My friend seems genuinely baffled that I am an AI researcher who refuses to use AI! Not only that, but I argue against it from theory, not experience. Why don't I just give it a try for a while, and see what it's really about before I judge it?

I guess I see where he's coming from. Part of the problem is the word "AI." LLMs are not my research focus, so it's less of a contradiction than it sounds. But I admit, being a non-user makes my arguments against LLMs less credible.

I just don't understand why I owe it to anybody to give AI a shot. I know how LLMs work in gory detail, and I don't trust them. I've seen the mediocre work they produce. I've read studies about the seductive illusion of competence and caring they create, and how people fall for that. I know it's all built on an incredibly exploitative business model.

I feel entirely justified in not giving them a chance. I guess I'm just as baffled by how badly he wants me to try it, and how sure he seems to be that it would change my mind.

The Great Software Quality Collapse:

https://techtrenches.substack.com/p/the-great-software-quality-collapse

Firewatch is one of my favourite games ever and it’s on sale for $2 right now.

I highly recommend experiencing this game at least once. It’s atmospheric, emotional, story rich. It’ll change you.

#Gaming #Games #Steam

https://store.steampowered.com/app/383870/Firewatch/

https://www.patreon.com/posts/our-trans-group-115797813

I am aware of the distress of many members following the election. Many trans people are vulnerable. If you need a support group you are not alone.
You can join the group by using this link - .
https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/t4w5s5

#transgender

#lgbtq

The RMS open letter demanding the removal of Stallman and the resignation of the board was published in early 2021. I had the honour of writing the patch adding Mozilla's co-signing support.

https://rms-open-letter.github.io/

The FSF did not, and will not, change. This is who they are, and who they are committed to being.

Ok, I have a request that I am hoping Mastodon can deliver.

I am looking for some reading material on Autism and supporting autistic kids *in Persian*. I have a friend who may be going down the diagnosis path with their kid, and so far they have been using Google translate, but it's really bad for Persian translation. If anyone can point me in the direction of any documents, books, advice etc that is in Persian that I can show to her, that would be amazing.

Any leads would be great, thankyou

Adding hashtags as recommended

#Persian #ActuallyAutistic #Autism #ASD #askfedi

(also worth noting, my own kid is on the autism spectrum, and we can see from her diagnosis and talking to the person who dx'd kiddo both me and my dad are too - but we are new to this and I want to find already translated text by a human because we have found google translate to be really unreliable and sometimes says the opposite of what we are trying to say. we both speak a little french, but not enough for a proper translation.)

💰 💰 💰 💰 💰 💰

You're a European citizen? Then vote now for taxing great wealth to finance the ecological and social transition.

Collection ends on 9th October!

*** We need more Belgians, Italians, Dutchmen, Slovaks, Spaniards and Swedes! ***

https://eci.ec.europa.eu/038/public/#/screen/home

#nates1984 #taxTheRich