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gerikson

@ gerikson @awful.systems

Posts
3
Comments
589
Joined
3 yr. ago

  • Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 31st May 2026

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  • yeah I was aware of the value of pure math (specifically the discrete stuff for crypto) when I wrote it

    my point is the Scott-A is massively overvaluing the societal worth of pure mathematicians. Assuming (I know, big ask) that AI can succesfully automate that field, humanity is not worse off with regards to outcomes. Humanity remains relevant.

    It's a weird moving of goalposts, not often commented upon, that GenAI is succesful mostly in replacing (in the Ersatz sense) stuff that's not really foundational to human society. We don't have robot cars, nor are we actually close to getting them, which would actually transform society in a massive way. Instead we have robot copywriters and bespoke porn creators.

    but for people like Scott-A, whose entire selfworth is being "smarter" than anyone else (not withstanding that he would be eaten alive in the post-apocalypse), being replaced by a robot is not just about losing your livelyhood but your self-worth as a human as well

  • Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 31st May 2026

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  • it’s called a sex club.

    Amazingly, this was the sitch for the first post

    A month ago, I went to a sex club for the first time. One big thing I noticed: the classic “your eyes meet” trope absolutely did not happen at that club. And I don’t just mean it didn’t happen to me - every single woman there avoided meeting the eyes of anyone. The only exception was people the women already knew, as indicated by greeting them with a wave or a “hey, how are you” or similar.

    Now I have never been to a sex club nor do I plan to, but if I were to go, I'd probably try to talk to regulars to find out the workings of said club, instead of outing myself as a massive weirdo by writing a blog post on a forum ostensibly about the value of rationality.

    That said, if you want sex, going to a sex club to get it is very Rational.

  • Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 31st May 2026

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  • LOL @ the obviously vibe-written comments from the original complainer

    I'm tempted to submit this to lobste.rs just to watch the fireworks but linking directly to a GH issue thread is discouraged for brigading issues

    edit complainer tried to brigade HN, with few results https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48291757

  • Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 31st May 2026

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  • Dispatches from the possibly last days of human relevance

    Look, I admire professional math researchers as much as the next guy, but they're literally balancing on top of the economic pyramid of needs. This is a profession that cannot exist outside a culture with a surplus that can afford higher education, because there's no economic incentive to hire them to do that kind of work.

    So GenAI can solve Erdos problems. Can it unplug a drain or repave a road? Fuck no. Can it handle refuse for a city? Also fuck no.

    Maybe professional math researchers will go the way of professional typesetters. I think humanity will retain its relevance.

  • Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 31st May 2026

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  • CW: creepy dudes

    A few days ago, a LWer of 15 years wrote a long very weird post about how flirting works:

    https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/w3y9G4ybNb3rmTgev/why-physical-attractiveness-matters-for-men-s-dating

    It made the frontpage.

    Someone tried to set him right with both personal anecdotes and Aella-style research:

    https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ytzrakjgcvCfLCCZp/contra-wentworth-on-physical-attractiveness-for-men

    Here's original poster thanking for the update, and writing

    My biggest update was... five hours!?!? Going through the list of women I've slept with, the median is around 30 minutes of direct interaction between first meeting and sex. Granted, some of that was at RMN, but even without those cases the median is still around 30-60 minutes. Five hours sounds absolutely insane to me. That probably explains a large chunk of my confusion; apparently people are spending very large amounts of time flirting/courting/etc.

    These are just very weird people.

  • Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 31st May 2026

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  • Thanks for the link, interesting read.

  • Pope Leo to AI bros: Just stop it

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  • For some reason LW is obsessed by the idea that this encyclical (specifically its Italian version) was written with the help of an LLM.

  • Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 31st May 2026

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  • I have fond memories of Universal Soldier because my buddy knew the projectionist showing the movie and I fancied her

  • Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 31st May 2026

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  • not alive enough to merit even the moral consideration of a farm animal

    I foresee a rise in gourmet cannibalism to try to recoup at least some of the cost of keeping the meatbags alive and healthy for 30-some years

  • Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 31st May 2026

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  • TIL, thanks!

  • Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 31st May 2026

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  • Oh here's a comment, sounds pretty reasonable actually

    Doesn't work because aging affects the brain as well and many deadly diseases originate in brain: insults (sic!), Alzheimer and brain cancers. Add risks of the transfer itself and the uncertainty when it should be done: too early for healthy aged person and and too late for one with cancer of any type (risks of metastases). All together it gives less than 10 years increase of of medium life expectancy.

    back to the "upload smooth pristine brain onto the computer" drawing board we go!

  • Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 31st May 2026

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  • Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 31st May 2026

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  • don't kinkshame

  • Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 24th May 2026

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  • Spring is in the air, and someone presenting themselves as interested in fucking rationalist males has authored a piece about how said men can dress a bit better and maybe, just maybe, get laid:

    https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/vHtouRBd8JNm2tNLH/basic-principles-for-dressing-better

    as usual, the real comedy is in the comments

    • I dress like a schlub specifically to avoid advertising my sexual availability - https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/vHtouRBd8JNm2tNLH/basic-principles-for-dressing-better?commentId=RLdXtcStz9wdAvb4d
    • "The item that I currently wear that expresses the most about me is my Oura ring followed by barefoot shoes." - strangely not the same as the commenter above
    • "When it comes to slim fit jeans I have the impression that fashion changed. Five years ago they were seen as great and now they don't? Is that accurate?"
    • "Overall, I think it makes the most sense to go to the pareto frontier here. You can spend 300-400 total getting some nice looking earth tone button-ups, well-fitting pants that aren't blue jeans, trim your beard, get regular haircuts from an actual salon, shower daily, and make sure you smell decent."
    • "[...] when I look at the examples, what occurs to me is that dressing like the example would cause me to stick out and make it obvious to others I am making a special effort, and I'd rather not do that."
    • "I was hoping for more fashion theory; the why. "
    • "It is fascinating to receive such communiqués of strange news from another star. I would not know, without your saying so, that the set of 10 pictures are intended to be good examples and not bad examples."
    • "[...] it is far more important that whatever my spouse wears be a pleasant texture to put my face on, most buttondown material fails this criterion but linen passes" - actually this is just cute

  • Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 24th May 2026

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  • I'm sure he'll enjoy being deported back to la République populaire démocratique de Quebec and spending a short time in the reeducations camps before being set to work installing solar panels

  • Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 24th May 2026

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  • can't wait for the inevitable livestreamed freakout/cannibalism scene

  • Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 24th May 2026

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  • xheet is deleted, was is Beff Jezoz who wrote that? background? though he was as American as apple piethe Ku Klux Klan

  • Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 24th May 2026

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  • Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 24th May 2026

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