the past four years including watching fewer shows, playing fewer games, and sharing more books with friends from our already existing libraries. Trying to convince me that AI isn't that bad because it only adds a little more energy usage is a real lost cause when I'm constantly trying to push things to less energy usage in every way I can because I hear climate scientists sounding all the alarm bells.

It's an extra 0.5% that didn't need to exist on top of everything else we need to reduce.

This whole MAHA thing has felt like a broken clock twice a day thing. I'm all for less food dyes and less sugar and the general message of food in America is broken. But why does it have to be some of the worst people imaginable doing it.

Went to Scotland a few years back, every day walked about the same I do here in America, ate way more junk food there (had to try all the things), and still came back weighing less. Americans, like always, have no idea how bad it's gotten here

I've not personally played any. I just know they're a thing. The two that have caught my eye in the past though:

https://midnightmuscadines.com/

https://www.colostle.com/

Have you looked into solo TTRPGs at all? A lot of them use tarot cards to guide you. Could be a fun way to interact with them and do that thought stuff without feeling guilty or whatever you're feeling for enjoying the process.