Scott Jenson
Is #mastodon becoming an echo chamber? This post from @carnage4life has me questioning our community. The Mastodon team is finally getting some traction, the product improvements are increasing, The #UX is improving, yet people posting on multiple platforms are making comments like this. It's confusing.
I *know* people here don't want this to be a classic social media-clone but we'd *like* journalists to be here right? They aren't coming with examples like this!
Eugen Rochko
@scottjenson I’m not interested in following any “AI people”. That doesn’t make it an echo chamber. We don’t need equal amounts of people who love puppies and want to kill puppies, not everything needs to be equally represented.
Scott Jenson
As this conversation is spiraling a bit I want to make a few things clear:
1. I'd like Mastodon to be MORE inclusive and bring in more voices
2. Some people don't seem to want that
3. This is core problem to solve: How do we let more in, but not "pollute" your feed?
4. The solution is NOT "gatekeeping", revelling in the fact that AI journalists aren't welcome
5. This is the same reason we lost "Black Twitter" when it came over in 2022
Yes, a lot of you don't want AI posts in your feed (or pick any other topic) but the solution isn't to keep "AI People" from joining Mastodon, any more than it is keeping marginalized communities off of Mastodon.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
@scottjenson so, I find this discussion disappointing for a few reasons.
The biggest one is this: all three platforms that @carnage4life calls out are connected via ActivityPub. They are on one inter-network.
In theory, he should not need three different accounts, with three different follower groups. He should have one account, and all 103k followers (minus duplicates!) could be part of the same conversation, on whatever server platform they use.
In practice, few people do this today.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
As technologists we need to do more to smooth those junctures and make them less of a barrier. I hope in a few years when @carnage4life looks at his network, it feels more integrated and less separated.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
@scottjenson @carnage4life I've been privately sharing this link to a post by @MozillaAI , an Open Source non-profit announcing an Open Source AI project to make development with AI safer, more efficient, and less costly. They got brigaded in a pretty threatening way, and people I know and respect jumped in.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
@scottjenson @carnage4life I've tried to mitigate that a bit by sharing my own experience with AI as a development tool. I know there are other people on the Fediverse who talk about how and when they use AI, with or without misgivings.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
@scottjenson @carnage4life on the topic of AI, I find the abusive conversations on the Fediverse pretty dispiriting. People I like and respect have worked themselves into the position that use of AI is an inexcusable sin, and that anyone who uses AI merits harassment and abuse. Given that 85% of developers use or plan to use AI (Stack Overflow poll), that means a huge number of tech people getting brigaded by our anti-AI squad.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
I understand and agree that some content is unacceptable.
We can and should cut off racist, homophobic, misogynistic and transphobic harassers and abusers.
I just don't think using CoPilot tab completion falls into that same bucket of unacceptable behaviour.
Dare Obasanjo
@evan @scottjenson @MozillaAI Mastodon as a community is quite hostile to AI and anything that isn’t a criticism of AI is viewed with skepticism at best and typically with hostility as the default.
It’s unfortunate because, as in your Mozilla example, there is still time to shape how AI is used in our industry. It’s better to engage and try to influence it versus stick your head in the sand and have the change thrusted upon you.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
@carnage4life @scottjenson @MozillaAI well, bless their hearts for posting through it. There are some more troubling threads in their stream, especially when they highlight team members.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
@cratermoon @scottjenson @Gargron nobody has to earn their place on the Fediverse. Access to free and open social networking is a human right. You don't get to gatekeep this network.
cratermoon
@scottjenson @Gargron I'd have to ask, what value would an an AI Booster community bring to the FediVerse?
Scott Jenson
@Gargron That is a personal choice and one which I totally respect. But I do think Mastodon should be big enough, and open enough, to allow an "AI community" to form, even thrive.
Too many people in my replies don't seem to agree with that.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
@mayintoronto @scottjenson @Gargron there's a big difference between ignoring people and abusing people.
May likes Toronto
@scottjenson It's not that people who want to talk about AI aren't allowed. They're on here.
Most of us just don't want to follow them because it's tedious.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
@scottjenson @carnage4life I think one opportunity we have on the Fediverse is using AI for richer, deeper social engagement, making ourselves happier and more fulfilled.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
We have access to platforms through open APIs that have no gatekeepers. We could have MCP or RAG interfaces to servers that we own and operate. We could use them to ask questions like, which of my friends need some support today? Who have I had good conversations with in the past, that I should keep up with better? Who should I follow to help with my career? What volunteer opportunities in my area align with my values?
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
@scottjenson @carnage4life Facebook, LinkedIn, and X don't allow this kind of API access. No one can keep us from building it here, though.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
@scottjenson @carnage4life I think AI skeptics raise some very important questions. I love reading posts here -- especially when they skewer the conventional wisdom in Silicon Valley about productivity gains from AI. And the threat of further power concentration in big tech is very real.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
@scottjenson @carnage4life so, what can we do about it? One thing is just being brave enough to talk honestly about how AI affects your life and your work.
Another is calling out bad behaviour. If someone you know is yelling at a stranger to die in a fire because they used Claude Code, maybe give them some private feedback that it's not cool.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
Lastly, and carefully, maybe we should put some technological speed bumps in the way of random abuse of strangers. Mastodon experimented with an AYS pop-up when replying to a stranger. I don't know what the results of that experiment were, or if any others are planned.
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2023/11/improving-the-quality-of-conversations-on-mastodon/
James Bogosian
@scottjenson @Gargron I just came back to my Mastodon account and one of the first things I see is people who have an interest in something being compared to puppy-killers by the "head" of Mastodon.
<turns it back off again>
Eugen Rochko
@bogosian @scottjenson I’m not head of Mastodon! Have a good day.
wlach
@evan Fwiw, examples like that are one of the main reasons why I'm pretty quiet on this platform. I love the idea of ambiently sharing things with friends and peers, but I'm just not ready to deal with something like that.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
@wlach I'm sorry to hear that.
FeloniousPunk
@scottjenson @Gargron There is nothing, absolutely nothing, stopping anyone from creating and cultivating an AI community on Mastodon. Start a server. Knock yourself out.
But expecting to *farm acceptance* from a group of people, one which most members vastly dislike AI, is quite the hubris.
But sure, the community at large is the problem.
Clean up your kitchen and maybe folks will join you for a meal.
TheJen will not comply
@FeloniousPunk @scottjenson @Gargron Adopting an attitude of persecution as primarily white dude tech bros akin to the abusive experience of Black Twitter on Fedi is...a choice.
Crying that no one wants to play with you because the entire industry is abusive AF and literally nobody in the wider fediverse wants it forced on us is HILARIOUS.
Go away, weirdo.
Rich Felker
RE: https://hachyderm.io/@dalias/116352044296051287
@scottjenson @carnage4life Seriously? 🤦
Rich Felker
@scottjenson @carnage4life There's nothing keeping the Twitter journalist class off here as long as they want to come here and follow the basic rules about consent, abuse, and hate speech (something some of them seem rather poor at though, for example treating transphobic hate speech as "just asking questions").
But we sure as hell don't have to kiss AI bros' asses trying to convince them to come here. Much less nazis'.
CM Harrington
@trisweb @cratermoon @scottjenson @Gargron by definition, no. Literally anyone can spin up a server and talk about anything/try to get more folk to listen…
But other folk have to want to listen to whatever they are saying. Servers and individuals can just decide not to. No one is guaranteed an audience, just the ability to speak.
Rich Felker
@octothorpe @trisweb @cratermoon @scottjenson @Gargron This. The fake question framed as if not pandering to their "AI" fawning bullshit is "not allowing them to be on fedi" is bad-faith sealioning. If they don't come here because they know folks here don't want to listen to their shit, that's not our problem.
trisweb
@cratermoon @scottjenson @Gargron This is a very rich ethics question hidden in a specific example.
Would you permit or allow any community with which you disagree to participate on a platform, even if you’re not forced to participate?
A shortlist of thought experiments, to broaden the perspective, some of which are already here, some not…
- The oil & gas community
- Forestry workers (logging)
- The cryptocurrency community
- Workers at a chick rendering plant
- The finance industry
- Adult content creators
- Religious communities
Is there a litmus test for topics that you can or can’t discuss on the fediverse? Specific servers sure, but the whole fediverse?
Does that align with the values put forth by mastodon or the fediverse in general?
I don’t have the answers.
Jef Poskanzer
@Gargron @bogosian @scottjenson Yeah, direct all complaints to John Mastodon
Soatok Dreamseeker
@scottjenson @Gargron In the same sense that truth.social exists and is a Mastodon fork? Sure. But we can (arguably should) defederate with it.
Hasko 🇪🇺🦄🌻
@scottjenson this is the magic of the Fediverse. If nobody likes the talk, nobody will follow, boost or like.
It’s the people’s algorithm hehe
Furbland's Very Backwards Account™
@Gargron @scottjenson gargron remains awesome
Phil Dennis-Jordan
@dalias @octothorpe @trisweb @cratermoon @scottjenson @Gargron Yeah, I don't know what Fedi everyone else has been hanging out on, but there seem to be plenty of "AI" believers on here. I used to follow quite a number of them prior to their going off the LLM deep end. I have to maintain an extensive filter list to avoid having that stuff constantly surface in my feed.
This whole thing is just another variant of the tired old "free speech means you have to listen to my crap" argument.
Rich Felker
@pmdj @octothorpe @trisweb @cratermoon @scottjenson @Gargron Well fedi doesn't make you hear the bad opinions of people you chose not to follow by algorithmically putting them in your feed to make you mad and drive up engagement.
So that means you don't see the AI propagandists on here except when someone you follow is debunking them.
Rich Felker
@scottjenson @pmdj No, we absolutely should NOT be "welcoming more opinions". "Diversity of thought" is NOT a value. Some opinions are wrong. They may have a right to exist, as long as they're not nazi opinions (those have no right to even exist), but that doesn't mean we have to welcome them. It's perfectly fine to tell people off for having bad opinions, to shun them, to let them share those bad opinions only with whoever is willing to listen to them and not in our circles.
If that causes them to leave fedi, that's not a bad thing.
Scott Jenson
That is the exact opposite of what I said. I'm saying the fediverse gives you the tools to follow/block/filter/ to your hearts content to create the space you want.
What is corrosive is people ACTIVELY going after people they don't agree with. Just look at the replies to my post to get small sample.
My point was, I thought, very simple, and very reasonable: we should be more welcoming of more opinions. If you don't like them, then don't follow them. That should be the fedi-way. To be clear, I'm NOT endorsing AI, it just used it as an example.
Instead I'm living the very point I was trying to make. I've been told to leave, called a racist, and had ad hominem attacks leveled at me.
Now to be fair, my original post was poorly worded. I've owned that
https://social.coop/@scottjenson/116358195717244835
Rich Felker
@scottjenson @pmdj There are no watchers. Nobody is "in charge". There is just everyone setting and enforcing their own personal boundaries.
Scott Jenson
So who watches the watchers?
Are you the god the decides who can stay or who should go? Who gave you that power?
Rich Felker
@scottjenson @pmdj Old white guys like... checks notes... the one who's here scolding everyone that we need to be more welcoming of assholes.
Scott Jenson
This is the curse of the fediverse, a small cadre of usually old white guys that feel the need to "Educate" everyone around them. This is their duty, the world needs them and will eventually thank them for purifying the timeline of heretics.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
@cratermoon @scottjenson @trevdev @Gargron This is the way.
cratermoon
@scottjenson @trevdev @Gargron @evan Of course anyone is welcome to join any instance or set up an instance. I don't intend to gatekeep. I am expressing my intent to ignore and never boost the boosters. Or the "existential risk" doomers, for that matter.
Scott Jenson
@trevdev @cratermoon @Gargron @evan
You didn't answer MY question. Have you read the replies to my original post? People are actively joyfully attacking AI, making it clear not only are they not welcome, they should not be here.
To be clear. I"M NOT ENDORSING AI. I just used them as an example of this tendency to police the culture.
Trev :neovim:
@cratermoon @scottjenson @Gargron
The thing with Mastodon that many people aren't used to wrapping their heads around anymore is that you can build your own "small web" community around at topic you care about. You could call these communities echo chambers if you like. At least we decide what we see.
You can take @evan's comment to heart and go create your own Mastodon instance dedicated to AI. That's fine! You can have your friends there and uninterested people can just ignore it.
Mastodon Migration
@evan @scottjenson @carnage4life
Just dropping in to point out that the reason many people do not open the gates to multiple social media platforms is their respective Terms Of Service. When all platforms except Mastodon essentially claim a license to all content and employ people's posts and data for LLM training that is a very good reason not to participate on their platforms.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
@mastodonmigration I don't think that applies to @carnage4life though. He's got a popular Threads account, and works for Meta.
Rich Felker
@De_Minimis @scottjenson @pmdj I'm not going to click on the clickbait, but the claim is obviously not plausible and either she means something else and the title is just clickbait, or she's drunk the koolaid.
De_Minimis
@scottjenson @pmdj @dalias I'm with ya bro. Don't hear anyone complaining about ai application in the science fields. People are just focused on the slop side of things, not the tangible.
[edit]
Came back to posit a real world example.
Simulating ALL 100 billion stars in the Milky Way for the first time (with the help of AI?!
- Dr Becky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFpW5W06kV4
Rich Felker
@scottjenson @pmdj You are speaking as a "Product Strategy Advisor to Mastodon Core team". You don't have to be up in someone's mentions for what you're saying to be relevant to us to speak out against. You're up in the ears of the people making decisions for the software that runs our platform.
Scott Jenson
I'm making a post on my timeline that you can ignore. There is a BIG difference to getting in someone's mentions and correcting them.
This is my whole point. We are each on the fediverse and we say what we want. You can like, ignore, whatever.
I'm NOT getting in anyone's mentions, I'm not scolding, I'm ASKING that we are more inclusive because it's the more humane and helpful thing to do, but hey, you can disagree, that's cool.
De_Minimis
@dalias @scottjenson @pmdj She's an Astrophysicist and you're an idiot.
Rich Felker
@De_Minimis @scottjenson @pmdj You cannot *simulate* any of that. I do not need to be an astrophysicists to know that.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
@mastodonmigration Of course. And there are valid reasons to not federate with platforms, too.
I am most concerned about why someone would keep 3 different accounts on 3 different services. We technically have federation between all those platforms, and more, but @carnage4life finds it better for some reason to spread out his presence across different accounts.
I can't make someone not do that, but I'd love to make federation interfaces smoother so if they don't want to, they don't have to.
Mastodon Migration
Agreed. Certainly many people have decided to accept these TOS terms. Just saying that for a lot of people here it is a valid reason not to be on those platforms.
When you raise concerns about cross platform interoperability, there are legitimate reasons, other that cultural, to decide to avoid the corporate platforms.
Fish Id Wardrobe ⁂
@scottjenson @dalias @pmdj hard to ignore the guy who works for mastodon that says that not giving equal time to folks killing puppies is a "personal choice"…
are you sure you work in PR?
Rich Felker
@scottjenson @pmdj It's not an "evil plot" it's just irresponsible growth hacking that capitalist social media platforms are infamous for. People with shitty opinions drive rage engagement, so encourage them to come! 🤮
As I said when I first engaged with this thead, yes "more open to new ideas" and "more tolerant" are BAD THINGS without further qualification. "Diversity of opinion" is NOT a value. It's freeze-peach bro shit.
Yes we should strive to be as inclusive as possible towards people born different from us who have not had the same experiences, privilegs, etc. as us and whose needs, concerns, ways of communicating, etc. might be very different from our own.
This does not imply we should also be inclusive towards people who want to kiss tech industy ass.
Scott Jenson
Are you saying that asking for Mastodon to somehow be more open to new ideas and to foster a community that is more tolerant some type of evil plot?
Rich Felker
@dianshuo @jztusk @scottjenson @pmdj You can build influence legitimately, but that's mutual through organizing for shared interests by engaging with a community who shares them, not exploiting engagement algorithms to give your messages disproportionate weight.
Francis Cook
@jztusk @scottjenson @pmdj @dalias hahaha. No. You want to build influence. Hard to do when the incentive to take part isn’t clicks or money or steered through an algorithm. If your idea of community is followers, that is not a community.
jz.tusk
"If you don't like them, then don't follow them. That should be the fedi-way"
I want people to build communities here. What you are proposing is what I've started calling "toxic individualism" - most Americans are taught this, and it's so pervasive that many of us don't even realize we are swimming in it.
But it prevents the many weak from coming together to protect themselves from the few powerful. I'm tired of being blandly atomized.
Rich Felker
@pmdj @scottjenson Those problems would be largely fixed by reply controls and a working* block function, but for some reason Mastodon team can't give us those.
(*) By "working", I mean a block function that detaches all past replies by the account you're blocking from your posts, so that you're not serving as a billboard for their opinions every time someone expands your toot.
Phil Dennis-Jordan
@scottjenson @dalias So, the harassment via randos (or bots) in mentions/replies has been a problem for at least as long as I‘ve been on the Fedi. You absolutely need standards on how to behave, and those need to be backed by technological and social mechanisms or things devolve into a toxic mess. I think most of us are with you so far.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
@mastodonmigration I agree, both the Threads federation interface and the BridgyFed interface need to be smoother and more transparent.
Mastodon Migration
Well, as far as Threads is concerned, their implementation of federation has been intentionally hobbled from the start. Early they attributed this to development concerns, but those rationales have long since been proven to be nonsense.
Rich Felker
@DiogoConstantino @scottjenson @pmdj "Polite and respectful" are not ideals to aspire to. Fuck no to tone policing. That you've lumped "naysayers" and "assholes" in the same group says a lot. In this domain and in lots of domains, the assholes are entirely the boosters, not the naysayers.
Diogo Constantino
@scottjenson we also know that nay sayers and assholes are usually more vocal than, people who like, or aren't concerned about something, and who are polite and respectful.
This doesn't mean that this noisy people aren't problematic, or act problematic about some particular topic, just that they need to be put into perspective, reported and blocked.
Diogo Constantino
@scottjenson I'm with @pmdj on his point that, there's no good reason to consider that the opinion of all or even the majority of people here. The way this works, wouldn't even make that any individual is connected to every other individual, same applies to instances. This by itself would make it likely not representative, but people might even be blocking topics and words and accounts about AI and have no idea of what's happening on AI threads.
Scott Jenson
@pmdj @dalias
First, I'm using AI as an example, I'm not endorsing AI at all.
Second, and only as an example, there are open source people working on ethically trained local small language models. Again, I'm NOT endorsing them, but I can pretty confidently say that they would NOT be welcome here.
The same applies to journalism, there are VERY strong emotions here, basically telling them to fuck off (their words, not mine)
My point is that there is a pattern here: there are topics this community actively hates and "patrols" against. If that's what the community wants, cool, I'm not here to dictate anything. My point is that it might be nice to have a slightly more open way of sharing ideas: Follow, block, filter. You have the tools to make the feed you want (there are clearly more tools that would be helpful)
I'm just saying that focusing on your feed seems more healthy that attacking people whose opinions you don't like. Here, let me me give you an example of what I got 10 min ago
Phil Dennis-Jordan
@dalias Yeah, see my second post, I couldn‘t quite squeeze all the context into one.
I really don‘t understand what @scottjenson is getting at, or why this sudden concern. I mean, it‘s great if they genuinely want to improve quality of discourse, but “hey, be nicer to the people shilling for the tech oligopoly that’s eating up all of the world’s energy & computer hardware, undermining labour, & stealing all the creative works in the world” hints at questionable motives.
Rich Felker
@fishidwardrobe @scottjenson @pmdj I already had this person 👆 marked as "Pro fash apologism, 'devil's advocate'" in profile notes. Probably not worth listening to, blocking now.
Kristoffer Lawson
@fishidwardrobe @scottjenson @dalias @pmdj this analogy comparing AI people to ‘people killing puppies’ is … interesting.
One I would argue is completely uncalled for.
Rich Felker
@DiogoConstantino @scottjenson @pmdj What I mean by tone policing is that often people with important critiques get dismissed for not being sufficiently subservient ("polite") towards power, when being subservient obviously would not get them what they need. And here on fedi, tone policing has been a classic vector of anti-Black racism. I would much rather hear someone speaking truth to power "impolitely" than hear someone being an apologist for power "politely".
Diogo Constantino
@dalias You're free to not be polite and respectful towards others, but personally I've found that being polite and respectful is better for me, and since I also can choose to behave how I want and give my opinion, that's what'll do.
Diogo Constantino
@dalias I strongly disagree that polite and disrespectful is not something to aspire. Being human towards others is something we should aspire. I police whatever I want to police on my feed, I recommend others to do the same.
It says exactly what I said, naysayers and assholes are always the most vocal. This is what I said, and it's precisely the full extent of what I said, anything more is not my opinion, it's not mine, and you're not entitled to say which is my opinion.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
@apgw no, it's not.
apgw
@evan @cratermoon @scottjenson @Gargron Its a human right to have a livable world, with water to drink and food to eat. "AI" datacenter building crazyness is endangering life on earth.
Rich Felker
@DiogoConstantino @scottjenson @pmdj The details lie in who is evaluating the distinction..
Diogo Constantino
@dalias to be polite and respectful, is not to be subservient. You can be those two things and stand your ground, be direct and say your thoughts, even veemently. We just don't need to dehumanize, to insult, dogpile, be obnoxious, or to behave even worse.
I'm not perfect, and I'm sure I did wrong to some, but I do aspire to strive for good and positive human interactions.
Ciara
@reynir @davey_cakes @scottjenson Agreed. I don't think anyone has anything against journalists being here, but they can't expect much more than disinterest if they only ever broadcast one-way toots.
reynir
@CiaraNi @davey_cakes @scottjenson I think if I was concerned about bringing more voices to fedi journalists wouldn't be a high priority considering they have quite a voice (reach) already by nature of their occupation. Not that I have anything against journalists or am opposed to them being here…
Ciara
@davey_cakes @scottjenson Agreed. I'm reminded of a science journalist who turns up about once a year to post one-way toots for a few days before disappearing again. Last time, she complained that she was 'screaming into a void'. Literally hundreds of people replied from 'the void', welcoming her. She responded to 0 of them. 2000 people follow her. She follows 0. She's never replied, boosted or engaged with anyone. Fediverse held the gate wide open for her, but she just shouted at us and left.
Davey
This is exactly it.
People like to be talked to, not talked at.
Accounts in "broadcast mode" do better on other platforms, with different styles of use.
People get ridiculous cognitive dissonance when they don't do numbers.
I remember in 22 an account for a housing activist group was blasting out pronouncements that nobody was disagreeing with but they weren't doing numbers so they went to back to Twitter to tell everyone we were all landlords.
Ciara
@scottjenson I'm not sure this is the best example of Mastodon gatekeeping. I suspect the person you cite (I won't tag him, to not bother him. I follow him. He doesn't follow me) has a different definition of 'engagement' than many on Mastodon. He has 19,000 followers. He follows just over 200. He never ever engages with anyone. He posts one-way toots. He never uses Alt Text. The Fediverse is a chatty place full of engagement, if you choose to take part yourself, to chat, to boost, to reply.
Mr. Lance E Sloan (IRL) 👤
@Gargron @scottjenson
I want to quote you and have that made into a cross-stitch wall hanging.
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
I am one of the authors of ActivityPub, the current maintainer, and the research director for the Social Web Foundation.
Bluesky is connected to the Fediverse through BridgyFed. https://fed.brid.gy/
I'm aware of the opt-in federation in Threads. It is still connected and uses ActivityPub natively.
Orca? | ??️⚧️
Rich Felker
@lispi314 @pmdj @scottjenson No, it's a matter of how your instance responds (and how other instances sync that) when queried for the thread context around one of your posts. This is not mere UI.
LisPi
Orca? | ??️⚧️
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
I think we're saying the same thing. I agree, the connections between these platforms is not smooth enough that most people feel like they are all part of the same network.
If you read the rest of the thread, I say, "As technologists we need to do more to smooth those junctures and make them less of a barrier."
Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸
Datacenters are not endangering life on earth. That is an irresponsible exaggeration that detracts from the real threats to the environment.
AI (~0.1% of emissions today) is not an important cause of climate change. Fossil fuel use for transportation (15%), as well as beef (10%), cement production (5%), and rice cultivation (3%) are major contributors.
You can read about actual causes of climate change and their solutions: https://drawdown.org/
apgw
@evan Not sure if you are against food and water for humans or just think AI does good things for the environment?
"AI" as promoted by the big tech companies comes with a boost in energy usage for datacenters. They build new gas turbines...
One of the biggest tasks for the future of humanity is, to keep the planet in a livable condition... which means: Stop using fossil fuels. Reduce energy usage of unneccessary tech.
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