Irenes (many)Apr 16

okay, look, apparently we need to say this

yes, mandatory identity verification to use a computer is bad. it infringes on fundamental civil liberties.

yes, this current bill would do that. it smartly leaves the details up to the FTC to decide later, which confuses the public conversation because people don't want to believe bad things that they don't read in extremely plain language.

Show threadMx. Chara Aznable (they/them) of PnictogenApr 16

@ireneista not to speculate too wildly, but the endpoint of this current trajectory looks very bleak, when you connect up the sort of thing with the bizarre ongoing insistence that the tech sector can now deliver "intelligence too cheap to meter", by which I'm guessing they mean the tech bosses would love to eliminate what we think of as "personal computing" altogether. that would explain why they're so hot to proclaim that the era of the computer programmer is over. the masses are to be confined to using single-function answerboxes and usage of general-purpose computers will increasingly be associated with criminality.

I guess we're getting our cyberpunk future all right.

Show threadIrenes (many)Apr 17
@mxchara yes, we're in full agreement. we'd love to be wrong about that, and as you note it's an extrapolation, not proven intent, but.... we've been horribly, horribly right about way too many things so far
Show threadMx. Chara Aznable (they/them) of PnictogenApr 17
@ireneista I want to be hopeful in this situation, and to sound notes of hope, but in this case I must admit I'm at a loss. I am confronting some rather unpleasant ruminations about the likelihood of social reaction just deepening and darkening decade after decade. I'm getting old...some part of me is still grumbling in expectation that the burden would lighten at SOME point. Instead I'm faced with polishing up my stoicism and trying to imagine Sisyphus happy and so forth. What else can one do?
Show threadIrenes (many)

@mxchara hope is not a thing we arrive at through reason

hope is a prerequisite to survival. we have to take it as a given

.... while not allowing it to damage our ability to do reasoned analysis about the situation, strategy, all that

can't say it's easy

Apr 17 at 2:04amWeb
Show threadMx. Chara Aznable (they/them) of PnictogenApr 17
@ireneista thanks. I appreciate the well-chosen words. they encourage me! in better moments I don't see things so bleakly.
Show threadIrenes (many)Apr 17
@mxchara we are a hope elemental and we're trying our best to do what's needed in this moment 💜
Show threadMx. Chara Aznable (they/them) of PnictogenApr 17
@ireneista awww! (bows briefly) honored to make your acquaintance. I try to keep hope alive in my way but it's sort of a hot-potato thing with us, at the moment, a sign that we need to learn more about hope.
Show threadIrenes (many)Apr 17
@mxchara 💜✊