AcidicBasicGlitch
@AcidicBasicGlitch@lemm.ee
Researcher in the U.S. trying to stay informed and help others stay informed. I write a blog that focuses on public information, public health, and policy: pimento-mori.ghost.io
I only recently began using ghost, and am slowly figuring things out. Apologies for any formatting issues.
- Comment on Amazon is reportedly training humanoid robots to deliver packages 5 hours ago:
I guess they felt like drones flying over civilian populations was a bit too unsettling in this day and age, so they are shifting to humanoids that will jump suddenly from moving vehicles and dash towards a destination.
- Submitted 14 hours ago to technology@lemmy.world | 72 comments
- Comment on Why is lemmy so political?! 22 hours ago:
Ok
- Comment on Why is lemmy so political?! 1 day ago:
Originally the discussion was about politics always being brought up on lemmy for all topics even when it’s not relevant to the topic. I said that it’s not necessarily that people want to bring it up, but it’s hard to talk about most things without bringing it up bc it’s become so invasive in so many things.
Maybe I misunderstood you, but it seemed like you were arguing it’s not actually invasive it’s just propaganda making it seem invasive, no?
So I was explaining how it actually has been very invasive for me in response to the statement about it being propaganda.
- Comment on Why is lemmy so political?! 1 day ago:
I mean, literally it feels like it’s overtaken my entire life, not just online. Everything.
I was kind of into politics before, but never to this extent, even during Trump’s first term bc it’s just fucked up everything for me.
My job, my plans for the future, my child’s future, my family that are retired and dependent on social security and Mediciad, my friends that have had health issues.
It’s not propaganda. It’s literally just fucked me over, and ignoring it would just be like closing my eyes, sticking my fingers in my ears and pretending reality isn’t real.
If that’s not the case for you, I understand and kind of envy you, but I promise its the reality for a lot of people right now
- Comment on Why is lemmy so political?! 1 day ago:
I mean, don’t you think it’s at least in part bc politics have invaded just about every aspect of science and tech?
Like I work in research, and it’s like over the last 5 months everything has changed. And it’s still constantly changing.
I wish it didn’t have to be so political, but a lot of people feel like it’s not so much a choice of choosing to talk about politics. How do you talk about science/tech/healthcare without mentioning very abrupt and invasive policies? Often, I learn about things that will have an impact on my job here before I hear anything from my employer. It’s kind of insane.
- Comment on lemm.ee is shutting down at the end of this month 1 day ago:
What are the worst instances?
- Comment on Jacques Ellul's The Technological Society: How Efficiency Becomes the Master 6 days ago:
I haven’t read them yet, but I’m hoping to. It seems like he has some books actually focused on religion, but i’m not sure how much it actually comes up in this one.
If it does at all, it doesn’t seem like he weaponized Christianity against non Christians. His views on it actually sound pretty interesting
Ellul explained his view in this way: “By anarchy I mean first an absolute rejection of violence.” And, “… Jesus was not only a socialist but an anarchist – and I want to stress here that I regard anarchism as the fullest and most serious form of socialism.” For him, this meant that nation-states as the primary sources of violence in the modern era, should neither be praised nor feared, but continually questioned and challenged.
- Submitted 6 days ago to technology@lemmy.world | 5 comments
- Comment on [deleted] 6 days ago:
The Technological Society, a book that, decades after its publication, feels less like a historical analysis and more like a chilling prophecy unfolding before our eyes. It’s a book that forces us to confront a profound truth: We are not just using technology; we are being used by it.
The common fear is that of robots rising up, or machines taking over, but Ellul points to a far more subtle and insidious threat: the rise of “Technique.” This isn’t simply about machines or gadgets. It’s about the principle of efficiency becoming the dominant force in all human endeavors. Technique, in Ellul’s view, is the search for the “one best means” to achieve any given end. It is the relentless pursuit of the optimal, applied not just to industrial production, but to politics, education, medicine, even our personal relationships. Think about it: data driven decisions, algorithmic recommendations, metrics to measure everything from happiness to productivity. This is Technique at work.
Anything that slows down the process, anything that deviates from the optimal path, a moment of spontaneous creativity, a lengthy conversation that isn’t productive, a decision based on intuition or empathy rather than data, becomes an inefficiency. Something to be minimized or eliminated.
Was discussing this book in a different post earlier I’ve always wanted read it but never had a chance.
Definitely seems relevant for a lot of reasons.
- Comment on [deleted] 6 days ago:
Thanks! Might repost that link instead.
I actually only know about it bc it’s the book that seemed to send Ted Kaczynski over the edge lol.
It’s pretty spooky how accurate it has become especially since it was written so long ago.
- Comment on FBI Wants Access To Encrypted iPhone And Android Data—So Does Europe 1 week ago:
To be fair, he was probably the youngest and most vulnerable participant, and the experiment lasted 3 years. He started attending Harvard at 16, and was probably around 16/17 when the study began.
They used psychological warfare on a kid who was already socially reserved on top of feeling alienated from his peers due to his age, away from his family for the first time in his life, and during what we now recognize is probably the most critical window for young men in particular to develop a mental illness like schizophrenia, they did this:
Subjects were told they would debate personal philosophy with a fellow student and were asked to write essays detailing their personal beliefs and aspirations. The essays were given to an anonymous individual who would confront and belittle the subject in what Murray himself called “vehement, sweeping, and personally abusive” attacks, using the content of the essays as ammunition. Kaczynski spent 200 hours as part of the study.
Like holy shit…
- Comment on FBI Wants Access To Encrypted iPhone And Android Data—So Does Europe 1 week ago:
True, and I didn’t mean it in a necessarily derogatory way in terms of judgment for his mental illness, but for his actions. I know I should be more careful about saying things like that, and didn’t mean to imply anything negative about people who struggle with mental illness.
It’s complicated. Nobody should have had to go through what he did, but something awful somebody went through can’t be used as a justification for them doing something awful to somebody else. It can be the reason they did it, and it may arguably make them not fully responsible for their own behavior, but it also doesn’t make them an innocent if they harm someone else.
- Comment on FBI Wants Access To Encrypted iPhone And Android Data—So Does Europe 1 week ago:
This dude was nuts, and definitely a pos bc he hurt so many people for no real reason, but when you read about the stuff he was worried about, it’s eerily accurate. It’s like he crawled inside Peter Thiel’s head, got a glimpse of his plans, and that’s what set him off the deep end.
- Submitted 1 week ago to technology@lemmy.world | 36 comments
- Comment on Trump Taps Palantir to Compile Data on Americans 1 week ago:
I mean this is why you have different security clearances. Nobody working in the social security administration should have full access to my speeding tickets from 20 years ago, or find out if I was on Medicaid at some point in my life with a single click.
This is very different than making a formal documented request. It enables people to discriminate on information that they shouldn’t know in the first place, and keeps anyone from holding them accountable for it.
Not to mention, if it’s used the way other people have used it, it allows the government to discriminate against other people for just having a loose connection to somebody else.
- Submitted 1 week ago to technology@lemmy.world | 32 comments
- Submitted 1 week ago to technology@lemmy.world | 18 comments
- Community organizations in Milwaukee call for oversight of police surveillancewisconsinexaminer.com ↗Submitted 1 week ago to technology@lemmy.world | 0 comments
- Comment on Musk's Neuralink raises fresh cash at $9 billion valuation, Semafor reports 1 week ago:
Works on contingency. No money down.Works on contingency? No, money down!
- Comment on Musk's Neuralink raises fresh cash at $9 billion valuation, Semafor reports 1 week ago:
I mean I don’t believe there is anything that makes it worth that value, but there are people who will fall prey to the hype. Maybe less so now that Elon has destroyed his Brand and can’t even move Teslas, but it is concerning that he was given this FDA certification and also seems to have potentially been kind of rewarded to keep quiet and disappear from the administration.
The economy is absolutely in the toilet right now, then suddenly the same day he and Trump break up, somebody invests $600M in his shitty biotech that can’t even stay glued in place?
Not to mention, this seems to have happened within days of a competitor company announcing they will be launching their own neural chip by the end of the year
- Comment on Musk's Neuralink raises fresh cash at $9 billion valuation, Semafor reports 1 week ago:
Yep, I bought one like 10 years ago bc I thought it was cool. The fact that people are letting Elon musk insert a fucking chip in their brain to achieve the same tech that’s been available for over 10 years is just 🤯
- Comment on Self-Driving Tesla Fails School Bus Test, Hitting Child-Size Dummies… Meanwhile, Robo-Taxis Hit the Road in 2 Weeks. 1 week ago:
Might also explain why they’re the only ones that seem to have all this knowledge of a population crisis that no one else is aware of.
Thank God for the technocratic elite, and their foresight to know their plans for greatness will almost certainly wipe out the entire U.S. population. Hazard of being part of the unwashed masses, I guess.
Glad they are doing all this while they simultaneously argue that a loss of our personal liberty is a small price to pay for their protection. If they weren’t keeping us safe from… ::gestures vaguely:: China(?) then who would?
- Comment on Self-Driving Tesla Fails School Bus Test, Hitting Child-Size Dummies… Meanwhile, Robo-Taxis Hit the Road in 2 Weeks. 1 week ago:
Well, what are we 'aposta do?!
Strangle these defenseless corporations with the same kind of regulations we continue to create and impose on small businesses? Do you even know who their father is?!
- Comment on Musk's Neuralink raises fresh cash at $9 billion valuation, Semafor reports 1 week ago:
Well you need someone to control the narrative, so if there’s no one being tasked by an administration to actively spread a conspiracy, it’s harder to get people to embrace it.
Reuters reported last summer that the Pentagon had a campaign to spread online disinformation about China’s vaccine Doesn’t really seem too far fetched to think something similar was used against Americans by the same people that would now benefit from Americans being blissfully unaware of how dangerous it is to put one of these chips in their brain. After all, it has an official breakthrough tag now, and if it was really so dangerous “why would the FDA approve it?”
Not sure if you remember, but we were also one of the only countries that tried to downplay the effectiveness of people wearing masks during the earliest days of the pandemic. That was one I never could figure out, but I’m pretty suspicious that was also part of a targeted disinformation campaign.
March 2020 White House seeks assistance from tech companies in fight against coronavirus
The White House on Wednesday asked the tech industry’s top players to help the government in the fight against coronavirus, tapping the expertise of companies like Apple, Facebook and Amazon to help beat back falsehoods and use artificial intelligence to glean new insights into the fast-spreading virus.
In a phone call, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios implored the companies to help out with an “all-hands-on-deck effort” to fight the new coronavirus.
According to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, top tech trade groups and companies participated in the call, including Apple, Cisco, Google, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft, Twitter, the Consumer Technology Association, the Information Technology Industry Council and others.
The meeting revolved around how the tech industry can better coordinate with the government to get out authoritative facts about the coronavirus while cracking down on the spread of bunk cures and conspiracy theories spreading online.
So with all those people and their resources controlling the narrative, why would we then be spreading misinformation about masking? Why would anybody care if large numbers of Americans were covering their face to stop the spread of disease?
I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I do feel like the public should be more aware that Trump’s former CTO and current science advisor, the guy who was also tasked with preventing online disinformation being spread during COVID, was also tirelessly promoting deregulated facial recognition technology long before anyone was considering masking in public would be common in the U.S.
Nov 2019: Trump CTO Addresses AI, Facial Recognition, Immigration, Tech Infrastructure, and More
- Submitted 1 week ago to technology@lemmy.world | 19 comments
- Comment on Peter Thiel’s protégés: a common thread runs through Trump’s tech team 1 week ago:
Yeah, I wrote about that.
Michael Kratsios stays pretty quiet, so most people aren’t aware of him, or the fact he and Thiel were behind most of the ideas everyone currently associates with DOGE during Trump’s first administration.
- Submitted 1 week ago to technology@lemmy.world | 5 comments
- Submitted 1 week ago to technology@lemmy.world | 6 comments
- Comment on Palantir’s Idea of Peace 1 week ago:
“Totally not a narc, inc.”