Zompist Bboard Again

rotting bones wrote: ↑Wed Oct 22, 2025 4:47 pmThis is why there's no way people will stop using AI. Engineers at NASA are using Cursor for coding. Meanwhile, software engineers have switched to Windsurf. If the LLM industry goes bust (and I'm hoping it will), they will probably switch to small language models. In fact, the language model industry has already implemented schemes to securely download weights onto the devices of users and run the models there. They want to offload the bill of executing the models onto users.

You mean they're getting paid a quarter million a year just to sit around while AI does their work for them? Software engineers were never my favorite profession but now I definitively consider them the worst. Even mercenaries and gangsters at least earn their filthy lucre through physical risk.

malloc wrote: ↑Wed Oct 22, 2025 6:07 pm You mean they're getting paid a quarter million a year just to sit around while AI does their work for them? Software engineers were never my favorite profession but now I definitively consider them the worst. Even mercenaries and gangsters at least earn their filthy lucre through physical risk.

It's not as hands off as you might think. Senior engineers clearly have to leverage their experience in order to keep the models on track. I hear a book called Vibe Coding talks about programming with AI.

Ideally, a socialist state would offer all workers the option to oversee machines. Wanting people to be subjected to pain in order to justify their existence is a reactionary position. Like with the bourgeoisie, we should work towards ensuring that a high quality of life is available to everyone.

I can't believe it. Daniel Naroditsky is dead. His YouTube channel got me into chess years ago.

So the vets confirmed my cat has cancer; in the spleen, a lymph node, and one of her kidneys. It is "medium to large cell" in the lymph node, which means it's aggressive. Surgery is not an option, only chemo would be. Though chemo is expensive (possibly 15k USD) and my mum may not be able to get it.

Without treatment she may only have 3 to 6 months to live. Of course that's not accounting for quality of life.

This Christmas is likely the last time I'll ever see her again.

rotting bones wrote: ↑Wed Oct 22, 2025 7:33 pmIt's not as hands off as you might think. Senior engineers clearly have to leverage their experience in order to keep the models on track. I hear a book called Vibe Coding talks about programming with AI.

Compared with my job working in a factory for twelve hours a day, it certainly is hands off. Meanwhile the tech industry has thrown hundreds of millions behind Trump while ruining the internet (and indeed this very forum) with the AI you so often defend. With their massive salaries and primarily managerial role, these senior engineers sound thoroughly bourgeois to me.

malloc wrote: ↑Wed Oct 22, 2025 6:07 pm You mean they're getting paid a quarter million a year just to sit around while AI does their work for them? Software engineers were never my favorite profession but now I definitively consider them the worst. Even mercenaries and gangsters at least earn their filthy lucre through physical risk.

That's not what happens at all. Software engineers don't have AI code for them, not any more than they used to copy and paste code from Stack Overflow.
AI can help build boilerplate code and fix issues (not so different than looking stuff up in the documentation, but faster), it's no substitute for the actual work. Actually writing code is arguably not the more important part of the job, which is rather to understand a problem and figure out an acceptable solution.

I do agree the working conditions are way better than factory work!

I don't think software engineers have much or even any input into how their companies are run.

Ahzoh wrote: ↑Wed Oct 22, 2025 7:41 pm So the vets confirmed my cat has cancer; in the spleen, a lymph node, and one of her kidneys. It is "medium to large cell" in the lymph node, which means it's aggressive. Surgery is not an option, only chemo would be. Though chemo is expensive (possibly 15k USD) and my mum may not be able to get it.

Without treatment she may only have 3 to 6 months to live. Of course that's not accounting for quality of life.

This Christmas is likely the last time I'll ever see her again.

Sorry to hear that.

rotting bones wrote: ↑Thu Oct 23, 2025 6:50 am

Ahzoh wrote: ↑Wed Oct 22, 2025 7:41 pm So the vets confirmed my cat has cancer; in the spleen, a lymph node, and one of her kidneys. It is "medium to large cell" in the lymph node, which means it's aggressive. Surgery is not an option, only chemo would be. Though chemo is expensive (possibly 15k USD) and my mum may not be able to get it.

Without treatment she may only have 3 to 6 months to live. Of course that's not accounting for quality of life.

This Christmas is likely the last time I'll ever see her again.

Sorry to hear that.

Seconded.

Really sad to hear that as well.

She was and is a good cat. Gave us much love, comfort, and joy during these past 13 and a half years.

Raphael wrote: ↑Thu Oct 23, 2025 7:15 am

rotting bones wrote: ↑Thu Oct 23, 2025 6:50 am

Ahzoh wrote: ↑Wed Oct 22, 2025 7:41 pm So the vets confirmed my cat has cancer; in the spleen, a lymph node, and one of her kidneys. It is "medium to large cell" in the lymph node, which means it's aggressive. Surgery is not an option, only chemo would be. Though chemo is expensive (possibly 15k USD) and my mum may not be able to get it.

Without treatment she may only have 3 to 6 months to live. Of course that's not accounting for quality of life.

This Christmas is likely the last time I'll ever see her again.

Sorry to hear that.

Seconded.

Thirded.

Travis B. wrote: ↑Thu Oct 23, 2025 9:39 am

Raphael wrote: ↑Thu Oct 23, 2025 7:15 am

rotting bones wrote: ↑Thu Oct 23, 2025 6:50 am
Sorry to hear that.

Seconded.

Thirded.

Fourthed.

Ahzoh wrote: ↑Thu Oct 23, 2025 9:09 am She was and is a good cat. Gave us much love, comfort, and joy during these past 13 and a half years.

I hope her last days are a comfort to your family and her.

"Those we love never truly leave us. There are things that death cannot touch." - Jack Thorne

I'm sorry to hear about your cat. cherish your last moments with her here on earth and make them memorable, so that as long as she lives on in your memory she will never truly pass.

malloc wrote: ↑Thu Oct 23, 2025 11:37 am

Travis B. wrote: ↑Thu Oct 23, 2025 9:39 am

Raphael wrote: ↑Thu Oct 23, 2025 7:15 am

Seconded.

Thirded.

Fourthed.

Fifthed, although we should probably be including the people who said similar things but aren't in this chain, in which case seventhed, although I may have miscounted.

Ahzoh wrote: ↑Thu Oct 23, 2025 9:09 am She was and is a good cat. Gave us much love, comfort, and joy during these past 13 and a half years.

[reaches into the screen to pet the kitty] Very sorry to hear about her... losing a friend always hurts, especially when it's one you've had for such a long time.

Ahzoh wrote: ↑Thu Oct 23, 2025 9:09 am She was and is a good cat. Gave us much love, comfort, and joy during these past 13 and a half years.

It's not looking too good. The oncologist said it's unusual for a cat to have multiple organs with cancer, so they can't do surgery. But even with chemo she may not live longer than 4-8 months. Because she has medium-to-large cell lymphoma, the chemo won't be able to get rid of it. At best the cells may shrink or she may go into "semi-regression".

They'd have to do several rounds of 4x1 week of a particular drug and one week of rest. And each round would cost $4k. Overall the whole thing would cost about 16k for 25 weeks of treatment. However, they said without any treatment she may only live another 7 weeks. She might not even make it to Christmas time which is the next time I can see her.

We're thinking about maybe doing one round and see if she is doing ok on it, or otherwise we're thinking of what we can do to let her hang on just a little longer until I'm there.

I was just starting to accept that I might lose her in a few months, now I'm learning I might lose her in a few weeks.

I'm really sorry to hear that.

I'm sorry to hear that, too. While I never had any pets, I can guess how much this bothers you.

WeepingElf wrote: ↑Tue Oct 28, 2025 4:52 am I'm sorry to hear that, too. While I never had any pets, I can guess how much this bothers you.

I've had her for nearly half of my entire life and for that half of my life she was a constant affectionate presence. She always comforted us when we were sad and always overjoyed when we arrived home from work or shopping, no matter how shit our day was. She always pestered us to let her outside on the screened porch in our NC house where she would spend the nights listening to the frogs and the crickets and other critters. Then she would snuggle on our legs at night.

She bore witness to many of our life's events and transitions. My finishing and graduating from highschool and my entry into uni. My mum's many new jobs and letting-gos. Our moving from Canada to Texas to North Carolina to Tennessee and finally back to Texas. The times we came back from a long and exhausting hike, tired and sore. When my mum was sick from covid during the height of the pandemic. When my family visited in Tennessee.

Neither of us felt alone in the house even when I was away at uni or when mum was away on a business trip. The cat was always somewhere.

And now she will be gone and it will be the end of an era.

And as I mentioned months ago, I lost my 17yo cousin to suicide. It seems this year is a cruel year of death and sadness.