It literally has no other way to judge; it’s not smart enough to cross reference itself or look up sources

I think that is it’s biggest limitation.

Like AI basically crowd sourcing information isn’t really the worst thing, crowd sourced knowledge tends to be fairly decent. People treating it as if it’s an authoritative source like they looked it up in the encyclopedia or asked an expert is a big problem though.

Ideally it would be more selective about the ‘crowds’ it gathers data from. Like science questions should be sourced from scientists. Preferably experts in the field that the question is about.

Like Wikipedia (at least for now) is ‘crowd- sourced’, but individual pages are usually maintained by people who know a lot about the subject. That’s why it’s more accurate than a ‘normal’ encyclopedia. Though of course it’s not fool proof or tamper proof by any definition.

If we taught AI how to be ‘Media Literate’ and gave it the ability to double check it’s data with reliable sources- it would be a lot more useful.

most upvoted answer

This is the other problem. You basically have 4 types of redditors.

• People who use the karma system correctly, that is to say they upvote things that contribute to the conversation. Even if you think it is ‘wrong’ or you disagree with it, if it’s something that adds to the discussion, you are supposed to upvote it.

• People who treat it as “I agree/ I disagree” buttons.

• People who treat it as "I like this/ I hate this buttons.

• Id say the majority of the people probably do some combination of the above.

So more than half the time people aren’t upvoting things because they think they are correct. If LLM models are treating ‘karma’ as a “This is correct” metric- that’s a big problem.

The other bad problem is people who really should know better- tech bros and CEO’s going all in on AI when it’s WAY to early to do that. As you point out, it’s not even really intelligent yet- it just parrots ‘common’ knowledge.

Unless you were poor and your parents could never afford a PC. We still got to use computers some in school at least. I once volunteered for a ‘computer camp’ which was basically summer school where they would let you play on the computers.

In my day you would either get trash weed with seeds all in it, or pay out the ass for ‘kind buds’. You can get whole Ounces in Michigan right now for what we had to pay for a quarter in the 90s… damn it, you got me doing it! ;)

I’m not sure what their comment said before they fixed it, but if it was “The Organ Trail”, that game exists. It’s basically “The Oregon Trail”, but with zombies.

Just pretend you’re going senile or ‘the new stuff’ is just too advanced. If that doesn’t work you could always claim to have started a ‘tech repair/recycling’ side hustle and start billing people.

I for one am happy to be left out of the ‘generation war’. It’s stupid. In my day blah blah blah- no one cares gramps. Live in the now.

I don’t like things now compared to the way they used to be!

The coffee in his day would wake up before you, make itself, and then wake you up by pouring itself down your throat.

The radio tuner had short wave in addition to Am and FM which was pretty cool at the time.

Hell, I still think that is pretty damn cool.

It’s the same thing. The workers work, management just makes sure the workers work.

You’re the hero the company doesn’t deserve, but the one it needs right now.

Did you have to hide from the T Rex on your way to school?

I kid. I started out buying records and cassettes, but 8 tracks were “outdated” by the time I was a kid. Though our huge old school “console”* could play 8 tracks and when I was 13 I found my mom’s box of old tapes. She had Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Queen etc. It was quite the musical education.

• A console was a giant piece of furniture only slightly smaller than a coffin that had a radio, record player, and speakers built in. It’s what got replaced by the “sleek, modern” units like the one in OPs picture.

They mean All the Things in One cabinet 😁

Or what about the time he agreed with Howard Stern that Ivanka is a “Piece of Ass”?

Or how about when Katie Johnson, the woman who accused Trump of SA’ing her when she was 13 testified in 2016 that Trump “Took a liking to me because I looked like his daughter”

The fact that Snopes used “Trump said in January 2025 that he never visited Epstein’s island.” as evidence is what’s truly sus.

Trump is one of the lyingest liars ever to lie. NO ONE should believe a word out of his mouth, much less a ‘fact checker’ website. Trump could finally admit he’s a fascist child abuser and I would question it just because it came out of his mouth.

You would likely get more truth out of Trump if you simply assumed he meant the exact opposite of everything he says.

I was looking at some PC’s at Best Buy and a salesman came up to try and give me the hard sell. I asked if I could buy the PC without Windows on it for a discount.

“How would you use your computer without Windows on it?”

“I’m going to install Linux”

“What’s that?”

“It’s an operating system”

Blank stare

“Like Windows or OS X…”

Blank Stare

Sigh “I already have a copy of Windows at home”

“Oh! Well I don’t think you can do that, no.”

I think it highly depends on the person. I have never been a ‘brand loyal’ type person. It was very likely Linux users clowning on Windows and OS X that got me interested enough to check it out.

I do believe you though, some people even if you simply try to correct their misconceptions about Linux get super defensive. It’s like Stockholm Syndrome, but for OS’s.

The most succesful campaigns I have seen has been to gently introduce people to Linux and let them play around with it.

I think the Steam Deck is helping in this area. People turn on ‘Desktop Mode’ just to try it and see that it’s not some scary esoteric thing, but basically works just like Windows or Mac.

You can believe what you want. I didn’t hear it from a conspiracy theorist, I heard it from Edward Snowden, and this was actually old news when he mentioned it, but his revelation on national TV made it even more widely known. “Coincidentally” it was right around the time Snowden blew the whistle that Android manufacturers started switching over to non-replaceable batteries.

Yes Apple are greedy fucks and it’s obvious that forcing iPhone users to get their phones repaired by a ‘genius’ was a part of their strategy from the beginning. But Android manufacturers who didn’t have a repair store they could force their users to use and wouldn’t benefit from that were happy to continue letting users replace their own batteries, because it was a legitimate benefit for the consumer and way to differentiate themselves from Apple.

I’m sure that phone manufactures save a few pennies by forcing users to either buy a new phone or pay an expensive repair bill, but I’m pretty sure that isn’t the only reason it’s done.

Edit: Even if you ignore their ability to wiretap you when your phone is ‘powered off’, the fact remains that the government can and does track you by you cell phone and removing the battery is a great way to stop that.

Of course, it’s not the only way- If you feel like you don’t want to be tracked for any reason a Faraday bag is a decent option. It makes your phone less useful, but so would removing the battery.

It’s because the U.S. Government can make it seem as if your phone is powered down, but it’s actually still on and spying on you, sending data to whatever alphabet agency wants it. Removing the battery is the only defense against that attack, so they ‘encouraged’ manufacturers to stop allowing it.