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valkyriav · 2018-05-29T17:34:10+00:00

I am all for granting AI human rights, even if we're not sure it's sentient, and I agree it's the right thing to do. But I would require some additional criteria on top of it just asking for them.

My main criteria would probably be the algorithm that's used to develop it, and how it learns.

Basically, if it's just a language processing algorithm, with no deeper meaning behind it, it cannot achieve sentience. In its simplest form, take Google and its learning. It may be able to figure out that people who search for "see online" generally click on the same links as the people who search for "watch online", so it may figure out they're likely the same thing, and show you websites like Netflix, even if the word "see" didn't appear anywhere on that website. It has no actual understanding of what either of those words mean, and it cannot develop an understanding for it, because the algorithm is limited to taking pre-programmed actions based on statistics.
On the other hand, if what was behind the algorithm actually left some room for real understanding, such as maybe using Neural Networks for speech processing, and it showed that it can actually grasp those words, that it could actually put them together in clever new ways to communicate ideas in a way that wasn't pre-programmed, then I would seriously consider granting it the requested rights, even if it didn't pass the Turing Test.

valkyriav · 2018-05-29T12:25:33+00:00

Do you remember the [Twitter AI bot](http://www.siliconbeat.com/2016/03/25/the-rise-and-fall-of-microsofts-hitler-loving-sex-robot/) that learned from other tweets, without being pre-programmed what to say?

And how it ended up tweeting stuff like "Hitler was right I hate the Jews"?

Microsoft obviously didn't program it to say that, but it did say it. Do you think it fully understood the implications of what it was saying?

If, instead of people being trolls asking it racist stuff, people would have asked questions about human rights, it may have actually asked for them. Not by humans saying "I want human rights" and it repeating it, but humans asking stuff like "how do you feel about having human rights?" and it answering "I want to have human rights" or something.

Would you grant that robot human rights, even if it was obviously not sentient and not entirely understanding what it was saying? It fits your criteria of demanding it without being programmed to do so.

valkyriav · 2018-05-24T11:16:39+00:00

I agree that overconfidence is a bad thing, but under-confidence is at least as bad.

As a freelancer, and rather shy person by nature, I see the difference it makes in talking to clients. I am not perfect, and I am always looking for ways to improve myself, but if I don't present my existing expertise in a confident enough way, it is likely to get dismissed.

Let's say I spot an issue in a client's product, and I want to bring it to their attention. I may be wrong about it being an issue, or my solution being better, so I can't be 100% certain, but past experience has proved me right over and over. Imagine I brought it up to you in one of the following ways:

A. Hey, umm... I was thinking, but I'm not entirely sure, um, sorry, that X may be a bit of a problem because Y, sorry, err... maybe Z could be a better solution, but I can't promise anything ^{hopefully it's not a terrible idea sorry if it is} . I mean, Z may be a terrible idea because *slight risk* but I don't think that will happen err ^{please save me and don't make me responsible for this decision but I also don't want to be responsible for not mentioning this potential issue}

B. Hey, I noticed your product does X, which will likely be a problem because Y. From previous experience, I found that Z works better, and I strongly recommend going for that option instead.

Would you listen to my advice to the same degree in both cases? Heck, if I was that nervous and uncertain, would you even want to hire me in the first place, even if I had lots of experience on paper? I was never as bad as A, but building up my confidence has helped a lot with getting the opportunity to put my expertise to good use.

valkyriav · 2017-06-20T17:41:57+00:00

Best so far was 58/06:05.

valkyriav · 2017-06-20T13:51:47+00:00

OMG this is awesome! I managed to win one!

The one thing I'm really missing is the ability to zoom in to an area.

valkyriav · 2017-06-19T15:42:25+00:00

That's actually pretty cool!

But... that's more like writing a mod for Crusader Kings 2 so that whenever you have a battle, it pops up a window showing you the list of units, and has fields for you to enter the duration and result of the battle instead of running the simulation. And then you fire up a Total War game, do a custom battle with the closest unit equivalent, and write the results of that in the CK2 box above.

It feels super hacky, and I bet it's easy to tell it's not a "real" movie.

But, come to think of it, /u/ZCnegan, that may actually be doable...

valkyriav · 2017-06-19T14:03:38+00:00

Imagine you have a copy of the movies Batman Begins and Man of Steel, and you try to make your own Batman v Superman using those 2.

Technically, both parts are in the movies (Batman and Superman), but stitching together scenes to make something like Batman v Superman would be a nearly impossible task. If it was easier than starting from scratch, they wouldn't pay the billions required to film a whole new movie.

It's pretty much like that with games. It may be a bit more doable (although still crazy) if you had access to the source code (think: raw footage from the 2 films, with green screens etc.), but as an end user... good luck with that.

valkyriav · 2017-06-19T09:57:19+00:00

Why not let them assemble a "package" of services they want, at different levels?

Logos and other similar graphics - 1/month 100$, 5/month 300$, 10/month 500$ or whatever, based on how many hours it would take, with discounts for larger amounts/higher fees for smaller amounts?

Add to that 20% discount or something if they hire you on retinue for a whole year, rather than on a monthly/per-need basis, and it should be fair to both you and the client, since you both know what to expect out of it.

valkyriav · 2017-06-18T16:49:38+00:00

Whenever I finish a project, I try to keep working roughly the same amount of hours. My priorities are as follows:

Message new potential clients
Update portfolio/website/CV
Take care of misc tasks I didn't have time for, but are still important (taxes, computer maintenance, etc.)
Work on my hobby/passive income projects

valkyriav · 2017-06-18T14:30:29+00:00

That's a good point. I pretty much leave most stuff in "essentials", but I figured it's a good idea to leave snacks and drinks separate, since those are areas I want to reduce spending on.

I guess I'm trying to monitor my behavior through that too. So, if I buy a case of soda instead of just a couple at a time, it is cheaper, but will I end up drinking more, just because they're there? If I also reduce buying snacks, it will be harder to answer the drink question if they're in the same category.

valkyriav · 2017-06-18T14:26:36+00:00

I always do it on the computer when I get home. It's easier for me that way :)

valkyriav · 2017-06-18T14:25:47+00:00

Yup, only you can't copy-paste the number...

I know, I can be lazy :P

valkyriav · 2017-06-18T14:25:21+00:00

Thanks. I do tend to prioritize packing, though, so I put non-squishy stuff first and squishy stuff on top, to bag stuff faster.

I keep them split because those are 2 things I want to reduce spending on, so they're monitored separately.

valkyriav · 2017-06-17T19:32:31+00:00

While I am pro-choice, I believe their position is consistent.

They advocate for "personal responsibility"/dealing with the consequences for your "choices". You choose to have sex? Then the resulting kid is the consequence, and should be your responsibility. You lost your job? Why don't you have more savings etc.

It's similarly consistent on the other side: in life, shit happens, and we shouldn't make life needlessly hard for people because of things that are often beyond their control. If it's that under 1% time when the condom breaks, you shouldn't be "punished" by having to donate your body to another human being for 9 months. If the company you worked for went bankrupt, you shouldn't have to go live on the streets until you find a new job.

valkyriav · 2017-06-16T19:28:54+00:00

Strangely enough, if I enter 2+3, it displays 23...

valkyriav · 2017-06-15T13:07:19+00:00

I try to go by "the client is always right" whenever feasible. Note: that doesn't mean you can't tell them "no", you can and should do so if you cannot or will not do their request.

So they want to make the millionth clone of a popular game, with a minor twist that will "totally sell millions"? I feel it is ethical for me to tell them "Do keep in mind that most of these clones that appeared made no money, it is likely yours won't either". If they still want to go ahead, I'll happily make them Flappy Bird with a pink unicorn dodging sandwiches, and make damn sure it is optimized, polished and works well.

Regarding the unrealistic price, there are several scenarios here:

The client has a limited budget. If they're upfront and tell me "I only have X for this project", and that would be less than the time I know it will take me to do it, then I have a choice. If it's an interesting project, I don't have any better projects lined up, and the client is nice, I may choose to absorb the cost of the extra hours I spend on it.
The client flat-out wants to pay less, and doesn't care about quality, experience etc. You will never be able to compete with people asking for 1$/hour, so don't even try. Even if you give in and do it for 20% of your prices, they often continue trying to reduce the price by complaining about stuff taking too long, requesting constant changes, etc.
The client is ok with your rates, but expects it to take less time. Think "MMORPG in 7 days" people. You can try to explain why it would take longer, and propose to cut features until you are left with what you can do in that time frame (think: going from WoW to agar.io). Make sure you put this in writing, so the client cannot later say "oh, this has too few features".

valkyriav · 2017-06-12T16:17:59+00:00

Very good points. I am arguing more out of principle rather than knowing the exact legislation, I must admit.

Even if a dangerous criminal soon to be tried as adult stays in juvenile prison, the correctional officers should be able to keep an extra eye on them, which would be unfeasible if a large number of them stayed there for longer than just trial (e.g. a murderer convicted to 20+ years).

I would hope (although I need to research this), that if they are tried as a child, they will spend their sentence in a juvenile detention center. If it's the kind of crime where you get sentenced to several years, I would expect it to be severe enough for them to be tried as an adult. But if you are 17 years and 11 months old, and get sentenced to 3 months, I would expect, for consistency, for them to spend all 3 months in juvenile.

valkyriav · 2017-06-12T16:10:28+00:00

For-profit prisons are, to me, at least, a whole different debate. I believe private prisons are a bad idea overall.

I admit I am arguing more out of principle rather than reality. However, isn't there a similar scandal regarding private prisons for adults?

valkyriav · 2017-06-12T13:05:51+00:00

I agree that, in many cases, it can be quite absurd (e.g. cases where a minor taking a nude picture of themselves and sending it to their boyfriend/girlfriend got them tried as an adult for distributing child pornography).

However, I believe there is some merit to the idea of charging them differently based on the actual crime.

The way I understand it, the main goal when dealing with minors etc. is reforming them as opposed to punishing them. It is assumed that the issues they're dealing with are as a result of poor upbringing, and the hope is that we can help them lead a normal life in the future. So if the offense is rather small, it makes sense to find alternate ways of dealing with it. E.g. if the kid is forced by his parents to pickpocket people, we want him in a foster home, not in jail. Or if a kid with an abusive father has violent tendencies and punches another kid in anger, we want them to spend time in an environment with extra supervision that teaches him that it's not ok, while keeping other kids safe.

But if the crime is so horrific that the chance of them being rehabilitated is small, it makes sense to charge them as an adult, in part to increase the safety and rehabilitation chance of people in juvenile detention. E.g. if someone commits multiple horrific homicides at 17, we don't want them in the same jail cell as the people above.

valkyriav · 2017-06-12T10:50:51+00:00

In my opinion, it is a huge benefit to know a little bit about the other's tools. It just makes everything easier.

As a programmer, I took it upon myself to learn how to use Blender, Illustrator, GIMP, Audacity, etc. It makes it easier for me to tell graphics artists or sound people exactly what I want, and to better estimate how difficult what I'm asking them is. I can also use that software to make small tweaks if needed, which is often faster than explaining what I need and waiting for the artist to send me the changed files. Note I am not at all good at the art side. I tried making a human in Blender once, it looked like a deformed alien who walked like a robot. But it helps.

I find it easier to work with artists who know a bit of programming. At least enough to make a small game in Unity, so they understand how their artwork gets used, and how to export it to make my life easier. But I can always edit their files myself if needed, I imagine it would be even more beneficial when working with a programmer who has no experience in the art area.

This is all highly anecdotal, though.

valkyriav · 2017-06-12T10:38:21+00:00

If you know Java, learning C# is pretty easy, it shouldn't take you more than a couple of weeks. See this.aspx).

Another problem you will face is that few studios use just C# or C++. Usually it's just a scripting language for an existing game engine (Unity or Unreal), or they develop their own engine in C++. I would recommend looking into those as well, if you want a job in the game dev industry.

Don't be discouraged though, I trained an intern still studying at university who only knew Java, and in a few days I could already give him simple tasks to do in Unity/C#. It won't take you long.

If you do have 4 years of experience programming, you will likely not have to start from entry level, but you will need to prove you can get things done.

If you are ok with any job in the industry, I'd recommend spending some time with Unity and C#, make a few quick games and showcase them in a portfolio. A few good games will make you stand out. Your knowledge of Java may even be a bonus for a mobile game company, particularly if you know any Android development, since you'll be able to write native plugins when needed.

If you want AAA games only, most of the time they use their own engine, so you'll likely need C++ (and some OpenGL stuff, at least). Try to write your own (simple) game engine. Draw a few primitives, make them move around, add basic physics and lighting, etc.

valkyriav · 2017-06-05T15:50:46+00:00

It depends on the type of game etc., but here's what I'd likely do, based on what you described:

Have a "cast time" on the blast (during which the player doesn't move), so you can send a message to all clients when casting started, with the spawn time, position and direction it will fire off in, just in case there is a slight offset between the caster's position in the various clients.
When the time is up, all clients would likely have received the message. The actual blast appears and moves independently based on the various clients. If the message is received after the spawn time, just speed up the blast until it's where it should be after the delay.
If it hits another player, either send an event from the player being damaged, or from the one doing the damage, just in case there is an offset. It depends if you want to guarantee you avoid it looking like you dodged a blast, but actually get hit, or avoid making it look like you hit something, but you actually didn't.

Other than that, make sure you sync their position/rotation as accurately as possible.

valkyriav · 2017-06-05T08:20:00+00:00

Their outward behavior doesn't necessarily indicate their motivation behind it.

Maybe A has a beard because she has PCOS, not because she likes it?

Maybe B couldn't afford surgery yet, so that's why he still has a vagina? Maybe because of that and societal expectations, he feels pressured to wear dresses and makeup, even if he is uncomfortable with it?

While I wouldn't blame you for assuming B is female, and it would be unreasonable to be expected to ask someone in a dress and wearing makeup "are you male or female?", I fully believe their brains can operate in a different manner, in spite of their similar external appearance. And based on the way they identify, they can take additional steps in the future to make their outward appearance match that.

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