this post was submitted on 10 Feb 2025
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TechTakes

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Big brain tech dude got yet another clueless take over at HackerNews etc? Here's the place to vent. Orange site, VC foolishness, all welcome.

This is not debate club. Unless it’s amusing debate.

For actually-good tech, you want our NotAwfulTech community

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Need to let loose a primal scream without collecting footnotes first? Have a sneer percolating in your system but not enough time/energy to make a whole post about it? Go forth and be mid: Welcome to the Stubsack, your first port of call for learning fresh Awful you’ll near-instantly regret.

Any awful.systems sub may be subsneered in this subthread, techtakes or no.

If your sneer seems higher quality than you thought, feel free to cut’n’paste it into its own post — there’s no quota for posting and the bar really isn’t that high.

The post Xitter web has spawned soo many “esoteric” right wing freaks, but there’s no appropriate sneer-space for them. I’m talking redscare-ish, reality challenged “culture critics” who write about everything but understand nothing. I’m talking about reply-guys who make the same 6 tweets about the same 3 subjects. They’re inescapable at this point, yet I don’t see them mocked (as much as they should be)

Like, there was one dude a while back who insisted that women couldn’t be surgeons because they didn’t believe in the moon or in stars? I think each and every one of these guys is uniquely fucked up and if I can’t escape them, I would love to sneer at them.

(Taking over for Gerard this time. Special thanks to him for starting this.)

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[–] dgerard@awful.systems 12 points 3 days ago (6 children)

Original writing prompt: “Write a romantic comedy. Difficulty: both lovers are emotionally mature and have excellent communication skills.”

What our good friend Eliezer makes of it

Oscar Wilde's job is in no danger

[–] aio@awful.systems 6 points 2 days ago

Apparently "emotionally mature" means "blushing schoolgirl"

Ha! My Lemmy client is having trouble following that link! Safe again.

[–] blakestacey@awful.systems 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

SHE is gowned in a black dress sewn with tiny emeralds, rubies, sapphires too small to detract from the darkness of her gown, instead giving it the illusion of a rainbow sheen.

Following "gowned" so closely with "dress" is awkward, because the latter is redundant. Consider, e.g., "She is gowned in black, the fabric sewn with..." Using both "gowned" and "gown" in the same sentence compounds the problem. Consider introducing further information about the fabric: e.g., "the darkness of the velvet" or "the darkness of the silk".

Whoof. Made it through the first sentence.

[–] dgerard@awful.systems 15 points 3 days ago

first thought: "she is gowned in old jeans and a Debian t-shirt"

[–] istewart@awful.systems 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Nice try, but you're going to have to work a lot harder if you want to trick me into clicking on that. I lived through browsing peak Slashdot at -1, you know

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Next time Gadget, next time!

[–] sinedpick@awful.systems 14 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Impressive how someone can be so bad at writing after writing so, so much.

[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 11 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

yud, 15-year top of score chart of expert beginners

(e: s/p,/d,/ stupid phone)

[–] swlabr@awful.systems 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

guy chooses never to take in feedback or think about how to git gud at writing so every time he spurts out more sludge it’s just more infinite degrees of fractal bad.

Why the fuck is it in bad script form? MAN: WOMAN: MAN: WOMAN: just fucking name them! There’s like ten names in the text, just fucking do it, you shit!

FWIW the only way to read yudkowskian dialogue is to imagine yud as each character wearing a different wig for that character. No distinctions in voice though, none are apparent in the text.

[–] sinedpick@awful.systems 13 points 3 days ago (2 children)

ah good point. He reads "mature and excellent at communication" as a self-description. After that, there's absolutely no way he can resist writing himself into both characters.

[–] blakestacey@awful.systems 13 points 3 days ago

The man is a hollow shell, and the woman is tripping over her own tongue in the least regal fashion imaginable. There's no emotional maturity because there's no interiority. There's no communication, just Yud doing Ready Player One with Nerd Culture(TM) references. Remember the Evil Overlord list? You do, don't you? Wasn't the Evil Overlord list funny? Now imagine if an Evil Overlord had, wait for it, read the Evil Overlord list. Wouldn't that be amazing?

(Yes, he did the same damn thing in HPMOR, too.)

[–] swlabr@awful.systems 9 points 3 days ago

all of his works are socrappy dialogues (crappy socratic dialogues). This one is an unsubtle exploration of his BDSM fetish

[–] swlabr@awful.systems 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

Also, shit writing prompt. I haven’t seen a writing prompt online that I didn’t hate. “Hey wouldn’t it be neat if someone wrote about this premise???”

Writing prompt: Day one at the dildo factory

shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up

[–] sailor_sega_saturn@awful.systems 13 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Writing Prompts:

  • Pokemon and Digimon are both real and they are at war.
  • Fractals are alive and they hate us
  • A woman explores beyond the event horizon of a black hole and it's just very hot and cramped and boring and not at all pleasant
  • A company starts a time mine where they mine causality but they didn't think about sustainability

OK OK you have a point, I hate all of these and I wrote them.

[–] dgerard@awful.systems 11 points 3 days ago

Fractals are alive and they hate us

comp.basilisk FAQ

[–] swlabr@awful.systems 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

when I think about it more, what I don’t like is how insistent WPs are. Like what’s being communicated to me is “hey this is a good story idea, now you write it so you can prove my point!!!” You aren’t my editor, pal!

Yeah, it's a lot easier to think of a potentially interesting premise than it is to sit down and actually write it out. Also if I'm gonna write something it'll be something I think is interesting rather than a prompt.

[–] istewart@awful.systems 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)

• Diligent application of Bayesian reasoning finally gains you the ability to fly, propelled by your own farts

[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 10 points 3 days ago

would’ve thought that’s more a hot air balloon situation

[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 8 points 3 days ago

bullet 4 is almost the plot of the film In Time (2011)

[–] blakestacey@awful.systems 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Writing prompt: Day one at the dildo factory

"Yarrgh. Another crew of bushy tails, more wet behind the ears than 'tween the legs. You've no idea what's in store for you, but these eyes, these old eyes have seen things. Like the great injector malfunction of aught-six..."

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 9 points 3 days ago

Writing prompt: Day one at the dildo factory

Dragon whats?