crabmusket

@crabmusket@aus.social
25 Followers
127 Following
313 Posts
Christian anarchist, reluctant technophile. Web developer, co-founder at https://pylon.solar
Websitehttps://crabmusket.net

"HoW dO We IMprOVe EdUcaTIoN??"

People act like it's a big mystery but it's not?

1. Better educated teachers.
2. More experienced teachers. (as in a ratio to new teachers)
3. Limit class size to 20 students aim for an average of 14.
4. Equip schools with sufficient materials eg: buildings that are safe and functional, internet that works, computers for students, you know the materials.

Most "education innovations" are trying to skip this stuff and use something else instead to save money.

I wrote a little about how my response to generative AI is a reflection of my value system. Yes, there is a lot of AI discourse right now. This post has the virtues of being very short and quite earnest.

https://crabmusket.net/2025/on-being-nuts/

On being nuts

A fresh out-of-camera set of photos from Tokyo for y’all. Took a short walk in the Takinogawa area of Kita Ward tonight after work. A lot of small old pubs and restaurants, but fewer of them left each time I go there. 😢

#photography #japan #streetphotography #fotografie #shotoniphone #tokyo #japanlife #tokyolife #photographersofmastodon

I kinda hated writing this but I needed to do it.

Maybe now, finally, I can stop writing it in little fragments here and there, and just let it go and do something else.

https://blog.glyph.im/2025/06/i-think-im-done-thinking-about-genai-for-now.html

I Think I’m Done Thinking About genAI For Now

The conversation isn’t over, but I don’t think I have much to add to it.

You should read The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin.

Happy weekend, friends. After five years, Microsoft has officially dumped the 'moonshot' metaphor for its climate goals. They took off in a rocket flying in precisely the wrong direction. Better to delete the original destination than change course, right?

While it hasn't officially dropped its goals, it's clear that those targets have been effectively ignored by the company, seeking mostly to paper over its massive rising energy consumption and associated fossil fuel combustion - both direct (for its data centres) and indirect (in its supply chain). Accounting tricks mute the severity of how seriously bad things have gotten for the corporation.

False narratives around 'AI for climate', the company servicing the fossil fuel industry directly, and a serious lack of disclosure that would allow real scrutiny of their claims all contribute to this shocking illustration of the tech age we are in right now: one driven by generative software anxieties, and a consequent lack of concern about who gets burned up in the wake of Microsoft's big new rocket.

Have a read, here:

https://ketanjoshi.co/2025/05/31/the-life-and-death-of-microsofts-moonshot/

The life and death of Microsoft’s Moonshot

Microsoft finally dropped its ‘climate moonshot’, overwhelmed by the anxiety of generating as much AI slop as it possibly can, no matter how much that helps the fossil fuel industry.

Ketan Joshi

Apropos of Firefox experimenting with AI link previews,

> I feel like this is obvious but I’m not hearing it shouted from the rooftops so here it is: adding an untrusted middleman to your information diet and all of your personal communications will eventually become a disaster that will be obvious in hindsight.

I cannot cosign this strongly enough.

From @tmcw https://macwright.com/2025/05/29/putting-an-untrusted-chat-layer-is-a-disaster.html

Putting an untrusted layer of chatbot AI between you and the internet is an obvious disaster waiting to happen

macwright.com
It’s always “if we don’t do it, they will” and never “if we don’t do it, they won’t have to, either”.
The use of AI tools for important tasks is *complacent*. It’s an act that says whatever, good enough, who cares. That’s what makes it so offensive to me

#BREAKING

Peter #Dutton has lost his seat according to ABC & Channel 9!

Thank you Australia for sending a big FU to the politics of hatred, racism, fear and division ❤️

I’m so damn happy right now ❤️ tears of joy, tears of absolute joy tonight 🙏🏼 #AustraliaVotes2025