Sasha Akhavi @sakhavi@qoto.org
Reasonably happy almost all the time, somehow. Extremely lucky father & husband; 20+ year software veteran / exec now studying the software industry as Ph.D @York University Science and Technology Studies. Blog at https://sakhavi.wordpress.com
Joined Oct 2022
"[A]n adviser to #Zelensky said Moscow residents deserved whatever came at them"
"[R]esidents of Russia’s capital experienced direct consequences of their nation’s hostilities for the first time."
NOPE. These are civilians. Noncombatants. Targeting them on purpose is a war crime when #Russia does it to Ukraine and a war crime when it's done to Russians. #Ukraine denies responsibility, so, fine, but simultaneously saying they "deserve" it forfeits all moral authority. F*** that.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/05/30/moscow-drones-kyiv-russia-counteroffensive/
Sasha Akhavi
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Can we talk about the phrase "top AI researchers" and how it devalues the expertise of anyone whose primary focus isn't on the internals of the systems themselves?
Started reading this piece thinking, “Well, that’s one thing I would totally do if I had millions of dollars.” Ended up thinking “I hate all these artists.”
From: @jamesshore
https://mastodon.online/@jamesshore/110455683671448245
Sasha Akhavi
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When your business model relies on theft and you don't like proposed regulations that would expose that theft ... that's a pretty good sign the regulations are on the right track.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/25/23737116/openai-ai-regulation-eu-ai-act-cease-operating
Sasha Akhavi
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📢NEW ARTICLE!!!
In which I connect Charles Babbage & his 19th c. blueprints for digital computation to industrial labor control & the creation of a regime of denigrated, disciplined "free" labor.
All of which has its roots in plantation slavery. 1/
https://logicmag.io/supa-dupa-skies/origin-stories-plantations-computers-and-industrial-control/
It would be really good to get a definition of “knowing Thai” means in this context. Is it the ability to relate Thai words to pictures, past experiences, words in other languages? Is that how we’d know if a machine actually “learned Thai?” Is it sth else?
From: @jeffjarvis
https://mastodon.social/@jeffjarvis/110430928766253954
Sasha Akhavi
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@ct_bergstrom @emilymbender it would be useful to have a definition of “learning Thai” here. How will we know if an agent has learned Thai — is it when they can relate Thai words to pictures, past experiences, and words in other languages?
@PavelASamsonov You add the updog; I’ll add the butfor.
"The ruling attracted widespread criticism from industry representatives, who said it creates legal uncertainty for many companies who commonly transfer data across international waters."
What uncertainty? It's now certain that what Meta did broke European privacy laws. What you mean is that it creates a *problem* for companies who have come to rely on doing this now clearly illegal thing. #meta #privacy #europeanunion
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/05/22/meta-fined-eu-facebook-data-privacy/
@PavelASamsonov almost a perfect metaphor: hard-coded links to your local environment don’t work in production.
My mom passed away
@actualham I’m so sorry, Robin. Love to you.
Sasha Akhavi
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The most important social media question for academics right now is: how are we going to create networking opportunities for junior scholars as Twitter declines?
That's why I'm so impressed with #AoIR , the Association of Internet Researchers, who are offering scholars a Mastodon account as part of membership at https://aoir.social/about
This is amazing! It seems like the headline’s assertion that it could “recast history” is no hyperbole. https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2023/05/20/mayan-civilization-pyramid-discoveries-guatemala/
Sasha Akhavi
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I think many see comparisons of this moment for trans Americans to genocide as a hyperbolic attempt to reach ppl emotionally, and what I want to describe in this thread is that yes, we're trying you reach you emotionally, but it's also as clear a description as we can give.
In TX, authorities are going after trans children's medical records. Based on that, families are trying to decide whether they should flee because they're worried the state might put them in jail.
Sasha Akhavi
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***** When Google Doesn't Care *****
Why am I pushing a "Users' Bill of Account Rights" now? While this does not apply only to #Google, I frankly am deeply tired of people coming to me desperate, pleading, for help trying to restore access to locked out Google accounts. Google won't respond to them. They ask who they can talk to? Who can they PAY? Personal and business emails, precious photos, files. They trusted Google. They followed the rules. They did nothing illegal. And they've lost access to everything. To Google, they're just in the noise at Google scale.
It's been this way at Google since the firms' start, but over the years Google has encouraged ordinary, nontechnical people to trust them more and more. And that usually works great, until something goes wrong.
Up to now, I've sometimes been able to informally help in these situations, via contacts at Google. But even that has become much more difficult. This is getting worse, not better.
Google has the resources -- money and smart minds -- to solve these problems. This is not rocket science, or even computer science. There are straightforward ways to make this far better for Google users otherwise locked out and left to swing in the wind. The sad fact is that Google simply don't consider them to rise to the level worth helping.
This must change now. -L
Sasha Akhavi
boosted
Reasonably happy almost all the time, somehow. Extremely lucky father & husband; 20+ year software veteran / exec now studying the software industry as Ph.D @York University Science and Technology Studies. Blog at https://sakhavi.wordpress.com
Joined Oct 2022
