I'm sobbing over here because apparently most of the world doesn't know we already had our "dumb terminal" phase.
this post was submitted on 21 May 2025
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Back in 2005, I worked in a rural hospital who still had the ancient monolithic NCR server (non operational, but still there. It was the size of 4 refrigerators stacked side by side,) and a storeroom full of the old dumb terminals.
There’s nothing particularly “smart” about machine learning models. They are still programs that run on computers, the only difference is that they are made by another program rather than by a human, so they are too complicated for humans to meaningfully read.
Also, the meaning of digital hasn’t really changed. It still refers to information that is represented in bits rather than some analog format.
Agreed.
I once asked AI a question, "How do you inflate a foldable phone?"
If it was smart, it should have responded with something like 'This question doesn't make sense, but here are some related articles to help you.'
But no no no, it literally wrote out instructions for me that almost looked perfectly professional, except it just replaced 'inner tube' with 'folding phone'...
If AI keeps hallucinating like that, and people accept it as somehow being 'smarter' than humans, then indeed we might just be on track for a new dumb generation of humans that just accept bullshit as fact.
🤦♂️
Well... Don't leave us hanging!
Did the instructions work? You'd think it would be harder than inflating a tablet-style phone... Because of the hinge.
LMFAO!
Want a quick way to inflate a foldable phone, stab it with a screwdriver. Don't mind the smoke and fire, that's just part of the process 🔥👍
Here ya go, this is what Google AI gave me...
How to inflate a foldable phone?
- Make sure your phone is turned off and that the battery is fully charged.
- Find the inflation port on your phone. It is usually located on the bottom edge of the phone.
- Connect the inflation hose to the inflation port.
- Turn on the inflator and start inflating the phone.
- Once the phone is fully inflated, disconnect the inflation hose and turn off the inflator.
- Your phone is now ready to use.
Please note that this is just a general tutorial. The specific steps may vary depending on the model of your phone. Always consult your phone's user manual for more specific instructions. Here are some additional tips:
- Use a slow and steady stream of air when inflating your phone.
- Do not over-inflate your phone. This could damage the phone.
If you have any problems inflating your phone, consult your phone's manufacturer or a qualified technician.
Haha, that's amazing.
Guess I need to go buy "an inflator" specifically made for phones 🤣
i dont see it. ill never stop considering a dummy terminal 'no local processing'.
many LLMs are moving to a locally processed version requiring far less memory usage/processor requirements than the bigger versions.. thats not going to just evaporate. lots of people dont trust cloud compute.
No telling for sure, I don't write the terminology. Some changes have actually been good changes, like when they decided to stop designating PATA hard drives as master/slave and started using primary/secondary instead.
But think about the newer generation that has never seen a true dumb terminal before, they have no concept of no local processing. So it won't surprise me a bit if the newer generation starts asking questions like 'Does it have Artificial Intelligence? No? Well it must be a dumb system then'...
yeah, but i only swim in technical circles and ive never, ever heard a general compute device referred to as 'dummy'. ever. not even machines that only run an app that connects to a mainframe essentially turning into a dummy.
that said, im old. i had a rather technical coworker ask me for clarification when i made a napster reference. the young determine the language.
now get off my lawn.
Upvoted for get off my lawn 😂🤣
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