I legit remember laughing about this scene, imagining this, and having a very startling realization about myself in a very public setting.

tfw no weed, no cock 😔

Generative AI in its current, public-facing form? Probably not. It’s sort of like an invention of the internet situation. It CAN be used to facilitate learning, share information, and improve lives. Will it be used for that? No.

A friend of mine is training local LLMs to work in tandem for early detection of diseases. I saw a pitch recently about using AI to insulate moderators from the bulk of disturbing imagery (a job that essentially requires people to frequently look at death, CSAM, and violence and SIGNIFICANTLY ruins their mental health). There are plenty of GOOD ways to use it, but it’s a flawed tech that requires people to responsibly build it and responsibly use it, and it’s not being used that way.

Instead it’s being scaled up and pushed into every possible application both to justify the expenses and enrich terrible people, because we as a society incentivize that.

Edit: hugely belated, I misspoke here after checking with my friend. He’s using local models, but they aren’t LLMs. This is why I’m no expert. 😅

I swapped to WaterFox for everything and I’ve been enjoying it so far.

Holy shit, they’re a poet

Oh damn. Well… ignore my comment then. 😭

You’re 18. It’s somewhere in the early 2000s and you’ve just graduated. You’re soaking in the warm summer night air in your bed watching The Office. The world is so far away and simultaneously rushing at you at the speed of fuck. Your Blink-182 CD loops back again.

Suddenly, a bright pinprick of light bathes your dim room in an eerie blue-white glow. The light begins to grow and you realize it’s undulating, like a fluid unbound by gravity as it roils in the air. You’re too stunned to speak and cover your eyes at the harsh light. Your hairs stand on end and chills run along your skin. Somewhere inside, you associated such luminosity with heat, but the sphere—no, the disc, seems to be consuming the energy in the room, like some kind of ethereal whirlpool.

You gasp as a shadow moves through the shimmer. First a hand, then the upper half of what looks like a torso. The figure cocks their head as they look around the room. You can only make out their silhouette, but… they’re vaguely familiar.

It’s… you! They’re different, a bit more worn down, perhaps, but they’re unmistakably you. After a moment, your breath catches in your throat. They’re older. Your mind, stunned by the absurdity of what has just occurred, finally catches up.

“You’re me… from the future,” you say. The statement immediately sounds stupid. Of course they are. The portal, the older you, what else could be happening. You scramble for a pen and an old school journal at your nightstand. You’ve fantasized about this before. You know what to do. Write down what they say and you’ll be rich. No, you’ll stop some horrible cataclysm. Maybe you’ll keep your true love from leaving!

You turn back to yourself expectantly, anxiety causing your hand to shake on the page. You’re holding your breath. Your lungs burn but you hardly can bring yourself to care.

The older you looks down at you from the swirling light.

“You are eighteen,” they say with a shit-eating grin. In an instant, the light is gone. Darkness floods your room again as if nothing at all had happened. Outside your window, crickets continue to chirp. Your mind races, generations of genetically perfected pattern recognition searching for meaning in the words until you remember shitpostd about this exact scenario on 4chan.

“Oh go fuck yourself,” you say, tossing aside the journal.