If your answer to anyone who doesn’t like something that an open source project is doing is “then fork it yourself”, you’re a piece of shit.

First, not everyone who uses FOSS is a coder. This is a feature, not a bug. Second, not everyone who is a coder is a maintainer, and they shouldn’t have to be to have their voices heard. Third, when someone is intentionally worsening a project, and you harass the people complaining about it, you are reinforcing a power imbalance in favor of the abuser.

Check your privilege. You, a rich person with technical skills and time to spare, may be willing to bear the cost of forking a popular project, but others can’t. Think beyond your selfish self.

• #opinion
• #programming

I saw a post recently wherein someone used LLM tools to analyze someone else’s software, which eventually led them to a conclusion that was essentially completely wrong. Not only that, the LLM drew conclusions about the authors behind the code that were borderline character assassination. Nevertheless, this person posted this output as though it were some kind of deep insight.

These LLM outputs are not independent thoughts. The LLM probably ingested hints of (maybe unconscious) biases in the user’s prompts within its context window, and regurgitated something that confirmed those biases. The user was pleased that their biases were confirmed (Independently! By an impartial LLM!), and they posted the output, maybe as vindication of their insight.

These models’ sycophancy can be subtle. They don’t have to state “You’re absolutely right!” to blow smoke up your ass. Sometimes they seem to confirm your preconceived notion after they supposedly “evaluate” information “independently”.

Read more…

• #opinion
• #AI

I think people wondering why US citizens aren’t more outraged by the wanton constitutional disregard committed by the US government need to realize that the US government has always been committing transgressions—just not against its white middle- and upper-class citizens.

From its founding, the US has treated certain populations as having less rights than its preferred class: the wealthy, white¹, male, Protestant. It is normal for the US to ignore its own constitution to oppress and exploit people. From African slaves, to displaced Native Americans, to Chinese railroad workers, to Banana Republics, to occupied Hawaii, to CIA-backed coups in Asia—unchecked power is the default.

IMO things finally changed for the better after the Civil Rights Act, thanks to the relentless sacrifice of its champions. But for centuries prior, exploitation was the norm. Realize that what Trumpists want to do is to revert to how things were before the CRA; that’s what the “Again” means in “Make America Great Again”.

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• #opinion
• #politics

Nazi atrocities

This article haunts me.

https://aeon.co/ideas/what-did-hannah-arendt-really-mean-by-the-banality-of-evil

What did Hannah Arendt really mean by the banality of evil? | Aeon Ideas

Can a person do evil and yet not actually be evil? What Hannah Arendt meant by ‘the banality of evil’ remains a puzzle

aeon.co

Hannah Arendt’s phrase “the banality of evil” gets thrown around to describe how mundane evil acts can be, but it really was written specifically to describe the bureaucratic and routine efficiency with which Adolph Eichmann executed Hitler’s orders to transport millions of “undesirables” to their camps and their deaths, unconcerned with the morality of his duties.

But does that phrase accurately describe Eichmann’s complicity? Or does it only serve to absolve him of guilt by claiming that he “checked out” of moral examination and was merely doing tasks assigned to him?

For what it’s worth, I think “the banality of evil” (as popularly used) does exist—it exists in the unthinking participation in an unjust system designed to benefit a minority at the expense of everyone else. But it does not absolve us. It’s our moral duty to examine the parts we play in the system.

• #opinion
• #politics

We are all susceptible to conspiratorial thinking. It’s a truism that people with wealth and power are loath to give up said wealth and power, but to go from that to thinking that there’s a master plan to wreak Fascism that’s been unfolding for decades is very likely wrong.

While the end result (wreaking Fascism) may be the same either way, IMO the slide to Fascism wasn’t planned, but emerged from the various incentives put in place. Wealthy people want to protect their wealth, and in doing so make a thousand selfish deals that cause a Fascist government to emerge.

Were there people who wanted a Fascist state? Sure. People like Newt Gingrich wanted a permanent single-party state. Project 2025 was an explicitly Fascist roadmap. Stephen Miller is our Goebbels. But these people got their chance to play Nazi because wealthy people felt that platforming them has a good return on investment.

There is no master plan. It’s all rich and powerful people not wanting to let go.

There is also a risk in conspiratorial thinking that can lead us to conclude that the enemy to a progressive society is a small cabal of shadowy lords with Hitler mustaches planning Fascism around the world, when the real enemy is actually a system that enables the hoarding of wealth and power. Fascism is only one symptom of this problem; other forms of subjugation may form that does the same job, including widespread serfdom in an otherwise democratic nation (which is what US capitalism and lack of national welfare basically is).

Attacking an imaginary cabal will not address the main problem; attacking wealth inequality will.

• #opinion
• #politics