The generative models (LLMm, diffusion etc.) from the big tech companies were created unethically (mass copyright theft, abusive exploitation of third-world labor for tagging), and their primary intent is to hurt worker power while consolidating more power in the hands of Big Tech. In that light, whether they are "effective" at any particular task is irrelevant. Using them, even just a little, is morally wrong.
"If you, like me, believe that AI is going to have an important role in the future"
If by "AI" you mean the current corporate LLMs, then the only "important role" it would have is much the same as a shark attempting to eat you has an "important role" in your beach activities. It's not a good thing, it's not going to help or make anything better, and there's quite a lot of unavoidable and unacceptable negatives in its very presence!
One of the big advantages of RCV is that you don't need primaries. You can just have one election.
If you want to restrict that election to one candidate per party (plus any number of independents, who by definition have no party) then you could still have a primary process, but that should be internal to the party to run however they want. If they want to have a convention to select candidates, or have the party's leadership just pick, or whatever, they can do that. If two people want to run as a Democrat then they would need to vie for the Democratic Party to submit them.
"I don’t think most U.S. journalism is journalism."
I mean, yeah. Most U.S. "journalism" is from outlets owned by the billionaire oligarch class. That class does not want a well-informed public, and so the news outlets they own do not do proper journalism (except a little bit, as a treat, so they can point at the occasional story and say "look, we do real journalism!" while the rest of their output is a torrent of propaganda).
Get your news from independent sources. It's easier than it sounds.
Utah has no right to restrict the communications of a private company to its customers
Utah does in fact have some right to restrict the communications of a private company to its customers. While this is balanced against First Amendment concerns, state governments do in fact have the right to regulate what companies can say in a business context, as well as mandate the inclusion of certain language in certain circumstances. The idea that state governments can't regulate commercial speech at all is total nonsense.
We have an LG from, like, 10 years ago. Still works fine. We've never once connected it to the Internet because we don't trust the software, and I know things are exponentially worse now. We do have an internet-connected streaming device attached to it, for better or worse, but no way are we putting the TV itself online.
There's all sorts of names that other eateries could use for the same thing, that could just become widespread. Denver-style pizza, Rockies pizza, whatever. If I was a competitor to Beau Jo's I'd probably do it out of spite.
So did I! I loved Reader so much that when it died I wrote my own RSS reader implementation, which I still use to this day (I tried some other readers and didn't like any of them).
When RSS exists I don't get the appeal of newsletters.
Ownership. That's the key. The legacy media companies are all giant corporations controlled by billionaire oligarchs; their news is thus inherently untrustworthy and does not make anyone well-informed. To actually be well-informed you need to get news from a number of outlets that are owned by different people, and those outlets need to be doing actual journalism.
Corporate villains will never stop being corporate villains; the system they live in incentivizes villainous behavior. The system has to be changed by the rest of us, because the people who benefit from it will never change it voluntarily.
How can you write an article like this without even once mentioning that the reason big media outlets are all failing at their jobs is that they are all owned by billionaires who do not want a well-informed populace? Saying "the media is failing" without explaining why, plays right into the vague and widespread belief that "the news" is just kind of this thing that exists and happens by magic, rather than being the deliberate product of choices by oligarchs who really, really don't want people to think about where their information comes from.
You want to talk journalistic malpractice? Complaining about how bad the legacy news media is without mentioning who their owners are is journalistic malpractice!
If someone in a position of power has any control over who reports on them, those people's reporting is automatically compromised. That's why "press credentials" have always been nonsense; if you can revoke my credentials because I accurately report things you'd rather I not, then that's a gigantic and irreconcilable conflict of interest.
Real journalism doesn't actually come from reporting what powerful figures say in press conferences, anyway; it comes from leaks by mid- and low-level staff, and deep research. Having access to powerful figures is essentially worthless.
So (to oversimplify) Tylenol correlates with autism, because Tylenol use and autism both correlate with high fevers. In other words, the high fever causes both the autism and the Tylenol usage, rather than the Tylenol usage causing the autism.
I'm sure it's more complicated than that (and what I just said might not even be correct) but it's an entirely plausible explanation that's ignored by everyone who says "well if there's a correlation, that MUST be causation!"
That is, LLMs, not "LLMm" /facepalm
Generative tools are unethical
The generative models (LLMm, diffusion etc.) from the big tech companies were created unethically (mass copyright theft, abusive exploitation of third-world labor for tagging), and their primary intent is to hurt worker power while consolidating more power in the hands of Big Tech. In that light, whether they are "effective" at any particular task is irrelevant. Using them, even just a little, is morally wrong.
Scofflaws!
"If you, like me, believe that AI is going to have an important role in the future" If by "AI" you mean the current corporate LLMs, then the only "important role" it would have is much the same as a shark attempting to eat you has an "important role" in your beach activities. It's not a good thing, it's not going to help or make anything better, and there's quite a lot of unavoidable and unacceptable negatives in its very presence!
One of the big advantages of RCV is that you don't need primaries. You can just have one election. If you want to restrict that election to one candidate per party (plus any number of independents, who by definition have no party) then you could still have a primary process, but that should be internal to the party to run however they want. If they want to have a convention to select candidates, or have the party's leadership just pick, or whatever, they can do that. If two people want to run as a Democrat then they would need to vie for the Democratic Party to submit them.
"I don’t think most U.S. journalism is journalism." I mean, yeah. Most U.S. "journalism" is from outlets owned by the billionaire oligarch class. That class does not want a well-informed public, and so the news outlets they own do not do proper journalism (except a little bit, as a treat, so they can point at the occasional story and say "look, we do real journalism!" while the rest of their output is a torrent of propaganda). Get your news from independent sources. It's easier than it sounds.
Not quite
Utah has no right to restrict the communications of a private company to its customers Utah does in fact have some right to restrict the communications of a private company to its customers. While this is balanced against First Amendment concerns, state governments do in fact have the right to regulate what companies can say in a business context, as well as mandate the inclusion of certain language in certain circumstances. The idea that state governments can't regulate commercial speech at all is total nonsense.
NotebookLLM is powered by Gemini and (for reason well-established) is unethical to use in any capacity. Whether it "does the job" is moot.
We have an LG from, like, 10 years ago. Still works fine. We've never once connected it to the Internet because we don't trust the software, and I know things are exponentially worse now. We do have an internet-connected streaming device attached to it, for better or worse, but no way are we putting the TV itself online.
So call it something else
There's all sorts of names that other eateries could use for the same thing, that could just become widespread. Denver-style pizza, Rockies pizza, whatever. If I was a competitor to Beau Jo's I'd probably do it out of spite.
applause
So did I! I loved Reader so much that when it died I wrote my own RSS reader implementation, which I still use to this day (I tried some other readers and didn't like any of them). When RSS exists I don't get the appeal of newsletters.
Ownership. That's the key. The legacy media companies are all giant corporations controlled by billionaire oligarchs; their news is thus inherently untrustworthy and does not make anyone well-informed. To actually be well-informed you need to get news from a number of outlets that are owned by different people, and those outlets need to be doing actual journalism.
Actual professional historians disagree: https://acoup.blog/2024/10/25/new-acquisitions-1933-and-the-definition-of-fascism/
Header image sure looks like AI. Also, the subtle message: engineering is for men only.
Corporate villains will never stop being corporate villains; the system they live in incentivizes villainous behavior. The system has to be changed by the rest of us, because the people who benefit from it will never change it voluntarily.
Failure to mention media ownership
How can you write an article like this without even once mentioning that the reason big media outlets are all failing at their jobs is that they are all owned by billionaires who do not want a well-informed populace? Saying "the media is failing" without explaining why, plays right into the vague and widespread belief that "the news" is just kind of this thing that exists and happens by magic, rather than being the deliberate product of choices by oligarchs who really, really don't want people to think about where their information comes from. You want to talk journalistic malpractice? Complaining about how bad the legacy news media is without mentioning who their owners are is journalistic malpractice!
If someone in a position of power has any control over who reports on them, those people's reporting is automatically compromised. That's why "press credentials" have always been nonsense; if you can revoke my credentials because I accurately report things you'd rather I not, then that's a gigantic and irreconcilable conflict of interest. Real journalism doesn't actually come from reporting what powerful figures say in press conferences, anyway; it comes from leaks by mid- and low-level staff, and deep research. Having access to powerful figures is essentially worthless.
So (to oversimplify) Tylenol correlates with autism, because Tylenol use and autism both correlate with high fevers. In other words, the high fever causes both the autism and the Tylenol usage, rather than the Tylenol usage causing the autism. I'm sure it's more complicated than that (and what I just said might not even be correct) but it's an entirely plausible explanation that's ignored by everyone who says "well if there's a correlation, that MUST be causation!"
Y'know, like in that book. Roots.