This meeting could have been a podcast 🎧 .

#ursula_k_le_guin #LeGuin #anarchism #socialism #captialism

what Ursula K. Le Guin says:

@arstechnica This feels like the endgame of the corporate push for "automation". No one writes the code, no one knows how it works, and no one maintains it.

I'm sure there will be consequences, right?

Did you know there was a genderless preacher in the 1700s known as the Public Universal Friend?

The US #government deleted the Friend's Home and other #lgbtqia places from their records. We brought them back because friendship & love are ALWAYS in style! ✨ ❤️

https://nationalprideservice.org/lgbtq-places-the-government-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about/

Remember, you are not alone.
You are not isolated.

We are in this together.

And together, we are much stronger.

oh yeah, for anyone who hasn’t heard by now: the corporate assholes who own the ActivityPub standards committee want AI as a core part of the next version of the protocol, and my position on that is we mastoshouldn’t

The few properly recognized women and black scientists are quickly having their biographies wiped from US records and institutions. Please maintain a record of them. https://www.space.com/the-universe/earth/scientists-alarmed-as-rubin-observatory-changes-biography-of-astronomer-vera-rubin-amid-trumps-push-to-end-dei-efforts

Less AI features :blobcatnotlike:

More end-to-end encryption features :blobcatfingerguns:✨

Pretty please.

#NoAI #E2EE #Encryption

⚠️ ALL IS NOT LOST ⚠️

The news cycle is tremendously disheartening. Wildfires, the spread of climate disinformation in real time, genocides, the rise of the far right, removing fact checking and supports that protect vulnerable communities - it’s heavy.

We have a formidable amount of obstacles in our way.

But don’t lose sight of the fact that it isn’t too late.

Every fraction of action matters - and it’s not over yet.

#ClimateAction

@ct_bergstrom A well needed course in an emerging technology literacy. I look forward to diving into this one to see how it approaches the topic

Thank you for putting this together!!!

Modern-Day Oracles or Bullshit Machines?

Jevin West and I have spent the last eight months developing the course on large language models (LLMs) that we think every college freshman needs to take.

https://thebullshitmachines.com

This is not a computer science course.

It’s a humanities course about how to learn and work and thrive in an AI world.

Neither instructor nor students need a technical background. Our instructor guide provides a choice of activities for each lesson that will easily fill an hour-long class.

The entire course is available freely online. Our 18 online lessons each take 5-10 minutes; each illuminates one core principle. They are suitable for self-study, but have been tailored for teaching in a flipped classroom.

The course is a sequel of sorts to our course (and book) Calling Bullshit. We hope that like its predecessor, it will be widely adopted worldwide.

Large language models are both powerful tools, and mindless—even dangerous—bullshit machines. We want students to explore how to resolve this dialectic.

Meta torrented over 81.7TB of pirated books to train AI, authors say
Meta's alleged torrenting and seeding of pirated books complicates copyright case.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/02/meta-torrented-over-81-7tb-of-pirated-books-to-train-ai-authors-say/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

I've been seeing a lot of disturbing things in the queer community as of late. Specifically a lot of hate towards trans men and transmascs. A lot of it mirrors the hate and discrimination that trans women have experienced in recent years, and bisexuals before that, and lesbians and gays before that.

It is an exclusionary hatred that threatens to divide the queer community and ultimately serves TERFS and bigots outside of the community.

Remember that kindness is not a zero-sum game. Accepting those who face different marginalizations than you doesn't put you at risk. We can all grow and benefit from acceptance and understanding. There a lot of people dealing with pain and trauma around gender, sexuality and identity. It can make it hard to be open these days.

Just remember that divisions like this make it easier go take everyone's rights away. Stay unified, learn about each other, build communities with many different kinds of people. They way we can be stronger than any of us would be apart.

#transrights #transunity #queerunity #LGBTQIA2S #oppression #resistance #resilience #transphobia #transmisogny #transandrophobia #homophobia

Is somebody doing something?

Yes.

Many people are working hard to do many things about the current situation.

Dont give in to despair.

https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/is-somebody-doing-something

#currentevents #resistance #resilience #attemptedcoup #politics

https://slate.com/technology/2025/02/wikipedia-project-2025-heritage-foundation-doxing-editors-antisemitism.html

#Wikipedia #HeritageFoundation

Good and relevant article on how go avoid burnout in difficult times. There are many things to be outraged about, make sure to take care of yourself and the people around you too.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/how-to-avoid-outrage-fatigue-and-tune-in-without-burning-out/

#socialmedia #outrage #mentalhealth #fatigue