Tom Foale @askquantum@qoto.org

One of Trump's biggest promises was to address the rising cost of living. But will he do anything to challenge the main source of high prices — corporations who have gobbled up their competitors and now have enough market power to keep prices high even as their costs have dropped? Of course not.

Corporate monopolies get rich, and we pay the tab. Keep the receipts.

We can live without Twitter but Twitter cannot live without us. It’s as simple as that.

Brands leaving Twitter is my new kink. https://x.com/_austrian/status/1851946174829281563

And yes, it’s their official account - they’ve removed it from their website but it was linked at the bottom, archive link for last month: https://web.archive.org/web/20241002041632/https://www.austrian.com/de/en/homepage

Even when Elon Musk has an alt account, he can be quite a Karen about it.

https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-stole-second-alt-account-twitter-1850376906

This is a great article. But I want to say don’t fall for “Researchers building AI outnumber those focused on safety by a 30-to-1 ratio, the Center for Humane Technology said at a recent presentation, underscoring the often lonely experience of voicing concerns in a large organization.”

The type of “AI safety” referred to is anything but. A bunch of white dudes who want to get $$ to “save humanity” the same exact way OpenAI described themselves when they were announced.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-04-19/google-bard-ai-chatbot-raises-ethical-concerns-from-employees?leadSource=uverify%20wall

"North Carolina’s law has proven no more effective in addressing sea level rise than Xerxes’ Thalassian flogging."

https://www.oldsaltblog.com/2023/04/update-unprecedented-sea-level-rise-defies-north-carolina-legislation/

There are two goals to this stupid verification thing:

1) Lower/remove the perceived credibility of journalists
2) Do puzzling/stupid things to make sure you stay in the news every day

It’s not about the money.

The bad folks understand that perception is reality to many.

Say you defend free speech enough to your base until they perceive you to be the protector. Wait a bit then dismantle it. Base won’t believe it to be true until it’s too late. Rinse/repeat w/ whatever fascist policy.

RT @TimothyDSnyder: Brief selections from and notes about the "Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine" released to the @UN_HRC, which recognizes Russian war crimes in Ukraine. 0/8

🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/VivianeRedingEU/status/1636489105667244033

If you're having problems with labour shortages there is this group of countries, let's call it a union, that have a setup that might help

Or you could try paying humans more.

Friends don’t let friends smoke Fox.
https://open.substack.com/pub/heidicuda/p/thank-you-for-not-smoking-fox?utm_source=direct&r=1tfo38&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

It's pretty neat to see @SteveBellovin on the Fediverse.

He's one of the inventors of Usenet.

"If you clapped us on the front line, support US on the picket lines"

Graffiti by @SlaveNationArt in London in support of the ongoing nurses strike

@GBNEWS @nigel_farage Always predictable ECHR would be in hard Brexiteer sights as you reject multilateralism & post WW2 institutional international governance. After ECHR will it be that UK must leave UN, NATO, OSCE, OECD next? It will inevitably lead to more UK conflict & end badly if you succeed!

🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/CharlesTannock/status/1626709875681116160

Please repost/like if you are someone in 2023 and still actively thinking about health risks related to airborne viruses in social places. I'd like to feel less lonely while still knowing that the pandemic is not over #CovidIsAirborne #CovidIsNotOver

Sunak refuses to even utter the word crisis. But how else to describe his first 100 days?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/02/rishi-sunak-crisis-100-days-nhs-strikes?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Old "30p Lee" #LeeAnderson is the deputy chairman of the Tory party.

He lashed out at food bank operators calling them "do-gooders". He's been mired in scandal, including setting up people to pretend to agree with him on a campaign doorstep, and criticising taking the knee.

He let slip that the #Tory strategy for the next general election is based on culture war topics and "the trans debate".

They can't win any other way.

Utter scum.

#ToriesOut

Seems like a good idea.

"States should maintain human control and involvement for all actions critical to informing and executing sovereign decisions concerning nuclear weapons employment."

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/02/responsible-use-of-ai-in-the-military-us-publishes-declaration-outlining-principles/

To sum up where the Fediverse is right now:

1. @EU_Commission backs it
2. The @w3c backs it
3. @fsf backs it
4. @eff backs it
5. Twitter Co-Founders @ev and @biz back it
7. Web browsers like @mozilla and @Vivaldi back it
8. Prominent 3rd party client devs like @paul back it
9. @gruber and @davew back it
10. @georgetakei back it

Am I missing anyone?

Oh yeah, YOU back it!

Elon Musk is really an imbecile, an idiot disguised in the persona of faux-brilliance.

This is not about cutting off an API.

This is about destroying any remaining shred of trust with the developer community. With trust gone, there is only a burning pile of, well, no developers.

He wanted to build an 'everything app.' The idea now is just LOL. What developer would dare to commit any time and effort to someone who has destroyed TRUST.

TRUST is everything. When its gone, it doesn't come back.