PJ @pj@qoto.org

If you want to know what someone's #character **really** is, watch them when they are in a position of #power:

>Bonhoeffer’s argument is that the more someone becomes part of the establishment, the less an individual they become. A charismatic, exciting outsider, bursting with intelligence and sensible policies, becomes imbecilic the moment he takes office. It’s as if, “slogans, catchwords and the like… have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being.”

https://bigthink.com/thinking/bonhoeffers-theory-stupidity-evil

Arvind Narayanan:
>Even with something as profound as the internet or search engines or smartphones, it’s turned out to be an adaptation, where we maximize the benefits and try to minimize the risks, rather than some kind of revolution. I don’t think large language models are even on that scale. There can potentially be massive shifts, benefits, and risks in many industries, but I cannot see a scenario where this is a “sky is falling” kind of issue.

https://themarkup.org/hello-world/2023/01/28/decoding-the-hype-about-ai

People are needlessly concerned that the unavoidable #misuse of #AI (language and visual) tools will "break the #information landscape". The quality and quantity of "fake news" and other published BS may increase but people with the #knowledge and #tools to distinguish between #reality and #fiction will always have the upper hand.

Humanity was in this situation of "disruptive innovation" many times in the past, and it somehow managed to grow up of it a little bit better than before.

Who says #passive is bad:

https://www.mainepublic.org/environment-and-outdoors/2023-01-25/this-maine-home-can-stay-70-degrees-without-a-furnace-even-when-its-freezing-outside

***Six Misconceptions About #Misinformation***

>1. Misinformation is just a social media problem
2. The internet is rife with misinformation
3. Falsehoods spread faster than the truth
4. People believe everything they see on the internet
5. A large number of people are misinformed
6. Misinformation has a strong influence on people’s behavior

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20563051221150412

Interesting exercise. I've got the rabbit sitting on top of a tree wrong. 9 out of 10, not bad 😎

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-15/quiz-artwork-artificial-intelligence-human-dalle-2-open-ai/101734522

>The best things in #life we don’t choose — they choose us. A great love, a great calling, a great illumination — they happen unto us, like light falling upon that which is lit. We have given a name to these unbidden greatnesses — #genius, from the Latin for “spirit,” denoting the spirit of a universe we can only submit to but cannot govern.

https://www.themarginalian.org/2023/01/21/emerson-genius-shakespeare

>For subjectivists #life is meaningful, they say, but its value is made by us in our minds, and subject to change over time. Landau argues that #meaning is essentially a sense of worth which we may all derive in a different way - from relationships, creativity, accomplishment in a given field, or generosity, among other possibilities

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-secret-to-a-meaningful-life-is-simpler-than-you-think

I feel something is wrong with this line of reasoning but I can't quite put my finger on it.

It has something to do with the flawed assumption that it is social media that "rips the fabric of civil society".🤔 What about the effects of the growing #inequality between the rich becoming wealthier and the poor even more impoverished?

#SocialMedia, despite all its flaws, is actually the only democratic tool able to increase global awareness about the fact that such economic inequalities, despite being a global phenomenon do not originate from some "others" (race, nation, religion), but from your very "own people".

The excerpt is from:
https://www.eurasiagroup.net/issues/top-risks-2023

Lots of interesting articles in this issue of ***Collective Intelligence***

https://journals.sagepub.com/articles/COL

Do you agree with #Plato that
> *in a system where political power (‘cratos’) lies in the hands of the people (‘demos’) statecraft is not guaranteed? In fact, it is unlikely, that those best equipped to rule will get a chance to manage public affairs because the loudest voices will dominate, irrational, ill-motivated decisions will be made and the complex arena of politics is in need of careful ordering and management will turn into a crazy circus.*
https://philosophynow.org/issues/101/The_Ship_of_Fools

The follow-up to this bit:

>**Bezos**: "I'm going to space so you can go to space one day"

>**Me**: "I don't want to go to space. I want to go to Italy. Can you work on that?"

https://twitter.com/i/status/1473386289424650244

The exciting future of #energy is in Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)

➡️ Along with solar, wind, and water, more #diversity in the used technologies means better overall performance and #robustness.
➡️ Simpler #distribution with local clean and small-footprint #production means there is no need for long unsightly power-lines
➡️ Better #safety (smaller reactors and energy outputs means also smaller consequences of possible failure.

I'm waiting for the model below to install on my 1983 DeLorean😀:

https://spectrum.ieee.org/small-modular-reactors

**Radio Paradise** is having a party and you are invited:
***New Year's Eve VR Live Stream***
https://radioparadise.com/blog/new-years-eve-vr-livestream

I believe none of the stated *reasons* for revisiting "#Darwin'sDangerousIdea" in this most-read Guardian article of 2022 will have any effect on how "#ModernSynthesis" explains #Evolution.

For example:

1️⃣ "The study of the way *organisms alter their environment* in order to reduce the normal pressure of natural selection – think of beavers building dams" only shows that #NaturalSelection favors beavers *genetically programmed* to build better dams.

2️⃣ "The *Senegal bichir* adapting to land in a single generation” and *dung beetles* growing larger wings in cold weather only show the co-producing relationship between *nature* and *nurture* and the known fact that the ***same*** set of genes (*genotype*) will produce slightly different *phenotypes* in different environments. It surely does not explain *speciation*.

and lastly

3️⃣ I really don't see the difference between passing to the next generation randomly as opposed to artificially induced *mutations*. Natural selection will *"weed out"* one **and** the other the same way.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jun/28/do-we-need-a-new-theory-of-evolution

Just listening on
https://radioparadise.com/home
Beautifully weird

https://youtu.be/xNaDghdfo9g

I see there is a "Show replies" in the settings but it doesn't seem to work.
I see only toots that are boosted. Anyone?

I'm less interested in toots people I follow have boosted than I'm interested in some of their replies to other threads that I can find only if I go and check their profiles one by one. Is there a switch for fine tuning what appears in the timeline?

Is #Technology #ValueNeutral?

I would say YES because anything can be used either for good or for evil. Here is an interesting article that argues the opposite. Not sure how successfully though:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0162243919900965