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Physics and Free Software

Posts 22
Comments 661

Can you trust locally run LLMs?

I've been play around with ollama. Given you download the model, can you trust it isn't sending telemetry?

16
Someone Made a Dataset of One Million Bluesky Posts for 'Machine Learning Research'
  • It depends on who you mean by "we". I don't think the "we", as in the users of Bluesky would want their posts to be used this way. Yes it's transparent and accessible, but only to the technically inclined who can make use of it.

    I wonder how much more The Matrix references become relevant. We become food for the machines whether they tell us so or not.

  • Defiant Joe Rogan insists he’s not a propaganda asset, just actually this stupid
  • The thing that made him popular was "he's open to all ideas". The issue with that stance is you end up leaning one way over another when the ideas come from people with absolute certainty vs ones that are self scrutinized. So, he ends up being a mouthpiece for the right as a result. He genuinely might be surprised to be accused of being a propagandist. His folly is that he is an idiot.

  • How likely is it that the Trump administration will attempt to deanonymize online antifascists and leftists and imprison them?
  • Given the majority of the supreme court are constitutional literalists, I'm going to stake a claim on very unlikely. That is literally against the first amendment.

    Now, let's say we live in some kind of bizaro land where you can be taken to court without the protection of the first amendment. (Difficult ti believe I know). You would still, hopefully, have a right to an attorney. If your case is high profile, or you have enough money, an organization like the aclu would help.

  • Where will Trump's library be?
  • I went to Texas A&M where H W's library is. It's a... nice building with.. uh... museum about him.

    Story about H dubs though. I met him. It was at a BBQ joint on the side of the road halfway between College Station and Houston. The town probably has less than 2000 people living in it.

    I was meeting my dad for lunch. There were a bunch of suits in sunglasses and earpieces standing in a dirt parking lot full of trucks with rust holes in them.

    We walk in and there are H W and Barbara eating brisket.

  • What Questions Would You Ask at a University AI Summit?

    Our university is hosting an AI summit with a student panel, a faculty panel, and attendee participation segments. It would be great to get panel questions, but we really need multiple choice, strongly agree/disagree, and yes/no style clicker questions for the attendees. Remembering they are primarily non-technical, with a wide range of exposure to the topic, what would you ask the crowd?

    8

    What's Some Advice You Give But Don't Take?

    How do you "Do as as I say, not as I do"?

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    Any Suggestions For A 'Modern iPod'?

    A friend of mine has a daughter who is too young for a smart phone, but he still wants her to be able to listen to music on the go. I found the following devices using spotify. Have you used any of these or do you have any alternative suggestions?

    https://www.tunepat.com/spotify-music-tips/portable-spotify-music-player.html

    Edit: found what I was looking for. https://bemighty.com/

    20

    What's Your Best Habit?

    When I get fast food, I don't eat the fries until I get home.

    76

    What Was Your Worst Experience Moving?

    29

    Is there such a thing as a privacy driven credit card?

    61

    Is The United State Fighting A Proxy War?

    As an American, the US participation in the Ukrainian conflict as well as the Palestinian genocide are beyond reproach. Many describe them as proxy wars, but I'm not there yet.

    During the Cold War, there was the Afghanistan, Vietnam, South America, Cuba, etc. These were proxy wars because there was a clear adversary on the other side. The Soviet Union.

    Now, who is that? Russia? China? Who is "our enemy"? I see it was war is good for business and projection of power.

    Am I wrong?

    15

    Is Linux As Good As We Think It Is?

    Obviously, a bit of clickbait. Sorry.

    I just got to work and plugged my surface pro into my external monitor. It didn't switch inputs immediately, and I thought "Linux would have done that". But would it?

    I find myself far more patient using Linux and De-googled Android than I do with windows or anything else. After all, Linux is mine. I care for it. Grow it like a garden.

    And that's a good thing; I get less frustrated with my tech, and I have something that is important to me outside its technical utility. Unlike windows, which I'm perpetually pissed at. (Very often with good reason)

    But that aside, do we give Linux too much benefit of the doubt relative to the "things that just work". Often they do "just work", and well, with a broad feature set by default.

    Most of us are willing to forgo that for the privacy and shear customizability of Linux, but do we assume too much of the tech we use and the tech we don't?

    Thoughts?

    149

    What's A Piece Of Software You Could Never Do Without?

    FOSS or otherwise

    220

    What Was Your Experience Being Laid Off?

    39

    Is Software Political?

    14

    What Do google Tag Service and google Analytics Do?

    My understanding of google analytics is that it is a 'free' tool which gives site operators bird's eye information on site traffic like the old fashion visitor counters all the way down to very granular information like what buttons users click on.

    I have no idea what google tag service does. Based on a prior conversations I've had, I believe it has something to do with SEO.

    If you don't know what I'm talking about, use the developer tools in Firefox to view the HTML of the page you are on. In the header you'll see javascript blocks. You'll see google analytics and tag service on just about every site, often meta or amazon, and some with completely unidentifiable names. I imagine the latter are the non big tech third parties we accept with cookies, but I'm not sure about that either.

    4

    How Do You Handle Loud Neighbors?

    My upstairs neighbors seem to like clog dancing at 2am. What would you do?

    36

    How Much Is Your Time Worth?

    I spend a lot of time fixing things, for myself and others. (Computers, electrical, plumbing, etc). While I learn a lot, I wonder sometimes if it would be better to pay a professional and do something else for which I am more 'valuable'. Do you do the same, and do you find it worthwhile?

    40

    What's Some Tech That Was Better Than It Is Now?

    When you connect a new device to a 'smart' tv, you must pay homage to the manufacturer with a ritualistic dance. Plugging and unplugging the device. Turning them on and off in the correct sequence like entering a konami code.

    Every time you want to switch devices, the tv must scan for them. And god forbid you lose power, or unplug something. You are granted the delight experience of doing it all over again.

    I have fond memories of the days of just plugging something in, and pressing the input button. Instant gratification. It was a simpler time.

    What is some other tech that used to be better?

    318

    What's your favorite kind of salad dressing?

    37

    How Would You Handle Students Cheating?

    I gave my students a take home exam over spring break. (This is normal where I teach) One of the questions was particulary difficult. It came down to a factor of three in the solution. That factor inexplicably appeared with no justification on many of their exams. I intend to have the students I suspect of cheating come to my office to solve the problem on the board. What would you do?

    Edit: I gave them the Tuesday before spring break until the Thursday after. I didn't want it to be right before or right after.

    When I say normal I mean giving take home exams.

    62

    What are Some Good, Recent, and Available Dumb Cars?

    I have a 2010 Toyota Corolla. She's been my trusty steed for the last 14 years and is in good working order. I recognize she won't last forever, and if, god forbid (mostly for her) I get in an accident, I will need to get a new car. So what dumb cars do you drive, and what would you replace them with?

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    Boxers or Briefs?

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