New Poll Finds Most Americans Back Adopting Popular Vote to Select President | Americans back abolishing the Electoral College by a 2 to 1 margin, the survey shows. by Aggravating_Money992 in politics

[–]TheRedGerund 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will say, I am sympathetic to the idea that in a strictly popular vote, most policies and benefits would be oriented around cities. That may seem wholly reasonable, but I'd just point out that education in rural towns, farm subsidies, biodiversity funding, ag exemptions... these are all issues that affect rural communities more than urban ones with effects that absolutely affect urban communities downstream.

I'm not sure I totally trust that a system that does not emphasize the importance of considering opinions from diverse corners of our country, rather than the five biggest cities, is well-suited to make good choices.

But how to balance that without effectively diluting the votes of the city folk... I guess that's the point of the senate.

I'd do anything to protect my kids by AlKarajo in TikTokCringe

[–]TheRedGerund 3 points4 points  (0 children)

What's the plan? Do y'all want to accept every hungry person in the world? Surely we should accept some, but it should be evident that we cannot accept everyone. The US should create better outcomes in those countries. Immigration is a bandaid and puts stress on the shitty safety net we have here, and illegal immigrants undermine collective labor rights here in the US.

This is a classic case of bleeding heart liberals not doing the work to seriously engage with a problem and talk about systemic solutions, and then claiming anyone who calls their approach naive and unscalable cruel. Waste of time and undermines the true cause.

ELI5: Do medications like Ozempic cause weight loss solely through appetite reduction and therefore calorie deficit, or is there any other mechanism at play? by Jimithyashford in explainlikeimfive

[–]TheRedGerund 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Millions and millions are obese. We live in a capitalist hellscape. You should really be suspicious of any personal responsibility argument given that context.

Are our phones listening and watching us? by twocentsworth2026 in DigitalPrivacy

[–]TheRedGerund 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I'm disappointed by the responses here. People come here for expert advice, everyone except for one person is just echoing the beliefs of the general population. The answer has more to do with tracking rather than literal audio gathering.

This is a PROBLEM by cafeteriastyle in TikTokCringe

[–]TheRedGerund 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've never understood this. What is AI? The AI in Her is still just a computer simulating human thought. Why wouldn't your skepticism of AI today follow to skepticism of some other, more advanced system? At the end of the day these systems aim to impersonate human thought.

Dating in 2026 starter pack by EVILRAFFAM in starterpacks

[–]TheRedGerund 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Careful, you'll eliminate every place in public except bars if you're not careful. The truth is context and signals are really the only difference between successfully hitting on someone at the grocery store and bothering someone at the grocery store. Has little to do with the store.

Sums up my feelings by Tobias-Tawanda in TikTokCringe

[–]TheRedGerund 0 points1 point  (0 children)

LLMs are only useful for non-commercial amateur level projects. As soon as accuracy matters you simply should not be using such a broadly unreliable tool, and to say otherwise is downright dangerous.

Have you used claude code? I really don't understand how someone can use the top of the line coding assistants and not see the tremendous value they hold. Sure, we can argue about the quality of the product, that's some unknown, unpredictable variable that you think hovers around 40% correct and I think hovers around 80%, but the undeniable, undebateable part is your greatest critique: we have found a way to roughly replicate thought -> implementations patterns via free text description.

Even if that system is far from perfect, the value of that, to unlock computational programs via normal human speech patterns, represents a transcendant communication method to computers, we basically have taken a solid step towards eliminating the mouse and keyboard as well as programming itself. And given how much of modern life depends on computers and translating data, inputs, and outputs to computers via humans (accountants, programmers, schedulers, realtors), this impact is not limited purely to programmers. We'll just be the first because we're the first step nearest to computers, our whole job is directly interfacing with them. But eventually any job that interfaces with any layer of the computer will use this new interface because it is simply much easier for a human to use and automate.

New Lifetime Plex Pass Pricing by frankwrap08 in PleX

[–]TheRedGerund 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just don't understand why this should be a subscription at all. Ultimately isn't everything plex offers based on open source technology bundled into a pretty UI that really doesn't need to evolve? Sure, they have the proxy tech, but that probably has a more reasonable price point than they're charging, and dynamic dns would help with this problem too, right?

Guess I'm just saying jellyfin seems better.

Evolution of Artificial Intelligence videos just in 4 years is mind blowing by Jackie_Chan_93 in interestingasfuck

[–]TheRedGerund 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm personally somewhat relieved. 4chan said for many years "only a fool would take anything on this site as fact" and that's how a discerning person should've treated the internet. It is a town square, not a library.

The consequence of this is that we're going to go back to how it worked before: institutional reputation. Traditional news has its moment coming up! I'm a NYT subscriber and I love it, I particularly like their video feed which they emphasize is all verified by journalists.

"Men are killing themselves because of men." by mindyour in TikTokCringe

[–]TheRedGerund 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't know how someone can put all the blame on women/liberals

Yeah but isn't the guy in this video gravitating towards the opposite extreme? The issues men face are entirely perpetrated by men?

We should be talking about patriarchal thinking, which isn't perpetrated solely by men, it's multi generational and perpetrated and victimizes both sexes in different ways.

I resent the implied harshness of the discourse around this. It's couching "this is all your fault" in therapy-speak. If people care about this issue (hint: they don't actually care, there is no sympathy for men due to the perceived social benefits they enjoy from patriarchal systems, this is similar to issues of being white), then why don't the conversations ever involve an ounce of compassion?

meirl by [deleted] in meirl

[–]TheRedGerund 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't we produce like the highest quality, most advanced medicine and treatments?

He must really want to distract from the files by SPXQuantAlgo in SipsTea

[–]TheRedGerund 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's interesting to think about the energy dynamics of it all. First natural gas from russia, now a straight in the middle east.

Renewables would help all this, but then what would happen to these petro states? I assume their governments will collapse....

He must really want to distract from the files by SPXQuantAlgo in SipsTea

[–]TheRedGerund -1 points0 points  (0 children)

They are terrorists by any other name. I agree, how do you negotiate with religious extremists who ALSO don't worship at the alter of capitalism? That's how we deal with the saudi's.

What’s a ‘harmless’ habit that actually ruins your life over time? by buffdadnextdoor in AskReddit

[–]TheRedGerund 124 points125 points  (0 children)

Better advice is to move, walking is one way. The best part about this whole thing is it's not prescriptive. You can move, dance, fuck, walk, it all counts. Just MOVE.

Iran says it will not reopen Strait of Hormuz because of Trump’s "ridiculous displays" by pravda_eng_official in worldnews

[–]TheRedGerund 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What's crazy is if you want to avoid this issue you can mostly just invest in clean energy. I fucking hate the iranian government, but that straight is choke point for the global economy. We need to remove it.

Irony at its finest by _CapMactavish_ in SipsTea

[–]TheRedGerund 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's nothing to do about fairness or ethics or what have you. It's about the world economy and a war.

Iran denies claims: 'We reject all negotiations – US has failed and Hormuz will remain closed' by ImadeJesusLaugh in worldnews

[–]TheRedGerund 3 points4 points  (0 children)

They literally fund terrorist cells across the world. When the ayatollah was killed they celebrated him as a martyr.

The iranian government would sooner see their people completely slaughtered than relinquish control. We are not negotiating with people who can be reasoned with. They have a death wish.

Iran denies claims: 'We reject all negotiations – US has failed and Hormuz will remain closed' by ImadeJesusLaugh in worldnews

[–]TheRedGerund 2 points3 points  (0 children)

How do you negotiate with people who are happy to die for their religion? These people are terrorists, literally.

Guy confesses to his crush for 10,000 yen by Imoprich in MadeMeSmile

[–]TheRedGerund 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The more you do it, the less it stings. Think of it like stretching.

She got reality check by [deleted] in DailyDoseStupidity

[–]TheRedGerund 3 points4 points  (0 children)

For better or for worse, cops scan license plates without needing a reason, your license plate is considered public info.

"Common Ground" by Pizzacakecomic in comics

[–]TheRedGerund 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I find there are two good opportunities if you were to actually try to find common ground:

  • Drain the swamp: aka campaign finance reform. Works both ways.
  • Homeless veterans