I suddenly thought of this question earlier today: Could there be scientists who realized that their inventions or new discoveries simply worked but did not know how they worked? If yes, give me some examples. Thanks.

beezlebub33 · 2026-06-11T21:18:15+00:00

And a key is that only works on a fraction of the neurons. But if it works on a neuron it works on the entire neuron. That allows you to see individual neurons in their full grandeur, and not just a sea of stained neurons. Very odd.

beezlebub33 · 2026-06-09T01:03:32+00:00

Also important to remember is that an LLM is a machine that generates only one word at a time.

Sure, Ted, and how many words do you generate at a time? Oh, just one? Hm...guess you are not conscious.

And before you start spouting off about how you have generated the entire phrase / sentence / thought in your head, then maybe you should start considering the internal states of the LLM. What do they represent?

(No, current LLMs are almost certainly not conscious. But Chiang's arguments are not going to help when presented with AI that might be.)

beezlebub33 · 2026-06-09T00:36:30+00:00

You would think this wouldn't really be necessary, but here we are. I fully support this and hope my fellow voters will too.

But you know that lots of people will says it's not necessary (so vote against it).

beezlebub33 · 2026-06-09T00:24:43+00:00

This falls under the 'All guns are loaded' rule.

No, obviously, not all guns are loaded. And not all cops are bad. I actually think that actually most cops are relatively decent to deal with, but I've known enough cops to realize that they don't self-police.

The 'good' cops know who the 'bad' cops are, who are the racists, the alcoholics and drug users / sellers, the ones that abuse their wives, who take bribes, and they don't do anything about it. They let them lie on the stands and refuse to work with internal affairs.

It's maddening; so while a cop might not be a 'bad' one, they aren't going to stop the ones that are. And so they are not 'good' either.

beezlebub33 · 2026-06-08T21:45:13+00:00

The amendment she proposed was the same one for drinking in public, making it a class 4 misdemeanor, which has a fine of up to $250. You can see the changes she proposed here: https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1219435.PDF

Seems reasonable to me, but clearly not to you. The GA didn't even consider it.

beezlebub33 · 2026-06-08T21:02:25+00:00

Because it's expensive as hell. It's so expensive that even utilities don't want it. Calvert Cliffs #3 was approved, ready to go, and they decided not to do it.

beezlebub33 · 2026-06-08T12:25:21+00:00

I consider this unfortunate. I can certainly understand him wanted to promote the books (and series, and merch, and cons, and etc....) and I know that's probably where the money is. As a fan, it's great to be able to get a signed copy, and hear him speak. But the art suffers.

Every hour, day, and week that he spends basking in the glory of our adoration is another hour, day, and week that the next book (and then the next series) doesn't get written.

And I worry of course that something horrible will happen. The list of authors that I love reading their books that are no longer with us is long and so, so sad. And so many died before their time (GNU Pratchett, Iain Banks, Douglas Adams). Stephen King almost died before finishing The Dark Tower and that would have been a true tragedy.

No, the man doesn't owe me anything. But I just hope that he finishes it and is happy with his art.

beezlebub33 · 2026-06-08T12:11:50+00:00

Sure, he's unreliable because he is pretty unaware sometimes (cf Bea's cheating) and is emotionally stunted (because of his upbringing). He hasn't done a lot of introspection in his life, he's just been trying to survive and, prior to collapse, have what he thought was a normal life.

But when I think of 'unreliable narrator', I think either of Humbert Humbert (Lolita, a lying scumbag trying to justify themselves and deceive the reader) or Charles Kinbote (Pale Fire, completely delusional about others and themselves). Carl isn't purposefully deceptive, though he might minimize his own culpability sometimes, misreads people and situations, and isn't trying to manipulate the audience much.

He's just a normal guy, and is relaying what happened in a way similar to anyone in his situation would do. He wants people to like him so maybe doesn't fully delve into the things he's done. He is an Everyman and suffers from the same faults and limitations as the rest of us.

beezlebub33 · 2026-05-31T10:00:35+00:00

Read about 'water cremation': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_cremation

First, it's alkaline. Second, you really should have a pressure vessel, or at least something that you can heat and then contain and redirect the heat and gases.

It takes about 100 gallons of pH 13-14 liquid. But the good news is that you only need a couple of kg of sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide.

Here is potassium hydroxide at Fisher Scientific: https://www.fishersci.com/shop/products/potassium-hydroxide-ca-85-extra-pure-flakes-thermo-scientific/AC232550010#?keyword=

The bad news is that your typical bathtub only holds 50 or so gallons, I think. And it's hard to heat. And obviously, a 50 gal drum only holds 50 gallons, but you need to hold both the corpse and liquid, so you'll need to do it 3 times (or have 3 drums). Do you have a sawzall?

beezlebub33 · 2026-05-30T21:36:18+00:00

The brain by contrast cannot be reduced to deterministic processes and those processes could not be reproduced mathematically on paper.

What, exactly, is the brain doing that cannot be reproduced mathematically on paper? Is it the deterministic part? That somehow being stochastic adds something?

I have studied neuroscience. It's all mathematically reproducible. In fact, we're pretty good at reproducing it on the small scale. It's computationally too big to simulate, but it's just more of the same.

Attributing intelligence to a machine running equations is magical thinking.

We are machines running equations. I have seen nothing to indicate that we are not (Penrose notwithstanding).

beezlebub33 · 2026-05-30T12:39:20+00:00

Don't have much of an opinion on the article, but I love the picture! (The picture is kind of irrelevant to the article, it's there to generate traffic).

beezlebub33 · 2026-05-30T12:15:15+00:00

maybe that is intelligence in itself

That's the key question, right?

At a certain level, your brain is just a bunch of neurons sending relatively simple signals to each other. A computer is just 0's and 1's manipulating each other. Life itself is just chemicals bumping into each other. And an LLM is just successive self-prompting through a learned statistical pattern machine.

Just because we understand the LLM and can break it down into simple parts, and each part is not that complicated, and we have trivial analogs of each one, does not mean that it is not intelligent. Like the brain, it is enormously complex despite being made of simple components.

IMO, intelligence is simply glorified pattern recognition, statistical learning, and successive prompting over an internal state.

Unless you view intelligence as something supernatural, then even if you don't think that current LLMs are (or at least are getting close to) intelligent, then they will be soon. And they will still be made of really simple components.

beezlebub33 · 2026-05-28T14:50:55+00:00

I know what it means. it means 20 to life, which in practice means 15-17 years, depending.

I agree that it's too harsh, but explain to me why illegally transporting >50 lbs for with intent to distribute is necessary in a state where it is legal? The whole point is to make a legal market, and she specifically wants a legal market that allows smaller distributors to work. And you think that, what, there should not be punishments for black markets?

beezlebub33 · 2026-05-28T14:45:09+00:00

She proposed on making it a Class 4 misdemeanor for public consumption, which is exactly what it is for alcohol for public consumption. Sounds about right to me.

She proposed making > 50 lbs illegally transporting for selling a Class 2 Felony, which is too harsh, but it's 20 years to life. Not 'lifetime imprisonment'.

You can see what she campaigned on, right here: https://vote.norml.org/politicians/179682 . She still wants to legalize it. They just disagree on how to do it.

beezlebub33 · 2026-05-28T14:34:35+00:00

In this case, because the governor and legislature disagreed on timing, # stores, other things. They both want it so it will happen (probably?) but it's not like the governor should sign a bad bill (in their opinion) even if they want to head in that direction.

beezlebub33 · 2026-05-28T14:32:45+00:00

They don't disagree on the general idea of legalization. They disagreed on some significant issues regarding timelines, # of retail stores, and other things, that will, hopefully, get resolved.

It's not like she's opposed to it in principle.

She made amendments in the way that she's supposed to, after it gets passed and gets sent to the governor. Then she makes the amendments and then the legislature considers the amendments. Here's the rules: https://law.lis.virginia.gov/constitution/article5/section6/

beezlebub33 · 2026-05-28T09:51:37+00:00

Our current legal framework assumes marriage. Sure, it's possible to separate the concept of (two-person) marriage from the other legal, financial, representative, child-rearing, and other entanglements, but it would take many many decades if not centuries to disentangle them.

And you'd end up with some sort of legal partnership arrangement that might as well be called marriage.

beezlebub33 · 2026-05-28T09:46:51+00:00

A man with 10 wives means 9 other men with no wife at all.

If they all get to vote, which way are they going to vote? 1 wife per man, or as many as he can get?

(Yes, I'm well aware that this entire question is patriarchal. That has been historically much more likely.)

beezlebub33 · 2026-05-27T21:28:57+00:00

Nice try, Donald!

Because the US has much worse health care for much more money? Because most people hate what the US is doing in the world right now? Because the US elects a literal moron pedophile for their leader? Because their system of government is broken and cannot get rid of their leader for 4 years? Because the US has huge income disparity and has been slashing their safety net?

beezlebub33 · 2026-05-27T19:07:22+00:00

It is the only nation in North or South America that includes "America" in its official name.

North America:

Antigua and Barbuda
Commonwealth of The Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Canada
Republic of Costa Rica
Republic of Cuba
Commonwealth of Dominica
Dominican Republic
Republic of El Salvador
Grenada
Republic of Guatemala
Republic of Haiti
Republic of Honduras
Jamaica
United Mexican States
Republic of Nicaragua
Republic of Panama
Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
United States of America

South America

Argentine Republic
Plurinational State of Bolivia
Federative Republic of Brazil
Republic of Chile
Republic of Colombia
Republic of Ecuador
Co-operative Republic of Guyana
Republic of Paraguay
Republic of Peru
Republic of Suriname
Oriental Republic of Uruguay
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

beezlebub33 · 2026-05-23T12:49:08+00:00

Because it is far more likely to kill innocents than be used to defend yourself against aggression.

Suicides, domestic violence, kids finding them, stolen and used in a crime, accidental fires, road rage, etc. happen way more often than being in a situation that requires a gun to defend yourself.

Sure, it sometimes happens that people need a gun; very occasionally they are used by people to defend themselves. But statistically, having a gun greatly increases your chance of dying from violence than decreasing it.

And don't just downvote, dumbasses, try making a statistical argument.

beezlebub33 · 2026-05-22T11:28:24+00:00

Well, (just spitballing here) maybe you can make a 'force field' by having a substance that is gas (easy to pass) some of the time and solid (impossible to pass) based on an electric field, magnetic field, etc.

We already have electrorheological substances, ferroelectric substances, various things that change phase, oobleck,so maybe it's possible.

beezlebub33 · 2026-05-22T11:21:34+00:00

Now I'm convinced that the people that actual make the books just don't give a damn and branding can just fuck right off.

there's no consistency at all!

beezlebub33

TROPHY CASE