[bobbiechen]

So true. I recently wrote about how Merlin achieved magical bird identification not through better algorithms, but better expertise in creating great datasets: https://digitalseams.com/blog/what-birdsong-and-backends-can...

I think "harsh reality" is one way to look at it, but you can also take an optimistic perspective: you really can achieve great, magical experiences by putting in (what could be considered) unreasonable effort.

[mhuffman]

Thanks for the intro to Merlin! I just went outside of my house and used it on 5 different types of birds and it helped me identify 100%. Relevent (possibly out of date) xkcd comic

[0]https://xkcd.com/1425/

[Xymist]

Relevant - and old enough that those five years have been successfully granted!