Michael Piotrowski @true_mxp@qoto.org

An example of how far we've come in processing power: These are the three workstations I used in the 1990s, a #CommodoreAmiga 4000, a SUN #Sparc 5, and a white boxed #Pentium running #NeXTSTEP 3.3, all running at the same time, at full speed, and I still can do other things. #retrocomputing

I wish people would understand that using a microphone for questions in a conference room is also a question of inclusivity.
Always some (mostly men) to say "it's OK I'll speak up" without waiting for the mike.

The really remarkable thing isn't just that #Microsoft has decided that the future of #search isn't links to relevant materials, but instead lengthy, florid paragraphs written by a #chatbot who happens to be a habitual liar - even more remarkable is that #Google agrees.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/16/tweedledumber/#easily-spooked

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Sure #AI can write a poem or park a car but there are mathematical problems that current computers will never solve.

“Even if a computer’s speed could reach the physical limit, computational hurdles remain due to the limits of algorithms.”

https://theconversation.com/limits-to-computing-a-computer-scientist-explains-why-even-in-the-age-of-ai-some-problems-are-just-too-difficult-191930

I wanted to write something like, "oh you don't say" but this is *actually* a brutal read

#science #metrics #evaluation

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/05390184221142218

Lacking in all the (vast) discussion of ChatGPT, Bing, et al: transparency about the degree of ad hoc human intervention in creating answers to frequently asked questions. How much is being hard-coded, in other words?

I suspect it’s much more than we know. https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/16/23602335/microsoft-bing-ai-testing-learnings-response

#DH​ers (and beyond)! We want to talk about #operationalisation, and invite submissions to a specific #workshop on the topic. The full #cfp can be found here: https://cretaverein.de/mmcc/cfp.html, abstracts need to be submitted by May 1st, workshop will be in September.

And if you'd like to dig into the social and political implications of BBS culture, you might click on...

📚 An essay based on excerpts from my book, "The Modem World: A Prehistory of Social Media," published in ISSUES in Science and Technology
https://issues.org/prehistory-social-media-modem-world-driscoll/

🥳 And a thrilling roundtable on the theme of "Imagining a Better Internet" with @tamigraph, Finn Brunton, @apdamegriff, Kat Brewster, Frances Corry
https://issues.org/imagining-better-internet-driscoll-forum/

Happy BBS DAY 2023! It's been 45 years since the creation of CBBS Chicago.

📻 Northern Public Radio published a nice piece about the legendary system https://www.northernpublicradio.org/education/2021-02-15/this-week-in-illinois-history-worlds-first-bbs-goes-live-feb-16-1978

📹 To hear the story from Ward and Randy, watch BBS: The Documentary by @textfiles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dddbe9OuJLU

🕸 Redditors are posting videos of themselves BBSing from all sorts of weird devices https://www.reddit.com/r/retrobattlestations/

📠 To light up a few boards yourself, check the Telnet BBS Guide https://www.telnetbbsguide.com/

MEDSCAPE article on NICE and Evusheld, with comment from me and others.

Owing to government & process delays, this committee was pushed back & back while COVID continued to mutate. By the time the committee met, almost a full year after the MHRA gave marketing authorisation for Evusheld it was no longer proven to work against the most recent variants

https://www.medscape.co.uk/viewarticle/nice-rejects-covid-drug-evusheld-nhs-use-2023a100038j

Bourse doctorale Henri Rieben 2023-2024 https://www.infoclio.ch/de/bourse-doctorale-henri-rieben-2023-2024?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #infocliojob

Are you studying #History or #ClassicalStudies? Do you want to share tools, methods, tips&tricks with fellow researchers? Fantastic! Join the #DHNB2023 online workshop "Exploring Digital Tools and Platforms for Individual Research of History and Antiquity" on March 9, 2023, 9 to 12 CET. Info and registration on the workshop website https://vlandau.notion.site/vlandau/Workshop-Exploring-Digital-Tools-and-Platforms-for-Individual-Research-of-History-and-Antiquity-2cc4fdf1d3ba420493fd39fcb0fb3bef

Apple Releases macOS Big Sur 11.7.4 With Fix for Safari Favorite Icons https://www.macrumors.com/2023/02/15/apple-releases-macos-big-sur-11-7-4/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

Do platforms like Uber, Upwork, Google, and Amazon represent a fundamental transformation of capitalism – or merely a digital form of neoliberalism?

In a recent publication in @BigDataSoc, I use regulation theory to answer this question. 🧵 1/

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20539517231153808