https://toad.social/@davetroy/113476797192400901

Oh no, fascists won the election! Oh no, Musk is a fascist! We need to leave X! Where should we go? Mastodon? Too complicated! BS, which is financed by fascists? Count me in! 😭

Because people will choose convenience over their vey own survival. Also, in this case, they apparently don’t see a problem with leaving Twitter because it’s MAGA to join BS which is backed by MAGA money. Convenience über alles. Ethics be damned. I’m fine with people like that not joining the fediverse.

https://climatejustice.social/@breadandcircuses/113425051624138799

I think it’s pretty clear that OP was referring to the current onslaught of LLMs.

Governments aren’t taking measures for a whole bunch of things that threaten lives. Infinite (exponential) growth on a finite world isn’t possible and we’re hitting or overshooting several planetary boundaries. We should be scaling things back (if we want a livable world), not pushing down harder on the gas pedal, which LLMs are doing. And Sam Altman went to the emirates asking for Trillions to scale LLMs. All of this for a little more convenience when tackling mostly mundane tasks.

You are not aware of the cost (which has been widely documented) if you believe that.

There are plenty of specialized “AIs” that are useful and come at a reasonable environmental and societal cost. LLMs are simply an ecological nightmare that arrive at a time where we’re already on the brink of a total breakdown of the biophysical systems that keep us alive. It’s sheer madness.

I was talking about LLMs. If you can find a search engine that still works, and look at where we’re at in the destruction of our planetary life support systems, and the colossal amounts of energy and water required for LLMs, then you might revisit your opinion.

Regardless of how useful some might find it, there isn’t a single use case that justifies the environmental cost (not to mention the societal cost). None. Stop using it. You were able to survive and function without it 2 years ago, and you still can.

An iPad. I felt like a total idiot buying one but it changed my life. I’ve done hundreds of drawings, hundreds of music sketches, read hundreds of books on it, I surf the web on it, and my computer is relegated to professional and specialized tasks.

Mastodon is my only presence on social media. I love it. I found (over time) a large community of people who share my different interests. I love the wokeness of it. I don’t miss my lefty mutuals who are somehow still on X/Meta. I love the absence of influencers, algorithms and nazis. I love discovery through following hashtags. I could go on and on. I’m fine with people hating it for all the reasons I love it. They would ruin the vibe if they moved there.

Radio Free Fedi (https://radiofreefedi.net/)

Best thing I’ve ever read by far on the subject. Thought I’d share. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/why-ai-isnt-going-to-make-art

Absolutely love WriteFreely. Simple, fast, federation works flawlessly.

Art allows you to experience the world through someone else’s senses and unconscious. The AI didn’t choose to take pictures of something. The AI doesn’t have subjectivity, which is what makes art interesting. If I find a box filled with pictures and find one I like, that does say something about my tastes, but it doesn’t remotely make me an artist.

But TBF, as an artist, I wouldn’t expect to connect with anybody who doesn’t care about the difference between human-made art and fancy statistical averages of troves of pillaged art.

You took the pics and you chose the one you liked best. Enough said.

I think you’re confusing art with « content ». When I experience art (of any kind, painting, music, writing, highbrow or lowbrow), I’m interacting with the artist, their intention, sensibility, politics, etc. I don’t feel that connection with statistically generated images or prompt engineers, sorry.