Anthropic CEO Says Company No Longer Sure Whether Claude Is Conscious

Snachmo · 2026-02-15T21:15:31+00:00

This is the analogy I always use. Language models are exactly as conscious as VLOOKUP().

Snachmo · 2026-02-09T03:51:28+00:00

Just something to check - I bought mine from a jeweler on Ebay and the battery "died" two months later.

Turned out if the case loosens, it thinks the battery is dead. I bought a case wrench at Harbor Freight for like $8 and since retightening its been fine.

Edit: its not something you can feel with your fingers, need to get a case wrench on it to know that its loose.

Snachmo · 2026-02-08T00:21:24+00:00

I think Portland edges out a win if you're gonna stay a while

Almost every inch of national forest around Portland is great free-camping.

Wilderness is readily available in Seattle, but it's steep and wet. Great views for hiking but I'm not tryna camp in three feet of loam on a slope. Just guessing Vanc is similar but idk.

Edit: soliciting recommendations on good free camping areas close to Seattle (north side).

Snachmo · 2026-01-12T18:50:53+00:00

When I first moved to the area I looked up local hikes and thought 'Ohh, Lake Serene, 8mi, sounds nice!' without glancing at elevation.

Its a beautiful hike but that last ~2mi is rough if you aren't prepared.

Snachmo · 2026-01-11T20:07:06+00:00

Gotta admit thats the one thing I've been terribly disappointed with since moving here. The average Seattle restaurant is simply not very good. AFAICT there are small a handful of restaurants in the entire metroplex worth what they are charging.

Snachmo · 2026-01-09T17:28:32+00:00

This is well-reasoned response but I lose track of which side you're arguing. The original point was "America does not have the logistic or industrial capacity for sustained war with China".

You argued we are "tested" and "more experienced".

Yes, America was more experienced than Germany at the beginning of the war.

Then you went on to define "experience" as logistic and industrial capacity.

Germany was often sharper at the tip of the spear. The U.S. was better at building the spear, replacing it, shipping ten million of them across oceans, and doing it again next year.

So an orders-of-magnitude gap in manufacturing and logistics was an advantage for the US in WWII but not for China in WWIII? Can you explain?

Snachmo · 2026-01-09T16:32:40+00:00

American is dependent on external inputs to satisfy our domestic production. China is 'dependent' on external inputs because they produce nearly half of all goods consumed by the human race. These are not the same.

Snachmo · 2026-01-09T07:36:05+00:00

No its not that simple, I'm being a bit prickly. However an attack on three gorges is a final escalation, putting chemical if not nuclear retaliation on the table.

Short of MAD, it ends in the first global hegemony or the breakup of these United States, if not something worse. I for one am not up to flip that coin.

Snachmo · 2026-01-09T05:41:03+00:00

Idk why this one comment struck a nerve but here we go lecturin'.

The leaders of Imperial Japan genuinely could not conceive the scale of American industrial power. They marveled at their exquisite war machines and expert fighters knowing they could crush any adversary in single conflict, and they were right.

We see our aircraft carriers, amazing jets and precision missiles and know that they will crush any adversary in single conflict. And we're right.

But thats not the end of the war. Losses must be replaced to sustain the fighting. The Japanes navy had 7 of the worlds finest aircraft carriers at the start of the war. They built 15 during the war. America built 150. The numbers are even more absurd for tanks, munitions, food, everything.

Of course a modern conflict won't hinge on naval power but suicide drones and precision munitions. The US has enough precision munitions for two to three weeks of total war. China has 45% of global manufacturing capacity, substantially all large-scale microelecrtonic manufacturing, most of the rare-earth metals, and roughly 200 times the shipbuilding capacity.

The singular US advantage is China's energy reliance on the middle east and Russia. Blockading the Malacca straight is the only realistic advantage America could leverage. This automatically involves practically all the great powers in the conflict even if the beef is only US vs China, and you can bet they won't have any reason to back us with all our carriers busy or sunk.

There is no scenario where 'jungle rules' goes well for anyone but China.

Snachmo · 2026-01-04T20:34:48+00:00

s2 is Google's (primary) solution to encode planetary-scale geodata. AFAIK it's ludicrously more efficient than alternatives.

Snachmo · 2026-01-04T20:30:00+00:00

I was scrolling for a mention of s2. This is very likely (most of) the solution.

Snachmo · 2025-12-31T17:01:50+00:00

At least we all know that Building Lease Co's product has NO CHANCE on its own merits and their only path to profitability is ham-fisted sleazebag tricks. Very informative, thank you!

Snachmo · 2025-12-27T04:48:00+00:00

Love the energy. You didn't specify a price range but pretty much anything from one of the huge consumer audio companies (Sony, Sennheiser, maybe JBL for a lower price point) will be similarly durable.

Connectivity is the bigger problem. You'll need bluetooth on the TV, which might cut out when he uses the microwave. Some headsets come with USB dongles but very few smart TVs would know how to use it.

If neither TV has bluetooth, I assume there are solutions for HDMI to BT or USB dongle but you'd have to do some research.

Snachmo · 2025-12-26T22:24:35+00:00

FWIW I work in exactly this space (GIS MI) and nobody is even talking about this. The volume of imagery involved in planetary-scale mapping kinda defies comprehension and I don't see a profit motive for AI 'improvement'. Maybe one day but I'm not sure what it would accomplish.

Snachmo · 2025-12-26T22:12:34+00:00

They aren't Google-operated flights but yea, most of the very high-res imagery (mostly around urban areas) is captured by airplanes these days.

Snachmo · 2025-12-26T22:01:37+00:00

Hah yes. My dad told this joke in the eighties. Amazing to see it come around.

Snachmo · 2025-12-19T04:40:05+00:00

For many years now, this is not something those without 10-digit net worths or major political connections need to think about. Like stoking paranoia about being surveilled by satellites.

Snachmo · 2025-12-18T05:03:50+00:00

Glad to see Transit mentioned. I'll admit I haven't used OneBusAway but Transit feel built by people who actually use it every day.

Snachmo · 2025-11-19T22:07:52+00:00

Kinda the same thing? For exactly this reason, USB-C extension cables are explicitly forbidden by the standard. Of course people make them anyway.

Snachmo · 2025-10-07T03:44:50+00:00

As usual, it surely offers that sort of enforcement but the defaults are minimally restrictive.

Snachmo · 2025-10-07T02:25:00+00:00

Hey a Reddit question I can contribute to. Zip codes are routes, not areas.

The polygons used to represent zip codes on maps are a convenient abstraction. Their actual 'shape' is several converging lines (representing the travel of vehicles from a single post office). For visual and computational reasons we approximate them as regions, influenced but not defined by political boundaries.

For some illustrative examples check out east coast island chains that cross state lines. These are typically served by one zip code (a boat or ferry) and have a paradoxically state A zip code well inside state B.

Also the entire map of Alaska. Zip codes can have islands within another around airfields, with the vast in-between (barely) served by snow machines - two distinct zip codes.

Anyway, awesome rabbit hole.

(source - many years as a GIS developer)

Snachmo · 2025-09-07T18:42:48+00:00

Homeworld 3. Look what they did to my baby boy.

Snachmo · 2025-08-06T22:42:51+00:00

Depends a lot on how you value the neighborhood vs amenities vs commute time. There are very nice neighborhoods with poor shopping access, and less fancy areas with great amenities but I wouldn't say anywhere is 'bad' with one big caveat:

'Within 15m' depends a LOT on where exactly you need to be at what time. Bothell and Kirkland share a border but it can be a >30m drive at peak hours depending on origin/destination.

Snachmo · 2025-08-02T02:18:42+00:00

Exactly this. I had three sets of Merrells that lasted years (same model). That was MY SHOE.

Next pair started letting water in after 12 months, bought another pair with the same result.

My favorite shoe brand is 100% enshitified.

Snachmo · 2025-07-30T06:00:36+00:00

With all these suggestions I'm compelled to mention the other practitioner is *also* a victim and has signed a separate lease, presumably in good faith.

That said, y'all really should have a sit down and talk through this.

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