J. "Henry" Waugh

So to all those struggling or worried about our times, know this: Your mere existence has more effect than you realize You not only tell those who must hide that it's okay, but your presence being tolerated breaks the normalized conformity, and weakens the will of those you do not even see You set a tone and the environment making clear conformity is not required, and their ideas are unpopular The authoritarian minded will shrivel, without lifting a finger Let's go change the world Fin

You keep hearing them talk about how they feel so oppressed -- because they are, in this way In one of those infamous "man on the street articles", the journalist reported how a taxi driver liked the US' current political shift Why? Because "he was able to say the N word again" "... oh? Why didn't you say it just now?" "I mean, I don't want to seem crass" he said with a smile Right. Because even though he's allowed to say it, it's still crass. So he won't That's the "oppression" they feel

People talk a lot about "changing others' minds" and others criticize that minds cannot be changed by argument But what if there was a 3rd option? Dr. Bob's long-term surveys point to one: changing their mind through normalization Doing a longitudinal study of 2,000 college students and their parents over 30 years, he found an interesting trend in the cross tabs: The most conservative actually changed their minds on sex before marriage... but not because they had a change of heart

One of the traits that was identified by the Frankfurt School and refined statistically by Dr. Bob is "conventialism" Basically, the desire to be "normal" and to "fit in" with a larger group. But in the case of authoritarians, this becomes extreme -- a desire "to dissolve into a vast sea of ordinaries" It is basically *anti* individualism -- to become part of something larger and take your place in it ... and that means you can't stand out Even with an opinion on what God wants

To put a bit of exaggeration on it, it was about like this: 1960s: "If my daughter does the deed before marriage, I'll hold the shotgun at the wedding" 1990s: "Well it really is an affront to God and really isn't good... but I guess if they're engaged and it's very close to the wedding then FINE" These were *the same people* -- not a statistical average They disapproved... but felt nervous. Almost changing their mind against their will It was their authoritarian personality working on them

In the time period in question, sex before marriage in Canada, like many Anglophone countries, became much more normalized and culturally accepted And because this was the case -- because the acceptance was so broad, the authoritarians felt "conformist" pressure. You stand out if you think it's wrong -- a terrifying thought indeed This is why they seek power. They need a big social system to give them permission and reassure these worries They want to express themselves... via conformity

While much criticism has occurred of the thesis in recent years, Dr. Bob Altmeyer attempted to refine it into something subtler and add statistical reliability (though validity seems weaker to me) He even wrote a lay book that was a huge hit in 2010s online lefty spaces: https://theauthoritarians.org/ But rather than go over that in detail, I want to cherry-pick one aspect I very much see in real life, in media, and in many places everywhere just below the surface The effect of visibility on them

@camertron it is no surprise to me that Bill Watterson not only retired near the top of his game at the "perfect" time to have a good legacy rather than "overstaying in the spotlight" But then *vanished off the face of the Earth* to some tiny fishing cabin on the ocean and only has e-mail with people he knew from before he was famous with rare exceptions This is the way (Source: my memory of when this happened: https://slate.com/culture/2014/06/bill-watterson-does-pearls-before-swine-the-calvin-and-hobbes-creator-emerged-from-retirement-to-work-with-stephan-pastis.html )

@nytpu what would you expect from a company called Dragon Naturally Speaking

@starsider@valenciapa.ws the thing I also really like about that article Is it points out the systemic reasons why the shortage is as bad as it is -- such as the various political fuckery the US is doing right now The fact that the "buffer" mechanisms that normally prevent this from happening are ineffective due to circumstance, I consider the real story here Sam Altman gonna Sam Altman. It's his job to make headlines and fool investors It's the whole system's state why the rest of us pay so dearly

@paulisci@mstdn.ca finally one that came true 😛

@alice an excellent analysis I'd add one addendum for those in the audience who want a low effort policy that's more aggressive There is another option much more heavy-handed -- toward "innocent" and "guilty" alike. One common to servers including mine: By referral, after referrer has been registered X months The number who accidentally invite someone who doesn't share culture and values of the place is very low And if fedi shows anything imo, it's that this scales better than many think

@nepi@gts.nepi.gay here you go (They cite the Samsung press release itself, so there are no Woozles here) https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/dram/openais-stargate-project-to-consume-up-to-40-percent-of-global-dram-output-inks-deal-with-samsung-and-sk-hynix-to-the-tune-of-up-to-900-000-wafers-per-month @starsider@valenciapa.ws

@mi @lumi @cwebber @navi ironically the best "real fork" effort is presently the GCC "clean room" version https://rust-gcc.github.io/ Which is not only very far behind in the compiler/language version they're targeting for parity, but whose primary funder has... a long reputation. I will allow readers to do their own research. But I think "depressing" would be the continued mood

@petrosophia@caw.corbode.com @marz@caw.corbode.com thank you both for your comments! While definitely a leap of logic, I unfortunately don't think it's unreasonable to make given things like this EFF case. As their writeup points out, these laws are about preventing this very conversation we're having: ensuring public trust https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/07/eff-us-court-appeals-protect-taxpayer-privacy I also remember reading that "anonymized" health info in studies wasn't *that* anonymous but can't find a link again @twistylittlepassages@weirder.earth

@marz@caw.corbode.com @akesi_Anima@mastodon.art @twistylittlepassages@weirder.earth

The registry:

Mandate Enhanced Adverse Event Reporting: In addition to a robust REMS, establish a formal system for rigorous post-market surveillance of this off-label use [...] and require manufacturers to establish a patient registry as part of a REMS to capture real-world safety data

... safety data they can at min cherry pick, at max much worse

Desp the FDA just removing a similar label, per the other link

@hexanol@mastodon.social I bet they would say it's to do exactly that The (supposed) only way to spot all the Russian spies is to perform mass surveillance so you can "query" who is talking to this known Russian agent, as it could be anyone and you have no leads It would *never* be used domestically *of course not* -- unless it was *really* important, we promise 🙄 The US and UK have been doing it for decades to defend their massive empires, and now they want one too

@bagder@mastodon.social so I guess the puzzle for me after reading this piece is How do you feel about this? In the "slop era" you were (rightfully) upset, used words like "terrorism", and took active defensive measures like turning bug bounties off Now you're back on Hackerone. Since the quality is higher, I presume it's not purely "time wasting" and providing value But you don't seem exactly pleased, yet also don't actually say? My apologies if I'm missing something, I'm still getting my morning caffeine

@jzb@hachyderm.io 💯

This bit is basically why I came around to your position:

Maintainers have a right to set conditions for reviewing and accepting patches. If something is FOSS they've already given users the ability to fork off and do something that doesn't fit with the maintainer's vision, schedule, or whatever.

This is literally how FOSS works. It is an Anarchy. Forks happen all the time for "personal" and "political" reasons, and I think (systemic view at least) this is a good thing

@marz@caw.corbode.com @twistylittlepassages@weirder.earth I would also note that HIPAA allows sharing of their patient data with government agencies for public health and regulatory purposes and patients cannot stop it ... the exact kind of claim the actions in the petition are being requested to "investigate" -- never mind the administration's use of the word "emergency" recently in for instance levying tariffs https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/guidance/disclosures-public-health-activities/index.html

@dragonfrog I would also add as an optimistic take, don't be so sure you "wouldn't be here" When I wanted to join fedi, I asked a "veteran" friend if I could join their instance. They were not accepting new members, but asked their network and found someone who got me an invite link to where I landed. To this day, I don't know who actually invited me As another reply put it, it's more the Web of Trust model. Which requires adjustment, but I think scales better than many think @alice

@eblu I thought that was 1999 and we fixed everything important in time 😛

@nblr@chaos.social found that one Yeah

@evacide@hachyderm.io from the article, something a bit more light hearted perhaps:

[Digital Rights Expert] Lia Holland said [...] that the legislation sounded like “AI slop.”

Now that's a usage of the phrase I can get behind 😆

@LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt while it's a bit old now, my favorite example to prove this -- in video form https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMsL60Rd-pI If you haven't see it, may it be a bit of heartwarming cuteness for your day ❤️