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FearandLoathingintheMotte


				

				

				

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joined 2025 December 27 15:22:00 UTC
				

				

				

				

				

				

					
				

				

				
				
				

				
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FearandLoathingintheMotte


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2025 December 27 15:22:00 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 4101


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


"Where I'd push you"




Didn't realize I had PTSD for this phrase until seeing it outside of the ChatGPT app


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


making it 50% shorter would make it better.




While from an """empirical""" prose standpoint you may be correct, as an enjoyer of his style (his writing was partially how I ended up here) I enjoyed the fact it was long and slightly rambly because I got more content


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Dune Isn't Fiction It's a Historical Novel


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I don't support them genociding Gaza, I just think it's basically one of ~two "effective" (as in, actually stops the two groups from doing everything they can to fuck with each other) options for actually ending this conflict.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


What would be a more effective way to clear out Hamas bases and tunnels that are deeply embedded within civilian infrastructure, without putting your own soldiers at risk?




Good faith Marshall plan Gaza or actually genocide it fr.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That's a fair point, to counter though, this law isn't "terrorists get the death penalty" it's "people who intentionally cause the death of a person with the aim of denying the existence of the State of Israel" as judged by a military tribunal, with absolutely 0 appeals allowed after sentencing.


So in your situation it's more like a law that only applies to slave owners who also don't like Abraham Lincoln/the union, i.e. any northern slave owner caught with slaves wouldn't get the death penalty.


Also the law absolutely violates their due process and other legal rights.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Ohhhh I understand, thank you


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


In the last thread, my opinion was that LLMs are missing something essential.




I would like to register as 100% believing this while simultaneously being very bullish on AI.


I've been making my dream cookbook app with AI, and it's going quite well, but this project has made it clear that while AI can talk a LOT about cooking, and it can be a very helpful sous chef, it actually doesn't understand cooking fucking at ALL. I don't have a great smoking gun, but so many decisions and assumptions and things it's said to me throughout the project have been a stark reminder I'm working with a really weird form of intelligence. One that is ridiculously concerned with the density of a cup of spinach (seriously, not a single person has ever worried how dense "2 cups of spinach" is when making pasta)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


And if there is a cumbersome way to accomplish something, you can usually count on computers to accomplish it anyway by means of throwing more and more processing power at the situation.




The bitter lesson strikes again!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Do you, personally, believe that Israel has a right to exist as "a Jewish and Democratic state"?






Do you, personally, believe that a state can in practical terms be both "Jewish" and "Democratic" in the commonly-understood definitions of those terms? That is, assuming the general positive-valence progressive understanding of "Democracy" as a social system, do you think "Democracy" is broadly compatible with an explicit ethno-state?




I don't understand these questions and you seem reasonable and have good takes.


What if my answers are:


    

  1. 

    yes, kind of. I don't really think any state has a "right" to exist all that much. However I think states that are able to enforce their existence on planet earth should probably exist, and I'm generally against people trying to make other states not exist, even if they perhaps could pull it off.
    

    2. 

  2. 

    absolutely. I think Isreal can be run by Jews and have leaders elected by popular vote. You could also absolutely have an ethnostate that has a democracy. I don't think "universal suffrage" is required for democracy, although it is preferable.
    

    3. 



These questions seem so basic I feel like I'm missing something.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Antisemitism is a result of massive, society-wide misinformation perpetuated by the press, universities, and social media. This is the “wall of dead children” model. Israel’s actions don’t really matter because they will be twisted and misrepresented anyways. The solution is to exert more control over the information environment.




> Pass an anti-terrorism law that de facto applies only to one ethnicity, which you're already being accused of apartheid-ing, which calls for "death by hanging, carried out in no more than 90 days" as the default sentence.


> "there is literally nothing we can do, the fake news is just going to twist our ethnic death penalty laws to make us seem like monsters"


> "this is why we need to control tiktok"


Damn, can't help but notice this seems absolutely bananas


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


in many cases, anti-Zionism is the motte and antisemitism is the bailey.




This strikes me as very likely in some cases




After all, if anti-Zionists were really only opposed to the state of Israel, you would logically expect them to be the first to condemn attacks on the Jewish diaspora, and in the loudest possible terms: after all, if they believe that a dedicated Jewish state is not necessary to ensure the safety of Jews, they should be the ones most opposed to attacks on Jews outside of Israel.




I don't see how any of this is logical at all actually.


I have no problem with Jews, I admire their culture. Frankly, any culture that prizes educational attainment and hard work is desperately needed given how hard the West is abandoning these values.


I think the state of Israel, while in a very shitty neighborhood, is going absolutely ham to a degree that is impossible to support ethically. There are many examples of the various attrocities they have recently inflicted on Palestinians (rape, violence, blah blah blah). Also fun stuff like death penalty laws that only apply to Palestinians. Or the entire concept of West Bank settlements and the Swiss cheesing of that area. Or how gaza is levelled and the ~2mil ppl there are now pressed into less than 50% of the pre 2023 land area. It goes on...


Of course, the Palestinians, and the Arab Muslim world at large, are terrible neighbors and have inflicted lots of attrocities back on Isreal. I dislike them as well.


So in sum, I dislike everyone in that area, and I hope they resolve their problems (they never will). If I meet a Jew in real life, I'll shake their hand and hope I can get invited to Shabbat because I'm a slut for Challah.


But I also think the state of Israel is being run by essentially cartoon villains and I absolutely do not support them.


I don't understand why I have to yell loudly about not liking violence against Jews forever to demonstrate that I'm "one of the good ones". I don't like violence against Jews, people shouldn't be violent ahainst them. I dislike violence against most people.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think his verbatim quote was something like "it will add 2-3% growth"


I doubt he meant 2% * 1.02 = 2.04% as that's incredibly small and he was otherwise rather bullish, but maybe he did


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Seems deeply unlikely to decrease given their #1 issue is not having enough compute to meet the demand for their compute.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


You could argue that I’m just “using it wrong,"




I do actually bet your using it wrong (or a free model, or tried before November 2025). What are you trying to do? There are many things it can't do well, so maybe you're right, but given what you said above I am suspicious.




This is all ‘real’ in the same sense that having “AI” in a Sonicare toothbrush or a refrigerator is also real. It just isn’t the selling point that people think it is.




It's absolutely insane that you can read things like:


    

  • 

    Making personalized study materials instantly and infinitely
    

    • 

  • 

    High quality research across all human knowledge in a fraction of the time
    

    • 

  • 

    Instant custom software on demand
    

    • 

  • 

    Infinite mid tier advice and cognitive output
    

    • 



And called it as useful as a vibrating toothbrush. You are so biased as to be willfully blind.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


AI as it is right now is a gimmick I want people to get bored with






I realize I only used text generation on free and, for a while, one step above free model




Lmao every single time without fail


I have really bad news for you my friend. Today in April 2026 is the least amount of LLMs in your life. It's only downhill energy from here.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


the joos




Who do you think makes the AI


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
AI/woke drama is my favorite combo but sadly not present here


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I have no idea, but intuitively it seems to me that training with synthetic data is something that can't possibly work.




I agree with you intuitively. However large amounts of Serious People are spending large amounts of Serious Economic Resources to do literally just that. So they clearly see something there.


Mythos seems to be yet another OOM of compute and training and we can be sure a good % of that was synthetic at this point as they already ate the entire corpus of human writing a while ago


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Like I said, this only works for maths, programming, and other domains where you can verify the answer with a computer relatively cheaply,




This is what the armies of Kenyans are for. I'm actually surprised progressive libs don't use "muh mechanical Turk sweatshop" as an anti AI talking point.


Also I think in some ways what they use the thumbs up/down for? I saw people saying the sycophantic behavior of the 4o era was people love being glazed and thumbs that up a LOT so it crept in.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Marxism and Rationalism




I don't understand how these fit into the category like the religious examples


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
While I share your skepticsm, this Dineen makes intuitive sense. But given that all the labs seem to be doing this and are not super concerned about it, I assume it serves it's purpose.


Mythos is a big boy, I imagine there's lot of synthetic data in there and it seems to be working


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Phenomenal take. I largely agree, although things look very different depending on where capabilities stall out.


I just listened to an uncharacteristically poor quality (maybe just Gell-Mann) Odd Lots episode where the economist said essentially he didn't think it would be revolutionary but would add 2-3% to growth.


Having our economies double in growth would be insane, I can't wait


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


the data on teenage phone usage doesn't prove a collective action problem




Why doesn't it? I guess I have to go dig it up, but there's literally surveys with teenagers where they're asked if they think they'd be better off with no social media but don't want to stop using social media if everyone else is still on it.


Literally the definition of a collective action problem.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'll admit part of it was just the context of this website.


But a post about a shooting by a terminally online man obsessed with anime?


The odds weren't bad for that guess lol