Good morning Mastodon (or whatever time it is for you). We are one day away from the one year anniversary of the Twitter Lockout, November 18, 2022. An amazing day in internet history on which a quarter million new users joined Mastodon. Perhaps it's a good moment to share thoughts or reflections about open social media over this last tumultuous year as well as hopes or predictions for our future.

#twittermigration #mastodonmigration

Here is your must-read article for the day, a profile of @emilymbender, and her efforts to deflate the ridiculous hype around large language models such as ChatGPT.

It's also about the people who are behind that hype, and about what their way of thinking has the potential to do to us.

It's worth reading all the way to the end.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-chatbots-emily-m-bender.html

#ChatGPT and its ilk are effectively a large-scale DDoS attack on not only specific tasks (such as teaching, software maintenance and fiction editing) but on human creative inspiration, sense of self and ability to make meaning of the universe.

notice how they are
- creating work for us rather than saving us work
- automating inherently energizing and rewarding tasks such as making art rather than tiring and tedious tasks such as filing taxes
- flooding social networks with generated content that makes it harder to connect with real humans and build community
- distracting us with questions like “what if this machine is sentient?” which keep us from noticing and acting to prevent the suffering of actual humans

that thing where all search engines have become basically unusable because they’re stuffed full of AI garbage? i fear that’s about to happen to everything.

i don’t believe this is necessarily intentional, but no machine that learns under capitalism can imagine another world.

So I played the christ out of Metroid Prime Remastered over the weekend - and as someone who never owned a Gamecube, never mind played the original - what an outstanding piece of art. I haven't loved something so thoroughly in a long time.

A fantastic example of how to translate a 2-Dimensional concept to 3D, Prime feels so natural to pre-existing fans of the series such as myself.

Even if you have before, we both know you should be playing Metroid Prime right now.

#Metroid #Nintendo

Another zero interest rate trend bites the dust. Instead of studios trying to compete with Netflix, they realize selling streaming rights to Netflix after running a movie in theaters or show on TV is actually a better business.

Sanity prevails.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-02-12/why-hollywood-is-canceling-so-many-shows-firing-workers?sref=W6GJF3MS

Right, now that I'm mostly settled in I think it's time for a proper #introduction from me!

My name is Elizabeth, I'm a 26yo #trans woman currently stuck in rural Illinois. My interests include #Nintendo and #PCgaming, #thrifting old stuff that I find nostalgic, #HeavyMetal (and just music in general), and #DigitalArt. My dream is to create some sort of artistic work, whether it be a game or a graphic novel, that can help people find themselves and heal, like so many artistic works have done for me.

I'm also gonna be totally real here, my life is currently in shambles from years of depression and denying myself love and authenticity. I'm here now trying to pick up the pieces, but absolutely expect some doom-posting if you follow me (with appropriate CWs of course). I try my best to be a positive light here online, but sometime I just have to vent and ramble about life.

Otherwise my goals are to go back to college for digital art and graphic design, get the hell out of rural America, and start living as ME!

Adoption of new tech often happens when there's a barrier to entry.

At first, it's difficult to adopt, and because of that difficulty, all the more do people want to adopt it.

I know, sounds counterintuitive.

But remember when:

1. Doom required a PC
2. Gmail required an invite
3. Instagram required an iPhone

For better or worse, people desire exclusivity because they like the status that comes with being part of the in-group.

Even though I've had many #Nintendo consoles over time, I completely missed out on the #Metroid franchise. Truth be told, I didn't even realize that it was a Nintendo franchise until last year. 😅 So far, my experience is limited to about two hours of #MetroidDread.

It's very nice to see a lot of my feed already being delighted by or hyped for #MetroidPrimeRemastered. It feels like a very organic way to get excited about a game and a series I originally had no connection with. T/y! #VideoGames

Burt Bacharach’s melodies really were ingenious, and part of the magic was linking with Dionne who brought out the heart in them. Her ability to imbue those songs with such aching vulnerability and sweetness helped make his gifts undeniable.

Their catalog is immense and not everything works, but at their best— especially when exploring heartbreak and romantic loss— the songs can punch you right in the heart. Here’s my playlist of their most moving work.

https://spoti.fi/3JW9KJh