@nprofile1q... This is one of my favorites. There is a good deal of her work at https://www.fadedpage.com/sc/montgomery.php A Tangled Web is very funny and a joy to read generally, though the Anne books have overshadowed it.

@nprofile1q... I don't think so. The vast majority of people would be like you if they lightened up on social media, no matter whhen they were born. If people got input from, say, 2-300 people a year, they could form their own views, and those views would be based on the personality of the person forming them, his experiences, etc. The fact is that people get opinions, usually in very short chunks without evidence, from thousands, or tens of thousands, a year, and they form their views based on the loudest people, or what they most often see.

@nprofile1q... With respect, I would argue you are normal for 1980 or 1990. I mean for most people there was no earthshaking tribal affiliation when it came to politics until social media or, to push it back a bit, talk radio, came into the picture. Mr. Smith would vote for party A, but party A was not some sort of identity, his political position was not really part of his identity, it was just his view on the world at the moment. It could and did change. Most sadly, that has become far less the case recently, and I don't by any means say that just for one side. Polarization is one thing, we've seen that before, but completely going into an echo chamber and never coming out is really something new under the sun. In 1980, you wouldn't have had to avoid topics around your friends, you would have just disagreed more or less politely.

@nprofile1q... Again, obviously so. Humans can. The question is whether they do or will. Does the evidence you've seen indicate that they do or will, or does it show that they just throw up whatever the AI produces? What I've seen is mainly the latter, I'm sorry to say.

@nprofile1q... Umm, yes? I mean obviously, yes. Nobody blames AI for anything, they can't. It's a computer. Do I blame Windows when it crashes? Certainly not. I blame the dev. The problem is that people with low standards assume that, because there are a ton of words on the page, or a ton of code in the editor, that's somehow a benefit. It's a benefit to them because they don't want to do the work, or want the work done by themselves or their employees to appear to be better than it is. In fact, producing wordy garbage is not a benefit to the world. If your code is inefficient, that's not a benefit to the world. If your image description is wrong, that's not a benefit to the world. Basically, the problem is with people who pretend that just because something pops out, that's fine and they've done what they need to do.

@nprofile1q... I agree with this. The only part I would disagree with is when you say "humans control what the AI is capable of". With respect, they don't. They control what they are able to get out of the AI through prompting, and they control whether anyone else sees that. That control is more than enough to assign praise and blame.

@nprofile1q... The problem with most people's use of AI is that what it produces is crap and people just want to throw it out there. I'm sorry for the bluntness, but that's what I'm seeing. The quality is just bad. This is least obvious with code and most obvious with writing and music. I think "you're using AI", has become the new "your work is bad". Personally, I prefer the latter. If I'm producing garbage, then it's garbage whether an LLM wrote most of it or whether I wrote it myself. The fact that an LLM wrote some of it doesn't mean it's somehow more excusable. The difficulty, of course, is that most people want to get it over with. They don't want to code/write/describe/compose the music, they just want to get the credit for having done so. If you want the credit, produce good work. Whether you do that with the assistance of an LLM is not particularly important. The question is whether your work is up to a decent standard.

@nprofile1q... I'm confused. If it's here to stay and an accomplished fact, why does the opinion of other people matter? What you seem to be saying is that "it's here, so shut up". I agree with the first part of that sentence. I disagree with the second. There are many horrible things about humanity in general. Why should we shut up about them, even though they will not go away? Maybe we can fix some of the problems. AI has many excellent uses but the desperation to find problems for it to solve is not helpful and is, in fact, making things worse for people who like and need it to solve real problems.

@nprofile1q... Same here, except for the chargers. I actually find they're getting cheaper, around $3-4 per cable if you buy them in two or three packs. A few people are pumping out usb C jack to lightning plug units, which are nice. I have an SE2 and will, I hope, be keeping it around for quite a while yet. I also have 2 original SEs which I'm using to get messages to my PC through the headphone jack. I still don't see the point, as things stand, of the new stuff except for the USB C port, which I want for easy splitting.

@nprofile1q... @nprofile1q... I agree you're not being ageist, but I think you are simply wrong. That is, you are just making factual errors, not wrong in being ageist. You say you don't want "someone who most likely will die shortly after they leave office gets to decide how those of us who have decades to live get to live.". Carter lived to the age of 100. Bush Sr. lived to the age of 94. Hoover lived to the age of 90. Reagan lived to the age of 93... The point I'm making is that, even if the president leaves office at 84, there's still a decade of life left looking at an average. There may well be more than that. With respect, the fact you're relying on is just not there, it's just not accurate. You also say "just on a cognitive scale, older people have a disadvantage". Would you be good enough to provide evidence for this? Also, wouldn't the best way to resolve this not be a matter of age, but a matter of just giving a standard and reasonable cognitive test in public? Again, I don't think there's anything wrong with ageism, it's often the wise thing to follow. I just think you're relying on factual errors here.

@nprofile1q... I've had good luck with this one https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat I have found it fairly usable, and it's written in powershell so can be read by anyone. You may also wish to think about an external keyboard, they're cheap, you have a machine which you're used to and which you've set up to your desires, and so on. I always hate moving machines when it's not a true upgrade. It's necessary sometimes, I know, but it's always annoying, at least for me.

@nprofile1q... I've been through northwestern europe, what I meant by Spain was that I've never done southern europe or, for that matter, the eastern part. All I can say is "if you say so". I always found everything far more expensive, particularly given VAT. Maybe you're right, though, I never did anything at a convenience store, though I did at grocery stores, restaurants, electronics, clothes, etc.