Posts by Hex@kolektiva.social
(DIR) Post #B6QdM4aZcSrG8AXABM by Hex@kolektiva.social
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Table top exercises (basically TTRPGs for government and business) can be used to test plans and refine plans without needing to actually experience a natural disaster, security event, etc. They're used by militaries to practice war. I've been part of such exercises to test incident response runbooks I've written.I've been reading a friend's thesis about Operational Art and Critical Philosophy in relation to revolutionary praxis. I wonder if anyone has ever run a table top exercise for an action (or for higher level strategy), and, if so, has anything they could share about it?While organizing with the Seattle GDC, our disaster prep group ran a table to exercise. We chose scenarios from a set of county exercises for local disaster preparedness. Our GM (who worked in public health at the time) had to modify it a lot to fit our use case, but it still gave us a lot of insight. Unfortunately, it was a number of years ago so I don't really remember the specific scenario or what came out of it.I did look back at some notes that I found, and we did suggest creating a D&D committee (partially just for conviviality). Reflecting on this in light of reading this thesis, I feel like we we're really on the mark.
(DIR) Post #B6QdM4qWf9cOvdzu2y by Hex@kolektiva.social
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We also talked about a "Chaos Monkey" exercise, where random people would be chosen to step out for a period of time to see how it impacts the organization. This really helps identify organizational over-reliance on people who could burn out/be arrested/otherwise be neutralized. It forces an organization to be more resilient because disruption becomes a normal thing that people must adapt to. When a real disruption happens, it's already something people have practiced for.
(DIR) Post #B6QdM53zr4OTbQIf2m by Hex@kolektiva.social
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Here are some notes I've found also (not ours, but I think we distilled some ideas from these):https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tz0mNWt01Fbc78m3waYzviM3exjDY2aj/viewThis is related to FEMA stuff.Edit:Apologies in advance for the google link. It's not our doc. But also, we did use google drive. I wouldn't do that today.
(DIR) Post #B6QdM5GP6wJoDu6ZNo by Hex@kolektiva.social
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Again, this is focused on community organizations that work directly with emergency management (police, fire, etc). But the ideas still work well (if not the execution) for all sorts of other types of orgs:https://cdn.kingcounty.gov/-/media/king-county/depts/dph/documents/safety-injury-prevention/emergency-preparedness/cre/cbo-tabletop-exercise-guide.pdf?rev=e9695770e3e2444ab635e2af14254dfc&hash=55894CC9A38E70249D494DF367FD6310
(DIR) Post #B6QdM5TALUWirU4lH6 by Hex@kolektiva.social
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Here are the scenarios from our 2018 meeting notes:- Cyber-attack- Earthquake (FEMA or KC)- Wind Storm/Power (KC)- Critical Power Failure- Pandemic Flu (KC)- Hurricane- Chemical AccidentI think we ultimately eliminated "Chemical Accident" as "not something we could do anything about" and "Pandemic Flu" as "too big." Funny that the last one turned out to be something that we had to take care of anyway.
(DIR) Post #B6QdM5fva2jdV42xAO by Hex@kolektiva.social
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Such exercises don't need to be grand though. They can be small. They can be for any domain. They can be organized by people with experience to help people who are new.A simple scenario of "you're at a protest" can branch off into "you hear blast balls and smell tear gas," "you see someone with a gun," "you see someone injured by police," or "a kettle is forming." Games can allow people with experience to transfer information in a highly effective way, a way that lets new people leverage their knowledge immediately but without risk.Other scenarios might be things like...- Someone tells you that your organization has been infiltrated by a right wing agitator- There's conflict between two members of your organization - An organizer goes missingWhat scenarios do you think activists and organizers should think about?
(DIR) Post #B6QdM6u90fhXJRhoxs by Hex@kolektiva.social
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For anyone in the Salish Sea region and thinking about disaster prep, the "Puget Sound: Regional Catastrophic Disaster Coordination Plan and Annexes" is probably worth reading also:https://mil.wa.gov/asset/5ba4211ba3e85That one is from 2012.The Puyallup tribe also created a climate change adaptation report, which is also useful for thinking about how climate change will impact the region (in this case, Tacoma):https://www.puyalluptribe-nsn.gov/wp-content/uploads/Puyallup-Climate-Change-Impact-Assessment_2016_July-13-v3-pagesV2.pdf
(DIR) Post #B6QdM7kxqHx5xGQ0IK by Hex@kolektiva.social
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Oh, here's one of our docs for anyone in PNW. It's incomplete (also, from 2018):Running list of disaster risks in the Pacific Northwest:EARTHQUAKE (Three main faults - Cascadia, Seattle, )PANDEMIC FLU (Global risk)Especially high in Seattle compared to many other large US cities due to the high number of international flights and international organizations based in the Seattle.STORMSHEAT WAVES Seattle lacks a familiarity with extreme heat. Less than half of people have air conditioning. Growing wealth inequity, homelessness, and addiction increases the risks posed by high temperatures.VOLCANIC ERUPTIONMount. Rainier. WILDFIRES & WILDFIRE SMOKE“Harvard University researchers, in collaboration with colleagues at Yale University, have created a watch list of hundreds of counties in the western United States at the highest risk of exposure to dangerous levels of pollution from wildfires in the coming decades. Among them, heavily populated counties such as San Francisco County, Calif., King County, Wash., Alameda County, Calif., and Contra Costa County, Calif., are projected to face the highest level of risk of wildfire smoke exposure in the coming decades.” [source]
(DIR) Post #B6QdM7x17TaqYe3d56 by Hex@kolektiva.social
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#Seattle folks who are interested in #DisasterPrep organizing might also be interested in the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods matching funds (closed for 2026, but thinking forward to 2027). We talked about getting grants, but I don't think we ever applied. https://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/community-grants/neighborhood-matching-fundGrants like this are available all over. #Amsterdam has one too. We don't have to do everything ourselves. It's OK to use money like this to build capacity if we can find good targets. At least, that's my take.
(DIR) Post #B6QdM9Ig6QVwk7CRU0 by Hex@kolektiva.social
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Oh, here it is (July 2018). It's nice that this report back didn't include any names or initials so I didn't need to sanitize it:Meeting Notes: Table-top exercise scenario topic was state and far-right repression. Responses:Strong networks require redundancy, so no one person is a social connection, skills, or resource gatekeeper. These people are often targeted by the state, and if they get burned out and leave, it also weakens and jeoprodizes groups. Ways to strengthen our networks:Mentoring/sharing responsibility. Creating a culture of mentorship and support so new people learn skills, take on responsibilities, and are introduced to other folks. Reducing burden on a few key people too. Chaos Monkey exercise: ask central people to step back from communications/organizing to see what happens.Regular check-ins! & Delegates check-in with new members they sign upAsk well connected folks to introduce people to build social redundancy.Gaming (D&D, board games, etc) committee could support a more fun, and socially robust network.Practical safety tool:Burner phone. Not everyone needs one, but good to have access to.TO DO LIST:Make regular announcements at each meeting for people to check-in with folks they know (especially those they haven’t heard from in awhile!)Start google doc for disaster preparedness zineWhy you should prepare (ideological argument)What people should have (the basics)How to prepareFrame as questions, so people can find the answer that best suits themselves.Such as “what are you preparing for?” Where do you spend most of your time? (home? Office? car?)Make it as easy as possible for folks to get the basics (list locations for supplies, etc.)
(DIR) Post #B6QdMB39b7HiAXx4Yy by Hex@kolektiva.social
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We never built the disaster prep zine, unfortunately. We did build a wildfire and smoke prep zine though, which was cool.
(DIR) Post #B6RdLuOdi1hHg3pjPc by Hex@kolektiva.social
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I'd like to remind anyone calling for a new Nürnberg Tribunal that the original one was only necessary because Germans didn't respond appropriately to the evil shit Nazis were doing, when they were doing it. The tribunals essentially asserted that the German people would have been justified in using any force necessary to stop the Nazis, and that all who didn't try to use such force were complicit.Sit with that for a bit and ponder the implications.
(DIR) Post #B6RdLvjajc3DpKdyi0 by Hex@kolektiva.social
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There were people then doing everything they could. Some of them survived, a lot of them didn't. They were heroes, and we should spend more time reflecting on their sacrifice and the bravery of their resistance.There are people today resisting. They are also heroes. We will never know all their names.If you are doing all you can, you are doing what you're supposed to do. Some of those people are also calling for new Nürnberg Tribunals. That's also worth keeping in mind.
(DIR) Post #B7wTiTWWGfntY28rgW by Hex@kolektiva.social
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The thing about training an #LLM on human culture and then renting that culture back isn't that it's "Intellectual Property Theft." There's nothing wrong with sharing. There is something wrong with framing LLMs as piracy. That's a completely different concept.When a powerful group of people takes the writing, the art, the music, various parts of a culture and then make some bland reproduction that lacks all the meaning and essence in the original, then those powerful people profit off that mess while the people who made the original stuff are erased, marginalized, and made to suffer, there is a different term for that.The term everyone is looking for is "appropriation."I'm not saying this is the same as other forms of cultural appropriation, but there are definitely enough shared elements that we should revisit that conversation. Perhaps some folks who thought the idea was silly when the idea first came up may feel differently now.
(DIR) Post #B7wTiVQZBmELS9N8gS by Hex@kolektiva.social
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I've always just really hated the framing of LLMs "stealing" culture. That's such a capitalist framing. But maybe I'm making a connection that's too abstract or doesn't feel aligned for people who have more direct experience. So if you have a more direct experience and this feels off, please let me know.
(DIR) Post #B8TQozFz8dFJEy41iq by Hex@kolektiva.social
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I keep seeing the "cars replaced horses" thing related to "AI."People keep comparing "AI" to cars (positively) without thinking about the fact that cars were forced on people (AAA bought up and destroyed tram lines, there were massive protests, etc), and are the primary driver of climate change that is currently on track to make complex human society impossible. Meanwhile, cities that weren't destroyed for cars, or that have reversed most of the damage, are some of the most desirable places to live.Maybe we could take the car analogy as a warning. Maybe it could be a reminder to think about how forcing technology on people against their will can reshape society in a profoundly negative way. The answer for cities has been to right-size transit. Eliminate cars wherever possible, maintain emergency vehicles and mobility aids, and find more efficient alternatives (bikes, trams, metros, and trains) where possible. I feel as though we can extrapolate from the metaphor.We do not have to repeat the mistake of reshaping society around a single, oversimplified, solution in order to benefit a tiny minority. Perhaps we can actually choose the right technologies based on use cases, rather than hype or dogma.Cars didn't replace horses. Cars replaced walkable cities, tram lines and mass transit, and children playing in the streets."Cars replaced horses" to the benefit of a small group of elite men, at tremendous cost to literally everyone else. When people say, "AI is the new 'cars replacing horses'" they are saying something very specific about their privilege and intentions.
(DIR) Post #B8TQp18GAKFr3aSsxU by Hex@kolektiva.social
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Some old white dude decided to jump all over yelling "Ackchyually, no one forced you to buy a car!!", and I'm just blocking. This shit is so easy to research. Like, yeah, people were forced to buy a car by minimum parking zoning that spread out cities, mass transit being (very intentionally) destroyed, and giant cars that murder people. There are actual laws that very intentionally made things worse, and then there's the intentionally created prisoner's dilemma of ever expanding car sizes.This shit is extremely easy to research. At this point I'm just assuming it's trolls or the type of people who would be like "but no one has *proved* smoking causes cancer" back in the 90's. Yeah, that was a thing, and they sounded *just fucking like these people today.*
(DIR) Post #B8jnopPjJYobNedNzs by Hex@kolektiva.social
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Move slow and fix things.
(DIR) Post #BAMWXZCgivKovPjRCa by Hex@kolektiva.social
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Let's actually talk about the "AI destroying the world" thing. One specific apocalypse scenario is the "paperclip maximizer" problem. The scenario goes that a super intelligence is tasked with maximizing the number of paperclips produced by a company. Because of a thing called "instrumental convergence," the AI kills all humans to prevent them from shutting it down, then it destroys everything else strip mining the Earth, etc.Basically, the intelligence doesn't understand the actual goal of helping people hold paper together and therefore calculates intermediate goals that violate the *implicit* goal in order to fulfill the *explicit* goal. The thing is, that's just capitalism. The whole AI scam is an example of this, where maximization of quarterly profit is an explicit goal and "destroying human civilization and most life on Earth through climate change" is a side effect of the "build as many datacenters as possible" subgoal. Capitalism has been an apocalypse manifesting malicious intelligence since we figured out that burning fossil fuels changes the climate, back in 1824.
(DIR) Post #BAMWXbwqWHRfR9LKQS by Hex@kolektiva.social
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The "Terminator" scenario is just the military industrial complex trying to maximize their profits. The "AI apocalypse" is just capitalism with extra steps. Capitalism is already doing it. Capitalism is already the AI apocalypse, and it isn't theoretical. It's been documented for 200 years.