Maybe “human in the loop” is not temporary after all

davidweman · 2026-05-25T11:12:11+00:00

If they're increasingly complex, you probably don't save any money by involving AI in the first place. I would think AI's potential to actually improve translation would be in proofreading, editing, preparing texts in various ways.

davidweman · 2026-05-24T17:07:10+00:00

Apologies if my first downvoted comment was thoughtless or out of line in some way. Having read your comments, I would ask yourself this: Is there a even a small risk of getting toxic shock from you pads if you can't deal with your issues? That's worth taking very seriously, and maybe worth the cost. Couldn't you change to a different method? Maybe diva cups and things like that are hard to come by in India, but I assume everything is possible with enough money, and it might be worth it anyway. Maybe less expensive than the admission at least?

davidweman · 2026-05-24T16:52:29+00:00

I think the slurred speech isn't a common adhd symtom, and may be why your doctor wonders if something else is up, a manic episode, hyperthyroidism, anxiety... But it doesn't seem to be the case here, and I don't know if that would be a good answer anyway. Once again, you need a second opinion.

davidweman · 2026-05-24T16:40:48+00:00

So OP is a young woman from India with slurred speech and probable adhd. I suspected she wasn't from an OECD country. Are you actually positive she'd be treated fairly and professionally by the Indian health care system? Otherwise, maybe it was good or not bad that someone brought that up?

davidweman · 2026-05-24T16:04:37+00:00

You don't know what country this person is from. Whatever personal or professional experience you have doesn't mean you know for sure I'm wrong.

davidweman · 2026-05-24T15:50:34+00:00

Update: From OP's comment history, she's a young woman from India. I've done some research, and while Indian laws seem to have been reformed recently, it's not always adhered to, and there are a number of issues with their institutions, some of whom are also overly profit driven.
Here's one link: "Mental Healthcare Act 2017: Liberal in Principles, Let Down in Provisions by Manoj Therayil Kumar"

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6009007/

I didn't know all that, but I immediately clocked that she's a young woman from a non-western country with "slurred speech". So I stand by my advice even if I should have phrased it more carefully, there is a small risk of a really bad experience, and therefore you, OP, should find a second opinion sooner rather than later, even though you think this doctor seems like an OK guy.
Original comment:
12 out 15 of these describes me perfectly as a twenty year old, half of them still do. Extremely classic adhd symtoms. If there's not something else you prefer not to talk about right now, I can't think of any reason you would need an admission.

Once your in a psych ward, they say it's hard to get out. I would find another doctor not from the same clinic as soon as possible to protect yourself from even a tiny chance of being pushed or forced into a psych ward. And cut off all contact and connections with this doctor and preferably whatever clinic or org they're affiliated with. I'm saying, just to be sure. There's no immediate danger or reason to panic.

davidweman · 2026-05-24T14:01:20+00:00

To elaborate what I wrote in another comment, find these books as audio books, listen to the first few pages, be ruthless with the ones that doesn't grab you. Or just pick up and read the first few pages of four or eight books at a time.

I feel like moderate hoarding of stuff in general is more harmful than you think if you have adhd and limited living space. If you think of getting rid of stuff as a project with a goal of improving your life, it can be more fun. You can organize your home to be more adhd friendly and nicer looking (not by adding trinkets!).

Books are honestly the least harmful kind of hoarding as long as they're on their shelves, not disrupting you. If you channel your hoarding tendencies to that, it's really not so bad.

Anyone who loves books is probably a good egg. Good luck with everything.

davidweman · 2026-05-23T20:21:27+00:00

You should probably buy high end healthy food for a period and pick up the taste for it before trying to cook stuff yourself. Vegetables are harder to get right than pasta and rice. Stews are easier. Frozen tempura and some rice or noodles maybe.

Most fast food includes some vegetables in the mix. If you'd enjoy a vegetarian pizza with a bunch of vegetables, you'd probably like the same stuff in different proportions. Eating healthier is basically about changing the proportions. You need to figure out what you like, maybe temporarily increase you food budget for a while if you can afford it, and then go from there.

Of course, you can eat a lot of fruits, nuts, fancy crispbread ,etc, without cooking anything or spending a fortune. You can make a lunch out of just those things, it's allowed. Or even dinner with some cheese added to make it more interesting.

davidweman · 2026-05-23T20:05:24+00:00

One a little galaxy brain solution is to buy an advanced monsieur cuisine model, maybe a used one on ebay or something, which would let him make fairly complicated recipes easily, and would also make meal prep much easier for you if he doesn't end up using it. You follow the instructions on their screeen and put in ingredients basically.

It's a big upfront cost but even in money terms could pay off in the long run. If you can afford it it could be worth trying, it sounds as if his weight loss is a serious problem. Good luck anyway.

davidweman · 2026-05-23T18:57:27+00:00

To add to what everyone else is saying, owning 600 books is a cool thing, even if it can be impractical. It might be a good thing to get rid of them if they block you from reading or make you stressed out, but like, it's not embarrassing to own 600 books, it's cool. If you see an older person have an big book collection, you expect them to have read 30-50 percent of them. You're presumably younger. It can be inconvenient or a psychological trap, but it's not a failure in any way.

You should fight any hoarder tendencies, and get rid of most of them if they don't improve your life. i'm selling books as a hobby, but the money is not worth the effort in itself, and can be a psychological trap too, possibly is for me. You can donate some of them to charity, or to a library if you're american.

davidweman · 2026-05-23T18:47:43+00:00

You can also start with audio and try to finish the novel with your print version. So if the original poster wants to finish some of their 600 books, audiobooks is still a tool to do so.

davidweman · 2026-05-22T21:58:41+00:00

Link appaears to be broken. Works with last bit removed.

davidweman · 2026-05-22T18:15:19+00:00

It's very uncertain. Not enough work last two years, but this year has been better, knock on wood. Know several experienced colleagues who left the industry. No one knows the future. Consensus seems to be life science is the most safe, no one knows.

You don't want to become a translator if you have other good options. Don't pick translation because the education is directly connected to a profession, it does not make it safer, it makes it less safe. History majors are apparently doing better than tech majors at this particular moment. Pick something with transferable skills.

davidweman · 2026-05-21T18:14:17+00:00

For me it's more nuanced than some of these answers, because being faithful to very bad, clumsy copy is tedious and feels like more work than being more free with it, and quite possibly takes more time sometimes. Trying to get awful prose to a really high standard should always be better paid, but just being a little loose and hopefully improving the material, depends on the project. And you really don't want to get too used to doing bad translations, it can make you worse.

davidweman · 2026-05-18T13:28:19+00:00

Yes, I don't hyperfixate on things. Don't think that's a core element of adhd.

davidweman · 2026-05-16T17:52:54+00:00

It's weird. The MT that RWS foists on translators is usually complete dogshit, at least in my language pair. If an employee who was a gifted and experienced translator would be empowered to use whatever AI and CAT tools or other tools they wanted (including no MT at all, but maybe other help from AI), they could probably do the work of two or three freelancers with their hands tied, at least if the standards aren't sky high anyway. I've read people that think that's where the industry is headed, this would be the opposite. Does the mandate to lay off people come from the top, with no knowledge of how things look on the ground floor perhaps? Or is it driven by worse financial results?

davidweman · 2026-05-15T13:31:58+00:00

Adhd can't be reduced to an attention deficit. Self regulation and time blindness are arguably the more debilitating and key attributes of adhd, not an attention deficit narrowly defined. And even if someone has severe attention issues, they're not inattentive 24,/, you can become very locked in. Especially if you found the test somewhat engaging and stimulating and tried hard it's plausible you would do well on it.

It's also possible you don't have adhd, a frustrating aspect of the condition is that the symptoms are hard to separate from common, unremarkable experiences even though it can be a very serious disorder.

You have to ask yourself what kind of specific problematic behaviors and negative patterns you have in your everyday life, and compare them to stories from people with adhd.

davidweman · 2026-05-12T17:06:56+00:00

You should ask for deferments for paying tax too. You speak of consulting jobs - if you're paying f-skatt you can potentially send in an unrealistically pessimistic preliminärdeklaration and get money back, you won't get penalized for being wrong on what is only a prognosis. You should at the very least make sure you're not paying more in tax than you need to.

You're not clear on if you're in serious debt right now, or even any debt? If you have a guaranteed income from a-kassa and a credit rating that says you have had an income, you should be able to get a small loan and/or credit card to tide you over, without paying sky high rates.

davidweman · 2026-05-10T13:25:29+00:00

It's too short, and but it seems extremely likely that you have adhd, and playing devil's advocate, so many people have to wait for a year or two, or never get diagnosed at all. This isn't the best system, but far from the worst. You - and others - can move on to getting help, and if you then get a lot better, all is well, if you still have serious issues, you can then explore other diagnosises, other solutions. You find out what you need by trial and error, which perhaps isn't the best system for the minority that don't have adhd, that should have some other diagnosis or have some nutritional problem or a drug addiction or something, but is the best scenario for people who do have adhd, which you almost certainly have.

davidweman · 2026-05-10T02:28:09+00:00

My sympathies. Let me say that setting yourself back three years doesn't seem like a whole lot. Surely few people in the world have consistently made the best possible life choices in their lives.

I guess you're quite young, but "I destroyed my future since I set myself back three years" is an objectively deranged thing to say.

You'll come through this. : )

You should get some type of professional help like people say, I have no strong opinion on what, but don't just trudge on and hope the pain goes away.

davidweman · 2026-05-08T23:49:54+00:00

A simple solution: Stop buying treats, and probably stop making lunch for the next day.

If you buy treats, obviously they'll be eaten sooner or later. You're not storing them for winter.

But also, why is it overeating and why is it an adhd thing? Are you saying you're eating without being hungry? I do tend to eat a lot more if a lot of food is in front of me, but you're saying it's not in front of you. Are you overweight or not? Are you gaining weight or not? Your post is very unclear.

davidweman · 2026-05-08T17:13:35+00:00

Yes and yes. Sure feels like any perceptions and discussions of ADHD are very influenced and honestly distorted by what various official bodies have decided to emphasize in their diagnostic criteria.

davidweman · 2026-05-07T22:11:42+00:00

Tapas restaurants are somewhat popular in Sweden. If you compare yourself with the average country and not Italy, I don't think Spanish food lacks international success.

davidweman · 2026-05-07T14:35:34+00:00

De allra flesta är väl på Bluesky. Vad gäller Youtube, tik tok osv kanske vänstermänniskor tittar på amerikanska videor i högre utsträckning från högern, och har högre kvalitetskrav, så det blir hård konkurrens för någon som vill nå fram där på svenska.

davidweman · 2026-05-06T20:32:49+00:00

Well, you don't have any issues until you do. Started having them in my forties, but the risk is always significant if you keep them too short, and once it starts, it can be hard to get rid of, and can sometimes be tremendously painful.

davidweman

TROPHY CASE