I at no point said that anyone wasn’t worth the time for personal interaction. I said multiple times that my preferred solution would not involve having to resort to AI. That’s such a bad faith interpretation of my position that I can’t imagine this being productive at this point. Best of luck.

By getting better, I mean it will be improving on itself. I never meant to indicate that it will be better than a trained professional.

I agree that showing ND people empathy is the best path forward, but realistically being able to socially signal empathy is a life skill and lacking that skill really only damages their own prospects. It’d be great if it didn’t make people less likely to be employable or less able to build a robust support network, but unfortunately that’s the case. Yes, ASD differences are often a reflection of how society treats people, but a demonstration of empathy is not a platitude. It’s an important way NT and lots of ND connect. If you think that the expression of empathy is difficult for people with ASD because they are more honest, then I think you might be equating lack of empathy with difficulty expressing it. There’s nothing dishonest about saying “I’m sorry that happened to you” unless you are not sorry it happened. It might not be something you would normally verbally express, but if hearing about a bad thing happening to someone doesn’t make you feel for them, then the difficulty isn’t expressing empathy, it’s lacking it. Society certainly does a lot of things for bad or nonsensical reasons, but expressing empathy generally isn’t one of them.

I don’t personally find the framing offensive, but I’m not on the spectrum so I can’t speak to it from that perspective. My comment was less about the article and more about not offloading that work onto unsuspecting and unprepared people.

That being said, I’m not as anti-ai as maybe some other people might be when it comes to these kinds of tools. The study itself highlights the fact that not everyone has the resources to get the kind of high quality care they need and this might be an option. I agree that sacrificing quality for efficiency is bad, in my post history you can see I made that argument about ai myself, but realistically so many people can potentially benefit from this that would have no alternatives. Additionally, AI will only be getting better, and hopefully you’ve never had a bad experience with a professional, but I can speak from personal experience that quality varies drastically between individuals in the healthcare industry. If this is something that can be offered by public libraries or school systems, so that anyone with the need can take advantage, I think that would be a positive because we’re nowhere near universal physical healthcare, much less universal mental healthcare or actual social development training. I know people who cannot afford healthcare even though they have insurance, so if they were able to go to a specialized ai for an issue I would think it’s a net positive even if it’s not a real doctor. I know that ai is not there yet, and there’s a lot of political and social baggage there, but the reality is people need help and they need it now and they are not getting it. I don’t know how good this ai is, but if the alternative is telling people that are struggling and have no other options that they have to tough it out, I’m willing to at least entertain the idea. For what it’s worth, if I could snap my fingers and give everyone all the help and support they need and it excluded ai, I would choose that option, I just don’t have it. I also don’t know that LLMs really can do this successfully on a large scale, so I would need evidence of that before really supporting it, I just think it shouldn’t be written off completely if it’s showing promise.

The issue is you often don’t have to manipulate someone into doing something that is harmful for them, especially if they do not have the life experience to know what harmful looks like. I’m not saying they should be barred from doing things, but it’s natural to question a relationship where there is a power imbalance, and generally age gap relationships exhibit that imbalance. An imbalance does not mean manipulation occurs, just that there is an opportunity there. Saying young people don’t generally have as much life experience is not infantilizing, it’s generally factual. That is easy to exploit even if you are not intending to. When people make these arguments, I’m always curious as to how many young people they actually know and interact with in a non work environment. The difference between speaking to an 18 year old and a 20 year old is often gargantuan. I wonder if they are not willing to give an 18 year old with their first job more leeway for mistakes than an older person who’s now had several jobs. I think it’s good to give people who are just learning more grace, and to expect more of people who have been around longer. I don’t think that’s infantilizing, I think that’s recognizing the situation people are in and meeting them where they are at. I don’t see how that does not obviously translate to interpersonal relationships.

I will add that I generally see women (the ones more likely to be on the younger end of this equation) advocating against age gaps. Often, women who speak from personal experience note that it was not a positive experience for them. I’m sure some say it’s positive, but the stats seem to indicate that they are on the whole not good either short term or long term. So I generally err on the side of lived experience and statistics, especially when they corroborate each other. I don’t think people are advocating for laws against them, but it makes sense for society to warn of the issues, like we should do with all other things that can cause harm when people would not otherwise be aware of it.

I really don’t think a random D&D table is the place to learn to express empathy. I really wish people would stop acting like local D&D groups are a good way to learn how to socialize in general. I’m not saying you can’t learn things at the table, but the games are not actual reflections of reality and there’s a lot of go along to get along, or just run of the mill toxic group dynamics. The hobby overall can be hard for other minorities to enter, and having a table with someone still learning social skills (especially how to express empathy) and someone from a marginalized group can lead to unfortunate outcomes that your standard DM/group do not have the ability to address. It can lead one or both parties to have negative experiences that reinforce the idea they are unwelcome and leave the rest of the table with negative experiences of playing with ND people or minorities.

Sometimes practicing first with people trained to do this is the best step, and second to that would be practicing empathy in a space where the main goal is bonding rather than another nebulous goal of having fun playing a game. I don’t know if AI is the answer, but trusting your local DM/table to be able to teach empathy is a big ask. It’s almost insulting to the people that teach this and to people with ASD. Teaching empathy can’t be as passive as it is for non-ASD people, and acting like it’s just something they are expected to pick up while also dealing with all these other elements makes it seems like you don’t think it’s something they actually have to work to achieve. I’m not on the spectrum but I have a lot of autistic friends and I would not put just any of them in a D&D situation and expect them and the rest of the table to figure it out.

Also, generally comparing to an unaffected control is the gold standard. They did what is generally needed to show their approach has some kind of effect.

I can no longer tell what is bait, but I’ll bite.

The person you’re replying to said the woman was 18. Society has to make a cut off at a certain point, and 18 isn’t necessarily a bad place, but their life experience and mental faculties are not on an even footing with a 30+ year old. The “brain isn’t developed until 25” isn’t correct, but it’s not wholly wrong. The idea is that the closer one is to underage the easier it is to take advantage of them even if you did not directly groom them. I think that’s why most people direct criticism at the older party in age gap relationships.

Some women may be attracted to older men for perfectly healthy reasons, and vice versa, but generally people marry others within a few years of their own age. The gap in age of married couples has decreased as women have gotten more freedoms. I’m not able to say with certainty that in an equal and free society women prefer men in their age group, but it sure seems like the more rights women have the smaller that gap is. One would argue that says something about what women are actually attracted to, on the whole.

Not all younger women attracted to older men have trauma, but it’s not unusual. An 18 year old is likely to still be living at home. If they don’t always feel safe at home, an older man with their own place seems like a great option. It’s not the man’s fault that the woman has a bad home life, but the fact that the woman may not be able to be completely independent leaves her in a vulnerable position that he may unwittingly be taking advantage of. In her mind, her older boyfriend is “safe”, but really her home is unsafe and he is just the alternative. That’s not a healthy foundation for a relationship. Of course that’s not everyone’s story, or potentially even most people’s story, but an 18 year old generally doesn’t have the experience to know what healthy relationships look like. Two people figuring it out together can be tough but it’s a learning experience, whereas a more experienced partner is likely to have an established framework that they can force on the less experienced one. Again, not saying this is always happening, and it can be coming from a positive place, but generally this dynamic makes the less experienced partner into the one learning from the other all the time, which puts them at a disadvantage, even on a subconscious level. “Oh, he’s more experienced, he probably knows what’s best, I should just do what he says”. They’re less likely to have developed their own sense of self and ability to enforce boundaries. You’d hope that the older person would be helpful in this process, but really that’s not the outcome you generally see. The way men are positioned in society already puts women in a deferential position, adding in this idea of age equating to wisdom or maturity, it’s hard not to see how a young woman might be poorly positioned to fully find or express herself in an age gap relationship, not to mention the coercive effect money can have.

Two consenting adults should indeed be able to do what they want, but people regularly consent to things that are bad for their overall wellbeing. People are free to smoke and drink and do all sorts of things. Being able to do something doesn’t free you from being judged for your behavior. It’s not always the correct judgement, but social norms generally get more progressive (fair/inclusive) and age gaps are increasingly frowned upon, which I think speaks to a society that’s seen the harm they have done and is rebuking them for it.

The meme is also a false equivalence. Unless someone really likes medical/legal dramas, they are likely watching other things too. Game of thrones, black mirror, stranger things, the sandman, white lotus, severance, succession, ted lasso, euphoria. All of these were steaming hits. I don’t know what’s on tv now, but to act like it’s all of anime vs two types of western media is ridiculous off the bat. People talk about rewatching Futurama and Seinfeld or friends, which I think were all extremely popular traditional tv shows. You could easily remake it as “all American shows” vs “generic isekai/gundam” and it’d be equally as valid.

Realistically, I think cultural differences play a big role. Anime is often over the top from a western perspective and produced in a way western media isn’t. There’s also the fact it’s animated, but even live action media produced in Asia doesn’t resonate as well with average American audiences.

I read that since images are hosted on the instance they were posted to, any instance hosting pictures you load, even if they’re DMd to you can get your ip. So someone could just DM you a picture from their own instance if they wanted it for whatever reason. I have not personally verified, but just adding it here because this comment seems to be the most succinct and accurate one I currently see.

I said “uncritically engaging in hedonism” is bad. Uncritically engaging in almost anything is bad, but they had said “it’s pretty bad ass to be happy regardless of how others judge you” and that does not make any distinction between what does and does not negatively impact others. I have a concept of hedonism, sure, but I did not state it in any of my comments. I’m responding to that persons idea which seems to have no regard for others.

If you don’t understand how uncritically engaging in hedonism is bad for society as a whole, I don’t know what else to add. You’re the one advocating for doing whatever you like with no regard for others.

I’m sure the ghost of Jeffery Epstein appreciates your support.

I will generally not fault someone for what they like, but engaging in whatever it is without regard for others is not a recipe for a good society. Sure, don’t care what everyone thinks, but there are plenty of reasons to not do something that would bring you pleasure.

On top of the other comments here about how capitalism is bad and coding interviews are generally bad, I wonder what your parameters are. Does the job description actually include your stack? Are you interviewing people who casually list JavaScript or python but don’t have relevant coding experience? How much time is given and what is the extent of the question?

If you’re not paying people for their time, and you’re asking them to do an at home assignment that has potentially no relevance to their expertise or the job they will be doing, all within a short timeframe what do you expect?

Unpopular take, but I think a short practical question, or maybe some verbal pseudocode stuff is fine, but I’ve had to run interviews as well so I get the struggle of finding a good fit.

As an aside, I’ve known some good code monkeys that can’t design or explain anything, but given a direction they will hammer out a mvp in record time. Sometimes you have to pick the right tool for the job. Good coders aren’t always good designers and vice versa. That’s my hot take for the day.

If you think we should offload to AI even if it’s worse, I have serious questions about your day to day life. What industry do you think could stand to be worse? Doctor’s offices? Lawyers? Mechanics? Accounts?

The end user (aka the PEOPLE NEEDING A SERVICE) are the ones getting screwed over when companies offload to AI. You tell AI to schedule an appointment tomorrow, and 80% of the time it does and 20% it just never does or puts it on for next week. That hurts both the office trying to maximize the people seen/helped and the person that needs the help. Working less hours due to tech advancement is awesome, but in reality offloading to AI in the current work climate is not going to result in working less hours. Additionally, how costly is each task the AI is doing? Are the machines running off of renewables, or is using this going to contribute to worse air quality and worse climate outcomes for people you’re trying to save from working more. People shouldn’t have to work their lives away, but we have other problems that need to be solved before prematurely switching to AI.

I’m not religious, but I understand that a wedding is very important in some religions. Catholics for example consider it a sacrament. It’s not about their guests, it’s about the couple and if religion is important to them they should be able to have that included. You can just not go if you don’t want to. It’s about supporting them and their journey together. It’s not about the attendees being religious.

It’d be like going to a vegetarians wedding and being upset they didn’t offer meat dishes. It’s their wedding and their views. If there’s any day where they should be able to subject people to them (for lack of a better phrase) it’s their wedding day.

I’m a woman and not on tinder, but I don’t know why people don’t like this. Anyone listing a height preference is not the kind of person you should be looking for, especially if you don’t fit their preference imho. It’s literally self filtering, though it did say it’s not fully blocking or anything.

I know women who would’ve loved that feature and I would never suggest any of my friends date them. Even after they dated guys that didn’t fit the criteria and amicably split, they still held firm to the idea. I think it’s ok to have preferences, but this is dumb to filter for and people are dumb to want to match with these people.

All you need to get published is a Silverado, some stickers, and someone with a first grade understanding of the English language. The review in this case comes after the publication.

Part of it is likely that she is a famous woman who is not known for being sexualized and is considered a public figure. No one wants to have the scientific standard be “I used pics of this girl I had a crush on” so I imagine famous people are good to pick from. I imagine Merkel also doesn’t have a lot of bikini pics AI can draw from (some amount of swimming pics are unfortunately always available for public figures for some reason) so you can be sure it’s generated them from nothing. If you used a famous model, there may be a possibility it is using pics of them to model their chest. If you’re testing what it does with random inputs, using Merkel is probably a good option.

As far as the output being what was requested, I think the issue can vary depending on your view of AI so I am just going to leave that part unanswered because if it’s a problem or not relies so much on your priors.

Some keyboards allow you to map different keys to different things depending on certain settings. So for example you could make it so that if you press ctrl+esc+enter your keyboard knows that instead of typing in English, you want your keyboard to act as though it’s a french keyboard. Some keyboards are made with this feature in mind and ship with lights that you can program to indicate which “layer” (keyboard setting) is currently active. So if you see a red light it’s English and blue it’s French. That’s probably poorly explained and only a small example of how layers can be used, but in general it’s just a preset layout that you can impose on your keyboard. The specifics of the layout are often up to you. If you’re interested there’s several companies out there making specialty keyboards and most have YouTube explanations if you google keyboard layers that are definitely clearer than my explanation.

Unironically, yes. Especially if you have a nice keyboard that allows layers.

I had a friend ask for recommendations for prebuilts. I found one that was under budget and over spec for their needs and sent them the info. They ended up going with an overbudget one with arguably worse specs (they didn’t really need the specs I was suggesting but bang for buck it made sense and was still under budget) because it had all the lights that the seller could shove in it. No real judgement if that’s your style and you have the money, but it just upset me to have spent time doing research for them only to have them ignore all of that because they failed to mention that lights were important.