Laptops create systems. Phones feed algorithms. The asymmetry determines power • Hacker News Board

Re: Laptops create systems. Phones feed algorithms. The asymmetry determines power

#21

Post by steveBK123 » Sun, Oct 05, 2025, 1:54 PM UTC

I'd take it a step further and say this distinction is also contributing to the erosion of hobbies in younger generations. Even more so it is eroding time spent on productive / skill based hobbies and lean into consumption based hobbies.

Due to the rise of influencers, social media is barely a sharing platform anymore.. its just decentralized long-tailed broadcast media.

Many modern people think dining out and travel are hobbies, and in between doom scroll social media.

Time spent staring at the phone is rarely productive or anxiety reducing.

Re: Laptops create systems. Phones feed algorithms. The asymmetry determines power

#22

Post by rr808 » Sun, Oct 05, 2025, 2:04 PM UTC

floundy wrote: post #18

rr808 wrote: post #15

I just wish this were true, all I see now is convergence between the two platforms. Perhaps a linux workstation is still configurable enough to stay true.

My self-hosted Linux server increasingly feels like the only real computer I own. I did within the last year switch from Windows to Mac for my primary desktop, and it feels like I regressed about a decade in the dumbification of computing compared to where Windows was headed.

Just be clear - you mean a Mac is less dumb? I've always used windows and thinking of switching to MacOS or going straight to Linux. Apple hardware these days is pretty fire so not sure just yet.

Re: Laptops create systems. Phones feed algorithms. The asymmetry determines power

#23

Post by gloxkiqcza » Sun, Oct 05, 2025, 2:05 PM UTC

turtlebro wrote: post #17

Well the hope is now with Google merging ChromeOS & Android it'll evolve into a hybrid desktop/mobile OS, and we get to the point where you can finally plug your phone into a monitor, launch VSCode etc. Recent side load signing requirements could be a big hurdle though. Apple seems to completely stuck with their macOS/iOS split, and probably will never do anything about it. Now iPadOS & macOS look and feel more simil…

I think you’re missing a forest for the trees. Android desktop and iPadOS are the same thing. Next-gen OSes with advantages stemming from their different paradigm at the cost of control/freedom. It’s happening slowly but IMO the end game isn’t to merge macOS with iPadOS, it’s to make macOS obsolete and deprecate it once possible.

Re: Laptops create systems. Phones feed algorithms. The asymmetry determines power

#24

Post by Larrikin » Sun, Oct 05, 2025, 2:13 PM UTC

rr808 wrote: post #22

floundy wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My self-hosted Linux server increasingly feels like the only real computer I own. I did within the last year switch from Windows to Mac for my primary desktop, and it feels like I regressed about a decade in the dumbification of computing compared to where Windows was headed.

Just be clear - you mean a Mac is less dumb? I've always used windows and thinking of switching to MacOS or going straight to Linux. Apple hardware these days is pretty fire so not sure just yet.

Apple keeps adding permission requests/demands to more mundane operations that you have to try and get around. But it is increasingly feeling like they are heading toward a future where they no longer offer the ability to get around their "security".

I have a couple apps that just stop working because they are open source, haven't paid the Apple developer tax, and the permission to the disk just expires seemingly randomly. I haven't figured out how to get around that and instead just don't rely on them.

Re: Laptops create systems. Phones feed algorithms. The asymmetry determines power

#25

Post by danaris » Sun, Oct 05, 2025, 2:19 PM UTC

floundy wrote: post #20

willidiots wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole thing feels AI-padded.

I’m not going crazy, right, nearly nobody aside from professional writers used em dashes prior to 2022. And the whole bolded topic intro, colon, short 1-2 sentence explanation seems way more like a product of GPT formatting than how organic humans would structure it? So much writing on the internet seems derivative nowadays (because it is, thanks to AI). I’d rather not read it though, it’s boring and feels like a sam…

No, lots of people who read a lot used em-dashes.

Also, lots of people who use Macs, because it's very easy to type on a Mac (shift-option-hyphen).

The reason LLMs use em-dashes is because they're well-represented in the training corpus.

Re: Laptops create systems. Phones feed algorithms. The asymmetry determines power

#26

Post by Steltek » Sun, Oct 05, 2025, 2:20 PM UTC

rr808 wrote: post #22

floundy wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My self-hosted Linux server increasingly feels like the only real computer I own. I did within the last year switch from Windows to Mac for my primary desktop, and it feels like I regressed about a decade in the dumbification of computing compared to where Windows was headed.

Just be clear - you mean a Mac is less dumb? I've always used windows and thinking of switching to MacOS or going straight to Linux. Apple hardware these days is pretty fire so not sure just yet.

MacOS feels like Android. It's more mobile OS than desktop/laptop. It's theoretically open but you can absolutely feel the walls closing in around you: only signed binaries are trusted by the OS (no asked who you trust), apps not from the app store are scrutinized heavily, etc.

Given Apple's recent actions in the US, MacOS doesn't feel like something I'd be switching to.

Re: Laptops create systems. Phones feed algorithms. The asymmetry determines power

#27

Post by willidiots » Sun, Oct 05, 2025, 2:25 PM UTC

floundy wrote: post #20

willidiots wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole thing feels AI-padded.

I’m not going crazy, right, nearly nobody aside from professional writers used em dashes prior to 2022. And the whole bolded topic intro, colon, short 1-2 sentence explanation seems way more like a product of GPT formatting than how organic humans would structure it? So much writing on the internet seems derivative nowadays (because it is, thanks to AI). I’d rather not read it though, it’s boring and feels like a sam…

I made a conscious effort to switch from hyphens to em dashes in the 2010's and now find myself undoing that effort because of these things, so I try not to instantly assume "AI". But look long enough and you do notice a "sameness": excellent grammar, fondness for bulleted lists, telltale phrases like "That's not ___, it's ___."

And a certain vacuousness. TFA is over 16000 words and I'm not really sure there's a single core point.

Re: Laptops create systems. Phones feed algorithms. The asymmetry determines power

#28

Post by floundy » Sun, Oct 05, 2025, 2:27 PM UTC

rr808 wrote: post #22

floundy wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My self-hosted Linux server increasingly feels like the only real computer I own. I did within the last year switch from Windows to Mac for my primary desktop, and it feels like I regressed about a decade in the dumbification of computing compared to where Windows was headed.

Just be clear - you mean a Mac is less dumb? I've always used windows and thinking of switching to MacOS or going straight to Linux. Apple hardware these days is pretty fire so not sure just yet.

Sorry, worded poorly, yes I feel Macs are less “dumbed down” in the sense that user experience and design aren’t sacrificed to try and make it easier for the lowest common denominator to use, but in the end it’s just worse for everybody. Example: in Windows 11 the right click menu has less options than Win10, and now contains a “more” option leading to expanding another submenu where pretty basic functions from Win10 right click are hidden behind this extra menu. Hell, the design doesn’t even match. The nested context menu looks like it was Frankensteined in from Win10. Apple at least has a design philosophy for UI stuff.

I have personally felt like I have to fight less with MacOS than I did with Windows. And my pihole shows Apple isn’t greedily trying to hoover up my data like MS.

Re: Laptops create systems. Phones feed algorithms. The asymmetry determines power

#29

Post by amelius » Sun, Oct 05, 2025, 2:27 PM UTC

fainpul wrote: post #6

That header picture is top slop! Seriously, please stop it. If you talk about an abstract topic, feel free to have no picture, just text.

At this point, I'm wondering if an AI would even recognize a laptop if there was no cup of coffee next to it.

Re: Laptops create systems. Phones feed algorithms. The asymmetry determines power

#30

Post by doph » Sun, Oct 05, 2025, 2:29 PM UTC

danaris wrote: post #25

floundy wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not going crazy, right, nearly nobody aside from professional writers used em dashes prior to 2022. And the whole bolded topic intro, colon, short 1-2 sentence explanation seems way more like a product of GPT formatting than how organic humans would structure it? So much writing on the internet seems derivative nowadays (because it is, thanks to AI). I’d rather not read it though, it’s boring and feels like a sam…

No, lots of people who read a lot used em-dashes. Also, lots of people who use Macs, because it's very easy to type on a Mac (shift-option-hyphen). The reason LLMs use em-dashes is because they're well-represented in the training corpus.

Mostly agree, however this kind of quirk could issue entirely from post-training, where the preferences/habits of a tiny number of people (relative to the main training corpus) can have outsize influence of the style of the model's output. See also the "delve" phenomenon.