Aaron

#MachineLearning engineer. #NLU enthusiast. #AutisticZebra (#autism & #EhlersDanlos). Guitarist, singer, songwriter. Rude-sounding kind person. (he/they)

https://hosford42.github.io/

Profile pic: Top half of the head of a nerdy white guy, peeking upside down from above the top of the picture. Clearly this guy looks at things from a different perspective.

Banner: Bands of color showing the average temperature change in Texas since 1895. Very red for the last 20% of the image.

Public Key

npub16ww2qgx9hedwrwv6zlx4u999dry6ya2a84wcg2gd04caggxz439qw53mwa

NIP-05 Address

hosford42_at_techhub.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsd889qyrzmukhphxdp0n27zjjk3jdzw4wn6hvy9yxh6uw5yrp2cjspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsvs2lxh

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub16ww2qgx9hedwrwv6zlx4u999dry6ya2a84wcg2gd04caggxz439qw53mwa

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Last Notes

2026-03-22 20:54:19 UTC

For a week or two now, my right ear has been giving me trouble, and giving me bad vertigo. Yesterday I couldn't walk without holding on to a wall. I've been to see specialists about it before, as this has been an intermittent problem for years. It's always my right ear. They told me I had glue ear and to use the valsalva maneuver, which "worked" the first few times this happened. (I have no idea if it really did anything. But the problem eventually went away.) But now it isn't going away.
Anybody have suggestions on things to try? I'm reaching the point where it's affecting my mobility and I'm getting sea sick *on land*.

2026-03-07 07:37:45 UTC

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Maybe, IDK. It depends on what they're training the model for, and how they're using it. But do we really want to make it unusable for training the model, when those models are then used for accessibility as well?
@npub1lez…pgrw @npub156z…hx3t

2026-03-07 07:21:49 UTC

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The reason is that alt text is scraped in order to train multimodal text + image models.
But for anyone who actually listens to the blind community, it doesn't take long to learn that these models are pretty important to a lot of people for accessibility. And regardless, alt text is directly helpful. I'm happy to put my displeasure with big tech on hold for things that genuinely improve people's lives.

2026-03-05 06:03:14 UTC

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This is you, right? I didn't expect to see someone I've personally interacted with on Mastodon being featured in my favorite magazine!

2026-03-05 06:02:06 UTC

https://www.quantamagazine.org/can-the-most-abstract-math-make-the-world-a-better-place-20260304/

2026-03-02 15:43:59 UTC

They don't know it, but this article is also about autism.
https://dmnews.com/j-a-p-psychologists-say-people-who-need-to-be-alone-after-socializing-arent-recharging-from-exhaustion-their-brains-are-doing-post-processing-work-on-every-emotional-signal-they-absorbed-and-the-more/
#ActuallyAutistic
#autism
#introversion

2026-03-01 04:14:28 UTC

Jeez, this place is a mess today. We don't have to fight, y'all.
We all hate the fascists. We all know Trump is one of them, and so is Netanyahu, and so was Khamenei. We all know Kamala upset a lot of people, rightfully, because she refused to call out Israel's genocide and wanted to give them support anyway. We all know she was still a better choice than someone who shared the same flaw *and* wanted to be a fascist dictator over here. We all know the USA has been dipping its grubby fingers into other nations' pies and playing at empire for many decades. We all know the USA has a history of fascist tendencies, trying to hold on to slavery, promoting eugenics, inspiring the Nazis with our racism, putting minorities in concentration camps, and much more. We all know there's a group of awful people here, and we let them seize control through our inaction.
We have to stand together now, if we want any hope of putting out and cleaning up this trumpster fire. Can we do that, please? Don't split.

2026-02-26 02:01:43 UTC

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Well, I didn't know why people disliked Newsom. Now I do. Fuck that guy.
And for the record: It *is* culturally normal to talk about pronouns.
Sorry not sorry for pointing this out: He lacks the cognitive flexibility to adapt as people learn from their mistakes and make cultural adjustments to that end. He should take a minute to look in the mirror and contemplate whether he's out of sync and needs to sit down and shut the fuck up. The rest of us know the answer to that already.

2026-02-16 14:42:40 UTC

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> Activities are stored by priority: follows & DMs (7d), mentions (3d), likes & boosts (24h).
This part isn't clear. Are these durations in parentheses time limits before they are dropped?

2026-02-15 19:22:24 UTC

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My app doesn't either. I just copied and pasted.
@npub1wnp…cexu @npub10nd…urdx

2026-02-12 18:35:43 UTC

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2/12
Great news!!! I'll be getting paid for the first time tomorrow. (Boss is awesome and let me bill up front since he knows the financial situation.)
For today: We need to buy dinner and pet food, but we only have $12.
Assuming the first direct deposit goes through smoothly tomorrow, this might be the last time I have to ask!

2026-01-27 06:34:39 UTC

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I for one am not really competitive, at least not about reputation.
I wonder if there could be more to the site than just the competitive part, to make it suitable for other personality types. Seems like there could be something downstream from that which takes a collaborative approach to compiling the information into a more broadly helpful framework. Questions and answers could be raw fodder to flow into treatises on the subjects.

2026-01-18 07:12:28 UTC

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The Rolling Stone headline quoting Trump saying we shouldn't even have an election is worth mentioning here.

2026-01-18 05:42:02 UTC

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The governor specifically said it was to protect the right to protest. And honestly, I think ICE is *trying* to instigate unrest, for the sake of declaring martial law.

2026-01-18 05:05:51 UTC

Two battalions of the US Army’s 11th Airborne Division, the Arctic Angels, cold weather warfare specialists, are on standby for deployment to Minnesota, I'm assuming at the behest of the federal mafia I mean "government".
Meanwhile, the governor of Minnesota has the Minnesota national guard on standby, ready to protect protesters.
Are we going to see federal vs state forces fighting?

2026-01-14 20:46:37 UTC

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I have a genuine question: What about those who would seek change from within? When I see officials resigning because of something awful, I always wonder why they don't stay on and fight against it, instead of handing the reins to someone who is blatantly malevolent. It's the same sort of deal here, from my perspective.

2026-01-07 21:05:47 UTC

Does anybody know of any cooperatives that are hiring anyone in programming/ML. I'd love to work for a company that actually serves the community instead of harvesting resources from it.

2026-01-06 15:21:41 UTC

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I need employment, *urgently*. I am not picky. My family needs to eat, and that overrides everything else. Please, does anybody out there work at a company that has machine learning or Python programming positions? Would you be willing to recommend me? I can demonstrate my abilities to you, first, if you need convincing, or I can share git repos.

2026-01-06 15:17:07 UTC

I didn't get the job. We are completely fucked.

2026-01-06 00:00:32 UTC

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1/5/26
I really need your help, folks. We have that massive overdue amount on our phone bill, and a water bill due soon, too. I won't be able to job hunt or even come on here to ask for help if I don't get the phone paid by the 11th. I'm getting panicky about it at this point. I want to be able to support myself, but for that to happen, I need to be able to attend the remote interviews and get phone calls.
Please please unboost and reboost the original post above to get it in front of as many eyes as possible!

2025-12-27 22:56:33 UTC

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KEEN-oh-ah. Not a w, but it sounds like one if said quickly because the oh and ah are blended a bit.

2025-12-26 15:24:15 UTC

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What are the red areas on their rumps? It looks like wounds?

2025-12-21 00:03:04 UTC

https://www.space.com/science/particle-physics/how-the-delayed-choice-quantum-eraser-experiment-got-us-to-rethink-reality

2025-12-16 22:02:06 UTC

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I've observed a few people progress down that route, living in a region where meth use is extremely bad. I don't believe in the devil, but if he were real, he would take the physical form of meth. It fundamentally changes who you are, erasing your morality and empathy and replacing them with suspicion and disgust. I firmly believe a lot of the heinous things that were done in the Holocaust wouldn't have been, had amphetamines not been in common use during that time. Not that it excuses anything, or that they wouldn't have been hateful, hurtful, and subhuman without it. But it removes even the twinges of guilt that hold monsters back.

2025-12-15 17:49:00 UTC

I have an autistic friend here who I just found out has a large collection of online art they created. But this person doesn't share it here, because they have trouble describing visual details verbally. So I wanted to ask the community on this person's behalf:
What are the options for assistance with *creating* alt text? I know we have tags like #AltText4You, but I've never used it, so I don't know proper etiquette. (Is there any?) I also know there are automated tools for doing it, but (1) I don't know what they're called and (2) IDK if they are actually helpful to visually impaired folks.
I was thinking at the very least, this person could ask for help writing alt text, in the alt text itself, and then simply edit it once someone has assisted.
Please boost so we can get a variety of perspectives on this. I'm especially interested in hearing from the visually impaired community, as this impacts them the most.

2025-12-12 12:32:33 UTC

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My question is: If genetic "vulnerability" exists and is sustained in the population, doesn't it make sense to consider the possibility that there's an evolutionary *reason* for that?
#autism
#ActuallyAutistic
@npub1pce…geep

2025-12-12 12:30:32 UTC

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"A new study proposes that autism arises when genetic vulnerability, an early environmental trigger, and prolonged activation of the cellular stress response align during critical developmental windows."
They want to use this to prevent autism.
#autism
#ActuallyAutistic
@npub1pce…geep

2025-12-12 12:28:34 UTC

Jeez, this headline:
"Many Autism Cases May Be Preventable"
They are so busy looking for a "cure" that they haven't even stopped to ask themselves if it's actually a good idea.
#autism
#ActuallyAutistic
@npub1pce…geep

2025-12-10 18:53:05 UTC

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You're allowed to just want to do something. :)

2025-12-10 16:16:59 UTC

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I have never understood the concern for well-manicured laws. It's like an advertisement that you care about appearances more than substance.

2025-12-10 14:09:28 UTC

The US is ranked #6 in the world for extreme income inequality. That's right. You can literally count on one hand the countries that do it worse than us.
You want to know why one of the wealthiest countries in the world (when looked at in aggregate) is disintegrating before our very eyes? That's the reason.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/10/where-in-the-world-are-wealth-and-income-most-unequal
#WorldInequalityReport
#IncomeInequality
#WealthInequality
#Inequality
#GINI
#USA
#Populism
#Oligarchy
#Plutocracy

2025-12-10 01:35:51 UTC

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"Almost one in four households couldn’t pay their energy bills in 2024, according to census data."
One in four. One in four. Read that again, folks. ONE IN FUCKING FOUR households. The propaganda is that we are a wealthy country. WE ARE NOT. There are a few wealthy people here, and there are a shit ton of poor people here. It's just that the wealthy people are *so* wealthy that when you include them in the average, it *sounds like* we are a wealthy nation. "A rising tide lifts all boats," my ass!

2025-12-09 07:07:21 UTC

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I could use some advice. We have two main issues: (1) We are broke and now uninsured, too, thanks to the oh-so-wise cultural practice of tying health coverage to employment, so we aren't sure how to get it treated or even looked at, and (2) we still have a bee colony in our attic, which means it's just a matter of time till it happens again.

2025-12-09 07:04:58 UTC

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We have all been stung many times at this point, often on fingers and toes. Lately, my wife has been getting large welts from the stings. Yesterday morning, she got stung on the finger while she was sleeping, and the swelling has just continued to worsen throughout yesterday and today until most of her forearm looks like it belongs to a different person. She can't bend her fingers or put them together, to the point that I've been doing things for her. I am getting worried. I think she might have developed an allergy to the venom.

2025-12-09 07:04:04 UTC

A while back, I shared a picture of the hole that the bees in our attic were using as a front door. They continue to find their way into our bedroom on a daily basis. It's bad enough that we've stopped using the ceiling fan light, and switched to only a lamp near the wall, because that keeps the bees out of the middle of the room. (Bees like light even more than flies do, apparently.)

2025-12-02 01:31:30 UTC

Hey, folks. I hate doing this, but my family and I need help with money for food & gas. This is unfortunately going to be a regular request until I can get a new job. (See my pinned posts for my resume.)
We average about $35/day for food (2 adults, 2 kids) and $10/day for gas, if we are being cheap. Dog food is $22/week. So we need around $335-$340 to make it through the week, making sure everyone is fed and gets to school. Any help, however small, is deeply appreciated.
Please boost for reach! And remember, you can unboost and boost again to keep it visible.
Progress: $121.10/$340
https://paypal.me/AaronHosford
https://account.venmo.com/u/Aaron-Hosford-42
#MutualAid #MutualAidRequest #Food #Transportation #DogFood

2025-12-01 17:07:01 UTC

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I think they do this because committing to actual numbers would require them to have reliable, calibrated thermostats. Probably the thermostat manufacturing process is too cheap to make those guarantees.

2025-11-27 17:51:51 UTC

If you want a specific example of why many researchers in machine learning and natural language processing find the idea that LLMs like ChatGPT or Claude are "intelligent" or "conscious" is laughable, this article describes one:
https://news.mit.edu/2025/shortcoming-makes-llms-less-reliable-1126
#LLM
#ChatGPT
#Claude
#MachineLearning
#NaturalLanguageProcessing
#ML
#AI
#NLP

2025-11-25 21:46:50 UTC

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Not a bad route to take. Ground it in things they understand. The deceptive, superficial beauty of Satan and all that...
I can't bring myself to go there, personally, since even 30 years on since I told my mom I'm not a believer, she still makes pointed remarks like, "Isn't that a beautiful sunset GAWD painted for us!?" or "We'll just have to leave it in GAWD's hands!" (Emphasis hers.) If I gave the slightest suggestion I might still be susceptible to the brainwashing she initiated back when I was 3 years old, I'd have to chew my arm off to get out of the conversation, or else risk more tea kettle screaming fits with broken dishes and ranting, followed by hair being yanked out and clothing rended to the sound of "No child of mine! No child of mine!" being chanted rabidly. I'll pass. :/
@npub1alt…k00h

2025-11-25 17:49:55 UTC

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It sounds nightmarish, to me. I'm so glad my wife isn't a Trumpster. It was bad enough cutting ties with the rest of my family.

2025-11-12 23:16:59 UTC

"of course he knew about the girls"
#EpsteinFiles

2025-11-06 05:00:15 UTC

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We need an AP answer to LI so we can ditch it completely and never look back.
@npub1dq0…ngzw @npub1m47…49em

2025-11-05 20:53:38 UTC

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I'm one of them. If I had my way, every single publicly traded company would be converted into a worker/consumer cooperative *immediately*, AND there would be a UBI that started increasing gradually (only to avoid shocking the system) up to a living wage, AND there would be a strongly progressive wealth tax with a strict wealth cap that taxed at 100% beyond that amount. Citizens United would also be immediately canceled, with prejudice.
But I recognize that big changes are scary to people, and I'm 100% for *any* amount of change in the right direction over none at all.

2025-11-05 20:46:16 UTC

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What I'm really focused on is getting the average person to see that it's not a scary step to take. Different forms of economic systems don't automatically spell disaster, to the point that we shouldn't even consider making adjustments. Americans are indoctrinated to believe that our economic model is perfect and inviolate, and to never allow even the thought of making changes. This resistance to thoughtfulness and reason and tinkering, with fear mongering and freezing in fear as the alternative, is why we are stuck in this mess.

2025-11-05 20:24:28 UTC

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Oh, I think I misunderstood. I thought you were being critical of me, personally, rather than the guy I quoted.

2025-11-05 20:22:47 UTC

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Not one person in this conversation has suggested that giving up is a notion even under consideration, other than yourself just now.
That said, they do hold power over our government, in the form of feedback loops. They got too much money, way more than one person should be allowed, and now they can use it to manipulate dirty politicians, especially after Citizens United.

2025-11-05 18:51:09 UTC

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Another option is to incentivize other business models. Nudge people to create new coops, non-profits, or B corps. Nudge them towards exit-to-community. Disincentivize creation of publicly traded companies and IPOs. Again, these things can be done incrementally, while observing the effects. There is no reason to be afraid.

2025-11-05 18:47:13 UTC

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Another option is taxes. Of course the knee-jerk reaction is taxes = bad, "They're tryin'a take mah money!" But you're not a millionaire and you're never going to be one. You're damn sure not a billionaire. And trillionaire? We will all laugh in your face if you think that's ever going to happen. Those guys at the top aren't going to give up their spots.
A progressive wealth or income tax, or a tax on corporate profits, can move a *lot* of money out of the hands of those where it is overly concentrated, and put it back in service of those it was wrested from through rent-seeking corporations. But again, we can dip our toes in, so there's no reason to be scared of drastic changes. We can introduce it in minor increments and observe the economic effects, backing out if it turns out to be a bad idea. (It won't.)

2025-11-05 18:42:33 UTC

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One option is a UBI. A UBI can be implemented in an extremely gradual fashion. If you're scared of disrupting the economy and disincentivizing work, fine. Do it like you get in the pool: Dip your toes in first. Ease in, one step at a time, and stop if it turns out to be a bad idea. (It won't.) There's no reason to jump in, and there's no reason not to test it out if it might fix some of our economic woes.

2025-11-05 18:39:47 UTC

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Now, if anybody who is a die-hard Capitalist indoctrinated into the American Way reads me saying things like this, the inevitable response is something along the lines of, "What alternative do we have? Communism!? That doesn't work!"
I question whether socialism or communism (no they are not the same thing) have truly been given a proper go, but that's beside the point. We have options that are a smaller leap from our current setup: Focused bug fixes that represent small, incremental changes in the right direction that don't threaten the stability of the system. We can do those things with minimal risk, and, from there, figure out how to continue to improve things.
Maybe in the long run we'll end up at a socialist or communist system, or maybe not, but wherever we take it, if we continue to *improve* our system through continued, gradual change instead of digging in our heals, we will end up with a system that is *better* than what we have. That's worthwhile, IMO. And not Scary.

2025-11-05 18:32:24 UTC

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We have literally constructed a system that is *designed* to concentrate wealth, at scale, by extracting it from workers and consumers.

2025-11-05 18:31:33 UTC

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There are an estimated 33 million businesses in the US alone. Large corporations, which are overwhelmingly following the model I described above, account for approximately 56% of total revenue. That means about half of the money that changes hands in economic exchanges in the US passes through the hands of these wealth extraction machines.
https://www.clearlypayments.com/blog/the-number-of-businesses-in-the-usa-and-statistics-for-2024/

2025-11-05 18:27:04 UTC

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The standard for-profit corporation operates this way. They are owned by third parties who do not actively contribute. Every one of these companies is actively scraping wealth out of the hands of the workers and customers, with every economic exchange, and putting that wealth into the hands of these invisible shareholders. They are literally wealth-extraction machines.

2025-11-05 18:23:27 UTC

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Now, if you are a shareholder and own some portion of a business, but don't actively contribute to that business's success by working there, and instead get dividends simply for existing as a shareholder, what is actually happening in this picture? You are increasing your wealth without actually contributing to society's overall value. In other words, being a shareholder is *by definition* rent-seeking behavior.

2025-11-05 18:19:32 UTC

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We need to closely examine why wealth continues to accrue in the hands of the few who are already wealthy, and evaporate from the savings of the common people. This is blatant, I repeat BLATANT, evidence of rent-seeking behavior.
Rent-seeking is an economics term, for those who aren't familiar:
"Rent seeking is an economic practice where individuals or businesses aim to increase their wealth without contributing to society's overall value, often undermining market efficiency."
EDIT: Here's the source of that quote:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rentseeking.asp

2025-11-05 18:15:34 UTC

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Our economic system should not even admit the possibility of a billionaire, much less a trillionaire.

2025-11-05 18:13:42 UTC

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Engines have been redesigned to make them better. Computers have been redesigned to make them better. Governments have been redesigned to make them better.
The pattern is the same for all technologies, except for one: our economic system.* It lies stagnant. We need to redesign the system. The current model might be better than many previous iterations, but that doesn't make it perfect. It is clearly __very broken__, and we are witnessing the effects as it destroys everything around us -- our government, culture, and personal lives -- with its instability. Even our recent political turmoil can be traced back to this as a major factor.
*(Yes, forms of government are technologies, as are economic systems. Thinking of them that way might feel unfamiliar, but this is exactly the deficiency I am pointing out.)

2025-11-05 18:04:39 UTC

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The fact that this is even *possible* tells us all we need to know about whether capitalism, as we currently practice it, is the economic model we should be adhering to.

2025-11-05 18:01:53 UTC

“Apple’s at $4 trillion, and Musk’s compensation in his latest plan is geared to a $10 trillion valuation,” Sorrell told the audience. “I have no doubt that Musk or Tesla will get to that valuation. At some point, we’ll have a $10 trillion company. To put that into perspective, other than the United States and China, a $10 trillion company would effectively be the third-biggest [economy in the world]. They’re nation-states. The ability of governments to control them, I think, has become limited.”
https://fortune.com/2025/10/30/martin-sorrell-says-ai-has-already-missed-the-oppenheimer-moment/

2025-11-04 17:40:00 UTC

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One caveat to what you are saying: There is neuromorphic hardware in the pipeline that will make these things much cheaper and more efficient to run. But that doesn't negate the fact that the technology is only being used to make the rich get richer. Automation, like any technology, is a double-edged sword. It really matters a lot who is wielding it and to what end.
@npub1kxu…9fca @npub1vc3…axsh

2025-11-03 16:31:52 UTC

Aaaand I'm laid off.
I had the call scheduled today to talk with HR to prepare to return to work, but instead, I found out I don't have a job to return to. They eliminated the position while I was gone. I guess it was nice of them to let me finish out my short-term disability leave first. :/
While I'm relieved that I no longer have to figure out how to work with a boss who hates me and is out to get me, this is not the kind of job market I want to try to navigate.

2025-10-30 20:20:06 UTC

On days when I have a lunch of beans & greens, my blood sugar is more well-behaved, as was the goal. But I also noticed a couple of other things. My mood is better. My sinuses give me less trouble. I don't cough constantly. I have more energy. I feel more satisfied and don't feel the urge to eat something else constantly.
I don't think all of this is due just to better-controlled blood sugar, because I don't get the same variety of positive effects eating other things that do that. And even for the same blood sugar levels, I don't feel as shaky or irritable or fatigued.
It's such a huge impact on my general well-being, I think I'm going to try to have it every day, from now on, whether I need it for my blood sugar or not. I wish I had done it all along. Maybe I wouldn't be in this health predicament to start with!
One benefit I didn't mention: It tastes good! I find myself craving it because I enjoy eating it!
#diabetic
#nutrition

2025-10-16 14:33:11 UTC

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IMO everything *interesting* you can do with a computer has to be programmed yourself. I use computers daily, but haven't bought a program in a decade or two.

2025-10-10 00:12:38 UTC

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"The only requirement for anarchy is that you have the power to ignore anyone trying to boss you around."
I often say that I don't want to tell other people what to do; I just also don't want anybody else to tell *me* what to do. I'm also strongly against hierarchies of other types, not just authority. Nobody is "better than" somebody else, and to even imply otherwise sends my blood pressure spiking. Another thing I like to say is that the president is my equal, and that unnamed homeless person you see huddled under that bridge is also my equal.
So we have a lot in common. I just don't see how to make society function with a bunch of bad actors in the mix if there isn't some sort of threat that keeps them in line. How do we keep the people who *do* think they are better and *do* want to boss people around from worming their way into having power over other people?

2025-10-10 00:04:29 UTC

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And if you chose to ignore the vote's outcome?

2025-10-09 17:36:36 UTC

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It's a step in the right direction. It tends to be once a week for an hour, though, and it doesn't usually happen in smaller towns like mine.
Does anybody actually *enjoy* having arbitrary music that doesn't fit their preferences piped over the air so it's inescapable?

2025-10-09 17:15:02 UTC

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I don't see it, actually. I think that might have been in the reply that I typed out but didn't get to send because my phone glitched.

2025-10-09 16:53:03 UTC

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My requirement is simply that I get to exist in my own home without being tortured. And that maybe, at least on occasion, I get to spend time in my yard, too. That seems fair to me. The current arrangement doesn't afford me that, and I feel like I have no rights. Your concern seems to be finding common/middle ground. I am all for that. I think all people deserve consideration. My issue is that I dont get that consideration, not that other people do.
I also think the *degree* should be accounted for. I really would rather be punched in the face. That should factor in when finding a fair balance, if someone else is just complaining that they don't get to have as much fun.

2025-10-09 16:09:48 UTC

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And I am probably further beyond what NY or the Netherlands treat as standard, relative to Texas. I don't fit here. I wish I could move. To never have to deal with another football-idolizing know-it-all beer-guzzling wannabe goat roper...

2025-10-09 15:40:19 UTC

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I suppose how it was worded would have an impact, but to just let me know that you have background knowledge on the topic? No. Not unless you were using it to dismiss my own lived experiences. (That happens a lot, as I'm sure you are aware, not being a cishet neurotypical white male yourself.)

2025-10-09 15:37:58 UTC

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Yeah, here in Texas, they just tell you too bad, do you really expect people to bend over backward for you when you're "special"? I imagine there's some culture differences at work. Not good ones.

2025-10-09 15:34:03 UTC

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I wouldn't know either way. But it didn't sound like you knew already of the things I was talking about.

2025-10-09 15:27:22 UTC

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One common disconnect I find when talking to non-autistic people is, it is understood from the start, for me, that language *inevitably* rounds things off. It's a blunt tool being asked to do precision work. So I say things and don't hedge them, knowing full well that there are edge cases and gray areas, because there are just so many of them and there's no way I could list them and I would have to qualify literally everything I say with a hedge.
Our brains filter differently. I don't think (correct me if I'm wrong) that the neurotypical experience includes this. It's my understanding that usually NT folks see things one or maybe two ways, and that's it, and it is this increased cognitive load of seeing a wide array of possibilities that makes communication and dealing with new environments difficult for autistic people.
So I guess, take me literally, but assume I'm aware of edge cases. IDK how well this approach will translate to other autistic folks, though.

2025-10-09 15:18:48 UTC

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I absolutely do think it's possible, but not without the intentionality of the others involved. People often refuse to use text-based communication, saying it is annoying or inconvenient or inefficient. It's easy to forget that remote participants or nonverbal participants are even there, if a person isn't used to thinking about that. But if we have a person dedicated to ensuring that text-based communications receive attention, that improves things a lot. Usually, this happens because one person is thoughtful like that, not because it's standard procedure. I'm sure there are other things that can be done, as well.

2025-10-09 15:13:11 UTC

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Can I make a suggestion? Not just for you, but for anyone reading this. Follow an autistic person or two. Doesn't have to be me. There are tons of us here. You can find us on the #ActuallyAutistic tag or in various groups like @npub1pce…geep . Learn about us, *from* us. Befriend us.
Whenever someone learns more about us, and gets to know us, that knowledge and understanding spreads and helps other people to understand where we are coming from -- which is probably our single biggest difficulty as a group. We need the understanding of non-autistic folks if the world is ever going to learn to be inclusive of us. Dream of us in your philosophy, Horatio. :)
I also do the same for other folks. I make it a point to intentionally follow people from a variety of backgrounds, experiences, ethnicities, genders, neurotypes, etc. It broadens my mind and makes me more empathetic and understanding. It's a form of self-improvement, and it's also fun and interesting!

2025-10-08 22:25:18 UTC

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I just remembered something else that kind of drives home just how much this impacts us. A man in the UK recently committed suicide because the landlord repeatedly ignored his complaints about issues with noise. He couldn't move and was trapped living there. Dying was preferable to him compared to continuing under those conditions. There should be some sort of balance there, based on how much things impact someone.

2025-10-08 22:21:46 UTC

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Yes, this in particular is an important point. I had mentioned elsewhere in the conversation that construction would be an (unfortunate) exception. This is why. The vast majority of noises that truly make me miserable are totally avoidable. If people could just cut those out, my life would be vastly improved.

2025-10-08 18:36:38 UTC

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Going back to the consent thing: We all affect each other in various ways, sure. But does that mean someone should be able to hit someone else? (Rhetorical. Of course not!) So what would you say to the fact that many autistic people feel the same as me about noise? I would rather be punched hard in the face than listen to a dog bark all day. That's not exaggeration. That's why I confront my hateful, bigoted neighbors about their barking dog even though there are 5 or 6 adults there and they have explicitly threatened physical violence against me.

2025-10-08 18:36:33 UTC

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I had a big long reply typed out, but just as I was doing the final edits, my phone glitched and rebooted. I do appreciate the fact that you're discussing instead of dismissing, and I think that's the single biggest thing that's missing from the discourse around this: The total lack of discourse around this, outside of the autistic community. Laws don't account for the needs of autistic people, and being pretty private and non-social as a group, we are rarely involved in the decision-making process. I am told to go to city council meetings, but this is a highly unaccommodating venue for an autistic person -- especially one such as myself, who has been repeatedly and severely physically and verbally abused for misread social signals in one or both directions.

2025-10-08 18:11:13 UTC

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And if the music venue moves in 100 years after your family acquired the house, and you have already personally lived there for decades? Also a real thing that happened to me. The individual must flex for the business, but the business can tell the individual to eff off.

2025-10-08 18:09:27 UTC

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Zoning laws do not take autistic people into account. Police do not take autistic people into account. People in general do not take autistic people into account. We are generally not social creatures, so people don't realize how many of us there are. And in my experience, they do not care. I can ask a neighbor to stop letting their dog bark all day, and face threats of violence for it, and then be mocked with slurs screamed at me while they do everything as noisily as they can, while the authorities do nothing. This is oddly specific because it is a real experience I am recounting. It is not cooperative. It is "my way or the highway" and we have no say, and we get slippery slope analogies and excuses but nobody actually cares enough to do things differently. Maybe it's different for you, but that's the world I live in. That's what I've learned from 45 years of chasing the mirage of someday being a respected equal among many.

2025-10-08 18:02:51 UTC

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Right here, it has already diverged. I can look away or close my eyes. I can't close my ears. Even earplugs and earmuffs together generally aren't enough. One is voluntary participation, the other is forced on me.

2025-10-08 16:42:43 UTC

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I'm enjoying this, and I feel like it has been a meaningful exchange. I'm still not convinced, but I'm less unconvinced. :) Thanks for taking the time to walk me through the mechanics of it. That's the biggest piece that is missing when people talk in philosophical or general terms.
What I'm getting out of this is, anarchism is not the absence of social structure, but the absence of *formal, institutional* social structure. Have I got that bit right?

2025-10-08 16:04:23 UTC

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What happens if you are isolated, like me, and the community won't stick up for you? This is a common problem for autistic people. We tend to rub people the wrong way, so often I would end up being the one who is punished, instead of the person being vile. That's if people even notice I exist; I have learned to be invisible to avoid precisely this sort of thing.

2025-10-08 16:01:46 UTC

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Sure. Much better than people being dismissive.

2025-10-08 15:51:04 UTC

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I already practice what I preach. When my dog starts barking, I bring her in. I keep music indoors so it doesn't enter people's homes. I treat their homes as their sacrosanct place to escape the demands of the world, and be fully in control of their own experiences and bodies.
We already have the concept of consent. People's bodies belong to them, and they have the right to full control over what happens to their bodies. Why is it different for noise, in particular? Just because most people are fine with having their bodies subjected to that, doesn't mean some people don't feel violated by it, so why not just ask for consent for that, too?

2025-10-08 15:43:04 UTC

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I am such a person. So my question is this: Who will look out for people like me? Because I definitely can't count on the people I've met. My dad was a perpetrator. I have few friends and we don't hang out in "meatspace". My wife would jump in, I'm sure, but she would be at even more risk than me. Strangers definitely won't stick up for me, based on experience. Who is left, and what is their motivation?
Until I recently moved, my neighbors would regularly threaten me physically and did everything in their power to make me miserable, and the only reason they didn't take it further was clearly fear of the law. They hate me, and have spent hours yelling slurs at me for being autistic. They burned down a trailer in their backyard with their dog still in it. I wouldn't be surprised if they thought about doing the same to me. What would stop them if the law weren't a barrier?

2025-10-08 15:34:09 UTC

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I was with you right up to the last line, but then I have to disagree.
I have a fake tooth because I looked at someone wrong. I can't tell you the number of times I've been punched in the face by someone I did nothing to. (At least twice while delivering pizzas!) I have been held down and beaten by a group of both strangers and supposed friends. My brother was jumped by a group of 6 men waiting to beat someone else's ass because he had a punchable face. (I ended up in that fight to defend him, and they later apologized.)
I'm autistic and don't sense belligerence until it's too late. I'm sure plenty of Black people will tell you about uninstigated racial violence. And visibly disabled people get bullied all the time.
Most people are kind, or at least neutral and not dangerous. But there are enough among us who are vile to make life *very* miserable and dangerous for those who are minorities or vulnerable in some way.

2025-10-08 15:17:31 UTC

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You say it's whimsy, but I watch them oversalt food on cooking shows and cringe. It can be fixed at plate time, no need to cook it in and ruin the food for sensitive people.
Also "sensory sovereignty" is *golden* and I will be using it again. As an autistic person, when people force unwanted sensory overload-inducing stimuli on me, it feels like my bodily autonomy is being violated. It causes me intense and often instant stress, and I go into fight or flight mode. Dogs left out in the yard to bark or neighbors blasting music are the worst culprits.

2025-10-08 14:47:08 UTC

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I can't take the step to anarchism, because I can't imagine it being better after seeing the worst side of people so much in my life. Maybe I just don't fully understand. That's part of why I have followed quite a few anarchists. I keep hoping someone can fill in the blanks for me.
In my mind, if we ever got rid of government, people would just form gangs and mobs spontaneously, and some mob boss would work to acquire more and more power until we were back to square one. Better to intentionally form a government that at least *kind of* tries to respect the people's will as it slides into despotism than let it happen unintentionally and end up with the worst kind of despot right from the start.
The unanswered question that stops me from being an anarchist is this: Why wouldn't the power vacuum be filled? What's to stop that one cold-hearted narcissistic shitbag from starting it all over? Don't we see this over and over in schoolyard bullies?

2025-10-07 19:18:51 UTC

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and a slinky

2025-10-07 19:18:16 UTC

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Driving a car with your left big toe...

2025-10-07 19:17:57 UTC

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It's a method of last resort. When we have been disenfranchised of power over our own lives, this is what we are left with. It's not a good option, but I'll use whatever tools I have to steer this system away from the cliff.

2025-10-07 19:11:03 UTC

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I've thought about this before. If people could refuse to pay, or better yet, line item what their money goes towards, imagine how different this country's trajectory could have been!

2025-09-29 18:14:42 UTC

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Alec Baldwin, when he threw that fit about his seat on the airplane. Narcissism turns my stomach. Nobody is "better than" other people. A homeless person whose name doesn't even get mentioned is every bit as important as POTUS. The quickest way for a person to get me to despise them is to imply that they matter more than their fellow human beings.

2025-09-28 01:10:59 UTC

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It'll end when Donny boy strokes out and can't word salad anymore. Nobody else has followers with religious zeal like his. Not that this will instantly restore democracy, mind you. There will be plenty of wolves to fight over his carcass.

2025-09-27 16:46:32 UTC

"LinkedIn’s cofounder Reid Hoffman says seeking work-life balance is a red flag that you’re ‘not committed to winning’"
Fuck off, Reid Hoffman. Some of us don't define "winning" as "having the most". Some of us remember to be human and enjoy our lives and each others' company. You, by contrast, will die a lonely man among your toys, never having been satisfied, with no one who you leave behind that actually cares that you're gone.

2025-09-25 00:56:02 UTC

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I've started using "IQism" as a way to sum it up nicely. Drives the point home with minimal explanation. But yeah, people still have to do the work of understanding why treating disability as inferiority is problematic, in general.
Every person has value. Every life has value. We all matter, no matter what we can or can't do. What we can do only matters because of the human beings we can do it for, not the other way around. Only the choice to willfully harm or belittle our fellow human beings can detract from the value intrinsic to being a person.

2025-09-25 00:47:57 UTC

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They will mock you as being too strident, too demanding, too up tight. Just like people did with slurs for LGBTQ or people of color for countless generations. But somehow, this one is the exception and is different.

2025-09-25 00:45:59 UTC

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Is this a good time to mention that even among the left, people *rampantly* use ableist terms like "stupid", "dumb", "moron", "idiot", etc.? These are just the r-word, lite. Try to tell someone it's ableist and they will blow you off, argue with you, call you stupid, or block you -- even people who vociferously oppose the various -isms including ableism. Never mind that most of these synonyms have a long history of being used in particular to describe, insult, and dehumanize non-verbal autistic people and people with intellectual disabilities.