Thomas Dickerson @elfprince13@mumak.app

A clip from an interview with one of the original SimCity designers, on how the game would have fallen apart if parking lots in the game were their actual sizes in modern cities.

when you are snowed under with email, pray to saint mark allasread. he will intercede on your behalf

Whenever the media starts freaking out about deepfakes and how they will mislead the world, I'm always completely nonplussed. Our public discourse has been dominated by lies and propaganda, on a mass scale, for decades. People can be misled by a scribble on a napkin. I'm not sure it matters that now the napkin looks "super real." #getoffmylawn

this is one thing I like about math: if you don't like the rules, change them

CA DMV, The Game:

For each round, choose one player to be the applicant and another player to be the clerk. Everyone else is in the audience.

The applicant makes up a plate number, and secretly writes down the true meaning of their plate. The meaning may or may not be obscene or offensive (as defined by your local community standards)

The clerk announces what they think the true meaning of the plate is. If the clerk thinks that the meaning is obscene or offensive, they should deny the plate. Otherwise, they should approve the plate.

After the clerk has made their decision, each member of the audience guesses as to the true meaning of the plate; they may choose to agree with the clerk's interpretation, or supply their own.

Finally, the meaning that the applicant wrote down is revealed to all players.

If the clerk has guessed the true meaning of the plate correctly, then the clerk wins the round.

If the clerk has guessed incorrectly, but the majority of the audience agrees with the clerk's interpretation of the plate, then the clerk wins the round.

If neither the clerk nor any member of the audience has guessed the true meaning of the plate correctly, and a majority of the audience does not agree with the clerk, then the round is a draw.

Finally, If the clerk guessed incorrectly but at least one audience member guessed correctly:

- If the meaning is obscene or offensive, and the clerk denied the plate, the clerk wins the round.

- If the meaning is obscene or offensive, and the clerk approved the plate, the applicant wins the round.

- If the meaning is not obscene or offensive, and the clerk denied the plate, the applicant wins the round.

- If the meaning is not obscene or offensive, and the clerk approved the plate, the round is a draw.

Disputes over what is obscene or offensive are decided by a poll of the audience, with the clerk breaking ties.

Edit: A cleaned-up, clarified version of this with better formatting can be found at: https://jordemort.dev/blog/the-license-plate-game/

So, GPT-4 is out, and it’s all over for us meatbags.

https://hackaday.com/2023/03/17/the-singularity-isnt-here-yet/