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queerlilhayseed

@ queerlilhayseed @piefed.blahaj.zone

Posts
4
Comments
407
Joined
12 mo. ago

  • Do not use ai

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  • The protein fold prediction stuff alone is huge. If we discover a cure for Alzheimer's in my lifetime, or hell, even an effective treatment of the dementia symptoms, it will probably be due in part to these tools.

  • Do not use ai

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  • Of course it's not the same. It's better because I control its inputs and outputs, and who has access to them.

    Oligarch controlled tools are dangerous because of who controls them, not because the tools are intrinsically dangerous.

  • Do not use ai

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  • Yes, but it is very important to distinguish between LLMs, which are amoral math, and OpenAI et al, which are corporations run by fascists that offer LLM-based public surveillance / disinformation platforms. There is no technology on earth that cannot be bent to malign purpose if malicious people are inclined to do so. LLMs are just the popular useful technology du jour.

  • Time really does fly, so what 'I feel old' moment have you come to realize based on how long it's been?

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  • I remember Modest Mouse getting big and thinking at the time that it was for the generation after me. Just a few years ago I heard Float On in the grocery store. Real circle of life moment.

  • Do not use ai

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  • Fascists don't create, they corrupt. Technology is neither fascist nor antifascist, those labels only make sense in the context of humans.

    Be thoughtful about the services you use, the money you spend, and the data you entrust to others. Do your best to understand your tools as fully as you can. Strive to help others and do no harm, in your immediate impact and in your downstream effects. Don't trust to heuristics like labeling certain technologies "fascist"; they are not and the more non-fascists there are who understand technology, the better equipped we will be to fight fascism.

  • If you were an NPC in a game and only had one line of dialogue, what would it be?

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  • "First the vision, then the conjuration. This is unsettling."

  • Flock CEO calls for ‘compromise’ as surveillance company faces growing backlash | TechCrunch

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  • np! It was good to refresh myself on the topic as well :)

  • Flock CEO calls for ‘compromise’ as surveillance company faces growing backlash | TechCrunch

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  • I don't think it would. Congress could criminalize the behavior of corporate surveillance, then prosecutors could charge any individual or company that engages in that behavior. It'd only be a bill of attainder if it was selective by identity (e.g. a bill that proclaims "the CEO of Flock is guilty of criminal surveillance and should be arrested") rather than a defined criminal standard that applies to everyone.

  • Flock CEO calls for ‘compromise’ as surveillance company faces growing backlash | TechCrunch

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  • Not sure exactly, but international trade law is weird, and generally bills of attainder are targeted at one or more individuals rather than classes of individuals. If a law defines a class, like "anyone selling goods from China" then I don't think it qualifies as a bill of attainder. I did find this article on Lawfare from 2019 where Huawei challenged parts of the NDAA because it specifically forbade the executive branch from buying Huawei gear. The courts ultimately did not agree with Huawei.

  • Flock CEO calls for ‘compromise’ as surveillance company faces growing backlash | TechCrunch

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  • If a law punished a specific murderer or group of murderers it would be, but not if it punished an entire defined class of murderers equally. Lawmakers generally describe the qualifications of a crime (e.g. "anyone who knowingly and willfully causes the death of another person") and prescribe a punishment for anyone convicted of it, and then the courts determine whether or not individuals are guilty by whether they meet the qualifications laid out in the law. Bills of attainder are laws that define individuals or specific groups as guilty by identity, not qualification, which means they don't get a trial and the judiciary doesn't get to act as a check on the legislature.

  • Flock CEO calls for ‘compromise’ as surveillance company faces growing backlash | TechCrunch

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  • It's been tried before, and abandoned because it's generally a bad idea. What you're describing is a bill of attainder, a law passed specifically to punish an individual or group.

  • Removed

    Trump is a Plant Whose Sole Purpose is to Usher in the Apocalypse

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  • Donald Trump is greedy and self-serving. He allies when he believes the alliance will be useful to him. He's not a a complete hapless idiot, but he does have an extremely over-inflated idea of his own political acumen.

    US presidents do have a lot of real power. He's the CIC of the US armed forces, for one, and though they are currently bungling an op in Iran, that's still a huge amount of power.

    He is also being manipulated by Musk et al, in an arrangement he believes is beneficial to himself. Musk bankrolled his '24 election, for example, and in exchange let him gut the agencies that would regulate Musk's (and Trump's) business interests.

    I really don't think there's an elaborate plan to destroy the world and bring about the apocalypse. Maybe Thiel believes that as he says, maybe he doesn't. He's a liar, so it makes no sense to speculate on whether or not he believes what he says. I think greedy assholes like Thiel find it convenient to justify their actions (and their consequences) by citing the apocalypse, when in reality they're just saying whatever's convenient for lining their pockets.

    Trump is a scapegoat, but really one of convenience. He ran on his own volition and captured a hostile GOP more or less on the strength of his rhetoric. The current crop of MAGA politicians are hangers-on. The moneyed class are allies of convenience and self-interest very much in Trump's own mold. Some of them are better at it than he is.

    Also IDK where you been, but WW3 is happening now. The US, Russia, Europe, NK, and the ME gulf states are all directly and indirectly in combat. Venezuela is puppeted, Cuba is starving. China is feinting actions in the SCS. It's happening. This is what it looks like.

  • Trump appears on former fixer-turned-enemy Michael Cohen's radio show after detente

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  • In an interview with CNN shortly before the radio interview aired, Cohen said he had resubmitted a pardon application to the White House that had been denied by the previous administration, but had yet to receive any response and planned to follow up Friday.

    In case you were wondering why.

  • Classic rock

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  • Poor lil guy ❤️

  • Thanks a lot, Mr. Spock.

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  • Every so often, someone wishes upon Andromeda and accidentally magnifies the effect of the wish by a factor of about 10^12. It's a hazard.

  • will you join in Halloween night to De-FLOCK your community?

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  • If you can find the kind that has a rigid wand like this, that would be easiest.

    But if you're using a can or small sprayer, I think your best bet would be a lightweight, collapsible stepladder. They make some that are easy enough to carry around with you so you can insulate your entire home without having to carry a lot of heavy equipment.

  • Thanks a lot, Mr. Spock.

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  • Council of Mages - Official Report on the Wish Catastrophe

    (the document is scrawled in a childlike hand, or one that is unused to writing manually. The document is badly smeared with ink and is illegible in many places)

    This will likely be the last report of the Council. Many of the members are dead or dying. Suspect anti-magick agents have conducted the Wish To End Wishing. Range of effect unknown but believed general at least to this dimension. Extra-dimensional scrying now impossible (illegible section) impossible to determine. Our palaces will crumble soon to dust, our people soon reduced to scrounging and hunting in the dirt like the mundane creatures of the wood. Most will starve or succumb to disease. Our libraries will decay, all our knowledge will pass into myth, and we will fall into ignorance. There is no repair. My family (This section is smeared and illegible. the smears look intentional)

    (illegible) and I will continue our research, if food and shelter can be found, though with no magic whatsoever (illegible section) on survival. Recommend all do similar.

    I would wish good luck, but the gesture is now empty. Farewell if you may.

    End of Report

  • Thanks a lot, Mr. Spock.

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  • It's OK I once saw a shooting star and wished that everyone could wish upon regular stars, so feel free to go nuts.

  • will you join in Halloween night to De-FLOCK your community?

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  • No one's doing that here, I just like sharing tips about home improvement. For example, did you know that spray foam insulation can be found at basically any hardware store, and can be used to close up gaps in your home? It's better to get the closed-cell type, as it dries into a stiffer, more durable material that lasts longer. You can also find sprayers that have long hoses for insulating the difficult-to-reach areas of your home.

    Also the liquid and fumes aren't good for you, so make sure you use it in a well-ventilated environment and wear appropriate protective clothing like gloves, high-coverage sleeves, and a mask as needed.

  • GitHub has been down for most of the morning - Engadget

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  • There are downsides to being unemployed for sure, but not knowing that Github is down until I see it on social media is quite an upside 😌

    I'll pour out a bit of coffee for all those who still have to care about these things o7