Too bad. I know how MAGA likes their safe spaces. My old church also had an “alternative” half-time show to protect the kids or something. And if they don’t have these spaces, who will protect them from weird ideas like kindness and empathy?

No problem! I love chatting about this stuff, questions are always welcome!

Not sure what online retailers are available or what you have access to in Vemezuela, but something like this starter kit would be ideal. But anything you can get your hands on can be fun.

In general, you need:

• a microcontroller
• a way to program it
• hardware to control and usually some sort of input or sensor

Even if you can’t find a starter kit, finding a USB UART interface lets you hack into all sorts of devices (did that to reprogram a router a while back), as long as you’re handy with a soldering iron. And like another commenter said, hardware emulators would let you get started writing and running code if you can’t get hardware right away.

Hope it’s fun! Feel free to DM with questions if you’d like.

You’re looking for what’s called Embedded Programming, which is that low-level stuff where the software you create makes things happen in real life outside of just a computer screen. There are lots of hobby beginner kits that come with things like motors, lights, etc. That’s probably your best bet for actually getting some hands-on experience.

If you want something a little higher-level, go for something like a Raspberry Pi (a Single Board Computer or SBC). On these, you’ll have a full-fledged Linux kernel and operating system, but still have ways of interacting with hardware like lights and such. If you want to get lower level, try Arduino or something based on ESP32 (the key word here is microcontroller). On these, you’ll either use a smaller OS or go “bare-metal”. Though note that Raspberry Pi makes things at this level as well (their “Pico” line).

For making that connection between co"puter theory and programming, I recommend experimenting with microcontrollers. You can even do some projects in assembly and understand what all the key registers are doing. I started on PIC micros, which was a great beginner thing. Not sure if they’re still around.

If you want recommendations on a starter kit, let me know yoyr budget and what country you’re in, and I can send some suggestions.

Source: embedded programming for 20+ years.

“This is his mother. He died from being overworked.”

“I don’t think you’re considering how this affects the team. I’ll see you in an hour.”

There are a couple ways to approach the argument: we can talk about the art LLMs can produce (and whether it should be called art), and we can also talk about the long-term ramifications.

The arguments about what LLMs can produce are weaker. Art is subjective, and trying to quantify things like “originality” and “soul” is difficult. Plus, as you mentioned, there are plenty of successful artists that are arguably untalented. Ultimately, LLMs can produce something that some people want, at least somewhat. That being said, I would argue that a drum machine on its own is soulless–and I think Prince would agree. It’s the other pieces that make it something more.

The stronger argument is the other one–the long term ramifications. Unlike everything that has come before (synths, sampling, etc), art has always cost someone something. If nothing else, it takes time and effort for a person to create something, and there’s some measure of skill involved (EDM, for example, takes skill in composition rather than performance).

LLMs can produce “art” for negligible (immediate) cost. This is pretty new. And it’s undercutting an already slim market. The likely long-term effects include thinning it further, to the point where “artist” is untenable as a career.

What makes that different from other areas where technology has replaced human efforts? The big difference is that LLM art depends on the human artists creating art. The more prominent LLM art becomes, the less human art is created, and the worse LLM art becomes. It’s like a snake eating its own tail, or a factory that uses its own foundation as raw materials–it’s a self-destructing system.

Another argument to be considered is motivation: the people who are gung-ho about LLM art are typically so because it means they don’t have to pay humans to do the same thing. Which is less problematic in other industries, but given that art is often a form of emotional expression (as opposed to something like a manufacturing job), there’s a stronger argument that maybe the art should be left to humans.

I think it was summed up nicely by someone who posted something along the lines of, “I want AI to do the mundane tasks so I can spend time making art, not the other way around.”

One of the big differences is that it takes talent (typically from years of practice) to create something good–it’s far more than just the input of other art.

For example, most people listen to plenty of music. We all have a ton of influences to pull from. But writing a song is difficult, even if all the individual elements can be traced to different influences. To write a good song, it usually takes skill deveoped with practice. And if it really is just a few other ideas merged together with nothing original or compelling, it will likely be criticised as derivative and unoriginal.

AI has two big issues: 1. It’s only capable of creating unoriginal derivatives without originality or “soul”, and 2. Its usage is detrimental to the art community that it relies on. As people attempt to replace artists with AI, being an artist becomes and even less viable living (something that was already difficult). And without human artists, we’re culturally stuck recycling the same drivel for eternity, which in turn deteriorates (think of a document that is copied, then that copy is copied, and so on until the contents are barely legible).

Anyone collaborating with Dolly Parton these days is likely a decent person