Just a regular Joe.

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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: July 7th, 2023

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  • Indeed. I suspect it would need to be framed around national security and national interests, to have any realistic chance of success. AI is being seen as a necessity for the future of many countries … embrace it, or be steamrolled in the future by those who did, so a soft touch is being embraced.

    Copyright and licensing uncertainty could hinder that, and the status quo today in many places is to not treat training as copyright infringement (eg. US), or to require an explicit opt-out (eg. EU). A lack of international agreements means it’s all a bit wishy washy, and hard to prove and enforce.

    Things get (only slightly) easier if the material is behind a terms-of-service wall.



  • Joe@discuss.tchncs.deOPtoPolitical Memes@lemmy.worldBadge of Honor
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    9 days ago

    Probably a year or so for the ban, but they have been removing fair and reasonable comments (mine and others) that they don’t agree with forever.

    There is method to their approach… it is often well coordinated, with a deliberate campaign to attack any opinions they don’t like, and censor any awkward facts.

    The straw in this case was a meme where they tried to frame USSR’s invasion of the Baltics as a positive thing (leading to the dates in this meme).

    In particular: Lemmy.MLers love proclaiming soviet responsibility for improving life expectancy and literacy rates … at a time when this was rapidly improving in europe and the world regardless, and it would have taken complete Incompetence for any country to not benefit from this trend. ie. Soviets didn’t fuck up this aspect, but it’s not a win outside of russia itself (which was largely a backwater at the time, for understandable reasons)



  • You just might be right there. The road to hell and all that.

    Otoh, we are living in a world where the rich and powerful have extraordinary influence over our lives through asymmetric application of power, technology and knowledge… we are just pawns/players in systems, and if a system fails us, we might not have any recourse. It’s one reason I value the ability to “vote with my feet” (thanks to international agreements and norms, plus my extraordinary good luck of having a strong passport, decent education and supportive family). If you are stuck in a shitty system, your options might be limited and your readiness to accept extremism and its risks will likely be higher.









  • It’s accelerating trends that have already been well underway in the world, with the US leading the pack, and doubling down on its own demise (and apparently also working toward the active demise of European Democracy and Freedom) under trump and jd vance.

    The analogy I always think of is: We’ve got shovels and we are in a big hole … which way are we going to dig? In my experience, most people keep digging down because it seems easier now, and eventually find themselves in a deeper hole.



  • While this is a popular sentiment, it is not true, nor will it ever be true.

    AI (LLMs & agents in the coding context, in this case) can serve as both a tool and a crutch. Those who learn to master the tools will gain benefit from them, without detracting from their own skill. Those who use them as a crutch will lose (or never gain) their own skills.

    Some skills will in turn become irrelevent in day-to-day life (as is always the case with new tech), and we will adapt in turn.




  • I couldn’t agree more. Although I’ll add that education and basic health/social support is also needed for long term stability, or large swathes of the population will be manipulated by fear and dis/misinformation, and will likely end up voting against their own interests. Social cohesion is important, which is why it is used as a weapon by nation states and other political actors.


  • The USSR is dead and cold, replaced by an authoritarian warmongering machine. It had its moment in the spotlight, but it failed, and it failed its russian and former citizens.

    China promotes many good principles (in many ways so did the USA, cough cough), but it is heading in the wrong direction under Xi. It’s Communism with a human exploitative flavour, with the occasional public fig leaf of justice. That said, it could offer an umbrella of security for some more interesting experiments in the years to come. Watch this space, I guess.

    Circling back to my original point, I maintain that communism isn’t going to gain popular support so long as the only viable way to achieve it is through violence and oppression, and so long as it buckles so easily under the pressure of outside forces.

    I will continue voting and protesting for sensible left-leaning policies that promote fairness and well being for all, while steering clear of the extremists and simpletons who promote hate or explicitly or tacitly support genocides, wars of aggression, etc. The scales may tip enough one day to justify radical action, but not today - the risks of it going terribly wrong are too high.


  • I’d love to see a utopia, but I don’t see communism making any sustainable inroads anywhere in the world… that is, unless things get much much worse, to the point that your average man is willing to pick up a pitchfork (or other weapon of choice) and participate in overthrowing ruling class by force… but nowadays the masses are so divided and confused that they’ll probably start killing each other for scraps of food rather than the billionaires for a life of dignity. Even then, it’s just temporary until capitalism and/or authoritarianism takes hold again.