this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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OpenAI boss Sam Altman wants $7tn. For all our sakes, pray he doesn’t get it::The man behind ChatGPT is wooing the UAE to invest in energy-hungry AI. But if it turns out his tech can’t fix the world, he’s got his escape plan

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[–] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 49 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Before he was a thundering asshat at Y Combinator, he started a mobile company that sold your location to brands called Loopt. He's a piece of work.

[–] Jackcooper@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I am thinking of getting a tomtom. Tired of my phone trying to throw a fit when I disable location after I've figured out my way to my destination.

So much of this advertising economy depends on it and we just give it away.

[–] evranch@lemmy.ca -3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

Just learn how to navigate properly with a map. You know where you are (hopefully) and you look up where you're going. Do your own routing, it's not hard and once you've been doing it for awhile you'll have instinctive routes you use to link different areas. No location permissions required.

If you use navigation all the time you can become like my ex-wife. Lost without it, in her own city. Exercise your brain by finding your way around with landmarks and signage, I have never used navigation apps because I know my way across three provinces, and can navigate the major cities just based on my instinctive mental maps of them.

Edit: I don't mean a paper map. But being able to use your phone's map software to find a route without it dictating every turn to you is a valuable skill that is apparently getting lost. What are you going to do if your phone dies, will you be able to go anywhere?

[–] linearchaos@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'm not about to downvote you, but, I seriously don't miss paper maps.

Every time there's a new neighborhood somewhere you have no freaking clue where a road is because you need to go out and buy the latest paper map.

I'll just use open street map thanks.

[–] evranch@lemmy.ca 3 points 9 months ago

I'm not talking about paper maps, I use Google maps myself. I do like the feel of a paper map but they aren't practical anymore for the reasons you mentioned.

I even search for my destination and look at where I'm going.

However I don't use the navigation feature. Never seen the need. If I can't find my way around the city without an AI holding my hand, I've got dementia.

[–] jadedwench@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I miss the giant almanacs the car insurance company would give you each year that had all of the US states in them. We would plot routes for cross country trips. I can use a paper or digital map, but I do like using something like Google Maps to see traffic, construction, and accidents when I travel. I use it at home when going into certain areas as I have no idea what state the current construction disaster is that day compared to a few days ago.

Otherwise, I find it important to learn how to navigate cities without maps. When I moved, I used to drive around the city in random directions to see how it looked, what the street names were, and get a sense of the layout. If things started to look like gang territory, or super shady, I would just turn around.

[–] davysnavy@lemmy.world -5 points 9 months ago (2 children)

"exercise your brain" lol. Another way to look at it is using precious brain power that could be used on other things. Also, it's cringe to take pride in being able to navigate without a map. It's useless knowledge in most cases. We all have phones.

Until you don't. Battery dies. Phone get stolen. During an emergency if you struggle to navigate that's embarrassing.

[–] evranch@lemmy.ca 0 points 9 months ago

Other things like what, driving the car? Chatting with your passengers? Orienting your cheeseburger properly? Hopefully you can handle all of these at once and still not miss your turn.

Are you so inept in your life that you need your phone to tell you where you're going?

Where I live the roads have no names and the cell coverage is marginal. Some roads are flooded, some covered with snowdrifts... Some haven't been passable for years. I don't know a single person who uses the navigation features of their smartphone.