Ben Taylor @VoxDei@qoto.org
Software Engineer, Trade Unionist, Gamer, Geek, Dad. Lives in Devon
Joined Nov 2022
Ben Taylor
boosted
"I have an idea for a data structure, hear me out.
A linked list where every node contains a hash of all the data in the nodes behind it, and every time you want to add a new node, you need about 200.000 other computers to say ok and consume the power equivalent of a small nation." -- Ólafur Waage
Well, when you put it that way, it obviously is something to base a whole industry around!
Ben Taylor
boosted
@fourmajor That's funny, because I had to do that differently. I moved to the UK from Canada at age 8, and where I would always say "Me and Brian", in the UK "Brian and I" is correct usage, and I have had to accept that the latter is "correct" and the former is how I speak.
It took me north of thirty years to even begin to accept that, and I'm still about 50:50!
Ben Taylor
boosted
#FreeSpeech is not about whether you can use the n-word on Twitter: it’s about your right to criticise your rulers without retribution. The #metpolice are arresting people because they “might spoil some people’s enjoyment” if they protest later. This is #authoritarianism to protect an unelected billionaire.
Once more for emphasis: it is legal in the #UK now to arrest people if the cops think you might spoil the mood by disliking the king.
This is #fascism
@dungeons Level 6 eh? We've got someone past Nicolas finally!
Ben Taylor
boosted
Remember this: EVERY "Web 3.0" prediction has been wrong so far. EVERY ONE. First it was blockchain nonsense, then it was metaverse nonsense, and now it's AI nonsense. And you know what we still have? The corporate web, drowning in surveillance advertising and run by assholes, and the open web, still limping along, still with endless potential, still hard to make work. Just like every supposed web generation since 1995.
Ben Taylor
boosted
"Two things have quickly become very clear: First, corporations will happily sacrifice quality for infinite amounts of passable AI sludge. And, second, unless you have some mechanism for collective action in your workplace, your boss is going to try and figure out a way to replace you with an AI."
- Ryan Broderick, Garbage Day
https://www.garbageday.email/p/unions-are-our-only-defense-against
Ben Taylor
boosted
I Had Been Unaware of How Many People Are Claiming Chat-GPt5 Will Be "Emergent" & Will "Generalize" & Be Nearly "AGI"
I find that I really cannot believe them. Indeed, I am wondering if how many of them are the same people as those who were the crypto hype-grift artists last year…
<https://braddelong.substack.com/p/i-had-been-unaware-of-how-common>
2023-05-01 Mo
Ben Taylor
boosted
Planet Earth has two fundamental rules:
1. Energy flows through (in from sunlight and then radiated away into space some time later - Earth is just a temporary stop-off)
2. Stuff/atoms/matter goes round and round
Every decision we make about a sustainable future should bear those in mind. We can’t change these rules, so we have to choose what we do to work within this system, like the rest of nature does. And this illuminates a lot of issues (see following posts). #climate #Earth #Energy
Ben Taylor
boosted
It was an absolutely beautiful sky about half an hour before sunrise here in Glastonbury. Getting early now, this was about 5.15 am.
#glastonbury #glastonburytor #somerset #landscape #landscapephotography #sunrise #sunrisephotography #lilacsky #orangesky
Ben Taylor
boosted
RT @MarkHarrisNYC
The counteroffer from the producers on the subject of replacing writers with AI is...astonishing. "We're going to leave open the possibility of replacing you with machines, and once a year, we'll let you know how that's going!" #WGAStrong
@jindra Certainly. I am human and we all have shared humanity. Feeling "allegiance" to the countries that have shaped me doesn't preclude that.
Ben Taylor
boosted
This week, we're going to be asked (a number of times, I expect) who we believe; striking #nurses or #railways staff, or the ministers in charge of trying to negotiate a settlement?
After a decade of revelations of the mendacity fo the #Tories its a no-brainer for me; I wouldn't trust a #Tory minister as far as I could throw them.
When they say they are 'doing all we can' to end the strikes, the answer is that #Tory ministers are very such not doing all they can...
@jindra Two things:
1. I don't mean the people who happen to be in it at a given moment, I mean the people who make up society in it. That is a changing membership, but that's fine. You don't immediately leave it when you leave the country and you don't join it by arriving on holiday, roughly speaking you're a member if you are contributing meaningfully (within your means) to the life and health of the people who live here.
2. My life did not develop and does not exist in a vacuum. It has been enabled by this country, the people in it and the economic and social framework built by the people here before me. I can choose to acknowledge that debt or repudiate it, but to ignore it would be dishonest. If I acknowledge it, I owe that society my efforts to contribute to it, to help the other people in it as I can, and to defend it against people who would destroy or degrade it and replace it with a society where fewer people have lives that are free and safe and enjoyable and with fewer opportunities.
@TGNProfessor Mine may go the other way, if my wife is sufficiently horrified when I don't...
Ben Taylor
boosted
It’s the last day of #IndieApril! Grab an ebook copy at $0.99 before it goes back up!
An underground city, built centuries ago to ride out the heat. And a solar engineer whose skills may be key to saving her city…if she doesn’t get herself killed first.
@lmb_teach The trouble with saying it's the most corrupt ever is it's up against Boris' government. No contest.
@epistatacadam I have a certain amount of respect for him as a person. As you say, environmental concerns, plus he's had to spend his whole life in his mother's shadow and now in her shoes. Not easy. But I have respect for lots of people without developing an urge to swear allegiance to them.
(To be clear, I believe I owe my *country* my allegiance, in particular in the form of the people who make it up. The idea that I owe fealty to the person of Charles Windsor though is ludicrous. L'etat, ce n'est pas Charles.)
I have historically been a "soft" monarchist. I think the monarchy has considerable soft power benefits and makes a great tourist attraction. I started going off it a bit though seeing just how much the cost was in relation to other European monarchies.
And then this whole "swearing allegiance" thing has rather crystallised it for me. Will I swear personal allegiance to Charles Windsor? No, of course I won't, he has no more right to my allegiance than does my next door neighbour. And therefore how can I consider it right that he is "my" king?
I can't, of course. It follows that I must believe that disestablishment of the monarchy is what should happen. So there's my changed opinion for today.
Software Engineer, Trade Unionist, Gamer, Geek, Dad. Lives in Devon
Joined Nov 2022
