I’m of the strong opinion that we control the media that we are exposed to and that the resolution for problematic or undesirable media is to simply turn it off.
However: advertising, LLM’s, social media, and the Internet have forced me to capitulate that certain forms of media constitute a legitimate memetic hazard, and are capable of fueling addiction, misinformation, and general misery on large enough scales. I hate this conclusion because while I still heavily err on the side of media liberty and self-control, I cannot square that value with the reality of poisonous, hostile mass media.
We should not be subjected to predatory practices to enjoy the products and services that we depend on, and the entertainment that is part of our shared experience and culture. Loot boxes, advertising, and financial scams are becoming nearly universal in popular gaming products, and even software in general. To me, this eventually constitutes a monopolistic behavior that becomes reasonably unavoidable and must be regulated.
It’s stunning and embarrassing that this kind of behavior is rewarded with consideration. If you read the original assignment and the student’s submitted essay linked in the article, it’s very clear that the instructions were essentially disregarded. Giving credence to this obviously baited controversy limits the credibility of the University.
That American educational institutions are at this level of competence is surreal. I’ve seen more genuine and productive debates from high schoolers.
Stephens County deputies were called to a home north of Comanche on Christmas Day after Sandra Phelps was shot while sitting on the front porch of a home and holding a child, according to a sheriff’s affidavit. Witnesses said Phelps said “ouch,” and then collapsed.
If only that baby were armed, it could have returned fire and everything would have been okay. More guns is the solution!
Tunnel Vision: An Unauthorized BART Ride is a neat little documentary that discusses the history of the Bay Area’s train system. One of the striking things an interview mentions is how a project of this size and complexity was extremely difficult to complete even in the less developed and less crowded Bay Area of the 70’s, and would be nigh on impossible today. The original design took 8 years of planning and cost 1.6 billion in 1970’s dollars. If built today, it’s estimated it could take over 12 billion just for the original layout without even accounting for the land required to snake all that track through dense urban sprawl.
CA’s high speed rail system was approved in 2008 and currently estimated for completion by 2031 at the earliest and estimated at 36.7 billion dollars for just 35% of the layout. If it ever begins reliable service it would be an incredible achievement of engineering, economics, and cooperation among all levels of government.
The Trump administration’s decision to cut funding to a technology that most other nations have long since achieved and mastered is telling of their corrupt stance on the American people and their lack of understanding of the benefits of this technology. We do these things not because they are easy but because they are hard. We work and invest taxes towards an expensive and grandiose vision of the future because of the possibilities and the promise it offers. Today, it is hard to imagine the Bay Area without BART. I imagine the same for a high speed rail system of the future. They think we can’t do it, but we will do it despite them because we must.
A student challenged Dr. McCoul, saying, “I’m not entirely sure this is legal to be teaching because, according to our president, there’s only two genders.”
Good lord, is this the level of civics proficiency that Texas A&M students possess?
Get ready for the post-reality Internet. You think deepfake porn is bad? Wait until entire voting blocs are swayed by what AI trash their side puts out during that election cycle. They’ll even be aware that it’s AI fakery and they won’t even care. It’s already begun.
I’m glad that John Carmack is rich and intellectually stimulated, but watching him be wasted building Metaverse VR was like trying to remove my own teeth with a pair of pliers.
They are major funders to groups spreading election falsehoods, including Restoration of America, which, according to an internal document obtained by ProPublica, aims to “get on God’s side of the issues and stay there” and “punish leftists.”
Since there is no God, this obsession with punishment makes me think that rich people simply see themselves as God through some sort of schizophrenic projection. But they can’t tell people that, so instead they’re “doing God’s work” which is itself an insane statement, but somehow carries enough credibility that entire corporations, governments, and religions are centered on it.
AI, vast datacenters, hardware “shortages”, cloud services, DRM, TPM… it’s all part of the same pipeline: remove compute power from the user and concentrate it under control of the manufacturers in order to lease it back to the public in tightly controlled environments.
I’m of the strong opinion that we control the media that we are exposed to and that the resolution for problematic or undesirable media is to simply turn it off.
However: advertising, LLM’s, social media, and the Internet have forced me to capitulate that certain forms of media constitute a legitimate memetic hazard, and are capable of fueling addiction, misinformation, and general misery on large enough scales. I hate this conclusion because while I still heavily err on the side of media liberty and self-control, I cannot square that value with the reality of poisonous, hostile mass media.
We should not be subjected to predatory practices to enjoy the products and services that we depend on, and the entertainment that is part of our shared experience and culture. Loot boxes, advertising, and financial scams are becoming nearly universal in popular gaming products, and even software in general. To me, this eventually constitutes a monopolistic behavior that becomes reasonably unavoidable and must be regulated.