Notices by phiofx (phiofx@hachyderm.io), page 10

@bert_hubert @luis_in_brief @sovtechfund maybe pitch the the open source uni(fedi)verse as digital cheese? Full with holes, occasionally smelly but overall an essential nutrient and very enjoyable too.

@maugendre @climate i had to chuckle at the naivete of a planned and cooperative pathway to #sustainability

We are in the midst of a geopolitical conflagration that may be rehearsal for worse. How do you get livid, bigoted populations and power structures that thrive on exploiting otherness actually cooperate?

As for planning, while free markets is a myth and state-backed oligopolies the reality, legal/financial/economic systems built 100% on monetary profit cant be jettisoned in a hurry

"Previous IMF interventions may have reduced a country’s ability to invest in transition. Now, the IMF’s response to, or management of, an economic crisis must also consider solutions that are not building the fragilities of the future.

[…] The IMF is facing a steep learning curve."

#E3G: https://www.e3g.org/news/navigating-a-coming-storm-the-imf-and-the-climate-transition/

#IMF #finance #energyTransition #transitioning #transition #promises #money #Georgieva

@pcrock over time the excitement fades a little (quests are somewhat limited) but its one of the most inspiring apps I have on my phone.

I like to think that one day many more ideas will be built on this concept.

@rhettallain is there a risk it will the hollow Earth will implode by the sheer gravity of our sins. Is that a computable probability?

@jackofalltrades @HeavenlyPossum @SallyStrange@eldritch.cafe @pleaseclap @simon_brooke @violetmadder @mwt stupidity is the stuff of humanity. The challenge is when we cover it up (or worse, exploit it for advantage) when we should be admitting the limits of our knowledge and behave accordingly.

@LaurensHof the cynical view is that as the metaverse hype subsides people are angling for other talking points to remain relevant / in the spotlight. And interestingly they seem to think that the fediverse has a certain pizazz these days.

Whether that is good for the fediverse remains to be seen... One could maybe paraphrase and argue that "no attention is bad attention" but maybe not.

@emacsen I suspect react was developed because facebook (meta) did not own any hardware devices so didn't have full control of distribution of apps and associated user data. They did the second best: ship an entire interactive app over the web.

Its a tribute to the power and flexibility of the web paradigm that you can do this. But like so many other aspects of digital tech, these decades of #bigtech dominance have solved their problems, not ours.

@largess there is a rare positive dynamic that can help (at least partially) with the very tough #sustainability challenge:

1) the world is steadily urbanizing (2007 was the crossover point https://ourworldindata.org/urbanization)

2) cities are spatially compact and thoughtful design (e.g the #15minutecity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15-minute_city) can drastically reduce the need for heavy individual mobility (cars)

3) #ebikes are healthier, cleaner and even faster in clogged city conditions

Which brings to the question of how the current hyperventilation around #llm, #ai and compute intensive algorithms and #datascience in general will reshape the #cpu/#gpu stalemate, the lack of an obvious winner in the post #mooreslaw quest for more computing power.

While the true utility of all this new software remains to be seen, it does feel that it will induce a Darwinian evolution/extinction phase, not unlike previous episodes e.g., the rise and fall (and rise again?) of #risc

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#Software is notoriously "soft". It is really just digitally imprinted societal thinking. If you can think it, you can more or less code it (This is why in a rather gloomy and regressive landscape the relative success of #opensource is a rare beacon of hope).

But, on a somewhat longer timescale, computing #hardware is not particularly "hard" either. It is itself after all just coded imprints on #silicon. The actual shape of chips is very much a reflection of societal priorities and choices.
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@AndiPopp @wakame @emilygorcenski

there is also Gauss who avoided publishing about non-Euclidean geometry due to the "howling Boeotians"

https://hsm.stackexchange.com/questions/7776/what-is-the-purpose-of-gauss-in-his-letter-to-j%C3%A1nos-bolyai-when-he-mentioned-ho

@emilygorcenski some people claim mathematics is not invented (put together), it is discovered (uncovering a pre-existing platonic universe).

If true, then human motivations govern the path of discovery but not the content.

If false, then human motivations determine both the path and content of mathematics, with the only (apparent) constraint being logical coherence.

In either case, our nature and diverse cultures play huge role in the shape of mathematics at any given time.

@jonny technology is a solution on a mission to create a problem

Years ago I used to visit the #ello platform. Might have posted some silly #generativeart trials of mine there. I was in any case thrilled to witness the amazing creativity of real artists. It was a feast for the eyes.

Today I learn that it has gone bust after being sold and resold. And it takes to its ignominious grave the efforts of thousands of individuals over many years.

This is the "system" we have. Inhuman, amoral, ugly as hell.

The #fediverse MUST succeed.

https://waxy.org/2024/01/the-quiet-death-of-ellos-big-dreams/

@orsinium @avlap2 the particular discussion thread is locked in a state that is less clear-cut about the opt-in or opt-out status (e.g. no links to what and why has been decided in the meantime and how robust that state of affairs will be).

@dolanor @orsinium @avlap2 "the current plan" is explicit enough for you? Depending on one's biases it reads even as vaguely ominous... Lets be clear, trust is in very short supply these days. People who dont realize that in their communications may be shooting themselves in the foot.

@helge @smallcircles @ammoniumperchlorate Language in evolving domains is always a bit ambiguous. Provided people can quickly get to disambiguate terms rather than talk past each other there is no harm done.

@jik @flowerpot @holyramenempire @passenger the problem is that everything in this discussion is vague

a) who is "we"? (which fraction of the 8bln alive)

b) what does "we are fucked" really mean, given the world spends 2 trn per year on mutual anihillation technologies. Is it incremental to that? (as in fucked++)

c) <x> is a vast, poorly understood (subjective) list of factors with dependencies, emergence, tipping points

d) what does "too late" mean. by a year, decade, century, millenium?

@jonny this is not to say that contract automation or expanded notions of accounting and money are not potentially incredibly useful. In some form they are necessary as our communities are too big, our activities too varied and too impactful and our brains not suited for this type of work. As per Wikipedia: "The earliest uses of writing in Sumer were to document agricultural produce and create contracts" 🙂

Hopefully eventually we'll see real proposals.