@alxd@writing.exchange
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

alxd

@alxd@writing.exchange

Programmer, hacker, #solarpunk, educator, activist and a wannabe writer fascinated by how technology is portrayed in culture - and how that affects human lives.

Co-author of https://podcast.tomasino.org/@SolarpunkPrompts #podcast , exploring realistic stories of our climate future with all their traumas and hopes.

Languages: 🇦🇺 🇵🇱

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alxd, to solarpunk
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

In the recently resurfaced debate about (or lunarpunk) aspects of and I'm intrigued by one aspect:

Why do we accept being given a solution without outlining the problem in the first place?

Why don't we listen to pitches instead of asking ourselves how we want to run our communities, how do we want to make decisions, vote, discuss things?

Just stating the problem first would make it very clear that there are multiple technical solutions, not just the Web3.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

Every time I encountered someone pitching a DAO or a Blockchain to an organization, they specifically bundled several things together to make them indistinguishable - the culture with the technology, the way a community is organized with the tools they use. With that, there fewer footholds for any kind of question, insight into what is really happening.

This is what I mean by saying that the technology is transparent and it's not always a good thing, because it makes us unable to discuss it.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

In my definition of in I do call it the "crystallized community", as a sum of all the decisions, tradition, culture, because the tools arise from the needs and the conscious choice, not the other way around.

Blockchain and DAOs are an anti-thesis of Solarpunk not just because of their carbon footprint, but because they bundle everything together and make choices for you, pretending there was never a choice in how your community could operate.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

Moreover, Blockchains, with their tokens, enforce financialization of your communities, where the way ledger is implemented does not correspond with any kind of gift economy, with communalism, but with the harshest capitalist market traditions. Whoever has the [money/tokens/votes], rules.

We spent thousands of years working on different law systems, putting transparency, equality before the law at their core, and Blockchain wants to replace them with a web3 engineer being a priest/judge.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

There's a reason why paper ballots are considered safer than electronic elections: they can be audited, counted by people without extremely specialized skills. You can train someone to count votes in a few days instead of a few years of intense P2P cybersecurity courses, software and hardware expertise.

What Blockchain and DAOs offer you is offloading the responsibility for your processes to a third party, making you forget that you're giving them enough power to become absolute rulers.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

And for every. single. argument. for Blockchains, DAOs, Web3, there is another open source tool that does the same thing, but better, less energy-intensely, with more fine-tuning for your own needs.

You can dive into IPFS, DAT, Scuttlebutt, Git and GitTorrent, dozens and dozens protocols which can solve your problems.

But none of them come in a sleek, well-marketed package of "solving all of your problems" only a scammer can offer you.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

Many web3 and DAO advocates will call for a debate, saying that you cannot just dismiss their solutions like a religious zealot. Then they start looking for an edge: are you non-technical enough to be convinced that >this< technology is so far outside of your understanding to solve all of your problems? Are you optimistic enough to be sold on the idea of an Objective Machine which will solve human imperfections?

Then they will use those lines, like good salesmen, completely ignoring your needs.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

If I could ask the community for one thing regarding the web3, blockchains and DAOs, it will be:

Do not treat them like a technology you just dont understand.

Treat them like a way of thinking which dismisses your and your organization's needs and gives you a sleek solution, asking not to ask too many questions.

Because that's what web3 is: the culture of techno-solutionism, of abandoning hard questions about humanity and community organization.

The exact anti-thesis of Solarpunk.

alxd, to architecture
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

A dear friend of mine, an student actively interested in and is currently visiting .

Is there anything you could recommend for him to see, any place to visit, people to meet? Do you know anyone from who could show him how the network works?

He might not be into software or hardware enough to appreciate cBase, he is more interested in city scale transport systems, urban planning and so on.

rysiek, to random
@rysiek@mstdn.social avatar

A few days ago @ward tooted about how it's somehow "AI art", but if it's human-made, inexplicably it's just "content":
https://easymode.im/notes/9s9fhdg8jh3gi3h7

His toot has been living rent-free in my head ever since.

I had ranted a few times before how "content" is a corporate-y way to devalue art. How "user-generated content" is a term designed to make it easier to deny the significance (not just monetary) of the amazing stuff people create online.

Contrasting this with "AI art" is jarring, and spot-on. 👀

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

@rysiek @ward capitalism corrupts language like this.

To the point of some languages (not only Polish) missing "sustainability", only having "a balanced growth". Because you cannot not grow.

alxd, to solarpunk
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

Looks like there's a new on the block: https://www.sdrgames.studio/pages/why-we-fight by the creators of the "Earth Rising" board game.

"Why We Fight is a solo+ narrative TTRPG where you play a crew of eco-punks fighting fascism to build a brighter, greener future."

"(...) help struggling refugees and the havens they’ve made, and build a thriving, self-sustaining solar-punk community, all while pushing back against a force that seeks to blame the powerless (...)"

alxd, to sustainability
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

I was approached by a local theater working on its #sustainability / future-thinking course for the youth (15-23 or so).

They would like me to design a narrative card game which could help the kids imagine a better, sustainable future, making them feel agency over their lives.

It needs to be easy to learn, use and have lesson plans.

I'm currently thinking along the lines of "For the Queen", "The Story Engine", "The Quiet Year", "Dialect"...

#teaching #education #games #gameDesign #solarpunk

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

@Johannes @armadajosh @benrobbins thank you! I didn't know such awesome names graced Mastodon!

I need to look into Polis, but at the same time I want to go over the requirements and possible lesson plans again.

I put a lot of work into the @SolarpunkPrompts and finding the right narratives to unlock young people's visions of the future and I wonder what's the best angle to use the same lessons in a form of a game.

I don't want to give them a great ruleset to populate with bad prompts / ideas.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

@Johannes @armadajosh @benrobbins

I already started working on a FtQ-based Solarpunk game, but I'm not sure if it will align with what the theater wants to commission.

My biggest argument for making it more of a story-based game than worldubilding game is the sense of agency in the players - probably teenagers with little previous RPG / storytelling experience. I don't want to give them static materials, I want them to feel the power of creating something.

Will update you as I get more info!

alxd, to typescript
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

Time for a post!

I'm looking for a / / 100% position, both contract and permanent, GMT+2 timezone.

I previously worked as a Senior / Lead / Principal developer with , and experience.

I specialize in , , , , , , , , and .

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-ngei/

alxd, to solarpunk Polish
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

[PL]

Mateusz Wyszyński z Mataj Fiction, laureat ostatniej edycji konkursu Polskiej Fundacji Fantastyki Naukowej, właśnie opublikował wideo o pisaniu i konflikcie dramatycznym w nim:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If_UU4LS_r4

alxd, to boardgames
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

It seems that the new has introduced themes:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/04/new-catan-game-has-overpopulation-pollution-fossil-fuels-and-clean-energy/

From what I read, it doesn't teach you or mindsets, it merely adds some pollution tokens, it doesn't reward players for cooperation.

Instead it implements some questionable allowing - and promoting - a win condition of betraying any climate alliances at the last moment to get the most points - essentially a prisoner's dilemma.

More at https://www.fastcompany.com/91071961/catan-new-energies-game-climate-change

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

I understand that the game is trying to mimic our world and show people "hey, not everybody will work together", but as you set victory conditions, you need to ask yourself what kind of emergent behaviors do you want to promote within the game.

Because sure, "best economy wins" and "you can totally betray others" is one way, but does your game teach sustainability, or use it as an aesthetic?

I have not played this Catan, I know only what's in the reviews.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

Sometimes there is value in which doesn't try to copy neoliberal economical values, but instead challenges players to go for a different goal, like cooperating. Co-op games do not need to be boring!

I feel as if a lot of people forgot that the was initially designed as a caricature of capitalism, not as a family-friendly game of bankrupting everyone else.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

The way I understand the pollution mechanics as described in this game is:

Pollution limits everyone's economies (including the non-polluting players)

Introducing non-polluting technologies requires research (possibly cooperative)

Critical pollution ends the game

Therefore, one of the (best?) "meta", "emergent" strategies will be to go all-out-polluting FIRST and prisoner dilemma it so that we finish just below the critical threshold, but with you on top.

alxd, to scifi
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

Speaking long and essays, I find https://www.notthesky.com/posts/essays/the-men-who-sold-the-moon/ very interesting.

It outlines how a lot of the American "Golden Age" sci-fi limits our imagination by focusing on scientism and capitalism.

It then criticizes early Solarpunk (as visualized by the Chobani ad), showcasing how a movement focused on aesthetic only can be easily hijacked by capitalism and used for greenwashing (as we were recently reminded by Figma's CEO).

We need more communal, dirty Solarpunk.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

If you're looking for "where to go from here", I recommend Ada Palmer's https://beforewegoblog.com/purity-and-futures-of-hard-work-by-ada-palmer/

"We need all sorts of stories, but we have a special need for hopepunk right now, because, (...) this is one of those false-utopias which seemed great but has had its unforgivable underbelly exposed —climate impact, structural inequality, global inequity, systemic racism, dystopian tech.We need better models for what to do now than just blowing up the overlord’s tower, since that doesn’t fix it."

alxd, to scifi
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

I got some interesting feedback after my :

"The book isn't intended to provide hard technical solutions (...)"

That's not my criticism, though! I expect to provide signposts and narratives about the future, not blueprints.

"The Ministry..." refuses to acknowledge / imagine any kind of agency from the . That is not technology. That's a political stance.

alxd, to Futurology
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

Whether your friends consider water a commons or a hoardable private property is something worth finding before the Water Wars of the 2030s.

teknomagic, to solarpunk
@teknomagic@retro.pizza avatar

community: please stop using AIs to generate images. Yes, I know there's very few solarpunk visual concepts. Generative AIs are predatory, anti-worker software and on top of that its energy and water consumption is huge (specially since it's a non essential service). Commission an artist, use stock images. Don't make me go fight you.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

@teknomagic maybe we could make a list of Solarpunk artists who are willing to take commissions?

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