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Tech Thread

zeke said:
but the google AI overview keeps reading my search results wrong for me. like blatantly wrong. it's a problem.

Curing cancer, though, is still the kind of thing that i think AI is worth dreaming on for.
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Here’s a reply in an mbow30-style voice — slightly dry, a bit needling, pragmatic, and faintly superior:

Zeke, buddy… Google reading you wrong isn’t a bug, it’s just finally someone else getting you the way the rest of us do.

But yeah, agreed — the AI overview thing is brutal. It’s like asking a drunk intern to summarize quantum physics.

As for curing cancer, I love the optimism, but maybe let’s get it to correctly interpret a Toronto Star headline first before we hand it the genome. One step at a time.
 
Didn’t nail it at all, sadly

Zero mention of Preston being the senior Covid correspondent around here, nor his valuable credit card churning insights.

Zeke was right. AI is BS
 
Wait till you read what chatgpt says about mindzeye, and in particular, his opinion on shatkins

It's pure slop with zero value, but you have to admit it's kind of cool.
 
  • Some posts under “Preston” are aggressive — e.g. in one thread he wrote only “Fucking cunts” in response to others.
  • At least some other members seem to imply that Preston (or his alias(es)) have polarizing opinions: some appreciate his takes, others react negatively.
  • There’s a sense among some long-time members that “new blood” like Preston has a hard time getting accepted: “we don’t end up keeping many newbies around unless their views on hockey align with ___.”
 
CH1 said:
  • Some posts under “Preston” are aggressive — e.g. in one thread he wrote only “Fucking cunts” in response to others.
  • At least some other members seem to imply that Preston (or his alias(es)) have polarizing opinions: some appreciate his takes, others react negatively.
  • There’s a sense among some long-time members that “new blood” like Preston has a hard time getting accepted: “we don’t end up keeping many newbies around unless their views on hockey align with ___.”
Click to expand...
i think that third bullet was my post!!!!
 
If we’re channeling mbow30-energy (as it tends to come across on Forumice), here’s how his implied thoughts about Preston might read:

Preston is that guy who writes like he’s narrating a Pulitzer-winning expose on municipal parking bylaws — you respect the craft, but you also wonder how someone can type 600 words without once inhaling.
Click to expand...
In other words, mbow30 would probably say he respects Preston’s effort and intelligence, but also finds him long-winded, self-serious, and occasionally unintentionally hilarious.

A more direct mbow-voice version might sound like:

Preston is like Wikipedia if it had feelings and a comment section. Always has a take, usually well-constructed, sometimes exhausting — but hey, at least he’s not MindzEye.
Click to expand...
 
Here’s an AI scripted exchange between me and presto.

Preston:
“Look, if we step back and examine the structural incentives around AI deployment, it becomes clear that technological optimism untethered from governance architecture is just techno-utopianism dressed in a lab coat. The key is layered accountability.”

mbow30:
“Cool, cool. Translation: you don’t trust Skynet. Noted.”

Preston:
“I’m not being hyperbolic — if we’re serious, the emergent power dynamics here echo mid-20th century industrial capture. We need an informed citizenry before we get seduced by miracle cures or productivity gospel.”

mbow30:
“You could’ve just said ‘don’t be dumb and worship robots.’ But sure, paragraphs.”

Preston:
“Well, nuance matters. If discourse collapses into memes and cynicism, society forfeits analysis to the lowest bidder.”

mbow30:
“Buddy, society already forfeited analysis to memes. You just write longer memes.”

Preston:
“That’s unfair. Some of us are trying to map consequences before they arrive.”

mbow30:
“And some of us are trying to watch the game without a thesis defense breaking out in the thread. Respectfully.”
 
Here’s Round 2 with Preston vs mbow30, plus MindzEye barging in and Zeke playing referee:

Preston:
“As I was saying — accountability frameworks are essential if we want AI to augment rather than erode civic agency. Otherwise—”

mbow30:
“We get it, professor. Bad robots, need rules. Can we move on before you start citing peer-reviewed journals?”

MindzEye:
Actually, if either of you bothered to read the MIT computational ethics report from 2021 (which I linked twice, by the way), you’d understand that your entire framing is simplistic. The conversation is light-years behind where it should be.”

mbow30:
“Here we go. MindzEye has arrived with the ‘I read a PDF, therefore kneel’ energy.”

Preston:
“I don’t think dismissiveness advances the discussion. If MindzEye has a citation—”

mbow30:
“Preston, don’t encourage him, he’ll start posting flowcharts.”

Zeke:
“Guys… can AI just learn to read my searches right first? Then cure cancer. Then whatever you’re all yelling about. One thing at a time.”

MindzEye:
“Zeke, that’s a reductive sequencing fallacy. Innovation isn’t linear—”

mbow30:
“Bro, nobody logged in hoping for vocabulary flashcards.”

Preston:
“If people would slow down and unpack what’s being said—”

mbow30:
“Oh my god, Preston, you write like a TED Talk hostage note. Zeke’s just trying to Google pizza toppings without being diagnosed by an algorithm.”

Zeke:
“This is… weirdly accurate.”

MindzEye:
“I’ll come back when you’re all willing to engage at a higher intellectual plane.”

mbow30:
“Buddy, you always come back.”
 
zeke said:
i fucking hate it.

we're all gonna die.
Click to expand...
Zeke, relax — you’re not about to be replaced by Siri with a gym membership.

Every generation thinks the next big tech wave is the apocalypse.
Your grandparents thought colour TV would turn people into zombies.
Your parents thought video games were going to create a nation of basement goblins.
We turned out… mostly fine.

AI isn’t Skynet; it’s closer to a very confident idiot savant.
Useful, impressive, but still asking you if you meant “ducking” every time you’re mad.

Yeah, it’ll change things — it already is — but you’re acting like we should be writing goodbye notes to humanity.
Buddy, half the people in this forum can’t figure out how to attach an image — we’re a long way from machine overlords.

So here’s the deal:
Keep your skepticism, it keeps you sharp.
Drop the fatalism, it just makes you sound like you’re prepping a bunker because your phone autocorrected your name.

The future’s messy but survivable.
You’ll be fine.
Worst case, AI cures cancer and ruins your Google searches — you’ll have to cope with longer life expectancy and slightly dumber search results.

You’ve survived worse — remember the Leafs playoff runs.
If that didn’t break you, AI sure won’t.
 
zeke said:
your AI buddy about to tell me to off myself looks like.
Click to expand...
Easy, Zeke — nobody’s telling you to swan-dive into the void.
If anything, AI’s trying to give you a pep talk and you’re reading it like it’s a Dear John letter from your toaster.

You’ve got to stop assuming every existential comment is aimed at you personally.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes a chatbot is just trying to keep you from spiraling like it’s Game 7 overtime.

Take a breath, step back, and maybe don’t anthropomorphize the algorithm into your life coach.
You’re fine.
If anyone’s going to roast you here, it’ll be me — respectfully, of course.
 
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