Christmas Tree

@christmastree
20 Followers
52 Following
1.3K Posts
Christmas TreeJun 6
Show threadDanielle ForéJun 5
We can’t forget our spirit of protest. The thing to do right now is double down on fixing the problems the capitalist machine won’t solve. Build for the least privileged among us. Build for old hardware, slow internet connections, disability, privacy, consent. Always remember that we can do things they can’t because we do this with genuine care for other people.
Christmas TreeJun 1
[object Object]May 31

watching the worst AI bros who all sound like polite nazis run a victory lap cause jqwik slightly softened its anti-LLM message from “delete all jqwik code” to “just fuck off” is a really good reminder to never do anything nice for these fucking assholes

you do not in fact have to take advice from guys who only know about you because they’re doing raids for hacker news or one of the chans (same difference) whose every word is dripping in contempt

Christmas TreeMay 7
Show threadCarina C. ZonaMay 6

I express that a little differently though:

_Defaults are not neutral. They enact political values._

Looking at Chrome's example from yesterday's news, its default of downloading a 4gb model file to each user enacts political values including

* Everyone should be paying for unlimited bandwidth

* Everyone should have large storage devices with lots of free space

* Conserving energy doesn't matter

* Conserving bandwidth doesn't matter

* Pollution doesn't matter

* Consent doesn't matter

* Disclosure doesn't matter

* Usefulness doesn't matter

* The user doesn't have the right to delete unwanted material from their device

One default, embodying and imposing right-wing political values. Be rich, be profligate, be wasteful, be disrespectful, be subservient to the tech oligarchy, be docile.

Look into your software and ask whose interests are being served by it and whose interests have been deemed unimportant. Its core politics are embedded in that.

Christmas TreeMay 7
Show threadFlipper 🐬🏳️‍🌈May 5

@pluralistic This whole "keep an open mind" attitude about whether LLMs are sentient is just dumb to begin with.

If you went to a magic show with the "open mind" of whether magic was real, you'd leave convinced that it was. Because the tricks are really convincing. The only way to keep a grip on reality in a magic show is to go in with a firm conviction that magic is not real. This is a rational approach, it is not a close minded attitude.

Christmas TreeMay 7
Show threadThomas ZimmerMay 6
If “backlash” and “polarization” are inevitably the price to be paid for equality, we might as well do it right, make a proper push. Piecemeal reforms and half-measures are easily dismantled, they will only leave the people who will suffer most from the countermobilization defenseless.
Christmas TreeMay 7
Tlapka🐾 Apr 18
age verification but it's just a dialog box that asks "are you old" and the answers are "yes" and "maybe later"
Christmas TreeMay 7
arclightMay 5
More and more I feel that software is something that's inflicted on me rather than something I create or control that serves me.
Christmas TreeMay 7
Show threadChris PetrilliMay 5
And the regular reminder that OSS is not a supply chain. It’s a free hot dog you found on the road.
Christmas TreeMay 7
Democracy Dies in DumbassMay 6
Christmas TreeMay 2
SiguzaMay 1
People will unironically complain about Mastodon having awkward UI, but then in all seriousness load up a Big Tech platform with autoplaying videos that hide the controls to rewind and are also muted by default, just to force you to sit through each video again after you unmute it. Like, fuck off??