mcc
Convince me it is more in my interests to help build the future than to try to prevent it
Apr 10 at 8:00pmTusky
Show threadRidley @ WATCH LYCORECOApr 10
@mcc carbon-neutral energy is the future and that seems pretty worth building to me
Show threadLisPiApr 10
@rcombs @mcc Keeping the status quo means keeping all of its horrible sides too.

No future means no directly making it worse (it can rot into a worse condition though), but it also means not making it better.
Show threadferunandoApr 10
@mcc the way i'm managing it is thinking "i need to help build *my* future, because it sure isn't looking like they are thinking about me"
Show threadferunandoApr 10
@mcc but yeah. part of it *is* actually, what to help prevent, ain't it.
Show threadmargotApr 10
@mcc helping to build the future is also trying to prevent it, because you're shaping the future you want to exist
Show threadcthos 🐱Apr 10
@emaytch @mcc There are myriad possible futures, shaping the one you want is preventing countless others from being born. (I came here to say that independently but we had the same thought so yay)
Show threadIrene (she/they, Sir/Mr.)Apr 10
@mcc prevent the future, as in like, end the world? Bruh thats what the fascists and techbros are doing. Dont be like them
Show threadaevaApr 10
@mcc the principle of "the future is here today, it is just not evenly distributed" demonstrates that many possible futures coexist in the present simultaneously, and thus it follows that we are not limited to one inevitable future. however, i conjecture that a given non-realized future is substantially less likely to come to pass if it is not first built.
Show threadIrenes (many)Apr 10
@aeva @mcc yes. humans are the mechanism by which hypotheticals enter reality. any future that wants to come here has to claw its way through our brains to do it.
Show threadIrenes (many)Apr 10

@aeva @mcc this is not intended as a response to mcc's original question. we don't think it's a good idea to build generative machine learning stuff right now. the future we want is one that can't be built ("it is in your spirit or it is nowhere"), so we aren't about to try to convince people to build things.

if you have build-y urges, make art. art means something. art will mean something, as long as humans are humans.

Show threadIrenes (many)Apr 10
@aeva @mcc we do have a couple personal research projects but they are very, very speculative and have nothing to do with statistical techniques of any kind.
Show threadIrenes (many)Apr 10
@aeva @mcc we almost feel guilty for working on those, it's the closest thing we've ever felt to the "what if we win" feeling that we've seen people have while waiting to scratch off lottery tickets.
Show threadmccApr 10

@ireneista @aeva "ignore anything i won't collaborate with, make art" *was* my plan,

then the entities i was trying to ignore forced generative machine learning features into my operating system as i was using it,

and then when i switched to a different operating system forced generative machine learning outputs into THAT operating system.

i am made a collaborator without actually *doing* anything. software auto-update makes the decisions for me

Show threadIrenes (many)Apr 10
@mcc @aeva yeah. yeah, it's fucked up. we're grappling with that ourselves.
Show threadaevaApr 11
@ireneista @mcc which project/distro is slop scraping now
Show threadBoyd Stephen Smith Jr.Apr 11

@mcc @ireneista @aeva I canceled my father's (RIP) credit cards, but had AI processing my voice with no consent or opt-out.

I'm trying to get therapy, but Simple Practice software won't let me into an appointment without consenting to AI processing of the notes, sessions, and/or recordings. There is a "written opt-out available" but the web interface won't let you proceed without consenting there.

Been a lot of considering (and rejecting) preventing my personal future today.

Show threadIrenes (many)Apr 11
@BoydStephenSmithJr @mcc @aeva 💜 solidarity
Show threadlhpApr 11

@mcc @ireneista @aeva so much of the code I wrote in the last few years directly or indirectly depends on projects that have happily welcomed LLMs and that disgusts me so much.

Thanks to AI being a thing, dependencies are now just a bad idea in general.

Show threadIrenes (many)Apr 11
@lhp @mcc @aeva it really clarifies for us why we do this and why we don't
Show threadnetop://ウィビApr 10
@mcc yes