Post B2PcKAEZY2BVM12qFE by baldur@toot.cafe
 (DIR) More posts by baldur@toot.cafe
 (DIR) Post #B2PSYC8WGxuFlbGVmq by baldur@toot.cafe
       2026-01-18T12:42:38Z
       
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       I stopped trying to debate software devs on LLMs a while back. Even if they could be budged on empirical grounds, they are explicitly fine with using tools that are themselves deeply unethicalDebating people who look past "chatbot psychosis", the dismantling of the education system, the gendered abuse, the generated CSAM images, the overt attacks on the media industries, or the ultra-right's glee about "AI", by showing them a well-constructed academic study is never going to work 1/n
       
 (DIR) Post #B2PSYDdkgKU2Qksy6i by baldur@toot.cafe
       2026-01-18T12:43:04Z
       
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       Anybody looking past "ICE is using LLMs as accountability sinks for waving extremists through their recruitment processes" won't be persuaded by a meaningful study. They're attempting to maintain their benefit by negotiating the level of "acceptable" abuse. Preventing abuse is not on their agenda
       
 (DIR) Post #B2PSYEvVtmHkQ8CfQm by baldur@toot.cafe
       2026-01-18T12:43:33Z
       
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       Most of them are up to their eyebrows in Cialdini-style cognitive traps and have completely lost sight of the fact that subjective experiences don't tell you anything about the effects on a system, organisation, industry, or community. Anything sensible will likely fall on deaf ears3/n
       
 (DIR) Post #B2PSYFwG8UTZYjYmES by baldur@toot.cafe
       2026-01-18T12:43:48Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       Nor do they seem to care, except in a performative way, that “AI” is designed to be an outright attack on labour and education, non-consensually using the works of those being attacked as the tools for dismantling their own communities and industries, all in overt collaboration with the ultra right4/n
       
 (DIR) Post #B2PSikC0VVI8HnvX1M by baldur@toot.cafe
       2026-01-18T12:44:08Z
       
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       Even if you disregard context—the political climate, hostility toward labour, attacks on education and media, the alienation increasing the risk of psychological episodes—these "systems thinkers" no longer seem to understand that software is a system built on the labour of thousands.5/n
       
 (DIR) Post #B2PSilw81VmJh8VsY4 by baldur@toot.cafe
       2026-01-18T12:44:26Z
       
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       Even if it were true that the effect for them personally is positive, that is objectively and manifestly not scaling up to system level. We can all see it. Software as an ecosystem has rapidly become less stable, less secure, worse designed and outright less productive for the end user.6/n
       
 (DIR) Post #B2PSinDtExa1gVpZs8 by baldur@toot.cafe
       2026-01-18T12:44:45Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       Shit is getting bad out in the actual software economy. Cash registers that have to be rebooted twice a day. Inventory systems that randomly drop orders. Claims forms filled with clearly “AI”-sourced half-finished localisation strings. I see more and more in the lives of people around me every day.7/n
       
 (DIR) Post #B2PcK7vM8VcoBq2T0y by baldur@toot.cafe
       2026-01-18T12:45:29Z
       
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       We all know why. The gigantic, impossible to review, pull requests. Commits that are all over the place. Tests that don't test anything. Dependencies that import literal malware. Undergraduate-level security issues. Incredibly verbose documentation completely disconnected from realitySenior engineers who have regressed to an undergraduate-level understanding of basic issues and don't spot beginner errors in their code, despite having "thoroughly reviewed" it. 8/n
       
 (DIR) Post #B2PcK9FxBPhAK0gQl6 by baldur@toot.cafe
       2026-01-18T12:45:48Z
       
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       Everybody being forced to use the tools to increase output even when they themselves don't think it's safe or rightThe software made by the software industry is getting substantially worse every month. The products are getting worse. The platforms are getting worse. The ecosystems are less safe. And the job environment is horrible. And it's happening faster and faster.9/n
       
 (DIR) Post #B2PcKAEZY2BVM12qFE by baldur@toot.cafe
       2026-01-18T12:46:13Z
       
       1 likes, 0 repeats
       
       Going all “but it works great for me” even as the industry burns around you and the “it” is a right-wing political project built on disregarding consent, being applied to dismantle public infrastructure and institutions, is fundamentally a dick move.And debating dicks is pointless./fin