@keithwilson @cstross

And the very fundamental concept of a 'society' is the ability to prohibit what is not acceptable to that society.

We don't HAVE to have crypto billionaires. The fact that we do, and that most people shrug and think 'we don't have a choice, this is just our new reality' is shocking. We DO have a choice. We absolutely CAN prohibit them. They way we prohibit incest.

The hype cycle and inflated claims about AI this autumn are getting so bizarre that I feel it's only a matter of time before they out-gonzo the opening of the 1992 SF novel "Steel Beach" by John Varley:

"In five years, the penis will be obsolete," said the salesman.

Useful leftist manifesto against AI. As corporate AI rapidly takes over our workplaces and social media, if not the real world, it's worthwhile learning from analyses of the broader political economy.
https://zenodo.org/records/22276836 via @ekansa
"While AI’s self-referential growth sees it seized on by markets and governments as the saviour of GDP in a stagnating world economy, it would be out of business by tomorrow if it really had to pay its way."
"The only reason this speculative activity can occur at all, however, is because ‘the economy’ itself has been constructed as a sphere separate from the rest of life, where real externalities such as social and environmental harms literally count for nothing."
"Decomputing adopts a degrowth framework and
advocates for reclaiming agency through deautomatisation and people’s councils, in order to develop convivial alternatives that centre an ethics of care. It is a philosophical and tactical response to the wider crisis of care induced by the collapse of existing systems."

@jernej__s I think I just misremember. The sort of state of art was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avid_Elastic_Reality

got kissed,,,, cherished, even,,,,,,

@0x6e6174

Back around 2013 I had a iPhone and an iPad Mini. And I carried them both around and thought: It would be really cool if they just made an iPhone that you could unfold outward, and it became an iPad.

And now it's 2026, and Apple released that, but 13 years have passed and it's not what I want anymore. What I want now is: To be able to buy an M.2 hard drive

@tante alright, let’s go to Chinese vendors then, they go full speed ahead (sarcasm)

#flowers #BloomScrolling

Useful explaineriser
TLDR? Doing Uni at Oxbridge doesn't mean you're clever, and having lots of money doesn't make you happy
https://news.sky.com/story/ben-delo-and-christopher-harborne-who-are-reform-uks-two-mega-donors-13584792

Fake news only find fertile ground where natural stupidity already serves as fertilizer.

I learned that what I know as mountain ash is instead known as rowan in the UK.

New records obtained by EFF reveal problems with a Medicare program that relies on private companies' AI systems to evaluate requests for medical care. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/09/new-records-reveal-problems-medicares-ai-prior-authorization-experiment

Wild garden bouquet for my husband’s birthday get-together tonight. 💐

This is the first pot I ever made that united coil building and wild clay terra sigillata. I learned this method of coil building from a Zulu potter in 2023 and I started painting pots with wild clay in 2024. Uniting the two techniques felt like a huge progression for me.

It came out with a crack so I kept it and I’m glad because it’s sentimental and perfect for an occasion like hubs’ birthday.
#flowers #pottery

it’s not hyperbole

it’s not overreaction

there is a trans genocide going on

THE INSTITUTE FOR GENOCIDE PREVENTION SAYS SO

https://www.lemkininstitute.com/red-flag-alerts/red-flag-alert---anti-trans-genocide-in-the-usa---%233

@kDelta

One programmer I know, who runs his own mail-server, has a separate email address for every service that he signs up for.

"It's the email-equivalent of plumber's blue dye." :D