Thanks for explaining your reasoning, I see it different than you.

Especially your comment regarding the LLM is where our beliefs differ: an LLM is the software plus the hardware, so in my opinion for sure if there ever is a “real” conscious AI, we know what it is made out of and that it’s the collection of programs that run on the hardware (we might never understand why that lead to consciousness, but it isn’t more than what was put in). So whatever that AI is, is defined by those two things. Same as we humans are defined by our nerve system and brain. Take parts of it away and it changes the whole (=brain damage, trauma, drugs, etc.).

Especially drugs and their influence on our minds are a big reason why I’m strongly in the “it’s all physical” camp. Taking drugs changes the minds of people while those drugs are in the system. That people feel their thinking change, is proof for me, that it’s all physical, since it can be influenced by physical means, e.g. drugs.

Now we both stated our beliefs, but I don’t think we will get a real answer in the close future and I don’t think we will convince the other person, so thanks again for explaining your reasoning.

What is the reasoning that you believe that your consciousness can’t arise out of physical matter?

Oh for sure, that might be the case. But everything already written in some holy book or told in some ritual now definitely lacked those sophisticated machines, making all their content moot and you can safely disregard them.

So due to the lack of any information, you can’t prepare and therefore can’t expect anything. So it’s better to be good for its own sake, then trying to appease some bronze/iron age divinity.

Vinegar is perfectly fine for that. With a bigger amount of minerals you just need more vinegar and time.

You are technically right that the water heater softens the water a bit by precipitating the minerals around the heating element and thereby removing them from the water. But that is energy inefficient and expensive, since you normally don’t use a water heater to soften your water but rather to get warm water. So putting another system in front of the heater that softens it first is better than replacing the heat element every so often.

You know, it’s almost like politics affects everything. Strange thing that.

I don’t want to debate politics everytime myself, but the fact stays that at the end of the day, everything is political

Just one question: on which keyboard are 4 and 9 close to each other to get typoed *X-Files music starts*

That’s not true.

It totally depends on the problem and the solution. If there is no economy of scale at force for the solution, it won’t make a difference.

I would agree with you if he would be talking about the border regions alone. But he is (at least in the translations), speaking about the whole countries not being a country because of those border regions. And that is stupid and Oniony.

Border regions not being under the control of the central government is a legitimate thing to criticize the countries for, but not a reason to call them not countries. Otherwise Ukraine would also not be a country by that definition, since it doesn’t control all their regions currently.

I mean… have you heard about the attack on Sender Gleiwitz?

False flag is a true and tested tradition for fascists

Every fairy tale with a good king/queen/princess/prince?

Or One Thousand and One Nights has the king killing his wifes left and right, but by the end it’s alright, because he really loves his current wife now…

Since you are asking for cautionary tales, The Fisherman and his Wife might a better fit. Just be glad of what you have and don’t strive for advancing.

Yep, definitely not usable for a decentralized power grid. All those wasted PV cells on all those homes which now generate most of their used electricity themselves. Too bad that doesn’t work.

All atoms higher than hydrogen come from stars. So in the end, everything is derived from fusion. Therefore, geothermal and fission can only exist because of nuclear fusion.

It is very much the motto this idiot lives by. He just wasn’t the first to coin that phrase.

I never considered it, but you are perfectly right. Prometheus was the first pirate and anti copyright activist! That makes me like him even more.

Both from Germany:

I remember that in my high school time many in my year went to plasma donation as often as it was allowed to collect the compensation. So while you are right that is legally never called payment, people with a need for cash for sure sell their plasma for money.

Oh and in the public sector there is or at least was in the past also the possibility for donating blood and you get the 2 hours or so for that paid as normal. So the government donated the money for a good course.

They didn’t say that, but the other commenter still speaks about a point that also caught my eye:

It doesn’t matter if donating blood or plasma is able to be longer stored. When you need one of them, you can’t substitute with the other. So the medical area still needs both. So you still need people donating both. If a medical institution is telling me they only collect plasma, I would question their motives, because both are needed for helping people.

Maybe the donating place just gave the short explanation and they meant, that for blood donations there are other better places, but it could also mean, they don’t earn enough money with that. And THAT is I think what the other commenter meant with their admittedly short comment.

And? Nearly everything is a self inflicted problem. You could just lay down and stop bothering, so why don’t you do that?

Do I like long nails? Hell no. Does it affect me if somebody buys this keyboard to type and have long nails? Also hell no.

Yeah, that was a strange moment. Those in the company being for Altman, I can understand. They expected big returns of investment from keeping him around. But the outsiders on the internet cheering him on? Felt like Elon Musk in the beginning again. And yes I also fell for his engineer persona in the beginning. But I learned from that.

Or you can use the billions you invest in that and invest it instead in renewables and batteries. Because that is cheaper per MWh