elfpie

I believe the problem is never showing evidence, but that the evidence is overwhelming. I could explain the general idea and, maybe, one or two specifics. People that use the XX/XY binary argument wouldn’t be able to explain either, but it’s usually only used because it conforms to a bias. And we are only talking about humans here. Language would implode if we tried to maintain convenient binaries and still back it up with science.

I've never been on twitter, but I'm not that surprised so many of us here were driving engagement.

Once again I go back to the Exiled Lands (Savage Wilds this time, actually), and once again I can't help editing ".../Conan Exiles/ConanSandbox/Config/DefaultGame.ini" to strip away the opening credits that I can't really skip otherwise or automatically. Not everyone is bothered by it and the wait time is the same, but I'm happier this way.

Do you have some quirk like that in your gaming life? Something that takes at least a bit of effort or research to make your setup just nice? Give me all your most silly and trivial examples. All praise mods that automate doors.

It's an article in Portuguese, so I thought it'd better not to link directly: https://www.uol.com.br/tilt/noticias/redacao/2023/11/15/erro-camera-reconhecimento-facial.htm

It's talks about how a woman was misidentified at a festival in Brazil by the use of cameras and AI. Twice. First time she was approached by plainclothes officers that informed what was happening, said they were following protocol and asked for an ID (that she wasn't carrying). She was let go after they were satisfied. Hours later she was approached again, in a violent manner this time, treated in the manner they would typically treat criminals here (or most of the civilized world). She wetted her pants in fear. After being let go again, she decided to go home.

The way I understand it, she didn't do anything wrong. She had nothing to hide showing her face and being judged my the state surveillance. She got lucky by being mistreated in a nice way once. She also got lucky the second time for her brutal mistreatment not ending with her imprisoned and unable to leave because that happens to innocent people much more frequently than people imagine.

Everything you say can be used against you. Every information they have can be used against you. Don't give them ammunition.

As far back as 2010, in a piece titled “Little Brother is Watching,” author Walter Kirn wrote for the New York Times: “As the internet proves every day, it isn’t some stern and monolithic Big Brother that we have to reckon with as we go about our daily lives, it’s a vast cohort of prankish Little Brothers equipped with devices that Orwell, writing 60 years ago, never dreamed of and who are loyal to no organized authority. The invasion of privacy — of others’ privacy but also our own, as we turn our lenses on ourselves in the quest for attention by any means — has been democratized.”

The article is paywalled: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/magazine/17FOB-WWLN-t.html

Another one from 2004: https://www.wired.com/2004/07/little-brother-is-watching/

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I had never heard the concept before, but it certainly serves to stop me from considering the state we are now as non horrifying. Bookmarked the podcast for later, but I’m sharing it right now anyway.

The rest of the article (not translated) is an interview with Cathcart.

I guess the hopes of a mass migration to another app are not good. On the other side, Brazil's policies will have a great influence in the future development of whatsapp.

In the discussion I read elsewhere, people wondered if the way funds are granted would change and advocated for it. I don't think a system that can say they profit greatly from the status quo will ever care. I also remember how public funding were denied to researchers and then cut without all of it being used.

I’m not in a very good head space for discussions, but some thoughts that came to mind while watching.

• Companies know how much value and power unions have, so much that they form their own.

• Racism, as other minorities issues, affect everyone.

I've been thinking about the arguments that are increasingly common when dealing with tech: "it's too complicated" and "I just want something that works".

My father gifted a used computer to me and my brother when we were kids. Ours to use, ours to take care. He would pay for the eventual screw up, but we had to walk several blocks carrying the tower to get assistance.

I messed up a lot over the years, mostly because I wanted to explore the little that I knew and learn more. I had some magazines that expected everything to go well if instructions were followed and no access to internet forums to ask for help. I was limited to just one language as well. I had to find a way out. Nowadays things are much more simple and really just work, until they don't and I can't really fix them.

In this world, what people can do is complain. Or offer a report of how things went wrong and wait patiently. It's not even that common for people in general to just go back to the version that worked. There's no version, only the app we use or can't use and it's not our responsibility any kind of maintenance.

I have to confess I was going in another direction when I started, but things are really limited from a consumer's point of view. In part, it's our fault for not wanting to deal with the burden of knowledge, it inevitably takes the control away from us, but big tech really approves and incentives this behavior.

As with so many problems I see in the world, education is the solution. And educating ourselves might be the only dependable option.

It’s a video about sexuality as a gaming mechanic. The same way you might play as a mage or a warrior, you can choose who your character is interested in. Except you don’t realize you have an option until someone else that played the game in a different way tells you. There’s a focus on bisexual erasure as well.

If the video is too long for you, watch the first twelve minutes and you will get the gist.

You can read the transcript here: https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=iZGkxUTbDqw

Watching this now, it’s hard not to think about social media and how the ecosystem is tailored to make you see exactly what you want. We will always interpret the world though the lens of our personal past experiences, but tech is able to steer us away from anything that challenges our point of view these days. It’s a common practice for big companies to edit their products to comply with the demands of specific cultures or the powers that be.

There are the players and the world. There are well-crafted narratives and player choices. Being able to role play as much as you want is good, and the same can be said of a world that adapts to your decisions. On the other hand, experience something that is beyond or at the edges of my imagination has great value, and a world whose personality changes solely for my benefit is limiting in a way I’ll never be aware.