Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Trick of the light

@trickofthelight.bsky.social

290 followers 260 following 2.4K posts

Former epidemiologist, writer, gamer, knitter and obsessed with my dog. Lots of TTRPGs. I like to make people sad over fictional characters for fun. 41, lesbian/kinky, disastrous, she/her.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 3d

Darwin has never screamed.

He does what I call "puppy-yips" that sound like that noise many cars make when their alarm system arms.

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 3d

That's really cool, especially the sip valve thing for them.

I'll need to get some. I have a FLOMask I like, but it doesn't let me drink during air travel without taking it off, or have it on for hair appointments.

Reposted by Trick of the light

Quibble While Rome Burns @nimi0us.blacksky.app · 3d

The Enigma of Amigara Fault but with Sherman, the dog, yelling "TH-THIS IS MY HOLE! IT WAS MADE FOR ME!" edited into the picture.

3 38 120

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 3d

Welp.

The CDC is basically toast.

Time to get slightly high and play Dorfromantik until I can't keep my eyes open anymore.

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 3d

I haaaaaate it.

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 3d

For a second before I realized she had three arms, I thought she was holding the mic in her cleavage.

1 23

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 3d

I know I should blend between skeins, but I don't like juggling two balls of yarn AND a growing sweater.

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 3d

Finished seaming and weaving in ends tonight. Then it needs a block it's good to go. :)

A little annoyed that one of the skein transitions is noticeable, but it's not with just my eyeballs so I think it's the lighting and the angle. #knitting

A dark brown sweater with a lot of cablework against reverse stockinette background, and a cowl neck.

1 2

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 4d

I had seen the part about how it's usually Lego kiddos, no clue why my brain was like "Ah yes, all the archaeology requests are Lego related, makes perfect sense. No questions."

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 4d

And even then ... there better be UBI or I'll pay other people to do those things instead so they can pay their rent and feed their families.

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 4d

So for me, that's like ... dishes, laundry, yardwork, fixing/doing maintenance on my car ...

It's *not* writing of any kind (including coding), thinking, or having social conversations.

1 5

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 4d

My take on AI is ... if it were a) reliable and b) not a massive energy commitment that is ruining the environment and communities around data centers ...

AI should only be used for things that you do not fucking care about enough to learn to do them/want to retain the skill yourself.

1 5

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 4d

And honestly, three times was enough unless the people who write the check that pays my bills tell me it's not.

And if using generative AI became a big part of my job description, I'd be looking for a new job.

1 2

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 4d

Of the three times I've used it, two times it was a massive fucking waste of my time. Once it was helpful.

But I would NEVER trust it without doublechecking everything, and so I don't think the benefit to the work I do helping people outweighs the environmental and sociopolitical cost.

1 2

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 4d

So I've used it a few times with that in mind. The work I do at least FEELS important, so that is different to me then just using it for funzies/generating shit no one needs on the back of plagiarism.

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 4d

In light of that, my boss feels it's important we have some understanding of how it works, including at least a little experience with it. I grudgingly agree with that.

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 4d

I work for a nonprofit and while there is room within it for my strong stance against generative AI ... the truth is that the people we serve are very likely going to be using it, and we have a standing tradition of helping provide choices, not telling people what to do.

1 1

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 4d

That makes sense!

1 1

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 4d

But it doesn't need to chop down a forest so it can be a sycophantic kiss-ass.

1 4

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 4d

Even in terms of AI that still does data work vs physical labor. We could EASILY have an AI with a primary purpose of processing and organizing a lot of information very quickly. It would still need a LLM of sorts to properly parse an explanation of the task, and to format the answer well.

1 1

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 4d

Just curiosity so ignore if you don't have bandwidth:

Is this an increase in interest in archaeology, an increase in interest of the program more broadly, or are archaeologists harder to find?

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 4d

So the fact you have like a 50/50 shot at something usable makes it not worth the environmental cost.

Give me a fucking AI that will do my laundry and dishes, cowards.

2 1 12

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 4d

It just makes me so mad. There are so many cool possibilities, and instead we have this shit.

Like, there are cool possibilities that you can ask current AI to do, but they foolishly did not design it for THOSE so it's a crapshoot whether it will work and thus it cannot be trusted.

1 1 7

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 4d

Gawd that sounds good.

Trick of the light @trickofthelight.bsky.social · 4d

You heard me! 😂

1 1