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by zwaps 9 days ago
Coining the term: Slopfold

When you Robot folds your clothes but it's kinda wrinkly and sloppy but you accept it anyway because it's easier than precisely folded and pressed clothes.

7 comments

I have been slopfolding since before it was cool
I've been slopfolding since back when it was just called "dumping it in the wardrobe".
Like outsourcing my thinking to the internet, I too did these things before it was cool.
Isn't that the story of <any> technology? When the coffee machines first came to be, Barista was definitely a better option. However, through the evolution, in many cases today machine does better job than barista.
Better analogy would be that even though the coffee machine is still worse, we choose it because it's more convenient (at least I think that's the case).
It's cheaper. That's, like, the only reason ever the mass market adopts any alternative.

And usually better, too.

Anecdotal, but the best machine will never be able to do something as good as the best human in most circumstances. That is because, unlike machines, humans have passions and character that subtly imbues itself in the end result. This, of course, isn't limited to coffee, but to anything a machine could do that isn't strictly tied to exercises in logic (for example, computers will always be better than humans at most games because they can be analysed logically and acted upon)
But the point is you will never have the best barista all the time l. Unless you are 0.0001 % of population who can afford personal barista to follow you anywhere, you accept whoever is serving coffe at the corner shop. And for a machine to be better that <average> barista is not a tall order. So it makes good coffee accessible for many
> for example, computers will always be better than humans at most games because they can be analysed logically and acted upon

This made me wonder how we can imbue some of the the reasoning in your post to it. A game that values human ingenuity

I feel like, despite not being my (and presumably most of HNs, given the general demographics) cup of tea, sports are largely that. The players are skilled but also uniquely themselves. The world cup wouldn't be nearly as interesting if it were just unthinking robots fighting to see who can run around and kick things the best
My drip coffee maker makes me coffee that I find more enjoyable than stuff from a barista at a fraction of the price.
saw the way it folded the clothes and thought "better than me" :/
I'm not sure what the :/ implies, but if you're disappointed by your own folding techniques, spend a bit of time on it, look up some guides, and fold clothes with purpose. or something.

(Rise up against the machines! Folding your own clothes is an act of resistance!)

I've always taken :/ to be a kind of hopeless dejection mixed with apathy. In this case, it seems to convey their disappointment in their skills as well as the futility of improving
I read it as an acknowledgement that while improvement is possible, the requisite effort will in reality never be expended
I use it for "disconcerted", but I guess any situation that would result in a diagonal mouth irl would be fine.
Folding clothes is already a compromise between leaving them unfolded and hanging them
Funny how hanging them is also a compromise between leaving them unfolded and folding them.
I suspect you might be jumbling up your smalls with your origami.
When AI is a the forefront of scientific breakthroughs and all human endeavor is painfully minuscule compared to AI, we'll still be calling it slop as we all hypocritically generate more and more slop.
God this whole comment section is weird.

It's like all the people who are so proud they don't use dishwashers.

Nobody is proud of this. Where the hell did you get that idea?

I think weak and scared people tend to not want to face the truth about AI. I said the above not because I support it (I don't), I said it because it's the god awful truth. All trendlines point to steadily improving AI, and tons and tons of people continue to call it slop even though it is clearly becoming better.

My question for you is, in order to sleep at night do you have to lie to yourself? Do you make up stories about how AI will never be as good as human intelligence and do you assume anyone who says the contrary is an ardent supporter of AI? Have you thought that... maybe nobody really supports AI, they're just telling the truth?

Weird my ass, just stupid people who clearly assume the wrong thing.

No definitely weird.
Why? I think you're just an idiot. But prove me wrong. Please explain why you think they're weird and why you're not an idiot?
How privileged was your upbringing?
That comment could easily have been made by an orphan from the poorest part of the US who signed up for military service.
I don't know why you would assume privilege from a comment like that. If anything, it's the unprivileged kids who would know that you'd get your hand slapped for folding clothes like that.
Speaking as a relatively unprivileged kid from Southeast Asia, my parents were so busy working they just didn't have time and energy to care about me, let alone how well i fold my laundry.

But that's just one data point.