Notices by Ethan Marcotte (beep@follow.ethanmarcotte.com)

me in my twenties: oh neat, a free program

me in my forties: oh neat, a free program, what horrors are concealed within

if you haven’t read @kissane’s latest, this is an especially good time to do so https://www.wrecka.ge/bad-shape/

“So sure: Protocols over platforms. Then we have to actually do the inelegant, un-heroic, expensive work of rebuilding the essential structures of human civilization on top of the protocols, because it turns out we just have the one world, online or off, no way out.” — @kissane, https://www.wrecka.ge/bad-shape/

@exchgr logo design firm: tell us about your brand

altman: our products enable the world to generate photos of people who inexplicably have extra fingers

logo design firm: say no more

@aud @sipi_xo I haven’t seen any calls from the workers for a boycott, myself. (Happy to be corrected on this, of course!) I *have* seen invitations to join a picket line if there’s one near you (https://www.tdu.org/amazon-teamsters-peak-season-strike-2024), and there’s a strike fund for the workers at JFK8 specifically (https://www.amazonlaborunion.org/strike-fundraising).

@jessamyn @lzg oh no jessamyn i love it

@jessamyn @lzg Jessamyn when i said https://follow.ethanmarcotte.com/@beep/113602323965090592

~i meant it~

(these photos are GIFTS thank you!!)

oh my yes https://detroithistorical.pastperfectonline.com/archive/DC6A8DF1-B6EB-4BFE-9CC7-774147737354#gallery

#labor #TechLabor #LaborHistory #1u

This is good:

“I think we should shed the idea that [‘artificial intelligence’] is a technological artifact with political features and recognize it as a political artifact through and through. AI is an ideological project to shift authority and autonomy away from individuals, towards centralized structures of power.”

https://ali-alkhatib.com/blog/defining-ai

This is, of course, something that workers across the labor movement have been *keenly* aware of since day one. (It’s even part of my book’s closing argument!) I just really loved the framing here, which I thought was VERY sharp.

@jessamyn @lzg LOVE

@lzg just a little guy!!!!

@jessamyn @lzg jessamyn the invitation for Little Guy Footprints is ALWAYS open

“…okay it’s possible i didn’t think this through”

#Caturday #CatsOfMastodon

Always remember that advances in “artificial intelligence” are driven directly by exploited human labor: specifically, by underpaid contractors working under tremendous precarity, often while reviewing horribly traumatizing content:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/labelers-training-ai-say-theyre-overworked-underpaid-and-exploited-60-minutes-transcript/

(cw: descriptions of having viewed violent, extreme content; discussion of resulting trauma by those who viewed it)

#labor #TechLabor #1u

Someone once gushed to me about the remarkable new careers these technologies will create. I responded by saying “AI” has created a tremendous number of jobs over the last decade, and that “remarkable” is the last fucking word I’d use to describe them.

[stares directly at camera] https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-remote-control-robotaxis

🦊

As of last night, my first two books — RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN, and RESPONSIVE DESIGN: PATTERNS AND PRINCIPLES — are available to read online, for free.

I had some emotions about it: https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/books-no-longer-apart/

#blogging #bookstodon #ResponsiveDesign

@eaton @zachleat CROSSOVER EVENT

If you’re looking for a way to support the union? They’ve established a virtual picket line, and are asking the rest of us to not cross it:

“The striking employees will picket in front of the newspaper’s Times Square office from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily and are asking readers to honor the Tech Guild’s digital picket line by not accessing Times games or cooking apps.”