Justin Macleod

Teacher of all things audio, sound designer, musician, keen role-player and general work in progress. Love telling and discovering stories. Cooking, singing, nature, hot baths and playing the tongue drum all relax me.

Want to know anything else? Just ask.

Public Key

npub1jvcvz3zahjhej8lse9kdqm50m99sdt4g3d4jxjzvhey3equwl3vq98wvxl

NIP-05 Address

JustinMac84@mastodon-social.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsfxvxpg3wmetuerlcvjmxsd68ajjcx465gk6erfpxtujgusw80ckqpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerfw36x7tnsw43qdk44j2

Publishing to

relay.ditto.pub

Author Public Key

npub1jvcvz3zahjhej8lse9kdqm50m99sdt4g3d4jxjzvhey3equwl3vq98wvxl

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Last Notes

2026-04-11 01:47:35 UTC

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@nprofile…9vmh @nprofile…unhy One thing I've not seen mentioned is how they handle menstruation, laundry etc, but I don't imagine it's fun. The pretty pictures, the exploration, the epic blast-offs and touchdowns asside, there's a very unglamorous, roughing it side to space travel I reckon.

2026-04-11 01:08:52 UTC

Let's just all set our differences asside, our opinions on policy and all those other major and important issues, for a moment to acknowledge a tremendous feat of engineering, science, maths and above all collaboration and training to produce a textbook traverse of around 400000 feet in about 13 minutes. Welcome home Integrity. #ArtimisII

2026-04-10 12:47:49 UTC

anyone got any tips for soldering as a blind person? Checked Youtube, no dice.

2026-03-19 18:00:30 UTC

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@nprofile…x9tq Haven't we been a middle power for like the last 50 years or more

2026-03-10 16:48:18 UTC

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@nprofile…la7y Yeah I meant it as an expression of regret. that kind of thing is hard. ☹

2026-03-10 16:44:21 UTC

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@nprofile…la7y I'm sorry!

2026-03-03 14:04:06 UTC

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@nprofile…9vmh Absolutely this! Couldn't agree more. This is why DS9 is my favourite series, because it feels real, believable, as opposed to the mostly 2-dimensional TNG where characters never put a foot wrong. DS9 is having to rub along with people you really don't like. It's passionate imperfection and growth! @nprofile…eqsh

2026-02-27 13:04:09 UTC

Do any blind people have experience making videos for channels? I'm thinking of videoing myself reading or creating audio of me reading stories over which I would super-impose visuals. Obviously, being blind, videography isn't my strong point and I would greatly appreciate pointers to any resources that might exist or guidance from anyone happy to share. Thanks for any help.

2026-02-26 09:22:53 UTC

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@nprofile…3e6m Don't worry. I know people who have set up Facebook accounts and done nothing to point the algorithm at all as an experiment. Their feed has still become slowly more and more racist, sexit and generally objectionable. I definitely hope you see this because it really isn't necessarily you. Algorithms, while possibly well-intentioned in their conception, are bad.

2026-02-19 18:42:37 UTC

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@nprofile…la7y No problem. I would like to dive back in to academia, but it's money, motivation and, by far most importantly, time.

2026-02-19 18:36:02 UTC

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@nprofile…la7y You've said that before. When my son no longer needs me, I just might.

2026-02-19 18:31:04 UTC

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@nprofile…la7y It would probably be most technically accurate to say that I am someone with a keen interest in - and smattering of knowledge about history. I never finished my degree, but gained a lot from it none the less.

2026-02-19 18:17:30 UTC

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@nprofile…la7y Hmmm. I wonder what Reform and the far right will want? On the one hand, abolishing the monarch will mean more of a vacuum to fill, more of us questioning who we are any more; on the other, they're all pro British history, which the monarchy plays into.
People might not like Charles, but they do like Will and Kate. I dunno, I can't see us gearing up to start the Queen and I any time soon.

2026-02-19 18:09:44 UTC

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@nprofile…la7y Yeah but it was more of a short pause than really any significant stop.

2026-02-19 18:08:52 UTC

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@nprofile…la7y If Charles III were under the hammer, even, perhaps, if AMW was still a royal, I might think there was something in it, but there's going to be no Peasants' Revolt or Civil War over this. The monarchy threw out the trash. The police are just collecting it. So I don't think this is anything like as big.

2026-02-19 17:58:21 UTC

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@nprofile…la7y Surely this actually plays well for the monarchy. We don't believe we are above the law. Look at us, giving up one of our own when it is right to do so. "the law must take its course." That's what Charles said. I don't see this really hurting him all that much. People like Will and Kate. People like the romance of the monarchy. A bad apple stupid enough to get court needn't spoil the cart of apples that weren't.

2026-02-19 17:56:43 UTC

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@nprofile…la7y How is this worse than a King's head being chopped off; a bigger curb on power than the Magna Carta; a bigger embarrassment than a sitting monarch abdicating. He's under the bus because the establishment wants him under the bus, because he left a paper trail of corruption. The monarchy took his shield away by stripping him of his titles, hence the throwing to the wolves. He's not royal in the power sense any more.

2026-02-19 17:53:51 UTC

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@nprofile…la7y Anyway, the point, somewhat flippantly and imprecisely made, is that if we can chop the head off a sitting King and the institution still survives, I'm unconvinced that the arrest of an unpopular *ex* prince represents an existential threat.

2026-02-19 17:22:59 UTC

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@nprofile…la7y How is this different?

2026-02-19 17:22:50 UTC

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@nprofile…la7y Seems like a pretty big leep to me. He's not a royal any more, most important thing. They threw him to the wolves for damage control. Isn't this just the wolves chowing down? If it were a prince sitting in jail I might agree, but it's a demoted normal, if rich and powerful, citizen. Charles I got his head cut off for misconduct in public office and the monarchy survived it. Monarchs used to put, or allow to be put, threats in the Tower, aspiring monarchs etc, all the time.

2026-02-19 16:46:22 UTC

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@nprofile…la7y I don't understand. An ex royal may have broken the law and is under arrest. How could this possibly be bigger than the Magna Carta etc. It's just a rich guy taking the fall for what a lot of other rich guys did and aren't getting held up for.

2026-02-06 18:35:55 UTC

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@nprofile…gfcd this is not an attack, this is looking for a leg up from someone who feels they are fast catching up with you. How do you manage to sustain your levelof constant fury and no stroke out or go insane? Because I'm not sure I can.

2026-02-03 15:42:55 UTC

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@nprofile…fhyt @nprofile…exag I couldn't speak to that, being a creative rather than in the IT sector. I do know that @nprofile…ugpy and others have written about the problems of AI coding and the fact that it's getting worse as AI coding trains on itself, with hidden errors that are likely to blow up in people's faces. I couldn't point to any articles off the top of my head though.

2026-02-03 15:30:14 UTC

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@nprofile…fhyt @nprofile…exag I would say the coersive way AI is being pushed is wreckless and unhealthy. I understand big tech is eager to recoup its considerable investment, but most of what I'm seeing so far are inflated ram prices, panicking creators, ethically questionable training and a deluge of slop.

2026-02-03 15:12:19 UTC

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@nprofile…fhyt @nprofile…exag I would say rather solutions that seem to have perceived value. Whether they have net value remains to be seen when one factors in the cumulative problems with AI-coding; the possible increase to unemployment and what that means for societies; the value of commodities such as art when the market becomes saturated; the decline in problem solving and critical thinking that chat bots have been shown to cause; and the effect on human relationships.

2026-01-29 00:08:57 UTC

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@nprofile…la7y I knew someone who didn't suffer any ill effects from confusing the former with a latter. I wasn't aware tooth-brushes could be hacked, nor most multi-speed sex aids.

2026-01-26 20:41:32 UTC

Thinking of a valentine's day present for my GF. Does anyone here on fedi make plushies? Custom-make plushies? I really like the fedi creative community and would like to patronise it. I have something I would love. I don't know how much it would be but I know I'd like to talk about it with someone who can. Thanks for any boosts. :)

2026-01-26 16:05:18 UTC

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@nprofile…la7y @nprofile…hp24 To each their own, but I don't see much value in restricting access to vital information. If we don't know what the other side is doing and how they are framing their arguments, how may we adequately prepare? We all know what we think. I want to know what they think, what they plan, so I can be ready. E.G. I did not know about RUK's plan to abolish ILR for everyone, which will have profound personal ramifications for me.

2026-01-26 15:41:10 UTC

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@nprofile…la7y Do you have a source for this? I want to share it with my family, with whom I was discussing the Minnesota shooting yesterday.

2026-01-26 13:36:02 UTC

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@nprofile…x7ye A very apt quote. He certainly knew what he was talking about.

2026-01-23 21:35:52 UTC

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@nprofile…la7y this made me belly laugh out loud! Thanks for this!

2026-01-20 16:57:59 UTC

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@nprofile…la7y I'm not seeing the problem with this. Everyone knows that every embassy is used as a platform to spy on the host country and for that country to conduct clandestine business from. Why should it make us hysterical in this case?

2026-01-20 07:27:34 UTC

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@nprofile…x9tq Did the UK join? did the EU? 😩 This was only in the news like the day before yesterday or something.

2026-01-20 07:25:59 UTC

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@nprofile…x9tq thanks, that worked. Are other countries already membered up to this circus then?

2026-01-20 07:16:40 UTC

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@nprofile…x9tq Paywall. :(

2026-01-20 07:09:30 UTC

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@nprofile…x9tq Wait what organisations have they left?

2026-01-15 04:02:39 UTC

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@nprofile…p25k You use the invisible view?

2026-01-15 04:00:39 UTC

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@nprofile…p25k Even still. That's pretty impressive. I'd have to hear the mention come in, navigate to it, read it, decide if I wanted to favourite it or not and then do it. Would take me way longer.

2026-01-15 03:59:23 UTC

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@nprofile…p25k And man you were fast on that favourite.

2026-01-13 19:49:21 UTC

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@nprofile…gfcd @nprofile…ur67 Who is actually running it though? What is it designed to fund?

2026-01-13 19:48:10 UTC

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@nprofile…ur67 @nprofile…gfcd Wait there's a what gofundme now? Who's running it. I straight up do not want to believe this exists.

2025-12-31 16:26:53 UTC

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@nprofile…lx0q I find the prospect of migration, that I would very much like to do, daunting. I don't relish the thought of losing my post history and hoping that everyone will re-follow people. Mentioning people, especially not on your instance, with the client I use anyway, is not easy. Don't get me wrong, I like the fediverse. It's the only place I have left to hang accessibly and I like the concept, but it is complicated and the load of that is real.

2025-12-28 22:14:46 UTC

To ensure that rules are being followed correctly and that foreign powers don't buy our elections, it is essential that all donations to political parties are traceable and transparent. Reform UK just accepted a 9 million pound crypto donation from who knows where. Please sign this petition if you think this damages democracy and must be stopped. https://38d.gs/vzgv

2025-12-25 14:38:05 UTC

Family gathering that often ranges from somewhat to quite awkward. Therefore, I am proudly rocking my Grinch socks.

2025-12-23 17:31:01 UTC

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@nprofile…kx0x It's not as if it's a little celebrated festival now though.

2025-12-17 20:33:00 UTC

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@nprofile…u38c Can you think of a more selfish act? For the sake of his own gains, him and his business have single-handedly rocketed prices for everyone else, ruining Christmases around the world, causing businesses to struggle etc.

2025-12-15 08:32:23 UTC

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@nprofile…6ljh Is there anything I can do?

2025-12-13 20:11:41 UTC

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@nprofile…w75x So you're a stranger. Doesn't mean you couldn't teach me, in a reply or a conversation, something I didn't know, doesn't mean you couldn't present me with a point of view, or the reasons behind a viewpoint that I hadn't considered before and vice versa. Then we're both better people as a result. What's the point in social media if we all just basically talk to ourselves?

2025-12-13 20:10:20 UTC

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@nprofile…w75x What community? Modern lifestyles erode local community. I certainly have no community. But regardless, to affect major societal change, don't we need to embrace strangers' points of view? It's gonna take more than my circle, my clique, my street, my local community, to affect change. So what I don't know you? So what I have no reason to trust you. Are you making good points? Are you being respectful? If so, I should listen to you, I might learn something.

2025-12-13 19:47:33 UTC

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If you throw an opinion out there and you can't stand to have it disagreed with. If your response is to hide behind a block, maybe you need to work on yourself. Maybe you're not as open-mineded and tolerant as you think. Biggotry is not soly the province of the right and it's the left's biggest delusion that it is.

2025-12-13 19:44:30 UTC

Guys. Seriously. For the love of the democracy you claim to believe in, the progressiveness you claim to champion, the tolerance you claim to possess, please stop blocking everyone who doesn't sing from your hymn sheet in your key at your tempo. You know who doesn't tolerate any opinion but their own? Fascists! That's who! How on earth are we supposed to build a better world without working through our differences, without facing people who challenge us?

2025-12-10 19:11:29 UTC

Tell your MP to attend the debate on repealing or reforming the Online Safety Act, which is not fit for purpose, infringes on privacy, disproportionately burdens small businesses and projects worldwide, causing them to shut down or geoblock the UK; causes lawful, age appropriate content to be censored; and subjects us to unnecessary, intrusive and poorly regulated age verification. There's a template to get started https://action.openrightsgroup.org/tell-your-mp-attend-debate-online-safety-act

2025-12-04 19:31:55 UTC

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@nprofile…6ljh How does that work if you're a member and have credits?

2025-12-04 10:13:55 UTC

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@nprofile…a0ps Then where does their wage come from?

2025-12-04 09:56:27 UTC

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@nprofile…a0ps Is that true? Will advertisers pay the same amount to advertise indiscriminately on a site than they would to be able to target their ads and therefore have a greater chance of success. If it is not true, then might not preventing this without an alternative source of revenue continue and worsen the defunding journalism trend you mention?

2025-12-04 09:40:12 UTC

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@nprofile…a0ps Given that, previously, the articles were completely free to read, but not free to produce and given that the producers are worthy of their higher, I can well believe that the money would be to fund journalism. How the money is distributed, of course, is a whole separate discussion, but journalism needs funding somehow and that funding should come with as few strings as possible. @nprofile…3uuw

2025-12-04 09:04:57 UTC

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@nprofile…3uuw The Guardian has regretably adopted this system. I mind less when it's to fund journalism, but, that said, I haven't read one of their articles in a while because of it. Users can't handle it, to have to subscribe to everything or sell their souls.

2025-12-04 05:10:02 UTC

I've forgotten, I can't keep up. I know there's a lot of hostility to Discord round here, but I didn't get to see exactly why. Why are we supposed to hate/avoid them again?

2025-11-28 18:47:02 UTC

I'm using NVDA and seem to have fallen foul of this sound split mode thing. Despite attempting to change the setting via the cycle shortcut key and via the audio device dialogue, it is stuck on applications on both channels and NVDA only on the left. Any idea how I can rectify this please? Thanks

2025-11-15 09:52:12 UTC

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@nprofile…6zuf What if all tools and platforms are unethical? From our slave/child labour built devices, our sweatshop built clothes, our animal tested products, Facebook, Google, Tesla, Paypal, anything that runs on Open AI? What then?

2025-11-13 14:38:31 UTC

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@nprofile…3tmd Ah. Fair enough. That's not how it came across. I certainly agree that those who want to write should be supported and encouraged, whatever stage of the journey they're on.

2025-11-13 14:34:10 UTC

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@nprofile…3tmd You said: "No writers are better than others, not in any way." In what way have I missed the point? a non-professional writer is surely one who doesn't do it as their profession.

2025-11-13 14:22:51 UTC

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@nprofile…3tmd I don't see how this can be true. There are better and worse writers, in the same way that there are better and worse musicians, sports people. Yes anyone who writes is a writer, but are they any good? Surely a professional writer is one who writes for money and an ameture writer doesn't? Does it for a hobby or whatever? I mean anyone who wants to should write, but I don't see how pretending there isn't a difference in quality helps.

2025-11-12 20:22:41 UTC

46 pounds overdrawn the month before Christmas and the week before my birthday. All because I paid to live in a flat where the door of my bedroom doesn't shut, the paper is falling off my walls due to damp, the window won't close properly in falling temperatures and so on. If anyone wants to help, if you like sound effects and royalty-free music you could subscribe to https://www.zapsplat.com/?aff=11 or, if you enjoy my posts and wanna buy me a coffee: https://www.paypal.me/jmacleod #MutualAid

2025-11-02 03:07:21 UTC

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@nprofile…6ljh Maybe a better way to express it would be something that boosted your confidence to do it? Give it a try and see what happens? what have you got to lose? What is it that you would like help with?

2025-10-31 01:35:46 UTC

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@nprofile…kx0x @nprofile…65lr where does it say that? I thought God did it pretty much single-handed. There was war in heaven, but it took God to win it. That's how Milton's Paradise Lost interprets it certainly. And modern Christian theology believes that, although, at the second coming, God will have an army behind him, he won't need them. They'll pretty much just sit and watch while he mops up by himself.

2025-10-31 01:32:13 UTC

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@nprofile…kx0x @nprofile…65lr God created everything. Ev! Ree! Thing! Not most of it except the bits a more powerful god created. Ev! Ree! Thing. Nothing has come close to challenging his power. Everything that he says will happen has happened. Satan got knocked on his ass. I don't understand any basis for suggesting that God, as depicted in the Bible, has a pier to match him, let alone that could overcome him.

2025-10-31 01:24:14 UTC

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@nprofile…kx0x @nprofile…65lr Destroyed the world once because it got on his nerves, cast out all the rebel angels and will do so again more thoroughly, created absolutely everything, can just throw fire down on people and incinerate them, wasted two cities that offended him, engineered events so that the things he needed to happen came to pass, I think it's safe to say he can fight.

2025-10-31 00:58:00 UTC

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@nprofile…0jfq Love FM synthesis. Gets me all Doctor Who nostalgic.

2025-10-29 11:16:59 UTC

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@nprofile…t8j7 Maybe it's building self-care into your route by taking you the pretty way?

2025-10-28 21:22:55 UTC

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@nprofile…6ljh I used to hate my name. Used to make a big fuss about it as a child. Now I don't love it. I'm not like what a cool name, but I definitely don't hate it. It's mine, I don't really think about it.

2025-10-18 07:52:59 UTC

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@nprofile…kx0x @nprofile…hzyj As I say, not saying it's all bad, but using it to its fullest extent is exactly what big tech want and it will not eutopia bring. We've not even got started on the environmental impact of all the data centres etc. Just remember, every sensitive letter, every picture of you and your friends, every recording of your voice, where is that data going and what is being done with it? What might be done with it in the future?

2025-10-18 07:44:09 UTC

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@nprofile…kx0x @nprofile…hzyj I wouldn't trust it to do my real house without a thorough second opinion though. AI has helped me, no question. It has provided entertainment, helped me find songs I couldn't otherwise find, helped me brainstorm, helped me find recipes, told me jokes that made me laugh, translated things for me, but it is based on a rotton philosophy and theft to make much of it work. It is not going to make our lives substantially better.

2025-10-18 07:25:34 UTC

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@nprofile…kx0x @nprofile…hzyj We don't need more knowledge half as much as we need more wisdom.

2025-10-18 07:25:23 UTC

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@nprofile…kx0x @nprofile…hzyj Whereas what we have now is Tesla returning control of self-driving cars to the driver just before crash, but too late for the driver to do anything about it, in an attempt to escape blame for the accident; companies would use that biometric payment system to track you; brain impants, were such things possible, to record more data on you. We don't need more technology, we need better humans.

2025-10-18 07:20:21 UTC

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@nprofile…kx0x @nprofile…hzyj It's not weird to want a eutopia, it is perhaps backing long odds to believe it will bloom in the current environment. the people running AI aren't intrested in a eutopia, they're interested in larger margins for themselves and more user data, a way to get into people's heads to sell their products. See my next boost for an example of another AI problem.

2025-10-18 07:15:37 UTC

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@nprofile…kx0x @nprofile…hzyj It would only be the future if it were run with a completely different philosophy rather than a greedy and acquisitive one. Also, there would have to be huge societal change to make up for workers becoming obsolete.

2025-10-17 20:51:02 UTC

Me: Please can you find me some information? Copilot: Sure. Are you looking for this? Me: Nope. Here's some more information. Copilot: Ah then you must be looking for this poem by this poet who wrote poems this way. Me: Did you invent that. Copilot: Yes. Me: Don't do that. Copilot: I promise to do better. Me: Here's more info. Copilot: *Invents more crap that it just promised not to do*. AI might look like a shiny new toy, but it lies, promises not to lie and then lies some more.

2025-08-05 10:39:45 UTC

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@nprofile…60lz When and where is it?

2025-07-08 03:24:13 UTC

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@nprofile…aqq5 Where do you get described DS9? I don't see them on the vault?

2025-07-08 02:24:43 UTC

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@nprofile…aqq5 Lmao you give me way more credit than I deserve. I wouldn't know an episode by name. What happens in it?

2025-04-18 10:29:28 UTC

Are there alternatives to Patreon? How can we push back against their unfair treatment of creators at a time when creativity is undergoing hyperdevaluation?

2025-02-24 03:04:23 UTC

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@nprofile…aqq5 Talking about how the world is ending certainly doesn't make you too cool for lighthearted things. It's just a question of balance and priorities. Everything in the right amount and all that. Who doesn't want to get back to wall to wall lightheartedness? We've just got to waid through a bunch of stuff first.

2025-02-12 09:05:58 UTC

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@nprofile…lmch @nprofile…pye9 I hate Youtube, particularly the search page, with a passion! It used to be so good!

2025-02-11 12:10:23 UTC

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@nprofile…s0cr @nprofile…8x59 you are not allowed to write and, by implication, say, these words if you are a Government employee or, presumably, contractor. You are not allowed to. Your work will be flagged if you do. You are told this. You are also told you live in a liberal democracy that prises free speech. Let that sink in, let the cognitive dissonance pass, and then decide what you're going to do about it.

2025-02-10 17:03:56 UTC

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@nprofile…aqq5 I'm sorry you feel that way. I'm glad you have a place to know it's not so and feel better.

2025-02-09 00:40:23 UTC

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@nprofile…naem @nprofile…6jfp Is this app or some equivalent means available for desktop?

2024-12-07 11:37:18 UTC

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@nprofile…dnwe Mixed feelings about this one.

2023-11-28 20:30:49 UTC

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@npub1sg4…xslc @npub17n2…gx9d I think there's a big difference between believing someone and considering and investigating what they have to say. If I read you right in saying that socially stigmatising and reducing the career opportunities of someone on little more than someone else's say so is just, we must agree to profoundly disagree. The idea of cutting someone off without a strong case is witch-hunting mentality, where the accusers' word carries more weight.

2023-09-11 04:51:40 UTC

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@npub1ulm…hweg I've been trolled, got caught in the argument and valued the reminder that I'm wasting my time and resources by engaging. I took no offense from the input.

2023-08-28 13:05:01 UTC

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@npub18p3…03wh Not really any different to those key fobs that flash and make your car flash when you press them so that your car unlocks before you get to it.

2023-08-15 14:29:36 UTC

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@npub1khx…geyg And how much they'll pay you for it.

2023-08-04 20:00:11 UTC

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@npub1uw8…88kr Same with creative projects!

2023-07-19 01:05:23 UTC

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@npub15x4…3p3l I second this. Would put it in a quote, but I can't.

2023-05-19 09:02:55 UTC

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@npub1gfd…7gg6 Is this their AI thing?