Mettaben @mettaben@qoto.org
Joined Sep 2020
Mettaben
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"[O]ne of Hollywood’s greatest tricks has been convincing the creators, whom Hollywood itself is exploiting, that the copyright tool they’re using for said exploitation is in the interest of artists." - @mmasnick
https://www.techdirt.com/2023/07/19/stop-rushing-to-copyright-as-a-tool-to-solve-the-problems-of-ai/
Mettaben
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I actually think is a good thing Twitter is no longer a thing because now it's easier to mourn it for what it was instead of what it has become. This gives us closure people!
Green Party folks seem to be fired up. Cornel West is the best candidate they've had in several election cycles, maybe ever. He is a spiritual man, a moral Christian, in a way that both major parties wandered away from long ago. Unlike the duopoly candidates, he is a genuine scholar and an intellectual. Most importantly, he is driven by the context of a struggle in the tradition of Martin Luther King, Jr. Cornel West wants to continue down the path laid forth by MLK Jr before he was assassinated, particularly issues revolving around economic justice.
#duopoly #trump #biden #CornelWest #GreenParty #election2024
https://www.wsj.com/articles/presidential-election-2024-biden-trump-2c1e9bcc?mod=hp_lead_pos1
As the powers that be get closer to seriously considering UBI, it's crucial that the public come up to speed on this topic as quickly as possible. This is a reasonably well produced video that could serve as an intro to the topic, but I wish it didn't open with citing the World Bank, and more or less conclude with Sam Altman. If we the people are going to see UBI implemented well we need to get involved and not just make it a debate amongst rich people, the AI ownership class.
As nearly the entirety of the continental US broils under a heat dome and the grim reality sets in that this is climate change, not weather, of course Hawai'i is going to look better and better. Why would you want to live anywhere where you have to be trapped in your air-conditioned house for days, weeks, maybe someday even months, barely able to go outside, even in the shade.
Watch out Hawai'i. The climate change refugees are coming.
Surprising nobody, if you are rich, you are significantly more likely to get in elite schools. If you are very poor, you have an extremely slight advantage. If you are between very poor and very rich.... tough luck kid, roll the dice better next time. Somebody has to pay the price for other people's advantages.
I really hope stats like these really put to bed the notion that getting into elite schools are even remotely close to meritocracy.
#EliteSchools #university #admissions #ClassWarfare #meritocracy
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/07/24/upshot/ivy-league-elite-college-admissions.html
Democrats are playing a dangerous game if they avoid debates. A significant number of Dem leaning voters are clearly not satisfied with Biden. With no debates, these voters will not feel heard, and even if a miniscule fraction of them in the end break ranks and vote third party, that could indeed swing the election into Trump's favor.
Democrats need to welcome more perspectives. Make a bigger tent. Allow left and right wings of their party to engage in an open and public exchange of ideas. And hopefully find a new unifying synthesis.
A debate within the minds of dem leaning voters will happen regardless.
The more RFK Jr and Marianne Williamson get suppressed by the party power brokers, the better Cornel West does and more likely Trump will ultimately win.
Mettaben
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Fear, loathing, and excitement as #Threads adopts open standard used by #Mastodon
https://www.wired.com/story/metas-threads-could-make-or-break-the-fediverse/
Emad Mostaque is a thoughtful guy and clearly has had enough vision of the future to build a successful AI company, but his prediction seems badly off the mark in this case.
The idea is that low level or junior programmers will soon be out of a job because of AI. He is not alone in making such predictions.
But reports of the death of junior programming profession or outsourced coders from India, etc, are greatly exaggerated.
(1) younger and more junior programmers typically embrace AI tools and methodologies. It's the older and more senior programmers who are more set in their ways and probably more at risk of obsolescence. I will also mention Indian coders I know are also eager and enthusiastic to integrate AI into their workflow.
(2) AI is helpful as a tool but circa 2023 it is not a full replacement for a human. Not even close. I use AI tools a lot in my job. If AI truly could replace humans we would have been doing it by now. To think it will suddenly get human level coding intelligence in just two years seems extremely "optimistic."
(3) again, I have to point out that folks who own AI companies have a financial incentive to over hype the future progress of AI. It helps drive attention and capital to the industry and their company in particular.
(4) just because I am *highly* skeptical of a 2 year time frame does not mean I don't think AI will ever catch up. It took decades of AI research before AlphaGo defeated humans in the game of go. In the longest time frames, I think most human professions as we know them are doomed and humanity needs to figure out an equitable and humane economic model like UBI sooner rather than later.
Only a small handful of offices have been successfully converted to housing even though there is a clear market demand for such a conversion on both the supply and demand side. The major hindrances cited:
(1) deep floor plans mean lack of natural light
(2) centralized plumbing and other utilities so retrofitting is very expensive
are exactly why offices are literally not fit for human habitation. Offices buildings were designed to help executives monitor and control cube farms at the absolute lowest cost possible. No sane person would want to live there, even taking into account the massive housing shortage. It'd be like living in a former dungeon.
Mettaben
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Many people may not be aware of this (which is why I am NOT hiding this behind a content warning), but human traffickers frequently use this tactic to kidnap women in the #UnitedStates 🇺🇸.
Never approach a child you see by themselves alone & call the cops instead. Sadly, I doubt this woman is in the state right now.
👉🏾 Police searching for woman who vanished after reporting child on side of Alabama interstate https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/police-searching-woman-vanished-after-reporting-child-side-101299308
Mettaben
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In Iran, journalism and the internet are restricted to the point where barely any news escapes.
So there's no wonder many people will ask this question.
WHO IS MAHMONIR?
She's the mother of murdered 9 year old Kian Pirfalak who has not been seen for weeks because she refuses to stop speaking this truth.
The Islamic Regime of Iran murdered her son.
@schruti maybe you are right and maybe you are wrong but how can you be so sure? The front is directly next to Russia. This is Russia's direct sphere of influence. Doesn't it seem just a little optimistic that Russia will be defeated by cluster bombs when nothing else has worked so far either? I mean, maybe we could try nerve gas next. That would save lives, right?
This was @TruthSandwich 's final parting shot. How they got that from anything I said is sad really. I really hope this is just one person and not indicative of the culture of Mastodon in general.
Well, i guess @TruthSandwich blocked me. Unfortunately, this is a very typical kind of interaction I've had with Democrats. I did my best to keep the conversation focused and polite. I answered their questions, and instead of answering mine, about the cluster bombs, they blocked me.
@TruthSandwich I'm not making excuses. I'm proud of my voting record. The Green party stands for nearly everything I believe in. Democrats, in contrast, send cluster bombs to Ukraine, as just the latest example. Are you proud of that?
@TruthSandwich I think what you are saying is an incredible simplification of the US political system. For one thing, I live in a state that is heavily dominated by a single political party. If I had voted red or blue, I would have literally been throwing my vote away. It would not have mattered even slightly. Instead, my vote for GP will be used in furtherance toward a very real and tangible goal: to help Green party get future ballot access.
@schruti (1) the actual dud rate is far higher than the advertised rate. (2) now we have two sides killing and maiming future children instead of just one side. How is this better? (3) are you assuming if the west uses cluster bombs that will end the war sooner? Instead of just dragging it out longer? The west does not have a great track record of winning every war it fights in.
@TruthSandwich I am not a Trumper. I'm new to Mastodon but on other social media I have a long history of opposing Trump. Every. Step. Of. The. Way.
Which is why it pains me when I see democrats acting in such a way as to make it very likely that Trump or the next Trump-like candidate will get elected again. And again. And again.
If the dems don't want to lose an election by a few 10's of thousands of votes there really is a simple solution: be less terrible. Don't take your left flank for granted.
@TruthSandwich sure, and how many did not vote at all? And how many would not have voted for Clinton under any circumstance? And how many democrats would be horrified to learn that in the early days deliberately Trump was boosted over the orher GOP candidates by the Clinton campaign in an attempt to create what they thought was a weak opposition candidate?
The democrats (and specifically the Clinton campaign) are directly responsible for getting Trump elected. But they will blame anybody but themselves.
Joined Sep 2020
