Notices by James Widman (jameswidman@mastodon.social)

@lanodan @0x47df ...like motorcycles!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Way_Down

@GossiTheDog request for clarification: is there an option to install windows 11 *without* installing Recall?

If it's optional: is it an opt-in thing or an opt-out thing?

@nyquildotorg @glassresistor @aeva @nat @mcc @nullagent

between this and:

https://mastodon.social/@mcc/114079708836192752

...i've accepted that we can't have a total ordering, but it definitely sounds like we need some wiki/site that lays out the current options, the fire-emblem-style weapons triangle, and the state of the shortcomings of every browser that isn't actively trying to sap & impurify all of our precious bodily fluids

@mcc @nyquildotorg @glassresistor @aeva @nat @nullagent right, linux isn't an advertising company, but Linux does get some funding, probably because each of the "platinum members" of the linux foundation maintain a lot of critical stuff running on linux in-house, so they view the $500,000 membership fee as a tech support fee.

In that case, they can probably see a clear connection between "spend $500k per year" and "receive maintenance of large & critical business systems".

@nyquildotorg @glassresistor @aeva @nat @mcc @nullagent everyone who suggested a firefox-based thing (e.g. floorp) should read this:

https://vmst.io/@jalefkowit/114082823521695617

fundamentally, what we're missing is an organization with a stable, long-term source of funding that *isn't* based on advertising.

Development probably needs to be funded by the government(s) of one or more countries that stand a good chance of not turning fash in the foreseeable future.

@regehr @jrose @steve @porglezomp @bob ooh, i wasn't aware of this:
https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Optimize-Options.html#index-Og

quote:
> It [-Og] is a better choice than -O0 for producing debuggable code because some compiler passes that collect debug information are disabled at -O0.

but this is gcc's documentation, not clang's. Unfortunately, clang doesn't seem to document -O options at all, so i don't know whether this aspect of gcc's -O0/-Og is also true of clang's -O0/-Og.

@altruios @dalias @woe2you @tante if an instance of technology is designed to serve investors at any cost, then, sure, the overall system that prioritizes the wants of the investors is the root problem; however, that by itself does not mean that the *specific* aforementioned technology is capable of doing good in this world. And we've already seen, for *at least* all the reasons mentioned above, how it's doing uncountable harm...

@dalias @woe2you @altruios @tante and some of us may appreciate the convenience of controlling home automation with natural language, but i'd suggest that the benefit does not outweigh the costs that we've learned about so far (which is probably not the complete set of costs).

@dalias @woe2you @altruios @tante and on top of *that*, both academics and students have been reporting a rise in dependence on fake literature & fake chats, to an extent that people try to use it as a substitute for critical thinking:
https://ohai.social/@resuna/113533400798237448

...which seems like it would lead to an atrophy of critical thinking skills and research skills.

@dalias @woe2you @altruios @tante 100%
On top of that, the output of gen-a.i. (namely, fake literature, including fake websites) has been reducing the usefulness of search engines over time, as Freya Holmér explained in detail:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-opBifFfsMY

...to the point where, in many cases, the only potentially-useful & potentially-legitimate thing on the first page of search results is a link to wikipedia (and the rest is links to fake literature).

@dalias @woe2you @altruios @tante i love technology that works for the benefit of people.

but from what i've seen so far, it looks as if "a.i." is in the process of destroying some of the foundations of *human* intelligence.

@dalias @woe2you @altruios @tante and i say "fake literature", because in addition to fake websites, we're also getting fake books.

Here's a 3-toot vision of a future where the fake books drowned out the real books just by sheer volume:
https://sauropods.win/@futurebird/113815941187816696

Note that, as Holmér pointed out, this vision is, in a large number of cases, already a reality for the web.

@futurebird
+1
i too am a confused and terminally online nerd, and would very much appreciate any accurate explanations of what bluesky is and how it's worse.

@graymiller will your talk be posted online anywhere?

@futurebird this made me think of google's mission statement ("to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful"), and how, for about 15 years or so, they actually kinda lived up to that, and removed some of the need to depend on librarians.

Now that a.i. rot is spreading, we'll need librarians more than ever, but they might be overwhelmed by the deluge of automated fake literature production...

@futurebird (i almost wrote "defederated" instead of "deprecated")

@futurebird maybe we need advisories on publishing companies that ship fake literature?

It seems like something worth teaching in public schools: publishing companies in column A have put some effort into eliminating fake lit, while companies in column B (a much, much longer list) have been known to emit fake lit and are therefore deprecated.

maybe we could have a browser plugin that auto-checks whether a work was produced by a deprecated publisher...?

but also, what if this were just a starting point toward seeing the value in serving other people in general—i.e. regardless of their citizenship.

why must the gaze always be directed inward. It's unbelievably wasteful.

recalling the motives of companies like halliburton, oil companies, and even fast-food chains...

imagine if "serving your country" *actually* meant serving the people of your country (by helping to meet everyone's basic needs), and not investors.

imagine how fast the standard of living could be improved, and how many bullshit industries could just evaporate.

imagine how much free time—how much freedom—we could have.

between fires, sea level rise, and hurricanes, there will be so much loss of real estate that *renting* (let alone "ownership") is going to become non-viable for most people.

either we will abolish "ownership" of real estate, or we will see a scale of suffering that is unimaginable (for now).
https://bsky.app/profile/jameswidman.bsky.social/post/3lfgmrlgsx22j

imagine a version of society where a phrase like "they served their country with distinction" is implicitly assumed to mean:

"they did a fuck-ton of construction work so that their neighbors would be well-sheltered."

...and not:

"they assisted war crimes in the interests of the empire"