"Mastodon is far from perfect. But I only have so many hours in the day, and only so many days left in my life. I would much rather spend those precious hours making a open service better than using a temporarily superior closed one. I have seen that movie. I know how it ends."

- @pluralistic

https://doctorow.medium.com/fool-me-twice-we-dont-get-fooled-again-20074e311f1f

People worry a lot about losing knowledge — about "burned-down libraries".

Comparatively few people seem to worry about what happens if you take a billion books full of auto-generated, often-untrue junk text and *add* them all to the library.

In theory, nothing is lost. In reality, everything is lost, because nothing useful can now be found.

The main thing that makes it hard to have nature and green in cities isn’t density of buildings or density of people — it's density of cars. And the better you design your density of people and buildings, the fewer cars you need or want.

This is really important.

#streets #cars #BikeLanes #cities #urbanism

It's 2023. "Gosh, we didn't realize how people would misuse this" just isn't believable anymore.

Bare minimum, with any new tech:
1) How would a stalker use this?
2) What will 4chan do with this?

And don't release, not even as alpha or beta, before mitigating those risks.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/31/23579289/ai-voice-clone-deepfake-abuse-4chan-elevenlabs

#AIethics #ethNLP

If you encounter folks (like in your family) who follow Right-Wing Media Inc and heard Tucker Carlson's call to blame Tyre Nichols' death on affirmative action because the officers were Black, this piece from Radley Balko is the one to read to be prepared for the discussion that you might want to have or be drawn into against your will:

https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/tyre-nichols-wasnt-murdered-because?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

#NYC installed bike lanes on Skillman Ave in Queens, removing 116 parking spots. “Cyclists loved the plan, but local business owners went ballistic.” But “after the bike lanes arrived, businesses on Skillman saw sales rise by 12%, compared to 3% for Queens in general. What’s more, that section of road saw new businesses open, while Queens overall had a net loss.”

https://www.wired.com/story/the-battle-over-bike-lanes-needs-a-mindset-shift/ #urbanplanning #urbanism #econdev #cities #smallbusiness #BikeTooter #bikenyc

“I wanted you to hear it from me 1st—if Dianne Feinstein decides not to seek reelection as CA Senator, I’m all in for Adam Schiff.
I’ll be endorsing him for Senate.
Adam has dedicated his life to public service.
Every time I asked Adam to take on tough fight against extremist forces, he’s responded with integrity, strength & success.
In the Senate, Adam Schiff would be effective from the start in putting People Over Politics & advancing an economy that works safely, for everyone.”

—Nancy Pelosi