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Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 9th November 2025 (awful.systems)

submitted 1 month ago by BlueMonday1984@awful.systems to c/techtakes@awful.systems

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Want to wade into the sandy surf of the abyss? 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.)

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[–] BlueMonday1984@awful.systems 7 points 1 month ago

Found a high quality sneer of OpenAI from Los Angeles Review of Books: Literature Is Not a Vibe: On ChatGPT and the Humanities

[–] CinnasVerses@awful.systems 6 points 1 month ago

An obit for James Watson and his Dawkins- or Pinker-like path from a scientist to a bitter reactionary https://www.statnews.com/2025/11/07/james-watson-remembrance-from-dna-pioneer-to-pariah/

[–] BlueMonday1984@awful.systems 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Another deep-dive into DHH's decline has popped up online: DHH and Omarchy: Midlife crisis:

[–] mlen@awful.systems 6 points 1 month ago

What do you mean by decline? Years ago I've been involved in a local ruby community in Poland and even back then his takes were considered unhinged.

[–] gerikson@awful.systems 6 points 1 month ago (4 children)

This looks like a rebranding of Urbit: Radiant Computer

Has AI in its guts but not something they mention on the front page. Slop images throughout tho

https://radiant.computer/system/os/ - "It’s an AI-native operating system. Artificial neural networks are built in and run locally. The OS understands what applications can do, what they expose, and how they fit together. It can integrate features automatically, without extra code. AI is used to extend your ability, help you understand the system and be your creative aid."

https://radiant.computer/system/network/ - "Radiant rejects the Web as a general purpose software platform, while embracing the Internet protocols as the powerful substrate on which sovereign technologies like Tor, BitTorrent, Gemini and Bitcoin are built."

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[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Via Emily M Bender, "AI's capabilities may be exaggerated by flawed tests, according to new study"

[–] BigMuffN69@awful.systems 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Op banned??

[–] scruiser@awful.systems 6 points 1 month ago (5 children)

BlueMonday has had a tendency to go off with a half-assed understanding of actual facts and details. Each individual instance wasn't ban worthy, but collectively I can see why it merited a temp ban. (I hope/assume it's not a permanent ban, is there a way to see?)

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[–] sailor_sega_saturn@awful.systems 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

More bias-laundering through AI, phrenology edition! https://www.economist.com/business/2025/11/06/should-facial-analysis-help-determine-whom-companies-hire

I couldn't actually read the article because paywall, but here's a paper that the article is probably about: AI Personality Extraction from Faces: Labor Market Implications

Saying the quiet part out loud:

First, an individual’s genetic profile significantly influences both their facial features and personality. Certain variations in DNA correlate with specific facial features, such as nose shape, jawline, and overall facial symmetry, defined broadly as craniofacial characteristics

Second, a person’s pre- and post-natal environment, especially hormone exposure, has been shown to affect both facial characteristics and personality

To their credit the paper does say that this is a terrible idea, though I don't know how much benefit of the doubt to give them (I don't have time to take a closer look):

This research is not intended, and should not viewed, as advocacy for the usage of Photo Big 5 or similar technologies in labor market screening.

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