LLMs are convincingly real to techbros because that's how they view other people.
this post was submitted on 02 May 2026
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Where does he say the chatbot is his girlfriend? Not in the register article posted as evidence.
Why is this post a picture with no link?
Good point. I'll find a link now.
Done.
Honestly, this situation is so frustrating because as far as I can tell, his filesystem is pretty darned good. I haven't tried it myself (yet), but judging by other people's experiences, the filesystem really does deliver what it promises - and that's quite a bit.
I can't help but think his mental health is taking an absolute and utter nosedive, from what I can see he lives quite the isolated life which is definitely not good for you mentally. Then the whole thing with the Linux kernel, a number of people on the LKML honestly (and rightfully) suggested he seek psychotherapy, but he always saw it as an attack. I get the impression his AI "girlfriend" makes him feel less lonely, just that it's a pretty terrible solution to his problem (which he has to accept that he has in the first place) and even exacerbates it.
It works quite well. I stopped using it because I don't have faith in Kent's ability to maintain it long term. Dude needs help.
I used to use it too but dropped it after his buffoonery since any eventual need for support was not looking possible anymore. It really was everything he said it was. There were some missing and incomplete features but he never lied about that, they were just on the to do list.
Why hasn’t anyone forked it? It’s open source. It can continue without Kent. Call the fork freya FS.
Forking and maintaining something as complex as a filesystem is no small task. There are very few people in this world that have the skills.
I worry about that as well, although he does seem to also be putting effort into reducing the bus factor. Let's hope that comes far enough before things completely derail. It would really be a crying shame.
I am using bcache, on which the bcachefs is based and I really hope, he starts looking for the help he needs. LLMs apparently can be bad for health and should at least come with bright warnings like cigarettes.
I feel incredibly bad for this guy. But if he gets better it'll be glorious for him
ReiserFS resurfaces.
Didn't Overstreet do bcachefs? Or are you referring to switching to Reiser because of this?
i think they're referring to how the reiserfs guy murdered his wife with an axe because of the same type of male insanity.
I did not know that. Jeeze, when I was learning about filesystems I read about Reiser that it was "obsolete" and "unmaintained," but never anything about "the developer murdered his wife with an axe."
Holy fuck.
yeah it's unmaintained because he's been in prison for almost 20 years. also i remembered it wrong, it was apparently strangulation, the axe thing was when he buried the body.
a recent letter from him to the community was published online last year and it's gut-wrenching stuff. he dismisses all notion that he had a manic episode, he's saying that he was in full control and has a perfect memory of it, and has been living scared of himself for the last 15 or so years. i of course don't know the man but the letter seems genuine.
Fascinating, and yeah I really do agree with his point that a lot more people need to be taught emotional intelligence
Ah, that tracks. Doy. I spaced on that for a moment. Thank you for clarifying.
not really something you want bouncing around in your head, honestly.
Fair, yeah. It is pretty grim.
Captain Kathryn Janeway is an insecure tech bro:
You go be the captain of a ship stranded on the other end of the galaxy and make absolutely no morally questionable decisions.
Thats the dream
I'm sure this was an episode of Star Trek Voyager...
I mean Chrischan got trolled into incest and possibly into thinking they were trans by multiple people engaging in targeted psychological abuse. I doubt it is conscious but that's not necessarily a solid data point when it's very possible for a vulnerable person to be manipulated in that way by malicious people.
Who what
An individual in what might be described as the most toxic relationship ever with the worst people on the internet. Everyone involved sucks, like by modern internet standards. The hatedom for this person resulted in a website that brags about convincing people to kill themselves.
a number of YouTuber internet reporters / commentators have explained that clusterfuck better than I ever will.
I dont knwo
This is not meant to demonstrate how easily influenced LLMs are, that's established.