@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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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?

@jacobcoffin
@Enora
Commando Jugendstil
Lemonaut

alxd, to Engineering
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

https://hackaday.com/2017/08/03/avoiding-the-engineer-saviour-trap/

A really good article on , and , reminding us not to pretend that we know the problem better than the people who experience it. We need to listen to them without preconceptions.

I think it is a very important foundation of .

If you're interested in engineering organizations working directly with the , I can recommend https://www.careables.org/

alxd, to solarpunk
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

I'm proud to present my of 's : https://alxd.org/ministry-for-the-future-review.html#ministry-for-the-future-review

Be warned, it's a !

After three long years of struggling with the book and analyzing it I finally put my thoughts into a coherent blogpost. I never expected the Ministry to be , but I hoped that it will paint a future to look forward to.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

@adamgreenfield I spoke with some Carbon Reward people and I can imagine a book discussing that, but that would be an economic epic focused on changes in daily life and how different corporations try to game the system. I also can imagine showing the bureaucrats as heroes fighting to preserve the spirit of the solution, hunting the cheaters.

The problem is, KSR is not even attempting that. For him the Blockchain Just Fixes Capitalism.

That's the heart of the plot.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

@adamgreenfield I'm curious of that intellectual angle. A lot of criticism of my review say that "I'm asking for some grassroots fairy-tale", while I really wanted to express that I want to focus on things more >detailed< than a single, top-down solution.

Ada Palmer wrote about the dirty futures of hard work ( https://beforewegoblog.com/purity-and-futures-of-hard-work-by-ada-palmer/ ) and I'm under impression that a lot of other writers just want the solutions to be clean; mechanistic; elegant, without checking in with the reality.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

@adamgreenfield honestly speaking, I don't know if "The Ministry of Sustainability" is doable as a single book; looking at all the angles and levels of the changes needed. I could imagine it as a series, maybe even as some mega-anthology from multiple authors?

My take on solarpunk and climate fiction is to first see the uncomfortable things we don't want to see, so I could "cover" some activism, hard open data problems and so on, but would ask someone else to tackle the scientific parts.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

@adamgreenfield one way or another, I think that striving for a Single Climate Masterpiece might always pull us in the direction of too elegant, too pure, ignoring some really important parts of the world and problems to come.

That also means that "consuming" climate fiction might be different, potentially harder than reading science fiction, since the reader would need to do a lot more emotional and intellectual work.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

@alberto_cottica @adamgreenfield

okay, not joking, I apologize for the annoying question, but -

Do you have any >source< on KSR disavowing Blockchain?

Apparently he says that a lot around the world, but he is never recorded / he never says it clearly in his writing.

The Chain is just such a vital part of the book's plot, that I have no idea how it could work without it as a Magical Technology.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

@alberto_cottica @adamgreenfield regarding the digital currency, I do admit that I know too little about it to comment on either technically, economically or societally. I will get back to you when I read more on it :)

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

@alberto_cottica @adamgreenfield if you ever remember the interview, I'll owe you coffee ;) I tried searching for it, but all the problems he describes with tech in the Ministry are very... non-committal.

As in - he doesn't notice that without Blockchain the plot of the Ministry jus doesn't work. It's not that "ah, the cars should have flown lower", it's... the whole premise is just broken.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

@alberto_cottica @adamgreenfield thank you so much, I do owe you coffee ;)

I think I remembered it right then, he's backtracking on the terminology, not the solutionism / magical thinking itself.

alxd, to technology
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

A thought on in :

In , tech is an allegory for either oppression or rebellion, there's nothing outside the dichotomy.

In stories, tech is always a weapon and any other use is invisible.

In then, tech could be a "crystallized community", with the sum of its values, cultures and decisions codified into the they create.

alxd, to books
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

The Messiah & The God-Emperor of Zurich

When I was reading I didn't actually register that the AI team of the Ministry proposed to create a new religion to support its shadow government.

It took away people's agency over their spirituality for purely political gain.

How is that different from the 's Bene Gesserit?

impactology, to random
@impactology@mastodon.social avatar

Is there a course on how to create a small server farm, data center powered by solar?

Not talking about self-hosting here, but rather on how to create and assemble a team for building a small business of selling compute, storage

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

@moritz_negwer @impactology I don't know one myself, but between https://www.appropedia.org/Welcome_to_Appropedia and the https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/ someone should know :)

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

[PL]

Nagranie mojego dwugodzinnego owego Q&A dla Koła Naukowego Socjologii Cyfrowej jest już dostępne tak na YouTube, jak i PeerTube!

https://alxd.org/solarpunkowe-qna-dla-knsc-pl.html#solarpunkowe-qna-dla-knsc

Rozmawiamy między innymi o tym:

❓ Czy nazwa "Solarpunk" jest w ogóle ważna?❓ Czy opowieści o innej przyszłości mogą pomóc protestującym rolnikom?
❓ Dlaczego tak ciężko znaleźć - lub wydać - solarpunkowe opowiadanie?
❓ Czy telenowela może być dobrą formą opowieści o lepszym jutrze?

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

Z góry zaznaczam, że wersja na PeerTube ma lepszy dźwięk - https://tube.pol.social/w/uBHj6k3e2DDCNGBCkYG6fT

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

[PL]

Jest już nagranie mojego wystąpienia o Solarpunku na Kole Naukowym Socjologii Cyfrowej UW: dużo Q&A, więcej niż na normalnych wykładach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2Bh0bMg_cg

Oficjalnie wrzucę z tagami - i na bloga - jak będzie też na PeerTube!

alxd, to solarpunk
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

"Forbes: The Top Jobs of 2030" is a pretty interesting and very illustration by Thomas Liera, who is said to be working on a whole projects based on it. Sadly, I wasn't able to find sources in English.

Some of the jobs listed:
Seaweed Farmer
Rooftop Farmer
Depaver
Local Banker
Ocean Protector
Low-Tech Architect
Seed Keeper
Organic Stylist
Master Composter
Urban Biodiversity Ranger
Imagination Activist
Mushroom Farmer
Solar Chef
Soil Doctor

alxd, to solarpunk
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

Currently writing the posts I've been planning for some time.

I'm thinking about dividing them into three:

  1. Overview - what games are out there and why people call them Solarpunk

  2. Solarpunk Narrative Design - mostly about stories in games and game design for

  3. Solarpunk Game Design - about designing board and video games with Solarpunk themes

This will be by no means comprehensive, but I already have dozens games to discuss...

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

I will comment on the https://www.escapistmagazine.com/terra-nil-hopeful-climate-fiction-dark-side-technocracy/ 's criticism of and https://jacobin.com/2014/10/les-simerables 's criticism of . They give you a lot of interesting context.

prosze_natychmiast_przestac, to random Polish
@prosze_natychmiast_przestac@kolektiva.social avatar

@dancingindystopia totalnie to, ogródki działkowe powinny być w awangardzie solarpunkowej

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

@prosze_natychmiast_przestac @dancingindystopia Ty weź to hasztaguj jako :P

I serio, tak, ogródki działkowe (I ogólnie urban gardening) mogłyby być rzeczą. Niektóre domy kultury mają własne, z kursami dla młodzieży!

Jak walczyłem z redaktorami o Solarpunkowy tekst w gazecie, to ktoś mi powiedział, że "ten gatunek to się tylko do telenoweli nadaje" - i im dłużej o tym myślę, tym bardziej to jest naprawdę ZAJEBISTY pomysł.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

@prosze_natychmiast_przestac @dancingindystopia wy weźcie sobie wyobraźcie ową telenowelę, gdzie kilka pokoleń jednej rodziny zmaga się z przemianami społecznymi i katastrofą klimatyczną, gdzie widzimy zmiany ich podejścia do życia, traumy i przetwarzanie ich, małe codzienne dramy bo Grażynka jednak zdradzała Ryśka oglądając z Grześkiem z polikuły odcinki serialu na które mieli zaczekać i obejrzeć razem.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

@prosze_natychmiast_przestac @dancingindystopia nie wyobrażam sobie lepszej formy do opowiedzenia przemian społecznych takiego na przykład Śląska niż właśnie telenowela multipokoleniowa.

Dziadek był górnikiem całe życie, przeszedł na emeryturę zanim zaczęli majstrować przy kopalniach. Ojciec stracił pracę i tożsamość kiedy zamknęli ostatnią, nie może się z tym pogodzić. A córka? Serca nie ma, poszła na te wiatraki, teraz pół roku na morzu spędza, nawet na Święta nie wraca do domu.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

@prosze_natychmiast_przestac @dancingindystopia a zamiast Tracza czy innego czarnego charakteru którego wszyscy mogą nienawidzić, wrzucić prywaciarza który malwersował pieniądze unijne które miały iść na przebrażowienie górników.

Pokazać tak bardzo z ludzkiej strony jak takie przemiany mogą wyglądać, nie używać Wielkiego Sci-Fi, tylko właśnie opowiedzieć jak na ziemi wyglądałyby te wszystkie zmiany ku lepszemu światu.

Jak synek tacie tłumaczy, że kooperatywy to nie to samo co stare PGRy.

alxd,
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

@dancingindystopia @timorl @prosze_natychmiast_przestac muszę w końcu ogarnąć.

Asia, polecisz coś co zajmuje się feministycznym cyberpunkiem? Ja znam tylko praktyków gynepunka z Calafou, ale chodzi mi o dzieła które traktują o społecznym i infrastrukturalnym wymiarze implantów i decydowania o własnym ciele.

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