Show newer
ceoln boosted
ceoln boosted

In the 10th century, Persian traveler Buzurg ibn Shahriyar wrote in his book about a jinn market located in Kashmir.

According to local informants the jinn marketplace was located in luscious gardens among running streams. The jinn could be heard around the gardens buying and selling, but no one ever saw them.

Sadly he doesn't record more than that. Even though, it sounds like a fascinating setting for a story. 🧞 🧞‍♀️

#FolktaleMoment #histodon #folklore #mythology #WyrdWednesday #storytelling

@gabe
"stray"? I don't remember what I meant to type there. O.o Perhaps "strange"...

ceoln boosted

Like I get capitalism makes us "need" money. But kids, please...get the idea that money has any real value out of your head.

If you don't believe me, read "Debt" by David Graeber. Shit will blow your mind.

Here y'all go: theanarchistlibrary.org/librar

Show thread
ceoln boosted

👀 #TIL Monopoly wasn't invented by the Parker Brothers, nor the man they gave it credit for. In 1904, Monopoly was originally called The Landlord's Game, and was invented by a radical woman. Elizabeth Magie's original game had not one, but two sets of rules to choose from.
One was called "Prosperity", where every player won money anytime another gained a property. And the game was won by everyone playing only when the person with the least doubled their resources. A game of collaboration and social good.
The second set of rules was called "Monopoly", where players succeeded by taking properties and rent from those with less luck rolling the dice. The winner was the person who used their power to eliminate everyone else.
Magie's mission was to teach us how different we feel when playing Prosperity vs Monopoly, hoping that it would one day change national policies.
When the Parker Bros adopted the game, they erased the "Prosperity" rules and celebrated "Monopoly".
#ElizabethMagie #Monopoly #Landlord
HT Tumblr.com/soberscientistlife

ceoln boosted

Give a man a fish, and Republicans immediately blame you for inflation. Teach a man to fish, and they call you a woke Marxist and pass a law banning Fishing Studies.

ceoln boosted

Am I misunderstanding something?

This appears to be a stunningly irresponsible story in Science, claiming that up to 30% of the scientific literature is fake.

science.org/content/article/fa

Below, the first two paragraphs of the story.

h/t @Hoch

ceoln boosted

Jordan Neely was a person.

Our society left him stranded, and, because of his desperation and our warped priorities, his existence filled people not with sympathy but with fear. Then he was killed, and that is a tragedy, because he was a person.

I’m saying obvious things, because they’re clearly not obvious to everyone.

Not just that Neely’s death was a tragedy, but that he was a person.

These are controversial propositions.

I know, because there is a controversy.

armoxon.substack.com/p/jordan-

@bibliolater
A very interesting point (that when an LLM gets very good at predicting continuations, it may do it by developing things that look a lot like mental models) expressed really badly.

"Doing things they were not trained to do" is an utterly misleading way of describing the situation. They weren't trained to do any specific thing at all, except produce plausible continuations. Anything that that implies, from writing a bland thank-you letter to urging a reporter to leave his wife, is to exactly the same extent "something it was not trained to do".

This kind of wording just encourages people to have inaccurate ideas about how LLMs actually work.

Grumble grumble! :)

ceoln boosted
ceoln boosted
ceoln boosted

"Within a few months, things turned very sour. Rousseau wrote hateful letters to Hume accusing him of having plotted for his disgrace and humiliation by way of petty torments." adamsmithworks.org/speakings/k
@histodons

Source: twitter.com/adamsmithworks/sta

ceoln boosted
ceoln boosted

When they ask you
(and they will ask you)
why you still insist
on taking precautions
now that the emergency
has officially ended
reply by telling them
that you did not need
an emergency declaration
to make you believe
that we have an obligation
to try to protect one another.

ceoln boosted

The Fediverse is full of creative people. It is incredibly inspiring.
I love it so much!

You creators and dreamers and designers and artists and musicians and poets and beautiful souls.

Have a great weekend!
I love all of you!

ceoln boosted
ceoln boosted

One of the many things I enjoy tremendously about Mastodon is the sheer mind-boggling variety of reactions to posts. If I post the sentence, "The dirt is very clumpy in my backyard today," people will discuss clumps, favorite backyards, climate change ... and then inevitably, somebody will eventually ask, "What is dirt?" I mean, it's not a bad question. Just not what I'd have expected.

ceoln boosted

Tonight I spoke at an AAPI event and mentioned America's history of anti-Asian discrimination—including the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Asiatic Exclusion League, & Koramatsu & Japanese Camps.

Afterwards an older gentlemen approached me and said, "Thank you for reminding everyone the US Govt locked Japanese Americans in camps. I know—because I was born in those camps. I carry that with me til this day."

I was left in awe. A reminder—this isn't ancient history folks. It's contemporary reality.

ceoln boosted

What should I dream about? I will abide by the results of this poll.

#StableDiffusion #AIArt #AIGenerated #AI #GenerativeAI #GenerativeArt

ceoln boosted
Show older
Qoto Mastodon

QOTO: Question Others to Teach Ourselves
An inclusive, Academic Freedom, instance
All cultures welcome.
Hate speech and harassment strictly forbidden.