I am at the point I just browse arXiv because everything else sounds like bullshit.

Not that arXiv doesn't contain bullshit also but outside of that, in English at least, the internet has completely failed.

It just all seems so random and personal to me to make any blanket statement in this area.

The biggest thing to me is to not blow the small handful of opportunities that randomly present themselves. In this context, there is a good chance those won't be in agents or robotics.

At 50, I am happy with my life but I have blown almost all my opportunities. I have grinded out a decent life but it is pretty minimized vs what could have been.

I was offered a nice career at 21 in the financial markets from my part time job while going to college for CS so turned it down. CS was delusion with my math skills and I dropped out. Ended up spending a decade grinding to get into the financial markets after college.

Before CS I thought I would get a PhD in psychology. A real Freudian fan boy professor made me abandon that. I thought Freud was so absurd on first encounter. At this point I have read almost all of Freud's work on my own. I should have stuck with the original plan in psychology.

On the other hand, maybe the path I have traveled is the optimal path because at 50 I am not done. I still have huge dreams to make this all be the right path. The bar is not that high.

It is all a relative valuation.

90% might even be too low.

If you look up business analyst type jobs on JP Morgan website they are still hiring a ton right now.

What you actually notice is how many are being outsourced to other countries outside the US.

I think the main process at work is 1% actual AI automation and a huge amount of return to the office in the US while offshoring the remote work under the cover of "AI".

The whole point of the post is that many have updated their beliefs too much.

I just can't imagine having to worry about this.

It is why I like a low end Samsung android. It is borderline disposable and I would never view it as more than temporary storage. Works until it breaks or I lose it then start over. In the meantime, if something is that important it mounts easy in linux and I copy over what I want to save.

As an ex pack a day smoker, realizing it doesn't really matter.

I knew the first cigarette I smoked was a cancer causing terrible idea.

The reason I did was because I was young and most other people I knew were doing the same thing. Same with social media.

Nyquist is super ancient.

The links don't even work anymore on CMU.

Common Music might still work but I can't imagine bothering with Nyquist. https://ccrma.stanford.edu/software/clm/

There is just not much reason to not use SuperCollider or Csound instead of these though.

Edit: I did just find Nyquist has been rolled into Audacity scripting that sounds pretty cool https://audionyq.com/

Fun. Fact: that is how I learned about nyquist not long ago.

I posted that one, and not others, because it is a lisp dialect, and this community is typically inclined to lisp in a more than average %.

I have never in 30 years of synths read subtractive synthesis called Eastcoast or waveshaping called Westcoast.

Especially to put what it is actually called in parenthesis as if everyone calls subtractive synthesis "Eastcoast".

This is certainly something very specific to the path you took with synths.

I really hate to be that guy but… the terms “East Coast” and “West Coast” synthesis are pretty mainstream within the synth community, especially among those who follow the history and styles of modular synthesis. These distinctions were popularized as a way to categorize the approaches of pioneers like Bob Moog, I’m sure you’ve heard of him. (East Coast) and Don Buchla (West Coast).

East Coast synthesis, often associated with subtractive synthesis, emphasizes traditional keyboard performance, harmonic richness, and filters to shape sound. Meanwhile, West Coast synthesis (credited to Buchla) leans more experimental, focusing on waveshaping, FM synthesis, and unconventional control interfaces.

The terms themselves have been around for decades and have become shorthand to describe these philosophies of synthesis design and architecture of synths. You might not hear them as much outside modular or academic circles, but they’re far from obscure.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Buchla

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moog

Exactly. All the places I went to 30 years ago for a rave are now nice areas.

Someone would call the cops for the amount of noise now before the party even started.

Then factor in fentanyl.

Maybe most of all though, in the mid 90s electronic music was a new thing in the US.

The first rave I went to , I really didn't even know what I was going to. The reason I stopped going was the novelty had completely worn off. Amazing times but the falloff was rather steep.

I remember when techno was the sound of the future. Now it sounds like something from the age of industrialization.