I don’t feel like the deepfakes are the fundamental problem. Honestly, I think they’re a tiny symptom of a much more significant concern, and if we take care of that, foreign deepfakes will be irrelevant.
See, elections are an exercise in story telling. Multiple actors tell stories to multiple audiences and ask them to vote on which story resonates with them more. The biggest actors are the campaigns themselves, followed by allies like their parties, other politicians, thought leaders, the media, lobby groups, activists groups, and so on. And foreign actors are a part of that.
The problems presented in the article are really three things:
Foreigners are participating in presidential campaigns. No shit, of course they are. They have a stake in the outcome. Everyone with a stake participates, and that includes a ton of people we don’t like, like fossil fuel companies a billionaires.
They’re using deepfakes. This isn’t clearly a major change from all the bullshit we already deal with. Remember why Bush convinced everyone Al Gore was a pathological liar who claimed that he personally invented the internet? Or that John McCain had a secret illegitimate black child? Utter bullshit. It sucks, but it’s not new.
Finally, the most important part: campaigns have the ability and responsibility to simply tell a better story. If Biden loses, it’s going to be because people thought he was a senile, ineffective, caretaker president with no agenda or vision whatsoever. Is that true? Not really. But if people think that, it’s NOT because China is going to share a fake video of Biden acting senile. It’s going to be because Biden didn’t present himself in such a way to make a random unsourced video believable.
If any single messaging campaign can sway an election, it definitionally means that the campaign was less effective with all its money and staff and allies than a random nobody on twitter spreading nonsense. Which American nobodies already do anyway, regardless of whether the Ayatollah gets involved.
The problem is that our elections are vapid exercises in media manipulation rather than genuine exercises of participatory democracy, and the existing manipulators hate competition. The result isn’t to limit competition, it’s to focus on creating a free and fair democracy with a healthy media ecosystem.
It’s an okay meme, but I have to admit I’m conflicted on these jokes.
First, lets just point out that Vanity Fair and everyone else who reports on JFK’s brain worm but won’t cover his rallies or policy announcements – let alone Jill Stein or Cornell West’s – is just doing a political hit job on a candidate challenging the hegemony of our two terrible political parties.
Second, although I think that JFK acts like a guy who had his brain eaten by a worm, it’s not really appropriate imo to propagate this impression that this is a legitimate medical concern. This parasitic infection isn’t actually any more debilitating than vaccines, so I think there’s a perverse hypocrisy to dwelling on it when most of us decry his irresponsible spreading of medical misinformation and conspiracy theories.
Anyway, fuck RFK, but let’s be real that he’s definitely not the worst candidate in the race, and it’s honestly not clear whether he’s even the second worst at this point.
His previous parasitic infection is not a present day health concern. (He’s an idiot, but by all accounts he was an idiot before, so we can’t blame the worm for the shit he says.)
My point is that we should not promote unfounded suggestions about someone’s cognitive health or promote unfounded speculation on the effect of a procedure or condition based on our preferred ideological beliefs. It’s wrong when RFK does it. And it’s wrong when the media does it to smear RFK. It’s hypocritical and it’s dangerous. “Follow the science” doesn’t have a carve-out for when you want to smear people we disagree with.
so all I see is delicious irony. He’s been demonising doctors and medical professionals, he doesn’t get to complain now that nobody’s paying attention to them.
I get this viewpoint, but it reminds me of conversations I’ve seen about people bodyshaming Trump.
The same logic applies: he has definitely lost any ability to complain if someone ridicules his obvious physical shortcomings. BUT: that’s not why we shouldn’t ridicule his weight or terrible appearance or bad health (or supposed terrible smell).
We shouldn’t do that because publicly mocking people’s appearances and ascribing a moral failing to bad health perpetuates harmful social behaviors that are borne by everyone other than Trump who happen to be overweight, or disabled, or have terrible diets, etc… If one suggests that he’s worth less as a person because of his age or weight and so on, they’re not actually doing anything to Trump. They’re just communicating to anyone who sees those comments that they think it’s appropriate to bully or discriminate against others based on these traits.
Bringing it back to RFK: we live in an era of a LOT of dangerous medical misinformation. We should not share that kind of misinformation against RFK, even if doing so is funny (and deserved), because ultimately we’re still just adding more shit to the same pile of shit that we’re mad at him for piling up. Does that make sense?
Also, that’s a good point about RFK and Israel. I don’t tend to pay attention to RFK, so I sometimes forget how absolutely dogshit his opinions are. I appreciate you reminding me. He’s definitely the second worst.
I said the opposite: I said that I think he’s anti-vax, and I’m pro-vax, and so I don’t want to be like him… but I bungled it. The message is unclear, and that’s on me.
1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) is among companies that are suing the wife of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak for allegedly obtaining over US$346 million worth of luxury goods through misappropriated funds.
I think this is a good breakdown of the situation, and sadly it’s pretty typical Biden: one side wants pizza, the other hamburger, and he offers a pizzaburger that no one likes.
Get a spine, man. You’re going to get called Hamas’ favorite president by the warmongers whether you cut off one bomb or all of them, so there’s no benefit to taking a symbolic stance while still allowing the operation to proceed. They can’t actually do this if we cut off all bombs, but they certainly can if you just cut off 1% of their supply or whatever this is.
That said, there good news here. It’s progress. After 7 months, I was of the belief that Biden was totally immune to pressure. He’s pretty resilient to it, but clearly the combined effects – both the campus protests, the civil disobedience, the constant bird dogging at every campaign event – are moving him, and the general mainstream consensus. Let’s keep that up.
I don’t understand how any of these visions fundamentally differ from Mastodon.
Decentralized? Yep. It’s got no center. Open source? Yep, you can fork it and make your own if you want. Unmoderated? Sure, if you want that, you can set up an instance and host whatever illegal content you want. You’ll have a lot of legal problems and most people don’t want it, but the option exists.
Is there any point besides money and crypto bullshit? If you want to post short comments that your friends can subscribe to that isn’t controlled by a big corporation that gives your data to the government… well we have that. It exists. It’s pretty okay. Go use it.
First, thanks for that explanation. That’s interesting.
Is there a good place to learn more? I can see why having custom feeds and 3rd party moderation tools are good, but I still have a lot questions.
First, is there a genuine benefit to dissociating a users identity from their server? I think the connection between users and their home instances are a brilliant innovation. They seem to bring village culture back to the internet. They help people associate within networks below just the global level. I think the atomization of people online has been a part of why there is so little trust.
Have no idea what it is about, other than being decentralised. Some basic search results suggests that its a sham, scam and riddled with crypto ideas. Or is it apart of something noteworthy? Geuinly curious what the general consensus is of the Web3.
G.M. produces the Malibu at a plant in Fairfax, Kan., and will continue to manufacture the car until later this year, when it plans to retool the factory to make a new version of the Chevrolet Bolt, an electric car, and the Cadillac XT4, a luxury S.U.V.
I drive one for work and it’s nearly invisible. It’s painfully bland. This is a great decision for GM, I don’t think anyone will miss them except perhaps bank robbers.
In one encounter, the players are attacked by a squad of mysterious masked shock troops of some kind. Here is the cyberpunky look I gave them, along with distinct face plates meant to give the characters a way to easily distinguish and describe them....
I really like it! It’s a very elegant solution, I think. We’ll see what others think, but I think it really provides exactly what we need to be help players share their own content.
For those looking to better understand the biases of any given media outlet, this is a good place to drop a recommendation for Citations Needed podcast with Adam Johnson and Nima Shiraz.
It’s a great media analysis and criticism show. Who watches the watchers? These fuckin guys!
This article describes the little-reported on success that Brown University had in disbanding student protest… by conceding to let activists present a case for divestment at an upcoming hearing before the university’s investment board....
You know, you’re welcome to disagree on tactics, but I must ask you to show a bit of respect.
These protestors put themselves in danger. They made sacrifices for a cause you care about. Time may prove their tactics to have been in error, but they are not “braindead” “idiots” who accomplished “absolutely nothing”.
They know their situation better than you. They put their bodies and futures on the table, and they alone get to decide what trades they want to make. You are welcome to your opinion on what tactics others should use, and you are welcome to make your choice about what to do when it’s your ass on the front lines. But I don’t think you have any business talking big shit about people who are out there carrying the heavy loads.
I would amend that to say that this is about the future and eventual end of the occupation. I think it’s more material than you describe, but it’s a slow process.
Also, if you follow some links in the article, Israeli divestment has been an big, ongoing movement at Brown. This isn’t a flash in the pan. It’s a big step forward along what has already been a long and brutal road.
It’s not going away. And I truly believe that these students will win.
What are you talking about? The occupation includes the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It predated Hamas, and continues – brutally – in regions in which Hamas doesn’t operate.
While the war in Gaza draws attention, folks in the West Bank have had homes firebombed with children inside and watched lynch mobs run whole towns off their land with military escorts. And that doesn’t even get into how Palestinian citizens of Israel are treated inside Israel. They’re legal citizens, but live with curtailed rights under a literal second-class of citizenship in a police state. They get disappeared, raped, and killed in prisons without charges over social media posts criticizing the government. What the hell does that have to do with Hamas?
We need to acknowledge that all these people are living under a military apartheid system, and demand negotiations for the formation of a democratic one-state solution. We already live in a one-state reality, just without civil rights for half the population.
Okay: I’ve started using this, and this is a great resource. I was wondering if I could make more pages within this subdomain. I’d like to add the following pages:
One page for each of the six maps, so that each page can list all the formats of each map.
A page for background images
A page for each of the four starting adventures, linking to all relevant assets
A page for user-generated assets.
Is it possible to get permission to create new pages?
US intelligence spotted Chinese, Iranian deepfakes in 2020 aimed at influencing US voters (www.cnn.com)
RFK (slrpnk.net)
Malaysian ex-PM"s wife sued over $346m of luxury goods (www.bangkokpost.com)
1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) is among companies that are suing the wife of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak for allegedly obtaining over US$346 million worth of luxury goods through misappropriated funds.
18+ Biden says he will stop sending bombs and artillery shells to Israel if it launches major invasion of Rafah | CNN Politics (www.google.com)
Inb4 im banned due to not licking biden ass
Even more character art! Mystic, Brainwash, and a bunch of others (slrpnk.net)
Antagonist “Gehirnwäsche” (Brainwash) https://slrpnk.net/pictrs/image/9e144f5c-a26a-490a-82aa-ad0e7de83989.webp...
Jack Dorsey claims Bluesky is 'repeating all the mistakes' he made at Twitter (www.engadget.com)
What is the General Consensus of Web3?
Have no idea what it is about, other than being decentralised. Some basic search results suggests that its a sham, scam and riddled with crypto ideas. Or is it apart of something noteworthy? Geuinly curious what the general consensus is of the Web3.
G.M. Will Retire the Chevrolet Malibu to Make More Electric Cars | The gasoline-powered Malibu was the last sedan sold by Chevrolet, the General Motors brand, in the United States. (www.nytimes.com)
G.M. produces the Malibu at a plant in Fairfax, Kan., and will continue to manufacture the car until later this year, when it plans to retool the factory to make a new version of the Chevrolet Bolt, an electric car, and the Cadillac XT4, a luxury S.U.V.
A bit more art: the band of mysterious attackers (slrpnk.net)
In one encounter, the players are attacked by a squad of mysterious masked shock troops of some kind. Here is the cyberpunky look I gave them, along with distinct face plates meant to give the characters a way to easily distinguish and describe them....
We've got a wiki now! (wiki.slrpnk.net)
Big thanks to @poVoq for setting us up with a wiki!...
Israel to close Al Jazeera news network in the country (www.cnn.com)
Israelis rally to demand ceasefire and Netanyahu's resignation (www.euronews.com)
“We hope the world hears us and knows that the people of Israel are not the government of Israel,” said one protester....
More character art! Presenting... Mentok! The MIND-TAKER! (slrpnk.net)
This is Deiter Gerhardt, aka “Mentok the Mindtaker!”...
‘Huge win’: Brown University protesters reach an agreement to dismantle encampment (forward.com)
This article describes the little-reported on success that Brown University had in disbanding student protest… by conceding to let activists present a case for divestment at an upcoming hearing before the university’s investment board....
Maps! And backgrounds! (fullyautomatedrpg.com)
I packaged up six combat maps, a couple of maps for navigating regions, and some backgrounds to like dollhouses during play....