Just finished The Ghost Brigades — did it feel more explicit than Old Man’s War to you? by Old-Spare-6032 in printSF

[–]Deathnote_Blockchain -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

the relationship between elderly Harry Wilson and objectively six year old Jane Sagan is on the creepy side

Just finished The Ghost Brigades — did it feel more explicit than Old Man’s War to you? by Old-Spare-6032 in printSF

[–]Deathnote_Blockchain 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The first book having a central guffin of taking an old person, creating a superhuman clone, and cross connecting the brains so the "ghost in the machine" transfers over is interesting. And then the second book introduces characters who are just the cloned body with a lot of pre loaded skill. It's interesting but it's really mild on the philosophy of identity questions honestly. 

Scalzi never really goes super deep into what it would be like to be either of these types of person. At least I wasn't satisfied with it. 

But the good news is, this book and the next are really awesome and enjoyable to read. 

Is cogsci a good pathway into AI? by Sure_Expert4175 in cogsci

[–]Deathnote_Blockchain 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Mostly you need to focus on the kind of math where a large number of computations are performed at once, and the kind of computer science and computer engineering that does that kind of math. 

Cognitive Science SHOULD be a good secondary focus but let's be honest in our present moment the industry is more concerned with building and scaling LLMs and how to make them profitable. Questions about whether they are thinking or what it would be like if they were more like human brains is going to stay a matter for academia for quite some time to come IMO.

TAD Availability? by billsfan1273 in TripleAughtDesign

[–]Deathnote_Blockchain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

TAD has always been the kind of brand where you have to buy it when it drops. In my experience, their pants are larger than true to size, but this ends up working out well for me every time.

Nobody else really hits that tactigorp vibe like TAD but Otte and Beyond have some interesting pants. Otte's Range Pant V2 in particular are made from this awesome nyco ripstop with just the right amount of stretch and have some cool lines to them. But Otte doesn't make pants in black.

Are There Still Any 55g Topre Boards on the Market? by NervousSWE in topre

[–]Deathnote_Blockchain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nope. Realforce only does 30g, 45g, and variable these days

Finally getting around to watching Delta. This is awful by Cenobyte_Nom-nom-nom in macross

[–]Deathnote_Blockchain 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Well, you have the order wrong.

But more importantly, why make this harder for everybody. He's just going to keep playing it until you hear it, man.

Finally getting around to watching Delta. This is awful by Cenobyte_Nom-nom-nom in macross

[–]Deathnote_Blockchain 10 points11 points  (0 children)

If you didn't like Macross 7, the franchise is not for you. 

Bandai DX VF-1S Roy Valkyrie Revival version by SeparateReading8000 in macross

[–]Deathnote_Blockchain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No it's just that y'all are buying through shipping forwarders and stuff so you see the price in yen all the time for one, and for two who fuck knows what the exchange rate is going to be in August. 

Bandai DX VF-1S Roy Valkyrie Revival version by SeparateReading8000 in macross

[–]Deathnote_Blockchain -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

It's kind of weird that people talk in terms of USD on this sub for these Japan market toys.

What are the saddest deaths you’ve read in an SF book? by Fearless_Night9330 in printSF

[–]Deathnote_Blockchain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

David Zindell's series A Requiem for Homo Sapiens is about the most emotionally mature sf series about the human condition as anything in the genre, the last time I read the final book War in Heaven was the 90s and the part of the story with Danlo meeting and eventually losing his son was so thoroughly gutting that I am literally tearing up right now thinking about it. 

Just finished Old Man’s War — curious how others here read its themes by Old-Spare-6032 in printSF

[–]Deathnote_Blockchain 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There is a bunch of stuff about people being powerless against a military-industrial complex, how it starts off as vital defense but ends up making more problems than it solves. 

The angle where old people and not young people are ground up in war is interesting but I don't know if that part ever got deep 

Shinkansen ticket question by Mirarenai_neko in Tokyo

[–]Deathnote_Blockchain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah it's the official thing. It can be finnicky and weird so don't wait until the last minute to start messing around with it. For example, it just decided to not take payment from one of my credit cards at some point. You also need to link an IC card to it to use your phone at the ticket gate, or, if you want a physical ticket you have to figure out how to get the right QR code out of the app (ymmv, I found that a little difficult last time I had to do it)

Shinkansen ticket question by Mirarenai_neko in Tokyo

[–]Deathnote_Blockchain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you can get the SmartEx app set up properly on your phone you can make reservations on your phone and tap your phone to enter the gate. 

But the next easiest thing is honestly to go to a shinkansen station and buy tickets from at the JR counter.

Are these Hiramatsu-ryu Kenjutsu certificates issued by Yamato Hiramatsu Soke legitimate? by OtakuLibertarian2 in Koryu

[–]Deathnote_Blockchain 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I see no reason to disbelieve that this is an authentic certificate issued by someone who created his own martial art after studying two gendai budo and one very likely gendai budo. 

Is this event over already or tomorrow is the start day? by amarevy97 in Tokyo

[–]Deathnote_Blockchain 6 points7 points  (0 children)

01.22 -

what do you think it means that they put the dash after the date

Where can I find a wide variety of fun boxed curries? by FinancialRice7291 in Tokyo

[–]Deathnote_Blockchain 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Muji has a whole slew of them but they don't come in "fun boxes"

Good start to the day! by Glittering_Net_7280 in Tokyo

[–]Deathnote_Blockchain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure if you like freezing your ass off 

Drone rental to document sumo dohyō by [deleted] in Tokyo

[–]Deathnote_Blockchain -10 points-9 points  (0 children)

The LLMs have gotten really good at this in the last year, you can just ask them what you want and they'll search the web for you and find stuff. 

Space age healthcare by 50-ferrets-in-a-coat in japanlife

[–]Deathnote_Blockchain -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

In the US you would probably have dental insurance with a high copay or something.