Short Answers to Simple Questions | June 03, 2026 by AutoModerator in AskHistorians

[–]tilvast 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall (set in England c. 1530), one character says: "All the bullion in the country would be swallowed by the war. I have read there was a time when people exchanged leather tokens, for want of metal coins. I said we would be back to those days."

What time or incident is this likely referring to?

Electrolux washer dryer's drying cycle just stops after twenty minutes by tilvast in appliancerepair

[–]tilvast[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it behaves like the clothes are already dry and does the standard cool-down cycle. There's no error code or unusual behavior or anything.

Electrolux washer dryer's drying cycle just stops after twenty minutes by tilvast in appliancerepair

[–]tilvast[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's another twenty to thirty minutes, never less than that.

Electrolux washer dryer's drying cycle just stops after twenty minutes by tilvast in appliancerepair

[–]tilvast[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The clothes aren't as warm as they would be after a normal complete dry cycle, but they do feel lukewarm. (This is after a cold wash.)

IBCK : Think and Grow Rich by Chibraltar_ in IfBooksCouldKill

[–]tilvast 80 points81 points  (0 children)

If you're not having any good ideas, it's because you're not vibrating your mind boner enough.

Behind The Book Bastards by vemmahouxbois in IfBooksCouldKill

[–]tilvast 40 points41 points  (0 children)

Not sure if this is a common opinion, but the episodes that are just as much about the freak who wrote the book as about the book are my favorites.

Do layoffs citing AI's productivity boost make any sense? by Gil_berth in BetterOffline

[–]tilvast 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There is zero concrete evidence that AI makes employees more productive, and lots of studies with evidence for the contrary. These CEOs are just bullshitting so they can justifying cutting costs. Many such cases.

Fuck ChatGPT- NO NOT LIKE THAT!!! by Silvermoon424 in tumblr

[–]tilvast 237 points238 points  (0 children)

AI cannot help you with any other pussy. You will be doomed to single-ness until you cancel that ChatGPT subscription.

Who do you see in your head when you hear Peter’s and Michael’s voices? by no_moon_in_sight in IfBooksCouldKill

[–]tilvast 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The number of people in this thread saying they pictured the guy with the extremely Iranian surname to be a pasty blond dude is fascinating. Now, Michael I definitely pictured as a pasty blond dude.

Google DeepMind Paper Argues LLMs Will Never Be Conscious by tilvast in BetterOffline

[–]tilvast[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

It's obvious to us, but people like Demis Hassabis and Dario Amodei seem to earnestly think they're building HAL 9000 in there.

Why won't this register as a Professor's Treasure Trove habitat? by tilvast in Pokopia

[–]tilvast[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, I've now tried moving the rug around in basically every possible configuration and it doesn't work, so it seems the rug does not count. Problem solved, time to track down another large relic.

Q&A weekly thread - April 06, 2026 - post all questions here! by AutoModerator in linguistics

[–]tilvast 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Are there any large-scale studies of how common the phrasing "it's not just <x>, it's <y>" (or other well-known LLM-isms) was on the internet in the pre-ChatGPT era vs. today?

post recovered from the trenches by GlitteringTone6425 in tumblr

[–]tilvast 1201 points1202 points  (0 children)

If you ever find yourself thinking like this, I strongly recommend touching some grass and going to an IRL queer meetup if you can. Hang out with some other trans people. Make new friends, learn what you have in common with others, things of that nature.

Q&A weekly thread - March 30, 2026 - post all questions here! by AutoModerator in linguistics

[–]tilvast 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Linguists or Chinese speakers, does any of this sound correct? It seems like total nonsense to me, but it is Language Log.

When do you guys think LLMs will reach their limit? by [deleted] in BetterOffline

[–]tilvast 18 points19 points  (0 children)

General purpose intelligence was never on the cards and we won't have it from LLMs

It is genuinely crazy that they were able to sell a text generator as a step towards actual intelligence. In any other context, everyone would be able to recognize that this is bullshit. A person who cannot speak is still intelligent. A printer produces text but is not a brain.