Paul Rietschka

RE: @dpnash@c.im

"Oh, look, an algorithm that extrudes synthetic text! Let's use this synthetic text extruder trained on the internet for...astrophysics!"

Room full of astrophysicists:

"Yay!"

Small group of astrophysicists lurking at the back of the room:

"What the fuck? Are they on drugs? Have they suffered brain damage? Wtf is happening?"

RE: @delta_vee@cosocial.ca

I have been saying something along these lines for years and years:

--licensing requirements for SWEs
--a union/guild
--apprenticeship model along the lines of trades
--schooling model similar to law, where a four year degree is required prior to a 2-3 year SW engineering program (and mandated to include the humanities as a explicit way of dealing with the "what the fuck do we do with all these half-educated nitwits who only know how to code?" problem)

This is so needed.

RE: @minmi@sfba.social

A core policy of the left should be a comprehensive crackdown on the modern surveillance state.

These dumbshits get **this close** to getting it, then they just can't and back away.

**This close** then...nope.

Every time. https://youtu.be/7tnwGolP9xE?si=59SD_BfoosKPwGSY

Not a bad lineup -- but, Ethan Mollick? Lol -- but one still should need a license to have a podcast. https://www.forbes.com/sites/markjoyella/2026/04/30/ms-nows-chris-hayes-takes-on-the-terrifying-questions-around-ai-with-new-podcast/

RE: @baldur@toot.cafe

This is exactly what Microsoft is and always has been.

Nadella’s completely false reputation is perhaps the biggest PR stunt in modern corporate history.

Azure, more, has always been a bit of a psyop: faulty services no one really uses, a pale comparison to its competitors.

RE: @Techmeme@techhub.social

Ooooh, Spacex -- a rocket company that owns Twitter, for some reason -- now offers voice cloning as a SAAS product.

Makes sense.

RE: @Techmeme@techhub.social

This man is such a freak it's hard to put into words.

Also, what's wrong with these women?

RE: @Techmeme@techhub.social

"Forget curing cancer, AI will instead make large swaths of the population indigent and, we who will not be part of this permanent underclass, couldn't care in the least."

RE: @wired@flipboard.com

Remember when the entirety of Maga realized, apparently all at once, that the character of Homelander from "The Boys" is actually the bad guy?

Remember how shocked they were to find this out?

So telling that it was season three before they realized he was the antagonist.

The American right is, yes, very stupid; but there is a whole lot else going on there, and the Homelander situation really showcases that other something.

“Candy maker, whose livelihood depends on sale of candy, is bullish on candy sales despite diabetes epidemic killing off candy buyers.”

This is malpractice by a faculty at a major institution. https://www.businessinsider.com/cs-professor-explains-changes-software-engineering-ai-2026-4

“Lieber is now overseeing China’s state-funded i-BRAIN, or the Institute for Brain Research, Advanced Interfaces and Neurotechnologies, with access to dedicated nanofabrication equipment and primate research infrastructure unavailable to him at Harvard.”

Moving to Shenzhen because Harvard wasn’t paying you enough money, or allowing you to torture monkeys in the way you prefer is…a decision? I guess? https://www.reuters.com/world/china/convicted-former-harvard-scientist-rebuilds-brain-computer-lab-china-2026-04-30/