Comment culture died for me in a different way.

I was browsing some thread and someone referenced a meme typed out as :.|:;

The comment had a few replies who recognized the meme. I had no idea what it meant so I asked Claude

Well the AI knew what it was! It was the “loss” meme but the explanation it gave made no sense.

Turns out the meme needs a strike through tag. This turns :.|:; into a four-panel diagram of a web comic.

That’s when I realize that whatever trained Claude stripped out the formatting, and thus the entire meaning of the meme. And the comment I originally saw was a repost bot that also failed to retain the formatting when it reposted it.

And the replies that understood the reference were all reposted by bots.

So who even knows if we CAN make relationships on the internet anymore?

I can’t trust that any comment is actual human expression any more. Or is it just bullshit stripped of any context or meaning

I don't know the exact situation obviously, but isn't it possible that the poster simply wasn't able (or didn't know how) to add the strikethrough, but had the expectation that anyone who knows about this form knows, and the replying commenters were indeed people who did instantly recognize that jumble of characters, and acknowledged it?

Like, I didn't know about that form of the loss meme, but now that I know it's loss if you add strikethrough, I'm pretty sure I'd recognize it even without the strikethrough.

Yea, I was able to tell what it was without the strike-through. It's not necessary. In fact, it's one of those memes where the meme itself is about recognizing it in super obscure formats so that's where my mind and most peoples' minds who are familiar with it would go to. I HIGHLY doubt it's a bot thing.

I'm not sure what you're talking about here? What strikethrough? I immediately recognized it in your 2nd line as Loss. This is a culture thing, not an AI thing.

Claude tried to explain the meme but without the horizontal bar, it was not 4-panel. It contradicted itself explaining the dots. It makes no sense:

• : (one person standing) • :| (two people, one standing, one lying down) • :| (two people standing) • ; (one person standing, one lying down)

So I had to look up the meme, saw that the entire representation relies on a strike through. That’s how you get one person in 1 panel. That’s how you get four panels at all.

Sure, if you have seen the meme without formatting, you would recognize it. You probably have seen bots reposting without the right formatting it just like I did.

Or you didn’t. Who can say for sure? That’s my entire point. Comment sections are dead

I think you're being overdramatic. Googling "loss meme text" brings up a Tumblr post with this exact text - admittedly when you visit the page itself, you get the strikethrough, but if I wanted to share this meme and saw only the text in the Google results, I would share that confident that other people who know the meme would get it. I suspect other people would too.

Why are you getting hung up on Claude's response? How is this an issue with comment culture and not the LLM?

I didn't even remember whether it had a strikethrough or not but recognized it. It's nothing to do with bots, it's simple human pattern recognition. That rough sequence of characters is really only used in comments for that meme. Plus that it would've been placed in a certain context, making it even easier to recognize, which your comment didn't even have but it was still recognizable.

It's true that nobody can say for sure, but bots reposting the loss meme somehow strikes me less likely as some people reposting the loss meme. And an entirely ASCII-representation (ignoring the strikethrough) is extremely easy to post, so could make this a relatively common off-shoot of the meme that many would recognize, strikethrough or not.

Why do you think they were all bots?

It’s wild how a single missing tag can collapse the whole meaning. It really underscores how fragile context is in this digital realm. Makes you wonder if we’ve lost our ability for an authentic connection… or just spearheading into an echo chamber where you never know if it’s a human or a bot…

To be fair, "the loss meme as minimalistic ASCII art ad absurdum" is a pretty extreme form. It's basically tailor-made to be below the threshold of recognition, while still evoking familiarity once you know what it is. It's almost certainly the answer to a self-imposed challenge of how one could make the meme with the absolute minimum of ASCII-only characters.

I'm not sure anyone would recognize this as the loss meme to begin with, unless they got context-hints like "this is a popular meme", strikethrough or not. So, yes, that context is extremely fragile here, but that's because this was made to be barely viable in the first place, not because that's a general quality of any content in the digital realm...

That's not to go against your wider point (to which I have no opinion either way), I'm just not sure this is significant for that.

So do you think it is completely normal to recognize :̶.̶|̶:̶;̶ as a meme, but then it is completely unreasonable to recognize just :.|:; and it should definitely be AI bots? Really?

To convert the comic to :̶.̶|̶:̶;̶ is a very very distance, to remove the strikethrough is nothing.

A key factor in this calculus is that the current president holds a grudge whereas the vast majority of consumers, shareholders, and workers do not.

Unless a nontrivial number of the people who are outraged either boycott Apple, Alphabet/Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta/Facebook, or sell their shares, or stop applying to work there then it'll prove that these CEOs were indeed making the right (financial) decision.

The Western system has roots in the Norman conquest of England. After 1066, land wasn’t held communally or with meaningful checks on aristocracy, as under the Anglo-Saxons. Instead, William the Conqueror carved up the country and handed it to his allies, creating a feudal landlord class that had no attachment to 'their' conquered peasants/community and whose only mandate was to extract maximum rent, so long as the higher lords and the crown got their cut. Instead of vanishing that rentier system evolved. Over centuries, the same logic of conquest and extraction was repackaged as “the market,” and eventually exported to the world through finance, trade, and empire.

What began as feudal rent-seeking in England scaled into global capitalism, a system where those at the top still practice Norman-style exploitation for maximum extraction with no care about those being extracted from. It's all Norman-style exploitation for maximum extraction, stripped of any sense of community, obligation, or service.

If you're keeping score at home, that's one point for shareholders, and a big fat goose egg for any and all other stake-"holders".

The cray part is they're doing it by openly doing stuff that's clearly and unambiguously classified as illegal (eg the gifts in exchange for benefits)

This is routine; businesses don’t follow laws because they are laws, they follow laws to the extent that the perceived cost of violations exceed the perceived benefits. The whole reason the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act exist is to impose a domestic cost on foreign bribery by US entities to dissuade them from engaging in corruption abroad where enforcement is weak. But this President, who is explicit against that, is also very obviously, if less explicitly, also against enforcement of the laws against domestic corruption when it is him or his friends benefiting. So, there is literally no cost to weigh against the benefits.

As always, in business, if the penalty for breaking the law is less than the benefit you get out of the violation, then you have to go for it.

Or your competitors will. It’s the cost of doing business.

"I avoided a possible lawsuit, and all I had to do was help plunge my country in to fascism!"

>Frankly if you are a CEO in 2015 and you aren’t flattering this idiot to profit then you are violating your duties to your shareholders

It's all fun and games til his policies crash the economy.

Short-sighted perspectives yet again. Short term gains at the cost of long term viability.

> if you are a CEO in 2015 and you aren’t flattering this idiot to profit then you are violating your duties to your shareholders

Ah yes, because that's the only thing that matters. Nihilistic capitalism at its finest – there no morality beyond economics. Everything that makes economic sense is moral because it makes economic sense. Whether it actually does is rather dubious by the way, as all of this has the very real possibility of massively damage these businesses in the medium to long term – so also nihilistic short-termism at its finest.

$30/mo seems pretty steep for backups. How much storage are you talking about, and what tier?

All of the music I purchased from bleep and bandcamp is still available to download again, and the CDs I rip from the used book stores are in a box to be ripped again if I ever need it.

5TB through Synology's C2 service.

Is it possible to backup via Synology HyperBackup connected to a Backblaze B2 bucket? The monthly costs might be much cheaper.

This is often the case where one side is an expert at contracts and business and the other side is an artist.

I went to a show recently and the band was performing old material and they stopped to make a big deal about how they finally won back their music after 10 years. Famously Prince and Taylor Swift also went public with their disputes.

Good for them, but they signed the contract that locked up their rights for a decade. It seems weird to get too upset at the label for what you thought was a good deal at the time.

I’m not sure about this accounting. I know some artists with very successful songs and they made nothing substantial from millions of streams

Could it be that the streaming platform pays 0.005 which then gets divided amongst the whole band, and then the label takes their cut for producing and marketing it?

Whereas before, the label was simply giving 10%?

I managed a few artists in the past. Usually Spotify paid something like $0.0035 per stream but it ranges based on where the listen took place. One artist owned part of their catalog so earned the 100% on those streams. The rest of their catalog was owned by a major label where they were credited 15% of the streaming take (which was slightly higher than the direct rate) towards their unrecouped major label account.

I'd say overall though, streaming can be good for artists. It helps keep them fresh in fans ears (via auto-generated & editorial playlists) and provides a revenue stream for the older stuff that would never be selling in stores or iTunes now.

Question (You may or may not have insight): What happens when I download a playlist and listen to it offline in my car on an hours long roadtrip? Do my “streams” get counted once I get back online? Does the artist get credit for an estimated number of streams based on typical patterns? Does the artist get bupkis since I might play a song ten times but it wasn’t technically streamed to me?

It’s worth pointing out that there will always be consequences, regardless of the legality.

Insulting a C-level exec is tantamount to a professional suicide note.

> Insulting a C-level exec is tantamount to a professional suicide note.

I guess it depends on the exec and your relationship with them

Only if they find out though? ;-)

How dense do you think your C-level is that they won't find out you called them dickheads in a meeting with them?

"Reviewing the Q1 results vis a vis EBITA and thinking we could take the organization in a bit less of a phallocephalic direction than current leadership seems to desire..."

> How dense do you think your C-level is

I guess density doesn't really change, whether you have one short plank or two.

you've got to roll for charisma first.

I once told a whole bunch of senior execs "they'd totally bollocksed it up" (I have a photo of it somehere)

It’s important to know that Andruil is culturally very similar to Palantir and is run by many ex-Palantir folk.

My experience with the latter is very outdated but assuming Andruil is at a similar phase of growth as Palantir was a decade ago, you pretty much nailed it

Someone correct me if I’m wrong:

Underpaid compensation, with a justification that they are only hiring people who are “mission driven”. Heavily military based culture with a “need to know” approach to projects and overreliance on acronyms to align thought. Perks are golden age startup perks with full meal service, massages, fitness classes, laundry because of you are looking for a 9-5 then this is not the job for you

Compensation is essentially top-of-industry, maybe with the exception of the Big 3 AI companies (that’s assuming you believe their RSU valuations, and that an IPO will occur).

Some projects are OPSEC-restricted, yes.

No massages, classes, laundry.

Many 9-5 people.

> Compensation is essentially top-of-industry

For junior candidates yes. Anyone with 5+ years of good experience, no, it's about half of what you'd make at Google.

I don't doubt it.

Still about half of what a senior role in big tech would amount to.

This is an interesting trend for a bunch of newer companies, pay competitively for junior roles but significantly below industry for experienced candidates.

Classic cult recruitment tactic. Lure people in, hook them, then trap them.

Your claim is that they don't practice at-will employment?

Obviously not? The bigger issue is trusting them not to lord your RSUs over you.

Are you familiar with the term "cult"?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult

Sure. Do you have a real argument, or are you just aligned with siblings compliant: "this company sucks: when you stop working for them, they stop paying you"

That's not what the parent said.

If you're using levels.fyi as a reference, Anduril pays its L5s significantly less, not more: https://www.levels.fyi/companies/anduril-industries/salaries...

> Compensation is essentially top-of-industry, maybe with the exception of the Big 3 AI companies (that’s assuming you believe their RSU valuations, and that an IPO will occur).

I guess it comes down to betting on the IPO then?

The two recent data points I have are from one person who interviewed, got an offer, and his only reaction was “lol, not a chance”. The other person I know who works there now (according to LinkedIn) was a coworker who was cut for underperformance when we worked together years ago. I’ve heard so many different stories about what it’s like that I don’t know what to believe any more.

Calling Anduril comp “significantly higher” than Google does go completely against what I’ve heard from others though. I’ll have to go look again.

EDIT: The levels.fyi data looks great for juniors but definitely isn’t higher than Google for L5+: https://www.levels.fyi/companies/anduril-industries/salaries...

Anduril is a decent base with a huge gamble on equity, Google is a sure shot.

People that started a year ago at Anduril are today making slightly more than they would be had they stared at Google. People that started 2 years ago are making far more than they would be. And it keeps growing – exponentially – from there.

Exponential growth in salary? Wow!

Not realistic…….

2x every year for the past 8+ years. Realistic? Maybe not. Historic? Absolutely.

Sounds like when I worked for a defence contractor in the 90s. Felt owned from the moment I woke up until I fell asleep. Didn’t feel human.

Just woke up one day and thought fuck it and never went back in. Took 6 months off, went on holiday, slept on my parents sofa and eventually got a shit job wrangling C. Best job ever that was. Better money, unlimited decent coffee, 9-5 hours, a window, a phone on my desk and my own SPARCstation 20.

Dunno what you consider underpaid, I doubt anyone outside of FAANG software people would consider $400k/year underpaid. I'm sure for people like analog/digital design engineers, mechanical engineers, CNC machinists (who you all need to build stuff like this), a salary like this is a windfall.

Comp is 2-3x any other defense company.

Mission driven is very important.

Significant former military representation.

Anything DOD related is going to have need to know baked in due to DOD requirements. I’m not sure what your issue is with acronyms, they’re used a lot everywhere in defense. They’re not magic incantations, merely shorthand.

Meals yes, the rest of that no, it’s definitely not Google.

There are plenty of 9 to 5 jobs, and plenty that aren’t. Depends on what role you’re filling.

Sounds insufferable, which is unsurprising since Parmer Lucky is the final boss of wannabe airsoft warriors who never served.

I’m sure it’s appealing to the Grunt Style vets and sweaty Call of Duty cosplayers they’re scooping up to build weapon systems.

This is a ridiculous set of assertions that is utterly without foundation.

Maybe if you don't know who Palmer Luckey is? We're talking about the dude who founded Oculus not to outfit the F-35, but because he was obsessed with Sword Art Online.

He's more macross than missile, a flamboyance you can ascertain from Hawaiian shirts or the smell of microwaved pizza rolls. If you put him in a life-or-death situation, he'd simply pray to be reincarnated as a Gainax employee. Luckey is an SBF-tier grifter who I don't trust with my taxpayer dollars and especially distrust with the lives of my family members serving under America's flag. I pray for another "last supper" in Congress by the time this admin is gone.

I am a 20+ year military veteran with multiple deployments. I don’t need to parade my “family members serving under America’s flag” for internet karma.

Anduril’s technology is saving lives right now all over the world.

Would you like to draw on your vast field experience to refute anything in my comment? Palmer Luckey spent more than a decade cultivating his down-to-earth weaboo persona, if that was all a lie then you need to tell us! It's a matter of national security, nowadays.

Though, just judging from the comment you left, you seem more upset with Anduril's reputation than any of what I said. Or your own karma, one of the two.

Why would I need to refute patently obvious made up bullshit.

Because Palmer Luckey does in-fact wear Hawaiian shirts? Which part did I make-up?

Live in your fantasy world.

Can you at least tell other commenters what your issue is? Don't focus on OP.

My first comment in this whole chain was crystal clear.

Prove me wrong. Anduril saving lives means nothing; terrorists and rapists can save lives, they're still terrorists and rapists though. Criminal lifesaving isn't justice.

If your tenure as GI has shown you anything else, then prove me wrong and forever preserve Luckey's honor. I only ever knew him as the guy who gooned to Asuka porn and collected floral clothing. He was really keen on making sure I knew him for that, but how did you know him?

Wasn’t it always just money laundering?

Need to turn a million dollars of shady money into legit profit? Mint an NFT or coin and set a ridiculous price on it. Make the transactions on an anonymous ledger. Sell it to yourself.

I mean, come on. Art and real estate have always been vehicles for wealthy people to dump money offshore. Crypto made it so much easier to invent assets out of thin air and set whatever price you want on it.

With NFTs you don’t even need to hype up some artist as the next big thing, or trade in antiquities. Just generate a picture of Trump as a beefcake fireman or something and sell it for 1.8 million. That actually happened.

And golly, nobody is talking about it anymore. The fad just dried up just like all the money. Huh, go figure.

Time to harvest those losses.

I'm not against the idea that NFTs are just for money laundering, but if so, you have to ask why they didn't remain popular? Is all the money laundered that needs to be laundered? Is cryptocurrency better for laundering somehow?

They lost the appeal because

1) global logistics normalized, moving the bulk of the money laundering activities back to their usual places (eg physical art),

2) people started realizing that the blockchain actually created a papertrail that’s much harder to conceal than a bunch of literal paper documents scattered across a web of global freight forwarding companies and shell companies and

3) KYC rules turned most fringe crypto exchanges into tightly monitored trading platforms

Crypto as a whole became less utilized as a laundering & gambling medium for those reasons, but it didn’t fully disappear since ETFs keep liquidity happening and transferring money with crypto is still better than swift in a lot of cases. NFTs went away because they had no use whatsoever

That makes sense, at least from a money laundering standpoint. I don't track cryptocurrency happenings closely. I did not know your (1) and (3). Thank you.

NFTs crashed because someone realized you could use multiple slurp juices on a single ape.

And good riddance?

Car culture has killed livable cities and I am not going to miss loud and obnoxious cruisers playing games on public roads

Stuffy middle class on up white people killed cities. Stuffy middle class on up white people killed care culture. Stuffy middle class on up white people killed... just about everything.

All those tropes, jokes, memes and other culture crapping on various slices of that broader demographic don't come from nowhere.

Seriously. I've had more fun on my bicycle than I ever did during my car phase.

Agreed. And e-bikes are not just practical now, they are actually a thrill when climbing hills.

Doesn't have to be just a phase, I love both!

I spent most of my working life doing body work, and then I was a mechanic. Kind of ruined the magic for me.

Bike rack on my Camaro! But I am fine with car culture passing, it makes sense.

I'm more mixed. I love that I live in a very walkable area, and our next move (but not for ~10 years) is hopefully to live carless in a European city.

And yet, I mourn the loss of what we once had, and I'm trying to scoop up fun cars while I still can.

Yeah, I like cars too, but I also find myself wishing they would remove more than just the 1 lane from Grand Ave in Oakland.

I don't think that the new era of 'EV appliance culture' will have any positive impact on urban planning compared to 'car culture'.

There are more vehicles on the roads than ever before, and each of those distracted travellers demands a direct route from home to destination whether they're driving or being driven by a robo-taxi.

I assure you there would be a lot less life in the city if you lived and died in the same village you were born in, like most people through history.

Ok. I’m talking about the concerted effort to kill trains and public transit by the auto/oil industry.

LA was beautiful in the 20s. Could have been a world class metropolis instead of a sprawling hellscape of seven lane interstates where it takes 1.5hr to travel 15 miles, choked by pollution.

Go watch Roger Rabbit again. Pay attention to the villain instead of the foxy redhead.

The boomer generation is also well known as the “me” generation, so it’s something they should expect, to be quite honest. They are the ones who raised us.

'It's someone else's fault I'm cool with letting people die, I have no agency in the matter'. Keep telling yourself that.