ML2 @mathlover@qoto.org

I'm having a lot of fun here on Mathstodon. Here's an example.

Is the free idempotent rig on 2 generators finite? If so, how many elements does it have?

Morgan Rogers raised this issue, and after a bit of progress I posed it as a puzzle here. By now three people here have figured out the answer: @alexthecamel, @sgf and @gregeganSF!

The case of 3 generators is not just harder, it's conceptually more subtle. Read the whole story here:

https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2022/12/21/free-idempotent-rigs-and-monoids/

@atomicpoet that sucks. Web 3.0 can go and fuck right off.

@stux We need a warning displayed for instances not run by people but profit.

A warning: there's going to be a concerted effort to re-centralize the Fediverse.

As we've just seen with the acquisition of pawoo.net, that's already happening.

What are you going to do to thwart this trend?

Absolutely stunned that people I could have sworn were sensible are lining up to endorse Post as their preferred Twitter off-ramp. Because _these_ right-wing libertarian billionaire owners will behave totally differently, you see.

It’s not remotely the same in terms of moral consequence, but it really does feel like the Iraq war, in the sense that a bunch of us are going to wind up having been 100% right about this and it will nonetheless get us absolutely zero extra credibility.

Asker-Zade, 35, is one of Vladimir Putin's key allies and is the girlfriend of the despot's private banker Andrey Kostin, whose business and personal life has also been restricted for his role as Putin's "piggy bank".

She’s sanctioned by Canada and the U.K.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/elon-musk-caught-rubbing-shoulders-28770636?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar

The link between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg?

Peter Thiel.

Both Peter Thiel and Elon Musk are Co-Founders of PayPal.

Peter Thiel then became one of Facebook's first and primary funders, and until recently sat on their Board of Directors.

Also: Peter Thiel was one of Donald Trump's biggest donators.

And he runs a super sketchy company called Palantir that empowers ICE.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54348456

Whenever someone indicates that Mark Zuckerberg is in any way trustworthy, I come back to this famous conversation he had while he was a student at Harvard.

TL;DR: "They 'trust me'. Dumb fucks."

Another day, another "for the children" bill being pushed for the omnibus.

This time it's COPPA 2.0, which thoughtlessly extends a framework that makes sense for little kids, to teens as well.

That's a problem. Kids use a pretty small segment of the Internet. But teen use of online services overlaps largely with adults'. Congress should pass a comprehensive privacy law, not this last-ditch effort.

@TechFreedom explains: https://techfreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Letter_-COPPA-2.0-12.2022.pdf

No, Mark Zuckerberg is not "better" than Elon Musk -- he's worse.

Elon Musk mildly inconveniences all of you by acting like a colossal manbaby.

However, Mark Zuckerberg deliberately acquired and funded mind-reading tech so he could monetize your private thoughts.

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/8/5/20750259/facebook-ai-mind-reading-brain-computer-interface

Meta actually demoed this mind-reading tech, which they planned on integrating with their smart glasses.

Now with all the terrible privacy abuses and surveillance capitalism that Mark Zuckerberg has built into Meta, this is downright evil. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/18/facebook-shows-off-mind-reading-technology.html

Just found another VC on Mastodon: @rogermcnamee

He was an early Facebook investor, but eventually became a big detractor culminating in a book he wrote entitled "Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe"

Everything I read regarding Roger indicates that he's regretful about his role in validating surveillance capitalism.

However, I am also curious about whether Roger believes in the power of decentralized social media.