Posts by foolishowl@social.coop
(DIR) Post #AyL0jCIgJzPU5c6rAm by foolishowl@social.coop
2025-09-18T17:45:47Z
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@futurebird My impression is that at least in the US, the radical left took up "free speech" for strategic reasons in the early 20th century, in legal fights that were secondary to the material struggles.It's not that the radical left wasn't in favor of freedom of thought, but that legalism and abstract rights were always profoundly hypocritical and untrustworthy.The legal fights were to buy time to get agitators and printing presses out of the reach of cops.
(DIR) Post #AyRX4zDzymZHOB7236 by foolishowl@social.coop
2025-09-21T19:54:53Z
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@cstross I'd thought that a shortcoming of that thought experiment was that it conceded too much by accepting that the Chinese Room would produce sentences that didn't quickly turn to gibberish. And even just a few years ago, we were laughing at the image generators that would put dog's faces in everything.But I was wrong about that, and Searle did well to concede that.I still have my criticisms of Searle, but I think his arguments against "strong AI" were fundamentally correct.
(DIR) Post #AyRaGDwRtzmu53xC0O by foolishowl@social.coop
2025-09-21T21:37:24Z
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@cy @cstross No, absolutely not. Our brains are not dictionaries.I usually think of Wittgenstein in this connection, how he broke with the project of analytic philosophy to find a logical basis to language, because that's a misunderstanding of meaning. Meaning comes from the experience of agency, and agency is the fundamental distinguishing characteristic of life.You don't end with achieving agency, you start with agency, and technocrats are opposed to agency.
(DIR) Post #AyT5gly9Iqf8sgqeVU by foolishowl@social.coop
2025-09-22T09:49:33Z
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@cstross @cy It seems like if I accepted your definition of life, I would acknowledge that prions and the DNA within bacteria are alive, rather than that I should acknowledge that life is defined by copying information into the future, as is made obvious by prions and DNA.Anyway, I have no non-circular argument in favor of my definition, I just feel it's intuitively obvious, and that usually doesn't go over well in biology or philosophy class.But that's not why I bring it up anyway.
(DIR) Post #AyT5gmpg5pTrYhtOwS by foolishowl@social.coop
2025-09-22T10:03:44Z
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@cstross @cy The reason I bring it up is that it seems to me that a bacterium has a quality that a complex LLM does not have, and that I don't see a reason why a bigger and more complex LLM would have it.
(DIR) Post #AydtOKKJ5Jw2dgpx1k by foolishowl@social.coop
2025-09-27T20:11:33Z
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We had the first part of a Session Zero today. We ran low on time, and had some technical issues. But we were doing some collaborative worldbuilding with #Downcrawl2E, and we were pretty well in sync with the vibe, so it was was quite a bit of fun.#TTRPG
(DIR) Post #AydwqohU35ugoRxENU by foolishowl@social.coop
2025-09-27T20:50:16Z
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@cy Huh. I've been using Jitsi with Waterfox, and it worked, without an error message. At least on Linux, I know the audio stack is a tangled mess and I've been lucky.Anyway, if there's a voice chat tool that you know works for you, we can try that.
(DIR) Post #AydxsEVjfgqF6ehMxs by foolishowl@social.coop
2025-09-27T21:10:09Z
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@cy Yeah, my memory of using mumble on desktop is that it walks you through calibration the first time, but then you know it works.Anyway, I'd suggested mumble first, so I'm happy suggesting it again. I'll just have to find something to work as a whiteboard.
(DIR) Post #AypkRV7epnSRIgsVfc by foolishowl@social.coop
2025-10-03T13:39:24Z
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@futurebird I haven't been pressured myself, as I'm a contract worker, but the direct employees are required to go through several hours of training on "AI", despite the fact we don't use it at all.
(DIR) Post #AzqjfPl3oUd0qs0ano by foolishowl@social.coop
2025-11-02T22:57:28Z
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@futurebird I'd add that I've been on SNAP benefits a few times in the last few years, and I'd expect to apply for them in a few weeks if they're available again. I'm a contract worker and go back and forth between middle income when employed to long periods of unemployment.
(DIR) Post #B0BMiydsi8rP2I7GQC by foolishowl@social.coop
2025-11-12T21:49:14Z
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@futurebird My partner thought it was important to get an antenna and pick up broadcast TV, but aside from testing the antenna, we've never watched broadcast. Nor cable. Only streaming.
(DIR) Post #B0GyPnZQCliwvhPUoa by foolishowl@social.coop
2025-11-15T14:34:03Z
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The reason Mozilla ignores what Firefox users want is that 81% of Mozilla's funding comes from Google. Mozilla doesn't care what users want, it cares what Google wants.
(DIR) Post #B0GyPw8oL4mlVm1s5Q by foolishowl@social.coop
2025-11-15T14:40:55Z
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Sorry, 85%.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Corporation#Finances
(DIR) Post #B0QC7Eqe5BKQMdpOCW by foolishowl@social.coop
2025-11-19T23:08:12Z
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I usually avoid referring directly to former employers by name, but I'm making an exception.Fuck you, Pyramid Consulting.They sent me a recruitment email for a job as a network administrator for $16/hour. That's a job that usually gets around $40-50 per hour.The minimum wage in the area is $16.30. They previously pitched a job for $15/hour, well less than minimum wage.They've been texting me, demanding I call in to an "AI" interviewer for screening.
(DIR) Post #B0xZJxBrJQPzI0WGY4 by foolishowl@social.coop
2025-12-06T03:56:39Z
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@futurebird It's such blatant lying.
(DIR) Post #B1eiwsr2t5HIzNSD3Y by foolishowl@social.coop
2025-12-26T23:30:40Z
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@futurebird I have an urge to check on my dice collection for some reason.
(DIR) Post #B25eTvk2bDN437Llku by foolishowl@social.coop
2026-01-08T23:24:17Z
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@futurebird I'm fine with larger if it gives more space to buttons, allows for replaceable batteries and additional storage, etc.
(DIR) Post #B27OFUDquMsphBIxN2 by foolishowl@social.coop
2026-01-09T16:39:51Z
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Everytime there's any outburst of public political dissent, a lot of nominal leftists condemn it as inadequate, too late, the wrong priority.(It's not as bad as the leftists who argue for reaching out to the right, but it's bad.)Speed, direction, mass, and position all matter.
(DIR) Post #B27QoHeVpow4koUlFo by foolishowl@social.coop
2026-01-09T19:55:42Z
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@Nimbius666 This is false, and exactly why I am no longer a Leninist.
(DIR) Post #B27VNJVNL2LES5BFHk by foolishowl@social.coop
2026-01-09T20:38:23Z
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@Nimbius666 "Leadership" is a contingent quality, not a permanent attribute of a person or organization. You can create an organization to do specific things but you can't create an organization of leaders in general.