ttiurani

@ttiurani@fosstodon.org

Husband and father, activist for the commons (digital & environmental), programmer and philosophy graduate. He/him

My posts are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

ttiurani, to ai

Excellent post by @molly0xfff on "AI". One of many gems:

"But I find one common thread among the things AI tools are particularly suited to doing: do we even want to be doing these things? If all you want out of a meeting is the AI-generated summary, maybe that meeting could've been an email. If you're using AI to write your emails, and your recipient is using AI to read them, could you maybe cut out the whole thing entirely?"

https://www.citationneeded.news/ai-isnt-useless/

ttiurani,

In general we need to realize that using "AI" is a moral decision.

Does the occasionally useful email summary really justify the wasted electricity, exploitation and theft?

At the same time, I get that passing the blame to everyday people to resist immoral technology can't replace corporate regulation and stronger legislation to stop exploitation and destruction of nature. But i fear that as long as the ethical dimension of technology remains hidden to so many, it will be an an uphill battle.

aral, to SmallWeb
@aral@mastodon.ar.al avatar

I’ve been looking for an ngrok alternative for a while now that’s (a) affordable (b) easy to use and (c) works with Kitten¹. Today, after testing a bunch of them again and getting fed up, I found LocalXpose that checks all the boxes.

I signed Small Technology Foundation up as an affiliate so if you use this link to check it out, we’ll get 40% of your $6/mo pro account fee should you subscribe:

https://localxpose.io/?via=kitten

¹ https://codeberg.org/kitten/app

ttiurani,

@aral Hmm, doesn't seem to be open source? Their github at least looks outdated and can't find a link anywhere else either on their site.

aral, to random
@aral@mastodon.ar.al avatar

Normalise calling programmers “data plumbers.”

ttiurani,

@aral

In Finnish we used to say "automaattinen tietojenkäsittely (atk)" or "automatic data* processing" for what programmers do.

I still think it's an excellent term and refuse to change to the current "IT" to make it all sound fancier.

  • or "information" or "knowledge', "tieto" is a notoriously fuzzy term
ttiurani, to random

@pluralistic on "isn't 'enshittification' the same as 'capitalism'":

"The capitalism of 20 years ago made space for a wild and wooly internet, a space where people with disfavored views could find each other, offer mutual aid, and organize."

I find this answer weak. A much simpler explanation is that capitalism 20 years ago wasn't "better", but corporations just hadn't yet had enough time to capture all web traffic to their walled gardens.

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/30/go-nuts-meine-kerle/

timnitGebru, to random
@timnitGebru@dair-community.social avatar

I can't emphasize enough my disdain for the whole AGI scam. Used to centralize & consolidate power by the already rich & powerful while selling a techno-utopia they promise will come any day now, if we just let them continue to kill the environment, exploit labor & steal data 👍

ttiurani,

@timnitGebru

I think that most AI hustlers really do believe their own bullshit. They believe that the ills of the world consist of many small rational, solvable problems, and the task at hand is using intellect and engineering ingenuity to solve them. The role of politics in this process is to accept their solutions and make the needed changes.

If only AI hustlers could get the lived experiences of e.g. climate scientists who have tried presenting intellect and facts for decades now.

Daojoan, to random
@Daojoan@mastodon.social avatar

We don't need web3.

We need to bring back web1.

ttiurani,

@Daojoan Or even web0!

https://web0.small-web.org/

aral, to Israel
@aral@mastodon.ar.al avatar

Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

“Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.”

Israel:

“Except Palestinians.”

The US and other Western democracies:

“Except Palestinians.”

ttiurani,

@tio @aral

I don't believe this is true.

We are heterotrophs and need to consume other life to survive. However, that doesn't mean we must consume more than what nature can regenerate. There are hundreds of millions of people living in harmony with nature, doing good things, right now.

In fact, we can also feed 10 billion people sustainably:

https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/how-feed-10-billion-people

The problem ofc is that our societies, especially in the Global North, actively prevent this.

Let's change them.

ttiurani,

@tio @aral

I probably misunderstood, but replied to this:

"no one can live on this planet without trading.... you can't be a good human being, do good thing, and survive."

which I understand to argue that no one on the planet can be a good human being and survive at the same time?

There are both (indigenous) people living directly off the land, and people within societies consuming very little, but still enough to not only survive but also have a good life.

So "no one" is not true.

ttiurani, to climate

This wonderful talk by @kathhayhoe gives good insights on why just telling people the facts will not stop .

The goal for today (especially in the Global North) isn't to get everyone worried – a big majority of people already are. The goal is to change that worry into action.

To do that, more emphasis is needed on what (personally relevant) better future people should fight for, instead of what they should stop doing to prevent harm.

https://www.yewtu.be/watch?v=ZDIse6LJGZM&t=1386s

ttiurani, to random

Gianluca Grimalda was just fired because he refused to fly back to his office in Germany from Papua New Guinea.

This is an example of idiotic company policies, but also an example of a strong moral compass desperately needed amidst .

"Many people will think that it is madness to give up their dream job to avoid taking one flight. But in the current era of climate breakdown, it is, in my opinion, insane to continue with 'business as usual'."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/12/fly-climate-breakdown-germany-climate-change-papua-new-guinea

gerrymcgovern, to random
@gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green avatar

Degrowth is the only hope.

"A majority of climate scientists is now calling for "degrowth"—a democratically planned, equitable reduction of less necessary forms of production—in high-income countries in order to enable faster decarbonization. Key degrowth measures include the expansion of universal public services and a job guarantee in sustainable sectors."

https://phys.org/news/2023-09-fund-radical-ecological-social-policies.html

ttiurani,

@johncarlosbaez @gerrymcgovern

Many of us use "degrowth" deliberately even though we know of many more amicable options.

For me, the most important reason I use it is that "degrowth" is the only term that has been able to resist being co-opted by the hegemony. Practically every other positive sounding term has been lost to now mean just another spin on continued capital accumulation.

P.s. The growth of cancer cells doesn't sound good.

P.p.s. Parrique has more points:

https://timotheeparrique.com/fear-and-loathing-in-degrowth/

ttiurani, to sustainability

In a recent interview the ex-CEO of Unilever Paul Polman, portrayed as a champion for , declared that the Friedman doctrine ("the purpose of a business is to increase its profits"), is dead.

Instead, according to Polman, a business should aim to exist for a long time, which means it should not create short-term problems that hinder that goal.

What the journalist missed is that this in turn means that the purpose of a business is to increase its profits indefinitely.

ttiurani,

I keep seeing this same charade over and over again.

CEOs get huge media attention making these "brave" ethical statements that "acknowledge" the role of businesses in ecological destruction.

The answer they propose is that businesses should be "responsible" and "do good".

At no point does anyone ask: wouldn't the responsible thing for most businesses then to do is stop growing?

p.s. The interview in Finnish and behind paywall:
https://www.hs.fi/visio/art-2000009857387.html

ttiurani, to climate

To all of you thinking it's too late to stop , Adam Levy makes a great analogy in this video.

It's never too late to stop punching yourself in the face.

https://yewtu.be/watch?v=RoQRkmRjz38&t=123s?v=RoQRkmRjz38&t=123s

ttiurani, to random

Tell me again that the only ecological problem we need to focus on is too much greenhouse gases.

Explain to me how nuclear energy is The Solution.

Convince me that rich countries can keep consuming exponentially more every year, if we just make sure that consumption is "green".

Give me your optimistic take on how electrification, digitalization, fusion energy and/or "AI" will both prevent and save capitalism.

I dare you.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adh2458

ttiurani, to Finland

The moderate right president of , Sauli Niinistö, just gave an absurd justification for politics.

Apparently because the last left-wing government didn't prioritize paying off national debts, that caused citizens to believe that they don't have to pay their personal debts either.

Of course no evidence was provided to support this claim, but the Finnish media reported it widely anyway.

I'm speechless.

ttiurani,

@danjac Exactly, and still in 2023 we in Finland have a president that deliberately tries to add to this confusion even more.

ttiurani, to random

I hear casual #ecofascism constantly in Finland.

A question about whether overpopulation is the real problem. Directing the discussion to the "big picture" of poor countries' growing emissions. Discrediting all historic emissions of rich countries.

I've sometimes been able to break through this line of thinking by asking them to imagine talking face to face with a person who lives on very little, and saying: "I can have all of this, but you can never hope to get the same". Could you do it?

ttiurani, to ClimateAnxietySupport

Important post on by Päivi Antila:

"[S]haring painful feelings with others energizes, nourishes and invigorates the participants – and brings to life humor and a sense of togetherness.

[W]hen people open up to the flow of their emotional experiences, which can include despair, sadness, guilt, rage, and fear, they feel as if a burden has been lifted from their shoulders. When we dare to test the depth of our pain, we realize that it is not bottomless."

https://blogi.elokapina.fi/avaimet-ekologisen-kriisin-ratkaisemiseen-ovat-sisallamme/

breadandcircuses, to random

It should be obvious to everyone that when traveling a mile from your suburban home to the nearby shopping center, you need a vehicle like this.

ttiurani,

@breadandcircuses "Bur there was that one time in 2015 when I drove on a gravel road for many miles!"

gwensnyder, to random

He's going to get people killed with this.

You know what Nazis used to do in my Twitter replies before I started mass blocking?

They'd give my home address out to OTHER Nazis in my replies who had expressed an interest in murdering my family and me.

ttiurani,

@gwensnyder

To those hopeful that is the answer, Jack Dorsey in full agreement with Musk's plan to remove blocking is crucial to know.

Jumping from one billionaire's playground to another is not the way – especially when the two billionaires are good chums.

aral, to random
@aral@mastodon.ar.al avatar

“We rebuilt the Mastodon backend from scratch and made it able to handle Twitter-scale (500M users, 20M writes/second, unbalanced social graph, etc.)”

Congratulations, you reinvented Big Tech.

Did you stop to consider that fediverse (emphasis “diverse”) servers should not be trying to reach “Twitter scale?” That they should be kept small on purpose? That the goal isn’t to recreate Twitter but with some other asshole in charge?

(Of course, it’s a VC-backed startup.)

https://redplanetlabs.com/mastodon-clone

ttiurani,

@hrefna @maegul @aral

"The cost of the systems today is too high for small groups to run. It needs to be improved."

Yes, agreed. My point is I'm certain that was not the focus of Red Planet Labs' server, and for that reason the result will not be optimized for it.

Being better than the official Rails app is a very low bar. But their solution comes at the expense of being Big-Tech-scalable, hence easy to cause big instances to appear. No scalability should be a requirement for the fediverse

ttiurani,

@hrefna @maegul @aral

Yes, I'm also interested in the actual numbers and operational complexity.

Personally, for the reasons outlined above, I'd be very surprised that the result will be anywhere close to an optimally resource-efficient and cost-efficient solution to host a server for a small group.

Better than Rails, definitely.

So good that the pros outweigh the cons of making an infinitely scalable Mastodon server? I'm doubtful.

ttiurani,

@aral Their tech blog post has a revealing sentence:

"It is our belief, however, that such decisions [to limit the size of an individual Mastodon instance] should be product decisions and not forced by technical limitations."

This whole false notion that tech decisions and product decisions can be cleanly separated, is at the root of the SV ideology.

"Technology is just a tool" is the mantra of the tech bro.

https://blog.redplanetlabs.com/2023/08/15/how-we-reduced-the-cost-of-building-twitter-at-twitter-scale-by-100x/

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