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Patrick boosted

if a sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, is a sufficiently mundane technology indistinguishable from its context?

ex: nobody thinks of language as a technology but here we are with a decentralized system of overlapping transient protocols that we use to hack each other’s brains because we literally cannot imagine a society without communication

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@rivertzlec
Oh but material sciences is exciting, also without the link with biological systems, I think!

For instance, in our lab we are looking into novel ways of 3D printing. Filling up a 3D hull with a raster of precisely positioned medium is time consuming. Besides, no one cares about the exact layout of the inside (is it squares? honeycombs?), but its functional properties (how strong/heavy/... the print is). One way is to compute how the material is "curling up" naturally and what kind of properties a messy inside would give. That's a lot of computation for which right now we lack the domain knowledge about materials.

@rivertzlec
Oh no! What are you studying then?

There is always a way to combine your own field with any of the topics you mentioned. For me, AI and robotics are now at that stage that combining them with whatever field is pretty cool!

I work at a uni where w have a digital productions lab. The team is led by an architect, and has people from mechanical engineering, computer science, business administration and industrial design.

Patrick boosted

Programming isn't about what you know; it's about what you can figure out.

Every great developer you know got there by solving problems they were unqualified to solve until they actually did it.

Patrick boosted
Patrick boosted
Patrick boosted

a lot of people find web #accessibility a bit opaque and confusing, and as a result I've seen some well-meaning (but not always accurate) advice circulating. so to clear some things up (a thread)

Patrick boosted

At this point, I’m pretty sure that the tech industry uses “engagement” as a euphemism for “addiction.”

Patrick boosted

As Mastodon is growing, it becomes clear that many of the problems that we face in social media aren't solved by simply replacing monolithic corporate-owned infrastructure with a decentralized one. That - it seems - was the easy part. The hard problems appear to be sociological. How do you protect an individual from an angry mob? How do you find out if the mob's anger is justified or not? We can't hope to answer these questions with technology.

Patrick boosted

I'm *religious* about open source (I pray at the altar of St. Ignutius), but this is a practice I can get behind.

github.com/lerna/lerna/pull/16

Patrick boosted

I'm now getting DMs of support because people are afraid if they agree publicly they'll be harassed next. That's not a good atmosphere folks.

Patrick boosted

I have been asked to keep things short with a Content Warning. I apologize in advance, I won't be doing that here:

I am exceedingly upset that @wilw has more or less been chased off Mastodon.

He absolutely doesn't deserve to be treated badly, to be maligned, or abused. This admin who's banning Mr. Wheaton because of the actions of OTHER PEOPLE is, quite frankly, a total hashtag. I'm going to use Hashtag here as an insult, because honestly I can't think of anything else without swearing loudly.

I don't know the full story. I don't want to know the full story- because some dude, and it *doesn't matter who said dude is* just got bullied and harassed right off of a social network by toxic, garbage people.

And do not for a moment think that you are not garbage people, those who did this. You are. You are garbage. Rationalize your behavior however you want, but at the end of the day? You are a dumpster fire of a human being and you need to look at yourself good and close and do something about it because I don't want your toxicity poisoning the well any further.

Patrick boosted

For mastodon.social users:

Dogpiling and harassment are off-limits no matter how justified you think you are. The rules are for everyone.

Strongly considering adding screenshot-dunking to the code of conduct as well. We don't need that culture here.

@Surasanji @absolutus @freemo It feels hard to say that my life has been without even the mention of this film series until now! 😮

@commandelicious @Surasanji @freemo What is making you sad/angry? Something another person does?

I often wonder if 1. their saddening/angering actions could have been changed/prevented by myself, or 2. getting sad/angry is a way to change the situation. If any of that can be answered with yes, there is room for improvement.

If not, what help is it to get sad/angry?

Patrick boosted

I can't believe guns are legal in California but nunchucks aren't. something like 4 Americans a year get shot by their *dog*. I have yet to hear of a dog nunchucking a guy to death. that would have to be one badass dog

@Surasanji @absolutus @freemo would "be excellent" have the same connotations and incentive tone?

@freemo would you also suggest to add a non judgemental question to invoke a gentle discussion when using the hashtag?

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