@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.

futurebird, (edited ) to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

It annoys me how people talk about using social media like it's a vice. And a female-coded one at that.

"Spend less time on social media" is trotted out a virtuous in the same way that "not eating a pint of ice cream" is.

Imagine if in the early days of movable type, there were people going around saying "don't read pamphlets, they are full of misinformation"

Social media is the primary way news is disseminated. It is superseding newspapers and TV as the primary vector of mass media. 1/

afeinman,
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

@futurebird

Reminds me of a common frustration, which I think you've posted about before...

Abstinence is so often prescribed as the solution to a perceived vice. Just don't do it! Eat less! Don't Do Drugs! Problem solved.

It absolves the speaker and reveals a piss-off attitude. "That is your individual problem. If you can't even take my simple advice, you moron, ..."

And it flattens away the systemic or situational pressures which make the advice useless.

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 , of course.

markmccaughrean, to random
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

(as I did), this is an excellent op-ed by @cstross on the politically & ideologically-loaded background of the cult of unfettered tech optimism & its billionaire bros.

As Charlie says, science fiction is fundamentally just entertainment & often highly derivative, not the philosophical blueprint for the future of humankind.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tech-billionaires-need-to-stop-trying-to-make-the-science-fiction-they-grew-up-on-real/

afeinman,
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

@AntonPNym @cstross @hannu_ikonen @markmccaughrean Missing the point of moral lessons in Starship Troopers or Torment Nexes reminds me of those colorblind-checking dot pictures.

Some folks can't see them and that tells you something important about them.

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

You fucked up a perfectly good internet is what you did. Look at it, it's full of ad networks.

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.)

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

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 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
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, to random
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

I tried to order spices online but did something wrong and now I have too much thyme on my hands.

afeinman, to cyberpunk
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

I was honestly expecting more light-up clothing by now.

If we're forced to live in a hellish dystopia why isn't it the stylish one?

afeinman, to random
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

Is there a payment processor that isn't three facists in a trenchcoat?

Or should I just give up on collecting money?

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

I don't know who needs to hear this, but...

In this world of infinite media choices, be that music or tv or games...

It's totally fine to have those favorites you keep coming back to over and over. It might even be natural.

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

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

"When I was your age ALL ads were unskippable! This is why we invented microwave popcorn!"

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

I love humans. Someone upscaled the old Flash (1990) show to make it watchable on modern machines.

This is why things should go out of copyright. It's not like the rights owners did this. Some enthusiast did.

(I'm sure it will be terrible. I also hope they do Misfits of Science next.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojEXWcebjnk

afeinman, to gamedev
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

Hey , is there a compact phrase in the industry for "design elements that the player picks up on, but, not explicitly"?

Things like lighting on grabbable ledges is making affordances clear; I'm thinking more like subtle color shifts as the player goes into dangerous areas.

(Side note: this is related to my past PhD work, so I'm not looking for starter tips; instead, I'm seeking to understand how intentional this design is within a community.)

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

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

What about emotional labor without consent?

afeinman, to random
@afeinman@wandering.shop avatar

Petition to call algorithms "alga", so we can talk about toxic algae blooms.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • JUstTest
  • cubers
  • DreamBathrooms
  • InstantRegret
  • tacticalgear
  • magazineikmin
  • Youngstown
  • thenastyranch
  • mdbf
  • slotface
  • rosin
  • modclub
  • kavyap
  • ethstaker
  • megavids
  • osvaldo12
  • khanakhh
  • cisconetworking
  • Durango
  • everett
  • ngwrru68w68
  • Leos
  • normalnudes
  • GTA5RPClips
  • tester
  • anitta
  • provamag3
  • lostlight
  • All magazines
    •