Thread

1. altcognito · 1790483051 · focus · HN ↗

   We had better have even more time to help each other as a result of LLMs, or what are we even doing here?

   I realize that everything seems to be about increasing the pace of life, but this is another "chance" for humanity to figure things out.

   1. vasco · 1790483849 · focus · HN ↗

      No increases in productivity ever led to less working hours, only organized action. We work more hours than miedeval serfs.

      1. isolay · 1790484327 · focus · HN ↗

         Fewer working hours.

         1. dofm · 1790484883 · focus · HN ↗

            My personal rule as a recovering grammar school victim: don’t correct nits if you’re not going to add some cool trivia or at least provide some gentle, kind way to navigate the same confusion next time.

            Less/fewer is probably a lost cause, and a little bit of why is this kind of useless correction. If those who correct can’t or won’t explain why one is correct over the other, then it simply isn’t.

            ETA: a fun comment below points me to a running joke I was unaware of; my apologies if this was an instance of it that I missed. I am not really a television person but this feels like a significant bit of cultural ignorance on my part.

            1. kruffalon · 1790487261 · focus · HN ↗

               As a grammar and language Messerschmidt I hate how correct and elegant this is:

               > If those who correct can’t or won’t explain why one is correct over the other, then it simply isn’t.

               I will try to remember this and also execute it with kindness and trivia, like you suggest, in the future.

               Thank you.

               1. dofm · 1790488112 · focus · HN ↗

                  It's profoundly annoying that it's correct, isn't it! Every time I wince at reading something that feels wrong I have to remind myself that it’s ultimately only wrong because of convention.

                  (I do occasionally slip, and correct its/it's, your/you're or they're/their/there in someone's comment, but only if that comment is aggressively or nastily calling someone else stupid.)

            2. georgemcbay · 1790487613 · focus · HN ↗

               > Less/fewer is probably a lost cause

               When people correct less/fewer I always assume they are just making a Game of Thrones/Stannis Baratheon joke.

               Which I will always support, even if the TV series drove off a cliff at the end.

               1. dofm · 1790488163 · focus · HN ↗

                  Oh! If there is some running joke here that I missed then I stand admonished :-)

                  (Though it is a somewhat dangerous one to deploy without context)

                  Is there a clip? (I have neither the energy nor the streaming service to get into GoT)

                  1. georgemcbay · 1790488630 · focus · HN ↗

                     > Oh! If there is some running joke here that I missed then I stand admonished

                     I actually don't even know if the person you replied to was making this joke, or if they were being sincere, I'm speculating... but...

                     > Is there a clip?

                     It was kind of a running joke on the show. Couldn't find a clip that encapsulates the whole thing, but the first clip here shows Stannis reflexively making the correction at various times as if it were like a tic:

                     <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=G0zNWswcqMg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=G0zNWswcqMg

                     And then later in the series you see it rub off on the person he was with in the previous instances (in the 2nd scene in this clip):

                     <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=zXINZxodu9U" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=zXINZxodu9U

                     1. dofm · 1790489227 · focus · HN ↗

                        Thank you so much for this! Definitely seems likely I just missed out on the joke.

                        I would guess that this is sort of an embedded joke about the use of British regional language&#x2F;accents as a world building framework? A brief google suggests it is not from the books.

                        I am of the age&#x2F;schooling&#x2F;class background where people make this reflexive correction entirely unironically. I know several older people who do this, and I remember the cultural campaigns over the “ten items or less” signs in supermarkets.

            3. arwhatever · 1790541962 · focus · HN ↗

               It is however allowable to correct grammar nits if done in the midst of a prison riot, as in The Naked Gun.
            4. rpdillon · 1790643103 · focus · HN ↗

               &gt; If those who correct can’t or won’t explain why one is correct over the other, then it simply isn’t.

               Or they aren&#x27;t good at defending their position. Beware of people who are good at argument: they&#x27;ll often seem to be right when they&#x27;re not. Conversely, don&#x27;t ignore someone just because they can&#x27;t argue their point well. The point may have merit, even if they can&#x27;t represent it as strongly as they should.

               This is where the Hacker News guidelines about responding to the strongest possible interpretation of what somebody is saying come into play.

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