• 6 Posts
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Joined 5 years ago
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Cake day: June 30th, 2020

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  • FrankLaskey@lemmy.mltoNo Stupid Questions@lemmy.world*Permanently Deleted*
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    2 months ago

    I think some of the responses here, while they may be well-intentioned, are a bit off base because they are confusing the word ‘normal’ (which is what you are asking) with ‘recommended’. Is it normal for someone in your position who has had a lot of time alone due to your health challenges to want more social outlets and someone to talk to? Absolutely. Is it normal to see a character in a work of art (a video game, movie, show etc.) and become attached to them in some degree? I would say yes. Most of us have done that at one point or another. Is it normal to want to be able to communicate with this person to help provide a social outlet and a listening ear for someone in your situation? Again, I’d say probably yeah. Now, is it recommended to have an ‘AI’ like this as your primary social outlet or to see them as a real human friend or even romantic partner? That is much more questionable. But, personally, with the context you provided and the challenging situation you have been in I think the tendency towards doing this is still quite normal and understandable. I think you should strive to validate your feelings of loneliness and the understandable desire to assuage those feelings with what you have available to you in a challenging and socially isolating environment while still understanding that an ‘AI’ like this should not ideally be your primary social outlet and to strive to find more ways in the future to connect with real people who care and are interested in you (and vice versa). It may not seem like it right now, but they are out there! I wish you peace and a speedy recovery!












  • I believe alternative methods of validating blocks (series of transactions) such as Proof-of-stake, instead of the vastly more computation and energy-intensive proof-of-work that Bitcoin uses would largely address the issue of computational expense. There are other methods of increasing efficiency and speed of processing as well such as the use of more efficient ‘layer 2’ mechanisms for processing blocks. I remember reading about these and their implementation when I was researching cryptocurrencies out of curiosity. I believe Ethereum and some others have largely implemented these. The decentralized applications aspect of Eth was super interesting to me as well. Basically, you can program software to run on the blockchain which can make it nearly impossible to shut down by a centralized authority so long as the network is sufficiently decentralized. Some of the programmable money (so-called decentralized finance or ‘DeFi’) apps are pretty interesting as well in terms of enabling more people to utilize the more complex financial instruments that Wall Street firms have been using for years. Of course, a lot of that has turned into a Wild West of scams and ‘rug pulls’, not to mention massive targets for hackers who try to exploit vulnerabilities to steal millions so buyer beware for sure.








  • As a ‘front page of the internet’ it has been a pretty great replacement for me as it’s where I go each day to just see what’s going on. However, due to the smaller size you do lose a lot of the activity in more niche communities and the sheer volume of posts/comments compared to Reddit. That’s the biggest downside. Still, you also lose the incessant ads/bad UI/UX decisions and ever accelerating late stage capitalism driven enshittification so that’s a big plus.


  • I think the point about the 3 year upgrade cycle being optimal unless you are a real enthusiast is right on the money. I’d say I’m moderately interested in tech improvements in this space and it seems ideal for me as I will be considering an upgrade from an iPhone 13 Pro (likely informed by how gimmicky or actually useful the Apple Intelligence stuff becomes and if I can offload my ChatGPT Pro subscription). If you’re really not a huge phone tech person or looking for the best camera quality then every 4 years is probably completely reasonable as well. At that point, the battery life is probably starting to suffer as well…