theluddite

@theluddite@mastodon.online

The Luddites were right.

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theluddite, to random

The Luddite is a year old. In that year, we've released 36 posts, totaling some 88,738 words, about the length of a short novel. The readership has grown, too. Yesterday, for example, the RSS feed alone got some 3,681 downloads.

Here's a very short summary of what we've been up to this last year, along with a small ask: Send us your feedback. We'd really like to hear from you.

https://theluddite.org/#!post/metapost

sarahtaber, to random
@sarahtaber@mastodon.online avatar

New Farm to Taber episode! @pluralistic joins in to talk about taking on systems that are way bigger than us. Extremely relevant for both the tech & food spaces!

Includes bonus photo edit: Cor(n)y Doctorow

https://shows.acast.com/farm-to-taber/episodes/diy-isnt-enough-systematic-change-with-cory-doctorow

theluddite,

@sarahtaber @pluralistic

What an delightful and unexpected guest. Two of my favorite critics, of two very different industries, united by a desire for structural change. Looking forward to it.

be, to random
@be@floss.social avatar

To save the world, we’re going to have to stop working.

"we could massively reduce climate change just by eliminating bullshit jobs"

https://www.bigissue.com/opinion/david-graeber-to-save-the-world-were-going-to-have-to-stop-working/

theluddite,

@jaxter184 @be

Me too. So very much. Bullshit jobs was instrumental in my political awakening.

loshmi, (edited ) to geopolitics
@loshmi@social.coop avatar

the “US economy going strong under Biden” thinkpieces feel like gaslighting.

housing and food costs are through the roof, wages mostly stagnant, but corps are posting record profits so gdp goes up.

if Biden loses this it’ll be in part because he failed to rein in corporate profits.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/15/biden-economy-bidenomics-poll-republicans-democrats-independents

theluddite,

@loshmi

I exist to serve the economy. If the economy is strong, then I am fulfilled.

AdrianRiskin, to LosAngeles

This article showing that giving homeless people cash reduces homelessness is crossing my timeline a lot recently. A lot of well intentioned comments about how our current ways of addressing homelessness -- shelters, social workers, sweeps, cops, arrests -- cost more than just giving people the money directly would and aren't as effective at housing people as direct cash transfers would be.

But the popular conclusion -- that the government should see this as a reason to switch to this more effective strategy -- relies on the unsupported assumption that the government is actually trying to house people. To me the study suggests that housing people isn't their goal rather than just that they want to house people but just don't know how.

To me the more interesting question raised by this research is to ask what the government's policies are actually aiming at if it's not housing people. Here in Los Angeles the current policies end up funnelling tons of public money to cops, contractors, lawyers, nonprofits, and commercial property owners. The homeless themselves serve as an excuse that the electorate will accept as an explanation of the spending. They're the raw material processed by the homeless industrial complex. Giving money directly to the homeless would not only end the current grift but housing them would cut off the grift for all time. Why would they do that?

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2222103120

theluddite,

@AdrianRiskin

There's no reason for anyone outside VT to know this, but do you know about the VT motel housing program? It's a worthwhile case study.

Tl;DR some well intentioned (if hopelessly neoliberal) lawmakers had the idea to pay for homeless people to stay at motels. It undoubtedly helped some people, but also turned into a plundering of public coffers by landlords, and many exposes about how the state was paying huge sums of money to "house" people in roach infested, moldy squalor.

theluddite,

@AdrianRiskin

After a couple years, when the federal money ran out, our Republican governor vetoed the program, putting the few people who were critical of the program as an obvious grift suddenly in the absurd position of very publicly defending it as better than just chucking all these people out on the street.

It ended with people chucked on the street, because that was always how this story was always going to end.

It's the perfect encapsulation of our entire welfare state.

theluddite,

@AdrianRiskin

Yesssss ugghhhh it's always the same! At this point I know it's going to be bad, but why does it have to be bad and stupid.

theluddite, to random

https://vtdigger.org/2023/08/23/vermonters-will-soon-be-able-to-buy-vermont-strong-license-plates-and-socks/

After historic flooding in our state, in a country with a war budget of 1.7 trillion USD, our climate resiliency plan involves selling merch.

This is your brain on neoliberalism.

theluddite,

@ccgargantua

https://www.usaspending.gov/agency/department-of-defense

theluddite,

@ccgargantua

Doesn't really matter either way. 1.7 trillion vs 860 billion are both incomprehensible sums. Meanwhile, we're selling license plates and socks to raise money for people affecting by flooding. Absolutely pathetic stuff.

theluddite,

@ccgargantua

I'm sure someone who knows about these things can explain how they're both right and it will be so boring I will immediately forget it lol

theluddite, to tech

What even is the industry? Why is Netflix a tech company but not Disney? Doesn't Amazon have more in common with WalMart than with ?

I propose that the "tech industry" isn't that useful a way to think about it, and that by figuring out what a tech company is, we can better understand two strange tech stories: and Twitter's rebrand.

A post in which I finally do something useful with my wasted years interacting with venture capitalists:

https://theluddite.org/#!post/understanding-x

Enjoy!

ben, to technology
@ben@werd.social avatar

We’ve seen the United Nations share their biometric registration of Rohingya refugees with the Myanmar government without their consent. A private company that subcontracts services in other countries makes accountability very difficult when there are rights violations.” https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2023-08-05/why-sam-altman-wants-to-scan-two-billion-eyes.html?utm_source=werd.io&utm_campaign=mastodon&utm_channel=mastodon

theluddite,

@ben

⚪ 🔨

theluddite, to random

tells the story of the that the government wanted you to know.

is yet another fracking operation, exploiting preexisting intellectual property previously considered depleted.

Together, they are the marketing-gimmick-turned-meme , a case study on the malleable nature of truth and reality.

https://theluddite.org/#!post/barbenheimer

Shout out to David Kaiser, one of my favorite scholars. I still remember his lectures on the bomb 10+ years later.

theluddite,

@becha 🙏 ❤️

theluddite, to random

WaPo opinion piece praises Biden for requiring “near certainty” that drone strikes "will not kill or injure noncombatants."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/27/biden-drone-strikes-limits-civilians/

I'm glad that these "smart rules of engagement," as the piece calls them, will restrict the number of innocent humans we murder remotely with robots to an acceptable level. It will be a great comfort to those families who lose a loved one to know that we were "near certain" their loved one wouldn't be killed before we did just that.

theluddite,

As the piece points out:

"Mistakenly dropping bombs on noncombatants is abhorrent and counterproductive, and feeds anti-U.S. propaganda."

Yes, it is counterproductive. God forbid our flying robots purposefully built for long-distance killing mistakenly kill innocents. Imagine the fodder such mistakes would provide for those who write anti-American propaganda.

theluddite,

But the piece warns:

"The Biden rules might go too far in places.... [T]he “near certainty” standard could encourage terrorists to use civilians as human shields."

Of course, like any compromise, neither side is happy. Those of us who want to see the terrorists killed by drones without murdering innocents must compromise with those of us who want to see the terrorists killed by drones with total disregard for innocent life.

theluddite,

Of course, those are the only two sides. There is no other way. Not using sky-murder robots altogether is unrealistic.

"Drones are an inexpensive and low-footprint means of eliminating militants seeking to kill Americans."

As an American taxpayer, I am relieved to learn that our totally necessary flying killer robots are both well-regulated and fiscally responsible.

This is how you know we are the good guys. Heaven forbid we exceed our tolerance for innocents murdered or our budget.

theluddite,

@loshmi

If you think about it, murdering people is good for the environment. The drones themselves are even EVs! The US drone program is a .

theluddite,

@loshmi

So true! In the , there are no innocents! We must all and , or risk being .

ben, to technology
@ben@werd.social avatar

Esther clearly comes from a different perspective and worldview to me, but her take on Twitter and X is uniquely notable given how tied up in the story she’s been. I honestly don’t know what to think, but this is interesting background. https://twitter.com/esthercrawford/status/1684291048682684416?utm_source=werd.io&utm_campaign=mastodon&utm_channel=mastodon

theluddite,

@ben

"You couldn’t just be a builder — you also needed to be a politician."

One day, tech people will finally learn that there really is no such thing as just being a builder. All worthwhile endeavors require making decisions and organizing people. When we try to avoid those things, we just let other people make those decisions for us.

ccgargantua, to AdobePhotoshop

started out as this awesome thing that automated tasks quickly and conveniently.

But ruins everything. Now corps are purposely making things inconvenient so you’re willing to pay for an experience you should already have.

At first it was just but now even our is shoving subscriptions and paywalls down our throats.

I’m watching the life/career I wanted as a kid vanish with all my money. Would love my own cage match with and

theluddite,

@ccgargantua

https://theluddite.org/#!post/capitalism-makes-technology-backwards

;)

theluddite, to SelfDrivingCars

@safestreetrebel protestors are disabling by putting a traffic cone on their hood.

Waymo says they'll call the cops on anyone who does this.

https://www.techspot.com/news/99348-san-francisco-protestors-disabling-autonomous-vehicles-using-traffic.html

Companies made fortunes operating illegal taxis throughout the entire country and cops have never done a goddamn thing about it, but put a cone on a car owned by a big company and Waymo feels confident the cops would use violence to stop it.

Keep up the good work.

theluddite, to random

The Luddite was cited in a paper about :

Permacomputing Aesthetics: Potential and Limits of Constraints
in Computational Art, Design and Culture

https://assets.pubpub.org/ow1pyuj5/61686089258058.pdf

I'm pretty sure that's our first citation, and it's a lovely paper. They even discuss the pervasive joylessness of modern technology as a motivation, the subject of our second-most recent post.

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