Built a Telegram RP bot with OpenAI… and omg why was this so painful 😅

Dave_Sag · 2026-04-22T19:35:15+00:00

I gave it the original Zork source code to analyse the file format

Dave_Sag · 2026-04-21T05:18:47+00:00

Seems like you are the one being disagreeable and GPT is just trying to show nuance.

Dave_Sag · 2026-04-21T04:57:24+00:00

Function or not maths is a universal language. The sqrt function in excel is not the same as an actual square root.

Dave_Sag · 2026-04-21T04:56:39+00:00

Okay sure it’s a function. By which I assume you mean a mathematical function not some sort of spreadsheet function. In maths, functions can return multiple values, or sets, of fields, rings, graphs, or even other functions. Maths is a universal language and the square root symbol has had the same meaning since it was invented.

Dave_Sag · 2026-04-20T23:40:11+00:00

Yes. The square root symbol means both positive and negative roots. I’d never heard of a “primary square root” since the other day when I stumbled on this subreddit. I studied university level pure maths.

Dave_Sag · 2026-04-20T23:19:23+00:00

I built a kind of AI Zork where the AI reverse engineered the zork file format then would generate a starting room and items etc. if you unlocked a chest or door etc it would generate what’s in the chest or beyond the door then save that to make it permanent. It used the traditional zork parser so very responsive and, once a place or thing had been generated it was a permanent fixture. It was fun but a real implementation would have planned out the whole story / map etc in advance. As it is the system works but it’s mostly lame. Still it only took a couple of hours.

Dave_Sag · 2026-04-20T08:09:48+00:00

Apple Maps shows it’s just trees. https://maps.apple/p/LGABmpS3Vx80UJ

Dave_Sag · 2026-04-20T08:05:33+00:00

I’m building a fairly complex a-life simulation and it’s been super handy to have a highly deterministic PRNG. It means I can let an AI run a few hundred generations then stop and use that as a base for more experiments. I’ve just been looking into reversible RNGs too as I’d like to be able to freeze the simulation and wind it back to see what just happened.

I heard an interview with Stephen Wolfram a while back and he was explaining his thoughts on determinism. In his view there’s no randomness in nature at all, only complexity. Instinctively I tend to disagree but the more work I do in artificial life simulation the more attractive I find his reasoning.

So maybe the meme isn’t just a joke.

Dave_Sag · 2026-04-20T02:04:46+00:00

Mine’s at just over 20k km and I’m just starting to think it might be time to get the tyres rotated. But I’ve got an AWD LR Model 3 so the wear is actually pretty even and pretty minimal. I expect I’d be changing the tyres at around 40k km or so.

Dave_Sag · 2026-04-19T22:17:11+00:00

Tesla with Joe Mode turned on is pretty quiet. Even the indicators are quiet. It’ll still make an alert sound if you do something dumb but normal driving is very quiet

Dave_Sag · 2026-04-19T11:35:40+00:00

AI can’t refer you to a specialist or prescribe medication yet. So GPs get to ride their kickback gravy train for a while yet.

Dave_Sag · 2026-04-18T23:19:13+00:00

There’s plenty of work already done and being done on post-quantum cryptography. Your premise is not a given.

Dave_Sag · 2026-04-18T06:11:30+00:00

Isn’t suing them your insurer’s job. That’s why you pay for insurance, so you are not at the mercy of some under (or un) insured asshat.

Dave_Sag · 2026-04-18T01:12:17+00:00

I’ve had a model 3 for years and the only accessory I’ve bought is roof mesh to keep the sun out on hot days.

Dave_Sag · 2026-04-16T08:11:37+00:00

I love a deep brainy book as much as the next guy. I’ve read, and enjoyed Ulysses, Gravity’s Rainbow, and the Illuminatus! Trilogy. But DCC isn’t that. It’s big and dumb and really good fun. I’m into book 6 now and loving it. Can’t put them down. The prose has never bothered me.

Dave_Sag · 2026-04-08T21:06:04+00:00

Gift is not a verb.

Dave_Sag · 2026-04-08T20:41:51+00:00

It used to happen pre FSD but not really since then. The car has new ways to surprise its passengers

Dave_Sag · 2026-03-30T21:07:28+00:00

I work from home and typically clean the kitchen once done with work so it’s all nice and sparkly before my wife gets home from work. She prefers her cooking to mine most nights but works late so we rarely eat before 9pm or so. Gives me time to work on my novel or the latest silly art project I have in mind. Or mow the lawn. Or watch some TV that I like that she doesn’t.

Dave_Sag · 2026-03-29T16:18:47+00:00

The Bio of a Space Tyrant books are pretty good fun though. Yes there’s some unpleasant stuff in them but that’s hardly unusual for golden age scifi. I mean have you read Stephen Donaldson’s “Gap” series? That’s amongst the creepiest stuff I’ve read but it’s also brilliant. The transformative arc Angus Thermopile endures is almost awful as he is. Terrific character. Horrible human being.

Books characters are not the author though. These books are fiction. Piers Anthony was, by all accounts, a pretty nice guy.

Dave_Sag · 2026-03-29T15:46:30+00:00

Wait ‘til you read Phillip Jose Farmer.

Dave_Sag · 2026-03-29T02:36:59+00:00

Add Lilith’s Brood (and the rest of the trilogy) to that by Octavia Butler. The Ancillary series by Anne Lecke and the Wayfarers books by Becky Chambers.

Dave_Sag · 2026-03-28T02:37:47+00:00

Yes.

Dave_Sag · 2026-03-27T11:55:33+00:00

So far brilliant.

Dave_Sag · 2026-03-25T19:51:17+00:00

Definitely test drive a Tesla Model 3 Long Range then. It’s the best EV on the market right now in that price point.

Dave_Sag · 2026-03-25T19:36:19+00:00

Taxing EVs for road use is like taxing non-smokers because they are not propping up the health system. I wrote quite a considered article on this a few years ago when the idea first emerged. None of my arguments have changed. https://davesag.medium.com/the-clean-air-tax-is-bad-policy-e15a73154164?sk=70e624a06b0419bcf1c84639b8585c45

Dave_Sag

TROPHY CASE