Erik Przekop @IAmErik@qoto.org
Parent, programmer, cigar aficionado, amateur astronomer and terrible guitar player.
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Here is my introduction post:
Instead of defining myself by saying “I am a…”, here’s a collection of hashtags that interest me (in no particular order). #meditation (specifically #twim right now) #cigars #bicycling #photography #computerscience #physics #guitar #music .
I live in #Michigan (in #LakeOrion, which is 35+ miles north of #Detroit), and spend a lot of time around #RogersCity (I’ll bet that’s the first time that hashtag has been used on Mastodon). My kids are really bright and sometimes struggle with #ADHD, so I’ll probably talk about that at times as well. I have spent more than 3 decades of my life as a #programmer, and now I get to be the old man who leads really smart people in solving big problems with small amounts of #software.
Joined Nov 2022
@josemanuel
If you hate haiku,
perhaps you should take a stab,
at a limerick.
Erik Przekop
boosted
Artificial intelligence warning over human extinction labelled ‘publicity stunt’
Source: Independent
By Jordan Reynolds
Professor Sandra Wachter said the risk raised in the letter that AI could wipe out humanity is ‘science fiction fantasy’.
The probability of a “Terminator scenario” caused by artificial intelligence is “close to zero”, a University of Oxford professor has said.
Sandra Wachter, professor of technology and regulation, called a letter released by the San Francisco-based Centre for AI Safety – which warned that the technology could wipe out humanity – a “publicity stunt”.
Professor Wachter said the risk raised in letter is “science fiction fantasy” and she compared it to the film The Terminator.
She added: “There are risks, there are serious risks, but it’s not the risks that are getting all of the attention at the moment.
“What we see with this new open letter is a science fiction fantasy that distracts from the issue right here right now. The issues around bias, discrimination and the environmental impact.
“The whole discourse is being put on something that may or may not happen in a couple of hundred years. You can’t do something meaningful about it as it’s so far in the future.
“But bias and discrimination I can measure, I can measure the environmental impact. It takes 360,000 gallons of water daily to cool a middle-sized data centre, that’s the price that we have to pay.
“It’s a publicity stunt. It will attract funding.
Erik Przekop
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I'll be joining the Activities for #WWDC23 and I very much recommend you hop on as well next week with your burning queries, first thoughts, nay,🔥 HOT TAKES 🔥 about any and all New Shiny all the while carefully avoiding to phrase your question in the form of a roadmap 😏
Erik Przekop
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Erik Przekop
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Want a signed copy of SEASON OF SKULLS? Your go-to place for ordering them is my local indie SF bookstore, Transreal Fiction!
https://transreal.wordpress.com/2023/05/06/new-charles-stross-book/
Erik Przekop
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Erik Przekop
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Island in a mirror.
May 12, 2023. Wolverine Lake, Michigan.
#sunrise #sunrisephotography #photography #michigan #puremichigan #landscape #landscapephotography
Erik Przekop
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Please block trolls, folks. If we don’t, they just keep haunting decent people’s posts and messing with our momentum to get things done.
Pushing anti-democratic talking points that could have aired on RT? Telling you voting doesn’t matter, no progress happens, that both parties are the same or barely different? Just block that noise.
If anyone needs help, happy to oblige. If you can’t tell them from Tucker Carlson, there’s a reason for that.
Erik Przekop
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Erik Przekop
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SEVEN DAYS TO GO until "Season of Skulls" is published in the USA by Tor.com!
If you've ever wondered what "The Prisoner" would be like if it was set in 1816 and The Village was full of captured French magicians, then this is the book for you! (May also contain Frankenstein, Vampires, and a very irate Eve Starkey.)
https://publishing.tor.com/seasonofskulls-charlesstross/9781250839398/
Erik Przekop
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Interesting!
At the same time I tooted about SEASON OF SKULLS, I tweeted a pretty much identical piece on the birdsite.
I have 16.6K followers here and got 32 boosts and 33 likes.
I have 52.5K followers on twitter and got 9 retweets and 43 likes.
(Conclusion: Mastodon followers are MUCH more engaged than Twitter followers.)
Erik Przekop
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🏳️🌈🖖🏽
Despite all its promises of equality and due process under law, America has always had its scapegoats.
I didn’t know it at the time, but when I was a child my entire community became scapegoats. The attack by Imperial Japan upon Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941—a “day that will live in infamy”—made most Americans look upon anyone with a Japanese name or face as the enemy.
May is AANHPI Heritage Month, so I want to take a moment to zero in on the history that led Asian minorities in the U.S. to come together as a group and demand America fulfill its promise of justice and equality: https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/scapegoats-aahpi-george-takei-essay
Erik Przekop
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Finally! We've been waiting since November of last year to share these amazing results and beautiful images with everyone. Our Cycle 1 JWST/MIRI images of the Fomalhaut Debris Disk reveals never before seen details of the inner regions of this complex exoplanetary system!
Erik Przekop
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Erik Przekop
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Erik Przekop
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I post this every May the 4th. It never gets old. Lol Some storm troopers still have to work today. Lol #maythe4thbewithyou #starwarsday #starwars #funnymeme #funny
Erik Przekop
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Erik Przekop
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Quoth the Raven: “Why, I oughta..."
#throwbackthursday #thursdaythoughts #threestooges #edgarallanpoe #writing #writer #pun #puns #humor #humour #funny
Erik Przekop
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Tonight Matthew I'm going to be....
Ben Elton
#uk #politics #thoughthole #mayday2023 #ukemergencyalert #police #oligarchy #reading #labour #humanrights #humour #humor #hashtags #HashtagGames #hashitout #writing #haiku #question #answers #tories #toriesout #labourparty #green #greenpartyuk #plur #love #london #LongCovid #research #respect #retoot
Parent, programmer, cigar aficionado, amateur astronomer and terrible guitar player.
----------------
Here is my introduction post:
Instead of defining myself by saying “I am a…”, here’s a collection of hashtags that interest me (in no particular order). #meditation (specifically #twim right now) #cigars #bicycling #photography #computerscience #physics #guitar #music .
I live in #Michigan (in #LakeOrion, which is 35+ miles north of #Detroit), and spend a lot of time around #RogersCity (I’ll bet that’s the first time that hashtag has been used on Mastodon). My kids are really bright and sometimes struggle with #ADHD, so I’ll probably talk about that at times as well. I have spent more than 3 decades of my life as a #programmer, and now I get to be the old man who leads really smart people in solving big problems with small amounts of #software.
Joined Nov 2022
