annaleen

annaleen, 1 year ago to random

"It’s increasingly looking like this may be one of the most hilariously inappropriate applications of AI that we’ve seen yet." I am riveted by the extensive documentation of how ChatGPT-powered Bing is now completely unhinged. @simon has chronicled it beautifully here: https://simonwillison.net/2023/Feb/15/bing/

annaleen, 10 months ago to random

What is everybody using as their link organizing app? Asking because I use Evernote basically for creating archives of links for research that I'm doing. And now Evernote is going away ...

annaleen, 8 months ago to random

We often hear the phrase "first they came for the [vulnerable marginalized group], but I didn't say anything ... then they came for me." Simplistic, but we have actually seen this happen repeatedly in history, where a repressive regime starts with soft targets.

We also often hear "if we don't protect Nazi speech, they'll come for [vulnerable marginalized group] speech." I can't think of any real-life examples of this, though. Can you? Please advise!

annaleen, 9 months ago to random

I'm re-reading 1984 for the first time in ... decades, maybe? I had forgotten how much it's focused on the Newspeak conlang and the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that language structures consciousness (or unconsciousness, in this case). In the edition I'm reading, there's an afterword by the social psychologist Erich Fromm, who wrote in 1961 that the novel is "a mood." I think Orwell wanted to emphasize that fascism is a mood as well as a system. A feeling of hopeless loneliness.

annaleen, 6 months ago to random

I am in Paris! Ask me anything.

annaleen, 6 months ago to random

Dear security people: Is there any good reason in this day and age that an online order form should force me to paste my email into two different fields as some kind of "check"?

annaleen, 10 months ago to random

Today I actually told somebody that "I'm kind of big on Mastodon" and immediately felt like a total blockhead

annaleen, 9 months ago (edited 9 months ago) to random

I'm finishing the revision on my next nonfiction book, which is a heavily-researched exploration of how the weapons of psychological war show up in culture wars. It's a popular book, not academic. I have a zillion footnotes. Should I:

annaleen, 8 months ago to random

If I were going to write a cultural history of monogamy, I think I would argue that humans have a history of religions and philosophies that idealize monogamy. But the majority of humans themselves have never been monogamous in practice.

annaleen, 9 months ago (edited 9 months ago) to random

Least sexy food?

annaleen, 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago) to random

Threads is to Bluesky as ...

annaleen, 10 months ago to random

What if we replaced executives and marketing departments with AI instead of replacing journalists and editors?

annaleen, 8 months ago (edited 8 months ago) to random

Saturday night DnD dinner choice?

annaleen, 8 months ago to random

I woke up this morning with an irrational feeling of panic and dread. What was wrong? Was I just randomly depressed? I opened a window to breathe deeply, and the air smelled like burned rubber. Checked the AQI, and we're in the danger zone, around 150. Wildfires to the north. The burning season has started again.

annaleen, 9 months ago to random

It's #caturday and two black kittens named Infrared and Ultraviolet have fused together into a Power Ranger-esque configuration by snuggling so closely that their bodies are indistinguishable from one another.

annaleen, 3 months ago (edited 3 months ago) to random

The advance reader copies of my forthcoming book have arrived and they are beauties! Thanks to @wwnortonlibrary for supporting this investigation into how we can stop culture wars in the U.S. -- by understanding their history, and recognizing psychological weapons before they harm us and our communities. #StoriesAreWeapons drops in early June but you should pre-order now! Imagine how pleasing it will be to have an antidote to culture war this hot presidential race summer. #bookstodon #books

annaleen, 7 months ago to random

I finally saw #Barbie last night, and I loved a lot of it and thought it was funny. But it was also one of those classic examples of political centrism where the movie raises all kinds of legitimate questions about patriarchy, but resolves them without ever actually changing the patriarchy at all. And manages to be incredibly toxic about gender roles in the process. I have so many questions about what was done with Ken, and, you know, the real world of all-male boardrooms.

annaleen, 8 months ago (edited 8 months ago) to random

I feel like everyone I know somehow got COVID this week (including me, for the first time). Did you also get COVID this week?

annaleen, 8 months ago to random

I still think about the one time I saw Ursula LeGuin in person, at the San Francisco Public Library. An audience member enthusiastically told LeGuin that she was really into the idea of elder women's wisdom, and said LeGuin was "her crone." LeGuin frowned. "I don't like that," she replied. "I'm not your crone. I'm not anybody's crone."

annaleen, 9 months ago to random

My goal will probably always be to learn how to eat two brownies instead of eight.

annaleen, 9 months ago to random

From the world's most trivial news dept: So I've had the same broken laundry hamper for like ... twenty years. I inherited it from a roommate after college, and it gradually fell apart but I kept telling myself it was absurd to replace a thing that's just for laundry. Finally, I couldn't even put stuff into it anymore because it kept collapsing. So I bought a brand-new one! And I keep marveling at it. A hamper that looks nice and isn't cracked and stained and torn! It's a whole new era.

annaleen, 8 months ago to mastodon

#Mastodon is #calm media, part eleventy billion: I clicked on a post that completely enraged me, and returned to my timeline full of inchoate plans to write something pointlessly scathing. Immediately I saw like ten people having a nice, helpful conversation about software configurations. Lost the urge to yell and continued on with my day.

annaleen, 10 months ago to random

Happy caturday from Infrared and Ultraviolet.

annaleen, 10 months ago to random

I am a tech nerd and commentator who jumps on every new social media thing but I have absolutely no interest in the non-organic, autotuned community McMansion that is Threads. Seriously, do we really need another product from the "we didn't invent fascism, we just give the people what they want" company?

annaleen, 25 days ago (edited 8 days ago) to random

Guess what? I'm on book tour this summer. Come see me discussing the history of psyops and the future of peace with these astonishing conversation partners! Be sure to say hi!