We live in a world of ever increasing abstraction held together by human trust in all the joints and footings.
AI and other technologies that abstract away and replace human connection are quickly eroding all the load bearing bits.
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Shauna
@shauna@social.coop
mastodon 4.5.18governance nerd; open source developer & community manager; novelist; activist; uswnt & washington spirit fangirl
3405 Followers
2592 Following
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Joined August 31, 2017
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Anyone else deeply get why people want to cognitively offload everything they can to AI?
The world is So Much right now. We're all juggling a thousand tasks and chores. Why is my tablet not charging? Why wasn't my prescription filled yesterday? Gotta pay my quarterly estimated taxes, find a new trimmer for the parts of the lawn the mower can't reach, make a dentist appointment cause I'm grinding my teeth at night.
New technologies and productivity gains never lead to real ease in our lives. Capitalism greedily gobbles up the difference. It sells us new tools "oh this will make things easier" and we do it because we need it, we're hovering on the edge of burn out, but the end result is we drift further from each other. We replace the resilience of relationships with the fragility of a tool, an app.
The problem isn't people. Please don't shame folks for trying to get by. Shame only adds to the overwhelm and sense of isolation. It perpetuates the system, it doesn't dismantle it.
Why are armadillo and quesadilla pronounced differently in English? Why are we like this?
Boosted by @ferrix@mastodon.online
What's happening in Minnesota is an escalation of things that have happened in other cities - Chicago, Portland, LA, DC. It could be coming to your city next.
I don't say that to scare you. But it might be good to ask yourself:
If this was happening in my neighborhood, who would I reach out to? How would I take action? Who would I trust?
Start building those connections now. If you already have some, strengthen them.
my friend's unemployment payments got paused because she didn't respond to a letter because she was away getting major surgery. then because she missed the letter they were like "you have to come in for an in person appointment" which she couldn't schedule for weeks because again, major surgery. so she's not getting employment for weeks while she also can't get any other kind of gig work because, yup you guessed it, major surgery.
means testing is so stupid.
i really cannot express how little real activism looks like people's stereotypes of activism. i need help with a ton of things and none of it involves being out on the street marching and/or risking arrest, knocking on people's doors, donating money, and arguing on social media
there was one (1) very specific banner-making request that went unfulfilled this week for lack of capacity (RIP the "free portland free dc" sign for the spirit-thorns home opener tonight) but that's it for standard activism tasks
key activist skills i need: project management skills, ability and willingness to show up to places on time and with things you promised to show up with, artistic abilities, event planning abilities, training and mentorship abilities
'Separate your identity from your projects. Find people who see you when you're not shipping. Get a doctor who understands that "I've been incredibly productive lately" is sometimes a symptom, not a success story. Build a life that doesn't depend on the community's approval to feel real.'
I am very glad to hear that Kenneth is doing better now, and have so much respect for his decision to write this post. In the end, people are always more important than code - always.
Replying to
@cwebber@social.coop
I feel like OpenAI is going for "our models are so smart!" but what it's giving is "our sandboxing is so incompetent!"
I find myself struggling a lot lately with the way American individualism / neoliberalism / the nuclear family model (& also the breakdown of it + rise of two income families) / the hollowing out of third spaces and community groups leads to life being just so overwhelming with so much STUFF individuals need to do.
I wonder if folks have recommendations for writers/thinkers who talk about this? I have a vague sense of the historical forces behind it but would love to learn in more detail.
None of my current projects would be considered digital infrastructure, but if your project qualifies and needs someone to help it grow, please reach out. Maybe we can apply together!
I've spent the last 10+ years freelancing as an open source developer, community manager and project manager, with a special interest in governance & leadership development.
I have plenty of availability right now and I'd love to spend it supporting open source digital infrastructure.
https://www.sovereign.tech/news/2026-fellowship-applications-open
my cat is so weird. she likes to fall asleep with her paws up my sleeve and my hand smooshing her face
Replying to
@stefan@gardenstate.social
Yeah - humans didn't evolve to reason morally or empathetically about huge abstract systems with billions of people, indirect effects and externalities, etc. It's extremely hard and maybe impossible to do in most cases. So I wonder about the helpfulness of putting our energy into that vs building alternatives, repairing harm, etc.
Today I learned about something called "Verizon App Manager" which used up all my remaining mobile data yesterday (1.6 GB to be precise) downloading and installing random apps I never asked for. Super cool! I love it when my devices do things without my permission that cost me money!! The software industry is so great these days!!!
Replying to
Trying to convince duckduckgo and then google that I wanted macaroon recipes not macaron recipes was a struggle until I remembered I could do "-macaron"
If you have a GitHub account and do not want your data to be automatically used to train Microsoft's AI models, go to this page and opt-out of "Allow GitHub to use my data for AI model training": https://github.com/settings/copilot/features
GitHub has turned this on by default so if you have an account you have to proactively go and opt out.
tfw your activist planning call ends late because you got distracted ranking NWSL teams for like 20 minutes
re my last boost:
sectoral bargaining is a thing, including in the US, and it's generally more effective at building worker power than firm-level bargaining.
could that be a better fit for tech?
Sometimes activism looks like planning a street fair
I like making caramelized onions because they take a nice amount of time but not too long and I can do other things while they're caramelizing and just stir occasionally. And then I have something special to freeze and use in my food for the next few months.
Anything else like this? A time investment (30-90 minutes) but not too fiddly such that you can spend most of that time on something else?
Replying to
@robin wore a Free DC shirt to pregame ceremonies and Bay fans chanted Free DC in the 51st minute so loudly you could hear them on the broadcast.
Cross-team supporter solidarity truly makes my heart sing
First outdoor coffee break of the year ☕️☀️🥰
the whiplash of 75 degree t-shirt weather yesterday to snow today
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Replying to
@Canageek@wandering.shop @futurebird@sauropods.win @temptoetiam@eldritch.cafe
Someone I lived with did this once! Luckily I don't mind crickets
Replying to
@McNeely @cas
Yes, this is very much in my wheelhouse. Thanks also to @brainwane for the recommendation.
I've worked with several FOSS projects on similar transitions. I've also got some talks on the topic and some written resources (all free & open) and am happy to do a call.
https://relational-tech.com/services/governance_transitions.html
Replying to
I boosted a bunch of posts about Hampshire on bluesky but only one of them was bridged to the fediverse. I didn't realize that my Hampshire community and my fediverse community were such non-overlapping circles.
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@doctormohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampshire_College
Named after Hampshire County MA which is I assumed named after Hampshire County in England.
Replying to
@zkat
oh man it's all coming back to me. I won deathfest one year through a total fluke (tons of luck, plus an infinite bag of carrots) and its one of my proudest accomplishments
Replying to
@js
I don't accept people speaking to me in this way. If you were a friend, I would discuss the reasons for that, but you are a complete stranger, so I am going to block your account.
Running to catch a flavored latte before Good Company closes, bc if I'm going to leave my house at 4pm for an 8pm kickoff I'm going to do it with a coffee treat
Replying to
@futzle@old.mermaid.town
I am not too bothered by the average reply person but I absolutely block people based on their interactions with other people
"I think love is the most revolutionary political force that exists. It makes me deeply sad that people think of compassion as having no teeth, as a form of weakness.
[...]
I wrote my first book of poetry called Femme In Public to the men who were harassing me on the street. I expected myself to be so angry, but what I actually found was tenderness. Because I recognized myself in them.
What I saw in them was: ''What do you mean we don't have to follow all the rules? I thought the only way we could be loved was by playing pretend. How dare you break that contract of pretend?'"
~ Alok Vaid-Menon
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Replying to
@anakin78z
They do, but genuinely all the supporters groups & fans seem lovely. I was so moved by Bridge Brigade and Cloud 9 coming together to help us/Spirit Squadron do the Free DC chant at the championship game.
Replying to
@reesecommabill
They're delightful! Ping me whenever you make the cherry blossom kit, we'll buy one of those too and they'll go on adventures together
Replying to
@aredridel @glyph
This implies that the cognitive and emotional labor of PR review is negligible and that the way you review ai PRs and human PRs is identical, both of which I disagree with.
Replying to
@mirandah
I have a list of talks here: http://www.shaunagm.net/talks.html although I'm realizing now it's slightly out of date and missing the most relevant talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGRPusk1cgc
I also write a bunch at relational-tech.com, most relevant to burnout is this: https://relational-tech.com/blog/burnout-in-open-source.html
I'm preparing a workshop on this topic for a few months from now, will have more materials out then.
Replying to
@zkat
oh really? yeah I'm F03.
did we know each other at Hampshire and I'm just not putting it together because your pic is an avatar and it's been 20 years? i'm much better with faces than names.
Boosted by @z_everson@journa.host
A web search is getting me nowhere. Could you breathe through a twizzler, like use it to snorkel?
Replying to
@kate@federatedfandom.net
Oh yes 100%. Do I wade through dozens of AI written search results or just ask AI directly?
Replying to
@zkat
yeah, I feel that. definitely still trying to process myself.
did you go to hampshire or did it touch your life in some other way?