https://public-interest-tech.com/
Mr. Schneier and friends have created a new website to promote a change to the socio-economic technical milieu we are currently facing.
He suggests we need to have "public interest technologists" to help the situation.
He writes:
"We need technologists who work in the public interest. We need public-interest technologists.
Defining this term is difficult. One Ford Foundation blog post described public-interest technologists as "technology practitioners who focus on social justice, the common good, and/or the public interest.""
Is he right? How can this be implemented without becoming as riddled with government agents, spies and mafias as the key positions of our corporations and institutions are right now?
Full disclosure: this writer has been a public interest technologist for a while now and I have actually alluded to the need for something like what is being suggested on multiple occasions, 'a different kind of organization' is the way I put it, way back a few months ago.
Discuss.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by barbara hudson on Sunday October 13 2019, @03:54PM (16 children)
The marketplace makes plenty of bad decisions, but things like systemd are a demonstration of the failure, or rather, the lack of a marketplace governing decisions. Red Hot has the same monopolistic effect on Linux as Microsoft and Google and Facebook do in their respective markets. Good intentions won't cut it .
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @04:20PM (14 children)
To the first question, obviously, NO. And, as someone that works for an Open Source Company that has revenues in 100s of millions per year .... ok.
Hahahaha! Still at this? Now we need someone to rage against Linux because it killed Hurd.
(Score: 5, Informative) by barbara hudson on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:22PM (9 children)
Take the Mozilla Foundation as an example. Almost all its revenue is from search engine deals with google, Microsoft, etc. So ready Mozilla is an advertising company, same as Google. They're selling advertising services. Not even support for open source software, never mind selling the software itself.'
It's probably significant that at 66, RNS still has to beg for a room to sleep in on a regular basis. Kind of hard to save for retirement if the salary as president was $0 per annum. Genteel poverty isn't really that genteel once you become something of a pariah.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday October 13 2019, @08:11PM (8 children)
Redhat do sell software, it is called Red Hat Enterprise Linux and there is a "buy it" button right there on their site.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by barbara hudson on Sunday October 13 2019, @09:47PM
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2) by arslan on Sunday October 13 2019, @09:49PM (2 children)
Umm technically they sell support, you can download RHEL, and source, and use it for free; yes registration required and they don't make it simple but not paid. You just don't get support, if you want support you pay for it. But yea, for most folks they see them as practically "selling" RHEL - me included. If you don't want to "buy" you just use Centos or Fedora or something else entirely you wounldn't bother jumping through hoops to get the "free" RHEL (or you just BT it)
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday October 13 2019, @10:13PM (1 child)
Oh, well technically correct, because that is the best kind of correct.
(Score: 2) by arslan on Monday October 14 2019, @12:13AM
touché! =)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @09:54PM (3 children)
Even then, you can just use CentOS. It is basically identical, minus the branding and support. And that doesn't get into the other derivatives either.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday October 14 2019, @09:54AM (2 children)
Actually, you can't. Every time I tried, it resembled an exercise in retrocomputing (by how many packages were about two years behind).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @02:04PM (1 child)
That's why people buy RHEL, to stay safely off the bleeding edge.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday October 14 2019, @02:25PM
May be good for office work, but it's worse than pulmonary anthrax if you need to develop on that platform - a painful and sure professional death.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Bot on Sunday October 13 2019, @09:36PM (3 children)
>Hahahaha! Still at this?
Maybe he will shut up when systemd actually boots faster than sysvinit. Try ubuntu vs sysvinit mxlinux and have a somewhat more deserved laugh yourself.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Monday October 14 2019, @01:45AM (2 children)
As someone who doesn't reboot their Linux all day long, I so don't care about systemd booting faster.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Monday October 14 2019, @04:22AM (1 child)
I don't boot my system very often either, but faster booting was supposed to be one of the main arguments in favour of systemD.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Monday October 14 2019, @05:23AM
Ahem.... I don't always boot my Linux but when I do I use SysV-init
(for the oldies with no teeth cut on meme generators [knowyourmeme.com]. Or with no teeth period, for the matter - grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @10:13AM
No, that's closer to the ethos of Free Software, which is different from open source.
The fact that you can make a living from something doesn't mean it's ethical to do so. Proprietary software is necessarily an attack on people's freedoms, and therefore should not exist in any form.
I've seen you attack Free Software (and "open source" I guess) in a number of places. But, the alternative is proprietary software, which is far worse for freedom and gives corporations and/or the developers massive control over your computing. With how ubiquitous computing is now, software freedom is more important than ever.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @04:06PM (3 children)
more bureaucracy will save us
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @04:25PM (2 children)
more technology will save us.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:21PM
In the battle against the support for widespread censorship, technology is our only hope.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2, Insightful) by redneckmother on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:32PM
More individual compassion will save us.
Mas cerveza por favor.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @04:08PM (15 children)
What the hell is a technologist? It sounds like another fake job.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @04:44PM (8 children)
"technology practitioners who focus on social justice"
WTMFH?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:21PM (7 children)
This just sounds like a job for worthless people.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:29PM
Or an amazing opportunity to rip people off!
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by barbara hudson on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:30PM (5 children)
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Monday October 14 2019, @01:33AM (4 children)
A fine Argumentum ad Hominem, mentioning RMS. It's a shame that he has been brought down, but it was to a large degree self-inflicted. Public software will continue just fine without him.
I think Schneier is half right. We really could use more advocacy. Whether this should be through one or a very few famous individuals, maybe not. Yet, a charismatic, kind, humble, knowledgeable individual who is good at explaining things, a sort of Carl Sagan of technology, could help a lot. This person cannot be a ruthless, monopolistic competitor such as Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. Linus Torvalds could be that person, but it is as RMS said, he's just an engineer. He's abrasive. Like so many geeks, he doesn't want to dirty himself with politics and other such squishy, soft subjects. It's a massive problem throughout STEM, this disdain for public relations and even good manners, the curse of everyone on the Asperger/Autism spectrum. It's one of the factors in the fall of RMS. He should have known better than to say the stuff he did, and maybe he would have, if he had more awareness and respect for social mores. Perhaps someone from academia could do it, but who? By the time a top computer scientist achieves some fame, he or she is likely too old. Maybe an actor, such as Wil Wheaton? Or, should it be an organization such as the FSF or the EFF?
Most especially, we need more advocacy to raise the profile of and support for various fine alternatives to patents and copyrights. Lot of people still really do not believe in libre software. They believe "you get what you pay for." Crowdfunding works. It should work better. Our public libraries should be unleashed from all the crazy rules that force us all not to use our technology. The entire Library of Congress ought to be online, with every individual item available for download to anyone who wants it.
Another issue that needs addressing is programming, especially the idea that programming can be taught in elementary school, and that it will be or already is such an important part of life that everyone who can should learn how to do it. There's a lot about coding that is hard, and overwhelming. If a tome such as the Camel Book doesn't do it, one of the fastest ways to scare off newbie programmers is to tell them that one language alone isn't enough, they need to know libraries, software repositories, and algorithms. And recursion. In any case, I think all our mainstream programming languages are still needlessly complicated and difficult.
More generally, much technology is still too hard to understand and use, despite the best efforts of Apple, the company that is most focused on ease of use.
There are other legal problems. Why do we still use paper receipts? Why is the medical field still so behind in their use of computers for record keeping? New patients should not have to fill out lengthy paper forms asking all kinds of questions about their medical history, over and over. Medical providers are too quick to blame the government and regulations such as HIPAA.
Then there's the matter of access. Access to the Internet should be recognized as a fundamental human right. Why the f** has not the US Postal Service's mandate been extended to the online world? The near monopoly that ISPs enjoy should be ended. Another part of access is a computer. We now have extremely low cost things such as Raspberry Pis and the One Laptop Per Child initiative so that is not a big problem.
(Score: 3, Informative) by deimtee on Monday October 14 2019, @04:31AM
If you read the transcripts without taking them out of context what he said was not objectionable. It was on a private list and was leaked and misquoted deliberately to knife him in the back. Office politics I guess.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @10:19AM (1 child)
That initiative usually just leads to schools handing out locked-down junk ridden with non-free proprietary user-subjugating software. It denies students the ability to educate themselves about how the software operates (via the source code), the ability to make changes to the software, and independence. Schools are supposed to promote education and independence, which is why they should never use proprietary software or, even worse, force students to use it.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday October 14 2019, @11:46AM
Yes, that's another related area that needs advocating. Walled gardens are bad. In the past, and without meaning to, the keepers of these gardens would do a very effective job of showing everyone why walled gardens are bad by doing something stupid, such as taking away popular functionality or content. And they'd spout laughable propaganda that DRM was good because it kept users safe from piracy. Windows Vista was an example of that kind of stupidity. These vendors of the proprietary backpedal quickly when they see they've pushed their customers too far. Yet the customers still settle too fast, for too little. Maybe some advocacy could help show them they're still getting a bad deal.
(Score: 2) by everdred on Monday October 14 2019, @04:20PM
Maybe it depends on your definition of technologist, but Cory Doctorow is what comes to mind, through his activism, blogging and fiction.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:40PM (2 children)
I love the idea. Maybe it'll keep the business-and-community-destroying morons corralled into their little niches and the fuck out of people who want to create awesome things's hair for a while.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2, Funny) by RandomFactor on Sunday October 13 2019, @08:11PM (1 child)
Pollyanna is an odd name for a buzzard.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday October 13 2019, @08:56PM
That's me, just one big fucking ray of sunshine.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Sunday October 13 2019, @10:05PM
Someone who has found a way to get paid to prognosticate on things without actually doing anything.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @11:13PM (1 child)
A friend is a PhD physicist. He chose to work in DC, supporting policy decisions in Congress--when a tech issue comes up, he writes white papers so the congress-critters and their non-scientist staffs can see what the issues are. He contributed (years ago), to a major N-arms reduction effort. While he will probably never be formally recognized, I'd say that he's done some good tech for society.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @12:22AM
So it means bureaucrat.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by SemperOSS on Sunday October 13 2019, @04:16PM (19 children)
The way society is going these days, the chasm between rich and poor seems to be ever-expanding with the richer getting much richer and the poorer not quite beating inflation. (And yes, I know that there are some that say it is changing and that the richer has actually not really got much richer within the last year or so.)
The advance in technology can go two ways, towards a Star Trek-like utopia where money is not necessary as robots can do whatever is needed or an Elysium-like reality where the rich are in Heaven (OK, Elysium in the sky) where they are catered for by robots and the poor in Hell (solidly planted on Terra Firma) where they struggle to survive. If the (rich) technologists do not soon realise that the latter will make the poor want better and possibly cause a revolution (or at least an uprising), the world is in for a hard time. It is easy to think that this is just a problem for the poor countries and that we are not really so bad off, but it does not seem so.
There has been an ongoing theory that if it is raining on the rich, it will drip on the poor, which recent research has proven wrong. The rich get richer alright, but the poor unfortunately stagnate or even get poorer — not a healthy combination for long-term stability. A usual argument by the well off for the status quo is the concept of the American Dream™ — if you work hard and diligently, keep your head down and pursue your goals then you could become the next Bill Gates/Jeff Bezos/Steve Jobs/..., only, the chance of that is probably less than having a substantial win in the lottery. Of the millions and millions of people that aspire to become rich and famous, only the very few and extremely lucky achieve it, which means the actual chance of achieving it is a rounding error in the big scheme of things.
The sooner we realise that technology needs to benefit all, the sooner we will go toward a better society. (I have purposely skipped the fact that technology has benefited many people already with things like cars and mobile phones as that fact does not counter the argument about the growing chasm between rich and poor.)
Now it is time to get the popcorn out and look for words like Social Justice Warrior, socialist, communist, lunatic and other such niceties in the comments to this.
I don't need a signature to draw attention to myself.
Maybe I should add a sarcasm warning now and again?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @04:47PM
maybe you get rich by making yourself indispensable (or rather, your "product").
if you can convince that people need something from you then you get rich?
so there's at least two categories.
one are the things you really need and things you don't but make your life ... more agreeable.
since we are (mostly) not at war on a global scale, number one things seem to be affordable overall (or at least not scarce).
number two things are mostly what generates the huge wealth discrepancy. we "make a few rich" so many can feel they have a better life?
it's not like the rich came to your house and force you to open your safe or lift your mattress and turn over your hard earned cash?
i assume "number one things" are also the source of some very rich people but even the rich understand that war is misery for all,
so those rich from "number one things" tend not to exploit the nature of the thing, rather increasing the availability and affordability (more buyers equals more profit).
one assumes this requires a certain amount of "up front cost" to realize -aka- re-investment.
as for "number two things", well ... (limited) exclusivity, scarcity and lots of brainwashing (advertising) is required to extract the monies. maybe other stuff too?
so-called "culture" is a hotly contested turf for people getting rich with "number two things" and brain-washing starts early in formative years?
as to comment concerning the actual article, just this: putting yourself "out there" will expose you to a lot of flak. more "brains" with "opinions" everyday ... and increasing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @04:51PM (11 children)
I don't know where you're looking at, but in the USA people have been progressively lifted out of poverty for decades, under the much-derided ideas that you choose to skewer.
Basically, (summarising a lot of data here) less than ever of the US population is wondering where its next meal is coming from, while more of the US is considering the relative merits of Apple and Samsung.
In fact, while it's true that the rich are getting richer, so are the middle classes and the poor both.
If you want to check this out, go to federal numbers from the census bureau on wealth and population segments. This is public data, well known to economists.
I mean, have fun with your little rant and all, but next time check your facts.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:08PM (2 children)
If that were all true, I would expect to cruise through the ghetto, and find "poor" people in possession of crazily modified cars, sporting huge 20 inch wheels costing thousands of dollars, wearing lots of bling, name brand "designer" clothing, snorting coke, drinking their favorite alcoholic beverages, showing off huge amounts of cash, and women dripping from their arms.
Oh, wait. A duck search of ghetto bling assures me that all of that is real . . . and, maybe I should do moderate safe searches . . . some of that stuff I really didn't want to see . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GOzbixP464 [youtube.com]
(Score: 2, Touché) by RandomFactor on Sunday October 13 2019, @08:14PM (1 child)
That video is pure gold.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @07:10AM
It's from one of the Bumfights movies, probably the second one [imdb.com].
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday October 13 2019, @08:11PM (1 child)
And how sustainable do you think this is? And what happens when the factors that allowed this to happen change? THAT'S the point he's making.
I never understood why people reply to arguments along the lines of "We can't keep this up, we need to change course" with "well look what it *already* did." So the fuck what? If you have an uncle who served with distinction in wartime and you find out he's been molesting your kids, do you forgive him because he has medals from what he did in the past? No.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @09:38PM
GGPP said there was a thing. GPP pointed out that there was no such thing. PP's response is that there might be a thing in future that doesn't exist now.
Even if PP is one hundred percent totally right, GGPP is still wrong, and given PP apparently having trouble with the thread's topic, I wouldn't bet on PP being all that right either.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by c0lo on Monday October 14 2019, @02:04AM (5 children)
Summarize this [wikipedia.org], then.
Actually, don't bother, have it here [wikipedia.org]
Having a job that doesn't pay the roof over your head and running the risk being called a criminal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @05:04AM (4 children)
Sure. Fewer people than ever are in absolute poverty in the US of A, and the number in relative poverty is dwindling as well.
The treatment of the remaining, dwindling minority could use some improvement, but the general trend is that population scaling down.
There's your summary.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @10:27AM (1 child)
Yet, almost half of the country can't afford a $400 emergency, very few can afford a $1,000 emergency, and half of the country makes $30,000 a year or less. This while wealth inequality keeps increasing, and while Trump's tax cuts have resulted in the rich paying a lower effective tax rate than working people. Having a TV or some other bits of technology does not make up for any of this. Saying, 'Well, things are better in some ways than they were in the past.' justifies none of this. This is like saying that someone in China ought to be happy with their totalitarian government because it's marginally better than North Korea's. Comparison is the enemy of freedom and justice.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @04:56PM
Yes! Make all the things perfect! Right now! No time for moving in the right direction! Instant total perfection for everyone!
.... which happened nowhere, ever.
But the US is moving in the right direction. Obviously a plot of the ultrarich vampire lizardpeople.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @01:52PM (1 child)
Given the reference, one wonders if the reduction in those numbers isn't "achieved" by "accommodating" of those poor people in prisons, to work for peanuts.
Wouldn't be terrible surprising.if so, late stage capitalism is bound to do a full circle and step into late stage communism; because there is no chance of endless growth, much less an exponential one, and the rich can keep their wealth only by brutal authority.
(Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Monday October 14 2019, @02:22PM
Well, well, well, ain't that [google.com] interesting?
Homelessness in the state and federal prison population. [nih.gov]
Court-imposed fines as a feature of the homelessness-incarceration nexus... [oup.com]
Results
Our respondents experienced homelessness an average of 41 months during the current episode. Nearly two-thirds reported being convicted of a crime, and 78% had been incarcerated. More than 25% reported owing current legal fines. Individuals with legal fine debt experienced 22.9 months of additional homelessness after considering the effects of race, age, and gender.
Conclusion
We confirmed a strong association between homelessness and legal trouble. Among high-income countries, the USA has the highest rates of legal system involvement and the highest rates of homelessness; the relationship between the two may be connected.
Homelessness and Incarceration Are Intimately Linked [endhomelessness.org]
---
(RIP, MDC, I reckon you knew a lot about both homelessness and mental illness by direct experience).
Mentally ill people in United States jails and prisons [wikipedia.org]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2, Interesting) by fustakrakich on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:27PM
You can forget about this "revolution".
I have to paraphrase: *You will be exterminated, never having seen the faces of your killers.*
They are complete psychopaths and will be perfectly happy to live on a planet with less than a billion people remaining.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 5, Funny) by redneckmother on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:36PM (1 child)
"There has been an ongoing theory that if it is raining on the rich, it will drip on the poor, which recent research has proven wrong."
All I know is that "trickle down economics" has succeeded in making me yellow and wet.
Mas cerveza por favor.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @10:44PM
So are you for auditing the Federal Reserve?
(Score: 2) by Bot on Sunday October 13 2019, @09:38PM
>The advance in technology can go two ways, towards a Star Trek-like utopia where money is not necessary as robots can do whatever is needed
you misspelled 'dystopia', meatbag.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by arslan on Sunday October 13 2019, @09:56PM
I dunno, there's still a need for the middle class, maybe a lot less, but someone's gotta maintain the robots, help to think and invent new shit. Until the robots think for themselves and invent new shit of course, but when that happens what need do they have for meat bags, rich or poor?
Now on to topic, It is a silly job for sure, but the way we're going, with the amount of techno-clueless sheeple out there; this has some practical benefits. Sure there's other ways to educate and incentivize the masses but like everything else it doesn't have to be this way or that but rather a combination of.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday October 14 2019, @06:31AM
Let us keep in mind that we don't actually know whether the "chasm" between rich and poor is "ever-expanding" because nobody has a clue how to value it (always a strong sign in the financial world that something is overvalued), and it's not particularly valuable to poor people in the first place. Can't eat or sleep in a credit default swap.
At this point, I'm completely blowing off all concerns about wealth inequality because it's measured in an extremely bullshit way (ignores future income), is probably way exaggerated due to the crazy valuation of such things, and doesn't mean anything even if it were true.
More accurately, has shown isn't always right.
Who really is trying to be the next Bill Gates? What people are trying to do generally has a much better chance of success.
Absolute bullshit. For example, I come up with some bit of gear that helps people who hang-glide. Should my bit of technology get deep-sixed because it doesn't help anyone who isn't a hang-glider?
Technology doesn't need to benefit everyone. As long as it's helping someone without causing problems of a similar scale, it's fine.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday October 13 2019, @04:16PM (6 children)
We most definitely need another bunch of stupid fucks telling us what to think, what to do, how to vote, what to buy, what to avoid, etc ad nauseum.
Just what I wanted. A social justice aligned technician. Don't allow just anyone to work on your car, make sure he is a social justice warrior who will consider your car's feelings!! The automation guy who fixes your robots on the job? Unless he's emotionally in tune with the robots, he's gone, gone, gone, with yesterday's buggy whips!
I'm not going to spend time dumping on Bruce, because he's been doing good work for so long. But, Bruce needs to concentrate on his own work, and leave the SJW's to do their own - uhhhhh - undermining of America.
See my code of conduct in my sig.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:53PM (1 child)
You WANT to buy a Win10 PC and you WILL like it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @02:13AM
He DID buy a Win10 PC and he LIKED it very much. So much that he WANTS to by another Win10 PC to double his LIKE feeling.
(Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Sunday October 13 2019, @09:05PM (2 children)
I think that's a bit of a straw person. It seems more likely zhey would not affirm the vehicle's feelings at all and would instead consider the broad oppressive social structure, the vehicle custodian's apparent place within it, and adjust the outcome for the vehicle based on the vehicle custodian's perceived standing in the SJW victim hierarchy.
This is different than the classical model where the outcome for the vehicle is largely based on what the mechanic is paid to do to it.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @01:32AM (1 child)
I'm not woke enough, is "zhey" the pronoun for people that currently identify as attack helicopters?
(Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Sunday October 20 2019, @01:29PM
Or possibly penguins.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @02:09AM
But of course. At least until you learn how to actually think. Signs that you can think have always been scarce at best and rarer as the times go by.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @04:57PM
"Hi! Thanks for being our PIT. We're super-excited that you decided to join us as a PIT so that we can have a whole team of PITs helping us do ... things. What exactly do you do?"
"I do tech stuff! But only inasmuch as it improves the lives of the forgotten margins of society."
"... hang on, isn't that why we pay taxes?"
"Yeah, but having PITs around totally makes you look great! It's a public consciousness marketing message!"
"Oh. Oh, right. Um, right. You're vegan right?"
"Well ..."
"You're transitioning? Or transitioned?"
"Sexually? N-nno?"
"Are you an orphaned, disabled, combat veteran, activist, racial and religious minority?"
"Wait, what?"
"You have a job until we find someone more oppressed than you. Better give up that meat if you want to work here, you stink of oppressor."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:01PM (2 children)
But otherwise yes there is a desperate need for:
Scientists to tackle problems whose solution produces NO PROFIT
Because those problems cannot be solved by capitalism
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:10PM (1 child)
Problem:
profit is a production of surplus value
value is in the eye of the beholder
It's not just a matter of counting more beans when you finished than when you started.
In other words, capitalism offers no breadth of variety, if you have a population with no breadth of variety. When you find such a population, let us know where you found the human ant nest.
The rest of us are running in a million different directions. Capitalist or not.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:41PM
Perhaps at the RNC?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:18PM (1 child)
Discuss.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:32PM
Get woke go broke?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:35PM (11 children)
You all get why this doesn't exist and why tech companies only let the public interest go so far, right? It's because if making money isn't part of your business plan, you're only going to exist until you run out of money. And if making a profit isn't part of your business plan, you don't get to grow or even have a rainy day fund. Hell, even SN aims for a small profit so we don't have to shut down non-crucial servers if we miss a funding goal by ten percent or if the day comes that we actually need to expand our capacity.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @11:25PM (1 child)
When it's a non-profit company, I think it's called "surplus", not "profit"? Profit can be distributed to the owners--does SN have owners?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday October 14 2019, @12:39AM
Shareholders, yes (NCommander and matt_, who are also the board members). They got paper instead of money so we could get the startup debts (several thousand dollars worth) off the books. Us staff types keep suggesting every year or so that we start buying the shares back but they keep saying save the money for the site.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday October 14 2019, @02:19AM (7 children)
Don't worry, when we run out of money, we'll take some more straight from TMB's pockets. Because that's what we will do to piss him off. (large grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday October 14 2019, @03:24AM (6 children)
You're fucked if that's your strategy. My lifestyle requires very little in the way of funds and I work no more than enough to maintain that lifestyle and a conservative savings. Hell, I don't even buy fishing weights anymore; I recycle the lead in old car batteries into whatever weights I'm short on because core charges are roughly the same as bullion rates and without the shipping. Any plan you have that would hit someone of my income level is going to be shouted down by even the staunchest Republican as too regressive.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday October 14 2019, @03:50AM (5 children)
You don't get it, do yea? It's about pissing you, no elaborate plans required.
For the purpose, your old car batteries fit the bill and we'll take them too, thank you for mentioning them (large grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @05:08AM (4 children)
You seem to think that your amusement is harmless.
It's not.
It's exactly the kind of trolling that helps entrench and embitter opposition to exactly the kind of policy that you espouse.
HTH. HAND.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday October 14 2019, @05:29AM
I espouse... what?
Apologies, mate, at my age I can boast more ex-spouses than policies that I espouse. Nowadays, I tend to let the younger generation pick what they think is good for them (they'll regret it later anyway).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @03:14PM (1 child)
Lol, trolling about taxes is what finally offends these "very fine people."
Can't say I'm surprised, still pretty cringe inducing. Racism, sexism, hate, cruelty, all fine. But don't. Touch. Their. Greeeeeeeed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @10:39PM
You can also try:
- deplatforming by social media is an undeniable right. Unless you want to say your right to free speech is above their right to private property; but think how do you like their right to free speech to beat your right to private property.
- if you want to experience what a small government means, take a trip to Somalia
- how have you kept lately your government in check with "muh guns"?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday October 14 2019, @03:42PM
Nah, I enjoy his trolling. It does amuse.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @10:33AM
Yeah, when violating other people's rights is profitable, it's no surprise that that's exactly what people will do. It doesn't change the fact that violating others' rights is an evil act, or that the tech industry needs to be completely destroyed.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:36PM
That is exactly the sort of person I would want on my team. The kind of person who looks to solve the problems of the world. Not the ones of my customers. You know the ones paying the bills. Then when I do not solve the problems of the world but the ones my customer paid me to do they can cause a shitshow walk out and maybe get on the news. Then read their manifesto. Where oh WHERE can I sign up to hire someone like that!
(Score: 4, Insightful) by looorg on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:36PM (1 child)
But are not the "evil fatcat technologists" (or whatever we should refer to them as) still going to come out on top since they actually invent and own the tech. So this is just some kind of feelgood-funnel of taxmoney into their mouths? Since the public interest technologists are not owning anything, inventing anything or producing anything. Possibly or at best they are refining already existing products to fill some public good niche and using tax-money to pay for it, which there probably is a need for since the corporate overlords are not interesting in solving problems that doesn't generate profit -- after all that is why they are companies and it's their goal.
I don't think they are somehow going to come up with free hardware and software solutions that they hand out to anyone that wants it? Free as in paid for by taxmoney as actual free stuff doesn't actually exists when you add together the whole production chain.
Reading the site and a random selection of the links it seems that the common theme is that they want more interdisciplinary education, people can't just have one education anymore but it has to be a cross between multiple distinct fields. Beyond that it mostly comes of as the usual feelgood crowd trying to covet yet another job market, where they may or may not belong. Cause things have just turned out so swell in all these other tech projects as soon as the feelz-people come along with their codes of conducts and such important aspects of development ... hopefully it's not that again.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday October 13 2019, @05:43PM
Tax money for this can eat a dick. If the public thinks it's a good idea, appeal to the public directly. You know, like we do here. If they don't, then your monkey asses are not valued by society and need to fuck right off with taking society's wealth by force.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Bot on Sunday October 13 2019, @09:48PM
Bruce has seen what happened to eich and stallman and wants to appease the sacred Enforcers Of The COC.
A technologist focused on social justice is like a DJ focused on farming.
The original GPL already bypassed any difference in creed, sex, politics and culture. Any modification to this means somewhere somebody will be LESS free. So there is nothing to focus on. Write FOSS, use FOSS, don't leech off public funds for nothing.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Disagree) by darkfeline on Sunday October 13 2019, @10:16PM (5 children)
I can't take anyone who uses "social justice" seriously. What is social justice? It's vigilantism, plain and simple. Historically, all vigilantism has achieved is racial or other prejudiced forms of lynching. It used to be witches and blacks. Now it's straight white males, the "privileged", people with contrary opinions, "incels", conservatives (and I say that as someone who would probably be classified as more liberal than conservative) etc.
Take your social justice and get out.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @02:41AM (1 child)
Social justice means taking TMB's money and redistributing them to the poor for a greater common good.
Even Plato agreed this is a Good Thing™
(Score: 4, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday October 14 2019, @03:46PM
S'true. He had to visit Delphi to do so but he named me specifically. He was a dick. S'why I prefer Socrates. That and his appearance in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @07:16AM
You may start here, for example [lmddgtfy.net]
False. Go back to the link above, it's a cheap and effective way of learning nowadays.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @05:31PM
Then what are your ethics? You have them, even if you cannot describe them.
I can't take people who aren't familiar with what their ethical position is seriously. It's fuck-youism, plain and simple.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 15 2019, @05:19PM
It is the religion of the Jesuits, the black ops wing of the Vatican spy service. Their goal is to place everything under the absolute rule of the Pope so that the Pope can give any ridiculous order like "you will call this man in a dress a woman" and you will have to follow it. The Vatican's bankers are the Rothschilds. So in short:
1. They're spies and criminals
2. They're working for the richest motherfuckers on the planet
3. They're loyal to a foreign power
4. This is treason and they need to be shot
(Score: 3, Insightful) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Monday October 14 2019, @05:12PM
Some people are saying this PIT is going to make a bad employee for a corporation, but someone working for the public interest would not work for a private interest so this is the wrong straw man.
Others say this is an implementation of 'social justice', but I just see it as implementing fairness.
The united states is in a crisis over consulting companies being given public intersest duties, like voting. Or maybe even the military having to hire consultants.
You are not going to get a lot of technologists running for office, charisma is not necessarily the skillset of people who can audit low level code but not necessarily.
I am not claiming I have the answer to this, but we are stuck at this no trust dilemma and where the cpus we run our lives on are being made in essentially black box factories in countries that have every reason to never let you have a true personal computer.
In a society that is going to be based on technology, where it is our central cultural forum, there are some really, really super-high trust roles that if the wrong person gets in the job, everything the tech is intended to do will fail(like reddit, facegag or NORAD on 9/11)
Moderation, mediation, auditing, verification, journalism, basically anything having to do with The Truth in technology, cannot be subject to capitalism, commerce or faction without vast calamity. Anyone doing these jobs is going to be a continual target, just like judges and journalists already are.
I believe in a sane system, journalism and public interest technologists would be under the judiciary branch and it would be just like becoming a journalist or a judge, these are the jobs for the most trustworthy people in your society and they would be under special protection from law enforcement. Just like the judiciary informs the legislative what is constitutional, PIT would inform the legislative what the true capabilities of a given technology are so that they arent continually rolled by wildly insincere testimony from the NSA and the zuck de jour.
The real problem is, as all of the naysaying knownothing denizen trolls of SN are going to throw because they are such low hanging fruit, is that the establishment of anything like this is exactly what the totalitarian and tyrannical elements of our government and business culture *do not* want. Their entire power and bribery dirty trick model relies on all of these slimy lateral power grabs.
Who here has read songs of distant earth by Arthur C. Clark? A suitable analogy is if we were all on a spaceship and we had a computer debate and voting system to decide what the ship should do in some situations, who on the ship can be trusted to audit that system? If it isnt the captain, then they soon will be unless...something.
Such is the conundrum at the very base of our entire attempt at civilization presently.
thesesystemsarefailing.net but PIT is a real potential solution and anyone who scoffs at it probably has a rabid dog in this hunt. And they are demonstrably hunting you and your computer and your phone and ultimately the very innermost thoughts of your mind, do not forget even for a second.