Dave Lane 🇳🇿

Quite a few folks - a couple credible developers - are trying to convince me that 'AI' code generation is great. They fail to realise that my issue isn't whether it's good at writing working ('pretty'?) code. It could be both (it isn't) but that misses my concern: to me conferring power to those without the understanding to the implications of different uses of that power creates a system inevitably prone to disaster - whether smallish now or colossal later. Another contemporaneous example: 1/2

A few nights ago, around 4:30, I heard an owl calling several time out the open window, probably from within 100m. I know we've had (introduced ex Germany) Little Owls in the valley, but after listening to some calls on iNaturalist, I'm fairly certain
it was the other option, our native Aotearoa Ruru (Morepork)... very cool to have them in the 'hood!

These folks are cringe-worthyingly amateur. Totally inept. They're definitely not good 'stewards' of this economy. They're more of a wrecking ball. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/environment_climate/593016/government-s-plans-for-lng-terminal-didn-t-model-international-price-spike

Listening to Anthony Healy (?) head of APRA holding forth on RNZ. I'm reminded of how badly broken the concept of Copyright is. Their whole model is driven by corporate 'rights holders' who want to extract maximum $ from the market, and not the interests of individual creators who desperately need the income. The model rewards those who're already successful. New & small creators get nuthin', especially if they haven't sold out to the big evil streaming providers. We need a different solution.

Ok. What if we - the voters of Aotearoa - aligned ourselves to elect a Government that is committed to achieving the best possible outcome for all NZers. As table ante, any parties wanting to be in such a Gov't would need to first publicly acknowledge that 'Trickle Down Economics' is a nonsensical farce, and that 'neoliberalism' has failed the vast majority of people upon whom it's been imposed.

This is gut-wrenching. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/592410/devastating-scenes-as-wildlife-lay-dead-on-dry-lakebed-in-manawatu Our water allocation and farming practices are not sustainable, and it's a horrible tragedy for all of the life that's destroyed as a result of our hubris and vile indifference.

There are a bunch of folks trying to create 'low emission cows/bulls'... but they're missing the point, at least in Aotearoa: lowering greenhouse gas emissions won't fix the problem of the dairy industry ruining our land and water with nitrogen pollution. We need to halve the herd. There are neither shortcuts nor technological solutions. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/594290/outcome-of-research-into-low-emitting-bulls-disappointing

Yes, very good to see this being raised: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/environment/593740/environmental-cost-of-cruise-ships-not-worth-the-economic-benefit-expert-says I've long felt that visiting cruise ships benefit almost no one in Aotearoa whatsoever, and detract from quality of life for many of us.

Gulp. Pretty much everyone needs to see this. Whether your German or not. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-gYFcVx-8Y We all need to understand the implications, and make it impossible for politicians to farm our unfocused anger/frustration and turn it into support for right wing identity politics.