Posts by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
(DIR) Post #B6oFV8rXqKDgFU3J7Q by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
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🇧🇴 This is what Bolivia's highways look like at the moment. Each town and village blocks their stretch, and the union members in each community take turns at the barricades. This is part of the general strike against Bolivia's neoliberalist government, now entering its third week. #Bolivia #Strike
(DIR) Post #B6oFVHuMDEoiIoRBFg by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
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Bolivia: Venceremos! #Bolivia #Strike
(DIR) Post #B6peVw11mlBYhpvGRk by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
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The man who wrote "Don't be evil" said he chose it specifically so it would be hard to remove. Paul Buchheit, the engineer who later built Gmail, suggested the phrase at a Google corporate values meeting on July 19, 2001.Then in early 2018, internal documents leaked showing that Google had signed a Pentagon contract to build AI to analyze drone footage. By April, over 3,000 Google employees had signed a letter to Sundar Pichai demanding the contract be cancelled.The letter specifically cited "Don't be evil" as the standard the company was failing to meet. Dozens of engineers resigned in protest.Sometime between late April and early May, the slogan disappeared from the code of conduct's preface. #Google #AI #Tech
(DIR) Post #B6q7dhl9ZPyJTlYSMy by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
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@NicelyManifest yes, and that reminds me of this bit by comedian Joe Fenti, that makes the point beautifully...
(DIR) Post #B6q7wijq9gSk170YVc by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
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@eobet Absolutely, Professor of Economics, Justin Wolfers, explains what happens when we let people or corporations, become too rich/too big... it all becomes about power."Economists call this diminishing marginal utility. The first dollars change your life. The billionth doesn't. So the argument stops being about consumption and starts being about power."
(DIR) Post #B7tRmJ7A90V8Uf0W0m by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
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The problem with Jeff Bezos' ideology is that it's based on a false premise. The idea that "6,000 years ago someone invented the plow" is based on a faulty belief that ancient humans functioned as individuals. They did not. Ancient humans were collectivist. Archeological evidence demonstrates that for hundreds of thousands of years, early humans congregated around communal gathering places, like the fire, and engaged in problem solving and passing on of shared learning down through generations. Additionally, the plow (and tools like it) were developed by humans in Mesopotamia, Europe, Egypt, East Asia, sub-Saharan Africa as well as other places - not in one place by one person. This is known as parallel development.Believing that the plow was invented by one 'genius' is like believing language was invented by one person. It is a silly myth and represents the projection of current moral standards onto past events. Collectivism is how we survived and progressed as a species. - Anthony Zenkus#Evolution
(DIR) Post #B7u6YwdmUEYR9F0lBA by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
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“Take Five” by the Dave Brubeck Quartet was recorded 67 years ago today. It went on to become the biggest-selling jazz single ever 🥳 Brubeck became known for his innovative use of unusual time signatures and blending jazz with classical music 🎶 His album "Time Out" became the first jazz album to sell over a million copies and is considered one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time 👏🏽 #Music #Jazz #DaveBrubeck
(DIR) Post #B7yLjg1T0dJ3CNQsNs by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
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This is good news!The scientists behind the new independent organization Climate.us are the same experts Trump fired because they were researching and reporting on climate change. Formerly NOAA’s http://Climate.gov, they didn’t disappear. They rebuilt.Now they’re independent and preserving climate data, outside of political interference, with public support and a team of volunteer scientists. #ClimateChange #GlobalWarming #Science #Research
(DIR) Post #B8Bb8TUyjbzBxlzwLQ by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
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"Every generation of Palestinians has been offered the same choice presented as a new "peace process."Accept less than the last offer.Sign a document legitimizing what was taken.Call it a "state" when it has no army, no contiguous territory, no control of its borders, no sovereignty over its airspace, no capital in the city that was promised.Call it "peace" when the settlements continue to expand during the negotiation.Call it a "partner" when that partner is chosen by the occupying power based on their willingness to police their own people on the occupier's behalf.And when the answer is no, the world nods gravely and says:They are "not ready for peace."They have never been offered peace.They have been offered the administrative language of peace wrapped around the continuing material reality of dispossession.It is the difference between a door and a painting of a door.You can talk about a painting of a door for decades.You cannot walk through it."- Sony Thăng, Analyst#Palestine
(DIR) Post #B8qHnLli0DZHKp2gCG by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
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Anthropic spent billions of dollars to slice the spines off millions of books, including very rare ones. AI companies are purchasing large quantities of used and rare books and scanning their contents to train LLMs. They then turn the originals to pulp.The sum of human thought, digitized and shredded. Every book that gets scanned disappears from the physical world permanently.Books that survived wars, fires, and centuries of handling are being shredded so an AI can learn to write a better marketing email.#AI #Books #Culture #Civilization #Tech #LLMs
(DIR) Post #B8qHnNlQaEX1WWvU2K by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
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This is the magnificent library Anthropic amassed, before destroying it because it gave them a legal copyright loophole. #Anthropic #AI #Books #Culture #Tech #LLMs #Civilization
(DIR) Post #B8wlRsIUIhSstjf3ia by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
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@Ayzacoder: Attention if you have a Gmail account:Google's AI now scans your emails and attachments, bank statements, tax files, medical letters, all of it. It turned on by default, and there's a class-action lawsuit over how.Here are 5 moves to shut it off, the switch is hidden in two places:#Google #Email #Privacy #AI
(DIR) Post #B8wlRuNWYwgLLw26qW by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
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1. The Main SwitchThis is the main setting Google shows you, but it's not the only one.Gmail (Desktop):⚙️ Settings → See all settings → Smart features and personalization → Uncheck "Turn on smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet" → Save Changes.#Google #Email #Privacy #AI
(DIR) Post #B8wlRvtouM6s4O9PpA by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
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2. The Hidden SwitchTurning off the first setting isn't enough. Most people stop there.On the same settings page: Google Workspace smart features → Manage Workspace smart feature settings → Turn off both checkboxes → Save.Both settings need to be turned off.#Google #Email #Privacy #AI
(DIR) Post #B8wlRxSb6XWSuXQhfc by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
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3. Your PhoneThe settings don't always sync between devices, so check the Gmail app separately.Gmail app → Menu (☰) → Settings → Select your account → Turn off "Smart features and personalization" → Confirm.#Google #Email #Privacy #AI
(DIR) Post #B8wlRz2RElmnnzCqAq by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
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4. Delete Gemini HistoryIf you've used Gemini before, your chats may be saved, and some could be reviewed by humans.Go to http://myactivity.google.com/product/gemini → Turn off Gemini Apps Activity → Delete Activity → All Time.This removes your past Gemini chat history and stops future conversations from being saved.#Google #Email #Privacy #AI
(DIR) Post #B8wlS0WFjPEGOkAAHg by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
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5. Move Sensitive EmailsTurning off Gmail's smart features helps, but for truly private emails, consider using a separate service.For medical, legal, or financial emails, use a free Proton Mail account. It offers end-to-end encryption and doesn't use AI to scan your emails.Keep Gmail for newsletters, promotions, and less sensitive messages.#Google #Email #Privacy #AI
(DIR) Post #B96iVfeKARXaVPMnui by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
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In February 1204, the Japanese court poet Fujiwara no Teika recorded in his diary that a terrifying "red vapor" and glowing red light filled the night sky over Kyoto for three consecutive nights. Eight centuries later, scientists analyzed carbon-14 spikes in ancient tree rings and confirmed he had witnessed a massive, historic solar storm. The red skies were a severe, low-latitude aurora borealis triggered by powerful coronal mass ejections. A solar storm of that magnitude today would have fried every satellite, GPS system, and global power grid on Earth. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/medieval-writings-and-tree-rings-helped-researchers-track-a-solar-storm-from-800-years-ago-and-reconstruct-past-solar-cycles-180988546/#AuroraBorealis #SolarStorm
(DIR) Post #B9szhysnQdr6XDibjs by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
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South America is being battered by catastrophic floods, snow and mudslides. The Andes region of Chile, Peru and Bolivia have all been badly hit. Peru's president has declared a state of emergency as experts warn that up to 1.2 million people could be affected.#CimateCrisis #GlobalWarming #Chile #Peru #Bolivia
(DIR) Post #BAXSPos6zFiAqhTM7k by dbattistella@mstdn.ca
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One way archeologists and historians reconstruct ancient trade routes is through the presence of metal objects and coinage. This map shows places where Roman coins were recovered (many of these were amateur finds never confirmed), including on the island of Okinawa, where in 2013, four 4th C AD Roman bronze coins were excavated from the ruins of Katsuren Castle. That doesn't mean that the Romans themselves were trading with the Japanese but that their coins eventually found their way there.#RomanHistory #TradeRoutes #History https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/28/495821834/coins-from-the-roman-empire-are-found-in-ruins-of-japanese-castle