owl flight

Before delegating an activity to a machine, you should always take a moment to reflect on whether this might not be an activity that it would be better for you to do yourself.
Walking may often be better than taking a car. Playing an instrument may be better than having your computer play recorded music. And so on.
Resolving this question is actually the central challenge that everyone faces in learning to live with AI technology.

2024-06-01 03:04:35

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Some of the most pleasurable experiences are sensations of the cessation of pain. As you observe, you can't even have these if you did not have the pain in the first place.
What a person should be aiming for is a combination of hardships and pleasures. The trick is to get the timing and the proportions right. Many people would do better if they added more hardships to their mix, but there are also people who are getting worn out and would benefit from more pleasures.

2024-05-30 06:50:43

I can't decide if they are not making many good movies any more, or if I have just lost much of my interest in movies.

2024-05-29 19:47:04

Felt a small earthquake. Everything is in flux.

2024-05-29 19:30:29

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Do they have better options?

2024-05-24 20:43:53

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Infrastructure (Roads, Bridges, Sewers etc.); Public Schools &Universities; Public Transportation; Police / Fire Departments; Health Insurance System (Affordable Care Act); Parks.

2024-05-24 20:31:55

Yet another hour of my life spent thinking about the two envelopes paradox.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_envelopes_problem

2024-05-24 19:27:54

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Thanks, I'm taking a look at the Zeus website, which looks really helpful. Since this allows you to run a lightning node on your phone, I guess it's sort of an all-in-one package with all the software pieces in place that you need to learn by doing.

2024-05-24 19:18:35

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Thanks, that's what I figured. I guess it probably works well enough if you just want to use lightning without a lot of insight into what is happening in the background.

2024-05-24 04:32:24

In honor of the German constitution, let's work hard to ensure that every German politician who supported the lockdowns, mask mandates or vaccine mandates will be voted out and never hold public office again.
https://overton-magazin.de/kommentar/politik-kommentar/auf-grund-gesetzt/

2024-05-24 04:26:54

Missed the 75th birthday of the German constitution yesterday, which apparently was celebrated with all the trappings of a police state:
"A total of about 1,000 police officers were deployed in and around the government district of Berlin on Thursday, a spokeswoman said, in order to police the state ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of Germany's constitution."
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/heavy-police-presence-at-ceremony-to-celebrate-german-constitution/ar-BB1mUxBa

2024-05-24 04:13:27

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(3). I also remember having occasion to do (6) once, although I'm not a programmer.

2024-05-24 04:07:24

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Actual newbie here. For what it's worth, the only lightning wallet I've ever set up is Wallet of Satoshi. Everything else seemed too troublesome / confusing. I then funded the wallet with a small amount but have not so far found a business where I could use it (I know there are various online options but they don't generally have stuff that I need enough). I may connect it to nostr and try zapping - I'll have to read up on how to do that.
What makes it a little difficult to get totally excited about lightning is that I still don't really understand how it works. What I find attractive about bitcoin is the ability to hold currency in a non-custodial wallet. So with lightning, I would also want a non-custodial wallet. But I don't really get how such a wallet (or really any lightning wallet) interacts with the lightning network and the chain. For example, there is supposed to be an opening and later closing of a payment channel, but I'm not really seeing that in, say, Wallet of Satoshi. If I were to buy a cup of coffee, when and with whom is the channel opened, or is it already open? When is the channel closed? When does an on-chain transaction occur? It's all a bit obscure. That's not to say that I won't use lightning, it just dampens the enthusiasm.

2024-05-24 03:19:08

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Sort of understand bitcoin. Don't really understand lightning. Have never heard of fedimint. Don't understand "groking". Much to learn.

2024-05-23 09:06:48

Crypto and AI are opposite forces.
AI exploits the availability of computing power to generate an ocean of content, which holds within itself the ocean of content that was the internet prior to the advent of AI, which in turn held within itself the ocean of content that humans had generated prior to the arrival of the internet.
Crypto, by contrast, exploits the phenomenon of uncomputability. It is founded on what no computer, including no AI system, can efficiently compute. Crypto can thus, for example, be used to wall off content that is particularly precious from the reach of AI. Crypto can also be used to mark off human identities, authenticate genuine human voices and clearly differentiate them from the ocean of content generated by AI.

2024-05-23 04:25:47

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That works.

2024-05-23 03:38:41

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Yes. I've been using nostr only for a few days but have been thinking that it was a bit off when clients referred to "accounts".
"Read-Only Key" works, but "Access Key" does not capture the main idea since "access" could also mean only "read". Maybe something like "Write Key" or "Write Access Key".

2024-05-23 03:25:56

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Very neat. Good idea to point out that nostr does not require an email address to register.

2024-05-22 17:07:08

Is there a way to format text when writing notes?
Italics, boldface, bullet points, lists, etc.?

2024-05-21 08:44:20

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I had overlooked the button.
Not here for auto-generated content, including translations. I want to see the characters as they were typed by the human on the other side.

2024-05-21 08:34:54

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Thanks - looks like I can at least disable it for particular languages by clicking "auto" at the bottom of the relevant note and selecting from the menu options.

2024-05-21 08:26:21

How can I turn off auto-translate in Amethyst?

2024-05-21 05:16:16

This sounds about right:
"In Germany [...] we do not have ordinary democracy. Rather, we have “defensive democracy,” where you can only disagree with establishment politicians up to a point. The line of transgression is drawn by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution ..."
https://www.eugyppius.com/p/german-interior-minister-places-responsibility

2024-05-21 03:28:24

Having used social media for a couple of days, it's dawning on me that some of the dumber pathologies of the woke era actually reflect distorted expectations cultivated by people through their social media use.
In particular, the idea of "safe spaces" simply mirrors the ability to restrict access to online spaces through blocking / muting participants, and demanding such safe spaces reflects a desire to carry this ability over into offline physical life.
Similarly, the idea of "trigger warnings" (e.g. on university lectures) reflects a desire to implement in offline life an analogue of click-through content warnings on social media posts or websites.
And "deplatforming" is the most obvious, reflecting a desire to control people's access to places where they can speak publicly in the same way in which people's access to online platforms can be restricted.
There is something very lazy and childish about the desire to carry these impoverished structures that are really just reflections of computer user interface design into offline life and to restrict offline human interactions to such structures with which one is familiar. It reveals an embarrassing lack of education, experience, and life competence, which is of course why it draws such ridicule.

2024-05-21 02:40:44

In Amethyst, what's the meaning of the bar graph icon with a number next to it at the bottom right of a note?

2024-05-20 15:45:41

North Carolina lawmakers are trying to repeal a 2020 law that permitted the wearing of face masks in public. Interestingly, the article indicates that the pre-pandemic restrictions against public masking were put into place in the 1950s to limit Ku Klux Klan activity.
There is probably greater justification for laws that prohibit public masking than for laws that require it. However, I would argue that both types of laws are ultimately unconstitutional on first amendment grounds.
Choosing to cover one's face, and choosing not to do so, can both be expressive conduct that a person may engage in for any number of reasons, including importantly to convey political messages. Requiring people to mask against their will was an odious illegal policy that amounted to compelled speech. But requiring people to refrain from masking also restricts a person's ability to engage in expressive conduct (be it political or otherwise), and the interest in protecting speech and self-expression seems to me to greatly outweigh whatever interest the state may have had in limiting Klan activity or other public safety concerns. Ideally, all code sections that deal with public masking should simply be repealed.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/north-carolina-lawmakers-push-bill-to-ban-most-public-mask-wearing-citing-crime/ar-BB1msIcE

2024-05-20 14:45:57

I took a look at OpenAI's website to see what they have to say about "AI safety". The writing is vague and repetitive, and the concerns expressed are generally pretty amorphous. It rather feels like the AI safety talk is being used as a marketing ploy to exeggerate the significance of the product. Elevator safety seems like a more pressing problem.
#nevent1q…wwxx

2024-05-20 06:50:08

Associated Press piece on the helicopter crash in Iran, with what feels like slightly odd attempts to frame its moral import:
"The incident comes as Iran [...] launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel last month and has enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.
Iran has also faced years of mass protests against its Shiite theocracy over an ailing economy and women’s rights ..."
The article also floats a narrative regarding the cause:
"Iran flies a variety of helicopters in the country, but international sanctions make it difficult to obtain parts for them. Its military air fleet also largely dates back to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution."
Not sure what to make of this.
https://apnews.com/article/iran-president-ebrahim-raisi-426c6f4ae2dd1f0801c73875bb696f48

2024-05-19 21:56:13

By the way, if anyone is interested in memorization techniques and, in particular, #flashcards, please let me know - this is one of my favorite topics.
I've used flashcards extensively to study Japanese and have more recently been experimenting with them to learn some math. Just like going to the gym changes the shape of your body, so working with flaschards changes the shape of your brain, in ways that can be really quite amazing.

2024-05-19 20:27:38

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True. Though many people view reproduction as an end in itself, so to that extent they might read it as a recommendation.

2024-05-19 20:17:52

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Ah, then it's more like a recommendation - the dumb and foolhardy are selected for.

2024-05-19 20:03:40

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Sounds like a risk-averse attitude.

2024-05-19 19:43:24

I couple of months ago I attended a conference where they talked a lot about "AI safety".
Nobofy bothered to explain what exactly is supposed to be *dangerous* about AI.
When you ask them, they tell you that they are not worried about a "Terminator" scenario (that would be silly).
But if it is not that, then what is it? Does someone know?

2024-05-19 19:26:18

On the persecution of (left-wing) political dissidents in Germany from the 1950s through the 1970s. This history is consistent with the behavior of the German judiciary during the recent lockdowns.
I used to think that freedom of speech and opinion in post-war Germany were essentially protected to the same degree as in the United States. It has become painfully clear that this is not at all the case (and apparently never was).
Through lack of commitment to these freedoms, German institutions make themselves an easy target for those who question their legitimacy.
https://overton-magazin.de/hintergrund/politik/ueber-die-kontinuitaet-der-verfolgung-andersdenkender-in-deutschland/

2024-05-19 11:07:14

Walking through a small street in Tokyo. Not crowded but not empty. People are returning from work, walking quietly. Contemplative.

2024-05-19 10:52:34

On noStrudel, how do I refer to a public key without tagging the person? The public key seems to get turned into a link automatically. Maybe there is some kind of escape character that prevents it from being linkified?

2024-05-19 10:43:12

Is noStrudel noticeably faster than the other web clients?

2024-05-19 10:11:28

There are obviously fewer people on nostr, but there is actually already a pretty good amount of worthwhile content. The thought density is pretty high.
Also, there is only so much writing you can consume in a day. It's like living in Austin. They say NYC has more by way of culture, but I don't have time to attend even just a small fraction of what's on offer here in Texas, so it doesn't matter.

2024-05-19 07:06:04

A reason I never participated in other social media was that I would have felt that I was giving away the content I produced for free to someone else, and that my work product somehow becomes branded (e.g. as twitter or facebook content).
With nostr, there is no such someone else, or at least no identifiable single such entity. The content is published, but is no feeling of my having lost ownership.

2024-05-19 06:53:14

This is the first social media platform that may be worth my time. Because it's not a platform.

2024-05-19 06:17:42

Nostr is so fascinating it's preventing me from leaving my room and getting some sun.

2024-05-19 05:26:38

nostr looking to be fantastic. It's got all the right energy.

2024-05-19 03:49:44

To answer this, there was a "toggle replies" button at the top of the page in noStrudel. When this is activated, replies are shown and each note indicates whether or not it is a reply to another note.
#nevent1q…qmwa

2024-05-19 03:08:38

Also: Is there any way to tell whether a note was written as a reply to another note?

2024-05-19 03:06:15

It would be nice, though, to know that the "reactions" mean.
For example, if I click the "fire" icon, does this mean that I think the post is hot, or that I think it should be consigned to the flames?
#nevent1q…h6vg

2024-05-19 02:58:13

No, that was wrong. Turns out that "reactions" are different from "replies".
#nevent1q…329c

2024-05-19 02:52:48

I am learning to refer to replies as "reactions" ...

2024-05-19 02:46:18

So when I click on a note in my timeline, it unfolds and shows replies. After unfolding, there is also a number displayed at the top of the original note that appears to be counting the replies and sub-replies.
However, as far as I can tell, before unfolding there is nothing in the original note that indicates whether it has any replies attached to it, or how many. Is there a reason for the number of replies not being shown before unfolding? Is it necessary to click on a note to see whether it has any replies or not?
I'm using the web client noStrudel. Maybe this would work differently in another client?

2024-05-18 20:18:52

I set the display color mode to dark and the primary color to blue in the nostrudel web client. However, these settings don't seem to be persistent. The next time I log in, the colors are back to light and green.

2024-05-18 18:30:18

So to follow through with the idea described below, here is my "backup" public key:
@npub1n2s…dpgq
Just to be clear, I'm not currently using this public key. I'm just handing it out so that, in case my current private key is compromised, I can use the above public key to let people know that they should no longer trust messages signed with the compromised private key.
#nevent1q…gnj7

2024-05-17 02:58:07

Now to do generate the backup keypairs securely would require the ability to generate keypairs offline (preferably on an airgapped system), but as I mentioned above I haven't been able to figure out how to do this - in particular, I haven't yet figured out how to generate a public key from a private key in a place that's sufficiently distant from the internet.

2024-05-17 02:55:41

The idea was to broadcast all of the public keys to the world and let people know that, if my current private key is compromised, I will use the other "backup" private keys to sign messages letting everyone know that my initial private key has been compromised and that I disavow the initial key and anything that's done with it.

2024-05-17 02:53:45

With a view to this, I thought about creating additional keypairs at the time I create my identity, with one keypair intended for immediate use and the other keypairs intended to be stored securely offline in my basement and to be used only for recovery in case the first keypair gets compromised.

2024-05-17 02:51:55

Now if my password for twitter (or whatever they call it) is stolen, I can convince the twitter team that I am me and have it reset and things will be fine. Not an option here. If my private key is comporomised, my only choice is to publiclty disavow the compromised private key and anything that may be done with it, get a new private key, and re-establish my identity by convincing everyone that I'm the same person as the one who used to control the compromised private key.

2024-05-17 02:48:09

But that then means that, over the long term (say over a 10-year use period), there is a pretty high probability that the private key will get compromised at some point.

2024-05-17 02:46:30

Ideally I'd want to sign events on an airgapped system, but that seems impractical if I'm to use nostr for everyday social networking. The private key will, at least sometimes, have to be pasted into various applications, browser extensions, etc., with all of this taking place on internet-connected systems.

2024-05-17 02:44:04

On the subject of private keys: I'm pretty nervous about the fact that the private key lives and needs to be handled (e.g. copied / pasted) in "close proximity" to the public internet (e.g. in a browser extension or a client app).

2024-05-17 02:42:10

Also, I still haven't figured out how I can generate a public key from a private key offline, i.e. other than pasting the private key into a client or into a browser extension. Even having pasted the private key into a browser extension (nos2fox), the extension does not generate the public key in a format that can be copied and pasted. Would be nice to a have an easy one-stop solution for generating a keypair offline in a format where both keys can be easily copied and pasted.

2024-05-17 02:40:24

Key creation: Not so easy if you want to do it offline. Had to use a combination of openssl and key-convertr in linux, and the latter needed to be downloaded and installed, along with cargo, etc., i.e. lots of tinkering with software I had never heard about.

2024-05-17 02:38:22

Thought I'd kick things off with some notes on the experience up to this point:

2024-05-17 02:36:18

Here goes is the first note. Hello everyone!