Danielle ForéJun 10
It is inevitable that all Linux desktops will run Wayland compositors or they will die off. There is no future for X11. It’s done. Nobody wants to maintain it. It’s over. If you have criticisms of Wayland that’s fine, but you can’t stop the death of X11. You can only be part of making Wayland better
PeterJun 11
Show threadCharlie Stross

@danirabbit Nonsense! My criticism of Wayland, like X11 before it, is that graphical user interfaces are a dangerous snare and a deception: we should be using the console with a non-graphical terminal multiplexer, strictly command line utilities only except for a minimal text editor (say, Berkeley nvi).

How else are we going to protect ourselves from the Langford basilisks buried deep in the Mandelbrot set, once the AIs realize we're susceptible to them?

#flashfiction

Jun 11 at 6:53amWeb
Show threadschrotthaufenJun 11
@cstross @danirabbit @davidgerard But what if good terminal multiplexers are a trap?
Show threadCharlie StrossJun 11
@schrotthaufen @danirabbit @davidgerard ASR11 TTYs are the only solution! That, or punched cards.
Show threadThree plus or minus fiveJun 11

@cstross @schrotthaufen @danirabbit @davidgerard

The problem with punch cards is that we will all be more literate in binary code, and thus vulnerable to a Snow Crash virus.

Show threadCharlie StrossJun 11
@ThreeSigma @schrotthaufen @danirabbit @davidgerard Yeah, and I've got your "Origins of consciousness and the breakdown of the bicameral mind" right here, buddy.
Show threadschrotthaufenJun 11
@cstross @ThreeSigma @danirabbit @davidgerard On top of that, I’m a little worried creating punchcards is dangerously close to ritual magicks. Nobody likes Kratzenberg syndrome.
Show threadSusan CalvinJun 11
@cstross @ThreeSigma @schrotthaufen @danirabbit @davidgerard hey, that was a lot better than many of the "quantum X" theories from Penrose et al. At least it had good mythology.
Show threadMathi GwithyasJun 11
@ThreeSigma @cstross The solution is to move to mechanical computing. https://brunsviga.computer/
Brunsviga 13RK request form

Show threadVolineJun 11
@cstross @danirabbit @davidgerard
John Langford has a basilisk? Does it make you a radical badass?
Show threadCharlie StrossJun 11
@Voline @danirabbit @davidgerard Dave Langford. (His brother, IIRC.) See also comp.basilisk.faq !
Show threadDavid GerardJun 11
@cstross @Voline @danirabbit still desperately trying to construct a pun effortlessly merging in Mekon(s) and three guys called John
Show threadSusan CalvinJun 11
@davidgerard @cstross @Voline @danirabbit Dan dare's worse recruited squad, the Three Johns, they behave exactly like the Three Stooges and both entrap him in complicated mekon/treen scenarios and accidentally rescue Dan and Bigby
Show threadSusan CalvinJun 11
@davidgerard @cstross @Voline @danirabbit soundtrack writes itself.
Show threadDavid GerardJun 11
@Susan_calvin @cstross @Voline @danirabbit "Death of the North Venuuuusiannn"
Show threadCharlie StrossJun 11

@Voline @danirabbit @davidgerard NB: here's a fun short story: https://docslib.org/doc/1578964/comp-basilisk-faq-frequently-asked-questions-about-basilisks

(Originally published in Nature in 1999; still there, but paywalled)

COMP.BASILISK FAQ Frequently Asked Questions About Basilisks

futures COMP.BASILISK FAQ Frequently asked questions about basilisks. the hoary coincidence that Macroscope David Langford appeared in the same year and

Docslib
Show threadAudsbotJun 11
@cstross @danirabbit honestly, if graphical interfaces are the tipping point that leads us inevitably to forced assimilation into the total human instrumentality, i think my real question is... can we call it a Grey GUI Scenario?
Show threadCharlie StrossJun 11
@audsbot @danirabbit Most Macs before the early 90s had a Grey GUI, you know!