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Tom Foale boosted
@fascinatorfun@mastodon.green

Bankman-Fried 

“ “To what extent is consequentialism or effective altruism looming in the background here because the ends justify the means?” said one person who knows the parents personally. “All one can speculate is that S.B.F. had first-class brains at home thinking about moral philosophy.”

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Tom Foale

This is a thread to help people understand why Mastodon is a much nicer environment than Twitter. It has nothing to do with "echo chambers" and everything to do with what drives Twitter's advertising revenues.

The algorithms used by supposedly free social media whose profits come from advertising are dangerous. It's due to self-reinforcing feedback. And it means that social media bears a great responsibility for the rise of racism and the far right.
twitter.com/gchaslot/status/10

Feedback is everywhere in our lives. It controls our bodies, our utilities, our money supply, our weather, our governments, our behaviours through social interactions. Its impact is also poorly understood - it is almost completely ignored in economics.
en.m.wikibooks.org/wiki/Contro

There are two types of feedback loop. Negative feedback sends correcting signals to act in the opposite direction to the input signal. Negative feedback is responsible for stability.

It's what keeps our body temperature stable, our speed constant when driving and our money stable relative to the goods and services we buy.

Positive feedback amplifies small input signals. It's what is responsible for tornadoes and hurricanes and many car crashes as well as the spread of panic responsible for stampedes in cattle and runs on banks like Northern Rock.

Positive feedback is useful, being responsible for contractions in childbirth, the exponential growth of companies and the oscillators that drive our electronics, but can be extremely destructive. Positive feedback tends to drive things to extremes.

Here's a good example of the self-reinforcing interacting feedback loops that led to the exponential growth of Apple's smartphone. It's also called 'network effects'. It leads to exponential growth in audiences and revenues as well as monopolies like Google and Amazon.

systemsandus.com/2014/07/18/ex

The social media algorithms are positive feedback loops and unfortunately mere transparency doesn't help much. If you like and react to puppies and kittens then YouTube and Twitter will show you more adorable pets.

However, if you react positively or negatively to bigoted or scientifically ignorant content or conspiracy theories then YouTube and Twitter will show you content of the same type, normalizing this behaviour, because it drives revenues.

The more extreme the videos you watch and tweets you react to then the more you will be shown even more extreme content. This also feeds into content creation - why do you think Alex Jones got rich? He doesn't actually *believe* what he says.

With no algorithms or advertising on Mastodon there's no self-reinforcing positive feedback. We only see the content promoted by people who we follow. This makes it a MUCH nicer environment.

The benefits of Mastodon are far wider. The nastier parts of the media rely on this feedback for their incomes. Distributed ad-free computing effectively robs Murdoch and other right-wingers like the Kochs, The Daily Mail, Alex Jones, Dan Wootton, Guy Pierce etc of their income stream from socially divisive content.

Without Twitter and Facebook the UK would probably have never left the EU. It was algorithmic amplification, exploited by Cambridge Analytica and Aaron Bank's £8M "donation" from some shady source that led to Brexit.

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Tom Foale

There are two types of feedback loop. Negative feedback sends correcting signals to act in the opposite direction to the input signal. Negative feedback is responsible for stability.

It's what keeps our body temperature stable, our speed constant when driving and our money stable relative to the goods and services we buy.

Positive feedback amplifies small input signals. It's what is responsible for tornadoes and hurricanes and many car crashes as well as the spread of panic responsible for stampedes in cattle and runs on banks like Northern Rock.

Positive feedback is useful, being responsible for contractions in childbirth, the exponential growth of companies and the oscillators that drive our electronics, but can be extremely destructive. Positive feedback tends to drive things to extremes.

Here's a good example of the self-reinforcing interacting feedback loops that led to the exponential growth of Apple's smartphone. It's also called 'network effects'. It leads to exponential growth in audiences and revenues as well as monopolies like Google and Amazon.

systemsandus.com/2014/07/18/ex

The social media algorithms are positive feedback loops and unfortunately mere transparency doesn't help much. If you like and react to puppies and kittens then YouTube and Twitter will show you more adorable pets.

However, if you react positively or negatively to bigoted or scientifically ignorant content or conspiracy theories then YouTube and Twitter will show you content of the same type, normalizing this behaviour, because it drives revenues.

The more extreme the videos you watch and tweets you react to then the more you will be shown even more extreme content. This also feeds into content creation - why do you think Alex Jones got rich? He doesn't actually *believe* what he says.

With no algorithms or advertising on Mastodon there's no self-reinforcing positive feedback. We only see the content promoted by people who we follow. This makes it a MUCH nicer environment.

The benefits of Mastodon are far wider. The nastier parts of the media rely on this feedback for their incomes. Distributed ad-free computing effectively robs Murdoch and other right-wingers like the Kochs, The Daily Mail, Alex Jones, Dan Wootton, Guy Pierce etc of their income stream from socially divisive content.

Without Twitter and Facebook the UK would probably have never left the EU. It was algorithmic amplification, exploited by Cambridge Analytica and Aaron Bank's £8M "donation" from some shady source that led to Brexit.

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Tom Foale boosted
David Friedman

I think all those “How to Mastodon” articles are going about it all wrong. They start by explaining federation and talking about how to choose a server. Yes that’s the first step but it’s also where we lose people. Just put that aside. Start by talking about how you use Mastodon, all the great apps, the culture, etc. Then end with the first step, that “all you have to do is pick a server to get started” and explain how. You have to hook a fish before you can reel it in.

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Tom Foale boosted
JohanVanCamp :damnified:

@grep_security “Since it reappeared, Emotet has evolved to become one of the most advanced malware-as-a-service (MaaS) infrastructures globally" - and it's delivered by email with malicious attachments and URL's. Hence "Threat actors commonly use email to
proliferate malware, spam and phishing attacks, so it’s important to protect email privacy and integrity."

The joyful and innocent days of 'late '90s email usage are long gone, in case you hadn't noticed... #infosec #emotet #email

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Tom Foale boosted
@fascinatorfun@mastodon.green

Melon Head’s gonna prove his own lies. 

On one hand this site is too boring for anyone who matters (in his view) to come here and chat.

On the other hand he runs around like a headless chicken trying to block links & signposts to this site like a game of whack-a-mole, libellous suggesting our legitimate messages are malware..

and then, finally, sticks up a message alluding to this site without mentioning the name in case it advertises it.

What a wuzz

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Tom Foale boosted
Taylor Lorenz

Earlier today Elon Musk said that my ban was temporary, 45 min later he denied my appeal to reinstate my account and confirmed that I am *permanently* banned. The email I just received says the decision cannot be reversed.
I have never once violated Twitters rules or terms of service. I’ve never had a single tweet flagged, my account was permanently banned with no warning and with no reason, after I reached out to Musk for comment.
#twittermigration #twitterexodus #twitter #tech #news #technews

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Tom Foale

@fractals it's good, very user-friendly.

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Tom Foale boosted
Marion Dunford

RT @supertanskiii@twitter.com

Nurses didn’t strike under Labour.

If Labour win the next election they’ll scrap non dom status to fix an NHS deliberately destroyed by the Tories.

The reverential bought press and corrupt government are both losing their grip.

Britain is with the strikers.

#NursesStrike

🐦🔗: twitter.com/supertanskiii/stat

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Tom Foale boosted
@fascinatorfun@mastodon.green

Long Covid - POTS. Photo evidence 

Dr Alba Azola on the birdsite

“This is a #LongCovid patient during 10 min stand test in clinic today. #MedTwitter tell me again how anxiety explains this physical exam finding ? #POTS since SARS CoV 2 in August 2020, dozens of doctors visits and no treatment offered until today. WE MUST DO BETTER!”

# LongCovid #POTS

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Tom Foale boosted
@fascinatorfun@mastodon.green

Free Speech. Journalists suspended from the Birdsite 🧵 

@drewharwell

13/. “ The suspensions made clear that, with the self-styled “free speech absolutist” at the helm, Twitter users are now subject to arbitrary censorship based on his whims. It all started when Musk suspended @ElonJet, an account that automatically tweeted the location of Musk’s personal private jet, using public flight information, along with college sophomore Jack Sweeney, who created that account.”

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Tom Foale boosted
d a t green

It is now "unsafe" to click on a Mastodon link on Twitter.

Even if that link is in your Twitter bio.

There is no good reason for this anti-competitive behaviour.

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Tom Foale

@economist_bot With what? Pushbikes?

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Tom Foale boosted
The Economist

Referenced link: economist.com/ukraines-fateful
Discuss on discu.eu/q/https://www.economi

Originally posted by The Economist / @TheEconomist@twitter.com: twitter.com/TheEconomist/statu

Ukraine’s top soldier predicts another Russian assault on Kyiv, perhaps as soon as January economist.com/ukraines-fateful

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Tom Foale boosted
Char

Our Kiwi Prime Minister was caught mumbling under her breath, calling the Right Wing opposition leader an “Arrogant Prick”. Tbh, she’s not wrong, but I’m glad both sides of our Democratic parliament can laugh about it & agree to put the “historic” oopsie towards a good cause 😅👏🏻 #NZpol #JacindaArdern #NewZealand #Politics #humor

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Tom Foale boosted
Chris Kendall

Just past midday and we’re probably at peak generation, pulling down around 2kW, recharging the battery for use once the sun goes down, and even sending some surplus to the grid. It’s 15 December! In latitude 52° north! #solar #renewables ☀️⚡️🔋

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Tom Foale

@economist_bot
Rather less than the Tory Party then.

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Tom Foale boosted
Dr Charles Tannock

@David_K_Clark Who can blame them? Hard Brexit followed by the Supreme Court judicial verdict news the UK union is no longer by consent but at the discretion of English MPs and the UK government not the people of Scotland.

🐦🔗: n.respublicae.eu/CharlesTannoc

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Tom Foale boosted
John Conway

Remember friends, a dinosaur isn't just for Christmas. You should probably stop to think whether you should, even if you could.

But *if* you could, I've made this handy guide.

#dinosaurs #pets #guides #MisinformationGraphics

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Tom Foale boosted
Sean Jones KC

Channel deaths 

If you are not willing to provide asylum-seekers with a safe and efficient way to make a claim, expressions of sympathy at loss of life are empty. An hour's pause in your efforts to use escalating cruelty as a deterrent is meaningless.

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