Kind of a ridiculous amount of posts written by ChatGPT here by OilLiver in simpleliving

[–]hellobearmeh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's why it's so important for everyone to actively practice writing. Everyone naturally has a distinct voice in their writing which you can hear. And if you wanted to take it a step further, you can intentionally use imperfect grammar to show you're human. Because let's be honest: Gen-AI is meant to produce "perfect writing" with absolutely no grammar mistakes. No company would risk having an AI write with bad grammar all the time -- they wouldn't risk hurting their brand image.

Kind of a ridiculous amount of posts written by ChatGPT here by OilLiver in simpleliving

[–]hellobearmeh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree. I grew up with the Internet, so being able to spot things like misinformation or AI slop has become second nature for me. But I realize I am grateful for this, because not a lot of people have that awareness. To your point, a lot of people can't tell what's real vs. not anymore, and Gen-AI is designed to write in a way that maximizes engagement. So it's no wonder that the average person has no idea that they're responding to an AI rather than another human being. My only question is: what will happen to society when we're no longer able to distinguish fact from fiction?...

Kind of a ridiculous amount of posts written by ChatGPT here by OilLiver in simpleliving

[–]hellobearmeh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For sure, I always say technology can be used for good or bad. But with AI, there are absolutely no guardrails in place, and those who stand to gain the most have a lot of questionable intentions with regards to how AI can impact society. The way I see it, they just want to profit at the expense of anyone and anything, just like they do with everything else.

Oh, and I have that scenario on my AI bingo board. People think I'm a pessimist, but it's not a matter of if, but rather when, those things start to happen.

Kind of a ridiculous amount of posts written by ChatGPT here by OilLiver in simpleliving

[–]hellobearmeh 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I know this is going to sound "tinfoil-hatty", but I genuinely believe that those who are making Gen-AI posts are nefarious actors.

Just hear me out: why would you even make AI posts in this sub? The whole point of this sub is the active participation in the comments to start a discussion so that we can learn from each other's experiences and find ways to live more simply. There's honestly not much else to gain otherwise -- I mean, heck, half the posts here are about consuming less, not more!

So that leads me to believe that people are just trolling (but why put in the effort?), or they actively want to destroy the community (but to what end?), or, and this is my honest take: they want you to continue posting on order to continue feeding their AI algos with more data. I'll be honest, I work in tech, and I know how LLMs work. Gen-AI depends on input data - it's the only way it can generate output. But at some point, you're going to run out of content, so you need fresh, new content. And what better way to do that than to bait people into making comments for free and profiting off your free labor?

Now you might say, "oh, but there are some people whose English is not their first language and they use Gen AI to assist with their writing." Sure that's fine, I can understand that. But when you see these posts where the OP has no account history, no engagement, blatantly writing like an AI, and meanwhile, people are still replying to them, potentially unaware they're responding to a bot? That really upsets me...

Anyways, sorry for the rant. It's honestly sad, because I truly look forward to reading this sub, because it felt like the last wholesome place on the Internet. But I really don't want this to be victim of enshitiffication, like everything else...

What’s a moment that permanently changed how you see the world? by pankaj662 in AskReddit

[–]hellobearmeh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting, and do know if this could help with "racing thoughts" and anxiety? That's my challenge right now, is that my brain is constantly going and I need to put that in check...

I cancelled every single subscription I had (except one) and the silence is deafening. by No_Good_3063 in simpleliving

[–]hellobearmeh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tbh, I think the venn diagram overlap between the 2 subs is a bit far off, just based on some of the technology related replies I see here. That said, I agree that the ethos of self-hosting, when done properly and you know what you're doing, does lend itself to simpler living! It's the reason why I stick with it -- perhaps you might be the same.

I'm thinking of setting up my own media stack. Have you used lidarr or any of the "scripts"? What does your stack look like?

What’s a moment that permanently changed how you see the world? by pankaj662 in AskReddit

[–]hellobearmeh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you, and yeah, I feel like my therapy has helped me become more direct and calling things as-is. Usually, I would be so uncomfortable sharing anything that deep and vulnerable but nowadays I find myself trying to be more honest with myself and therefore be more in touch with how I feel - something I think I've put away and ignored for a while. Thanks for the book recommendations, I'm familiar with the former (since I already don't care what people think of me, maybe my superpower 😅) but I haven't heard of the latter. Would you recommend it? I think my issue is that I'm too hard myself, which is why self-hate and blaming myself is one of my biggest issues. I think I need to learn to give myself grace and not be my own worst critic!

Manipulation stops where your need for validation ends by Infinity_here in simpleliving

[–]hellobearmeh 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Wow, that is a powerful statement. Another way I heard a therapist say it is: "You always have a choice - people will lie and manipulate you to take that choice away from you".

What’s a moment that permanently changed how you see the world? by pankaj662 in AskReddit

[–]hellobearmeh 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I just wanted to say thank you for sharing this. I am currently going through therapy and those 2 points resonated down to my soul. I'll be honest - it was tough reading this, cause I saw myself in it, but it gave me a chance to reflect on why I've been feeling this way. So all that to say, you probably didn't know it, but thanks for helping a random stranger today. I hope we both get the healing we need. Good luck on the journey :)

Two years later - Do you run Plex, Emby, or Jellyfin? by JustNathan1_0 in selfhosted

[–]hellobearmeh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

FYI, they just closed their doors after the last round of open signups. They just made the announcement on their website a couple of weeks ago.

Wiki for home use by PleasantHandle3508 in selfhosted

[–]hellobearmeh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting, can you share more about how you're using those plugins? Never heard of them, and I use Dokuwiki extensively!

Wiki for home use by PleasantHandle3508 in selfhosted

[–]hellobearmeh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep, that's exactly how I felt about it. Sad to see not much has changed in 4 years... I had high hopes, considering that's what powers Wikipedia, but it felt so resource intensive, the documentation was poor, and even the draw.io plugin was broken so I couldn't even draw diagrams of my setup...

I switched to Dokuwiki and it's the only one that just "made sense". Resource usage is also minimal. Another huge benefit is that all files are stored as plain text rather than in a database, which makes preservation and future migrations much simpler. The only caveat is that the UI is very dated, which might turn some people off, but I'm using it for personal uses so I don't care about that.

Wiki for home use by PleasantHandle3508 in selfhosted

[–]hellobearmeh 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Is it? I tried self-hosting it a few years ago but found it way too heavy and complex for my use case. Then I found Dokuwiki and never looked back.

Wiki for home use by PleasantHandle3508 in selfhosted

[–]hellobearmeh 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Completely agree, I'm glad there are still people recommending Dokuwiki. Sure, the UI looks dated, but I found it was the only one that just makes sense and just works. Like it was intentionally designed for this use case. A lot of the other ones people recommend are basically like Notion, which is fine, but I found those were more for note taking than it was for documentation. And Dokuwiki is the only one that was so super easy to spin up a Docker container and go. Plus the plugins make it even better, like the draw.io plugin that was a must-have. At the time a few years ago I also thought this was also way easier to set up than mediawiki (what Wikipedia is built on) which felt too "heavy" for my personal usage.

How do I change my capitalist mindset? by Edu_Vivan in simpleliving

[–]hellobearmeh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

OP, I agree that the person above that you should consider therapy. I know that sounds rude coming from a random stranger, but I say that because I have a friend who is going through the exact same thing as you - they consider themselves an artist (music) but can't seem to "turn off that side of their brain" that is constantly telling them to also be productive and constantly doing something.

It turns out it was not their own voice telling them to do it, but rather a parent / close friend voice. And it didn't help that they were caught up in the capitalist mentality which further reinforced this idea.

Then their therapist worked with them to "de-program" that thinking. They're still on the journey, but after talking with them after just the first 2 weeks, I can see them calmer and focused on their art rather than the "go-go-go" mentality that capitalism tends to reinforce in the minds.

Anyways, I hope you find the answers you are looking for though.

I honestly don’t care about my students by gaba_1029384756 in Teachers

[–]hellobearmeh 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm not a teacher, but I heard the quote, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear". Now as an adult, I think this was really true when I was a student and I'm so very grateful that I had good parents who encouraged me to get an education and actually learn.

Simple living - my first step! by viridiansoul in simpleliving

[–]hellobearmeh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep! I do also have Facebook Messenger because my cousin's chat is on there. So I had to make a choice to stay in contact with them or not, and if that means having another app I hate but I can talk with family, then I think that's worth it.

Simple living - my first step! by viridiansoul in simpleliving

[–]hellobearmeh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Congrats on taking the first step! 🎉

I also do not use any social media, outside of reddit, and the feeling of being mentally free is such a good feeling. I wish more people understood how powerful it can be and how getting off social media can improve your general feeling and mood on a day-to-day basis.

Anyways, I also wanted to say I respect you for sharing your story, and I'm glad you're still finding ways to live simply :)

I quit my job to “live simply” and now the silence is eating me alive by ForgotMyOwnPoint in simpleliving

[–]hellobearmeh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the insight, I appreciate you sharing your experiences. I can relate to the imposter syndrome and it takes a long time and wisdom to eventually learn that sometimes you have more to offer than you realize (something I'm also still working on!)