I am so close to waging war on the to-do list, the tyranny of the to-do list must be defeated at all cost
I don't really understand this whole "gen z doesn't know how to use tech", because most of them understand basic tech hygiene, capabilities, expectations, and extremely basic troubleshooting far better than any other generation — and the the ones who know a little bit more than the basics? They tend to know a lot more than those older than them in the same category.
Even if we continue down the line to the "actually they mean AlphaZ" then they are definitely farther ahead in those basic reqs than the people I went to school with a decade ago.
Sure, yeah, a lot of the people I went to high school with now understand tech, but back then? The extent of their knowledge tended to be how far away I was from them to help.
The only thing that I could imagine being right about the statement is that there are more people than average (basically, all) of them at their age (12-18) that use tech, but don't quite understand anything more than the basics compared to those who used technology in that same age range — Only because those in the older generations in that same age group (and used tech) tended to have a priori, influence, or environment that either required more knowledge to do the most basic things on worse hardware, or they had a unique interest at that age and the means to get their hands on it.
tl;dr, the kids are alright and probably understand basic tech better than you did at their age.
Elephants call out to each other using individual names that they invent for their fellow pachyderms, according to a new study. While dolphins and parrots have been observed addressing each other by mimicking the sound of others from their species, elephants are the first non-human animals known to use names that do not involve imitation, the researchers suggested. For the new study published on Monday, a team of international researchers used an artificial intelligence algorithm to analyse the calls of two wild herds of African savanna elephants in Kenya. African elephant populations stabilise in southern heartlands The research “not only shows that elephants use specific vocalisations for each individual, but that they recognise and react to a call addressed to them while ignoring those addressed to others”, the lead study author, Michael Pardo, said. “This indicates that elephants can determine whether a call was intended for them just by hearing the call, even when out of its original context,” the behavioural ecologist at Colorado State University said in a statement. The researchers sifted through elephant “rumbles” recorded at Kenya’s Samburu national reserve and Amboseli national park between 1986 and 2022. Using a machine-learning algorithm, they identified 469 distinct calls, which included 101 elephants issuing a call and 117 receiving one.
macleod reblogged
In case anyone is interested, I just published my Darker Green+ theme for VS Code.
I enjoy green themes, but most are too 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚡-like, which is great for the vibes, but not so much for reading and writing. This one is pleasant and decent enough on the eyes to be productive for long hours (trust me, I use it a lot).
You can get it here on the marketplace, or check it out on GitHub.
I fixed a few bugs that was keeping it from being installed on some platforms, that fix went out a short bit ago, but I never updated on here.
If someone ran on a single campaign promise of "We will tax the ultra-wealthy (the megacorps and individuals) an additional 2% on a yearly renewal and directly deposit an equal share to every citizen from those returns" it would do more for society than any other moment in history and would likely win by an astonishing margin.
This hits several points:
- Ultra-wealthy removes all the millionaires and retirees from being against it at the start.
- 2% sounds incredibly small for the average person, and they know it wouldn't directly affect them either.
- 2% across the board is easier to argue for instead of putting in place provisions for each industry or person.
- Direct the IRS to fully focus on attaining those direct revenues.
- Everyone gets paid. The average person, the middle class, the wealthy, it's "free money".
- Smaller companies, startups, small businesses, even large companies would be in support since this would help their own revenue from an expansion of economic development and to bolster their own revenues directly.
- A yearly renewal removes the "Well, I will be a member of the ultra wealthy one day" argument that a lot of people (even you!) subconsciously thinks about.
- Who decides the yearly renewal? A yearly vote by the entire population, not by a representative class of politicians.
- Who defines the "ultra-wealthy"? Place it on the ballot when everyone votes. There could be, for example, six options, each with their own amount range, and a simple "No" at the bottom. Whoever wins on that year, will be taxed.
- The first year would be a test, and you can position it as such for everyone to atleast try it out. If everyone hates it (they won't) then the next yearly renewal would be moot.
- Any politician that tries to campaign against it the following year and stop it, would almost certainly be a nonstarter.
From what I can tell, a simple executive order can put this into play. This is a vote directly for the people to the people, and since everyone hates politicians, this would get support from everyone across the entire spectrum since they would get a say.
Just realized that if Sony ends up buying Paramount (as it seems likely), they will end up with the Star Trek IP which means two possible things:
- Finally, a good (or even great game), being produced..
- A proper Star Trek anime, which should have been a thing by now, we should be on Star Trek: The Anime #25 by now.
This is an incredible video essay, and the usage of sludge content to explain the situation is brilliant.
This top comment entirely encapsulates how I feel:
"I was not ready." On our first time hearing this, neither were any of us.
If you've never heard One Winged Angel, you really need to hear it and this is a good place to start.
While I would say the bot problem on [tumblr] has gotten substantially worse (and more real-on-first-glance), I would have to say that the bot problem everywhere has become untenable. The "Dead Internet theory", the once-conspiracy (but no longer) theory that the activity and creation of bots has likely supplanted a vast majority of internet usage, has absolutely taken over. This effect didn't start with LLMs such as OpenAI, but they certainly exasperated the issue. This can be seen as a benefit, where as more people realize that this is how it will be moving forward with no end, the more people will stop using the internet as a scapegoat of activity as a 'cure' for boredom. There is a human need for human-created activity, and when you see beyond the veil that more and more activity and comments, and replies, and posts are automated, you will likely feel less 'included' in any culture, and become more of an independent person outside of the internet.
As less naturally created culture is produced, the less people will use the internet to solve their boredom issues, the more they will focus inwards and create art that isn't tied to artificially increased activity metrics. This is where the positive of a dead internet is created, that less consumption of other material due to the addiction created matrix and prison of analytics that has sequestered a large portion of the entire human race as a species within the last twenty years.
Funny enough, the amount of time to imprison the entire populace of human civilization into services that demean their value as an independent agent took less than an entire generation. Looking at it from afar, that is truly astounding.
The major upside to this, is that this will transform the internet from a model and service engine from an analytical prison for the individual, back into the original intent of the internet, as a superhighway for data transportation. This helps the internet turn itself back into a utility, and not as a toy to relieve momentary boredom.
The downside to the emboldened dead internet is that there is now a distinct possibility that culture is dead, that the usage of bots that can number in the hundreds of thousands at creation with distinct generated personalities will lead to an increased paranoia of 'reality', and lead to more disenfranchised real thought from real people, and relinquish thought control and idea propagation to a handful of powerful observers who game the system. If this sounds familiar, that's because we are already living within that system. Both of these are happening, both of these will continue to happen, and there really is no path forward without either of these happening.
To put simply, the creation of the dead internet, is likely a net-positive to the destruction of the individual (artificially inflated) data analytic creation prison, but equally is a negative to the destruction of any sense of democracy as a culture, and relinquishes control of original propulsion of ideas to unknown actors.
The other benefit is that this will result in the internet at large to become less 'social' and more as a utility, something that I believe could be a major net positive for the development of humanity towards a post society defined less by walls and more towards inward individualism and local community creation. This can be a benefit, but this can also be its own problem by disconnecting individuals from others of similar natural ideas, disenfranchising minority experiences, and yet again the problems repeats back to an increased paranoia of "what is real", "who is real", and what is a "universal experience" if so many 'bots' can supplant the vast majority of activity.
The Biden administration issued new rules on Friday cementing protections for L.G.B.T.Q. students under federal law and reversing a number of Trump-era policies that dictated how schools should respond to cases of alleged sexual misconduct in K-12 schools and college campuses. The new rules, which take effect on Aug. 1, effectively broadened the scope of Title IX, the 1972 law prohibiting sex discrimination in educational programs that receive federal funding. They extend the law’s reach to prohibit discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and widen the range of sexual harassment complaints that schools will be responsible for investigating. [...] Through the new regulations, the administration moved to include students in its interpretation of Bostock v. Clayton County, the landmark 2020 Supreme Court case in which the court ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects gay and transgender workers from workplace discrimination. The Trump administration held that transgender students were not protected under federal laws, including after the Bostock ruling.
Source: NY Times (April 19 2024)
Anonymous asked:
How can you support unions and run a company?
Oh, yeah, the seemingly diametrically opposed institutions. I'll put it like this: I just believe people should have the freedom to have a better life. Full stop. There are two (common) paths, where one way is through the grueling, often privileged, effort that is entrepreneurship for personal individualist freedom, and the other is through working together to ensure an existing institution better serves their people.
The best way to ensure that the most people possible can have a better life is through working together with/for collective bargaining. That's alliance democracy on a personal level for a better life. Just as corporate executive boards protect their own through bailouts, lobbying, and employee layoffs bonuses, the workers who contribute the effort for production should be unionized to ensure they can protect themselves, their family, and their well-being from those that are not directly involved in the production.
That's it. Unions work, unionize.
Becoming increasingly convinced that high-speed rail might be the only economically viable (megacorp and politicapitalism friendly…) thing that can drastically lower the cost of living for everyone while additionally massively increasing general economic gains and aide in scientific and knowledge seeking innovations.
Between high speed rail, nuclear energy, and hydrogen development, we would could seriously launch this planet into the future at breakneck speeds.