@vjprema@fosstodon.org
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

vjprema

@vjprema@fosstodon.org

The Mindful Technologist - On the intersection of Spirit and Tech.

• Software Engineer
• Cybermonk
• Meditator
• Silence-seeker.

📍 Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa (Auckland, New Zealand)

#Meditation #Consciousness #Mindfulness #Minimalism #Nature #Buddhism #FOSS #OpenSource #Linux #DistractionFree #CalmTech #HumaneTech #SolarPunk #eBike #YouAreTheAlgorithm #ArtificialIntelligence #NaturalIntelligence

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vjprema, to random
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

After blocking most annoying things on the web already, one of the main design anti-features that still annoys me is those login screens that default to entering an email address, and then it emails you sign in link to log in 🤦‍♂️.

Jeezus. Most sane people will be using a password manager these days with a hot key or autofill set up, and such a design just gets in the way of that secure instant login convenience.

vjprema, to minimalism
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

A weird part about minimalism is you get excited about getting rid of stuff that the average consumerism-minded person gets excited about acquiring.

A friend exclaims about getting a new mechanical keyboard, while I express the lightness I feel after selling mine and just using the perfectly fine laptop keyboard.

Do I really need a more visceral keyboard experience or is it just a weak compensation for some other lack or dissatisfaction from another unseen source?

#minimalism #consumerism

vjprema, to random
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

Communication through concepts is lossy.

When you talk/write, you compress a rich part of experience into abstract symbols.

Then, someone else decompresses them in their own mind based on their own conditioning, experience and available cues/context (e.g. tone of voice, body language or the listeners own frame of mind at the time).

It's so easy to get hung up on words, "truth", accuracy and semantics, but forget about the other persons decompression factors that are hard to change or see.

atomicpoet, to random
@atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org avatar

Zuma is why you should never ever listen to self-proclaimed “gamers”.

Back in the early ‘00s, they moaned and complained about casual gaming. Specifically, everything made by PopCap Games.

“Zuma is stupid,” they said, “And casual games are a fad!”

21 years later, I’m still playing Zuma. It’s still awesome. And I still get a thrill when I pass a stage.

vjprema,
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

@atomicpoet Oh man I had forgotten all about this game! I spent so long playing it back in the day.

andybaio, to random
@andybaio@xoxo.zone avatar

"Consent Mode is off by default" should be the unofficial motto of the tech industry. https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/15/24130832/limitless-ai-pendant-wearable-meetings

vjprema,
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

@andybaio Endgame of this is company could be to record all inputs and outputs of office workers and then train an AI agent that does their job... then sell the agent to the employer getting them fired. Good luck to anyone who actually buys this thing or works for a company that forces them to wear it.

kev, to random
@kev@fosstodon.org avatar

Once again the Linux elitist and reply guys rear their ugly head to show that this particular penguin shaped leopard cannot change its spots. 😔

https://kevquirk.com/linux-elitism-again

vjprema,
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

@kev

Surprising at first... but also not surprising when I remember the dynamics of the public Internet.

It's sad that so many good voices that ought to be heard, remain quiet and retreat into the shelter of the "dark forest" because of mass responses like this, while the loud-mouths and stirrers proliferate.

kev, (edited ) to random
@kev@fosstodon.org avatar

So last night it was all over the news that there were going to be "Severe Snow Storms" across North Wales today. In true British fashion, the entire country lost its shit.

https://kevquirk.com/severe-snow-warning

vjprema,
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

@kev Very typical where I live in New Zealand. News media has "Severe Cyclone warning!" as front page news. Next day nothing happens. Maybe a stronger than normal breeze if we are lucky.

Then when the real cyclone or floods come, there is no warning.

Freak weather seems by definition unpredictable.

liztai, to random
@liztai@hachyderm.io avatar

Why didn't anyone tell me I was living in dystopia. Now that I saw this video I totally get it.
I live in a . It is so difficult to live here. I walk 10 min to a light rail station and take it to . I can also walk 10 min to a row of shops that include cafes supermarkets and a clinic. I have to walk 15 min if I want to shop in THREE malls and a town centre. I also live on top of a green hill. It's terrible.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=0Icyahslf-4&si=I8HF8bjhjgmSa_3T

vjprema,
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

@liztai
lol

One thing I realized from this is that when it comes to 15min cities, the big companies and wealthy people stand to lose the most, while small business and average people stand to gain.

andycarolan, to random
@andycarolan@social.lol avatar

There were some Kia EVs parked outside a local mall yesterday. How did cars become almost £60k each?

vjprema,
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

@andycarolan A lot of people justify the spend by claiming they will save money on maintenance and petrol. I'm pretty skeptical. I think the payback period of the "investment" could be like 20 years depending on driving habits, and by then the battery will be worn out and need replacing which will probably cost as much as another 10 years of petrol and maintenance.

vjprema, to generativeAI
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

This is no surprise.

It also lends credit to the concept that #generativeAI is not really AI, but a kind of "fuzzy compression" of a vast amount of data, and is more akin to generating remixed "memories" based on "remembered" data it has been trained with.

If you fuzzy compress a copyrighted image or text and then decompress it and its only say 5% different to the original, while being iconically recognizable, is that copyright infringement/plagiarism?

https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/things-are-about-to-get-a-lot-worse

#copyright #AI

Rjdlandscapes, to random
@Rjdlandscapes@mastodon.nz avatar

And yet we have the iPad (2001 space oddity), Mobile phone (star trek communicator), video calls (Metropolis, 2001 , blade runner etc), Ear buds (Fahrenheit 451), robotic prosthesis (terminator)

Helpful robots, language translators , smart watches etc etc

Vast swaths of our current world are ideas we've had that takes a lot of effort to bring into reality. Why do you think these people become billionaires.

The difficulty is in the execution

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tech-billionaires-need-to-stop-trying-to-make-the-science-fiction-they-grew-up-on-real/

vjprema,
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

@Rjdlandscapes

I agree execution is an issue.

They might start off making something cool but during that process if their isn't a strong "Ulysses Pact" built into the org (e.g. a #GPL license) and a lot of money is required, then investors inevitably take control and it becomes all about making "the line go up" for them, while providing just enough residual value and pushing regulations favoring investors not users.

Given that a lot of scifi is quite dystopian, they get that part right.

joel, (edited ) to random
@joel@fosstodon.org avatar

Just a quick post about how hard it is to buy christmas gifts now that I have the ability and the income to do so.

Also some nice memory that popped up to my head because of it.

This is a short one for a change, for day 89 of

https://joelchrono.xyz/blog/paradox-of-choice/

vjprema,
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

@joel

I managed to mainly kill the expectation of me giving gifts.

Personally I don't want an xmas gift either. A better "gift" is to connect with a person who is stress-free, present and genuine.

I do appreciate opportunistic gifts given at any time of the year more because I have no expectation of them. Even just good quality second hand stuff that I actually needed. Its better than a brand new cheap/average quality gift given to me just because of some particular calendar date.

vjprema, to apple
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

I was trying to figure out why won the same lawsuit against while lost it.

Firstly, it turns out Apple was tried by a judge, while Google was tried by a Jury.

Secondly, Android is an open platform allowing alternative app stores, however Google cut deals to favor billing for big apps and moves to funnel users in its favor. Apple just blocks everyone, big or small, at a technical level, which is legal.

What a world.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/epic-ceo-tim-sweeney-on-why-the-company-did-better-against-google-than-apple-in-court/ar-AA1loHlp

Daojoan, to random
@Daojoan@mastodon.social avatar

The biggest mistake I have made as a creator is letting my ego, my ambition and the shallowness of social media convince me that I had an "Audience" instead of a network.

It's a self centred worldview that strips the humanity out of the folks around us. We end up treating people like numbers and vanity metrics.

That's just bulls**t.

vjprema,
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

@Daojoan I found it so easy to fall into this as I was so exposed to it when using mainstream apps like Youtube, Twitter etc. Being surrounded by the numbers, I thought that is all there is to creativity. I thought that learning how to make my content rank higher in the algo was how I improve my creativity.

Having gradually left all that behind its actually pretty funny looking back. Seeing a feed of shallow 10min distractions with all the thumbnails of exaggerated facial expressions.

vjprema,
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

@Daojoan Also reminds me when I mentioned to IRL friends that I had a youtube channel, often the first question they asked was "how many subscribers do you have?". As if that is the only thing determines whether they should give a damn.

Same with telling my tech friends that I use Mastodon. First question will usually be "how many people use the app?" in order to judge whether its any good.

vjprema, to SmallWeb
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

Anyone know good ways to search or discover things on the #SmallWeb or #indieweb ?

I suppose one definition is a search engine that excludes big tech siloed sites, spamblogs and listicles etc

So far I found that #Kagi is able to search in smallweb mode, though it is a paid service and somewhat limited.

BrodieOnLinux, to linux
@BrodieOnLinux@linuxrocks.online avatar

Thunderbird: The True Power Of FOSS Development #Linux #YouTube https://youtu.be/FyU8qkhzE8w

vjprema,
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

@BrodieOnLinux

I also donated when I saw the "Keep Thunderbird alive" screen.

Its an awesome CTA screen IMO.

It looks cool and given that #Thunderbird is something many individuals and businesses heavily rely on every day, the chance that they are willing to donate to "keep it alive" is very high.

Showing the screen upon major update is also impactful, because you see the progress they are making and more willing to say thanks.

Daojoan, to random
@Daojoan@mastodon.social avatar

Is there any LinkedIn platitude more tedious / odious than “humbled”

vjprema,
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

@Daojoan I don't know why people use that word so much on Linkedin.

I'd mainly use it on the occasion I'm a bit arrogant and rightly get my arse handed to me.

jeffowski, to random
@jeffowski@mastodon.world avatar
vjprema,
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

@jeffowski It's often too easy give up at the first or second.

I guess sometimes you have to give up an old habit or let go of something you thought you were, in order to start a new one.

kev, to random
@kev@fosstodon.org avatar

Oh, @jbaty we really are two peas in a pod...

https://kevquirk.com/other-peoples-enthusiasm

vjprema,
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

@kev @jbaty I observe this in myself and I think another factor could be distraction, procrastination and what I call "toolboxing".

We all love distraction, it takes us away from "the thing" that we actually need to do but is mildly uncomfortable.

Exploring something new is the low hanging fruit because we get the instant hit of shiny newness.

"Toolboxing" is when we make the excuse that we are building/acquiring the tools to improve productivity but its just more excuse to avoid "the thing".

vjprema,
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

@MargotRobbie

As a fully remote/flexible/async SW developer contractor paid by the hour, I have a different situation than most.

Personally I do not install any work apps on my phone because I could easily end up "doing work" that I don't really get paid for.

When I work, I sit down at my actual PC intentionally, I start a timer, and I bill for my time that I take doing work only.

I avoid any work that I need to respond to outside of that and I make this fact known to anyone I work with.

kev, to iPhone
@kev@fosstodon.org avatar

I think I'm too addicted to my #iPhone so I've taken steps to try and remedy that...

https://kevquirk.com/im-too-addicted-to-my-iphone

vjprema,
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

@kev Great idea. On Android I got slightly more minimal using KISS Launcher combined with a monochrome minimalist icon theme (apps run in color, launcher is monochrome). KISS is like a highly configurable Spotlight search.

No more grid of colorful icons, only one row of icons for the most useful apps I really need, and a search bar which requires me to start typing in the name of the app or some keywords about it, in order to launch the app.

It made my usage much more intentional.

kev, to random
@kev@fosstodon.org avatar

The whole #DigitalGarden concept is lost on me.

https://kevquirk.com/blogs-gardens-and-thinking-aloud-in-public

vjprema,
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

@kev Mind you here is another garden which I also really like, which goes against what I said, as it is not in the wiki-style at all, its really just a normal blog that encourages also browsing by "Growth stage" of articles and by topics, rather than only chronologically. https://maggieappleton.com/garden

marijn, to random
@marijn@mastodon.social avatar

I feel like “this software is language-model free” might soon be a real selling point

vjprema,
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

@salarua @janriemer @marijn I actually prefer this. Its like products that are "hand made". They simply write that the products are hand made, and they don't write in bold "not made by a machine".

Right now I personally don't see this kind of badge necessary because to me its always quite obvious what is generated and what is thoughtfully crafted by a human. There is also lots of badly crafted human-made fluff. Sometimes they try to use models to fix it but usually it's lipstick on a pig.

ArtBear, to politics

Sound advice.

vjprema,
@vjprema@fosstodon.org avatar

@ArtBear at first I thought the guy on his mountain was also the one who dug the pit for the other guy to fall into.

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