Olives @olives@qoto.org

I suspect they do know, but they just don't care, or the people who are instigating this don't much care, and just want to go back to the 1700s.

Sometimes, I wonder if some facets of the religious right understands that "sexual orientation" is a scientific term, and not simply a label liberals use to say someone is a good person (someone treats someone with respect, rather, because of empathy / equality).

The manga / comic examples of book bans (or maybe, restrictions) are particularly relevant, because it's not just LGBT content (even if they clearly especially dislike that), it's a bunch of Karens going around censoring anything that they don't like.

That bodes very badly for free expression (if it wasn't bad enough already).

https://www.thepopverse.com/hamilton-east-public-library-banned-books-manga-superhero-comics Grr.

Book banning Karens are upset about popular comedic #manga "Assassination Classroom" at St. Tammany Parish Library and have lodged a complaint to try to get it removed.

Unforgivable attempt at censorship.

https://reason.com/2023/06/08/maines-legislature-passes-bill-to-partially-decriminalize-prostitution/
Apparently, Maine's legislature is partially decriminalizing prostitution, although they're still leaving many parts of the law intact making sex worker advocates unhappy.

They're also rebranding the prohibition on prostitution as a prohibition on "sexual exploitation" (a political ploy).

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/06/eff-and-allies-send-letters-senate-judiciary-opposing-bill-require-messaging I agree with the EFF.

The Cooper Davis Act is an awful bill which would have terrible implications for speech / privacy, under the guise of fighting the "war on drugs".

Apparently, Venezuela is a world leader in services for renting out farms of people to spammers to solve captchas.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06137-x Apparently, people are no less moral now than they were in the past.

It's really weird how someone from the E.U. reckons the U.S. is going to "ban" hate speech.

There's this little thing called the First Amendment (which protects a whole bunch of things, not just that) which would get in the way.

The world is not Europe (or more specifically, it's not Germany).

From what I remember, Facebook's algorithm for determining if someone is a "woman", therefore should be subject to greater censorship is really wonky.

For instance, if you have long hair, that means you are a woman.

Apparently, OpenAI is based in Utah. It certainly explains the puritanism and Karen streak.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jan/17/free-the-nipple-meta-facebook-instagram
"Meta’s oversight board has called for an overhaul to the company’s rules banning bare-chested images of women – but not men."
"Meta" might be sick enough to "equalize" that ban by banning that for both. Lol.

I don't know what they will do.

Obviously, everyone is hoping they'll make progress to unwind some of this puritanical censorship, although it is Facebook after all.

A scammer could probably just use a lower tech method (or pay someone in a third world country next to nothing) to type out a draft message.

They don't need a language model. That seems more like Sam trying to sell his brand.

Scammers also tend to focus more on gullible people, rather than someone who has their wits about them.

That's my view, at least.

Any technology can be abused, of course, but it's not worth living in fear of bad people doing bad things.

Also, always a "threat" which has no practical impact in reality and which someone can do a lot of works on to check a bunch of boxes.

Another wave of "AI threats" which are conveniently framed from Sam Altman's perspective, as are the "solutions" (centralized control?).

I seriously doubt censoring drugs in a video game has a real impact on drug markets.

I imagine the dynamics involved there are relatively independent from that. But, it is an annoying incursion on free expression and fun.

1) Video games are not linked to violence. The science shows this clearly.

One study even showed there is less violence after a game is released, presumably because people who'd be out committing crimes are instead preoccupied.

2) Come on, people are responsible and mature. They can handle a few pixels on a screen.

3) It's probably not even this. There are probably drugs or something in some obscure corner inside the game which is setting them off.

One title which is currently banned by the Australian Classification Board baffles me.

Dirty Wars: September 11

This is a historically themed game set during the Cold War in South America. It is essentially a political critique of Pinochet.

It does contain scenes of "torture" and "dead bodies, but come on, it's a video game.