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Orion Ussner kidder

@OrionKidder@mas.to

mastodon 4.7.2

English prof at FDU Vancouver, specializing in composition and comics scholarship. Dad, nerd, writer of SF/F fiction (see me on writing.exchange).

1040 Followers

302 Following

50 Posts

Joined November 05, 2022

Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 2mo ago

I don't know who needs to hear this, but #Linux is political. You personally might not be into it for the politics, which is fine I guess, but anything that pushes back against America's global tech monopoly is a political project. It can't not be. Just saying. #FOSS #FLOSS #OpenSource #Linux #Debian #Gnome

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 2mo ago

People will say you have no expectation of privacy in public, and that is true, but it's not what we're actually talking about. For the VAST majority of human history, we had no expectation of being *recorded*. It's only the last few decades that that was even possible. Our laws need to catch up. #privacy #politics #data

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 1mo ago

I'm so glad I never gave #Framework my money. Dodged a Nazi bullet. I would have learned about #Omarchy and then *hated* the machine I was using. I wouldn't even be able to give it away in good conscience. #FOSS #FLOSS #OpenSource #Linux #computers #laptops #fascism

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 3w ago

Replying to

@pluralistic@mamot.fr The new insight here, to me, is that the math problems that LLMs are solving are a) actually real, and b) of a specific kind that that technology can solve--ie, the ones that can be "brute forced"--because LLMs are suited to brute force attacks. #AI #LLM #hype #AIBubble

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social Haven't read the article (yet!), but this excerpt is quite convincing. FYI to all, this has a name. It's called "deskilling." It's also how we've been trained to buy pancake *mix* even though it's three ingredients and the whole point is they're very very easy to make. It serves capital to slowly deskill us all to the point where we're dependent on them for *everything* rather than being able to make and fix things for ourselves and FOR EACH OTHER bc none of us is an island.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@cmccullough@polymaths.social Short version: the Luddites were labour activists who spent TEN YEARS trying to get justice, and when they couldn't, they started busting the machines that were ruining their lives. They were BAD. ASS. Skim: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite Deep dive: https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/understanding-the-luddites-in-the #luddites #AI

en.wikipedia.org

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@catsalad@infosec.exchange "Very anarchy. Much furriness."

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 2mo ago

This is the future of leftist political organizing. Learn from the Black Panthers and the trade unionists: making people's lives better is *how* you organize them and mobilize them. @katabu@newsie.social #politics #USpol #organize #solidarity #MutualAid #TradeUnions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRhtI1SrxGw

We Turned a Campaign Office Into a Mutual Aid Hub | KAPOW x Francesca Hong for WI

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 2mo ago

RE: https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/116997210062423037 This articulates the exact problem I've had with this tech since the beginning. This tech is useful only if you're already an expert in whatever you're asking it about. If you're not, you have no idea if the answer it gives you is grammatical gibberish. To put that in businesspeak, you have zero quality assurance.

Quoting

@pluralistic@mamot.fr

As far as I can tell, this dialog between MacArthur prize-winning mathematician Terrence Tao and Chatgpt about "the Jacobian conjecture counterexample" is very impressive: https://chatgpt.com/share/6a5fdc7a-d6f8-83e8-bbea-8deb42cfed56 -- If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog: https://pluralistic.net/2026/07/28/hitl-ers/#ai-ai-oh 1/

Open quoted post

Cory Doctorow: "As far as I can tell, this dialog between MacArth…" - Mamot - Le Mastodon de La Quadrature du Net

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 1mo ago

"AI" is a normal technology. It's an algorithm that does a handful of things quite well and a dumptruck of things very poorly. The "AI" industry is vile. Its goal is to convince your boss to "fire you and replace you with a chatbot that can't do your job" (@pluralistic@mamot.fr), and it will happily destroy the economy and egg on environmental destruction to do it. #AI #LLM #capitalism #labour #labor

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@paninid@mastodon.world Literal heretic. I'm an atheist, so I don't care, but Catholics should.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social The verb "to pancake" could catch on, here.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 2mo ago

I think I said this already, but it's bizarre to me that people are now talking about the Republican Party as if they'll simply be defeated in the next election, and things will go back to normal.

#politics #USPol #Republicans #TheRepublicanParty

mas.to

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@TallSimon@mstdn.ca @robpike@cosocial.ca @uncoolmouse@retro.pizza Fully agree: enforce current laws. Committing a crime with an algorithm has no bearing on enforcement.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@XauriEL For a creative writing job. Good god.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@mayintoronto@beige.party I've lived here all my life. I don't understand the question. That's just what the sunset looks like here.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@narF@mstdn.ca Same here. I grew up arguing on the internet, and it's really easy to sink into that "debate me!!!" mode all the time, but most people don't want to debate, and even the concept of debate itself is lacking. Discussion is great. Listening is great. Trying to "win" social interactions is obnoxious.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@narF@mstdn.ca I think that's it exactly. A lot of people don't distinguish between "political" and "partisan," so if they want to opt out (or duck out) of a specific controversy, they'll claim they don't want to be "political."

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 5mo ago

I tried a back stroke at the pool for the first time today.

My shoulders are sore. My sides are shore. I constantly splashed water in my own face.

I'll get better. :)

#exercise #health #swimming

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@whack@hachyderm.io "Dead company theory." Very good. In my life, I have *once* actually been called back by a company that claimed it would call me back. It's a tactic. They don't want to solve our problems. They want us to GO AWAY.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@tchauhan@mastodon.mit.edu 100%. It's the companies, and it's also the faculty and administrations that have been duped into believing the "AI" industry's lies.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@tchauhan@mastodon.mit.edu I teach university. You're 100% right. This was obvious from the beginning. You can't get someone else to lift weights for you and expect to get big muscles. The people who use "AI" to do their coursework are telling you they don't value the coursework.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@farah@beige.party I have honestly asked myself, at various moments of contemplating history, "Have white people invented *anything*?" And I mean, we have, but AT THE VERY LEAST (since the time when there was such thing as "whiteness"), white innovation has been *on the backs* of BIPOC: stolen resources, stolen ideas, exploited labour, etc.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@LALegault Carney makes big speeches to distract us from what he's really doing. It's shameful.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@dramypsyd@ohai.social FWIW, I'm a prof too, and I went out of my way to include my face in order to humanize the lessons when I did that kind on online learning. And yes, absolutely it will be more tiring. Performance always is. I don't say that to imply you have to just suck it up, to be clear. I'm just telling you my experience. Although my experience is as a man, which is a very different thing when it comes to being "presentable."

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@codemonkeymike I heard a tech YouTuber say, "if you can afford one, it's your responsibility to buy a Framework laptop," and I was *this close* to pretending to be convinced by that crap.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@lacroixboi@beige.party ❤️ same ❤️

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@susankayequinn@wandering.shop "I'd kill for my family!" Yeah, but would you wear a somewhat uncomfortable paper mask? Also, you wouldn't kill for them. Sorry. :)

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 5mo ago

This moment, where we're expected to treat transphobes like they're merely taking a position in a live, social/political debate...

I cannot express to you emphatically enough that it's EXACTLY the same as homophobes in the 90s/2000s.

It was bullshit then. It's bullshit now.

No quarter for bigots.

#transphobia #homophobia #politics

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 5mo ago

Goddammit, I had just somewhat gotten over my seething desire to buy a Framework laptop, and they came out with one that looks even cooler.

#computers #RightToRepair #Framework

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@n_dimension Point.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@bifl_top This is the practical thing that stops me, yeah. My needs are meagre. I could buy a used $500 Thinkpad every ten years for the rest of my life and arguably have less impact on the environment and all the performance I need for a 1/4 of the price of maintaining a Framework machine. And that's setting aside the whole "we're happy to work with fascists" problem. But I'm also typing this on a Lenovo, and it's not like they care about that in the slightest, so... ugh.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@narF@mstdn.ca It's also a very shallow dodge when it comes to things like whether you'll work with fascists, though. I'm looking at you, Framework!

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 5mo ago

Replying to

I didn't really see the point until the V/O said, "You spent $1000 on a computer you use to scroll social media and watch videos, and computer prices are spiking..." #computers #SmartPhones #LapDocks

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 5mo ago

The sequence in #DareDevil S02E03 where he "listens" his way into the prison based on a blindfolded person's observations is just the right level of ridiculous for a superhero show.

Pretty good "oner" fight sequence, too, although boy is it ever obvious where they hid the cuts!

#MarveLCinematicUniverse #MCU #TV

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 2mo ago

I think I'm done with Batman. The vigilante fantasy parallels the cop-as-enforcer fantasy where they're in a "war" (as in this trailer). There are literal cop seminars where they preach that there are wolves in sheeps' clothing (criminals), sheepdogs (cops), and sheep (everyone else). It's the ideological angle on the problem with policing. They think they're at war with *us*. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeAuNll34dg

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@narF@mstdn.ca I know people who find it really nerve wracking. They don't understand it, but people get angry when you say the "wrong" thing, so they're just scared. It's a shame.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@mwl@io.mwl.io I like this one a lot. Now do, "That's just what I believe."

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 2w ago

Replying to

@guyjantic@infosec.exchange Fair. I was and at work still am on a MacBook, and Keynote is the easiest, fastest slideshow programme I've ever used, and I've used a lot.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@narF@mstdn.ca Back to Linux, I think there's a not insubstantial chunk of people who use it because they like the tech and don't perceive that they're participating in a political project because, like you say, they don't perceive the politics *of* the project. That appears to include Linux Torvalds!

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@girlonthenet@mastodon.social Brent Butt had a whole standup bit about this. It happens. Thankfully, my doctors have always *left the room* so that I could recover some dignity.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@lumaeris@kind.social @tragivictoria@mastodon.com.pl Same question. I'm on Proton right now.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@jbz@indieweb.social This spark a wave of malicious compliance, but we know that, and it *might* give smaller phone manufacturers an opening to get into the market before Apple, Google, etc. manage to pivot.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 2mo ago

Replying to on universeodon.com

@liquor_american@universeodon.com @MissConstrue@mefi.social The anti-communist propaganda is very powerful. On an airplane, I one spoke for twenty minutes once with an American about what a nightmare healthcare is there and how much he'd love the Canadian system, so I said, "Yeah, socialism works!" He literally went stiff, and said, "Well, let's not go there..." Like dude, what do you think we've been talking about?

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@anarchistquotes@todon.eu I have trouble sometimes telling the difference between what I would think is "genuine democracy" and anarchy. I'm sure it's because I'm still new at understanding anarchism.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@elgringomexicano@mastodon.social @anarchistquotes@todon.eu Something like that, depending on who you ask. Anarchism is a *wide* tradition. I see talk of "direct democracy," which I think means that you can't have representative democracy. Everyone has to be participating somehow, and there are various schemes and structures proposed for that. I don't know it well enough to explain any of them.

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 5mo ago

Replying to

And there it is, the use-case: you have a phone already and don't want to buy a tablet or a laptop. Instead, buy a $200 #LapDock, and carry your whole computer with you everywhere you go. Bonus: #GrapheneOS has a "desktop mode." I'm *kinda* into this idea. #computers #SmartPhones #Linux #FOSS #FLOSS

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Orion Ussner kidder @OrionKidder@mas.to

· 2mo ago

I had a conversation with a colleague who's partner is in VFX. Said partner gets asked pretty frequently by clients to have "no AI!" in the production process, and his answer is: That's not really possible. #AI #VFX #LLM

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