Mastodawn

#Tootfic #MicroFiction #PowerOnStoryToot #AKAB

DeanC 8h ago

@felipe That, and/or pointers to tutorials that helped you. What I want to do first is move away from Wordpress, to a static HTML blog with comments provided by the Fediverse. Or something like that. With some kind of self-hosted metrics. Vague, I know. Simply learning enough to be able to state what I want in coherent terms would be a net gain.

DeanC 1d ago

Kit Bashir 1d ago

The knight paused his charger. “Ho, child, what name ye this village?”

The young girl so addressed kept walking, a bucket in each hand.

“YOU THERE! I SAID…”

The door of the smithy that stood on the outskirts of the settlement opened. “Good morrow, Sir Knight”

“And to you, Smith. I was about to instruct this rude youngster…”

The smith regarded the cooling red-tipped spike in her hand, and called out to the girl “Mim, what do we teach you about courtesy to knights?”

“We don’t fuckin talk to cops, Smith”

“No instruction necessary, as you can see”

DeanC 1d ago

Axios 1d ago

Colorado is constructing what state transportation officials say will be the "world's largest" wildlife overpass crossing https://t.co/VQZPMbolYa

"World's largest" wildlife overpass coming to Colorado

The project is part of a massive effort to keep animals and drivers safer on one of the state's busiest highway stretches.

Axios Denver

DeanC 1d ago

Orion Ussner kidder 1d ago

I found a technician who'd work on a Linux machine, and she solved my problem (I had no wifi whatsoever) the same day that she received it.

I realize the culture of Linux "fix it yourself!" and I tried. I got a buddy to help. We couldn't figure it out, so I paid a professional to fix it and then tell me how she did it.

I want to normalize this. For Linux to be viable, it can't just be a hobby OS. Paying pros to fix it, and set it up for you, is part of that.

#linux #foss #floss #OpenSource

Simon knows nothing 4d ago

DeanC 2d ago

@jimfl A friend of mine, one halloween, went solo scuba diving for lobsters (not recommended; he's done various other non-recommended things as well). But he locked his keys in his car. This was before mobile phones. He went door to door seeking to use peoples' phones in flippers and a wetsuit, with a bucket of lobsters in one hand. They thought he was a trick-or-treater in costume. Also, he's a big guy and perhaps a bit threatening-seeming. It took him a few doors.

DeanC 2d ago

Pete 2d ago

After the Song Thrush yesterday, today's '#wildlife that I can see through my home office window and pick up my phone in time to capture' is going mammalian with a Field Vole. (A little bonus #lichenSubscribe action too).

DeanC 4d ago

以前想模仿水边乱石滩的效果，用了树形和毯型的两种苔藓。苔藓跌跌撞撞的枯了又长，如今似乎真的像石滩芦苇丛了。

#mosstodon #家庭绿植蓝图

DeanC Jul 17

Jeff Starr Jul 17

#Linux Breaks 5% Desktop Share in U.S., Signaling Open-Source Surge Against #Windows and #macOS https://www.webpronews.com/linux-breaks-5-desktop-share-in-u-s-signaling-open-source-surge-against-windows-and-macos/

Linux Breaks 5% Desktop Share in U.S., Signaling Open-Source Surge Against Windows and macOS

Linux has surpassed 5% desktop market share in the US (5.03% in June 2025), per StatCounter, driven by privacy concerns, rising costs of Windows/macOS, and user-friendly distros like Ubuntu. Community celebrates amid gaming and enterprise boosts, though challenges like software gaps persist; analysts eye 7% by 2027.

WebProNews

DeanC Jul 15

Halcyon Loon Jul 14

Well my employer has decided to partner with Palantir, which means it's time for me to find a new job. I was a lot more willing to make 40% less than market rate when I knew my employer wasn't funding concentration camps because they want AI coding tools.

Anyway if you need a UX designer/researcher located around the Minneapolis-St. Paul region of Minnesota, USA who knows his way around US government regulations for CMS quality reporting, healthcare, enterprise software I'm looking!

For all of you who have been so incredibly helpful, I cannot thank you enough!

#FediHire #FediHired #GetFediHired

DeanC Jul 15

John Jul 15

The more I roll it around in my mouth, the more certain I am that the "AI" mania *perfectly* encapsulates neoliberalism in its entirety.

- doesn't work and never has
- steals everything around it
- produces nothing of value
- destroys all things with actual value
- lies
- creates the illusion of efficiency while vastly increasing both monetary and social costs
- is supported by militant zealots with tiny minds and hearts
- enriches a tiny group of individuals at the cost of destroying Earth

https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429251314491

@thomasfuchs I can relate to this sentiment, but the paper refutes that "perceived ethicality" (or "perceived capability") explains the discrepancy.

DavyJones Jul 12

@jedbrown @thomasfuchs And they put it down to those with lower literacy "perceive AI as magical and experience feelings of awe". The paper is paywalled, so I cannot see how they distinguish between one person thinking the AI is magic and another not and "differences in perceptions of AI's capability".

Feff Jul 12

@jedbrown @thomasfuchs
I can't access the paper but I do wonder how they determined the literacy levels of participants

Jennifer Kayla | Theogrin 🦊Jul 12

@feff @jedbrown @thomasfuchs

I imagine just asking people how they think LLMs work. Those who answer 'it's a bullshit engine built off an empire's worth of stolen goods' would, by my standards, receive top marks.

Hugs4friends ♾🇺🇦 🇵🇸😷Jul 12

@jedbrown Or, they prefer people who lack higher literacy, and are more likely to use AI to make themselves look smarter. Less ethicality. @thomasfuchs

David Weir

Jul 12

@jedbrown I wonder if higher literacy rather correlates with “if I want something done properly I’ll do it myself, and I know how to do it”.

@thomasfuchs

@jedbrown @thomasfuchs Yeah, I think its really just: The more you know about AI, the more you know its present limitations. And you are less suspectible for the hype of future AI and more realistic about what to expect. Which isn't bad at all, even quite promising. But far away from threatening the experience of skilled workers.

Maybe exceeding the management skills of certain CEOs.

@urwumpe @thomasfuchs Note that it doesn't have to deliver on any technical capability to be effective pretext for union busting. All it takes is that investors think it's close enough relative to their love for making labor vulnerable. The industry-wide pivot into defense and surveillance is part of the same phenomenon, with even less accountability for fitness for purpose.

@jedbrown @thomasfuchs I tend to disagree slightly there, I think AI isn't cost effective in too many cases to be even worth risking union busting. But of course, the rest of the world isn't as protected as old Europe (but we have other problems). And of course, even bad CEOs get rich in most places.

winter Jul 12

@jedbrown @urwumpe @thomasfuchs Yep, that's the critical piece. It doesn't need to be capable or for for purpose. It only needs to be accepted by the masses.

@winterayars @jedbrown @thomasfuchs on the other hand, it was also accepted the robots weld cars, instead of letting humans do that. Did not stop my union to become more powerful then ever since. Or resulted in a smaller workforce.

Technology can also lead to more meaningful work and better working conditions. Maybe we should not let CEOs and libertarians decide, what AI can be good for?

winter Jul 12

@urwumpe @jedbrown @thomasfuchs Machines saving on human labor is amazing.

Machines being used to cut everyone out of profit, condensing power and control of society into fewer and fewer hands, is not so great.

@urwumpe @winterayars @thomasfuchs Imagine the "welding machine" doesn't actually weld, but instead smears putty in the joint so it looks like a weld, and the welding machine company has enough influence in government that neither the welding company or the car manufacturer is liable when the cars fly into pieces on the highway. Somehow that spontaneous disassembly happens much more frequently to immigrants and queer people and brown people.

@jedbrown @winterayars @thomasfuchs Sorry, but I am not that religious. I don't believe in miracles, not for me, and not for the bad guys.

Can't you find a more grounded way how AI can separate and discriminate people, if put into the wrong hands?

Thomas 🔭🕹️Jul 12

@urwumpe @jedbrown @winterayars You are committing a logical fallacy in presupposing that “AI” actually exists. It doesn’t.

LLM transform tokens into other tokens; without knowledge, intelligence, insight, creativity or even awareness of what it is doing.

It categorically cannot have broad applications.

@thomasfuchs @jedbrown @winterayars What do you think, intelligence actually is, on the lowest level? Your brain is made of the same building blocks as the brain of a shark. But you would never say a shark is intelligent compared to a human, would you?

AI has maybe just reached the intelligence of a parrot. Not impressive to a human.

But AI is no intelligence bound to a body, not a product of nature. It can be unexpected, exotic, alien... but its a kind of intelligence.

@urwumpe @thomasfuchs @winterayars No, that is a religious position you are taking.

And note that "stochastic parrots" was not referring to the animal, but the verb "to parrot" (as the authors have clarified personally).

@jedbrown @thomasfuchs @winterayars I hope we just speak different languages in the best case. Anyway, lets stop here.

@urwumpe @winterayars @thomasfuchs You're asking me to shoehorn that into the welding metaphor or are you seriously asking how "AI" systems discriminate when there is a decade of well-publicized critical literature and new instances come out every day? The systems automate discrimination even when following all the best practices in "fairness", without corporate capture, when the community is involved throughout.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/06/11/1118233/amsterdam-fair-welfare-ai-discriminatory-algorithms-failure/

Inside Amsterdam’s high-stakes experiment to create fair welfare AI

The Dutch city thought it could break a decade-long trend of implementing discriminatory algorithms. Its failure raises the question: can these programs ever be fair?

MIT Technology Review

@jedbrown @winterayars @thomasfuchs You don't want to turn this into a good discrimination vs bad discrimination debate, do you?

Biorreactivo Jul 12

@jedbrown @thomasfuchs I find fascinating the explanation (from the abstract): "the lower literacy–higher receptivity link is mediated by perceptions of AI as magical and is moderated among tasks not assumed to require distinctly human attributes."
And the final recommendation is chilling and a good support for went capitalism must be superseded: "These findings suggest that companies may benefit from shifting their marketing efforts and product development toward consumers with lower AI literacy. In addition, efforts to demystify AI may inadvertently reduce its appeal."