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.
(Credit and/or blame to David Gerard for starting this.)
In other news, SoundCloud’s become the latest victim of the AI scourge - artists have recently discovered the TOS allows their work to be stolen for AI training since early 2024.
SoundCloud’s already tried to quell the backlash, but they’re getting accused of lying in the replies and the QRTs, so its safe to say its not working.
Artist notices that his horror creations get listed by AI bots as real. Decides to troll. It works. 2 hours, 1 source. We are so cooked.
The self-fulfilling prophecy machine will ensure that engorgement will become a household term
Yes, of course this stuff isn’t new, google bombing (or looking for the specific words where there suddenly are more black than white people on a google image search) has been a thing for a while now. But this has the added authority of googles AI saying it. And it also needs just 1 source (which always was a fiction account) which is what makes it scary.
The whole trust me im lying multi step program of getting something into the media can be tossed out. It is now even easier to lie online.
Quick update from Brian Merchant: he’s looking for stories about AI screwing people over.
If you’ve got any, send them to [email protected]
Here’s a fun one… Microsoft added copilot features to sharepoint. The copilot system has its own set of access controls. The access controls let it see things that normal users might not be able to see. Normal users can then just ask copilot to tell them the contents of the files and pages that they can’t see themselves. Luckily, no business would ever put sensitive information in their sharepoint system, so this isn’t a realistic threat, haha.
Obviously Microsoft have significant resources to research and fix the security problems that LLM integration will bring with it. So much money. So many experts. Plenty of time to think about the issues since the first recall debacle.
And this is what they’ve accomplished.
https://www.pentestpartners.com/security-blog/exploiting-copilot-ai-for-sharepoint/
Is that this one or a different instance of the same bug?
I think that these are different products? I mean, the underlying problem is the same, but copilot studio seems to be “configure your own llm front-end” and copilot for sharepoint seems to be an integration made by the sharepoint team themselves, and it does make some promises about security.
Of course, it might be exactly the same thing with different branding slapped on top, and I’m not sure you could tell without some inside information, but at least this time the security failures are the fault of Microsoft themselves rather than incompetent third party folk. And that suggests that copilot studio is so difficult to use correctly that no-one can, which is funny.
Abusing privileged identities like this to do things is apparently a thing the younger hackers are quite good at so this will all be fun.
@rook @BlueMonday1984 wow. Why go to all the trouble of social engineering a company when you can just ask Copilot?
@rook @BlueMonday1984 Maybe they have asked CoPilot to write the code that restricts access for CoPilot?
(Sometimes this future feels like 2001 A Space Odyssey, just as a farce. And without benevolent aliens.)
Thankfully I’m able to say “what is sharepoint?”
I did meet it once. A client used it in their office. But when they wanted us offshore (via satellite link) to contribute to it, it became awfully unstable, probably because of latency/ unstable data links.
It’s M$. I doubt it has improved.
They’re already doing phrenology and transphobia on the pope.
(screenshot of a Twitter post with dubious coloured lines overlaid on some photos of the pope’s head, claiming a better match for a “female” skull shape)
I’ve never looked into how they do the phrenology but was immediately struck by the “female” skull having larger forehead. So they say women are big brained?
I think this mostly proves that Leo XIV is a moe anime character.
Painting a cross on the skull of the pope and then claiming this is wrong is a whole new kind of heresy.
…I was unprepared for reading this post
Got a nice and lengthy sneer from film blog That Final Scene: the uncanny valet is not your friend (and other AI stories)
Beyond being an utter castigation of AI bros’ “attempts” at aping art, its also wonderfully written from start to finish. Go check it out.
New eugenics conference just dropped
“Chatham House rules” so they can happily be racist without anyone pointing fingers at them.
the genomic emancipation of humanity
ffs, the euphemisms keep piling on today.
https://xcancel.com/GuiveAssadi/status/1920232405324955825
Steven Pinker: I’ve been part of some not so successful attempts to come up with secular humanist substitutes for religion.
Interviewer: What is the worst one you’ve been involved in?
Steven Pinker: Probably the rationalist solstice in Berkeley, which included hymns to the benefits of global supply chains. I mean, I actually completely endorse the lyrics of the song, but there’s something a bit cringe about the performance.
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTVJjmabaas which nobody should watch, obviously
If someone creates the world’s worst playlist, that would play right after RMS’s free software song.
I remind you that the original folk song is a fucking banger and nerds have only heard the worst version in the world
🎵 I’m a drop-shipping girl / in a shittified world / chat me up / bot me down / let’s go party! 🎵
hymns to the benefits of global supply chains
We did it, we discovered awful’s equivalent to Nostalgia Critic’s The Wall
I want to make a CoE joke or something but jesus christ you really can’t improve on this.
OT: Estonia (and Helsinki) were very nice, but I did not see a single delivery robot running around. Stayed across from the MalwareBytes HQ tho, I thought that was cool.
There certainly are delivery robots going around in Helsinki, but not to the extent you’re guaranteed to see them on any given day if you’re just strolling around.
Glad you enjoyed your visit.
broadcom continuing to make vmware even more unappealing
bit of a fucking weird thing to do, too. guess they’re going full oracle?
subscriptionless vmware users
perpetual license holders
What a bunch of weird and off-putting ways to avoid saying owners of a product that they fucking bought.
The article is about broadcom sending cease and desists to vmware owners who download updates by the way, because apparently to be entitled to any kind of after sale support you need to be leasing the product.
What if we throw the CEO into a peat bog when the company underperforms?
Counterpoint:
finger guns activated 🟩 👉👉
Polymarket on the new pope skeet
Also there already is a bsky user with the username leoxiv, who makes from what I can tell final fantasy poses, some nsfw. Lol.
Skeet description
G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com :“A mere 2 hours ago, betting markets were giving the now Pope a 0% chance of becoming Pope. Lmfao”
Also there already is a bsky user with the username leoxiv, who makes from what I can tell final fantasy poses, some nsfw. Lol.
Being a bit more specific, its Final Fantasy XIV, which you’ve probably heard about from people using its free trial as meme material. Its also a better example of the metaverse than any actual metaverse out there, but that’s a given for literally any MMO that has popped up for the last twenty fucking years.
Also:
When the cubbies won the series, I knew it meant that Trump 2016 was a lock. A Chicago pope can only mean Trump 2028 confirmed 😭
No, no, the Gays are fine actually. What I really hate is ketchup.
–God, probably
I know the Rationalists tend to like (or used to) Freakonomics (contrarians recognize contrarians), and the Freakonomics podcast (there always is a podcast isn’t there), so I was amused to see the YT channel ‘Unlearning Economics’, do a ‘The Death of Freakonomics’ episode.
Honestly I think his whole channel is pretty damn good if you want to see someone with actual chops - here meaning an economics doctorate and an encyclopedic memory for The Simpsons memes - dig into the research in a way that effectively balances depth and approachability. The first one of his that I remember was an examination of Pinker’s use and abuse of data in his radical optimist manifesto that I can’t remember the title of.
Obligatory: If books could kill was started because they wanted to do a freakonomics takedown, lol. It’s their first ep.
Found a sneer in the wild, made in response to another piece of Deportee Slop™:
Searching through the quotes, I also found someone openly accusing AI of contributing to fascism:
some thiel news, in which the tiny little man keeps trailblazing being the absolute weirdest motherfucker:
He has found religion recently. I don’t know if you’ve been following this, but Peter Thiel is now running Bible study groups in Silicon Valley.
now you may read this and already start straining your eyes, so I strongly suggest you warm up before you read with the rest of the paragraph, which continues:
He said in a few interviews recently that he believes that the Antichrist is Greta Thunberg. It’s extraordinary. He said that it’s foretold that the Antichrist will be seeming to spread peace. But here’s his thinking. He says Greta wants everyone to ride a bicycle. (Now, that’s a gross caricature of what she’s said.) But he’s said Greta wants everyone to ride a bicycle. That may seem good, but the only way that could happen is if there was a world government that was regulating it. And that is more evil than the effects of climate change.
It is very important to notice and continually point out that these people appear to believe more fervently in their chosen demons than they do in their proclaimed god
Does anyone know what church Thiel is involved with? I’ve heard catholic as well as evangelical…like are they making an exception to the gay marriage because he’s rich??
Thiel isn’t known to be among any laity. He was raised as some flavor of evangelical fundie and follows a specific philosopher, René Girard. He generally hasn’t gotten a pass on being queer from the wider Christian community, and if you want to hear some psychoanalysis of his closet then you might enjoy the relevant Behind the Bastards: How Peter Thiel Became the Gravedigger of Democracy.
He’s into AIDS denial too I’ve heard. thats made a big comeback among the far right lately.
Hm, I don’t believe in biblical apocalypse stuff, but if I did I wouldn’t think that the climate activist gambling her life to get supplies to the starving population in Gaza is the anti-christ.
I think a power hungry, wannabe vampire, billionaire with companies named after corrupting artifacts, more fits the bill.
The anti-christ also needs to be universally liked iirc. And the Catholic church explicitly bans calling out a time (and thus a person) as the anti-christ. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Council_of_the_Lateran if by a miracle I’m declared Pope (which is technically possible (yes, im unironically linking to r/neoliberal, it was one of the first hits on google, but I’m never beating the accusations)) I will excom all these people, Oprah giving out cars style. (vote for me you cowards).
Re: the white smoke, anyway, still available to become an antipope at reasonable rates.
that handy old adage: every accusation a projection!
I’m gonna be real disappointed if thiel is the anti-christ. Like disappointed in the writing and narrative of the universe
As a Dutch person, why can’t yall be normal about bikes? Just invest in separate bike lanes and protect people on bicycles from drivers (I really need to write out my
manifestoblog post on how I think car ownership turns you into a psychopath one day). It isn’t that hard. (Shoutout to the couple who was crossing the Houtribdijk (actually a dam, not a dike) on bikes last week)I remember seeing a particularly stupid libertarian guy argue against public transport by saying that car owners would lose out because the value of having a car would decrease. I think it’s a crab in a bucket type mentality. Everyone should suffer from cars. I blame Big Car for this.
Hey that’s unfair, us North Americans are as normal about bikes as we’re normal about cars.
