Telorand

@Telorand@reddthat.com

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Flock Safety and Texas Sheriff Claimed License Plate Search Was for a Missing Person. It Was an Abortion Investigation.⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  Precisely. Notice how they didn’t answer, because they can’t without ruining their little game of special pleading.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Flock Safety and Texas Sheriff Claimed License Plate Search Was for a Missing Person. It Was an Abortion Investigation.⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  When is a fetus a human?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Flock Safety and Texas Sheriff Claimed License Plate Search Was for a Missing Person. It Was an Abortion Investigation.⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  That sheriff has since been arrested and indicted on felony counts in an unrelated sexual harassment and whistleblower retaliation case. He has also been charged with aggravated perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury. EFF filed public records requests with Johnson County to obtain a more definitive account of events.

  At least his side of the story has a happy ending.

  The rest of the story is bonkers, though. The headline could not possibly do it justice. This is one you need to sit down and read with a cup of tea.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK: It's Bandcamp Friday, 100% of proceeds go to artists today (until 12 a.m. PT)⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Wait fr? Like Act 3 of their Mega Man story?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do people say "as sweet as canned beans"?⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ve never heard this expression.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Zuckerberg hailed AI ‘superintelligence’. Then his smart glasses failed on stage | Matthew Cantor⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  If the stranglehold billionaires have on the world begins to diminish, I’ll start to suspect it’s been on purpose. Until then, they’re just fucking idiots who made worthless trash.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that designer psychedelics are a thing now apparently⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  The science is certainly interesting. It is disheartening who is behind it, however.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that designer psychedelics are a thing now apparently⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t know what other data they have, but Mindstate’s Phase 1 trial size was only 47, and how effective it was wasn’t actually documented in the article (other than vague “it was safe and well-tolerated” language). It’s obviously not poison, but whether it actually treated anything is still an open question, and how effective it will be for people in general is another; they’re aiming for the FDA to approve the drug on it’s own, and just producing a neuroplastic mental state may not be enough without guided therapy.

  I sincerely hope for a drug that’s effective at treating various mental disorders, but the funding on this is practically the “who’s who” of Conservative/billionaire ghouls:

  Founded in 2021 and backed by Y Combinator and the founders of OpenAI, Neuralink, Instacart, Coinbase, and Twitch, Mindstate has built a set of AI models that connect biochemical data from different psychactive drugs to more than 70,000 “trip reports” compiled from a variety of sources—from official clinical trial datasets and drug forums to social media, Reddit, and even the dark web.

  Behold the new faces of Big Pharma. These aren’t the sort to do things for the benefit of humanity. It might turn out that this is exactly what is promised on the tin, but I will be surprised if this is not gated by a steep price tag.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that designer psychedelics are a thing now apparently⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m not going to look at the Xitter thread, because fuck fascists, and fuck Elon. If you have other non-fashy sources, I’d be happy to look at them. Real research has papers, not Xitter threads, and Dillan DiNardo is a venture capitalist with a company trying to develop and sell designer drugs. Not exactly an unbiased source.

  For the other links, the first is showing the antianxiety potential of the substance DOI and how scientists were able to document the mechanisms of its effects better (which leads to the possibility of targeted drugs). The second is about a new drug, dubbed JRT, that is able to harness neuroplastic effects without hallucinogenic ones; they’re targeting schizophrenia, which is good news for anyone that suffers.

  Maybe the wealthy will be able to pay for their own custom molecules, but I am skeptical that bespoke psychedelics are on the horizon (at least for average people).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  “Incidental”—this is Meta we’re talking about, and you can exchange them with any other technofacist and it still applies.

  But I wholly agree with you that they know exactly what they are doing. This is how they get people to “participate” in their platforms and algorithms, whether they want to or not.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  …but this is a basic mistake.

  They just fell prey to one of the classic blunders!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A robot programmed to act like a 7-year-old girl works to combat fear and loneliness in hospitals⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Oh good, now they’re taking the jobs of certified comfort/support dogs? The solution nobody asked for, JFC.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Money Power⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  You’ll have to pardon me if I don’t buy into the “they’ll destroy themselves” prediction. I’ve been hearing that for the last ten years at least, and it’s based upon the faulty assumption that they’re too stupid to see the danger before them.

  No, they’re not destroying themselves, they’re intentionally causing it. They already have ammo, guns, crypto, art, etc. They have military force. They have a surveillance mechanism in Palantir. They know they don’t have to preserve anything, because they have 10x the resources and connections the rest of us have. The biggest failure of the left is to assume that the monsters at the top are as stupid as their fawning cultists at the bottom.

  Our best bet is to join together and start embracing a communal mindset. Don’t hoard guns, hoard seeds. Learn how to forage. Make a community garden. When shit hits the fan, you can’t eat bullets, and you won’t be able to shoot your way out of it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Money Power⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  We Americans already know there’s a problem. You are so late to the party in bringing this up.

  The Democrats weren’t/aren’t a means of prevention; they were/are the least-bad, weakest opponent we could have been fighting. Instead, people chose the stronger, better-funded, more strategic, more ideologically driven option, and now we’re watching in horror as every institution that kept us limping along crumbles.

  Continuing to vote for either party would have led to the same outcome eventually, but Democrats would have at least bought us more time to act.

  It’s a systemic failure and if you are not willing to change the power axis in society you are bound for all of this.

  Great, how do you propose we do that?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Britain jumps into bed with Palantir in £1.5B defense pact⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Fools.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Disney+ cancellation page crashes as customers rush to quit after Kimmel suspension⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Let’s not talk as if it’s all we can do; it’s one action amongst many. Besides, let’s not forget that these companies would 1000% be in favor of democracy if they thought it was profitable. They’re fascists, but if their ideals hurt their bottom line, they’ll change their tune, because they have shareholders to appease.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A ‘demoralizing' trend has computer science grads out of work — even minimum wage jobs. Are 6-figure tech careers over?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  As soon as all shit hits the fan guess who starts earning more.

  A tech farm in <insert developing country> who will vibe code a patch for half the cost? (h/j)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Republican senator targets overseas facial recognition site(PimeEyes) over ICE doxing⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  And she/they will miss the point, that doxxing and surveillance are bad and harmful, because their ability to empathize or draw a reasonable conclusion is fundamentally broken.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Twitch starts requiring face scans to watch mature streams in certain countries: Your face is now the key to unlocking gambling and hot tub content.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Respectfully, they’re more like happy bedfellows with overlapping agendas but uniquely different end goals. They appear to be the same, because they cooperate often.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Russian fake-news network back in action with 200+ new sites⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  …but it is time to admit that American society lacks the capability to implement meaningful political and criminal/judicial reform to address the challenges outlined by the article.

  That’s by design. Friends across the pond talk about mass protest as a solution, but not only is the US akin to a bunch of countries loosely allied together (300M people), but we do not have the job/civil rights protections necessary such that everyone can protest safely. If you get injured during a protest (or worse), you have to pay to get treatment. If you “say something the wealthy don’t like,” you can lose your job, get smeared all over social media, and be blacklisted from future employment. If you snicker at a public event or sit quietly on a campus, you could wind up in jail or in front of a judge who will be more than happy to take cops’ words for it that you are a public nuisance or were resisting. Our “right” to protest is functionally a guideline, in practice.

  US becoming an authoritarian/nihilist mafia state is not good for global democracy

  I have some bad news. We’re already there. This is already a Mafia State, and although the lower courts still seem to be on the side of the people, the Supreme Court has been handing the Executive Branch more and more power when asked.

  …and I have very good American friends (both far right leaning and centre right).

  You should reconsider those friendships, because they are the reason we are here at all. They are the problem, and befriending the American far right is just befriending fascists. If you care about the future of global society and democracy, you cannot also hold space for the far right.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Weekly Recommendations Thread: What are you playing this week?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Heard a song from Wuthering Waves, and it caught me be surprise with how good it was, so I figured I’d give the game a try.

  It feels a lot like Genshin Impact, but the world and story feel better, is not Mihoyo, and the voice acting includes the main character. For a F2P experience, it’s been fun going through the initial story. To its detriment, however, there’s three different gacha currencies. Definitely not worth bothering with beyond freebie pulls. Overall, I’d recommend it, but only the free stuff.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Spotify Add Lossless Audio(24-bit / 44.1 kHz FLAC) for Premium Subscribers⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Jesus H Christmas, that’s depressing

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Spotify Add Lossless Audio(24-bit / 44.1 kHz FLAC) for Premium Subscribers⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  At that point where it matters, I feel like I should be buying the music from the artist, not streaming. My latest favorite band, Mad Routine, gives you the WAV masters when you buy their albums, and they are meticulous about sound; those lossless tracks actually sound better, even with Bluetooth.

  However, I think few bands are actually putting in the effort to have beautifully crafted lossless tracks. Also, I have no way of knowing if Spotify is merely increasing the bitrate but using the same lossy source file, which is what I suspect is probably the case. After all, why share valuable goods when you could pretend and throw out a few buzzwords, instead?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Pay-per-output? AI firms blindsided by beefed up robots.txt instructions.⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I think the analogy is apt. If you post a price on goods, and somebody walks into a store, picks up the item, and walks out without paying, they can’t simply say, “Well, I didn’t care to read the price, and nobody presented me with a contract, so I just took it,” as a valid defense. There’s sometimes an explicit agreement upon terms, sure, but there are times where that agreement is implicit: they put a price on a thing, I pay it, else it’s stealing. I don’t need to sign a contract every time I get groceries.

  I do, however, agree that this will only have teeth once it’s argued and upheld in court the first (few) time(s). If nothing else, it’s good to see people trying to solve the problem, rather than just throwing up their hands and letting billionaires run amok with virtual impunity. Maybe this won’t work to reign in AI tech bros, but maybe it will inspire the things that do.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨OpenAI Backs AI-Made Animated Feature Film⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Eh, I think I’ll just rewatch episodes of Bluey instead.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Doctor uses Reform conference speech to link king’s cancer to Covid vaccine⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  After setting out what he said were findings showing that vaccines “created havoc” in the human body, Malhotra said he had been asked to share something by a doctor who he described as one of Britain’s most eminent oncologists.

  I want names. These dangerous goobers always play fast and loose with the word “expert,” and if he’s just going to point to a single doctor—without a name—I am just as justified to believe he’s hallucinated the entire thing.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Weekly Recommendations Thread: What are you playing this week?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Been playing through The Messenger again. Still an amazing game.

  Also picked up No Man’s Sky again to build the Corvette class ships, build up some settlements, and collect some of the newer cosmetic building items. It’s impressive how much love has gone into that game, and it gives me a chuckle that it now has basically everything Star Citizen has (ships with walkable interiors, food, planet exploration, space combat, main quests, etc.).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨DM me on Spotify: Spotify launches a messaging feature.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Not with that attitude! /j

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨DM me on Spotify: Spotify launches a messaging feature.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Barf. I try hard not to think about it, since it’s shoved in our faces at every turn, but you’re absolutely right that our data is going to these AI corpos.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨DM me on Spotify: Spotify launches a messaging feature.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Hot take: buy your music instead—direct from the artist whenever possible, or start building your collection from whatever you can find at a thrift store.