This is not to say that I never use GPS systems, but I try to minimize my use — using them only when absolutely necessary — because becoming dependent on them causes the parts of your brain that do that work to atrophy. Literally.

Whoops, never thought of that before! Like, I know using AI to write makes me a worse writer, but using GPS directions in Google Maps also makes me worse at navigating? It makes sense in retrospect. And with the GPS I never have to develop the skills to navigate in the first place. Yikes!

Today, it may seem to many that the cluster of technologies marketed as “AI” is entirely new, and, logically, that objection to it must likewise be unheard-of. But, as the demonstration shows, not only is “AI” not especially new; protesting it has a long history. [...] [W]e are calling for resistance to the AI industry’s ongoing capture of higher education.

We envision a resistance that is, by its very nature, a repudiation of the efficiencies that automated algorithmic education falsely promises: a resistance comprising the collective force of small acts of friction.

Digital Medievalist is an international web-based community for medievalists working with digital media. It was established in 2003 to help scholars meet the increasingly sophisticated demands faced by designers of contemporary digital projects. Digital Medievalist publishes an open access journal, sponsors conference sessions, runs an email discussion list and encourages best practice in digital medieval resource creation.

Some fun (for a variety of fun) Microsoft Windows horror graphics (not graphic-graphic, no worries).

But what I vehemently object to in this situation is the use of the first-person voice without my review or permission. The language used in the description makes it sound as if I wrote it (“In this post, I share my personal journey…”). Because I have fiercely protected my authorship throughout my life and what my name is attached to, any generative AI writing that purports to be in my voice without my informed consent is a profound violation of my authorial voice, agency, and frankly it feels like fraud or impersonation. As an archivist who has spent almost twenty years thinking about accuracy in information, it makes my skin crawl that there is a metadata field with the sole purpose of generating SEO-engagement purporting to be my voice that doesn’t disclose the authorship was actually non-consensual AI.

Over 70 bands and musicians spend the fall recording these demos, released exclusively as part of DEMO FEST on the winter solstice (December 21st) as a benefit for Solidarity Across Borders.

Punk music demos, yay!

Games made with the Princess Sword system!

I appreciate that they even care enough because most people are apathetic, but I guess what may be difficult to grasp is that I am not looking for meaning or purpose, neither is my goal in life to be “happy” or even fulfilled. These are things that everyone seems to seek, but I have found them to be imprisoning.

I found this viewpoint intriguing and kind of counterpoint to the intense pressure to have a "thing" and to do it for 50 years and that's all you are (which they mention in this post).

I always knew that if I was going to make it big, I had to have a deep faith in these stories, yet I could never muster that conviction. I still believe in the things that I build, but never for long. I consider that a blessing, because I feel freer from the illusions that so many tech people seem caught up in. But having my third eye open doesn’t help me achieve great things.

Nor do I feel at peace sitting still. I can’t seem to accept that I would spend this one precious life I have not shining as bright as I possibly can, not for the money or the status, but just to feel what Teddy Roosevelt called the “strenuous life,” to enjoy it juice, pulp, and pith.

I don’t know if there’s a career for me beyond tech’s golden handcuffs. It’s funny, no one ever went out of their way to compliment me on my engineering prowess, but I’ve had many people tell me that I have a gift for words and for teaching. I feel called to write, but the things that well up in my chest sometimes feel too controversial and vulnerable. I’m afraid of being hurt.

I think Millennials as a whole were told that if we want to succeed we have to go whole-hog into one thing and make it our identity. If you can't or won't do that, then you're not a success. (I think this is capitalism doing something. You can't market yourself to a boss or to an audience if you like 5 things and they're all different topics.) But I think a lot of people would actually prefer to just be mildly amused (especially at work) and spend time doing other things and not just ONE THING FOREVER.

I fucking hate the Tech Bros. I hate the hype. I hate the Bros wrongly claiming LLM's will turn us all into toast. I hate their never-ending quest to make their investments have a return. I hate the venture capitalists in their Patagonia vests who talk about "disruption" while they burn down the library of human experience and fuck over workers. I hate them with the specific, intricate hatred of a survivor who knows exactly how the grift works.

I hate LLMs. My hatred knows no bounds. I love the small web, the clean web. I hate tech bloat.

And LLMs are the ultimate bloat.

It's almost nomination time for the Hugo Awards! As someone invested in recommendations as a type of critique/conversation, I'm thriving.

Good set of recs! I need to go through these more thoroughly later...

So that’s my two cents on where a lot of cozy fantasy is going wrong. And like, I can kind of see where my colleagues are coming from and why books like this keep being produced these days??? Like the pandemic really fucked up everybody, and so many of us are incredibly burned out and running on fumes… And so sometimes it feels impossibly challenging to write any book except one where nothing bad happens and nothing is in danger and nobody is really bothered or worried about anything and everything is mostly fine and there aren’t any major setbacks…..

But that leaves readers cold. And frankly, I don’t feel like it does much of anything to nourish either our souls or theirs. It feels like eating a bag of potato chips for dinner instead of going to the effort of even just heating up a frozen dinner that has a vegetable in it.

YES this is exactly my problem with these new cozy fantasy books that AREN'T romances. If they're romances they at least have the romantic story beats and that brings the tension and it's just a fun fantasy setting. But otherwise they're just so damn boring.

In the beginning, there was the pure thing. Then came corruption, commercialization, normies, and death. We're all walking around with these little creation myths about every domain we care about, and they all end the same way: with us as witnesses to a decline that began right after we showed up. How convenient that the golden age always ended just as we aged into it…

Another banger as always!

I said that taking weeks to reply to an e-mail is like writing letters. Depending on how long they take to get from sender to receiver, it can be weeks between letters. And since we are on pretty much the opposite sides of the planet, that would actually be the case with us!

I don't think that just because e-mails take no time to reach their destination it means we have to reply immediately. It's like with instant messaging: Just because it's instantly delivered does not mean you have to instantly reply. You can if you are able and want to. But you do not have to. I send messages at a time that is convenient to me. And so should you.

I like this idea! But I also like that they said they'd be taking a while to reply. If you're not expecting it to be weeks or months later from when you sent your email, then not getting a reply in a few days feels like being ignored/rejected. Next time I email someone directly I'll put a note that I may be slow to respond, and they can be slow, too, and no hard feelings. Something like that.

But as PL points out, Ask This Book is, in effect, “an in-book chatbot. You ask any question about the book, and a generative AI process provides you answers.” Which would seem…hmmm…to raise some rights concerns.

UGH, really??

But the Internet Archive is much more than a website, it's a physical place right here in the Richmond District. If you walk down Clement Street until you hit Funston, you’ll see a building that looks like a Greek temple with white columns. On the roof you can see the number 1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion), the number of web pages they've archived. Every Friday at 1pm, they open their doors for a public tour.

Write-up of what it's like going on the Internet Archive tour, with photos! They also have a "Big Free Library" book exchange out front, too.

[...] I posit: Kovid betrayed us with Calibre 8.16.2, and we as a community never should have let that happen, never have placed such a burden on individual generosity. The synthesis of these two truths, then, is nearly self-evident. There must be a new effort, free from AI encumbrances, that is built from the ground-up as a community effort. Something that can outlive the decisions of any one participant, something that does not place any one individual under an untenable load.

The rereading Project aims to do precisely this.

I'm interested to see where this project goes. It's unfortunate that Calibre is really the only widely-used/available cataloging system (I know there's other options but not if you a) want to use Linux and b) have thousands of things to catalog) so another option or two would be great!

I've rounded up a pool of younger people who have agreed to let me expose them to classic works of science fiction and assembled a list of older works I think still have merit. Each month my subjects will read and react to those stories; I will then post the results to this site. Hilarity will doubtless ensue!

Fab topic! I'd add this to my rss reader except there's no rss feed.

Gemini is a new internet technology supporting an electronic library of interconnected text documents. That's not a new idea, but it's not old fashioned either. It's timeless, and deserves tools which treat it as a first class concept, not a vestigial corner case. Gemini isn't about innovation or disruption, it's about providing some respite for those who feel the internet has been disrupted enough already. We're not out to change the world or destroy other technologies. We are out to build a lightweight online space where documents are just documents, in the interests of every reader's privacy, attention and bandwidth.

I want to make a Gemini version of my site! For fun!

Every time there's news from Mozilla we see a lot of takes around here along the lines of: they're clueless, their heads are in the sand, they don't know their userbase.

Alternative interpretation: We're looking at another case very much like Bluesky - a corporation with somewhat-openwashed branding which knows exactly who their userbase is, hates it, and wants a different one.

The rationale is clear enough; the browser is just a massive opportunity for datamining. The "AI" startups can only dream of controlling a browser with even the marketshare of Firefox. In that light, it's no use having a userbase of technically competent, privacy-aware dissidents who can work around the extractive dark patterns. Let's face it people, we're not profitable to surveillance capitalism