@afeinman@wandering.shop
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

afeinman

@afeinman@wandering.shop

Obligate infovore; I write fantasy, sci fi, and software. All posts made with 100% recycled electrons, sustainably crafted by artisanal artisans. He*/him/his. Doctor, if you absolutely insist.

Nothing said here should be construed as in any way connected to my daytime employer.

I boost and star freely. Boosts of my stuff are jes' fine. I control follow requests to avoid scrapers and spammers, is not personal.

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

foone, to random
@foone@digipres.club avatar

the world needs more recreational programming.
like, was this the most optimal or elegant way to code this?

no, but it was the most fun to write.

afeinman,
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

@foone I keep meaning to start a YT channel "This Old Code"...because one needs to exist...

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

An Adam West Batman reboot in which Batman is camp because Batman (and all his adversaries) are overtly queer-coded would be AMAZING
https://muenchen.social/@fnordius/112537718138970471

afeinman,
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

@cstross Mild snag, impossible to replace Frank Gorshin...

afeinman, to random
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

Seeing otherwise intelligent people fall for the fantasy that chat bots have a mind...

...feels a lot like watching an animal that sees its reflection and doesn't understand mirrors.

There's no "there" there, got it? It's just spitting back a funhouse mirror of what everyone else said.

afeinman,
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

@tshirtman An understanding of the world is a nice start, but has little to do with having a mind.

afeinman,
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

@tshirtman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_room

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

How would it feel? What would it say about us? if we remain a nation that builds weapons of war, effective weapons, our best technology— and none of the people cared what purpose they served? they could defend a people violated by invading armies, they could be a tool to sweep a people away and not even our young people full of idealism think it worth questioning. Streets quiet, peaceful, another beautiful spring— and not one willing to listen, imagine the rumble of distant munitions.

afeinman,
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

@futurebird During Gulf War 1, I wrote a short poem about exactly this.

The war was sanitized and all we saw was silence, while bombs were dropped to level cities and soldiers were buried in sandy tombs by war dozers.

I think that's when warhawks realized media control meant there wouldn't ever be another Vietnam War, where the battle for domestic mindshare was much fiercer.

afeinman,
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

@queenofnewyork @futurebird Yes. We're in the death throes of centralized media.

But we keep having huge backwards steps (like Twitter getting neutralized as a source for useful news and organizing by its purchase, almost certainly for that exact purpose).

(Animals are often quite dangerous when cornered, and powered entities are worse.)

afeinman, to random
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

HOW TO SPOT A DEEP FAKE:

  1. You can't.

Don't think you can. You can spot clumsy ones, but you've already missed a dozen others. We're past the stage where even expert practitioners can have a 100% success rate.

Instead, think about how to avoid taking action, or trusting someone, because of who they seem to be. Holding onto the fantasy that "I can spot 'em!" is harmful, and moves the onus of responsibility from collective to personal.

This is also true for #genAI, of course.

afeinman, to random
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

I really can't see it as coincidence that enshittification is systematically taking away:

  • our town square (Twitter)
  • our librarian and yellow pages (Google)
  • our investigative journalism (too many to list)
  • our postal system (email)
  • ...others

I know, these were all corporate entities and have no legal duty toward public good.

But that's what they had become, and what they aren't any more.

A divided society is a weak society; a strong society is a threat to monied interests.

afeinman, to Trains
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

The to pipeline

afeinman, to UX
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

I cannot communicate how much I hate the "long press--to do things" interface pattern.

What does it do? No idea; every control is different.

Is it discoverable? Only in the way the corner of a coffee table is discoverable by your shin.

Is it accessible to folks with motor control issues, or who use screen readers? Also no.

Gah.

afeinman, to random
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

Sept 9 - Have you ever abandoned a writing project that wasn't working? What was wrong?

It's a damn poor explorer who doesn't get lost sometimes.

And for the record they're not abandoned--I am totally getting back to all 236 of them some day...!

afeinman, to writing
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

Who called it a "portal" fantasy when "plot hole" was right there?

afeinman, to random
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

Super clear road signs in ...

afeinman, to writing
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

Looking for cover artist referrals (boosts welcome). Pay is $600 USD for a novel cover.

What I want:
Mr. Maybe and Dr. Don't is a non-traditional MG fantasy, with swords and magic and unusual woodland magical critters that need some art design. Whimsical without being farcical.

(In an ideal world the artist would also contribute some interior art, e.g. b/w frontispiece and/or chapter images. Price negotiable for that.) #amPublishing #WritersCoffeeClub #writing #artist

afeinman, to random
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

Anyone have recommendations for a slick, hopefully cheerful sci-fi heist movie?

The closest I'm coming up with is Space Sweepers, which was awesome but not really a heist. I want Ocean's Eleven with ray guns and teleporting clones.

afeinman, to random
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

Day 28: If your MC could live anywhere in our world, where would they choose?

Roughskin Magic: Jason doesn't have a single place he fits in, so, nowhere at the outset. Fozzie thinks oppositely: he strives to make where he is a place he (and others) would want to live in.

Amir (from WIP): This is, essentially, the plot of The Dream Makers, so I guess we'll find out? (This is not me being cute. I am a complete pantser, and can't say I know yet.)

afeinman, to random
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

Labor without consent--forced labor--we call that slavery.

What about emotional labor without consent?

afeinman, to random
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

"People fought hard when they tried to start charging for the outdoors.

"So instead they're doing their darndest to make the outdoors unbearable."

afeinman, to random
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

This morning's writing inspiration from @charliejane:

“I get why people want to share their own writing rules [...]; when you find something that works for you, it’s natural to want to share it with everyone else. [...]

Nevertheless, rulemaking is another way that we internalize our anxieties, and then put them on everyone else. Nobody ever wants to admit how confused we all are.”

from "Never Say You Can't Survive"

afeinman, to random
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

In case you missed it or ran out of outrage over the weekend, here's your Monday reminder to complain to your work Slack admin about them scraping content for generative AI.

Don't just opt out. Ask them to threaten to dump Slack for this.

afeinman, to random
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar
afeinman, to random
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

Every company right now:

"Our patented new DuckSmasher 9000 will produce value at a rate never seen before.

Based on the economic theory proven in the legendary paper 'The Golden Goose', we instead use ducks to cut costs.

Preliminary results are promising. We have secured Round B funding with aims of producing actual gold some time in 2035."

afeinman, to random
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

Does anyone know of a payment processor that isn't three fascists in a trenchcoat?

Is there a "peer pay" effort out there? Or should we go back to mailing cash* to our friends?

(* do not mail cash. Problematic in some cases, illegal in others)

afeinman, to random
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

I'm just going to say it.

Stop all use of Google Drive immediately. There are many other options for sharing data and files.

The spyware built in is bad enough, but they are also judging what you store there and blocking what they don't like. Your files, not accessible to you.

Stop using Google Drive.
https://sizeriot.com/@aborigen/112436104213633113

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