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diff --git a/content/entry/a-nation-of-temporarily-embarrassed-millionaires.md b/content/entry/a-nation-of-temporarily-embarrassed-millionaires.md index 87c323e..b18954c 100644 --- a/content/entry/a-nation-of-temporarily-embarrassed-millionaires.md +++ b/content/entry/a-nation-of-temporarily-embarrassed-millionaires.md @@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ When you think about it, getting rich is an extremely selfish goal. Even if you For one, there are organizations that need the funding right now in order to mitigate existential risks such as climate mayhem, nuclear weapons, nanotechnology, general artificial intelligence, autonomous weapons, etc. Funding them in the future won't do any good if it's already too late to mitigate those risks. They need funds now. -For two, even if you can justify keeping your wealth, the question of spending it remains unchanged. Money spent on yourself can't be spent on others. It will still makes sense to spend some money on yourself of course. But when you're filthy rich, you can afford to help others. Not donating to charity is willfully allowing other people in remote parts of the world to suffer and die all so you can live in luxury. +For two, even if you can justify keeping your wealth, the question of spending it remains unchanged. Money spent on yourself can't be spent on others. It still makes sense to spend some money on yourself of course. But when you're filthy rich, you can afford to help others. Not donating to charity is willfully allowing other people in remote parts of the world to suffer and die all so you can live in luxury. ## Summary In summary, you will never be rich. Not through crypto "investing" nor the lottery nor by any other means. Even if by extreme luck you do become rich, it won't make you happy assuming you already have basic needs met. Even if it does make you happy, you're just 1 person. Maybe you could help your family out, but that's still a relatively small group of people. If you have a conscience and you're a thinking person, you won't be able to hold onto that money anyway knowing children that would otherwise live will die if you don't donate it. diff --git a/content/entry/a-retrospective-on-my-free-software-absolutism.md b/content/entry/a-retrospective-on-my-free-software-absolutism.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2072d7f --- /dev/null +++ b/content/entry/a-retrospective-on-my-free-software-absolutism.md @@ -0,0 +1,115 @@ +--- +title: "A Retrospective on My Free Software Absolutism" +date: 2025-02-01T00:00:00Z +tags: ['computing'] +draft: false +--- +## Background + +There's this problem one gets into when creating content about one's own life. I'll try to illustrate it with a few examples from past entries I've made. + + +### Veganism + +In one of my journal entries, I advised people to [go vegan](/2023/01/23/go-vegan/ "Journal Entry: Go Vegan"), mentioning that I was a vegetarian trying to become vegan myself. + +I am no longer a vegetarian. + +In fact, I haven't been a vegetarian for quite some time now. I still believe in the cause of veganism and would advocate for others to take steps toward veganism if they can, but I personally still fall short of that goal. + + +### Smartphones + +I also wrote about [why I didn't have a smartphone](/2021/12/26/why-i-dont-have-a-smartphone/ "Journal Entry: Why I Don't Have a Smartphone"), citing the harmful effects they have on people's attention, privacy, and digital freedom. + +I now use a smartphone. + +I've been using one for a while now. I still believe they're harmful in all the ways I described in that entry. I try to mitigate the harm in my own case by using [GrapheneOS](https://grapheneos.org/) with the proprietary apps isolated to a separate profile, but I still use one and I still have some proprietary applications installed. + + +### Free Software + +This next one will probably shock you the most if you're a long-time reader of mine. After all the hubbub on my journal about the [harms of proprietary software](/2020/10/20/use-free-software/ "Journal Entry: Use Free Software"), [dropping classes over it](/2020/03/30/rejecting-discord-and-google-colab/ "Journal Entry: The Tipping Point — Rejecting Windows, Zoom, Lockdown Browser, and the Lockdown Monitor"), [sacrificing my career for it](/2023/09/05/gaining-clarity-after-walking-off-a-job-on-orientation-day/ "Journal Entry: Gaining Clarity After Walking Off a Job on Orientation Day"), and [building an unsuccessful career plan to avoid it](/2021/06/16/my-career-path/ "Journal Entry: My Career Path")... + +I now have a Windows machine and use proprietary software. + +I've even subjected myself to remote proctoring software, which I [dropped out of university over](/2020/03/30/the-tipping-point-rejecting-windows-zoom-lockdown-browser-and-the-lockdown-monitor/ "Journal Entry: The Tipping Point — Rejecting Windows, Zoom, Lockdown Browser, and the Lockdown Monitor") back in 2020. + + +## On Giving Updates + +The point is, having my current lifestyle contradict a lot of what I've written in the past makes me feel like a hypocrite. Once I write about something in my life in order to further a point, I almost feel an obligation to give an update or explanation when it changes. + +To be fair, I never promised anyone that I'd never change my mind or behavior after writing an entry or that I'd make an update each time I do, and it's expected for someone in their twenties to change quite a bit. Ideally, readers would interpret my journal entries as a snapshot of my beliefs and actions at the time of publication, but I know that in reality people will naturally assume that what I wrote at one point in time still applies, and I don't want anyone to have a false impression. + +That's partly why I feel so strongly about writing this entry. Free software has been such a persistent theme in this journal that I feel like I owe some explanation. + + +## Retrospective + +For this entry, I want to address my past free software absolutism, whether I made a positive difference, whether I avoided doing harm, and what it costed me. + + +### Did I Make a Positive Difference? + +I think it's difficult to quantify how much of a positive difference I made. I mean, I don't know how many people read this journal. I don't know how many people I left an impression on with my free software advocacy or what they might've done as a result, so it's pretty hard to measure. + +If I had to guess though, on the whole, I'd say that the difference I made was tiny. + +Because of me: + +* A few more people use free software instead of proprietary +* A few more people are semi-aware of free software and mass surveillance + +I wanted to believe that I had more of an impact than that, but at least it's something. I think there's an important insight lurking here though: With a few compromises and a change of tactic, I could've had the same impact, probably an even greater impact, with far fewer personal sacrifices. What I was doing was akin to self-immolation with no audience. + +Okay. The positive difference I made wasn't much in comparison to the sacrifices I had to make, but did I at least avoid doing harm? + + +### Did I Avoid Doing Harm? + +Let's analyze harm I avoided doing during my free software absolutism: + +* Didn't write proprietary software, avoiding *potential* harm to users +* *Mostly* avoided being a victim of proprietary software and mass surveillance myself + +The first point can itself be argued to be a harm actually. Since I'm someone who cares more about respecting user freedom than the average dev, I could have potentially reduced the harm meanwhile the proprietary software industry exists. The second point is positive. However, the knock-on effects of my free software absolutism overshadow it: + +* Zero career progression +* No financial security or independence +* A lack of personal life experiences and personal growth due to the above +* Chronic medical problems that went untreated due to the above +* Immeasurable stress on me, the people financially supporting me, and our relationships +* Social isolation (I'm autistic, so it's hard enough already) +* A lot of time and effort I will never get back that amounted to very little + +And the above isn't even a comprehensive list. I can't make a comprehensive list because it gets too personal. + +In the end, those who suggested that avoiding doing harm by being a free software absolutist would cause harm in other ways, were spot on. I made some counterarguments to that specific point in "[My Career Path](/2021/06/16/my-career-path/ "Journal Entry: My Career Path")", but I now see why those counterarguments were wrong. I didn't end up starting a successful business in free software (I tried) or finding a more ethical career. All I accomplished was generating profits for corporations that retard the social movements I support, and relying financially on others who did the same so I didn't have to. + +I think my heart was in the right place, but ultimately I was doing more harm than good and I may have subconsciously been using writing (along with other unhealthy coping strategies) as a way to escape that fact. Emotionally this has all been quite difficult to process, and it's hard to put into words the loss that I feel. I sacrificed so much of my time, energy, and happiness just to have the same impact that I could've had without jeopardizing my health, career, and future. + + +### Moderation Versus Dogmatism + +I'm still going to promote and advocate for free software where I can, but I think the right approach is a more moderate one. The approach of people like [Richard Stallman](https://stallman.org/) is, in my opinion, dogmatic to the point of possibly hurting the free software movement. It would do good to refine the free software philosophy a bit. + +I feel obliged to mention Louigi Verona, who has put some serious thought into the core principles of free software. [His work](https://louigiverona.com "Louigi Verona's Workshop") brings much-needed skeptical analysis to free software philosophy as put forth by [GNU](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.html "The GNU Project") and the [FSF](https://www.fsf.org/ "The Free Software Foundation"). While I probably don't agree with all of Louigi's points, I think his effort in carefully deconstructing and [critiquing the core tenants of free software](https://louigiverona.com/?page=projects&s=writings&t=philosophy&a=philosophy_freedoms "On the justification of the four freedoms") is valuable and important for the future of the movement. + +Louigi himself is a proponent of both free software and skepticism and his writing on the subject is thought-provoking. At some point in the future, I'd like to get around to making a response to his arguments and talk about my thoughts on them. + + +### What Would *Actually* Make a Difference? + +I have one final point to make because I feel like stopping here leaves one in limbo. This entry makes it seems like whether you work inside "the system", trying to promote free software from within, you only get as far as the economic incentives let you, which is not far enough. And for most of us, trying to work outside "the system" and go full Stallman leaves you with no economic resources left to further the cause. Either way, you lose. So what is one to do? + +To put it bluntly, I think meaningful progress on most important social issues is made practically impossible by a single upstream systemic cause: capitalism. I'm not going to lay out the full argument for why capitalism is a problem here. I'm no expert on it and others have already made the case better than I can, but I'll talk briefly about how capitalism hinders the free software movement specifically. + +Capitalism creates a system of economic incentives such that the majority of programmer labor power is spent competing, working on closed proprietary software, rather than collaborating on free software for the benefit of larger society. The feedback loop of capital accumulation by corporations creates vested interests for proprietary software. These corporations are economically incentivized to use their power to bribe elected representatives into passing laws that harm cooperation, such as strengthening copyright law and protecting software patents. To sum it up, I don't think the fight for free software (or most other social causes) is winnable as long as the overriding economic incentives of capitalism are present. + +So with that in mind, I'll finally answer the question of what actions I believe would actually make a difference for the free software movement. This advice also generalizes to other social causes out there: + +* Join pro-labor organizations and socialist groups. If you're a leader or organizer of a movement, build solidarity with reasonable groups that oppose capitalism or its excesses +* Only make personal sacrifices commensurate with the results you expect to achieve. Big personal sacrifices are okay if you're also achieving big results (E.g: [Edward Snowden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden "Edward Snowden")), but don't do what I did and throw yourself under the bus just to make a tiny difference for a single cause, especially when there are better ways to go about it + +Related to the last bullet point, there's a book titled "[The Lifelong Activist: How to Change the World Without Losing Your Way](https://hillaryrettigproductivity.com/the-lifelong-activist/)". It seems like a decent guide based on what I've read so far, so I recommend it to those of you who call yourselves activists. I'm not sure if it would've made any difference had I read it six years ago, but I certainly wish I would've discovered it sooner. diff --git a/content/entry/ai-poses-a-threat-to-privacy.md b/content/entry/ai-poses-a-threat-to-privacy.md index 705870a..bc1f9a9 100644 --- a/content/entry/ai-poses-a-threat-to-privacy.md +++ b/content/entry/ai-poses-a-threat-to-privacy.md @@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ If you live in a technologically advanced society, it's somewhere between inconv I fear that the same sort of thing will happen with AI. I'll explain. -There's [Github Copilot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GitHub_Copilot), an AI productivity tool which helps programmers be more efficient. Just a few weeks ago, [Microsoft announced an AI assistant for Microsoft office](https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2023/03/16/introducing-microsoft-365-copilot-your-copilot-for-work/). School children use [OpenAI's ChatGPT](https://chat.openai.com/chat) to do their homework. These AI productivity tools may not be essential just yet, but they'll get better. And as they get better, it may eventually become infeasible to even compete in the workforce without being AI assisted since those willing to use it AI will have a huge advantage over you. +There's [GitHub Copilot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GitHub_Copilot), an AI productivity tool which helps programmers be more efficient. Just a few weeks ago, [Microsoft announced an AI assistant for Microsoft Office](https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2023/03/16/introducing-microsoft-365-copilot-your-copilot-for-work/). School children use [OpenAI's ChatGPT](https://chat.openai.com/chat) to do their homework. These AI productivity tools may not be essential just yet, but they'll get better. And as they get better, it may eventually become infeasible to even compete in the workforce without being AI assisted since those willing to use it AI will have a huge advantage over you. The same thing could happen in people's personal lives. We may eventually reach a point where nearly everything people do is AI-assisted. Want to learn how to cook? Your smart assistant will teach you with a teaching style that's personalized to you. Need to improve your diet and exercise habits? Your AI smart home will create a personalized healthy diet and exercise regime that works for you. Your AI therapist will listen to all your problems free of charge and offer scientifically supported advice for your unique problem. AI may even augment your sex life. It will reach a point where people who refuse to use AI assistants are at a distinct disadvantage compared to those who use AI. diff --git a/content/entry/always-use-tor.md b/content/entry/always-use-tor.md index c117b82..71109aa 100644 --- a/content/entry/always-use-tor.md +++ b/content/entry/always-use-tor.md @@ -19,9 +19,9 @@ Tor works because people use it for a variety of things. My relatively mundane T Many people in the privacy community only use Tor for sensitive searches, such as when they're searching medical symptoms. That's a great use of Tor, but it's more helpful for the anonymity of the network to use Tor for all searches. That's why I always use it, even when I'm doing nothing particularly sensitive. -If you rarely use Tor, only when you think you need anonymity, your ISP can make an educated guess that you're doing something private. Depending on the context surrounding that, such as what you were doing before and after you went on Tor and the traffic pattern, they might be able to figure out what you were doing anyways. Analysis is harder if you always use it though. +If you rarely use Tor, only when you think you need anonymity, your ISP can make an educated guess that you're doing something private. Depending on the context surrounding that, such as what you were doing before and after you went on Tor and the traffic pattern, they might be able to figure out what you were doing anyway. Analysis is harder if you always use it though. -Personally, I've been using Tor for so long that I don't even mind the slowness anymore. I've gotten used to it. I'll gladly wait the few extra seconds for my data to load if it means having greater privacy. In my opinion, speed is overrated anyways. +Personally, I've been using Tor for so long that I don't even mind the slowness anymore. I've gotten used to it. I'll gladly wait the few extra seconds for my data to load if it means having greater privacy. In my opinion, speed is overrated anyway. # Be Careful When Using Tor With that said, you need to be careful how you use Tor. Tor cannot protect you if you use it wrong. If you use Tor for applications that don't have explicit Tor support, be wary of IP address leakage. Only trust Tor running on machines you control and don't blindly route all traffic on your network or computer over Tor. VPNs are better for that sort of thing. diff --git a/content/entry/antinatalism.md b/content/entry/antinatalism.md index 96ee31b..e569ce7 100644 --- a/content/entry/antinatalism.md +++ b/content/entry/antinatalism.md @@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ Since interpreting Benatar's premises in an absolute value sense leads to contra Even with clarified premises, Benatar's fourth premise places unnecessary importance on the act of procreation. I value well-being, in the end. If I create a happy person, that's equally morally good as making an already existing person happy. What's the difference between creating a happy conscious mind versus making an existing conscious mind happy? To me and I suspect to many others, there is no difference. To Benatar, that difference is everything. -Let's do a thought experiment for intuition sake. Imagine you are god. You decide to give the people of Earth a heavenly existence. The people of Earth are extraordinarily happy all the time. There is no suffering, not even a single mediocre moment for anyone. Everyone's debts are forgiven. Love and kindness and compassion permeate every human being. Every day is better than the last. Imagine the best moment of your life amplified a trillion times occurring in every human being every single microsecond. +Let's do a thought experiment for intuition's sake. Imagine you are god. You decide to give the people of Earth a heavenly existence. The people of Earth are extraordinarily happy all the time. There is no suffering, not even a single mediocre moment for anyone. Everyone's debts are forgiven. Love and kindness and compassion permeate every human being. Every day is better than the last. Imagine the best moment of your life amplified a trillion times occurring in every human being every single microsecond. For your next project, you create Earth 2.0, a duplicate Earth. You populate it with duplicate human beings with the exact same properties as you bestowed upon the original Earth's humans. It's full of happy people and completely free of suffering. @@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ Antinatalists claim that most people do not evaluate reality correctly. They cla Some antinatalists further argue that the lives of all animals are very bad, not only the lives of humans. This philosophy is known as "universal antinatalism". According to universal antinatalism, since humans are the only species capable of understanding the predicament, we ought to sterilize other animal species to save them from their default state in the wild which is a life of struggle. -I don't know whether or not depressive realism is true. I'm also not sure whether animals suffer more than they flourish. I will give the antinatalists credit on these points. The suffering of descendants does seem to be the strongest argument in favor of no one having children and animal sterilization out of all the antinatalist arguments. +I don't know whether depressive realism is true. I'm also not sure whether animals suffer more than they flourish. I will give the antinatalists credit on these points. The suffering of descendants does seem to be the strongest argument in favor of no one having children and animal sterilization out of all the antinatalist arguments. However there is the possibility that future technology might deliver us eternal bliss so good it would retroactively justify all humanity's past suffering and the suffering of all other beings. This is a point Matt Dillahunty made when he addressed antinatalism. However it's not a valid point since it seems equally plausible that future technology could create suffering, perhaps even unfathomable torment beyond anything we've ever experienced. As a side note, [Matt's criticism of antinatalism](https://yewtu.be/embed/n9BFG0Xh4Wg?local=true) seems to miss the point. @@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ Benatar has cited [historical evidence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antinatali ## Famine Relief David Benatar also argues that: -> "...in a situation where a huge number of people live in poverty, we should cease procreation and divert these resources, that would have been used to raise our own children, to the poor." - Wikipedia, licensed CC-BY-SA 3.0 +> "...in a situation where a huge number of people live in poverty, we should cease procreation and divert these resources, that would have been used to raise our own children, to the poor." — Wikipedia, licensed CC-BY-SA 3.0 To create a new being and increase overconsumption and overpopulation without confidence that the new being would enjoy life all at the cost of being able to definitively improve the life of an already existing person seems selfish. So I agree. It's better to spend your resources on something that definitely reduces suffering and increases well-being without creating extra problems. So that wraps up Benatar's arguments. @@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ As for Benatar, his asymmetry argument is absurd. But he does have a point about If depressive realism is true though, we shouldn't continue the species hoping future technology will make all the suffering worthwhile. It seems equally likely that future technology will create more suffering. The arguments in favor of not having children in order to have more time and money to help the poor and adopt or foster children seem compelling. -If the lives of other animal species consist of mostly suffering as well, we ought to sterilize them to rescue them from existence before we voluntarily extinct our own species. If depressive realism is false for animals and we humans were altruistic enough to go extinct for the sake of other animal species, we would also be altruistic enough to treat them better in the first place and live in harmony with nature as other species do. The pessimistic antinatalist positions about human nature wouldn't necessarily apply any more. +If the lives of other animal species consist of mostly suffering as well, we ought to sterilize them to rescue them from existence before we voluntarily extinct our own species. If depressive realism is false for animals and we humans were altruistic enough to go extinct for the sake of other animal species, we would also be altruistic enough to treat them better in the first place and live in harmony with nature as other species do. The pessimistic antinatalist positions about human nature wouldn't necessarily apply anymore. I conclude therefore that there's no point in considering voluntary human extinction in order to protect other animal life. diff --git a/content/entry/anybody-can-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded.md b/content/entry/anybody-can-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded.md index 5cb9b89..4b026f4 100644 --- a/content/entry/anybody-can-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded.md +++ b/content/entry/anybody-can-solve-a-rubiks-cube-blindfolded.md @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ title: "Anybody Can Solve a Rubik's Cube Blindfolded" date: 2022-05-22T00:00:00 draft: false --- -Anybody can solve a Rubik's cube blindfolded. I recorded a [video of myself](https://web.archive.org/web/20230323073658if_/files.nicholasjohnson.ch/rubiks-cube-blindsolve.webm) doing it at seventeen years old using the [Classic Pochmann method](https://www.stefan-pochmann.info/spocc/blindsolving/3x3/old.php). It took me ten minutes, but speedcubers like Flavian do it on [Britain's Got Talent](https://yewtu.be/embed/1EqgeMfJ_rE?local=true) in under thirty seconds. +Anybody can solve a Rubik's cube blindfolded. I recorded a [video of myself](/static/rubiks-cube-blindsolve-nicholas-johnson.mp4) doing it at seventeen years old using the [Classic Pochmann method](https://www.stefan-pochmann.info/spocc/blindsolving/3x3/old.php). It took me ten minutes, but speedcubers like Flavian do it on [Britain's Got Talent](https://yewtu.be/embed/1EqgeMfJ_rE?local=true) in under thirty seconds. In my experience, most people are impressed if you can solve a Rubik's cube at all. The truth is, if you dedicate yourself, you can probably learn how to solve a Rubik's cube sighted in a day. There's not much to it. It's just memorizing sequences of moves called algorithms and knowing when to use them. diff --git a/content/entry/article-the-internet-is-broken.md b/content/entry/article-the-internet-is-broken.md index 452ad55..dbe3465 100644 --- a/content/entry/article-the-internet-is-broken.md +++ b/content/entry/article-the-internet-is-broken.md @@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ draft: false --- The internet stack is [broken beyond repair](https://secushare.org/broken-internet). It needs to be thrown out and replaced with a [GNU network](https://www.gnunet.org/en/)! -There's lots of software projects out there that address *some* of the pitfalls of the network stack and I want to pay tribute to them before evangelizing GNUnet. I don't have the time to give all these projects their due, so I apologize ahead of time for skipping some. +There are lots of software projects out there that address *some* of the pitfalls of the network stack and I want to pay tribute to them before evangelizing GNUnet. I don't have the time to give all these projects their due, so I apologize ahead of time for skipping some. To give one example though, [Tor](https://www.torproject.org) helps millions of people every day (including me) access the internet anonymously. It has been an invaluable tool for protecting journalists and human rights defenders for years. I even use it to host this journal's [hidden service gemini capsule](gemini://nick6gsepvtmkcpibpid6dqtqroxt62u6ab4ep65vxrenffruumj6jad.onion) and [hidden service website](http://nick6gsepvtmkcpibpid6dqtqroxt62u6ab4ep65vxrenffruumj6jad.onion/). To contribute back to the project, I've hosted a number of relays over the past few years. diff --git a/content/entry/article-you-should-be-using-an-old-computer.md b/content/entry/article-you-should-be-using-an-old-computer.md index 5368d5e..178305a 100644 --- a/content/entry/article-you-should-be-using-an-old-computer.md +++ b/content/entry/article-you-should-be-using-an-old-computer.md @@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ date: 2021-01-22T00:00:00 tags: ['computing'] draft: false --- -I was going to write my own post about this subject until I discovered Luke Smith, a GNU/Linux technology Youtuber, already wrote an article about it: +I was going to write my own post about this subject until I discovered Luke Smith, a GNU/Linux technology YouTuber, already wrote an article about it: [Luke Smith's Article](https://lukesmith.xyz/articles/only-use-old-computers/) @@ -31,11 +31,11 @@ The next most obvious question is "Where do I buy a computer without a backdoor? # Free Software I would never again use a nonfree laptop to do my everyday personal computing. I've given up video games since all the popular titles are nonfree requiring me to run the Winblows operating system. [I quit my job to avoid promoting proprietary software](/2020/07/02/why-i-left-its/). [I dropped out of college so I didn't have to use invasive proprietary malware](/2020/03/30/the-tipping-point-rejecting-windows-zoom-lockdown-browser-and-the-lockdown-monitor/). Too many people have told me I'm too extreme. I care too much about free software. Life is just too short to be so picky. But to them I would say this: -What does it say about society that the only way to get a non-backdoored laptop is to buy from a specific set of computers that are around 13 years old, replace the WiFi card, use special equipment to flash the BIOS with Libreboot/Coreboot and replace the operating system with GNU/Linux? Or pay someone else to do the procedure. +What does it say about society that the only way to get a non-backdoored laptop is to buy from a specific set of computers that are around 13 years old, replace the Wi-Fi card, use special equipment to flash the BIOS with Libreboot/Coreboot and replace the operating system with GNU/Linux? Or pay someone else to do the procedure. Further, what you have to realize is there is a war being waged on general-purpose computing. Every year manufacturers come up with new ways to make your computer harder to repair thereby increasing e-waste. Every year software companies make their ecosystems more locked down giving you less and less control over your own devices. To not use an old Thinkpad is to be on the wrong side of this war. I do not want to live in a world where I don't have control over what I buy and cannot repair it. -Most people living in 1st world countries today are far too complacent. I can't emphasize this enough. So when people ask me why I care so much, why I've given up so much, I look at them in bewilderment. Why don't they? If people like them don't start caring soon we're going to live in a dark world where computer users are totally subjugated. The 13 year old Thinkpads suffice for 95% of use cases for now but that won't always be true. Proprietary threats are looming. Change needs to happen now, not 10 years from now. So use a free laptop even if it's inconvenient because it's not getting any easier. +Most people living in 1st world countries today are far too complacent. I can't emphasize this enough. So when people ask me why I care so much, why I've given up so much, I look at them in bewilderment. Why don't they? If people like them don't start caring soon we're going to live in a dark world where computer users are totally subjugated. The 13-year-old Thinkpads suffice for 95% of use cases for now but that won't always be true. Proprietary threats are looming. Change needs to happen now, not 10 years from now. So use a free laptop even if it's inconvenient because it's not getting any easier. # Privacy There's also the whole privacy issue of having a potentially backdoored laptop. A college professor once told me privacy is dead. As if it were just a fact of the modern era and I hadn't realized it yet. As long as there are people like me are around privacy is not dead. I will never accept a world without privacy. I will resist backdoors into my computer. I'll tell you another thing. It wasn't all the free software people that inspired this in me. It was the haters. Those who said it didn't matter, privacy is dead, it's unwinnable, I should just give up so my life is easier, etc. So please tell me any of those things. The naysayers keep me motivated. I don't waste my time wondering whether free software is a fight we can win. It's a fight we must win. As long as there's any chance of winning, and even if it seems like there's not, we must try. diff --git a/content/entry/atom-and-rss.md b/content/entry/atom-and-rss.md index a652a6a..5b3ac0c 100644 --- a/content/entry/atom-and-rss.md +++ b/content/entry/atom-and-rss.md @@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ It represents [Atom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atom_%28standard%29) and [RSS ## Atom > "The Atom format was developed as an alternative to RSS. [Ben Trott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Trott), an advocate of the new format that became Atom, believed that RSS had limitations and flaws—such as lack of on-going innovation and its necessity to remain backward compatible—and that there were advantages to a fresh design." -So that's Atom and RSS in short. In the real world Atom/RSS feeds really don't get the usage they deserve. For me an Atom/RSS feed reader is indispensable. Instead of checking 20 different web pages manually scanning each page for new content, I can just open my feed reader. It shows me all my web content in a streamlined fashion. Unlike social media, I have full control over my Atom/RSS feeds. In fact, Atom/RSS feeds are a big reason I don't have social media accounts and haven't for some time. Why go on social media when you can make it come to you? It's easy to get feeds for most popular social media sites including but not limited to Youtube, Reddit, Tumblr, Medium, Wordpress, Blogger and Twitter. +So that's Atom and RSS in short. In the real world Atom/RSS feeds really don't get the usage they deserve. For me an Atom/RSS feed reader is indispensable. Instead of checking 20 different web pages manually scanning each page for new content, I can just open my feed reader. It shows me all my web content in a streamlined fashion. Unlike social media, I have full control over my Atom/RSS feeds. In fact, Atom/RSS feeds are a big reason I don't have social media accounts and haven't for some time. Why go on social media when you can make it come to you? It's easy to get feeds for most popular social media sites including but not limited to YouTube, Reddit, Tumblr, Medium, WordPress, Blogger and Twitter. I'm not inherently against social media. I'm just against proprietary walled gardens which is most social media that people actually use. Atom/RSS feeds make it easy to keep your distance from social media without missing out. I'm aware I could use [free](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html), federated social networks like [Mastadon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastodon_%28software%29). I just don't have a need. For future reference, if I sign up for social media, I'll link my profile on my about page in the [identity](/about/) section. Any social media accounts not linked under the identity section claiming to belong to me or even appearing to be mine are [sock puppets](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sockpuppet_%28Internet%29). For now I just have this blog. diff --git a/content/entry/autism-and-memory.md b/content/entry/autism-and-memory.md index 546f337..aa8020f 100644 --- a/content/entry/autism-and-memory.md +++ b/content/entry/autism-and-memory.md @@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ In my entry, [Coming Out as Autistic](/2022/05/16/coming-out-as-autistic/), I re ## Short-Term Memory ### Anecdote 1: English Class -My class was sent to the hall outside the English classroom. All us students got in a circle. We were trying to learn each other's names. I knew I wasn't good at things like that, so before the exercise even started, I asked the teacher to skip it. She told me to try anyways. +My class was sent to the hall outside the English classroom. All us students got in a circle. We were trying to learn each other's names. I knew I wasn't good at things like that, so before the exercise even started, I asked the teacher to skip it. She told me to try anyway. So one person began by stating their own name. Then the person to their left stated their own name and the name of those who stated their name before them. So on and so forth until one person stated everyone's names. @@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ As is consistent with the autism memory research, I also have very poor visual-s ### Anecdote 1: Bus Job After quitting the nursing home, I found a job at a bus company where I was responsible for watching over special needs students of all ages. Socializing with them wasn't too draining since special needs people tend to be more tolerant of differences than neurotypicals. But after months of working there, I still couldn't remember my bus route nor the order the students got on and off the bus nor where each student got dropped off. And the schedule kept changing, so every time I got a new bus driver who didn't know the route, it was a mess. -At first I tried to write down the students' names and the route on paper, but that didn't help me. So I tried using GPS to help new drivers navigate my route, but I was told that being on my phone wasn't allowed. I explained that I avoid using smartphones for things like texting anyways, but that didn't seem to matter. I still wasn't allowed to use it. +At first I tried to write down the students' names and the route on paper, but that didn't help me. So I tried using GPS to help new drivers navigate my route, but I was told that being on my phone wasn't allowed. I explained that I avoid using smartphones for things like texting anyway, but that didn't seem to matter. I still wasn't allowed to use it. For clarification, I did try to learn the route for weeks. I just couldn't remember it, no matter how hard I tried. @@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ I believe that high-functioning autistic people are less prone to this bias beca I think the lower tendency for bias in autistic people gives us an increased capacity to recall uncomfortable facts, integrate them into our worldview, and act on them. I won't mention any specific people, but if you look at the high profile autistic people out there, some of them became well known simply for acknowledging harsh truths and changing their behavior accordingly as opposed to ignoring the truth for convenience's sake like most people do. ### Special Interest Memory -My strongest memory strength is anything related to my special interests. If I'm interested enough in something, I don't forget it and if I do, it takes minimal priming to recover it. I have an interest in computer security and I'm able to recall very long passphrases even after months of not entering them. I'm never worried about forgetting them, because my long-term memory with regards to special interests is intact. +My strongest memory strength is anything related to my special interests. If I'm interested enough in something, I don't forget it and if I do, it takes minimal priming to recover it. I have an interest in computer security and I'm able to recall very long passphrases even after months of not entering them. I'm never worried about forgetting them, because my long-term memory in regard to special interests is intact. ## Front of the Class There's a [movie](https://libremdb.iket.me/title/tt1292594) and a [book](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/788452.Front_of_the_Class) about neurological differences which I'd like to share. It's based on the true story of a teacher with Tourette Syndrome named Brad Cohen. The movie and book are titled "Front of the Class". The movie does a good job of depicting how education leads to empathy, but it also does a good job of showing that not everyone is open to being educated. Many people are ignorant and content in their ignorance. That adversity is something all neurodiverse people have to learn to deal with. diff --git a/content/entry/automation-bullshit-jobs-and-work.md b/content/entry/automation-bullshit-jobs-and-work.md index 8f38324..746e82a 100644 --- a/content/entry/automation-bullshit-jobs-and-work.md +++ b/content/entry/automation-bullshit-jobs-and-work.md @@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ Why do people act like a better system is impossible? Do I just have a more acti If everyone could live comfortably without being forced to work, I think that might help eliminate some of the bullshit. How many people would stay for an extra four hours per day at work doing nothing if they could have a high standard of living without doing that? I'm guessing not many. # Pointless Work -One day I witnessed my coworker joking with my boss about how pointless a certain position was in the organization. By pointless, I mean there would have been no negative consequences to the organization or anybody outside it if there was nobody to fill that position. +One day I witnessed my coworker joking with my boss about how pointless a certain position was in the organization. By pointless, I mean there would have been no negative consequences for the organization or anybody outside it if there was nobody to fill that position. And I worked in that position before. I knew it was bullshit. My coworkers knew it was bullshit. Even the most senior supervisor knew it was bullshit. Even an outsider paying keen attention could've figured out it was bullshit. Yet I and many others spent hours of our lives there. @@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ A different day, my manager let the cat out of the bag. He told me his boss wast As a side note, David Graeber would refer to these employees hired to maintenance the complexity as "duct tapers". Duct tapers are workers who fix problems temporarily which could be fixed permanently. -Anyways, my manager was then told that the bullshit was good because it gave people jobs and fixing the problem permanently would be cruel to those employed to fix it temporarily. I couldn't even disagree because it wasn't wrong. The bullshit does give people jobs. It just made me start to question what kind of stupid system incentivizes such bullshit. +Anyway, my manager was then told that the bullshit was good because it gave people jobs and fixing the problem permanently would be cruel to those employed to fix it temporarily. I couldn't even disagree because it wasn't wrong. The bullshit does give people jobs. It just made me start to question what kind of stupid system incentivizes such bullshit. Since there were several departments in the organization and money was allocated separately to each, each department was careful not to do the job of the other even when it made more sense. And since each department had a fixed budget, instead of paying employees the leftovers, it was "invested" (blown) on pointless new equipment which required constant maintenance. @@ -44,9 +44,9 @@ Automation is another important topic that ties into all this. I remember having Again, I can't contest the fact that pointless work creates jobs people survive on and I'm not pretending that's not the case. But in a potential future where survival doesn't rely on employment, automation seems good in the sense that it frees people from miserable labor. -In a sane economic system, less jobs would be good news. It would mean there's less work to be done which would mean more leasure time for everybody. Only in today's backwards economy do people worry about not having enough work, even if that work is pointless. +In a sane economic system, fewer jobs would be good news. It would mean there's less work to be done which would mean more leasure time for everybody. Only in today's backwards economy do people worry about not having enough work, even if that work is pointless. -It doesn't seem to add up that after rapid technological progress which automated much of the labor humans used to perform, here we still are with a forty hour work week. Predictions a hundred years ago said we'd have a fifteen hour work week. So what's preventing this? +It doesn't seem to add up that after rapid technological progress which automated much of the labor humans used to perform, here we still are with a forty-hour work week. Predictions a hundred years ago said we'd have a fifteen-hour work week. So what's preventing this? According to Graeber, the reason we're not working less is basically because the ruling class has figured out that a happy, productive population with free time goes against their interests. They want people financially enslaved so they don't have time to pose a threat. @@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ He also notes in [his 2013 essay](https://web.archive.org/web/20220902061001if_/ Another example of this is people who criticize protesters for not being at work. "Get a job!" they shout. If you go to enough protests, and I've been involved in a few, then you'll probably eventually hear that phrase. I'm reminded of a relevant paragraph about [Fractal Wrongness](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Fractal_wrongness) from RationalWiki (CC-BY-SA 3.0): -> "Debating a person who is fractally wrong leads to infinite regress, as every refutation you make of that person's opinions will lead to a rejoinder, full of half-truths, leaps of poor logic, and outright lies, which requires just as much refutation to debunk as the first one—kind of like a recursive Gish Gallop, where each point both surrounds and is surrounded by an equally wrong argument." - RationalWiki +> "Debating a person who is fractally wrong leads to infinite regress, as every refutation you make of that person's opinions will lead to a rejoinder, full of half-truths, leaps of poor logic, and outright lies, which requires just as much refutation to debunk as the first one—kind of like a recursive Gish Gallop, where each point both surrounds and is surrounded by an equally wrong argument." — RationalWiki I imagine this is what it would be like to debate the kind of person who shouts "get a job" at protesters. @@ -98,14 +98,14 @@ As it turns out, highly democratic workplaces do exist and they work. Democratic I'm not just talking about unions where workers have more collective bargaining power. I'm talking about [worker cooperatives](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worker_cooperative), where workers own and self-manage the company. Workplace democracy is an idea which I think doesn't get talked about nearly enough, at least not here in Burgerland, but it would be a great way of promoting and possibly even exporting democracy. -It really diminishes the benefits of living in a democracy when you're being dictated to for so much of your waking hours anyways. So I think we ought to explore all possibilities and really get creative to make it so workers enjoy the work they're doing and the work they're doing is necessary and beneficial to others. +It really diminishes the benefits of living in a democracy when you're being dictated to for so much of your waking hours anyway. So I think we ought to explore all possibilities and really get creative to make it so workers enjoy the work they're doing and the work they're doing is necessary and beneficial to others. # Workplace Phoniness Another way workplaces can change for the better is to eliminate the culture of phoniness. I believe the degree to which this happens partly depends on culture, but I find it abhorrent wherever I encounter it. When I worked a service job, I was forced to complete this stupid online course instructing me on how to be "pleasant" when interacting with customers. It basically taught me how to be fake. How to conceal my negative emotions while interacting with the public, how to say the right words, how to pretend I'm just some always-happy service person that's thrilled to solve other people's problems. It was demeaning. -I now consider what I underwent to be a form of psychological violence. Forcing employees to mask their authentic selves with a pleasant but phony personality for a prolonged period of time is abusive. Either hire an employee or don't, but don't force them to become this fake phony person just to please the customer. It's wrong and customers can see right through it anyways. +I now consider what I underwent to be a form of psychological violence. Forcing employees to mask their authentic selves with a pleasant but phony personality for a prolonged period of time is abusive. Either hire an employee or don't, but don't force them to become this fake phony person just to please the customer. It's wrong and customers can see right through it anyway. When I check out at Walmart and every cashier tells me to have a nice day, it loses its meaning because I know I'm not having a real interaction with the person. They're just saying what they have to say to avoid getting fired. @@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ And please don't force employees to thank me for calling either. I know that's p Customer service skills are important and should be taught, but please don't force employees to be fake happy and non-genuine. # Summary -In summary, I think there's lots of bullshit jobs that could be eliminated, but trying to quantify exactly how many is quite difficult. We need a solution for wealth redistribution soon so people don't have to work these bullshit jobs just to survive. I think the problem of intentionally prolonged work can also be reduced or even eliminated. +In summary, I think there are lots of bullshit jobs that could be eliminated, but trying to quantify exactly how many is quite difficult. We need a solution for wealth redistribution soon so people don't have to work these bullshit jobs just to survive. I think the problem of intentionally prolonged work can also be reduced or even eliminated. Automation is already here and it's reducing the number of useful jobs. I don't see any point in reverting to Luddism. For one, the economy can adapt. Two, humans can find meaning outside work. Three, the knowledge that machines can automate one's job might be worse than the job being automated. Something like UBI will be necessary to ensure people can get the necessities without a job. diff --git a/content/entry/avoid-using-cryptocurrency.md b/content/entry/avoid-using-cryptocurrency.md index 16f3e8e..eca6c4d 100644 --- a/content/entry/avoid-using-cryptocurrency.md +++ b/content/entry/avoid-using-cryptocurrency.md @@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ You could try using only proof of stake cryptos. But, for the most part, those a ## Freedom and Privacy Versus Energy Consumption We seem to have hit a "hard conflict" as I would put it in my post about [Integrated Activism](/2021/06/30/integrated-activism/). I recommend reading that as it may help understand where I'm coming from in this post. Anyway, I'll borrow a quote from that post here: -> "...you are going to run into situations where two or more social issues are in a "hard conflict" and there's no easy way to respect them all. What you have to do in situations like those is to figure out your priorities." - Me, Integrated Activism +> "...you are going to run into situations where two or more social issues are in a "hard conflict" and there's no easy way to respect them all. What you have to do in situations like those is to figure out your priorities." — Me, Integrated Activism In this case, the social issues at conflict are privacy and freedom versus energy consumption. You can either keep your economic privacy and freedom or not encourage a system which wastes obscene amounts of energy. But you can't currently do both. Perhaps once Ethereum, the 2nd most popular cryptocurrency, transitions to proof of stake it will become more feasible to do both, minus the privacy of course. For reference, I talk about this exact solution explicitly in Integrated Activism under the "Clever Solutions" header. However, at present, it's not possible to maintain both freedom and privacy and energy efficiency. So I return to the same question I posed earlier. What should you do in the face of this conflict? @@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ Small website owners specifically should not accept cryptocurrency donations fro I still accept donations via Liberapay. I will start accepting crypto donations again only for Ethereum after it switches fully to proof of stake. It'll be popular enough that someone looking at my website might have Ethereum they want to donate and it'll be fully independent of extreme energy consumption coins. Therefore I see no reason not to accept it in the future. -I encourage all small website owners to follow in my footsteps and reject cryptocurrency donations until Ethereum switches to proof of stake, and then accept only Ethereum until more popular coins make the switch. I expect Ethereum to make the transition within a year, so I shouldn't be without crypto donation options for long. It's not worth it to list all the other relatively unknown proof of stake cryptocurrencies out there on my blog. I probably won't get any donations from them anyways and it's extra work. +I encourage all small website owners to follow in my footsteps and reject cryptocurrency donations until Ethereum switches to proof of stake, and then accept only Ethereum until more popular coins make the switch. I expect Ethereum to make the transition within a year, so I shouldn't be without crypto donation options for long. It's not worth it to list all the other relatively unknown proof of stake cryptocurrencies out there on my blog. I probably won't get any donations from them anyway and it's extra work. ### Landchad.net I am disappointed to see [Luke Smith's landchad website](https://landchad.net/monero/) promoting cryptocurrency to small website owners. I support the goals of the website in getting more people an online existence independent of social media, but Luke should at least mention the caveat of extreme energy consumption in the crypto article. Either that or outright take down the posts about accepting cryptocurrency. I plan on contacting him about this after publishing this post. @@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ I recognize and respect the argument that there's no other alternative to crypto Imagine you were to live in an increasingly repressive country where protests were being shut down and funding to activist groups blocked. Cryptocurrency might be important for environmentalists getting organized. I'm not here to tell you not to use cryptocurrency under any circumstance. But if you're just accepting donations for a small online blog or making unnecessary online purchases with crypto, you should stop. In the general case, crypto should only used when there's absolutely no other option, if at all. That is, if you care about a livable planet. # Final Words -So that's the best argument I have for why you should avoid using cryptocurrency as much as possible, at least until greener alternatives make themselves available. I get what it's like to be excited for the technology. I'm extremely excited for what's to come. I see a lot of promise in its future and I'm cautiously optimistic. We should consider all relevant social concerns, not just freedom and privacy. And we shouldn't ignore the environmental problem just because the technology is still developing. +So that's the best argument I have for why you should avoid using cryptocurrency as much as possible, at least until greener alternatives make themselves available. I get what it's like to be excited about the technology. I'm extremely excited about what's to come. I see a lot of promise in its future and I'm cautiously optimistic. We should consider all relevant social concerns, not just freedom and privacy. And we shouldn't ignore the environmental problem just because the technology is still developing. The very first thing environmentalists bring up when I mention cryptocurrency is the energy consumption. They are much happier to criticize it than crypto enthusiasts which makes sense. Most of them don't have a stake in it at all. They don't use it for anything. As someone who cares deeply about the environment and economic privacy and freedom, I believe I've struck a reasonable compromise by recommending avoiding cryptocurrency as much as possible right now. As much as I love crypto, I can't deny that it's having a disastrous environmental impact. Us crypto geeks need to think more carefully about how it affects the environment rather than recklessly promoting it everywhere we can. diff --git a/content/entry/avoiding-consumer-surveillance.md b/content/entry/avoiding-consumer-surveillance.md index db002b3..c150cd8 100644 --- a/content/entry/avoiding-consumer-surveillance.md +++ b/content/entry/avoiding-consumer-surveillance.md @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ draft: false We live in the age of [surveillance capitalism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance_capitalism). Intimate data about us is collected, bought and sold for profit and social control. Intermediaries like banks, payment companies, credit card companies and governments have unprecedented access into our private lives through our purchases. This level of surveillance is tyrannical. [Mass surveillance is dangerous to the health of democracy](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy.en.html) and must be stopped. Big Brother should not know what we buy. In this post, I'm going to talk about how we avoid consumer surveillance. In a future post, I'll talk about anonymous online shopping and some promising software projects that could be a more permanent remedy to consumer surveillance. Ultimately, there is going to have to be political action to curtail surveillance, not just new technology. But until there is increased awareness of mass surveillance and real political action against it occurs, all we can hope to do is avoid the surveillance. So here's how you do that. # Always Pay Cash -This is the golden rule. To avoid surveillance, you should always pay in cash. Never use a credit or debit card. Never use Google Pay, Apple Pay, Cash App, Samsung Pay, Paypal, Circle Pay, Venmo, Square Cash, Zelle, Facebook Messenger, or any other payment app. Reject online shopping unless you can remain anonymous. Don't shop at Amazon, Ebay, or other online marketplaces that require you to identify yourself. Is always paying in cash inconvenient? Maybe. That depends on how reliant you are on online shopping. Is it possible? Definitely. Is it worth it? Absolutely. Paying cash even once helps resist surveillance. Even though Big Brother would love to see a [cashless society](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashless_society) where all your purchases are fully transparent, we aren't in that dystopian nightmare yet. If a merchant refuses to accept your cash, then find another merchant that will take cash. You'll be anonymous and you'll create economic pressure against a cashless society. If the story ended there, I'd just end this post now. But it's not that easy. +This is the golden rule. To avoid surveillance, you should always pay in cash. Never use a credit or debit card. Never use Google Pay, Apple Pay, Cash App, Samsung Pay, PayPal, Circle Pay, Venmo, Square Cash, Zelle, Facebook Messenger, or any other payment app. Reject online shopping unless you can remain anonymous. Don't shop at Amazon, Ebay, or other online marketplaces that require you to identify yourself. Is always paying in cash inconvenient? Maybe. That depends on how reliant you are on online shopping. Is it possible? Definitely. Is it worth it? Absolutely. Paying cash even once helps resist surveillance. Even though Big Brother would love to see a [cashless society](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashless_society) where all your purchases are fully transparent, we aren't in that dystopian nightmare yet. If a merchant refuses to accept your cash, then find another merchant that will take cash. You'll be anonymous and you'll create economic pressure against a cashless society. If the story ended there, I'd just end this post now. But it's not that easy. # Avoid Disloyalty Programs Paying in cash is [necessary but not sufficient](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necessity_and_sufficiency) for anonymous purchases. Just because you pay in cash doesn't mean you're anonymous. Retailers have come up with clever ways to trick you into deanonymizing yourself even when you pay cash. They're called [loyalty programs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyalty_program). Here's how their dirty scheme works: An "operator" asks you if you're already signed up for the rewards program. If you say no, they ask you if you want to sign up. If you agree, then they begin asking you for personally identifying information about yourself like your name, address, and phone number. Things they have absolutely no business knowing that are irrelevant to the transaction you're performing. Once you cough up your information, they give you a [rewards card](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashback_reward_program), otherwise known as a points card, advantage card, or club card. On all your future purchases, you use your loyalty card and earn "points" which gives you future discounts and deals. The catch is they link all your purchases with your identity and then sell that data to data brokers. I call them disloyalty cards because you're being disloyal to your fellow citizens by tacitly approving of consumer surveillance. Disloyalty programs are only loyal to Big Brother. Every time you use them, you make it harder for other people to reject them. You're voting for surveillance with your money. Others that don't submit themselves to the unjust surveillance may have to pay fees of up to 10% for not being signed up. See [Sam's Club](https://www.samsclub.com/). @@ -34,4 +34,4 @@ There are other ways you can be deanonymized through video surveillance besides The other way that big retailers have become more invasive is through Wi-Fi location tracking of your smartphone. Your phone emits Wi-Fi signals to determine which wireless networks are available nearby. The person operating the retailer's Wi-Fi network can use those signals to track your movements within the store. It's profitable to collect your movement data, so you should assume that retailers are doing it. Your phone also has a [MAC address](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address) which can uniquely identify you, especially if your phone doesn't randomize it. Other wireless protocols that you leave activated on your phone might also be able to be misused by the retailer to track your movements. To avoid location tracking altogether, you can fully power down your phone before you enter the store. If that isn't good enough for you, another option is placing your phone inside a [Faraday bag](https://privacypros.io/faraday-bags/). Be sure to test it out before you use it though. # Anonymous Online Shopping -We have grown accustomed to the luxury of having whatever we want show up at our doorstep with the click of a button. It's hard to say no when you've gotten so used to it. For those who really don't want to give up online shopping, I'm going to write a guide on how to anonymously buy and sell goods online. There's a few different methods for 100% anonymous online shopping. Some of them get very involved, so I'm going to save all the details for another post. See ya next time! +We have grown accustomed to the luxury of having whatever we want show up at our doorstep with the click of a button. It's hard to say no when you've gotten so used to it. For those who really don't want to give up online shopping, I'm going to write a guide on how to anonymously buy and sell goods online. There are a few different methods for 100% anonymous online shopping. Some of them get very involved, so I'm going to save all the details for another post. See ya next time! diff --git a/content/entry/book-stolen-focus-why-you-cant-pay-attention-and-how-to-think-deeply-again.md b/content/entry/book-stolen-focus-why-you-cant-pay-attention-and-how-to-think-deeply-again.md index 8240cb7..dec66fc 100644 --- a/content/entry/book-stolen-focus-why-you-cant-pay-attention-and-how-to-think-deeply-again.md +++ b/content/entry/book-stolen-focus-why-you-cant-pay-attention-and-how-to-think-deeply-again.md @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ --- -title: "[Book] Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention - And How to Think Deeply Again" +title: "[Book] Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention — And How to Think Deeply Again" date: 2022-12-06T00:00:00 draft: false --- diff --git a/content/entry/breaking-my-promise.md b/content/entry/breaking-my-promise.md index c8b8381..84b4f71 100644 --- a/content/entry/breaking-my-promise.md +++ b/content/entry/breaking-my-promise.md @@ -5,6 +5,6 @@ draft: false --- Towards the end of July, [I promised to quit flying](/2021/07/25/flygskam/) until the climate crisis was averted and until the TSA stopped groping passengers. As it turns out, that was a commitment I couldn't keep. I booked a flight. Since I made the commitment very publicly, I don't think it's fair not to write an update after breaking it. I'm not perfect. I suppose the lesson here if there is one is that I shouldn't publicly make commitments that I'm not certain I can keep. -Although I still fly, the silver lining is I've made a different personal decision which drastically reduces my net emissions orders of magnitude more than not flying: I'm not having kids. Not having children may be my second best contribution to humanity besides this journal. I'm not 100% committing to this, but I estimate a very high probability that I won't have children. Especially because there's many reasons I don't want children besides just the climate, such as not becoming a slave to people with money. +Although I still fly, the silver lining is I've made a different personal decision which drastically reduces my net emissions orders of magnitude more than not flying: I'm not having kids. Not having children may be my second best contribution to humanity besides this journal. I'm not 100% committing to this, but I estimate a very high probability that I won't have children. Especially because there are many reasons I don't want children besides just the climate, such as not becoming a slave to people with money. I'm also vegetarian for the climate and animal welfare reasons, but I think any good from that is probably canceled out by my flying. I still think everyone should avoid flying and also avoid having kids. Unfortunately I haven't been able to. So I broke my commitment. That's my update. diff --git a/content/entry/bullshit-jobs-really-are-bullshit.md b/content/entry/bullshit-jobs-really-are-bullshit.md index 9345d7b..8f5b306 100644 --- a/content/entry/bullshit-jobs-really-are-bullshit.md +++ b/content/entry/bullshit-jobs-really-are-bullshit.md @@ -30,4 +30,4 @@ In closing, **bullshit jobs really are bullshit**. Perhaps they offer a sense of I really don't understand what motivates non-rich people to defend bullshit jobs. It might be intellectual laziness, protecting one's own sense of importance, or just a bias towards blindly defending the status quo. -I've met a lot of people that just defend The Way Things Currently Are no matter what. And, when The Way Things Currently Are changes, they defend the new state of affairs. It both puzzles and fascinates me. Maybe I'll talk about that in another entry though. Anyways, thanks for reading! See you next time. +I've met a lot of people that just defend The Way Things Currently Are no matter what. And, when The Way Things Currently Are changes, they defend the new state of affairs. It both puzzles and fascinates me. Maybe I'll talk about that in another entry though. Anyway, thanks for reading! See you next time. diff --git a/content/entry/businesses-should-be-required-to-accept-cash.md b/content/entry/businesses-should-be-required-to-accept-cash.md index ab7afce..e52c9f8 100644 --- a/content/entry/businesses-should-be-required-to-accept-cash.md +++ b/content/entry/businesses-should-be-required-to-accept-cash.md @@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ Now if you're a young person, this next point might not seem like a big deal. Bu And remember, the elderly vote. So if they get the idea that Taler is going to be replacing cash, they might resist Taler as a form of payment whereas if Taler is presented as just another payment option, they'll be indifferent. -Getting rid of cash would hinder the financial independence of a segment of the population. Imagine your local grocery store at peak volume with 10 people waiting in line, an 80 year old man holding up the line trying to remember where his granddaughter showed him the GNU Taler app was, barely able to read the small text on his phone. The clerk has to come around the counter to help him figure it out. Now she's tech support too. Multiply that across every supermarket. +Getting rid of cash would hinder the financial independence of a segment of the population. Imagine your local grocery store at peak volume with 10 people waiting in line, an 80-year-old man holding up the line trying to remember where his granddaughter showed him the GNU Taler app was, barely able to read the small text on his phone. The clerk has to come around the counter to help him figure it out. Now she's tech support too. Multiply that across every supermarket. # Conclusion So, in conclusion, businesses should be mandated to accept cash as a form of payment. As for online stores, we should adopt GNU Taler for private digital cash. There may need to be extra considerations or even exceptions to accepting cash for stores in areas with rampant crime, but most stores won't have any major problems taking cash. diff --git a/content/entry/challenges-driving-with-autism.md b/content/entry/challenges-driving-with-autism.md index 256c54c..d080608 100644 --- a/content/entry/challenges-driving-with-autism.md +++ b/content/entry/challenges-driving-with-autism.md @@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ When I was first learning how to drive, the person I had as an instructor did no At that point, I realized this person was either a moron or they just hated autistic people and were being intentionally dense. Either way, driving with them was clearly unsafe. So I told them that they would have to drive it back. They refused. So I got out of the car and waited on them to take the driver's seat. My then instructor, rather than move the car, became irate and started shouting at me saying that I couldn't leave the car in the street like that. It was a nightmare. -Luckily I found someone else to teach me to drive who who didn't shout. My driving still wasn't very good, but it got better with their help and by the end of it I was good enough to drive on my own. +Luckily I found someone else to teach me to drive who didn't shout. My driving still wasn't very good, but it got better with their help and by the end of it I was good enough to drive on my own. Sometimes there are sensory challenges outside the car like police sirens, firetrucks, the bright sun, and people driving towards me with their brights on. That aggravates my senses, but it's manageable because I know it's temporary. I will eventually get away from it. Loud passengers are closer in proximity and I can't get away from them. That's the difference. diff --git a/content/entry/coming-out-as-autistic.md b/content/entry/coming-out-as-autistic.md index 90b9cb8..77d344b 100644 --- a/content/entry/coming-out-as-autistic.md +++ b/content/entry/coming-out-as-autistic.md @@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ At bowling, me and my then-girlfriend's friend were debating about religion. She Along with intellectual gifts, I also have deficits. The most obvious is my poor working memory. ### Poor Working Memory -My earliest memory of this deficit comes from middle school. My class was sent to the hall outside the English classroom. All us students got in a circle. We were trying to learn each other's names. I knew I wasn't good at things like that, so before the exercise even started, I asked the teacher to skip it. She told me to try anyways. +My earliest memory of this deficit comes from middle school. My class was sent to the hall outside the English classroom. All us students got in a circle. We were trying to learn each other's names. I knew I wasn't good at things like that, so before the exercise even started, I asked the teacher to skip it. She told me to try anyway. So one person began by stating their own name. Then the person to their left stated their own name and the name of those who stated their name before them. So on and so forth until one person stated everyone's names. @@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ All throughout my life there were times I was quickly given a set of verbal inst ### Abstracting I also want to explain the trouble I have with abstraction. I'll explain how this difference makes it hard for me to keep a job. Let's start with an analogy. -A kitchen is an abstract idea composed of a stove, usually some chairs arranged around a table, a refrigerator, cabinets, and other things. For neurotypicals, when the kitchen chair is moved, that's just the kitchen with the chair moved. Low-functioning autistics have trouble putting objects into larger, abstract contexts. For low-functioning autistics, a moved kitchen chair can be very distressing because to them, it's not the kitchen any more. +A kitchen is an abstract idea composed of a stove, usually some chairs arranged around a table, a refrigerator, cabinets, and other things. For neurotypicals, when the kitchen chair is moved, that's just the kitchen with the chair moved. Low-functioning autistics have trouble putting objects into larger, abstract contexts. For low-functioning autistics, a moved kitchen chair can be very distressing because to them, it's not the kitchen anymore. It's the same thing for me, except with tasks and goals instead of a chair and a kitchen. When I worked manual labor packing shipping containers, it took a while to understand where the container was headed. It took me a while to figure out that the reason I was cutting the cardboard boxes was so they fit in the commercial recycling unit. I know it's normal not to understand the purpose behind every subtask related to one's job immediately, but it takes me so long that I get fired before it makes sense to me. @@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ So I entered the auditorium, sat down, and shielded my ears with my hands the en On many occasions when I found myself sitting in someone else's car, I had to ask them to lower the volume on the radio because I couldn't handle it. I didn't like being the uncool guy, but I couldn't help it. If I didn't ask them to lower it, I would've been so overwhelmed by the time we arrived that I couldn't function socially. -I went to exactly one homecoming, prom, and football game because I had a girlfriend who insisted on it. Otherwise I never would've went. Homecoming, prom, and the football game were overwhelmingly loud. I suffered a lot on the inside, but I pretended to enjoy it for the sake of fitting in. I couldn't imagine how others found watching football interesting. I wanted to do calculus or code instead. +I went to exactly one homecoming, prom, and football game because I had a girlfriend who insisted on it. Otherwise I never would've gone. Homecoming, prom, and the football game were overwhelmingly loud. I suffered a lot on the inside, but I pretended to enjoy it for the sake of fitting in. I couldn't imagine how others found watching football interesting. I wanted to do calculus or code instead. Children have always made me anxious because they scream unpredictably in high-pitched voices. Lower-pitched sounds are less overwhelming. If I know a loud noise is coming, it bothers me less. Loud noises are jarring if I don't expect them. If I socialize a lot in a day, I have a lower tolerance for noise and lights. @@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ In terms of clothing, I'm not sure whether it's an autism sensitivity or I just The fact that people judge others negatively for how they dress boggles my mind. It makes me feel like I never left high school. I couldn't care less if everyone walked around nude. I'll probably show up to court and to my own wedding in comfortable casual wear. -I wear my clothes until they fall apart. I don't care if some have small holes or stains. I practice good hygiene, but I don't put much effort into my appearance. It helps me filter out people I don't wanna talk to anyways. Case in point: Me, my then-girlfriend, and her friends went to take prom photos. Her friend told me the top button of my shirt was undone. I said I didn't mind, but she kept pestering me. Later that day, we went to a classy restaurant and she badgered me about holding the utensils wrong. +I wear my clothes until they fall apart. I don't care if some have small holes or stains. I practice good hygiene, but I don't put much effort into my appearance. It helps me filter out people I don't wanna talk to anyway. Case in point: Me, my then-girlfriend, and her friends went to take prom photos. Her friend told me the top button of my shirt was undone. I said I didn't mind, but she kept pestering me. Later that day, we went to a classy restaurant and she badgered me about holding the utensils wrong. A lot of people like to play dress up and pretend following all these arbitrary high society social norms makes them more sophisticated or important or decent than others. I prefer not to encourage that petty one-upmanship through my involvement. I think the need to be seen as better than others is driven by insecurity and a failure of compassion. @@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ One of the drawbacks of being able to focus so intensely on one thing for extend I also quickly become frustrated by the way other people have conversations. People barely scratch the surface on every topic and never dive in. They never stick to a subject. I don't know how people can stand to have boring shallow conversations about nothing all the time. -I met an autistic person at a hackathon once. I let him ramble on endlessly about his special interest. His interest wasn't even remotely related to programming, but I enjoyed listening anyways. Even though it wasn't my special interest, he was so passionate that it became interesting. +I met an autistic person at a hackathon once. I let him ramble on endlessly about his special interest. His interest wasn't even remotely related to programming, but I enjoyed listening anyway. Even though it wasn't my special interest, he was so passionate that it became interesting. He was more enjoyable to converse with than neurotypicals because I didn't have to worry about him judging my social skills and he didn't often change subject. It was like we were on the same wavelength. @@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ A combination of self-acceptance, mindfulness, and compassion has helped me make ## Atypical Sleep Pattern Somewhat related to my hyperfocus is my atypical sleep pattern. Atypical sleep is apparently common in people with autism. I've had it for as long as I can remember. I went through my whole formal education and every job I had sleep deprived. In high school, my friends thought I was high every day because my eyes were always red. I was just sleep deprived. I had to rely on family members to wake me because no alarm would. In university, my career advisor kept telling me that I needed more rest. -The only times in my life when I've felt adequately rested were when nothing was required of me. When I don't have a defined sleep schedule and I can sleep whenever I need, that's when I'm mentally operating at 100%. If I go to to school or a job every day, I can't catch enough sleep. When I'm sleepy, my working memory gets drastically worse too. Sometimes I'm late for appointments because I can't schedule my sleep. +The only times in my life when I've felt adequately rested were when nothing was required of me. When I don't have a defined sleep schedule and I can sleep whenever I need, that's when I'm mentally operating at 100%. If I go to school or a job every day, I can't catch enough sleep. When I'm sleepy, my working memory gets drastically worse too. Sometimes I'm late for appointments because I can't schedule my sleep. ## Alexithymia The last autism-related thing I wanna mention before the social difficulties is alexithymia. Alexithymia is a difficulty in identifying and describing one's emotions. @@ -156,14 +156,14 @@ Later, I was walking on the playground with friend A as usual. Then I saw friend I once took part in a school spelling bee. The problem with the spelling bee was the instructions. The teacher overseeing the bee gave us all the instructions at once. My working memory couldn't fit them all. One of the instructions was to say the word, spell it, then say it again. I messed that up by starting out spelling the word. -The teacher tried to correct me, but I was so busy remembering the other rules that I made the same mistake again. The teacher gave up and allowed me to continue anyways. After the second or third word, I caught on. None of the other students seemed to have the same difficulty though. +The teacher tried to correct me, but I was so busy remembering the other rules that I made the same mistake again. The teacher gave up and allowed me to continue anyway. After the second or third word, I caught on. None of the other students seemed to have the same difficulty though. ### Middle School Fast forward to middle school. At one point I had an alright friend group. I still struggled socially and wasn't sure how to interact with others though. Even though my friends didn't share my special interests, having them around was better than being alone. Maintaining my friends was hard work though. I'll give an example. I was jogging around the gym side-by-side with a friend from that group. He was into dubstep at the time, so I told him I'd been listening to it and flailed my arms around trying to imitate the genre. He quickened his pace so he was far ahead of me. I realized I'd embarrassed him. He slowed down so we were side-by-side again and told me "use your words" in a tone indicating I was mentally retarded for expressing myself in a socially non-conforming way. -I was once taking a test on the computer with a friend of his. We weren't supposed to talk, but we did anyways. The teacher thought we were cheating, but we were just bored because the test was too easy. So she called us up, one at a time, to investigate what happened. We both told her the same true story and she bought it, so she only scolded us. +I was once taking a test on the computer with a friend of his. We weren't supposed to talk, but we did anyway. The teacher thought we were cheating, but we were just bored because the test was too easy. So she called us up, one at a time, to investigate what happened. We both told her the same true story and she bought it, so she only scolded us. When she was scolding me, she told me to look at her while she was talking. That made me very uncomfortable. I found it impossible to listen to what she was saying because I had to focus all my energy on eye contact. It took a lot of effort. I faked an expression of remorse so she would think I was already punishing myself and go easy on us. @@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ After moving away to a new high school, I had a Spanish class where the desks we As far as high school goes, that's all I recall. I spent my last year of high school in community college instead because high school had become so intolerable. I didn't care about starting college early. I just knew I couldn't go another year in high school. ### Community College -In community college, I had no problems with bullying or teasing any more. The environment was different. People were more mature. Everyone there was paying to be there. It was an adult environment, not a hormone-driven teenage popularity contest. I enjoyed it much better than high school. +In community college, I had no problems with bullying or teasing anymore. The environment was different. People were more mature. Everyone there was paying to be there. It was an adult environment, not a hormone-driven teenage popularity contest. I enjoyed it much better than high school. In community college, I sat next to a girl in English class. We started talking and became friends. We went places outside class. I asked her on what I now know was a date. She accepted, so I went to pick her up. Before we left, her dad told me not to get her in trouble, not to get her pregnant, and that he would use his shotgun if necessary. I respected his candor. @@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ A separate time, I got a phone call from work. It was the junior manager asking I hadn't even learned how to work the line yet and my job got switched to packing the food into the small plastic bowls. Then it got switched again to doing the dishes. I was told to clean the dishes, so I did. This one dish had lots of crud on it built up over time. So I spent maybe ten minutes scraping it all off. My coworker made a joke about it taking me so long, hinting that I needed to move on already. I didn't get the hint and had to have other employees help me finish up so everybody could leave on time. -My next shift I showed up late to work again. The boss wasn't happy. She took me into the back office and said "I gotta fire you". I was sad about getting fired so quickly, but also relieved that I wouldn't have to be in that overwhelming environment any more. I realized there was no way I'd be able to work fast food. I was too slow. +My next shift I showed up late to work again. The boss wasn't happy. She took me into the back office and said "I gotta fire you". I was sad about getting fired so quickly, but also relieved that I wouldn't have to be in that overwhelming environment anymore. I realized there was no way I'd be able to work fast food. I was too slow. ### Manual Labor After fast food, I tried a job doing manual labor. My trainer walked to our work area, turned halfway around, and stared at me. I knew by the way he was looking at me that he was expecting me to do something, but I didn't know what. So I stood there until he finally told me to come with him. @@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ When I woke up the next morning, I was still in sensory overload. I hadn't even ### Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Fast forward to university. I got a job at information technology services (ITS) working at the help desk. Since I also studied there, it was very convenient. My duties were to answer phone calls and assist students who showed up in person. Socializing with strangers all day isn't my strong suit. It was very draining and I had to ask for help from coworkers often. I kept being told I would "get the hang of it", but I'm not sure I ever did. So I switched to the ITS team responsible for fixing and maintaining equipment in the labs and classrooms. -If you've been following my journal for a while, you might think I was successful in this role. I quit because it was distracting from my studies and I didn't want to troubleshoot proprietary software any more. In fact [I wrote an entire entry about why I quit](/2020/07/02/why-i-left-its/). I never got fired. But what I didn't mention in that entry is that it's basically impossible to get fired in that position. I knew a guy who refused to do any work during his shift and still didn't get fired. +If you've been following my journal for a while, you might think I was successful in this role. I quit because it was distracting from my studies and I didn't want to troubleshoot proprietary software anymore. In fact [I wrote an entire entry about why I quit](/2020/07/02/why-i-left-its/). I never got fired. But what I didn't mention in that entry is that it's basically impossible to get fired in that position. I knew a guy who refused to do any work during his shift and still didn't get fired. When I first started working there, it was obvious that my boss hated me. A coworker even said so. My boss sometimes got very impatient and shouted at me. We miscommunicated constantly. I decided to disclose my autism so he at least understood why we were miscommunicating so much and it turned out to be a wise decision. @@ -275,11 +275,11 @@ So that bothered me a lot. It wasn't just "Oh I dislike some aspect of this job" ### Bus Company After quitting the nursing home, I found a job at a bus company where I was responsible for watching over special needs students of all ages. Socializing with them wasn't too draining since special needs people tend to be more tolerant of differences than neurotypicals. But after months of working there, I still couldn't remember my bus route nor the order the students got on and off the bus nor where each student got dropped off. And the schedule kept changing, so every time I got a new bus driver who didn't know the route, it was a mess. -At first I tried to write down the students' names and the route on paper, but that didn't help me. So I tried using GPS to help new drivers navigate my route, but I was told that being on my phone wasn't allowed. I explained that [I avoid using smartphones for things like texting anyways](/2021/12/26/why-i-dont-have-a-smartphone/), but that didn't seem to matter. I still wasn't allowed to use it. +At first I tried to write down the students' names and the route on paper, but that didn't help me. So I tried using GPS to help new drivers navigate my route, but I was told that being on my phone wasn't allowed. I explained that [I avoid using smartphones for things like texting anyway](/2021/12/26/why-i-dont-have-a-smartphone/), but that didn't seem to matter. I still wasn't allowed to use it. To top it all off, I was very tired every day because of my atypical sleep schedule. Some days I barely held my eyes open. I blame the extreme tiredness for the mistake which got me fired. I think if I'd been well rested, I wouldn't have made that mistake. -I could've tried sleeping pills, but they're not intended for long-term use. I've heard that medicinally induced sleep isn't the same as natural sleep anyways. +I could've tried sleeping pills, but they're not intended for long-term use. I've heard that medicinally induced sleep isn't the same as natural sleep anyway. ### Haketilo A year ago, I made a [journal entry thinking about what career I wanted](/2021/06/16/my-career-path/). I imagined my dream career as one where I got paid to write free software. I was lucky enough to stumble upon a software project called Haketilo, which is a browser extension to take back the web. When I initially ran across it, it wasn't funded. I was just interested in it. diff --git a/content/entry/consider-death.md b/content/entry/consider-death.md index 47b22a0..fe674c6 100644 --- a/content/entry/consider-death.md +++ b/content/entry/consider-death.md @@ -23,6 +23,6 @@ But so what if you look stupid? So what if you're ridiculed? So what if you fail Many of you will imagine that you would be doing the same things you're already doing, if given a month to live. You imagine that your impending death wouldn't change your priorities, because you think you've already got them in perfect order. But do you really, or are you just telling yourself that as a way of avoiding thinking about how much time and attention you waste on things that don't matter? # The Gift of Death -Seen through the right lens, death is a gift. It offers us the chance to put it all on the line, to live a truly meaningful existence. You're going to die anyways, so you might as well put all your cards out on the table. Risk being the owner of a failed business. Risk asking stupid questions. Risk getting rejected asking someone out on a date. +Seen through the right lens, death is a gift. It offers us the chance to put it all on the line, to live a truly meaningful existence. You're going to die anyway, so you might as well put all your cards out on the table. Risk being the owner of a failed business. Risk asking stupid questions. Risk getting rejected asking someone out on a date. Consider death and take the risk of living a meaningful life, because you won't get another. diff --git a/content/entry/consumer-data-protection-is-a-distraction.md b/content/entry/consumer-data-protection-is-a-distraction.md index d163147..0b6be79 100644 --- a/content/entry/consumer-data-protection-is-a-distraction.md +++ b/content/entry/consumer-data-protection-is-a-distraction.md @@ -20,11 +20,11 @@ That last part is important. "...a sufficiently skilled, funded and motivated at The central reason you can't trust businesses to keep your data safe is you don't know how it's being handled once it's out of your hands. Even if the business claims to have reasonable data protection, how can you possibly know that for sure? All it takes is 1 incompetent or malicious employee for your data to be leaked. All it takes is 1 out of date software package or 1 software vulnerability. All it takes is 1 government to steal from or coerce the business for the data. And if there's ever a merger or acquisition then some other business acquires your data as an asset by default. -And let's not forget data is combined with other data by data brokers to derive things about you that you didn't explicitly share. You might think that 5 minute Youtube video of yourself doesn't reveal too much but [disturbing uses of AI](https://github.com/daviddao/awful-ai) can be applied to it to derive information that you didn't intend to include. And AI will only get better over time. You can't predict the capabilities future AI will have to derive new information from your data. Even if it's just [metadata](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metadata), remember the former CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden's statement concerning NSA bulk surveillance: "We kill people based on metadata". Put simply, consumer data protection is, has always been, and will be for the foreseeable future, a house of cards. +And let's not forget data is combined with other data by data brokers to derive things about you that you didn't explicitly share. You might think that 5 minute YouTube video of yourself doesn't reveal too much but [disturbing uses of AI](https://github.com/daviddao/awful-ai) can be applied to it to derive information that you didn't intend to include. And AI will only get better over time. You can't predict the capabilities future AI will have to derive new information from your data. Even if it's just [metadata](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metadata), remember the former CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden's statement concerning NSA bulk surveillance: "We kill people based on metadata". Put simply, consumer data protection is, has always been, and will be for the foreseeable future, a house of cards. # How to Protect Yourself The only foolproof way to protect yourself from data leaks is to never give data to businesses in the first place. "Consumer data protection" is a distraction campaign. You see, the more businesses talk about "consumer data protection" the less "bandwidth" there is in public discourse to talk about outright refusal to give up your data. Businesses can tout their data security practices all they want but it distracts from the truth which is you can just choose not to give your data to companies. We now live in a culture of "I agree" to the point that people forget they can say no to these things. Don't consent. Don't click "I agree" unless you've actually read the terms. Don't provide identifying information without serious consideration. -And for those of you who say "I have to give [Goolag](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Goolag) my data! Rearranging my life to protect my data would be too hard! I need a Goolag account for my job or university or whatever the case may be." I leave you with a quote from the Roman stoic Seneca: +And for those of you who say "I have to give [Goolag](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Goolag) my data! Rearranging my life to protect my data would be too hard! I need a Goolag account for my job or university or whatever the case may be." I leave you with a quote from the Roman Stoic Seneca: > "It's not that we don't dare do things because they are difficult; rather, they are difficult because we don't dare" -- Seneca diff --git a/content/entry/dead-mans-switch.md b/content/entry/dead-mans-switch.md index f488d84..988d708 100644 --- a/content/entry/dead-mans-switch.md +++ b/content/entry/dead-mans-switch.md @@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ torify ssh [user]@[address.onion] disarm.sh ``` ## Reminder -As an added bonus you could use Cron to schedule a script notifying you before the DMS is triggered. For instance if the DMS needs disarmed on a monthly basis you could write a script that emails you a week in advance a reminder to deactivate it. Again a DMS is only effective if you don't forget to disarm it, so I wouldn't create a DMS without a notification script. +As an added bonus you could use Cron to schedule a script notifying you before the DMS is triggered. For instance if the DMS needs to be disarmed on a monthly basis you could write a script that emails you a week in advance a reminder to deactivate it. Again a DMS is only effective if you don't forget to disarm it, so I wouldn't create a DMS without a notification script. That's it. That's all you need to set up your own DMS. diff --git a/content/entry/dealing-with-close-minded-people.md b/content/entry/dealing-with-close-minded-people.md index 0130bf4..5a1d4a9 100644 --- a/content/entry/dealing-with-close-minded-people.md +++ b/content/entry/dealing-with-close-minded-people.md @@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ Another reason people are close-minded is because changing your mind takes menta It's not as if you can just change your mind only about free will and leave every other peripheral belief intact. You'd feel [cognitive dissonance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance) that would demand to be addressed. Holding beliefs that you know to be mutually incompatible is unpleasant. Therefore you're forced to either suffer psychologically or invest mental energy into correcting your other beliefs built on the foundation of free will. -There's also the fear that you might not know what to believe any more. What if you can't figure out how to justify holding people responsible for their actions without free will? There's the worry that any time you change one of your beliefs, you don't exactly know how that might affect the others. You don't know how it might cause you to change your behavior. And that can be scary. +There's also the fear that you might not know what to believe anymore. What if you can't figure out how to justify holding people responsible for their actions without free will? There's the worry that any time you change one of your beliefs, you don't exactly know how that might affect the others. You don't know how it might cause you to change your behavior. And that can be scary. ## Sunk Costs People also avoid being open to new ideas because they've invested considerable time and energy into opposing ideas. If you spend 10 years of your life promoting a cause, and someone tries to convince you that the cause is immoral, they're not just arguing against a belief. They're arguing against what you've spent 10 years of your life on. By then, it's probably part of your identity as a person. @@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ A republican I know recently insisted to me the 2020 U.S. presidential election Of course, after the most basic research of Mike Lindell, it was blindingly obvious to me that the guy was full of shit. He's a religious fanatic Trump loyalist who hosted a cyber symposium where he purported to show his "proof". I watched parts of the event. In it, he used the attention to sell pillows for his My Pillow company and displayed the most obvious partisanship putting up a huge picture of Trump's face on a big screen. I won't go through all the details. Suffice it to say he's so batshit even popular conservative media won't promote him. -I'd investigated the claims of election fraud for the 2020 presidential election numerous times before Mike Lindell. I learned that the election fraud claims are conspiracy theories that have been debunked time and again. Courts have thrown out dozens of baseless election fraud claims. At some point you have to say "Okay, I've looked into it enough times. I'm not doing it any more. Unless something changes, I'm going to assume all future election fraud claims regarding the 2020 election are lies". That's just basic inductive reasoning. +I'd investigated the claims of election fraud for the 2020 presidential election numerous times before Mike Lindell. I learned that the election fraud claims are conspiracy theories that have been debunked time and again. Courts have thrown out dozens of baseless election fraud claims. At some point you have to say "Okay, I've looked into it enough times. I'm not doing it anymore. Unless something changes, I'm going to assume all future election fraud claims regarding the 2020 election are lies". That's just basic inductive reasoning. So when someone tells me again that the election was a sham and they have proof, I'm going to dismiss them. I'm not going to look into it for the millionth time and I'm not going to apologize for not looking into it. And that doesn't make me close-minded. Refusing to reevaluate the same claims you've already determined to be false many times in the past is not being close-minded. Don't let anybody convince you it is. Instead, preserve your time and sanity by refusing to reevaluate known false claims. diff --git a/content/entry/debugging-neomutt.md b/content/entry/debugging-neomutt.md index 714aced..1f60803 100644 --- a/content/entry/debugging-neomutt.md +++ b/content/entry/debugging-neomutt.md @@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ With some more assistance, I then used GDB to check the variable values and foun Now that the cause of the crash was understood, Flatcap patched gpgme so it could handle partially defined keys. I pulled the patched branch, recompiled, and tried to open the buggy email again. No crash! -Flatcap invited me to open a Github issue so I could take credit for finding the bug. I informed him I couldn't do that because [I don't use Github](/2021/05/31/dont-use-github/). So he just opened [the issue](https://github.com/neomutt/neomutt/pull/3137) and mentioned me instead. I looked over it for review and approved. +Flatcap invited me to open a GitHub issue so I could take credit for finding the bug. I informed him I couldn't do that because [I don't use GitHub](/2021/05/31/dont-use-github/). So he just opened [the issue](https://github.com/neomutt/neomutt/pull/3137) and mentioned me instead. I looked over it for review and approved. I thanked Flatcap for creating Neomutt. I really enjoy using it. I'm glad I was able to contribute to such a fantastic email client. The only reason this interaction was possible is because Neomutt is free software. If it were proprietary, I couldn't have debugged it with GDB. I probably wouldn't have gotten to interact directly with the developer who writes the software I use. I'd probably be stuck waiting days or weeks on a response from an opaque company where I couldn't even review the patch or get credit for reporting the bug. diff --git a/content/entry/do-autistic-people-make-you-uncomfortable.md b/content/entry/do-autistic-people-make-you-uncomfortable.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..818b2e3 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/entry/do-autistic-people-make-you-uncomfortable.md @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ +--- +title: "Do Autistic People Make You Uncomfortable?" +date: 2025-02-14T00:00:01Z +tags: ['autism'] +draft: false +--- +Many neurotypicals get uncomfortable when I mention that I'm autistic. + +I think the main reason for that is they immediately feel like they're walking on eggshells, like they have to watch everything they say around me lest they say something wrong. If that's you, maybe I can assuage your concerns: + +I can't speak for *all* autistic people, but I don't go around looking to "expose" people to the "woke police", get them fired from their job, or summon an online mob to demand a public apology. The most I've ever done is report someone to their manager. And I only did that when they were overtly discriminating against me. I just want to get through my day like everybody else. I'm not looking to pick fights and the people who are trying to pick fights annoy me. + +Another thing to keep in mind is that I have a lot more to be worried about from a bad interaction than you do. I may not realize there's been a grave miscommunication or that I've pissed someone off until it's way too late. At all times, I have to watch out for social predators who think they can take advantage of me because I'm different. I'm naturally more trusting of people, and thus very socially vulnerable, so I have to counteract that by being a little bit paranoid. You neurotypicals can just trust your instincts to pick up malicious intent most of the time. + +If it's the way I am that makes you feel uncomfortable, as opposed to you saying the wrong thing, that's also completely normal. I admit that normal people make me a little bit uncomfortable too. The difference is I've had my whole life to get used to you all. Even though I can't personally relate, I have come to accept your differences. Autistic people are less common, so you haven't had as many chances to get used to us. + +To clarify, when I say "get used to us", I'm not suggesting we're all the same. I'm referring to growing accustomed to common autistic traits. For instance, you don't need to get used to me flicking a fidget spinner, a different autistic person tugging on a piece of string, etc for each one of us. You only need to know what stimming is, and it would probably help to know why we do it as well. You may never be able to relate to it, but learning to recognize it and acknowledge why we do it can help you feel more comfortable around it. + +Remember, all of this is mutual and works the same way in reverse. There are certain traits neurotypicals exhibit that I'll probably never be able to relate to either, but I accept that that is how you are. For example, I'm more [deliberate and rational](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2021.05.004 "Enhanced rationality in autism spectrum disorder") in my thinking than most of you. I still have cognitive biases just like everybody else, but some of you seem to believe literally whatever you find personally comforting, and just avoid thinking about the rest. It terrifies me that normal people can operate that way. I can't relate to it at all, but I acknowledge that that's the way some of you are and I understand the reason for it. + +And I think that's the key. We may not always be able to relate to each other, but trying to understand and respect our differences is progress towards us coexisting more harmoniously, and more comfortably. diff --git a/content/entry/documentary-line-goes-up-the-problem-with-nfts.md b/content/entry/documentary-line-goes-up-the-problem-with-nfts.md index 0e4d70d..af4b2f6 100644 --- a/content/entry/documentary-line-goes-up-the-problem-with-nfts.md +++ b/content/entry/documentary-line-goes-up-the-problem-with-nfts.md @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ --- -title: "[Documentary] Line Goes Up - The Problem With NFTs" +title: "[Documentary] Line Goes Up — The Problem With NFTs" date: 2022-03-15T00:00:00 tags: ['computing'] draft: false @@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ IOTA had a centralized coordinator, meaning that it wasn't even decentralized. I In hindsight, I never should've had anything to do with IOTA to begin with. It's a cryptocurrency with the goal of transacting internet of things data. As a privacy guy, I don't even like the internet of things. So it made very little sense for me to invest in it. ## Safe Network -After IOTA, I still didn't see the full picture. I thought IOTA was a scam project going nowhere, but there still had to be projects with real promise. So I found yet another ponzi to throw my money at - [Safecoin](https://safenetwork.org/). Safecoin didn't use a blockchain or a directed acyclic graph. It was entirely new and much more aligned with my goals. +After IOTA, I still didn't see the full picture. I thought IOTA was a scam project going nowhere, but there still had to be projects with real promise. So I found yet another ponzi to throw my money at — [Safecoin](https://safenetwork.org/). Safecoin didn't use a blockchain or a directed acyclic graph. It was entirely new and much more aligned with my goals. So naturally, I did some careful research and only then invested. Just kidding. No I didn't. I "invested" (gambled) before doing sufficient research. I did learn a lot about the technology. It's meant to be an open, decentralized, encrypted data store. They have a distributed hash table for routing and data storage. They developed a novel consensus mechanism. The Safe Network team recognized the [scalability problems of blockchain](https://yewtu.be/embed/i-RLdU8Y0Qc?local=true). Self-encryption seemed to make sense. @@ -30,14 +30,14 @@ I even [promoted](/2021/01/06/on-blockchain/) the project on this very journal j Just like with IOTA, for every question I asked about Safe Network, I seemed to get vague and indefinite answers. Every problem had a solution. And every problem within the solution had a solution. It was like an infinitely recursive [gish gallop](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Gish_Gallop). I eventually got tired of the non-answers and went to dump my holdings. -Unfortunately for me, almost no exchange accepted Safecoin any more. It was built on the dated Mastercoin protocol and pulling out my funds was a huge hassle. I was glad that at I least realized the mistake I made and pulled out before losing it all though. +Unfortunately for me, almost no exchange accepted Safecoin anymore. It was built on the dated Mastercoin protocol and pulling out my funds was a huge hassle. I was glad that at I least realized the mistake I made and pulled out before losing it all though. ## Monero I also made a new entry promoting [TheHatedOne's video promoting Monero](/2021/03/18/video-monero-more-anonymous-than-cash/). In fact, I even accepted Monero as a donation method at the time. I didn't invest in it. I just found Monero useful for performing anonymous online payments since there was no other way to privately buy things online. I knew all about the massive energy usage of proof-of-work coins at the time. Like most cryptocurrency enthusiasts, I just dismissed it as "not a waste". But over the next four months, I realized I had just been making excuses for the energy usage because I found the technology cool. It was the only way to transact privately online, so it would be really inconvenient for me if I also believed it was destroying the planet. -Eventually, I found I could no longer deny the energy impact any more. I decided to remove cryptocurrency as a donation method and make an entry [recommending that people don't use proof-of-work-based cryptocurrencies](/2021/07/18/avoid-using-cryptocurrency/). I even began criticizing others who promoted proof-of-work cryptocurrency. I reasoned I would accept cryptocurrency again after a mass-adopted proof-of-stake currency was released. +Eventually, I found I could no longer deny the energy impact anymore. I decided to remove cryptocurrency as a donation method and make an entry [recommending that people don't use proof-of-work-based cryptocurrencies](/2021/07/18/avoid-using-cryptocurrency/). I even began criticizing others who promoted proof-of-work cryptocurrency. I reasoned I would accept cryptocurrency again after a mass-adopted proof-of-stake currency was released. ## A Cryptocurrency Startup Then, in the summer of 2021 while I was on vacation with my family, something unexpected happened. We heard a knock on the door of our beachside hotel. It was hotel security. They told us someone ran into our car in the parking lot. @@ -61,14 +61,14 @@ In November of 2021, I wrote an entry titled [Future-Proof Digital Timestamping] ## Stephen Diehl A month later in December 2021, I stumbled across [the blog of Stephen Diehl](https://www.stephendiehl.com/blog.html), where I found extremely harsh criticism of cryptocurrency which I'd never heard before. Here's an excerpt: -> "Crypto is a cesspit of people swapping claims on non-economic nonsense in one giant orgy of internet memes and fools trying to screw each other playing mutual harm negative-sum games while chanting “we’re all going to make it”. All this while the house takes an enormous rake and changes the rules of the game to its liking whenever it likes." - Stephen Diehl, The Internet’s Casino Boats +> "Crypto is a cesspit of people swapping claims on non-economic nonsense in one giant orgy of internet memes and fools trying to screw each other playing mutual harm negative-sum games while chanting “we’re all going to make it”. All this while the house takes an enormous rake and changes the rules of the game to its liking whenever it likes." — Stephen Diehl, The Internet’s Casino Boats Pretty much all of his blog posts about cryptocurrency are this critical. I read several of his posts and found myself largely in agreement. I actually started to feel dumb that I ever put money into cryptocurrency or even considered being a part of a cryptocurrency project. ## Present Day The culmination of this story happened just recently when I found Line Goes Up. I watched the documentary all the way through and found it highly informative. Thanks to Line Goes Up, I finally feel like I have the full picture when it comes to cryptocurrency, blockchain, and everything built on top of it. Now that I'm fully informed, I want nothing to do with it. -Unfortunately it's not going to be easy for me to stop using it entirely. Ponzi as it may be, it's still the only way to buy certain things online anonymously. I'll have to figure out ways around that. For online services where I identify myself anyways, I can switch to a credit card. But acquiring a VPN anonymously without cryptocurrency is going to be tricky. I'll have to come up with a solution. +Unfortunately it's not going to be easy for me to stop using it entirely. Ponzi as it may be, it's still the only way to buy certain things online anonymously. I'll have to figure out ways around that. For online services where I identify myself anyway, I can switch to a credit card. But acquiring a VPN anonymously without cryptocurrency is going to be tricky. I'll have to come up with a solution. I would say the two overarching lessons I learned from my experiences in cryptocurrency are: diff --git a/content/entry/documentary-the-norden-prison.md b/content/entry/documentary-the-norden-prison.md index 656ef7f..50acfa3 100644 --- a/content/entry/documentary-the-norden-prison.md +++ b/content/entry/documentary-the-norden-prison.md @@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ Mr. Conway claims we shouldn't care about how inmates feel and they shouldn't be People with Mr. Conway's attitude would probably say it's self-evident. Isn't it obvious they shouldn't be treated well? After all they committed a crime. To that I would give the same general answer I give to all moral questions: [What do you care about?](/2020/10/11/metaethics/). I care about minimizing the number of people in prison. I care about people getting better even if that means we have to treat them better than their victims would approve of. I care about the evidence and results from the Nordic prison system as compared to other systems. -It really comes down to your values. If you value living in a society where where you don't have millions of citizens going through the rotating door of prison, poverty and crime more than any other country, where you don't punish and degrade people for the sake of it, where people getting better is more important than revenge, then the best working example of that is the Nordic prison model and you should want to shift other countries closer towards it. +It really comes down to your values. If you value living in a society where you don't have millions of citizens going through the rotating door of prison, poverty and crime more than any other country, where you don't punish and degrade people for the sake of it, where people getting better is more important than revenge, then the best working example of that is the Nordic prison model and you should want to shift other countries closer towards it. Just ask Christer Karlsson, an ex-criminal that served 27 years in a Norwegian prison: diff --git a/content/entry/dont-fly-the-thin-blue-line-flag.md b/content/entry/dont-fly-the-thin-blue-line-flag.md index 0671096..7adc62b 100644 --- a/content/entry/dont-fly-the-thin-blue-line-flag.md +++ b/content/entry/dont-fly-the-thin-blue-line-flag.md @@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ If all cops acted according to their own personal moral code instead of the law, That's just at the upstream layer of the law itself. But what about the downstream layer of corrections? Those protesters doing the right thing may get sent to prison. As a local or state cop, you swore an oath to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Well that's what prison is here in the United States. If you arrest someone knowing they'll probably go to prison, you become the instrument of cruel and unjust punishment which you swore an oath against. -So you see how the injustice of the laws and the court system and corrections trickles into law enforcement? Enforcing laws isn't inherently good. If there were a law against being short and police started arresting short people, you wouldn't say "I don't agree with the law against short people, but law enforcement is doing a good job of enforcing it, so I support them anyways". That's the equivalent of saying "there's no law so unjust I won't support its enforcers". +So you see how the injustice of the laws and the court system and corrections trickles into law enforcement? Enforcing laws isn't inherently good. If there were a law against being short and police started arresting short people, you wouldn't say "I don't agree with the law against short people, but law enforcement is doing a good job of enforcing it, so I support them anyway". That's the equivalent of saying "there's no law so unjust I won't support its enforcers". So why do people stick flags in their yards that give blanket support to the enforcers of these unjust laws? Sometimes it's important to give broad support to a group or movement despite its relatively minor shortcomings, but the shortcomings of law enforcement are very major. Law enforcement will never be perfect, but right now it's so flawed that it doesn't deserve broad support. diff --git a/content/entry/dont-record-others-without-permission.md b/content/entry/dont-record-others-without-permission.md index 8d3f4b1..c15dfaa 100644 --- a/content/entry/dont-record-others-without-permission.md +++ b/content/entry/dont-record-others-without-permission.md @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ draft: false We've lost the right to personal privacy to a large extent thanks to the ever-expanding corporate surveillance state. The surveillance state we all live under is getting increasing attention from non-mainstream media sources. However, something that doesn't make the non-mainstream news is the privacy we voluntarily take away from each other by recording people without their permission. # How it used to be -This is very recent history so many of you reading this will have similar experiences. When I was in early primary school most people had dumb phones. They didn't have mobile phones with a built-in camera. From early primary school to middle and high school (in the United States) I watched smartphones with cameras become increasingly common and eventually got one myself. Not only were there more cameras, but their audio and video quality improved dramatically. It wasn't vague blurry media any more. Rewatching a recording was as if you were there yourself. +This is very recent history so many of you reading this will have similar experiences. When I was in early primary school most people had dumb phones. They didn't have mobile phones with a built-in camera. From early primary school to middle and high school (in the United States) I watched smartphones with cameras become increasingly common and eventually got one myself. Not only were there more cameras, but their audio and video quality improved dramatically. It wasn't vague blurry media anymore. Rewatching a recording was as if you were there yourself. People don't consider how big of a deal this is. Before camera phones, if there was a fight or some other incident in a school cafeteria, only that lunch group saw it. Actually only the few students crowded closely around even got a good look at it until school staff broke it up. That lunch group would tell their friends about it who told their friends and so on. Details of the fight would get added on, omitted and changed as the gossip spread. Only the few students that watched it were sure of what happened. The rest was hearsay. There was no video recording. It didn't end up on social media. The students were disciplined and that was the end of that. That degree of privacy has been lost. diff --git a/content/entry/dont-use-github.md b/content/entry/dont-use-github.md index 0b87c7f..80c4247 100644 --- a/content/entry/dont-use-github.md +++ b/content/entry/dont-use-github.md @@ -1,25 +1,25 @@ --- -title: "Don't Use Github" +title: "Don't Use GitHub" date: 2021-05-31T00:00:00 tags: ['computing'] draft: false --- -# Why is Free Software Being Hosted on Github??? -Free software being hosted on Github as its main repository is a downright embarrassment to the very principles free software is supposed to stand for. Github is a proprietary platform. Important site features can't work without proprietary JavaScript running in the browser. The backend code for Github is completely proprietary. And it's owned by Micro$oft, one of the largest megacorps to ever exist whose CEO once called GNU/Linux a "cancer" and only changed his tune when he realized there was money to be made. +# Why is Free Software Being Hosted on GitHub??? +Free software being hosted on GitHub as its main repository is a downright embarrassment to the very principles free software is supposed to stand for. GitHub is a proprietary platform. Important site features can't work without proprietary JavaScript running in the browser. The backend code for GitHub is completely proprietary. And it's owned by Micro$oft, one of the largest megacorps to ever exist whose CEO once called GNU/Linux a "cancer" and only changed his tune when he realized there was money to be made. -You can see more criticism of Github here: +You can see more criticism of GitHub here: [Tom Ryder's Blog](https://sanctum.geek.nz/why-not-github.html) -As a user of software and someone that occasionally writes software, I have a lot more respect for your project if it's not hosted on Github. There are so many other code hosting platforms out there! There's Gitlab, Gitea, Gogs, Cgit and Gitweb. Hell, you don't even need a code hosting repository! If you can't self-host and don't want to trust third-party platforms, just use Git's git-format-patch command and submit changes by email. +As a user of software and someone that occasionally writes software, I have a lot more respect for your project if it's not hosted on GitHub. There are so many other code hosting platforms out there! There's GitLab, Gitea, Gogs, Cgit and Gitweb. Hell, you don't even need a code hosting repository! If you can't self-host and don't want to trust third-party platforms, just use Git's git-format-patch command and submit changes by email. -Having a single large megacorp whose primary business model is diametrically opposed to free software being the largest code host for free software is almost too dumb. Micro$oft is the worst possible entity to entrust to run the platform where you manage development of your free software projects. If you're using Github to host your code, migrate elsewhere immediately. +Having a single large megacorp whose primary business model is diametrically opposed to free software being the largest code host for free software is almost too dumb. Micro$oft is the worst possible entity to entrust to run the platform where you manage development of your free software projects. If you're using GitHub to host your code, migrate elsewhere immediately. # Other Code Repositories -If you choose to migrate to Gitlab.com, that's still pretty centralized since it's one of the largest code hosting platforms. But at least Gitlab doesn't require non-free JavaScript, its backend is fully free and it's not owned by Micro$oft. Also, self-hosting is very easy if you have the resources. I recommend reading the GNU repo criteria evaluation page before you make your choice where to migrate: +If you choose to migrate to GitLab.com, that's still pretty centralized since it's one of the largest code hosting platforms. But at least GitLab doesn't require non-free JavaScript, its backend is fully free and it's not owned by Micro$oft. Also, self-hosting is very easy if you have the resources. I recommend reading the GNU repo criteria evaluation page before you make your choice where to migrate: [https://www.gnu.org/software/repo-criteria-evaluation.html](https://www.gnu.org/software/repo-criteria-evaluation.html) # Harm Reduction -I can't recommend Github since it requires non-free JavaScript, but if you're going to use it anyway, don't use it for project management. At the most, use it as a backup to mirror your code hosted on a different, ethical repository. But don't rely on it otherwise. It's the last place you should trust with your code. +I can't recommend GitHub since it requires non-free JavaScript, but if you're going to use it anyway, don't use it for project management. At the most, use it as a backup to mirror your code hosted on a different, ethical repository. But don't rely on it otherwise. It's the last place you should trust with your code. # Take Action! -I really hope you don't just agree with me and go on using Github anyway. Please don't do that. Take action! Even if you've been managing your repository on Github and you have dozens of issues and pull requests, making the transition will be worth the effort. It shows your commitment to software freedom and says to the other developers "Github is not an acceptable place for a free software project". For most of you reading this, the process of migrating all your code won't take more than an hour. Just pick a different, freedom-respecting platform to host your code and go get it done! +I really hope you don't just agree with me and go on using GitHub anyway. Please don't do that. Take action! Even if you've been managing your repository on GitHub and you have dozens of issues and pull requests, making the transition will be worth the effort. It shows your commitment to software freedom and says to the other developers "GitHub is not an acceptable place for a free software project". For most of you reading this, the process of migrating all your code won't take more than an hour. Just pick a different, freedom-respecting platform to host your code and go get it done! diff --git a/content/entry/doublethink.md b/content/entry/doublethink.md index d65810b..f79608d 100644 --- a/content/entry/doublethink.md +++ b/content/entry/doublethink.md @@ -65,6 +65,6 @@ Where am I going with all this? I want to invite every reader to consider someth ## The Sky The sky is simply the space in which the clouds appear and dissipate. The sky does not follow the clouds. The sky does not push the clouds away. The sky simply allows the clouds to come and go. Consciousness is where thoughts, emotions, and sensations appear and dissipate. The sensation of being identified with your thoughts, is itself a sensation arising in consciousness. From an experiential perspective, there is nowhere outside of consciousness. -You might object: "You said earlier one cannot resist caring about what others think. So how can I be like the sky if I can't stop judging my thoughts"? This is why they call it meditation practice. Non-attachment takes practice. And mindfulness meditation is one of the most effective ways to achieve that state. It's not always easy to let go, because you have been conditioned your whole life to be passionate and cling. If you can't resist judging your thoughts, then judge them. Just don't judge your judgments of your thoughts. Let your judgments of your thoughts pass like clouds in the sky. So on and so forth. With meditation, your mind will tire of thinking and judging everything all the time. You will become thoughtless. That doesn't mean you can't think when you need to. It means you won't be held hostage by the next so called negative thought you have. You can see you true nature, prior to any idea about who society has told you you are supposed to be. It is a state of nonjudgmental, pure awareness. Some people report getting the feeling that their mind is in complete harmony with all that is. +You might object: "You said earlier one cannot resist caring about what others think. So how can I be like the sky if I can't stop judging my thoughts"? This is why they call it meditation practice. Non-attachment takes practice. And mindfulness meditation is one of the most effective ways to achieve that state. It's not always easy to let go, because you have been conditioned your whole life to be passionate and cling. If you can't resist judging your thoughts, then judge them. Just don't judge your judgments of your thoughts. Let your judgments of your thoughts pass like clouds in the sky. So on and so forth. With meditation, your mind will tire of thinking and judging everything all the time. You will become thoughtless. That doesn't mean you can't think when you need to. It means you won't be held hostage by the next so called negative thought you have. You can see your true nature, prior to any idea about who society has told you you are supposed to be. It is a state of nonjudgmental, pure awareness. Some people report getting the feeling that their mind is in complete harmony with all that is. This is not a state of mind you can force. It's a state of mind that comes about naturally as you practice meditation. It relates to the Chinese term "[Wu Wei](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_wei)". "Non-action" can be seen as not acting upon the contents of consciousness, nor judging them. It doesn't mean you are completely isolated from society. To me, it means not being so involved in society that you lose who you are. Being in a state of mindlessness might sound contrary to intellectualism, but that's a misunderstanding. The opposite is true. It's easier to think when your mind isn't getting in the way. diff --git a/content/entry/dr-phil-is-a-bully.md b/content/entry/dr-phil-is-a-bully.md index 434d3d7..578799c 100644 --- a/content/entry/dr-phil-is-a-bully.md +++ b/content/entry/dr-phil-is-a-bully.md @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ draft: false --- If you don't know who Dr Phil is, his real name is Phillip Calvin McGraw. He had a popular long-running American television talk show called "Dr. Phil" where he offered advice to guests based on his experience in psychology. Now it seems he's moving on to a prime-time partnership scheduled for early 2024. -Let's start with the legality of his show. The advice Phil gave on it was legally not medical advice. However, that's completely immaterial because it's entirely foreseeable that those who watch it take it as medical advice anyways. Just look at the name of the show. Regardless of the legality, he undeniably has a responsibility to give good professional advice. +Let's start with the legality of his show. The advice Phil gave on it was legally not medical advice. However, that's completely immaterial because it's entirely foreseeable that those who watch it take it as medical advice anyway. Just look at the name of the show. Regardless of the legality, he undeniably has a responsibility to give good professional advice. This would be less of a problem if the advice he gave were actually good, but it's often nothing more than bullying and shaming mentally ill people on national television. I'm going to be providing evidence to back up that claim, starting with [the episode with Buffy Actor Nicholas Brendon](https://yewtu.be/embed/PH-PAaHnnMg?local=true "What Led 'Buffy' Actor Nicholas Brendon To Walk Off Dr. Phil's Show"). @@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ Phil seemed so thirsty to paint this guest in a bad light, but he just couldn't. Finally, Phil asked Nicholas if he drank last night, which the guest admitted to. Phil then said that he got a report that his guest was at a bar last night, which prompted Nicholas to say "I'm done." and walk off the stage. He asked if the exits were open, but Phil just ignored him and continued reading about his night of drinking. So he left. Good on him. -Now what therapeutic value was there in Phil bringing up Nicholas being drunk last night in that way? What made it even more obvious that humiliation was Phil's goal is that he continued reading about Nicholas' night at the bar even after Nicholas walked off the show. The guest was gone. Any possible therapeutic value from reading about it was surely gone, and yet he continued anyways. +Now what therapeutic value was there in Phil bringing up Nicholas being drunk last night in that way? What made it even more obvious that humiliation was Phil's goal is that he continued reading about Nicholas' night at the bar even after Nicholas walked off the show. The guest was gone. Any possible therapeutic value from reading about it was surely gone, and yet he continued anyway. As icing on the cake, Phil's camera crew followed Nicholas, recording him even as he left despite him asking them to stop multiple times. @@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ Meanwhile the guy, realizing that nobody in the room was on his side, starting s To prevent the man from leaving early so that Phil could humiliate him more on national television, Phil blackmailed him by threatening him with a year of jail time and a ten thousand dollar fine over some stuff he broke in his hotel room. Not only was this incredibly manipulative, unprofessional, and unhelpful, but it might've even been illegal. You can't blackmail someone with jail time into participating in your faux therapy session where you're humiliating them for television ratings. The police backstage should've arrested Phil for blackmailing him. That's a far more serious crime than vandalism. -Let's not forget that Phil is strapped with cash anyways. The last estimate I saw he was making eighty million dollars a year. He spends it on expensive watches. He doesn't give a fuck about paying for some broken stuff in a guest apartment. He could wipe his ass with that money. He just wanted to punish and humiliate this victim of domestic abuse who came to him seeking help. +Let's not forget that Phil is strapped with cash anyway. The last estimate I saw he was making eighty million dollars a year. He spends it on expensive watches. He doesn't give a fuck about paying for some broken stuff in a guest apartment. He could wipe his ass with that money. He just wanted to punish and humiliate this victim of domestic abuse who came to him seeking help. Phil then proceeded to paint himself as the hero saying that the guy was there "by his grace", as if blackmailing him into enduring Phil's public humiliation under the threat of jail time on national television was "grace". Phil's moronic audience apparently thought as much because they all applauded him. Then Phil proceeded to weaponize his army of useful idiots against the domestic abuse victim by asking them to stand up in agreement that the guest was a coward. @@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ Again, there is no therapeutic value in this. The domestic abuse victim already ## Sending Teens to an Abusive Deadly Labor Camp -For troubled teens, Phil has long promoted Turnabout Ranch, a place he called "a very serious, responsible place" that runs a "therapy" program. Except it's not therapy. Turnabout Ranch is filled with unqualified staff who create a highly abusive and dangerous environment. Multiple former patients have spoken out against the facility accusing them of torture and sexual abuse, most notably [Danielle Bregoli](https://yewtu.be/embed/GteqbsYGv1I?local=true "BHAD BHABIE - Breaking Code Silence - Turn About Ranch abuse Dr. Phil | Danielle Bregoli"). +For troubled teens, Phil has long promoted Turnabout Ranch, a place he called "a very serious, responsible place" that runs a "therapy" program. Except it's not therapy. Turnabout Ranch is filled with unqualified staff who create a highly abusive and dangerous environment. Multiple former patients have spoken out against the facility accusing them of torture and sexual abuse, most notably [Danielle Bregoli](https://yewtu.be/embed/GteqbsYGv1I?local=true "BHAD BHABIE — Breaking Code Silence — Turn About Ranch abuse Dr. Phil | Danielle Bregoli"). I understand she might not be everyone's cup of tea as a social media personality, but she tells the truth about the ranch. If you don't believe her, just read [the Yelp reviews](https://www.yelp.com/biz/turn-about-ranch-escalante "Turnabout Ranch Yelp Reviews"). I'll list just a few here: @@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ As Danielle Bregoli pointed out in the video I linked above, it's very hard to b If I were to create a comprehensive list of everything awful about the Dr. Phil show, I'd probably have to write about every episode. Unfortunately, I don't have the time for that. But I will mention a few more notable things. -Besides what I've already mentioned, I also found out that Phil and/or his production crew allegedly created a [toxic workplace](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/krystieyandoli/dr-phil-show-employees-allegations "Current And Former “Dr. Phil” Employees Say The Set Is A Toxic Workplace. The Show Says Everything’s Fine."), apparently believed in the pseudoscience of polygraphs, humiliated a depressed young adult for living with his grandmother, told a mother not to let her son play with barbie dolls, [made spectacles of schizophrenic people](https://yewtu.be/embed/r073eeGR78Q?local=true "Shelley Duvall - Phil McGraw Interview Analysis"), encouraged guests to act crazy for ratings, allegedly provisioned alcohol to an alcoholic and gave him a Xanax (a deadly combination) before coming on the show, allegedly withheld a guest's medication to make them seem "crazy", and actively sought out vulnerable people including Britney Spears, to which he later issued a [non-apology](https://web.archive.org/web/20230528201653if_/https://www.drphil.com/pages/page-britney-spears/ "Dr. Phil's Statement about His Visit with Britney Spears"). +Besides what I've already mentioned, I also found out that Phil and/or his production crew allegedly created a [toxic workplace](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/krystieyandoli/dr-phil-show-employees-allegations "Current And Former “Dr. Phil” Employees Say The Set Is A Toxic Workplace. The Show Says Everything’s Fine."), apparently believed in the pseudoscience of polygraphs, humiliated a depressed young adult for living with his grandmother, told a mother not to let her son play with barbie dolls, [made spectacles of schizophrenic people](https://yewtu.be/embed/r073eeGR78Q?local=true "Shelley Duvall — Phil McGraw Interview Analysis"), encouraged guests to act crazy for ratings, allegedly provisioned alcohol to an alcoholic and gave him a Xanax (a deadly combination) before coming on the show, allegedly withheld a guest's medication to make them seem "crazy", and actively sought out vulnerable people including Britney Spears, to which he later issued a [non-apology](https://web.archive.org/web/20230528201653if_/https://www.drphil.com/pages/page-britney-spears/ "Dr. Phil's Statement about His Visit with Britney Spears"). ## The Psychology Community Doesn't Respect Him diff --git a/content/entry/ego-traps.md b/content/entry/ego-traps.md index 7c51c08..26cb7e3 100644 --- a/content/entry/ego-traps.md +++ b/content/entry/ego-traps.md @@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ Let's say we want to build a computer system which perfectly simulates the unive Our computer system will be located on earth. Picture an imaginary sphere around our galaxy. Outside of this sphere is what our computer simulates. It ignores the inside. The simulation gets inaccurate over time because the part which it isn't simulating (our galaxy) propagates light out at the speed of light away from us, affecting the simulation. But, since we are good system designers, we account for this. We program it so that the imaginary sphere automatically expands at the speed of light (the fastest information can travel in our universe). This means that the system does not try to simulate the slowly, ever-expanding sphere (our galaxy) in which it resides. We now have a perfectly accurate simulation of the universe, minus a relatively small expanding sphere. -This is working fine, so let's upgrade the system. Now, it simulates the whole universe minus earth. We use the same solution as before, making an expanding sphere around the earth which it ignores. It will only take 8 minutes until that sphere touches the sun and we can no longer simulate the sun. Soon enough, we won't be able to simulate the solar system either, and it just gets worse from there. So, we upgrade the system again. Now, it simulates a sphere outside the building in which it sits. In no time flat, we already can't simulate the earth any more. +This is working fine, so let's upgrade the system. Now, it simulates the whole universe minus earth. We use the same solution as before, making an expanding sphere around the earth which it ignores. It will only take 8 minutes until that sphere touches the sun and we can no longer simulate the sun. Soon enough, we won't be able to simulate the solar system either, and it just gets worse from there. So, we upgrade the system again. Now, it simulates a sphere outside the building in which it sits. In no time flat, we already can't simulate the earth anymore. How small can we shrink this sphere? The smallest we can make it is if our initial non-simulated volume is coterminous with the outline of our computer system. Perhaps we can even shrink it smaller if our system is very large and some parts don't come online immediately. But we can never create a perfect simulation with this strategy because we can't shrink the non-simulated area to zero. If we try to simulate the inside of our imaginary volume, then we get an infinite regression. If a system simulates itself, then it has to simulate the simulation of itself. And so on to infinity. Maybe this is somehow possible, but it doesn't seem so. diff --git a/content/entry/experiences-with-teachers-bullying-students.md b/content/entry/experiences-with-teachers-bullying-students.md index b88163b..16020d2 100644 --- a/content/entry/experiences-with-teachers-bullying-students.md +++ b/content/entry/experiences-with-teachers-bullying-students.md @@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ Some of these events took place over a decade ago and my memory isn't perfect, s ## The Drill Sergeant It started in elementary school (years 1-6 for international readers). I had this teacher who acted like a drill sergeant in the marine corps. At the beginning of each session, all us students gathered together while he instructed us on what we would be doing for the day. -There was this one student who kept talking while he gave instructions. In reaction to this, he *regularly* shouted at the student in front of the entire class. I don't just mean telling the student to be quiet either. If my memory serves me correctly, he at one point implied that the student didn't have a future. He was really hateful and insulting towards the student. So naturally, the student lost respect for him and continued talking in class anyways. +There was this one student who kept talking while he gave instructions. In reaction to this, he *regularly* shouted at the student in front of the entire class. I don't just mean telling the student to be quiet either. If my memory serves me correctly, he at one point implied that the student didn't have a future. He was really hateful and insulting towards the student. So naturally, the student lost respect for him and continued talking in class anyway. At one point, I was talking with a friend in class while he gave instructions. I'd never been reprimanded for talking before, so it was my first "offense". Apparently that wasn't taken into account because he started screaming at me in the exact same angry hateful tone he used for the other student who routinely talked in class. diff --git a/content/entry/exposing-zoom.md b/content/entry/exposing-zoom.md index a6d8396..e76d174 100644 --- a/content/entry/exposing-zoom.md +++ b/content/entry/exposing-zoom.md @@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ The [privacy policy](https://explore.zoom.us/en/privacy/) is always where it get The recordings section is explaining that anyone in a Zoom call can record a meeting on their local device and save it and that Zoom acknowledges they have no control over this. Despite this, Zoom Phone makes it easier for customers to record calls. "Zoom Phone allows customers to record phone calls, receive voice mail recordings, and obtain transcripts of voicemail, all which may contain personal information and also be stored in our cloud". Privacy Policy. (2020, March 29). Retrieved May 23, 2020 from Zoom, Zoom privacy policy website, [https://explore.zoom.us/en/privacy/](https://explore.zoom.us/en/privacy/). Creating the transcripts happens automatically which means that the audio data of a call is fed into some automated system which has to listen to the call to create the transcript. ## Attention Tracking -The section on attention tracking in the Privacy Policy explains that if the host of the meeting is sharing their screen, they can activate a feature called "attention tracking". This means the host can see whether or not the participants have the Zoom window open or are doing something else. This gives whoever the host might be (employers, teachers, etc.) power to invade the participants' computers (employees, students, etc.) to check if they are paying attention or not. Zoom does not give participants any kind of forewarning that what they are doing on their own computers is being monitored and sent to the host other than it being buried in the Privacy Policy which, let's be real, nobody reads. And even if people did read it, they still are not in a position to understand the significance of some of the data collected on them like IP address, MAC address, etc. +The section on attention tracking in the Privacy Policy explains that if the host of the meeting is sharing their screen, they can activate a feature called "attention tracking". This means the host can see whether the participants have the Zoom window open or are doing something else. This gives whoever the host might be (employers, teachers, etc.) power to invade the participants' computers (employees, students, etc.) to check if they are paying attention or not. Zoom does not give participants any kind of forewarning that what they are doing on their own computers is being monitored and sent to the host other than it being buried in the Privacy Policy which, let's be real, nobody reads. And even if people did read it, they still are not in a position to understand the significance of some of the data collected on them like IP address, MAC address, etc. It's peculiar how Zoom website obviously tries to give the overwhelming impression that you can trust the software, yet it's against their terms of service to reverse engineer it and their own privacy policy shows they collect enormous amounts of data that isn't strictly necessary or relevant to video conferencing. Do they really need your MAC address or know which OS you're using? But not only does Zoom obtain data when you are using Zoom. They obtain data from you even when you are not using their service. @@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ The Facebook SDK isn't an isolated case either. Zoom didn't start caring about u Another absolutely disgusting thing is that Zoom lied to customers again about not selling their data: "...we do not sell our users’ data, we have never sold user data in the past, and have no intention of selling users’ data going forward" Eric S. Yuan. (2020, April 1). Retrieved May 24, 2020 from Zoom, Zoom blog, [https://web.archive.org/web/20200523154804if_/https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2020/04/01/a-message-to-our-users/](https://web.archive.org/web/20200523154804if_/https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2020/04/01/a-message-to-our-users/). They did permanently removed the attention tracking feature which never should have existed to begin with. There is no mention of removing Google Analytics though. ## 90-Day Plan -To play devil's advocate, I can go through [Zoom's 90-day plan](https://web.archive.org/web/20200523035015if_/https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2020/05/22/zoom-publishes-draft-design-of-end-to-end-encryption-offering/) focusing all their resources on security and privacy to fix their platform. A few things they have done so far: only the host can screen share by default, participants need consent to be unmuted, audio indication for the waiting rooms, removing Giphy, and giving the host more control over the meeting. They also published a [draft crypto design](https://web.archive.org/web/20200523035015if_/https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2020/05/22/zoom-publishes-draft-design-of-end-to-end-encryption-offering/) to redo their cryptography. It is apparently available for [peer review on Github](https://github.com/zoom/zoom-e2e-whitepaper/blob/master/zoom_e2e.pdf). It's still early to see where all this goes. But given that Zoom hasn't ever owned up to selling user data in exchange for service, I don't have my hopes high. +To play devil's advocate, I can go through [Zoom's 90-day plan](https://web.archive.org/web/20200523035015if_/https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2020/05/22/zoom-publishes-draft-design-of-end-to-end-encryption-offering/) focusing all their resources on security and privacy to fix their platform. A few things they have done so far: only the host can screen share by default, participants need consent to be unmuted, audio indication for the waiting rooms, removing Giphy, and giving the host more control over the meeting. They also published a [draft crypto design](https://web.archive.org/web/20200523035015if_/https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2020/05/22/zoom-publishes-draft-design-of-end-to-end-encryption-offering/) to redo their cryptography. It is apparently available for [peer review on GitHub](https://github.com/zoom/zoom-e2e-whitepaper/blob/master/zoom_e2e.pdf). It's still early to see where all this goes. But given that Zoom hasn't ever owned up to selling user data in exchange for service, I don't have my hopes high. # Use Jitsi Instead Zoom is a [proprietary](https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/) platform. This means it is essentially a black box. As I mentioned earlier, this means it will always be less trustworthy than free software video conferencing solutions such as [Jitsi](https://jitsi.org/security/). [The Tor Project](https://x.com/torproject/status/1244986986278072322) recommended using Jitsi instead of Zoom. I haven't done much research on Jitsi yet, but if the Tor Project is saying to try Jitsi, I would use it over Zoom any day. It's also cross-platform and features actual end-to-end encryption. Even if Zoom implements end-to-end encryption, how can you trust it if it can't be independently reviewed by anyone and no one outside of Zoom can see the source code? How can you trust the implementation on desktop or mobile platforms? In short, you can't. No platform is perfect, however there are more secure and less secure solutions out there. And in general, you want to avoid proprietary programs because they cause the incentives to be aligned in such a way that Zoom will always have reasons to insert privacy-corroding features into their platform. diff --git a/content/entry/extreme-capitalism-ruins-everything.md b/content/entry/extreme-capitalism-ruins-everything.md index 91f4d70..c845e7a 100644 --- a/content/entry/extreme-capitalism-ruins-everything.md +++ b/content/entry/extreme-capitalism-ruins-everything.md @@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ Why is it that policies which poll well among most Americans either never come t The reason for this is America has been steadily moving towards plutocracy for about half a century now. Plutocracy is an illegitimate form of government where the wealthy dictate politics and the will of the majority is ignored. # Money in Politics -Robert Reich's main preoccupation in life is to spread awareness on the issues of inequality, money in politics, and plutocracy. He's the former U.S. Secretary of Labor and political commentator who does a lot of important work on these issues and should be promoted. He has a [website](https://robertreich.org/), [Youtube channel](https://yewtu.be/channel/UCuDv5p8E-evaRSh542hDV5g?dark_mode=true), and [Twitter](https://x.com/rbreich). He has made podcasts and written articles and books about these subjects which you can find on the media outlet he founded, [Inequality Media](https://www.inequalitymedia.org/). +Robert Reich's main preoccupation in life is to spread awareness on the issues of inequality, money in politics, and plutocracy. He's the former U.S. Secretary of Labor and political commentator who does a lot of important work on these issues and should be promoted. He has a [website](https://robertreich.org/), [YouTube channel](https://yewtu.be/channel/UCuDv5p8E-evaRSh542hDV5g?dark_mode=true), and [Twitter](https://x.com/rbreich). He has made podcasts and written articles and books about these subjects which you can find on the media outlet he founded, [Inequality Media](https://www.inequalitymedia.org/). I'd like to include his latest tweet: @@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ I'd like to include his latest tweet: > The oil industry buys off Congress. No action on climate. > Insurance companies buy off Congress. No action on health care. > Pharma buys off Congress. No action on drug prices. -> Money in politics is the root of our dysfunction." - [Robert Reich](https://x.com/RBReich/status/1532412155667984384#m) +> Money in politics is the root of our dysfunction." — [Robert Reich](https://x.com/RBReich/status/1532412155667984384#m) He's right. It doesn't matter what else we push for politically. If we can't get money out of politics, we won't see any change as long as it's against the interests of the wealthy. You can learn a lot more about inequality from him than me, since he has basically dedicated his life to it. I highly recommend checking him out. @@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ So we have to make it easier for people not to consume product by getting rid of ## No Right to Repair Then there's the right to repair. See [Louis Rossman](https://yewtu.be/channel/UCl2mFZoRqjw_ELax4Yisf6w?dark_mode=true) about this one. In the past, goods shipped with guides on how to repair them yourself with detailed diagrams. Companies didn't treat their customers like idiots who are too stupid to be allowed to fix their own stuff. -Is it not insane that the newer vehicles produced today including cars, trucks, and John Deere tractors can't be repaired by their owners? You used to be able to work on your own vehicles, but not any more! Now you have to take it to the car dealership because only they have the tools to fix it. If you actually want to repair your own vehicle, you have to buy the old models. +Is it not insane that the newer vehicles produced today including cars, trucks, and John Deere tractors can't be repaired by their owners? You used to be able to work on your own vehicles, but not anymore! Now you have to take it to the car dealership because only they have the tools to fix it. If you actually want to repair your own vehicle, you have to buy the old models. It's the same in tech as well. Wanna fix your new laptop? Well you better take it to the laptop repair store because good luck taking it apart. [Modern repairable laptops are still pretty niche.](https://frame.work) If you want something you can actually repair, you have to research what you're buying first and most people aren't going to do that. You should be able to go to your local Best Buy and anything you buy should be repairable, but no. Instead we're stuck paying a quarter of the price of the laptop for a few replacement keys for the keyboard. @@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ The same thing is happening with focused attention all over the world. Johann Ha Whenever I see very young children playing on Ipads all day, giving their childhood to these huge companies that profit off of them, it depresses me. It's wrecking their brains. The thousands of engineers at Google and Netflix and Facebook have figured out how to hijack the brain's reward system and profit off of it. We are puppets pulling our own strings and we have no idea the long term implications of this on mental health. -It's to the point you can't even watch a full movie or have a meal with people any more without them pulling out their phones to watch some mindless Tiktok because they're not entertained for two split seconds. And I can't even be mad at them because they're victims. These online platforms have destroyed their ability to pay focused attention to anything. Professors don't even ask students to read books any more. They tell them to go watch short Youtube videos because they know their students' attention can't stay on any one thing for too long. People just live in this blur of constant stimulation and switching tasks, incurring the overhead of context switching and exhausting their brain. +It's to the point you can't even watch a full movie or have a meal with people anymore without them pulling out their phones to watch some mindless Tiktok because they're not entertained for two split seconds. And I can't even be mad at them because they're victims. These online platforms have destroyed their ability to pay focused attention to anything. Professors don't even ask students to read books anymore. They tell them to go watch short YouTube videos because they know their students' attention can't stay on any one thing for too long. People just live in this blur of constant stimulation and switching tasks, incurring the overhead of context switching and exhausting their brain. One of the most important points Johann Hari makes in his book Stolen Focus, which by the way I plan to dedicate an entry to, is that unchecked capitalism leads to overconsumption and attention problems. The more focused attention people spend on one single task at a time, the less they will be task switching. The less people task switch, the less ads and media they see and the less products they'll consume. After you've saturated the consumer base for a product and you cannot raise prices any more, the only thing you can do is make people consume more. Make them interrupt their day more often doing what you want them to do. That necessarily means less attention dedicated to more important things. @@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ So extreme capitalism is literally incompatible with the ability to pay focused We have to make it easier for people to pay focused attention not by shaming them for "lacking willpower", but by removing the environmental factors that caused the problems in attention to begin with. To expect individual "willpower" to prevail on the whole over a systemic society-level problem is a strategy that will always fail. Should individuals still do everything they can? Absolutely. But we shouldn't be so focused on individual actions that we forget the true cause of the problem, which demands a collective solution. ## Bullshit Jobs -Extreme capitalism also means an unthinkable amount of human intelligence and creativity go to waste performing [bullshit jobs](/2022/01/22/automation-bullshit-jobs-and-work/) that either harm society or don't provide any real value. If you do find some job which uses your intelligence and creativity, then it might still be for evil purposes. For example, if you're a Google engineer tasked with making Youtube even more addictive to children. +Extreme capitalism also means an unthinkable amount of human intelligence and creativity go to waste performing [bullshit jobs](/2022/01/22/automation-bullshit-jobs-and-work/) that either harm society or don't provide any real value. If you do find some job which uses your intelligence and creativity, then it might still be for evil purposes. For example, if you're a Google engineer tasked with making YouTube even more addictive to children. When your population is drowning in student debt and medical debt they can never get out from under and paying sky high rent because of zoning laws and because there's no low income housing, you force intelligent creative people who would otherwise be helping society to do demeaning bullshit clerical and administrative work which doesn't really need done. diff --git a/content/entry/failing-forward.md b/content/entry/failing-forward.md index b59b326..8ce823c 100644 --- a/content/entry/failing-forward.md +++ b/content/entry/failing-forward.md @@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ Let's talk about failing forward. It's the idea that, rather than seeing failure The problem is that everybody wants to be successful in life, according to whatever their definition of success is, but they don't want to fail first. We all know why. Failure can be embarrassing. But success and failure are like yin and yang. They always go together. So there are basically two strategies for goal-pursuit in life: -The first is to do nothing with regards to your goal. It might seem like a dumb strategy since you'll never succeed in that goal, but it has a major benefit that's often overlooked: you never face the embarrassment of failure. You can't be criticized or mocked for decisions you never make. So you don't allow yourself to fail at anything others may judge you for, but you end up with major regret later in life. +The first is to do nothing in regard to your goal. It might seem like a dumb strategy since you'll never succeed in that goal, but it has a major benefit that's often overlooked: you never face the embarrassment of failure. You can't be criticized or mocked for decisions you never make. So you don't allow yourself to fail at anything others may judge you for, but you end up with major regret later in life. The second strategy is to attempt your goal and risk making mistakes, failure, and embarrassment. Other people may mock you, ridicule you, and try to discourage you, but you resolve to try despite all that. Every time you fail, you learn from your mistakes. As time goes on, you grow a thicker skin. The naysayers don't bother you as much. You stop fearing your own failure. And even if you don't ultimately achieve all of your goal, you still develop resilience, gain confidence, and you don't live the rest of your life wondering "What if I had tried?" diff --git a/content/entry/fighting-the-war-on-drugs-with-jury-nullification.md b/content/entry/fighting-the-war-on-drugs-with-jury-nullification.md index 438b64f..153a24f 100644 --- a/content/entry/fighting-the-war-on-drugs-with-jury-nullification.md +++ b/content/entry/fighting-the-war-on-drugs-with-jury-nullification.md @@ -30,9 +30,9 @@ Just for the sake of argument, let's entertain the [slippery slope fallacy](http Judges can still override a guilty verdict if jury nullification is obvious. They cannot overturn an acquittal though. And even if a defendant gets convicted, they still have a chance to appeal. So jury nullification doesn't lend itself to guilty verdicts. -The bigger concern is that jurors would vote to acquit someone who is guilty of grievous crimes. For instance, Trump supporters may vote to acquit the insurrectionists who raided the U.S. Capitol building. In the past, jurors voted to acquit lynch mobs because of underlying racist sympathies. But Trump Supporters, lynch mobs, and other extremists are so radicalized they probably vote according to their own personal sense of justice anyways. So nothing is lost. +The bigger concern is that jurors would vote to acquit someone who is guilty of grievous crimes. For instance, Trump supporters may vote to acquit the insurrectionists who raided the U.S. Capitol building. In the past, jurors voted to acquit lynch mobs because of underlying racist sympathies. But Trump Supporters, lynch mobs, and other extremists are so radicalized they probably vote according to their own personal sense of justice anyway. So nothing is lost. -Even if using jury nullification against the War on Drugs did lead extremists to more often acquit people they're sympathetic towards, the main issue is not people evading conviction on grievous crimes. It's people who don't belong in jail getting convicted anyways. +Even if using jury nullification against the War on Drugs did lead extremists to more often acquit people they're sympathetic towards, the main issue is not people evading conviction on grievous crimes. It's people who don't belong in jail getting convicted anyway. # Conclusion The potential downsides to jury nullification for nonviolent drug offenses are clearly outweighed by the benefits. I most likely won't be asked to serve on a jury again now, but if the day ever comes and I get a nonviolent drug case, well you can probably figure out how I'm going to vote. diff --git a/content/entry/free-international-texting-without-a-phone-number.md b/content/entry/free-international-texting-without-a-phone-number.md index ffef875..77725a3 100644 --- a/content/entry/free-international-texting-without-a-phone-number.md +++ b/content/entry/free-international-texting-without-a-phone-number.md @@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ tags: ['computing'] draft: false --- # SMS/Email Gateways -So I just found out that many cell phone service providers run SMS/email gateways. I don't believe they're very well known, but they are extremely useful. I created a Git repo listing [all the ones that are known to work](https://git.nicholasjohnson.ch/sms-email-gateway-list/), so be sure to check that out if you're interested. +So I just found out that many cell phone service providers run SMS/email gateways. I don't believe they're very well known, but they are extremely useful. I created a Git repo listing [all the ones that are known to work](https://archive.softwareheritage.org/swh:1:snp:b703977afa331c9175440393b43de07a7a32c8eb;origin=https://git.nicholasjohnson.ch/sms-email-gateway-list), so be sure to check that out if you're interested. What these gateways enable you to do is send texts via email and send emails via text. So for instance, I can email "0123456789@txt.att.net" and my message will arrive to the phone number "0123456789" as a text. The received text will look something like: diff --git a/content/entry/free-will-is-incoherent-part-1.md b/content/entry/free-will-is-incoherent-part-1.md index 756d720..de07378 100644 --- a/content/entry/free-will-is-incoherent-part-1.md +++ b/content/entry/free-will-is-incoherent-part-1.md @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ --- -title: "Free Will is Incoherent - Part 1" +title: "Free Will is Incoherent — Part 1" date: 2020-06-19T00:00:00 draft: false --- diff --git a/content/entry/free-will-is-incoherent-part-2.md b/content/entry/free-will-is-incoherent-part-2.md index 2268879..b954cdd 100644 --- a/content/entry/free-will-is-incoherent-part-2.md +++ b/content/entry/free-will-is-incoherent-part-2.md @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ --- -title: "Free Will is Incoherent - Part 2" +title: "Free Will is Incoherent — Part 2" date: 2020-08-22T00:00:00 draft: false --- @@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ The way incarcerated people are treated in the United States demonstrates 3 thin The most surprising of these for me is number 2. I understand there is a prison-industrial complex which focuses on making the rich richer rather than rehabilitating prisoners. With that in mind, there stills seems to be either an extremely impoverished understanding and deep misunderstanding of criminal psychology by correctional officers, prison staff, and prison administrators who demonstrate their misunderstanding by egging on violence and needless suffering in prisons through policy and actions or an almost psychopathic lack of empathy and compassion from a combination of personal callousness of the suffering of others or being in an extraordinarily toxic environment where rehabilitation is only a word on paper and not a philosophy permeating the prison system and the only goal is to get home safe, not help incarcerated people. I'm afraid it's both. -How incarcerated people are treated says more about our society than it does about those incarcerated. Take the death penalty for instance. By putting someone to death, we are essentially saying, "We have no idea how to help this person. We lack the knowledge or resources to sufficiently rehabilitate them, so we just have to make them not exist any more". That says more about our competence as a society than it does about the incarcerated individuals. Every time someone is executed by capital punishment by the state, that is a failure of our society to be competent enough to help that person. The very act of capital punishment, or decades-long prison sentences, demonstrates that fact. +How incarcerated people are treated says more about our society than it does about those incarcerated. Take the death penalty for instance. By putting someone to death, we are essentially saying, "We have no idea how to help this person. We lack the knowledge or resources to sufficiently rehabilitate them, so we just have to make them not exist anymore". That says more about our competence as a society than it does about the incarcerated individuals. Every time someone is executed by capital punishment by the state, that is a failure of our society to be competent enough to help that person. The very act of capital punishment, or decades-long prison sentences, demonstrates that fact. ## We Can Do Better I'm big on evidence-based thinking. No amount of me preaching about how broken our (in)justice system is shows that we can in fact do better. I can say everything I have above, but it doesn't prove anything. It's just me preaching. So I want to briefly cover some examples of how Nordic prison philosophy is more effective at rehabilitation and why their data makes sense in the context of everything I've already said. I'd highly recommend watching the documentaries out there on the Nordic prison system. I like the one about [Halden Prison](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halden_Prison). diff --git a/content/entry/fuck-advertising.md b/content/entry/fuck-advertising.md index 01612a8..c7e692b 100644 --- a/content/entry/fuck-advertising.md +++ b/content/entry/fuck-advertising.md @@ -15,9 +15,9 @@ Since most online advertising happens through Google, even allowing ads to load > "Advertising is not socially neutral. It is shitting in people's heads, or squatting in them. It is also the fundamental driver and enabler of surveillance capitalism as a business model. In this regard, I consider adblocking (with zero tolerance for adblocking failures) wholly non-optional. This is before taking into account additional advantages of adblocking, such as significantly reducing page bloat, bandwidth use, local resource consumption (CPU/memory), and exposure to potential malware." -Another reason to hate advertising is the interests it creates. The world's largest advertising company Google has made multiple attempts at sabotaging the open web for profit. Google has tried to [make ad blocking harder](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/12/chrome-users-beware-manifest-v3-deceitful-and-threatening "Chrome Users Beware: Manifest V3 is Deceitful and Threatening") and [increase user tracking](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/googles-floc-terrible-idea "Google's FLoC Is a Terrible Idea") on the web. The world's largest search engine, Youtube, is owned by Google. Youtube recently issued a [cease-and-desist letter](https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/issues/3872 "Invidious: YouTube legal team contacted us") to [Invidious](https://invidious.io/), an alternative Youtube client which allows one to use Youtube without the annoying advertising, web bloat, and tracking. +Another reason to hate advertising is the interests it creates. The world's largest advertising company Google has made multiple attempts at sabotaging the open web for profit. Google has tried to [make ad blocking harder](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/12/chrome-users-beware-manifest-v3-deceitful-and-threatening "Chrome Users Beware: Manifest V3 is Deceitful and Threatening") and [increase user tracking](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/googles-floc-terrible-idea "Google's FLoC Is a Terrible Idea") on the web. The world's largest search engine, YouTube, is owned by Google. YouTube recently issued a [cease-and-desist letter](https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/issues/3872 "Invidious: YouTube legal team contacted us") to [Invidious](https://invidious.io/), an alternative YouTube client which allows one to use YouTube without the annoying advertising, web bloat, and tracking. -"But Youtube is a business. Running ads is the only way it can pay for the costs of operations." And that's exactly why it shouldn't exist. It is insane to have the world's largest repository of online video content locked behind an ad-ridden bloated surveillance website subject to the whims of a single American company. The world would be a better place if companies whose primary business model is online advertising went out of business and their content was decentralized. +"But YouTube is a business. Running ads is the only way it can pay for the costs of operations." And that's exactly why it shouldn't exist. It is insane to have the world's largest repository of online video content locked behind an ad-ridden bloated surveillance website subject to the whims of a single American company. The world would be a better place if companies whose primary business model is online advertising went out of business and their content was decentralized. > "Advertising transmitted via other mediums, such as TV, can be avoided by scrupulously consistent use of mute precisely as advert breaks begin and end, and monitoring the TV using only your peripheral vision during advert breaks. The frequency of cuts in advertising makes it easy to identify the end of advert breaks, without bringing the TV into enough focus to actually have any idea as to what is being advertised." diff --git a/content/entry/future-proof-digital-timestamping.md b/content/entry/future-proof-digital-timestamping.md index f08eee6..395dba0 100644 --- a/content/entry/future-proof-digital-timestamping.md +++ b/content/entry/future-proof-digital-timestamping.md @@ -40,10 +40,10 @@ As it turns out, [SHA-1 is still good enough for OpenTimestamps](https://peterto ## Bitcoin Falling Out of Favor There's actually another problem with OpenTimestamps: It depends on Bitcoin. Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency. Don't get me wrong, it was great for its time. But by today's standards, it has several severe design flaws: -* Not anonymous - blockchain is transparent. -* Environmentally destructive - uses proof of work. -* The mining is undemocratic - ASICs required. -* Value isn't backed by an asset or service - no smart contracts. +* Not anonymous — blockchain is transparent. +* Environmentally destructive — uses proof of work. +* The mining is undemocratic — ASICs required. +* Value isn't backed by an asset or service — no smart contracts. With all these design flaws, Bitcoin should've fallen out of favor years ago. Supposing people come to their senses and it does fall out of favor, it will lose its value. Then miners will quit mining. There will be nothing to secure the blockchain and it will be possible to rewrite blockchain history. Thus the timestamps won't be secure. diff --git a/content/entry/gaining-clarity-after-walking-off-a-job-on-orientation-day.md b/content/entry/gaining-clarity-after-walking-off-a-job-on-orientation-day.md index 77c5db2..bda17d9 100644 --- a/content/entry/gaining-clarity-after-walking-off-a-job-on-orientation-day.md +++ b/content/entry/gaining-clarity-after-walking-off-a-job-on-orientation-day.md @@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ It came as a surprise because this type of job normally wouldn't be offered to a It started with an interview with the English program director. We discussed the details of the job for a while and got to know each other. The director was surprised to learn that I didn't have a phone or a phone number. After realizing that I'd need a phone, a phone number, and WhatsApp to contact the director and my coworkers, I told the director I would be willing to get those things. I also learned that I'd need a Mexican bank app to get paid. I wasn't happy about it, but I tried to remind myself that I needed the job since I've lacked stable employment for quite a while now. -Before I'd even discovered the teaching opportunity, I'd already made the rounds at large Mexican banks in a futile attempt to find one that didn't require a proprietary mobile application just to use the fucking account. I ended up finding an alternative to banking that's good enough for now. So imagine how annoyed I was finding out that I'd need an account and the app anyways. One of the biggest problems with these bank apps, besides them being proprietary spyware, is that they refuse to work if you use a custom rom or try to exercise any real control over your own device. +Before I'd even discovered the teaching opportunity, I'd already made the rounds at large Mexican banks in a futile attempt to find one that didn't require a proprietary mobile application just to use the fucking account. I ended up finding an alternative to banking that's good enough for now. So imagine how annoyed I was finding out that I'd need an account and the app anyway. One of the biggest problems with these bank apps, besides them being proprietary spyware, is that they refuse to work if you use a custom rom or try to exercise any real control over your own device. I'd need a real mobile phone to get the bank app since my computers lack the CPU instructions to spin up Android VMs. I certainly wasn't going to spend money on a closed hardware computer or mobile phone, so a family member gave me their old Android device. Thanks to planned obsolescence, I could not upgrade the system past Android 8.1, meaning it probably contained unpatched security vulnerabilities. I was unable to install a custom degoogled rom either. @@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ I also noticed that the classrooms had surveillance cameras, which made me uncom After the orientation, we were shuffled off to a conference room. In the conference room, we were emailed a document to complete as some kind of Google form. While everyone was using their phones to complete the form, I wasn't even aware that I'd need to access my email on my phone while at work, so I didn't prepare it and couldn't access the form. I was also very apprehensive about putting any information in a Google form. Why should I have to give data to the corporate surveillance monster that is Google just to have a job? -Eventually everyone in that group had completed the form and went to get their pictures taken, except for me since I could not access the form. I became frustrated and stressed, so I left to sit down on a bench outside the conference room to calm down, then headed towards the English language coordinator's office to discuss the matter. They had to continue the orientation soon, but they gave me a few minutes anyways. +Eventually everyone in that group had completed the form and went to get their pictures taken, except for me since I could not access the form. I became frustrated and stressed, so I left to sit down on a bench outside the conference room to calm down, then headed towards the English language coordinator's office to discuss the matter. They had to continue the orientation soon, but they gave me a few minutes anyway. At that point, I'd had enough. I didn't want a phone. I didn't want a phone number. I didn't want WhatsApp. I didn't want a bank app. I didn't want to use Google. I originally thought I could put up with it all given how badly I needed a stable job, but it turns out I was wrong. @@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ The director messaged asking me to return and I did. I tried to state the terms The leader proceeded to lecture me, saying that sometimes it's necessary to do things I don't like to fit in with the group and that if I had a problem with that, I'd need to talk with the director. I believe that was the moment when I decided for certain I wasn't going to work there. -I sat through the rest of the debriefing anyways, where I noticed that the online grading system wasn't even protected by a TLS certificate, meaning that anyone smart enough to use [Wireshark](https://www.wireshark.org) could capture all institutional data including student grades and teacher and administrator login credentials. +I sat through the rest of the debriefing anyway, where I noticed that the online grading system wasn't even protected by a TLS certificate, meaning that anyone smart enough to use [Wireshark](https://www.wireshark.org) could capture all institutional data including student grades and teacher and administrator login credentials. After the debriefing, I informed my group leader that I'd decided not to take the job and that they needed to tell the systems people to fix their TLS because the site was unsecured. I explained the severity of this and the importance of fixing it, but I was told that the systems people "would not listen to them". After hearing that, I walked straight out the door. diff --git a/content/entry/gemini-appreciation-entry.md b/content/entry/gemini-appreciation-entry.md index e6250cc..8985674 100644 --- a/content/entry/gemini-appreciation-entry.md +++ b/content/entry/gemini-appreciation-entry.md @@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ The organization resembles that of the early Web. Search engines exist, but they The small-worldiness of Gemini reminds me very much of [Neocities](https://neocities.org/browse), which you should definitely check out if you never have before. If you're like me though and you find the Web overwhelming, Neocities is even more than your average website. That's why I can't spend too long browsing around on there, whereas I can spend hours on Gemini and not mentally tire out. -There's some non-English capsules out there that are good to read if you're trying to learn the language. Gemini is a good way to find others who are open to discussion and collaboration. Most Geminauts put their email on their capsule. Every Geminaut I've sent emails to or received emails from has been friendly. +There are some non-English capsules out there that are good to read if you're trying to learn the language. Gemini is a good way to find others who are open to discussion and collaboration. Most Geminauts put their email on their capsule. Every Geminaut I've sent emails to or received emails from has been friendly. # The Medium is the Message Gemini reminds me of this phrase coined by Canadian communication theorist Marshall McLuhan: @@ -38,18 +38,18 @@ Consider Twitter. If you pay attention to Twitter as a communication medium, one Some design decisions are less obvious. Twitter has infinite scroll, not pagination. This encourages users to get hooked, to keep on scrolling, without giving them a natural point to pause and decide if they really want to keep browsing. That and other design features mean that Twitter (and basically all big tech platforms) doesn't lend itself to use in moderation. It's designed to turn people into addicts. -## Youtube -Youtube has popups which you get if you're not signed in. Youtube hopes the popups will annoy you to the point you just give in. That's because they want to surveil and track you easier. Videos autoplay so you don't have a natural stopping point. This is a reflection of Youtube's values in the same way that infinite scroll reflects Twitter's values. Their goal is to keep you hooked for as long as possible so you watch more ads, they get more data on you, and they make more money. +## YouTube +YouTube has popups which you get if you're not signed in. YouTube hopes the popups will annoy you to the point you just give in. That's because they want to surveil and track you easier. Videos autoplay so you don't have a natural stopping point. This is a reflection of YouTube's values in the same way that infinite scroll reflects Twitter's values. Their goal is to keep you hooked for as long as possible so you watch more ads, they get more data on you, and they make more money. Every big tech social media platform makes thousands of little design decisions which you may not even recognize are decisions someone has made, and even if you do notice them you might not think they make a difference, but these companies have unlimited resources that they use to micro-engineer every change to the site. They know, quantitatively, exactly how much difference their design choices make in keeping you (and your children) hooked on their platforms. -Many people have expressed grave concerns about the way Youtube organizes videos for people to watch. Apparently it leads people down "rabbit holes" where the videos become more and more extreme, more radicalized, and more reactive. How many people who watch Youtube even stop to consider how it organizes the related videos? We need to start questioning more how online platforms themselves influence us, not just the messages on those platforms. +Many people have expressed grave concerns about the way YouTube organizes videos for people to watch. Apparently it leads people down "rabbit holes" where the videos become more and more extreme, more radicalized, and more reactive. How many people who watch YouTube even stop to consider how it organizes the related videos? We need to start questioning more how online platforms themselves influence us, not just the messages on those platforms. ## Gemini I could go on all day about big tech, but let's bring it back to Gemini. How is Gemini designed? What message does it communicate? ### Text-Based -The first thing I notice about Gemini is that it's text-based. On Gemini, you read. You don't look at or watch. Reading is an active process that requires focused attention. So when you're on Gemini, you're on Gemini. You're not doing 10 other things at the same time. If you're on Youtube, you might have other browser tabs open, only half paying attention to the video. +The first thing I notice about Gemini is that it's text-based. On Gemini, you read. You don't look at or watch. Reading is an active process that requires focused attention. So when you're on Gemini, you're on Gemini. You're not doing 10 other things at the same time. If you're on YouTube, you might have other browser tabs open, only half paying attention to the video. ### Non-addictive The second thing that stands out to me about Gemini is there's no rating system. On major social media networks, you have posts, comments, likes/dislikes, reactions, and replies. On Gemini, there's none of that. When you explore a capsule, you explore one person's thoughts at a time, in a linear fashion, with focused attention. Since one's focused attention is a scarce resource, Gemini is naturally non-addictive. @@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ and support for multiple languages. It's useful, while not lending itself to ove And then there's hive minds. Online platforms like Facebook and Reddit especially seem to create self-selected communities where all members conform to certain opinions or else face being ostracized. Thanks to the lack of built-in interactivity on Gemini, there seems to be a lack of hive mind as well. ### No Rating System or Censorship -There's no such thing as being "downvoted to oblivion". Since there's no ads, you're not at risk of gaining or losing ad revenue for sharing unpopular opinions. You don't get points or karma. You don't have to post under your real name. You're free to say anything you want and the worst you'll get is a nasty email. +There's no such thing as being "downvoted to oblivion". Since there are no ads, you're not at risk of gaining or losing ad revenue for sharing unpopular opinions. You don't get points or karma. You don't have to post under your real name. You're free to say anything you want and the worst you'll get is a nasty email. Notably, I haven't seen anyone complain about censorship on Gemini. I attribute the apparent lack of censorship to 3 things: diff --git a/content/entry/get-an-eco-friendly-burial.md b/content/entry/get-an-eco-friendly-burial.md index a43fd91..38781bd 100644 --- a/content/entry/get-an-eco-friendly-burial.md +++ b/content/entry/get-an-eco-friendly-burial.md @@ -29,6 +29,6 @@ When I get old and eventually die, I want younger generations to see me as someo In all likelihood, I have a long life ahead of me and won't have to worry about burial for at least fifty years. I don't plan on dying soon, but if I do come to an untimely death, let this serve as my end of life wish: -> "I don't want my death to harm nature. I wish to be placed directly into the earth, without a casket, at the nearest available spot. If that's not possible, then get me a cheap, biodegradable casket. No cremation and no preservatives. There's no reason to preserve a corpse that nobody's going to see anyways." +> "I don't want my death to harm nature. I wish to be placed directly into the earth, without a casket, at the nearest available spot. If that's not possible, then get me a cheap, biodegradable casket. No cremation and no preservatives. There's no reason to preserve a corpse that nobody's going to see anyway." If you want to preserve nature for future generations, please make it known that you wish for a green burial. Thanks for reading. diff --git a/content/entry/git-is-not-github-git-is-not-github-git-is-not-github.md b/content/entry/git-is-not-github-git-is-not-github-git-is-not-github.md index 0c5de57..ae497e7 100644 --- a/content/entry/git-is-not-github-git-is-not-github-git-is-not-github.md +++ b/content/entry/git-is-not-github-git-is-not-github-git-is-not-github.md @@ -1,15 +1,15 @@ --- -title: "Git Is Not Github. Git Is Not Github. Git Is Not Github." +title: "Git Is Not GitHub. Git Is Not GitHub. Git Is Not GitHub." date: 2022-02-25T00:00:00 tags: ['computing'] draft: false --- -A common confusion among new programmers is that Git and Github are the same thing, despite dozens of online articles and videos explaining the difference. I was probably in their position once myself, so I'm not assigning blame. I'm writing this entry because I think the conflation of Git and Github is harmful. +A common confusion among new programmers is that Git and GitHub are the same thing, despite dozens of online articles and videos explaining the difference. I was probably in their position once myself, so I'm not assigning blame. I'm writing this entry because I think the conflation of Git and GitHub is harmful. -Git is a powerful version control tool that makes software development and collaboration easier. Github is a cloud-based repository hosting service operated by corporate monster Micro$oft. Git helps millions of developers write better code. Github sold code to [ICE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement), who used it to assist separating families at the border and putting immigrants in cages. +Git is a powerful version control tool that makes software development and collaboration easier. GitHub is a cloud-based repository hosting service operated by corporate monster Micro$oft. Git helps millions of developers write better code. GitHub sold code to [ICE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement), who used it to assist separating families at the border and putting immigrants in cages. -I have said before nobody should use [Github](/2021/05/31/dont-use-github/), especially not people who write free software. If you need a software development platform, use [Sourcehut](https://sourcehut.org/). It has no advertising, tracking, or JavaScript. It's 100% free software and it's the fastest and lightest software forge, [bar none](https://forgeperf.org/). And if you don't like Sourcehut, there's other free software forges out there for whatever your needs are. +I have said before nobody should use [GitHub](/2021/05/31/dont-use-github/), especially not people who write free software. If you need a software development platform, use [Sourcehut](https://sourcehut.org/). It has no advertising, tracking, or JavaScript. It's 100% free software and it's the fastest and lightest software forge, [bar none](https://forgeperf.org/). And if you don't like Sourcehut, there's other free software forges out there for whatever your needs are. -A morally neutral version control tool being frequently confused with a morally onerous big tech company is bad. More than just technical confusion, it invites moral confusion. Without knowing the difference, new developers may confuse criticism of Github the company with criticism of Git the tool. They will think "Github is bad? It can't be because I use that program and it's helpful to me." +A morally neutral version control tool being frequently confused with a morally onerous big tech company is bad. More than just technical confusion, it invites moral confusion. Without knowing the difference, new developers may confuse criticism of GitHub the company with criticism of Git the tool. They will think "GitHub is bad? It can't be because I use that program and it's helpful to me." -So if you notice a developer using 'Git' and 'Github' interchangeably, chances are they're probably confused. Please correct them and then teach them there are other software forges that also cost nothing but are technically and ethically superior to Github. That way, even if they decide not to switch away from Github, at least they'll know better alternatives exist. +So if you notice a developer using 'Git' and 'GitHub' interchangeably, chances are they're probably confused. Please correct them and then teach them there are other software forges that also cost nothing but are technically and ethically superior to GitHub. That way, even if they decide not to switch away from GitHub, at least they'll know better alternatives exist. diff --git a/content/entry/give-up-hope-take-action.md b/content/entry/give-up-hope-take-action.md index bac4a33..d6a2874 100644 --- a/content/entry/give-up-hope-take-action.md +++ b/content/entry/give-up-hope-take-action.md @@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ Most people are living in a fantasy land either denying these facts because they My attitude towards the current state of things is similar to that of the co-founder of [Extinction Rebellion](https://rebellion.global/), Clare Farrell: -> "Hope for me feels like the opposite of admitting that you have to do it. ‘I hope someone else will fix it.’ That’s a disaster. Hope dies and action begins." - Clare Farrell +> "Hope for me feels like the opposite of admitting that you have to do it. ‘I hope someone else will fix it.’ That’s a disaster. Hope dies and action begins." — Clare Farrell The situation is probably hopeless and nobody is doing anything about it. It's not just the politicians. Average, everyday people aren't even doing the mildest, least objectionable political activities like signing petitions or going to nonviolent protests. @@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ You might get some satisfaction from keeping up with the news about humanity's d If you want to start feeling better about how hopeless circumstances are, stop making glib remarks, stop making excuses, and do something about it. Isn't it clear by now that nobody else is going to? -Whatever you do won't feel like enough and there may not be many opportunities for you to make a difference. You will probably fail lots of times. Things might get worse despite your efforts. Act anyways. +Whatever you do won't feel like enough and there may not be many opportunities for you to make a difference. You will probably fail lots of times. Things might get worse despite your efforts. Act anyway. In my past entries, I tried to be hopeful because I thought it was important not to spread despair, but the truth is I don't have hope for humanity. I think people who are optimistic about the future of our species are living in a fantasy. The time for hope has passed. diff --git a/content/entry/goodbye-pgp.md b/content/entry/goodbye-pgp.md index 579385e..0b1f89d 100644 --- a/content/entry/goodbye-pgp.md +++ b/content/entry/goodbye-pgp.md @@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ The OpenPGP format combines [compression and encryption](https://security.stacke ## No Deniability PGP does not have [cryptographic deniability](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deniable_encryption) even though it could be implemented. Anyone who receives a signed message from you can prove to others you sent it. -For email encryption, it hardly even matters that PGP lacks deniability. Any half decent email server uses DKIM anyways, which can and has been used to prove email provenance. Unless your email provider rotates and publishes DKIM keys, and most don't, then your emails aren't deniable. +For email encryption, it hardly even matters that PGP lacks deniability. Any half decent email server uses DKIM anyway, which can and has been used to prove email provenance. Unless your email provider rotates and publishes DKIM keys, and most don't, then your emails aren't deniable. There's also contextual information in the email content along with metadata and IP logs that prove your emails are yours. So the addition of a PGP signature probably doesn't make a practical difference. diff --git a/content/entry/how-extreme-wealth-inequality-harms-the-wealthy.md b/content/entry/how-extreme-wealth-inequality-harms-the-wealthy.md index f6b93b3..9999fcb 100644 --- a/content/entry/how-extreme-wealth-inequality-harms-the-wealthy.md +++ b/content/entry/how-extreme-wealth-inequality-harms-the-wealthy.md @@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ More wealth inequality means less people can afford higher education. Therefore It doesn't matter how many billions you have. Once you get cancer, there is no surefire cure. Maybe we would have one with more intelligent people working on it. When intelligent people are forced to waste all their time performing [bullshit jobs](/2022/01/22/automation-bullshit-jobs-and-work/) just to survive, they don't have the time or energy to do important work. ## Sleep Deprivation And Exhaustion -When people are forced to work constantly and [accept interruptions by work during non-work hours](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_disconnect), they become exhausted and sleep deprived, which leads to [all sorts of negative consequences to the brain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_deprivation#Effects_and_consequences). +When people are forced to work constantly and [accept interruptions by work during non-work hours](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_disconnect), they become exhausted and sleep deprived, which leads to [all sorts of negative consequences for the brain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_deprivation#Effects_and_consequences). To name a few, there are deficits in attention and working memory, irritability, depression, anxiety, severely impaired driving ability, insomnia, microsleeping, brain-localized sleeping, obesity, hypertension, a weak immune system, diabetes, headaches, mania, and many other effects. diff --git a/content/entry/how-i-came-to-atheism.md b/content/entry/how-i-came-to-atheism.md index 6fde9ba..e056661 100644 --- a/content/entry/how-i-came-to-atheism.md +++ b/content/entry/how-i-came-to-atheism.md @@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ Now every Christian sect out there is probably more nuanced than my childhood un It wasn't that I was acting insane, just that most religious people don't really act in accordance with their beliefs. If they did, they'd be more like me at that time. Of course, such self-tyranny is impossible to maintain and I eventually did stop doing it. ## Becoming an Atheist -So how did I become an atheist? Either in my pre-teens or early teen years, I remember stumbling across this Youtube video of Richard Dawkins and some christian debating. Out of either curiosity or boredom, I clicked it. I listened to both debaters speak, expecting the christian to make more sense. That's not what happened. +So how did I become an atheist? Either in my pre-teens or early teen years, I remember stumbling across this YouTube video of Richard Dawkins and some christian debating. Out of either curiosity or boredom, I clicked it. I listened to both debaters speak, expecting the christian to make more sense. That's not what happened. Through listening to debates and doing my own research, I learned about epistemology: the study of what constitutes knowledge, how we know what we know, etc. As far as I can remember, that was my entry point into philosophy. At one point, I felt guilty for even considering the question "Is there a god?". Then a reassuring thought occurred to me: @@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ In more recent years, I've been following the work of [Anthony Magnabosco](https There are hundreds of videos of Anthony chatting with random people on the street and students in universities about what they believe and why. The topics include religion, ghosts, karma, and various other social and political topics. He has been interviewed on countless podcasts, given workshops and public talks, and founded a non-profit to educate people about street epistemology and instruct on how to do it. It's called [Street Epistemology International](https://streetepistemology.com/). It's definitely something worth looking into. -If you're looking for atheist entertainment, look no further than Jon Matter, known as [DarkMatter2525](https://yewtu.be/channel/UCLhtZqdkjshgq8TqwIjMdCQ?dark_mode=true) on Youtube. His animation skills have come so far over the years. If you ask me, his animations are the funniest atheist comedy out there. They've made me laugh so many times and I'm always delighted to see another DarkMatter video show up in my feed. Please support his animations on Patreon if you can. +If you're looking for atheist entertainment, look no further than Jon Matter, known as [DarkMatter2525](https://yewtu.be/channel/UCLhtZqdkjshgq8TqwIjMdCQ?dark_mode=true) on YouTube. His animation skills have come so far over the years. If you ask me, his animations are the funniest atheist comedy out there. They've made me laugh so many times and I'm always delighted to see another DarkMatter video show up in my feed. Please support his animations on Patreon if you can. ## Reflections Some people come to atheism because they're not first-generation atheists. Some call themselves religious but they never pray, they don't go to church, and they're not convinced of any of the myth. They're atheists for all practical purposes. Then there's those who have a crisis of faith and stop believing. Is it because of the millions of children who starve to death each year? Of course not. It's always because of some negative personal experience which is far pettier in comparison. diff --git a/content/entry/how-to-transfer-large-files-from-one-computer-to-another.md b/content/entry/how-to-transfer-large-files-from-one-computer-to-another.md index 2ac8f66..c698afc 100644 --- a/content/entry/how-to-transfer-large-files-from-one-computer-to-another.md +++ b/content/entry/how-to-transfer-large-files-from-one-computer-to-another.md @@ -54,6 +54,6 @@ For computers on the same LAN, there's plenty of software for managing a shared These programs can also share files to the public internet, but most of you reading this won't have a static public IP address or domain name, so it's irrelevant. I often use Rsync for its versatility, security, and efficient delta-transfer algorithm. # Conclusion -Most people still transfer large files using the dumb ways. When I search for the file-sharing tag on Github, I get 947 results. There's plenty of good software out there for transferring large files and lots of it is so easy to use a monkey could figure it out. +Most people still transfer large files using the dumb ways. When I search for the file-sharing tag on GitHub, I get 947 results. There's plenty of good software out there for transferring large files and lots of it is so easy to use a monkey could figure it out. There's no excuse for relying on the corporate cloud, email, or social media to transfer large files if you have the choice. Use a real file transfer program instead. diff --git a/content/entry/i-wish-i-could-endorse-the-waking-up-app.md b/content/entry/i-wish-i-could-endorse-the-waking-up-app.md index 43ebd7f..9be1944 100644 --- a/content/entry/i-wish-i-could-endorse-the-waking-up-app.md +++ b/content/entry/i-wish-i-could-endorse-the-waking-up-app.md @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ If you've been reading my journal for a while, you know I'm a strong proponent o As a beginner meditator, it can be very difficult to stay on task. It's common to sit there for a half hour trying to meditate only to later realize you were thinking the entire time. There's immense value in having someone there to interrupt you when you're going off-track. Sam explains all this in the first session of the course. Since a lot of people only know what the mainstream media has told them about meditation, I'd like to include a quote from Sam's website to offer a more accurate perspective: -> "The purpose of meditation isn't merely to de-stress, or to sleep better, or to learn to be a little less neurotic. The purpose is to radically transform your sense of who and what you are." - Sam Harris +> "The purpose of meditation isn't merely to de-stress, or to sleep better, or to learn to be a little less neurotic. The purpose is to radically transform your sense of who and what you are." — Sam Harris I think the Waking Up app is one of the few apps where the marketing doesn't oversell the benefits. If you stick to the program and put in the effort, you can radically transform your experience of the world. It's not just marketing. diff --git a/content/entry/i2p-and-tor-need-your-support.md b/content/entry/i2p-and-tor-need-your-support.md index 16314b6..7ce4c56 100644 --- a/content/entry/i2p-and-tor-need-your-support.md +++ b/content/entry/i2p-and-tor-need-your-support.md @@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ date: 2023-02-21T00:00:00 tags: ['computing'] draft: false --- -Since June 9th of 2022, [the Tor network has been undergoing a DDoS attack](https://status.torproject.org/issues/2022-06-09-network-ddos/). Since a couple weeks ago, [I2P has also been undergoing a DDoS attack](https://geti2p.net/en/blog/post/2023/02/09/about_the_recent_denial_of_service_attacks). It's impossible to say for certain who's attacking Tor, but it's likely a nation-state. I don't think it's known who is attacking I2P or if the attacks are related. +Since June 9th of 2022, [the Tor network has been undergoing a DDoS attack](https://status.torproject.org/issues/2022-06-09-network-ddos/). Since a couple of weeks ago, [I2P has also been undergoing a DDoS attack](https://geti2p.net/en/blog/post/2023/02/09/about_the_recent_denial_of_service_attacks). It's impossible to say for certain who's attacking Tor, but it's likely a nation-state. I don't think it's known who is attacking I2P or if the attacks are related. Many people rely on these networks for their personal privacy and safety. Until [GNUnet](/2023/02/14/article-the-internet-is-broken/) or something like it provides a full solution to the weaknesses of the existing network stack, Tor and I2P are the best alternatives. In order to make the attacks more expensive, please join me and run an [I2P node](https://geti2p.net/en/) or [Tor relay](https://community.torproject.org/relay/) if you can. diff --git a/content/entry/identifying-and-processing-emotions-with-alexithymia.md b/content/entry/identifying-and-processing-emotions-with-alexithymia.md index 86b70ec..5a9e9a4 100644 --- a/content/entry/identifying-and-processing-emotions-with-alexithymia.md +++ b/content/entry/identifying-and-processing-emotions-with-alexithymia.md @@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ For example, if the frequency of my autistic self-stimulation increases a lot in ### Meditation Practice "How do you notice the thoughts and behaviors that indicate an emotion?" I train myself to notice them through a specific form of meditation. I sit upright with my eyes closed watching my breath and wait for an intention to show up. Maybe I want to adjust in my seat or scratch my shoulder. Whatever it is, I just notice the intention to act. Then I purposely don't satisfy it. -The benefit of not satisfying the intention is that keeps it around for longer as an object of meditation. It also strengthens my ability to be comfortable before my intentions, wishes, desires, and goals are met. Then, instead of automatically fulfilling them as soon as possible, I have the power to decide whether or not I want to. It reduces my automaticity of thought so I'm no longer just on autopilot chasing pleasure and avoiding pain. +The benefit of not satisfying the intention is that keeps it around for longer as an object of meditation. It also strengthens my ability to be comfortable before my intentions, wishes, desires, and goals are met. Then, instead of automatically fulfilling them as soon as possible, I have the power to decide whether I want to. It reduces my automaticity of thought so I'm no longer just on autopilot chasing pleasure and avoiding pain. Meditation isn't necessary for noticing your conscious intentions and behaviors, but it definitely helps. As you get better at noticing the internal and external manifestations of emotion, you may even begin to notice what before was subconscious mental activity. @@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ Observing thoughts and emotions without judgment shouldn't take much effort. If ### Writing Writing is another activity I do that helps me process emotions. It's almost the same as meditation, except on paper instead of in my mind. I think about what's bothering me and write it all down. It might sound simple, like "Oh just write down what bothers me. How obvious." but the way it's done is all important. Understanding the methodology and its purpose is important if you wanna do it right. So I'll now expound on that. -When I'm doing this technique, I'm not rushing myself to get to the end. The point isn't to finish as fast as possible. The spelling and punctuation don't matter. The tone of writing doesn't matter. The language I'm writing in doesn't matter. The goal is to write every thought I have about what's bothering me, not one thought excluded, no matter how crazy it might sound if someone else read it. No one else is going to read it and I can discard it when I'm done anyways. There's no need to reread the paper unless I feel like I ought to. +When I'm doing this technique, I'm not rushing myself to get to the end. The point isn't to finish as fast as possible. The spelling and punctuation don't matter. The tone of writing doesn't matter. The language I'm writing in doesn't matter. The goal is to write every thought I have about what's bothering me, not one thought excluded, no matter how crazy it might sound if someone else read it. No one else is going to read it and I can discard it when I'm done anyway. There's no need to reread the paper unless I feel like I ought to. The whole point of the writing is the same as the meditation: to acknowledge my thoughts and emotions without judging them. When I'm writing down my thoughts, that's acknowledging that they exist, in a way. If I find myself having an opinion of what I've written, I write down that opinion too. I continue writing until I'm all out of opinions and I've written everything I want to write. I can always write more later if I wish to. diff --git a/content/entry/implications-of-synthetic-media.md b/content/entry/implications-of-synthetic-media.md index 7d2de92..731861f 100644 --- a/content/entry/implications-of-synthetic-media.md +++ b/content/entry/implications-of-synthetic-media.md @@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ In case you're not familiar with the term "deepfake", it refers to [AI-generated # Plausible Deniability ## Blackmail -You might initially think, as I did, that blackmail will get a lot easier. You won't even need real incriminating photos or videos of someone any more. You can just generate it as needed. But the problem is, every semi-computer-literate person will be able to generate convincing deepfakes. As deepfakes become more common and the public becomes more aware of them, blackmail using photos, videos, audio, etc. will become impossible because the victim can always plausibly deny it. +You might initially think, as I did, that blackmail will get a lot easier. You won't even need real incriminating photos or videos of someone anymore. You can just generate it as needed. But the problem is, every semi-computer-literate person will be able to generate convincing deepfakes. As deepfakes become more common and the public becomes more aware of them, blackmail using photos, videos, audio, etc. will become impossible because the victim can always plausibly deny it. Even if you have real blackmail material on someone, all the victim needs to do is claim it's deepfaked and it will be impossible for a third-party to be sure one way or the other without more context. So blackmail will become harder, not easier. diff --git a/content/entry/inception-rejecting-discord-drawio-and-visual-studio.md b/content/entry/inception-rejecting-discord-drawio-and-visual-studio.md index a316cd4..f986db0 100644 --- a/content/entry/inception-rejecting-discord-drawio-and-visual-studio.md +++ b/content/entry/inception-rejecting-discord-drawio-and-visual-studio.md @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ --- -title: "Inception - Rejecting Discord, Draw.io, and Visual Studio" +title: "Inception — Rejecting Discord, Draw.io, and Visual Studio" date: 2020-03-30T00:00:00 tags: ['computing', 'siue'] draft: false diff --git a/content/entry/integrated-activism.md b/content/entry/integrated-activism.md index 288593e..272f054 100644 --- a/content/entry/integrated-activism.md +++ b/content/entry/integrated-activism.md @@ -25,10 +25,10 @@ There's a lot going wrong in the world and, as an activist, there are infinite s Sometimes there are clever ways to get around conflicts of interest between two social issues. For instance, using proof-of-stake consensus for blockchains instead of proof-of-work mitigates the energy consumption problem of cryptocurrencies. It preserves the good qualities of cryptocurrency while mitigating the purely bad qualities. ## Hard Conflicts -### Darknets - Good and Bad Content +### Darknets — Good and Bad Content Other times, there just isn't a clever way around a conflict. For example it's very difficult to create darknets that only permit "good" content. Who is the authority on what content is good and not good? One must either allow all content, or come up with a complex "scoring/rating" system for content on the network. But then the scoring system may be abused to censor "good" content. There's no simple solution. -### Prisons - Privacy and Safety +### Prisons — Privacy and Safety Prisons are another example. A privacy advocate like myself doesn't want prisoners under 24/7 video surveillance. However, just removing the cameras causes safety problems for prisoners. I wouldn't just advocate removing the cameras without making any other changes, because that could be dangerous. I'd rather see guards employed to watch the prisoners, but that creates budget issues for the prison since it has to employ more guards. Also, guards may be corrupted to turn a blind eye whereas camera footage is a different story. What's the solution? ### Free Software and Organizing diff --git a/content/entry/its-not-necessarily-irrational-to-believe-things-you-cant-justify-to-others.md b/content/entry/its-not-necessarily-irrational-to-believe-things-you-cant-justify-to-others.md index e2dd3a1..1633ecb 100644 --- a/content/entry/its-not-necessarily-irrational-to-believe-things-you-cant-justify-to-others.md +++ b/content/entry/its-not-necessarily-irrational-to-believe-things-you-cant-justify-to-others.md @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ draft: false --- There's a certain mistake seasoned debaters often make when interacting with lay people and the mistake is that just because the unprepared lay person cannot presently argue a point, the seasoned debater concludes they hold that belief without justification. I'll explain why this conclusion isn't necessarily correct. -Remember the "Change My Mind" guy, [Steven Crowder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Crowder)? If you're not familiar with him, he's an American-Canadian conservative political commentator and the subject of a popular meme format. He used to set up a table on college campuses to debate college students. I don't know if he still does it. I don't follow him. Anyways he goes into these debates where he picks the topic, one which he's knowledgeable about and has lots of points in his favor already in working memory, and he goes up against unprepared college students. +Remember the "Change My Mind" guy, [Steven Crowder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Crowder)? If you're not familiar with him, he's an American-Canadian conservative political commentator and the subject of a popular meme format. He used to set up a table on college campuses to debate college students. I don't know if he still does it. I don't follow him. Anyway he goes into these debates where he picks the topic, one which he's knowledgeable about and has lots of points in his favor already in working memory, and he goes up against unprepared college students. I don't consider what Steven does unfair in the slightest, because the college students voluntarily go and debate him, so it's up to them to be ready for the heat. It's not like he screens students before he debates them to make himself look good. But I fear that some people may get the impression that he's correct just because he can look smart in front of unprepared college students. @@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ There's this idea that people who can't defend a belief to others are always unj > > If this finding ends up being generally an approximation of how our brains work, it could explain a lot about what's happening to global conversations, particularly around the Internet and on social media specifically. It also suggests a possible solution; make the data quickly available. Make it as seamless as possible to re-load those facts and figures into your working memory, and make it as unpleasant as possible to rely on shortcuts and logical tricks when arguing a point." > -> - TameAntelope +> — TameAntelope TameAntelope hits the nail on the head here. Believing something you cannot justify to others isn't necessarily irrational. If you recall a time when you did have all the relevant facts and figures in your head, and computed the conclusion, then it does make sense to stick to that conclusion even after you've long forgotten the justification for it. diff --git a/content/entry/join-extinction-rebellion-now.md b/content/entry/join-extinction-rebellion-now.md index b268076..b0e9490 100644 --- a/content/entry/join-extinction-rebellion-now.md +++ b/content/entry/join-extinction-rebellion-now.md @@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ The only option left is disruptive non-violent direct action to force government You can find a list of Extinction Rebellion's principles and demands on [one of their websites](https://rebellion.global "Extinction Rebellion"). There's also a [Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Extinction_Rebellion_actions "Timeline of Extinction Rebellion actions") listing past actions performed using the name of Extinction Rebellion. -Given the severity of the climate crisis and what will happen if we do nothing, I support any action that garners more rebels for Extinction Rebellion, including blocking roads and shutting down airports. The only valid criticism of such actions, in my mind, is that they might turn some people off from the movement. However, I think a case can be made that those who are turned off by even the most milquetoast disruption are probably disinclined to help the movement anyways. +Given the severity of the climate crisis and what will happen if we do nothing, I support any action that garners more rebels for Extinction Rebellion, including blocking roads and shutting down airports. The only valid criticism of such actions, in my mind, is that they might turn some people off from the movement. However, I think a case can be made that those who are turned off by even the most milquetoast disruption are probably disinclined to help the movement anyway. The question of which tactics to use definitely warrants more discussion. I certainly don't feel like I'm in a position to blame rebels for trying different strategies (within reason). I think there's a balance between disruption and attendance, but I'm obviously not the final word on it. The group seems to have the right idea overall, so please consider joining them to save the human race before it's too late. diff --git a/content/entry/journal-update-018.md b/content/entry/journal-update-018.md index 5900762..04f0c8b 100644 --- a/content/entry/journal-update-018.md +++ b/content/entry/journal-update-018.md @@ -6,10 +6,10 @@ draft: false --- # What's New * Replaced my GPG key with Age for email encryption and Signify for signing commits. [GPG is ancient, bad software](/2022/01/03/goodbye-pgp/). -* Stopped accepting cryptocurrency donations. Proof-of-work cryptocurrencies waste obscene amounts of energy. Existing cryptocurrencies don't scale well. Their main use is crime and speculation on crime. The market is full of scams and false promises. No one really knows how to value them. They are potentially a systemic risk to the economy. So I do not wish to be involved any more. It's not like this journal costs much to run anyways. +* Stopped accepting cryptocurrency donations. Proof-of-work cryptocurrencies waste obscene amounts of energy. Existing cryptocurrencies don't scale well. Their main use is crime and speculation on crime. The market is full of scams and false promises. No one really knows how to value them. They are potentially a systemic risk to the economy. So I do not wish to be involved anymore. It's not like this journal costs much to run anyway. * Entry summaries have been removed. I believe the title alone should be sufficient to communicate an entry's subject matter. * Pagination and read time have been removed to simplify the journal layout. These features may be added back later after the scripts rewrite if I decide they further journal design goals. The goal of the design of this journal is to be minimally distracting and respect reader attention. -* Replaced Gitlab mirror with [SourceHut](https://sourcehut.org/). SourceHut has many benefits over Gitlab. It doesn't [assist ICE](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/-/merge_requests/30656). It doesn't require JavaScript unlike Gitlab. It's fast and resource efficient. It also supports Gemini, so all three journal mirrors now support both Gemini and the Web. +* Replaced GitLab mirror with [SourceHut](https://sourcehut.org/). SourceHut has many benefits over GitLab. It doesn't [assist ICE](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/-/merge_requests/30656). It doesn't require JavaScript unlike GitLab. It's fast and resource efficient. It also supports Gemini, so all three journal mirrors now support both Gemini and the Web. * Added [I2P support](http://nick5la4gcv6tzdjk2pf55p5vi24pcxseioyko24ffd4x3uijdca.b32.i2p) for CGit instance. * Added [I2P](gemini://nick6w7lwwzwli57czw5glh3sm2qhnyzbhtq3nohbcnc7j3wqmqq.b32.i2p) and [Tor support](gemini://nick6gsepvtmkcpibpid6dqtqroxt62u6ab4ep65vxrenffruumj6jad.onion) on Gemini's main mirror. Readers can now browse the Nicksphere privately and without a Web Browser. * Replaced nicksphere-gmi's Gemini to HTML Go library with [my own](https://archive.softwareheritage.org/swh:1:snp:a993794ad9e5e68d1d6319d7d735de3c62f66b18;origin=https://git.nicholasjohnson.ch/gemini2html), written in C. Journal generation is now much faster. diff --git a/content/entry/journal-update-021.md b/content/entry/journal-update-021.md index cc3a57c..f900fbf 100644 --- a/content/entry/journal-update-021.md +++ b/content/entry/journal-update-021.md @@ -46,6 +46,6 @@ Rebranding isn't a high priority and I haven't decided on it for certain. In any I've spent a lot of time on server-side configurations that make nicksphere.ch work, but they're not documented anywhere. I'd like to create a Git repository automating those setups and configurations with Ansible scripts. -Another reason server-side automation is useful is for transitioning to a new VPS. I need to switch because my current VPS only accepts [digital tulips](/glossary/), which [I oppose](/2022/08/17/merchants-should-stop-accepting-cryptocurrency/). Since this domain is associated with my real legal name, I don't benefit from anonymous payment anyways. And my VPS provider is quite expensive. +Another reason server-side automation is useful is for transitioning to a new VPS. I need to switch because my current VPS only accepts [digital tulips](/glossary/), which [I oppose](/2022/08/17/merchants-should-stop-accepting-cryptocurrency/). Since this domain is associated with my real legal name, I don't benefit from anonymous payment anyway. And my VPS provider is quite expensive. There's a lot to be done, but luckily the only time-sensitive todo item is switching my VPS provider so I don't need to use cryptocurrency. Everything else can wait. diff --git a/content/entry/journal-update-022.md b/content/entry/journal-update-022.md index 1eaaf53..59dbf42 100644 --- a/content/entry/journal-update-022.md +++ b/content/entry/journal-update-022.md @@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ Using Ansible, I automated configurations that remain the same across servers I My new VPS accepts many payment methods, so I don't depend on [digital tulips](/glossary/) anymore. Unfortunately my VPS provider doesn't have IPv6 support yet, but I've been assured that they already have the IPv6 addresses and they're just working on assigning them now. -I decided to drop I2P support for the time being. It was broken anyways for who knows how long. If you want to know more about that, read this [Git commit message](https://git.nicholasjohnson.ch/journal/commit/?id=2a5af819934817f0fd09bf3aeff37a72bff4d33f937bcbed260955da09ec0b26). If you use the [Tor](gemini://nick6gsepvtmkcpibpid6dqtqroxt62u6ab4ep65vxrenffruumj6jad.onion) [onion](http://nick6gsepvtmkcpibpid6dqtqroxt62u6ab4ep65vxrenffruumj6jad.onion) to access this journal, nothing has changed. I migrated the onion to the new VPS as-is. +I decided to drop I2P support for the time being. It was broken anyway for who knows how long. If you want to know more about that, read this [Git commit message](https://git.nicholasjohnson.ch/journal/commit/?id=2a5af819934817f0fd09bf3aeff37a72bff4d33f937bcbed260955da09ec0b26). If you use the [Tor](gemini://nick6gsepvtmkcpibpid6dqtqroxt62u6ab4ep65vxrenffruumj6jad.onion) [onion](http://nick6gsepvtmkcpibpid6dqtqroxt62u6ab4ep65vxrenffruumj6jad.onion) to access this journal, nothing has changed. I migrated the onion to the new VPS as-is. In the journal repository, I've started signing Git tags rather than commits. Git-annex has been removed for cleaner code and better accessibility on Sourcehut. The ugly Python code has been entirely removed and replaced with two Hugo configuration files, meaning Hugo properly generates my journal now all on its own. I switched from emojis to using emoji codes for better code accessibility. diff --git a/content/entry/journal-update-28.md b/content/entry/journal-update-28.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a522192 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/entry/journal-update-28.md @@ -0,0 +1,40 @@ +--- +title: "Journal Update 28: Writing Less" +date: 2025-01-28T00:00:00Z +tags: ['journal updates'] +draft: false +--- +## What's New + + +### Writing Less + +> "I have no plans to abandon this journal. Once I’m achieving some of my big-picture goals, I’ll probably come back to continue writing." + +I wrote that in "[Taking a Step Back](/2023/12/09/journal-update-26/ "Journal Update 26: Taking a Step Back")". A year on, it seems naïve to have thought that I would return to writing at the same pace as before. I'm not sure if that's what I meant there, but that's how I interpret it now. Since then, I've worked toward some of my goals and endured unexpected life changes along the way, both of which have contributed to a newfound clarity on the general, near-term direction I want my life to go. + +Working toward that new direction, I don't expect to return to writing at the pace or intensity I used to any time soon, and maybe never. So I'm going to stop including entry forewords about how I haven't "returned to writing" yet, and just write whenever I have the extra time and energy. My time and energy are currently highly variable, so expect no further updates about how frequently I will write, as I don't want to explain every time circumstances change. + +If you don't want to read this whole entry, that was the important bit. You can go now or stay and read the boring maintenance. It's up to you. :) + + +### Maintenance + +* [Timestamped this journal](/2024/04/08/why-i-timestamped-my-journal/ "Journal Entry: Why I Timestamped My Journal") under the SHA-256 Git object format to replace the old timestamp which used broken SHA-1 +* Mirrored all my Git repositories on [Codeberg](https://codeberg.org/nicholasjohnson "Git Repositories Mirror") (SHA-2 repositories are *finally* supported now) +* Removed the promoted page (I may write about its listed topics later) +* Switched hosted files over to torrents + +For the sake of the cryptographic integrity of this journal, all my files I share here have either been included in the signed Git repository directly, or put into v2 torrents. I'd like to do something similar for external links but I'm not aware of a good way to accomplish that. + + +## Future Plans + +* Add more [tags](/tags/ "Journal Tags") +* Create autoconfiguration script for server (Gemini capsule, website, SimpleX, e-mail, Git, etc) + +In the past, I dismissed automating my server configuration as not worth the effort. My thoughts on that have since changed and I'd rather do that work upfront than risk something happening at an inopportune time and having to suddenly reconfigure everything manually. + +In my [previous journal update](/2024/07/04/journal-update-27/ "Journal Update 27: New Onions!"), I mentioned moving my Gemini and SimpleX server root certificates offline for compromise recovery. For that, I would need to periodically sign new online certificates. I can't fully automate that, but it makes a good argument in favor of automating the server configuration. With an automated server configuration, I could make processes like these as painless as possible, and so that they don't depend on the undocumented custom configuration of a specific server. + +I'd like to work on the automation for the server configuration and other server-related processes in the open, so I'll push that Git repository after I've built it. diff --git a/content/entry/labels.md b/content/entry/labels.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2a9ac58 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/entry/labels.md @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +--- +title: "Labels" +date: 2025-02-14T00:00:00Z +tags: ['autism'] +draft: false +--- +One thing that has helped me get over my autistic shame is realizing that, when other people describe me in a negative light, it's typically because they perceive me as normal, and judge me through that false lens. + +For example, I have always been blamed for being a "picky eater". I dislike that term because it gives the impression that I *choose* not to eat certain foods because they're not my favorites. But that's not what's happening. What's happening is the tastes and textures of certain foods are so overwhelming for me that I can't force myself to eat them. + +Another example is the term "antisocial". It carries a negative connotation meaning someone who avoids people, who doesn't care about others, and is rude. That's not me at all. Exactly the reverse: *Neurotypicals* avoid *me*, *they* don't care about *me*, and *they* are rude to *me*. And I don't avoid going out because I dislike people, but because environments which contain lots of people tend to be hostile to my senses. Notice how that's not at all what comes to mind when you think "antisocial". + +I have also been told that I'm selfish. I think there are several reasons that I'm misperceived as selfish. I'll mention two of them. One is that neurotypicals don't notice all the effort I make masking just so that they feel more comfortable around me. Masking is an exhausting, stressful, thankless act, which I do to others' benefit. Another reason I think I'm misperceived as selfish is that this world wasn't made for autistic people. Oftentimes, I'm so busy just trying to survive that I don't have as much left to give others as they can give me. Contrast that with a selfish person, who doesn't *want* to give to others. + +Just to make it perfectly clear, for added emphasis: + +**I am not weird. I am not awkward. I am not antisocial. I am not a hermit. I am not a picky eater. I am not stubborn. I am not lazy. I am not selfish. I am not retarded. I am not a child. I am not a robot. I am not oversensitive. I am not oblivious.** + +**I am *just* autistic.** + +I'm not claiming that autistic people like myself don't have negative traits. I'm merely pointing out that most of the negative labels I have accrued are a result of neurotypicals misunderstanding me. I adopted those labels in the past because I assumed that ten people telling me the same thing about myself couldn't *all* be wrong. As it turns out, they *were* all wrong. Some were genuinely misunderstanding me, while others were mislabelling me on purpose, weaponizing their ignorance so they could continue to blame me for things I had no control over. I'd like to close with a message aimed directly towards them: + +To all of you who have assigned me hurtful labels, giving me a false sense of self for my whole life, and denied my autism so you could continue blaming me for things I can't control, I've got a label for you: + +*You* are a bigot. + +And I will no longer allow you to define me. diff --git a/content/entry/language-shouldnt-be-exclusive.md b/content/entry/language-shouldnt-be-exclusive.md index f8a8450..ff4b37f 100644 --- a/content/entry/language-shouldnt-be-exclusive.md +++ b/content/entry/language-shouldnt-be-exclusive.md @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ title: "Language Shouldn't Be Exclusive" date: 2022-03-27T00:00:00 draft: false --- -A couple months ago, [Joe Rogan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Rogan), hugely popular internet podcaster, Ultimate Fighting Championship commentator, comedian, actor, and former television presenter apologized for using the word nigger on his podcast. Apparently someone made a compilation of him saying the word several times in different episodes. It got circulated, which prompted the apology. +A couple of months ago, [Joe Rogan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Rogan), hugely popular internet podcaster, Ultimate Fighting Championship commentator, comedian, actor, and former television presenter apologized for using the word nigger on his podcast. Apparently someone made a compilation of him saying the word several times in different episodes. It got circulated, which prompted the apology. To be fair to Joe's critics, Joe did compare a neighborhood of black people to the Planet of the Apes movie he was going to see. Obviously that was a dumb thing to say, but Joe Rogan is not some staunch racist like the compilation tries to make him out to be. The fact that someone dug through years of his old podcast episodes to create a compilation of him using the word nigger, mostly in a neutral context, and the fact that others shared it around as evidence of him being racist, just highlights the dishonesty and vindictiveness of leftist cancel culture. diff --git a/content/entry/learning-im-autistic-was-a-relief.md b/content/entry/learning-im-autistic-was-a-relief.md index ee2bf14..8d0d0b5 100644 --- a/content/entry/learning-im-autistic-was-a-relief.md +++ b/content/entry/learning-im-autistic-was-a-relief.md @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ Learning I'm autistic and realizing what that meant brought me a huge amount of Before I self-diagnosed as autistic, I knew there was something different about me compared to everybody else. I couldn't articulate exactly what it was, but there was no denying it. The feeling of being different, estranged from the rest of humanity, is a pretty universal autistic experience. If you're interested in which ways I'm different from neurotypicals, check out my other entries on autism, specifically "[Coming Out as Autistic](/2022/05/16/coming-out-as-autistic/)". The details are outside the scope of this entry. -Anyways, as someone who is different, I had so many inaccurate and incomplete labels assigned to me growing up. Some of the more negative ones were "idiot", "weird", "weirdo", "retard", "slow", "loner", "lazy", "unfocused", "lost", "stubborn", "disorganized", "lacking common sense", "jerk", and "difficult". The positive labels I got were "smart", "genius", "hard-working", and "determined". I also acquired neutral labels like "different" and "introvert". +Anyway, as someone who is different, I had so many inaccurate and incomplete labels assigned to me growing up. Some of the more negative ones were "idiot", "weird", "weirdo", "retard", "slow", "loner", "lazy", "unfocused", "lost", "stubborn", "disorganized", "lacking common sense", "jerk", and "difficult". The positive labels I got were "smart", "genius", "hard-working", and "determined". I also acquired neutral labels like "different" and "introvert". Being called both a genius and a retard who lacks common sense, lazy and hard-working, slow and smart, unfocused, lost, and determined was confusing. It wasn't just different people calling me contradictory things. It was the same people calling me contradictory things. It was as is if everyone was just *dying* label me, but they couldn't find one that fit. As soon as they thought they had me pinned as an X, I did a Y. People didn't know what to make of me. diff --git a/content/entry/manufacturing-agreement.md b/content/entry/manufacturing-agreement.md index b3809a9..1da1800 100644 --- a/content/entry/manufacturing-agreement.md +++ b/content/entry/manufacturing-agreement.md @@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ In order for this post to give a more balanced perspective, I'm first going to g ## Users Sometimes Have Alternatives First of all, not agreeing to the ToS and PP for online services is more practical than most people think. I've spent the past few years setting up my life in such a way that I don't have to agree to ToS and PP agreements when I don't want to. My job doesn't require it and my personal life doesn't demand it. While I understand that not everybody can or wants to set their life up like I have mine, the main reason I see people not avoiding ToS and PPs isn't because it's impractical. It's out of apathy and laziness. -If more people would read and try to reject ToS and PPs they disagree with, they would succeed. For instance, if you're a student and a class requires you to use [Goolag](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Goolag) disservices, you need a Goolag account. You have to submit to extensive tracking across the web, selling of your data, and other nasty things. There are several ways around making an account though. Here's a few ideas listed in order of which you ought to try first: +If more people would read and try to reject ToS and PPs they disagree with, they would succeed. For instance, if you're a student and a class requires you to use [Goolag](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Goolag) disservices, you need a Goolag account. You have to submit to extensive tracking across the web, selling of your data, and other nasty things. There are several ways around making an account though. Here are a few ideas listed in order of which you ought to try first: 1. Talk to the professor. Explain that you don't agree to Goolag's ToS and PP. If you explain your position respectfully, many professors will at least be sympathetic to the problem. They may have some advice or even modify the coursework so it doesn't require Goolag. 2. If it is not the professor's choice to use Goolag, talk to someone higher up about the problem. diff --git a/content/entry/merchants-should-stop-accepting-cryptocurrency.md b/content/entry/merchants-should-stop-accepting-cryptocurrency.md index 4104b10..59ad205 100644 --- a/content/entry/merchants-should-stop-accepting-cryptocurrency.md +++ b/content/entry/merchants-should-stop-accepting-cryptocurrency.md @@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ date: 2022-08-17T00:00:00 tags: ['computing'] draft: false --- -In my last journal entry titled "[[Documentary] Line Goes Up - The Problem With NFTs](/2022/03/15/documentary-line-goes-up-the-problem-with-nfts/)", I talked about my history with cryptocurrency (henceforth referred to as [digital tulips](/glossary/)), how I regret ever getting involved, and I promoted a documentary explaining how it's essentially a planet-destroying ponzi scheme. In this entry, I want to build on that and talk about why merchants shouldn't accept digital tulips as a form of payment. +In my last journal entry titled "[[Documentary] Line Goes Up — The Problem With NFTs](/2022/03/15/documentary-line-goes-up-the-problem-with-nfts/)", I talked about my history with cryptocurrency (henceforth referred to as [digital tulips](/glossary/)), how I regret ever getting involved, and I promoted a documentary explaining how it's essentially a planet-destroying ponzi scheme. In this entry, I want to build on that and talk about why merchants shouldn't accept digital tulips as a form of payment. ## Disregard For The Environment As I stated in my entry "Avoid Using Cryptocurrency", the consensus mechanism used by the most popular digital tulip schemes consumes an unreasonable amount of energy. By comparison, the per-transaction energy consumption of fiat is basically zero. By accepting digital tulips, you demonstrate that you don't care about the harm your business does to the environment. diff --git a/content/entry/my-career-path.md b/content/entry/my-career-path.md index fe63cea..39fc6f7 100644 --- a/content/entry/my-career-path.md +++ b/content/entry/my-career-path.md @@ -18,10 +18,10 @@ After I started attending SIUe, I found a job working for the IT department ther ## Unraveling Career-wise, my life was going pretty smoothly. The moment that changed was when my coworker accidentally red-pilled me by mentioning a name: Richard Stallman. From there, I did some research, learned about free software, became privy to the ethics of computing, and the rest is history. You can read about the rest in the very first posts of my blog: -[Inception - Rejecting Discord, Draw.io and Visual Studio](/2020/03/30/inception-rejecting-discord-drawio-and-visual-studio/) +[Inception — Rejecting Discord, Draw.io and Visual Studio](/2020/03/30/inception-rejecting-discord-drawio-and-visual-studio/) [Rejecting Discord and Google Colab](/2020/03/30/rejecting-discord-and-google-colab/) [Rejecting Visual Studio](/2020/04/30/rejecting-visual-studio/) -[The Tipping Point - Rejecting Windows, Zoom, Lockdown Browser and The Lockdown Monitor](/2020/03/30/the-tipping-point-rejecting-windows-zoom-lockdown-browser-and-the-lockdown-monitor/) +[The Tipping Point — Rejecting Windows, Zoom, Lockdown Browser and The Lockdown Monitor](/2020/03/30/the-tipping-point-rejecting-windows-zoom-lockdown-browser-and-the-lockdown-monitor/) In short, it was causing me a lot of stress trying to avoid proprietary software while getting my degree. When Covid hit, it was a major catalyst for proprietary software. Using proprietary software became mandatory for remote test-taking. It dawned on me that there would be no way for me to complete my computer science degree, or any degree for that matter, in freedom even after talking with professors and the department chair about the issue. @@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ Nevertheless I feel very out of place working low wage entry-level positions, bu ## Looking For Internships I've tried applying for free software internships, but no luck so far. The only place I'm certain I wouldn't have any freedom issues is the granddaddy organization of the free software movement, the FSF. I haven't had any luck there yet either. According to the statistics I've read, less than 5% of applicants get approved for many of the free software internships. There's just not as much money and positions available in free software as there is in proprietary software. A lot of internships are targeted towards minorities and being a straight, white male doesn't help. A lot of them are exclusive to students, which I am no longer. -Something that has been discouraging is seeing so-called "open source" internships use proprietary software for project development and communication. It makes no sense to use Goolag docs, Slack and Github for project development when you're developing free software. User freedom matters, but what about developer freedom? Don't developers deserve freedom too? Many of the sites for free software internships require proprietary JavaScript to apply and they include Goolag Analytics, which goes to show how seriously they're taking the whole freedom thing. +Something that has been discouraging is seeing so-called "open source" internships use proprietary software for project development and communication. It makes no sense to use Goolag docs, Slack and GitHub for project development when you're developing free software. User freedom matters, but what about developer freedom? Don't developers deserve freedom too? Many of the sites for free software internships require proprietary JavaScript to apply and they include Goolag Analytics, which goes to show how seriously they're taking the whole freedom thing. ## Interacting with Free Software Communities Since dropping out, I've communicated in various free software communities. @@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ Why go in debt and work hard to get a degree that may not even help me get a car ### Free Software Contributions Mostly Don't Motivate Me Reflecting on contributing to free software projects, there are a few reasons I suspect I haven't been able to find motivation for that thus far. There's no question contributing to ethical free software does good for the world. There's lots of free software out there that needs maintained and supported. But it doesn't necessarily get me a career where I can support myself financially and that's really important for me right now. -I don't have my motivation fully figured out yet. What I do know is there's either some key motivators missing for me when it comes to contributing to free software or there's some other reason preventing me from doing it. Something I don't fully grasp blocks me from putting in the effort to advancing my career through contributing to free software projects. I just can't bring myself to make the effort. Maybe that will change in the future. I don't know. +I don't have my motivation fully figured out yet. What I do know is there are either some key motivators missing for me when it comes to contributing to free software or there's some other reason preventing me from doing it. Something I don't fully grasp blocks me from putting in the effort to advancing my career through contributing to free software projects. I just can't bring myself to make the effort. Maybe that will change in the future. I don't know. ### I'm Highly Motivated to Write This Blog I've spent over a year trying and failing to find a way to make money with free software. Working entry level, low-wage, non-career jobs to sustain myself meanwhile sucks. I'm motivated by the desire to not have to do that. @@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ Another option is getting my employer to sponsor the certification. This could b Since I refuse to use non-free software, it would be better for me to get a local job instead of a remote job. Non-free software is much more likely to be an issue at a remote job, especially for things like communication. ## Prioritize Small Businesses and Non-Profits -It will be much easier to avoid proprietary software and other ethical problems working for small businesses where I might can retain some degree of control over some aspects of the work versus at a large corporation where there's already well-established ways of doing things that aren't going to change. Also unless I'm mistaken non-profits tend to be more ethical to work for than for-profit organizations. +It will be much easier to avoid proprietary software and other ethical problems working for small businesses where I might can retain some degree of control over some aspects of the work versus at a large corporation where there are already well-established ways of doing things that aren't going to change. Also unless I'm mistaken non-profits tend to be more ethical to work for than for-profit organizations. ## Keep Blogging While blogging hasn't helped me get an internship yet, it does help me organize my thoughts. It has helped me put more thought into my career plan than I otherwise would have. So I'm going to keep doing it. @@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ While volunteering isn't going to get me a career job instantly, it could help m # Managing My Expectations With that, I have some solid ideas to try. The plan is to try many things simultaneously to maximize my chance of success. I need to apply for internships while networking while looking for local job opportunities while volunteering and looking into self-employment. It's a lot of work but it beats the hell out of making casual, inconsistent efforts and hoping something floats my way without a plan. -I know just because I have all these ideas doesn't mean I'll succeed. There are infinite ways I could fail, so my expectations aren't high. But I'm motivated by the fact that my plan is what I've got to work with. I mean there's no other career paths that I consider worth pursuing. +I know just because I have all these ideas doesn't mean I'll succeed. There are infinite ways I could fail, so my expectations aren't high. But I'm motivated by the fact that my plan is what I've got to work with. I mean there are no other career paths that I consider worth pursuing. I know this isn't the path most people choose and in fact many people consider what I'm doing to be foolish, but if I'm going to be doing something I hate for a job, I'd rather earn low wages mopping floors and cleaning toilets and stand by my principles rather than compromise them being a bootlicking corporate robot. @@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ Another criticism I've received that's worth consideration is: > "Wouldn't you be able to do more good in the world by giving in to proprietary software temporarily just to get your degree and some experience, thereby earning more professional respect, connections and experience? Wouldn't the good from that cancel out the temporary evil?" ### Response -I respect this argument because there are theoretical cases where arguments of similar form are correct. For instance, if I enable proprietary JavaScript in my browser so I can access a job search site that subsequently gets me a job doing a lot of good with free software. But that's a theoretical example. In practical reality, there's a lot of problems with thinking that way. +I respect this argument because there are theoretical cases where arguments of similar form are correct. For instance, if I enable proprietary JavaScript in my browser so I can access a job search site that subsequently gets me a job doing a lot of good with free software. But that's a theoretical example. In practical reality, there are a lot of problems with thinking that way. For one, it's a slippery slope. How much are you willing to give in before you finally put your foot down? If you don't draw the line somewhere, then you don't care too much about your principles. If you're not willing to make sacrifices for them, then you're as good practically speaking as someone who has no ethical principles at all. The only difference is you'll try to do good as long as it doesn't cause you any major inconveniences. But in the real world, doing the right thing is often personally inconvenient. History has countless proofs of that. diff --git a/content/entry/my-first-psychedelic-mushroom-trip-in-san-jose-del-pacifico.md b/content/entry/my-first-psychedelic-mushroom-trip-in-san-jose-del-pacifico.md index c8c304c..326d5d4 100644 --- a/content/entry/my-first-psychedelic-mushroom-trip-in-san-jose-del-pacifico.md +++ b/content/entry/my-first-psychedelic-mushroom-trip-in-san-jose-del-pacifico.md @@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ As we walked in and shut the door behind us, my wife collapsed onto the bed. I w Let this serve as a lesson to anyone who considers visiting San José del Pacífico in the off-season looking for mushrooms: don't. The vendors will rip your eyes out for hit-or-miss shrooms. -I was slightly disappointed that I got no visuals, but that wasn't my main motivation for tripping anyways. I lied down on the bed with my wife, preparing to fully surrender to the experience and give the shrooms a chance to do their thing. +I was slightly disappointed that I got no visuals, but that wasn't my main motivation for tripping anyway. I lied down on the bed with my wife, preparing to fully surrender to the experience and give the shrooms a chance to do their thing. ### Revelations As I was lying there, the shrooms started showing me that my normal mode of operation psychologically was but one of many possible ways my mind can operate. Normally, I continually focus on the problems of my life. I use distraction to keep boredom and sadness at bay. I spend time regretting the past and worrying about the future. Shrooms showed me there's another way: being present. Not waiting for or expecting something to happen, just being intimately acquainted with and accepting what's happening in the here and now. @@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ I had no idea how fast my heart was going. I couldn't measure it, but it was bea I was also nervous because I hadn't seen any visuals. I got the idea that the shrooms may have been contaminated or that I'd ingested a poisonous strain. There was no evidence to suggest that, since all the effects I was having were indicative of magic mushrooms. Also, the lack of visuals was easily explained by the shrooms being weak since they were preserved. And if I'd ingested a poisonous strain, I would've already been throwing up along with the other tourists. -But none of that mattered because I wasn't thinking rationally. My brain had been totally hijacked by my anxiety. So I asked my wife if she would get someone to check my heart. She was reluctant to bother anyone so late at night, she didn't know who to ask, and felt embarrassed. I told her it was okay because everybody knew why tourists came there anyways. I kept insisting to her that something didn't feel right and that she needed to find someone quickly. She paced back and forth nervously not sure what to do. +But none of that mattered because I wasn't thinking rationally. My brain had been totally hijacked by my anxiety. So I asked my wife if she would get someone to check my heart. She was reluctant to bother anyone so late at night, she didn't know who to ask, and felt embarrassed. I told her it was okay because everybody knew why tourists came there anyway. I kept insisting to her that something didn't feel right and that she needed to find someone quickly. She paced back and forth nervously not sure what to do. She tried to convince me I was fine and just having a bad trip. I told her I was having a bad trip, but only because of my heart pounding. So we went into town in the middle of the night looking for a second opinion from someone who had also taken the shrooms. Walking made me feel slightly better since my body felt more in sync with my heart rate. I remember walking down the street with my arms crossed, still mentally resisting my heart rate. We stopped some Europeans who were walking the street and asked if they'd tried the shrooms. They replied that they hadn't, but that they'd taken shrooms before. They tried their best to reassure me and were all very friendly, but it didn't help at all. diff --git a/content/entry/newcombs-paradox-resolved.md b/content/entry/newcombs-paradox-resolved.md index 7140b9e..7c44fff 100644 --- a/content/entry/newcombs-paradox-resolved.md +++ b/content/entry/newcombs-paradox-resolved.md @@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ Long answer: There is a very subtle contradiction in the definition of Newcomb's Meanwhile taking only box B is supported by mathematical expected value, which doesn't rely on free choice being available after the prediction. It just says "If you take only box B, you can expect $1,000,000. If you take both boxes, you can expect $1,000". There's no notion of free will there. It's a purely statistical argument. The strategic dominance principle only seems appealing because of the strong intuition of having a free choice after the predictor has made the prediction. While [retrocausality](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrocausality) doesn't actually occur in Newcomb's Paradox, it's not a bad mental model for thinking about the problem. Since the predictor is infallible, it has effective retrocausality. What the predictor did in the past is based on the box it already knows you're going to take. There's no real paradox, you just can't outwit the predictor even though your intuitions tell you that you "feel free". -You might think it doesn't make sense to prescribe players the strategy of choosing box B only, since they have "already made the choice" whether or not to take only box B. But, consider that by the same token, we have "already made the choice" whether or not to prescribe the player the strategy to take box B. So, it is equally coherent for us to prescribe the player to take box B as it is for the player to actually take box B. Saying there's no point in prescribing the player a course of action is akin to saying you'll just stay in bed all day since you have no free will. The "choice" to do nothing is also not of your own free will. In other words, you're not escaping your lack of free will by doing nothing. We aren't escaping the lack of the player's free will by not prescribing them a best course of action as we don't have free will either. So, there's no reason not to tell the player to take only box B. +You might think it doesn't make sense to prescribe players the strategy of choosing box B only, since they have "already made the choice" whether to take only box B. But, consider that by the same token, we have "already made the choice" whether to prescribe the player the strategy to take box B. So, it is equally coherent for us to prescribe the player to take box B as it is for the player to actually take box B. Saying there's no point in prescribing the player a course of action is akin to saying you'll just stay in bed all day since you have no free will. The "choice" to do nothing is also not of your own free will. In other words, you're not escaping your lack of free will by doing nothing. We aren't escaping the lack of the player's free will by not prescribing them a best course of action as we don't have free will either. So, there's no reason not to tell the player to take only box B. # Closing Some of the points I've written down in this post come from my own intuition. I couldn't write a single methodology for how I come up with it all. In philosophy, it's hard to define a single methodology that can solve problems since each problem is unique and touches on many different things. Maybe some day someone will come up with an algorithm for doing philosophy. Although that would be equivalent to finding an [algorithm for truth](https://yewtu.be/embed/leX541Dr2rU?local=true), so no one would be able to agree that it actually worked. diff --git a/content/entry/on-compassion.md b/content/entry/on-compassion.md index a418ab7..2a3b5bc 100644 --- a/content/entry/on-compassion.md +++ b/content/entry/on-compassion.md @@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ Now people on the other hand are ascribed moral agency. People know right from w Now in normal conversation I don't feel the need to clarify words like "choice" with a lengthy explanation of how free will doesn't actually exist, because 99% of the time it doesn't matter. But "choice" is a leaky abstraction which causes problems in rare cases. I've written about this before in the context of [Newcomb's Paradox](/2020/11/28/newcombs-paradox-resolved/). As it turns out, compassion is another one of those rare cases where it's important to be extremely clear about language like "choice". So I'm forced to talk about the subject of free will again. # The Sensible View of Compassion -I've already debunked free will in [two](/2020/06/19/free-will-is-incoherent-part-1/) [separate](/2020/08/22/free-will-is-incoherent-part-2/) journal entries. You can go read those if you like. If not, I'm about to give a crash course anyways. If anything you're about to read in the next section confuses you or you find it hard to follow, I suggest going back to my two previous posts dedicated to free will for some background. With that, I'll continue. +I've already debunked free will in [two](/2020/06/19/free-will-is-incoherent-part-1/) [separate](/2020/08/22/free-will-is-incoherent-part-2/) journal entries. You can go read those if you like. If not, I'm about to give a crash course anyway. If anything you're about to read in the next section confuses you or you find it hard to follow, I suggest going back to my two previous posts dedicated to free will for some background. With that, I'll continue. ## Hate is Unjustifiable Ask yourself, are you responsible for the fact that you weren't born baby Hitler? If you think the answer is yes, then who exactly is the self that can take credit for not being born baby Hitler? It can't be your present self with all your mental faculties and memories and moral principles because your present self didn't exist when Hitler was born. How is it that you can claim responsibility for who you are now when scientifically we know that who you are now is a mere product of past events of which you had no control? You didn't wire your own brain. And even if you somehow think you did, who wired the self that wired your brain? You see, pretending people have absolute responsibility is absurd. @@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ Then there's also the social aspect. So many people are suffering and dissatisfi I'm not saying that Tolle isn't mentally ill or is "fully enlightened". But to me it seems whoever wrote that article about him went out of their way to mischaracterize everything he said, or at least, not give him the benefit of the doubt. -Despite what IrrationalWiki implies, there is no obligation to suffer when bad things happen. You are not a "better person" for suffering and your suffering won't change the outcome anyways. Suffering more also does not mean you care more. If other people don't understand that or they think you are a bad person because you don't let events in the world perturb your inner peace, that's their problem. You can try to help them understand how to have self-compassion, but at the end of the day, they have to give themselves permission to feel better. +Despite what IrrationalWiki implies, there is no obligation to suffer when bad things happen. You are not a "better person" for suffering and your suffering won't change the outcome anyway. Suffering more also does not mean you care more. If other people don't understand that or they think you are a bad person because you don't let events in the world perturb your inner peace, that's their problem. You can try to help them understand how to have self-compassion, but at the end of the day, they have to give themselves permission to feel better. To clarify, not suffering doesn't mean you never show emotion. Even displaying negative emotions isn't necessarily an indication of suffering. There's a misconception that suffering is a direct consequence of pain. Actually suffering is a consequence of unacknowledged pain. It's not allowing yourself to hurt when you need to that robs you of your peace of mind and makes you suffer. So please don't interpret giving yourself permission not to suffer as never showing emotions or never feeling pain because that's not what it is. diff --git a/content/entry/on-cultural-appropriation.md b/content/entry/on-cultural-appropriation.md index dfe8729..713564f 100644 --- a/content/entry/on-cultural-appropriation.md +++ b/content/entry/on-cultural-appropriation.md @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ draft: false --- There seems to be moral confusion about why cultural appropriation is bad. I'd like to use this entry to clear that up. We'll start with the Wikipedia definition of cultural appropriation: -> "Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity" - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_appropriation), [CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) +> "Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity" — [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_appropriation), [CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) Let's spend some time on that definition. First of all, it uses the weasel word "[inappropriate](/glossary/)". This is not a straw man picking on a particular definition either. I've seen several online articles accusing people of cultural appropriation that use words like "inappropriate", "offensive", "distasteful", and "disrespectful". These words tell us absolutely nothing about why cultural appropriation is morally wrong. diff --git a/content/entry/on-data-leaks.md b/content/entry/on-data-leaks.md index 0624f71..8b86488 100644 --- a/content/entry/on-data-leaks.md +++ b/content/entry/on-data-leaks.md @@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ date: 2021-11-04T00:00:00 tags: ['computing'] draft: false --- -I know this entry is going to disqualify me from working for big tech or the government but oh well. Other things I've said on this journal have probably already disqualified me anyways. +I know this entry is going to disqualify me from working for big tech or the government but oh well. Other things I've said on this journal have probably already disqualified me anyway. # Ransomware Groups Are Scum Ransomware groups that leak customer data if they don't get their ransom have no morals. The only useful societal functions they fulfill are: diff --git a/content/entry/on-malware.md b/content/entry/on-malware.md index 9f5c5a6..8230302 100644 --- a/content/entry/on-malware.md +++ b/content/entry/on-malware.md @@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ It is true that free software generally has far fewer anti-features due to its v [Spyware Watchdog](https://spyware.neocities.org/articles/) -Finally, one reason free software has less malware is reputation. Reputation is important to many programmers and adding anti-features to programs might mean no one will trust your work any more, so there's a strong incentive to not do that. This is true even if you're only pseudonymous like some i2p developers are. Your anonymous identity still has a reputation and it's best to preserve it. +Finally, one reason free software has less malware is reputation. Reputation is important to many programmers and adding anti-features to programs might mean no one will trust your work anymore, so there's a strong incentive to not do that. This is true even if you're only pseudonymous like some i2p developers are. Your anonymous identity still has a reputation and it's best to preserve it. # Closing I want to encourage readers to consider expanding their idea of what counts as malware and to start using the term "malware" more often to describe common programs with anti-features. Malware programs like Windows 10 are too normalized. We must demand better and freer software and one way to do that is by changing the words we use when talking about software. diff --git a/content/entry/organization-let-grow.md b/content/entry/organization-let-grow.md index 2b80ee0..a2901ff 100644 --- a/content/entry/organization-let-grow.md +++ b/content/entry/organization-let-grow.md @@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ I was the chief architect behind the "chaos" in the classroom and quite satisfie # The Swine Flu On a different day, I was outside on the playground. Some other student had come up with a pandemic-like game similar to tag. It started with one "infected" person. That person tagged someone else who then became infected. So on and so forth until everyone was infected, and then we restarted. It was a fun twist on the game of tag and unlike tag, it had a definite ending. Given the timing, I think the disease was supposed to be [swine flu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_swine_flu_pandemic) since that was happening at around the same time I was in grade school. -The playground monitor who watched over us, a woman probably between the ages of thirty and fifty at the time, told us that the swine flu game was no longer allowed. I never learned why not. It didn't make sense to me as a kid. It was just a modified game of tag where we simulated a pandemic that was already of concern anyways. +The playground monitor who watched over us, a woman probably between the ages of thirty and fifty at the time, told us that the swine flu game was no longer allowed. I never learned why not. It didn't make sense to me as a kid. It was just a modified game of tag where we simulated a pandemic that was already of concern anyway. I now suspect that, if pressed, the playground monitor would have said something to the effect of "that game isn't appropriate", because people were getting sick from the swine flu. But what does "inappropriate" even mean? We were kids with no bad intentions and it was a fun game. I suspect if we called it something different, the monitor wouldn't have had a problem with the game. Looking back, it still makes no sense to me why that game was canceled for us. @@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ As time went on and I grew up, I realized more and more that those childhood exp Children are more resilient than they get credit for. They're not nearly as fragile as modern parents make them out to be. They don't need constant supervision. But it's not just the parents' faults. Through my experience working with children, I was pressured to coddle the children, to not let them do anything remotely risky. It wasn't good for me and it wasn't good for them. Instead of allowing children to work out conflicts on their own, I was expected to constantly interfere, under the threat of losing my job. They never learned conflict resolution and I was always exhausted. -This is all in stark contrast to how our grandparents were raised. They weren't babied. They were allowed to be free and independent and have real childhoods without child protective services being called. In the span of a few decades, we've went from allowing children to play freely to coddling them to the point that they learn none of the skills they need to be functional adults. +This is all in stark contrast to how our grandparents were raised. They weren't babied. They were allowed to be free and independent and have real childhoods without child protective services being called. In the span of a few decades, we've gone from allowing children to play freely to coddling them to the point that they learn none of the skills they need to be functional adults. # Let Grow A while back, I found an organization that's working to fight against these absolutely stupid trends robbing children and parents of the lives they deserve. It's called [Let Grow](https://letgrow.org). They have a lot of good information on their website, such as [recommended books](https://letgrow.org/books/) on the subject, [research](https://letgrow.org/facts-research/), advocacy to change the laws surrounding [child abuse and neglect](https://letgrow.org/legislative-toolkit/), and [educational resources for schools and communities](https://letgrow.org/program/educators/). diff --git a/content/entry/overpopulation-overconsumption-and-technology.md b/content/entry/overpopulation-overconsumption-and-technology.md index 3a68643..299d39a 100644 --- a/content/entry/overpopulation-overconsumption-and-technology.md +++ b/content/entry/overpopulation-overconsumption-and-technology.md @@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ Reducing the global population via not having children won't solve the resource ### Invent New Technology Humanity may be able to become more sustainable by inventing new technology. New technology works on two variables of the aforementioned inequality. It can reduce the average resource consumption per human by giving us what we already have while consuming less resources and it can increase the rate of resource replenishment. -But technology is a double-edged sword. It often leads to more resource consumption, not less. Computers are a good example. The microprocessors of today can perform orders of magnitude more operations per second than their predecessors and take less energy to do it. Computer hard drives can store more. But now, thanks to the increased efficiency, there is increased demand. Now there are massive server farms that use huge amounts of electricity (and water). Now, programs aren't written efficiently any more because the resource constraints aren't there. +But technology is a double-edged sword. It often leads to more resource consumption, not less. Computers are a good example. The microprocessors of today can perform orders of magnitude more operations per second than their predecessors and take less energy to do it. Computer hard drives can store more. But now, thanks to the increased efficiency, there is increased demand. Now there are massive server farms that use huge amounts of electricity (and water). Now, programs aren't written efficiently anymore because the resource constraints aren't there. Rerunning the human experiment a thousand times, some technologies would probably result in increased global resource usage every single time because that's just their nature. diff --git a/content/entry/paying-close-attention-to-experience.md b/content/entry/paying-close-attention-to-experience.md index e2cf0dc..864849e 100644 --- a/content/entry/paying-close-attention-to-experience.md +++ b/content/entry/paying-close-attention-to-experience.md @@ -106,4 +106,4 @@ Well don't assume. Instead, pay attention to experience and accept what you find # Trust Thyself Above all, trust yourself. If what I say here doesn't match your subjective experience, then disregard me. I don't know what it's like to be you. What's true about my mind is different from what's true about yours and you'll only learn about yourself through careful observation, not by reading my journal. I'm just trying to inspire you into taking the first step and hopefully following all the way through till the end. -"No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path." - Siddharta Gautama +"No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path." — Siddharta Gautama diff --git a/content/entry/planning-for-an-uncertain-future.md b/content/entry/planning-for-an-uncertain-future.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e12951e --- /dev/null +++ b/content/entry/planning-for-an-uncertain-future.md @@ -0,0 +1,146 @@ +--- +title: "Planning for an Uncertain Future" +date: 2024-12-09T00:00:00Z +draft: false +--- +## Foreword + +I just want to make clear that this entry does not constitute a return to writing. I'm still [taking a step back](/2023/12/09/journal-update-26/ "Journal Update 26: Taking a Step Back") from writing. I'm only writing this entry now because it's important for people to get this message now rather than later. + + +## Lead-In + +The seeds of this journal entry were planted in my mind many years ago when I was in my mid-teens, and I've hinted at these sorts of thoughts in other journal entries. Here are a few quotes from [my response to the movie "Don't Look Up"](/2023/06/25/re-dont-look-up/ "Re: Don't Look Up") which might help set the tone: + +> "[...] why do they [people] still talk about retirement or making long term investments as if they’re certain civilization will still be here in the distant future?" + +> "Shouldn't young people at least consider the possibilities that humanity will have destroyed itself or civilization will have collapsed by the time they would have retired so that they can enjoy that money now rather than wasting it on a future they won't have?" + +> "Many young would-be mothers have decided against having children because they’re afraid of the quality of life their child would have given climate change. But other would-be mothers, the vast majority, aren't even considering that possibility. Shouldn't they?" + +There are also seeds of the thoughts I'm about to express in my entry "[Antinatalism](/2021/09/05/antinatalism/ "Antinatalism")": + +> "[...] there’s also the legitimate concern about what kind of world children born today will live in. Given the current trajectory of climate change and the failure of nations to address the problem, children born today will be destined to live in a world where large regions are uninhabitable and there's constant conflict and war over resources unless drastic action is taken to prevent disaster. Is it moral to put another being into a world like that?" + +All these quotes follow a similar line of argument, which I'll generalize into one cohesive argument which I'll name "The Argument For Futurist Planning". + + +## The Argument For Futurist Planning + +We are at a unique moment in human history. It's more likely than ever that one of the following occurs: + +1. A global catastrophic event or existential risk to the human species is realized +2. New technology radically transforms society + +Given the combined probability of all the events in both of these categories occurring, certain courses of action and plans that were considered good common sense historically, might no longer apply in the modern world. + +Let's see an example. + + +## Applying Futurist Planning + +We will use saving for retirement as an example since historically, it has always been considered financial common sense. But let's think about what potential future events challenge that common sense and what their probabilities of occurrence are. + +So everything from within the first category potentially influences the logic of saving for retirement. If a global catastrophic event or an existential risk to the human species is realized *before* I retire, then saving for retirement will have been a waste because I could have enjoyed that money instead while I still had the chance. Let's make some assumptions to make this more concrete: + +I am 25 years old. If I retire at age 60, I will retire in **35** years. Suppose there is a **1%** probability of global nuclear war in any given year. + +That works out to a 1-(1-0.01)^35 ≈ **30%** chance that global nuclear war happens before I retire, meaning that I can't enjoy any of the money I saved and I would've been better off spending it instead. + +In this hypothetical, there's a **70%** chance that global nuclear war doesn't happen and I still need the retirement money. So I'd probably save. But what if we factor in other risks? Let's pick one from the second category: new technology. + +Assume that, in addition to the nuclear risk, there's also a **3%** chance every year that automation takes us into a post-scarcity economy such that those who saved for retirement don't live better lives than those who never saved a dime. For the simplicity of the calculation, we'll also assume that the probability of post-scarcity is independent of the nuclear risk. + +That works out to a 1-(1-0.01)^35*(1-0.03)^35 ≈ **76%** chance that, before I retire, either global nuclear war occurs or automation undermines my financial prudence. In that case, it's quite probable that saving for retirement would be a waste. So maybe I would choose to enjoy money now instead. + +If I save, I eliminate the risk of being left penniless in old age, but accept the risk that it might all be for nothing. If I spend, I eliminate the risk of years of wasted labor, but accept the risk of being penniless. Now imagine that we added in more risks and the probability of realizing any retirement-nullifying risk shot up from **76%** to **90%**. Would you still save for retirement? + +To make the calculation more accurate, we would also have to include all the high-probability future risks that could threaten the logic of saving for retirement, base our risk probabilities on something other than guesses, and change the math to reflect that the risks aren't independent from one another. I have no interest in doing any of that, so don't base your decision on whether to save for retirement on any calculations in this entry. + +To be clear, I'm merely demonstrating how one can perform calculations like this and end up with conclusions that contradict common sense as presented to us by mainstream society and culture. I am not prescribing a specific course of action. + +You may have noted that I did not mention individual risks such as getting into a fatal car accident. It would also be valid to include them in the calculation, but I didn't include them because they're not as broadly applicable as systemic risks and I think they're less interesting because people already intuitively understand them better than these more abstract risks. + + +## Other Applications of Futurist Planning + +What are some other potential applications of futurist planning? In principle, it can apply to any long-term plans you may have, where "long term" is defined as the time duration after which future risks belonging to the categories I outlined become probable enough that it makes sense to modify your plans. + +If I had to give a concrete estimate, I would say that "long term" in this context is probably anything longer than a few years. + + +### Higher Education + +We talked about retirement already. What about pursuing a degree in higher education? That's a long-term plan. + +If you like studying just to study, then the reward is immediately realized and Futurist Planning doesn't apply. But if you're thinking of going back to school because it'll land you a higher-paying career afterwards, I would strongly suggest that you consider whether that well-paying career will be automated by the time you complete your education. I'm not telling you not to study necessarily. I'm just advocating that you consider automation before making a final decision to study or not. + + +### Large Projects + +If you have a project that you enjoy working on just for the sake of doing it, then knock yourself out. But if you're working on something that'll take a long time to complete, it doesn't need done immediately, and you only care about the end result, it might make more sense to wait until machine intelligence gains the capability to do it for you in a fraction of the time. That way, you can spend this time on something else that you find more fulfilling. + +Imagine spending years compiling and organizing a large dataset. You finally finish it. Then, a week later, a new powerful open-source AI model is released which could've accomplished the same task in minutes, and done a better job. + + +### Crime + +If you commit crimes that could land you in jail or prison for years, you should consider stopping if you can. A few years incarcerated starting in 2024 could amount to a de facto life sentence due to the global catastrophic risk level. + +Another reason to avoid long prison sentences right now is the rate of technological progress. Even if you spend just a few years in prison, the society you are eventually released back into may be radically different, even unrecognizable, from the one you were in when you entered prison. So unless you have a very good reason, now is a good time to avoid committing any major crimes. + + +### Writing + +I'd like to share a personal example now. + +I'm in a situation where it's critical for me to advance career-wise and any extra time/energy spent writing is not spent on my career. When I stopped writing prolifically [a year ago](/2023/12/09/journal-update-26/ "Journal Update 26: Taking a Step Back"), I planned to come back to writing later after I'd made enough progress in my career and other personal life goals that I felt ready to return. + +However, seeing the rapid progress of machine learning and other global catastrophic risks has made me second-guess waiting until later to return to writing. I'm not so sure there will be a later anymore. It has also caused me to consider what I really want out of my writing. Am I just writing to help myself think through certain topics? Am I trying to leave a legacy? Do I care if many people read it? + +Once machine intelligence surpasses us, it'll be able to write more compellingly than us, which raises questions like "What will be the value in a human writing a blog? Will people still read blogs written by other humans?" + +I think certain types of blogging may fit into Category 1 work, as defined in my entry "[Automation and the Meaning of Work](/2022/09/07/automation-and-the-meaning-of-work/)": + +> "The first category of work is where the human prefers doing the work and the beneficiary of the work prefers a human doing it." + +I'm not sure if the writing I do on this journal is the kind that people would appreciate a human doing instead of an AI. Perhaps people would still like to read personal entries that relate to my experience specifically, such as [my entries about autism](/tags/autism/ "Tag: Autism") and how I live with it. Machine intelligence can't produce that even in principle because it's not me and doesn't know my experience, but the more ideological writings could potentially be automated. So they may fall into Category 3: + +> "The third category of work is where the human prefers doing the work but the beneficiary of the work prefers AI doing it." + +If I decide that having an audience in the future is important, I may focus my future writing more on real life experiences and less on concepts. + +Anyhow, those are just a few examples of futurist planning to get you thinking. Consider how this kind of reasoning could apply to aspects of your own life. + + +## A Historical Perspective + +Now I want to take a moment to go back and focus on something I wrote nearer to the beginning of this entry: + +> "We are at a unique moment in human history." + +By that I mean that, for the vast majority of all human history up until the Industrial Revolution, you couldn't have made The Argument For Futurist Planning. Technological progress happened too slowly for individuals to have to plan for it and the global catastrophes of the day like the Black Death couldn't be planned for anyway. There was either nothing to prepare for or nothing you could do to prepare, so our ancestors never had to invoke Futurist Planning. + +The situation is very different now though. Technology advances from year to year and people are starting to understand that they have to prepare for and even anticipate it. We also have much more information than we used to, which allows us to plan our individual lives better for global catastrophic risks. I think it's the responsibility of all of us now to use Futurist Planning and adjust our long-term plans accordingly. + + +## Cultural Lag + +Unfortunately, evolution did not prepare us to plan for the abstract, long-term risks that Futurist Planning is concerned with and [culture is only just beginning to catch up](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_lag "Cultural Lag"). The only semi-common example of Futurist Planning I've seen is when educated young people say they're not having kids because of climate change, and even they're not aware that such thinking can be generalized and applied to other things. + +For instance, I've never heard anyone make the point I made earlier about how it's worse to get incarcerated nowadays because historically short sentences might now be de facto life sentences. In the judicial system, there's still no recognition of this at all. We still have sentences like "25 years to life", which I find absurd given my estimate of the chances of either human extinction or some prison-sentence-nullifying technology being invented within the next 25 years, but I digress. + +Returning to my original example for evidence of this cultural lag, I challenge you to find a single online finance article that even hints at any of the potential risks to saving for retirement that I've written about here. You won't find any. They all just go on about how much interest you'll have earned 40 years from now after we all might be living in a post-scarcity economy where money is meaningless. + +What this means for you, dear reader, is that you're actually years ahead of mainstream culture now for reading this journal entry. You'll be able to make better long-term life decisions based on relevant factors that no one else is even considering, because their cultural programming never taught them to. Congratulations. + + +## General Advice + +To wrap up, I'd like to offer some general advice beyond the specific future scenarios I've already discussed. + +Understand that when it comes to global catastrophic risk, there are a very small number of people who will determine whether those risks are realized or not. Most of us aren't in a position to change the outcome. So just do what you can, and don't panic or worry excessively about it. That won't do any good. + +If you're intelligent, technically-minded, and motivated to do so, work on solving AI safety. It's probably the most pressing existential risk right now and every other good deed you could conceivably do would amount to a rounding error in comparison. If you're involved in politics, government, or activism, work on getting money poured into AI safety, reducing existential risk, and passing an international treaty banning AI models more powerful than GPT-4 until AI safety is solved. If you create content, talk about these issues to raise public awareness. + +Whether or not you're in a position to affect the outcome, try to live in the moment and enjoy life now. Do what matters now. Don't put important things off for later. Have fun. Don't be afraid to make mistakes or look like a fool. Be open-minded. If there are experiences you haven't had yet, you better have them soon. If there are things you've left unsaid, you better say them. If there are places you want to see, you better go see them. And finally, try to embrace (positive) change, because there's going to be a lot of it. diff --git a/content/entry/please-dont-use-google-as-a-verb.md b/content/entry/please-dont-use-google-as-a-verb.md index 9b03151..f34a114 100644 --- a/content/entry/please-dont-use-google-as-a-verb.md +++ b/content/entry/please-dont-use-google-as-a-verb.md @@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ I can think of a few other examples of non-Goolag big tech companys' software en Skype is a proprietary voice/video calling application, but I've heard people use "Skype" to mean "start a video call". If someone wants to Skype you, tell them that they're actually talking about doing a voice/video call using Skype. This serves as a reminder to them that there are other applications that do voice/video calls, including free/libre apps like Jitsi. -And let's stop using "WhatsApp" as a substitute for "phone number". I encourage you never to use Facecrook's WhatsApp spyware if you can help it. But, if you're gonna use it anyways, please ask for people's phone numbers to add them on WhatsApp. Do not ask for their "WhatsApp". And if someone asks you for your "WhatsApp", clarify that they want to use your **phone number** to add you on WhatsApp. Just like with Skype, this is important because it helps less tech literate people mentally dissociate open protocols and activities from big tech. +And let's stop using "WhatsApp" as a substitute for "phone number". I encourage you never to use Facecrook's WhatsApp spyware if you can help it. But, if you're gonna use it anyway, please ask for people's phone numbers to add them on WhatsApp. Do not ask for their "WhatsApp". And if someone asks you for your "WhatsApp", clarify that they want to use your **phone number** to add you on WhatsApp. Just like with Skype, this is important because it helps less tech literate people mentally dissociate open protocols and activities from big tech. Another strategy which I prefer is playing offense and creating one's own vernacular of free/libre software. When someone asks for your WhatsApp, ask for their Matrix ID. When they tell you to Goolag something, tell them "I'll DuckDuckGo it!" or "I'll StartPage it!". When someone asks for your Gmail, ask for their mailbox.org. If someone wants to Skype you, send them a Jitsi link. diff --git a/content/entry/police-mistake-autism-for-suspicious-behavior.md b/content/entry/police-mistake-autism-for-suspicious-behavior.md index e808c9b..e576d27 100644 --- a/content/entry/police-mistake-autism-for-suspicious-behavior.md +++ b/content/entry/police-mistake-autism-for-suspicious-behavior.md @@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ For example, police use of indirect communication and body language leads to mis There's supposed to be autism training in police departments to reduce this problem. However, from what I've read, the training is inconsistent. For someone like me who is autistic and decent at masking (pretending I'm not autistic) in public, police will never realize I'm autistic unless I disclose it. In other words, their training is useless unless I disclose my autism. -It's always my discretion whether or not to inform the police that I'm autistic, but it poses a dilemma: +It's always my discretion whether to inform the police that I'm autistic, but it poses a dilemma: Suppose I disclose my autism to a police officer. Many neurotypicals, perhaps even most, treat autistic people poorly. It has been my personal experience that, if a neurotypical becomes angry enough at me, they will eventually make fun of my autism or try to use it as a weapon against me. How do I know the police won't do the same? I've certainly heard cases where they did treat known autistic people worse. So maybe it's better that they don't know. diff --git a/content/entry/predicting-the-near-term-consequences-of-ai.md b/content/entry/predicting-the-near-term-consequences-of-ai.md index 79f04d1..a93c8a2 100644 --- a/content/entry/predicting-the-near-term-consequences-of-ai.md +++ b/content/entry/predicting-the-near-term-consequences-of-ai.md @@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ Since this implicit coercion issue isn't discussed at all for smartphones, I exp ## Attention Engineering / Manipulation AI-powered social media sites are partially responsible for [destroying people's ability to pay attention](/2022/12/06/book-stolen-focus-why-you-cant-pay-attention-and-how-to-think-deeply-again/) and making them depressed and angry. In case you've been living under a rock, it has now become normalised for everyone to be addicted to their smartphone, checking social media hundreds of times per day. For that reason, I call social media networks, "digital [Skinner boxes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning_chamber)". -[I don't carry a smartphone](/2021/12/26/why-i-dont-have-a-smartphone/) because I didn't want to be a part of that. Unfortunately, since everybody else has them, I'm often tempted to borrow other people's smartphones and get sucked in anyways. The pull of social media is very strong even for someone like me who goes out of their way to avoid it. If social media becomes any more addictive than it already is, and it almost certainly will since AI will only improve, then I think humanity is going to have an even bigger attention crisis on its hands. +[I don't carry a smartphone](/2021/12/26/why-i-dont-have-a-smartphone/) because I didn't want to be a part of that. Unfortunately, since everybody else has them, I'm often tempted to borrow other people's smartphones and get sucked in anyway. The pull of social media is very strong even for someone like me who goes out of their way to avoid it. If social media becomes any more addictive than it already is, and it almost certainly will since AI will only improve, then I think humanity is going to have an even bigger attention crisis on its hands. ## Autonomous Weapons I won't go into too much detail about [AI-driven lethal autonomous weapons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethal_autonomous_weapon). Rather, I have a short video which captures my concern better than anything I could write here. It's called "[Slaughterbots](https://yewtu.be/embed/9CO6M2HsoIA?local=true)". If you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend it. @@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ Perhaps some forms of automation could be banned to prevent mass unemployment, b ## Life Purpose In my entry "[Automation and The Meaning of Work](/2022/09/07/automation-and-the-meaning-of-work/)", I predicted how automation would affect how people find meaning. I think it will have some positive benefits like no more child labor and freeing people from miserable and dangerous jobs, giving people more time to do things they like doing. But it will also have negative effects such as taking away work people find meaningful. I predict some jobs will still remain, specifically those where human workers like doing them and the people who benefit from the labor prefer humans doing them. -I predict that if nothing is done to incentivize students, they'll be discouraged from attending higher education since their future jobs will be automated anyways. Perhaps students won't be discouraged though if going to university is more of a sociocultural expectation than a rational economic choice they're making. +I predict that if nothing is done to incentivize students, they'll be discouraged from attending higher education since their future jobs will be automated anyway. Perhaps students won't be discouraged though if going to university is more of a sociocultural expectation than a rational economic choice they're making. With the dramatic reduction in useful human labor, I predict that culture will be forced to adapt so that human meaning is no longer associated with what one does for money. @@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ I'm very concerned about how AI will affect the (in)justice system. There are wo I predict that AI will make the illegal practice of [parallel construction](/2020/12/04/shining-light-on-the-dark-side-of-law-enforcement/) more effective and potentially more common. Perfect or near-perfect enforcement of laws would be highly undesirable or, to put it in less diplomatically, a total fucking nightmare. I think that we need to be very cautious in deciding which AI technologies, if any, police are permitted to use. -As for the court system, I predict that it'll be so easy to create synthetic media that photos, videos, audio, and other digital evidence will not be taken seriously any more. We will have to revert back to relying more on other forms of evidence such as impartial witnesses, contextual information, and DNA. +As for the court system, I predict that it'll be so easy to create synthetic media that photos, videos, audio, and other digital evidence will not be taken seriously anymore. We will have to revert back to relying more on other forms of evidence such as impartial witnesses, contextual information, and DNA. ## Scientific Research AI is already revolutionising scientific research. We can expect this trend to continue into the future. There are a few ideas floating around that try to make sure this new scientific understanding and technology helps mitigate [existential risk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_catastrophic_risk#Defining_existential_risks) rather than increasing it. @@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ With a higher rate of technological development than in the past, governments wi ## Conclusion There's so much more that I wish I could get to, but I don't have the time. For instance, I didn't even mention any propositions concerning digital minds. That may be a more long-term issue, but I would argue that it's relevant now because we will soon build AIs that constitute primitive digital minds. Fortunately people like [Nick Bostrom](https://nickbostrom.com/) and [Carl Shulman](https://web.archive.org/web/20230418235430if_/https://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/team/carl-shulman/) have made some headway on digital minds in their paper "[Propositions Concerning Digital Minds and Society](https://nickbostrom.com/propositions.pdf)". -Anyways, I thank you for reading my journal entries and considering these issues with me. I hope to write more about AI in the future. Sometimes I look at the work of the people like Nick Bostrom and think "Wow! I am so underqualified to write about this. Should I even bother?" but then I remind myself that: +Anyway, I thank you for reading my journal entries and considering these issues with me. I hope to write more about AI in the future. Sometimes I look at the work of the people like Nick Bostrom and think "Wow! I am so underqualified to write about this. Should I even bother?" but then I remind myself that: 1. He writes academic papers while I'm just writing a blog, so expectations of rigor are different 2. I have decent reasoning skills and more thinking is needed on this subject diff --git a/content/entry/private-online-shopping.md b/content/entry/private-online-shopping.md index bceaea2..3be64a0 100644 --- a/content/entry/private-online-shopping.md +++ b/content/entry/private-online-shopping.md @@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ To reduce harm to privacy, I'm going to evaluate each threat one by one and offe ## Real Name and Address Giving out your real name and address is a privacy threat that doesn't exist when interacting with a cashier in a physical store. As long as you're not using a dis-loyalty program, you never give the cashier your name or address. So they can't identify you that way. The online marketplace is a different story. It asks for both. -### Mitigation - Give a Fake Name +### Mitigation — Give a Fake Name There's a simple solution to the name problem. Give a fake name instead. It's legal and packages don't necessarily rely on names for shipping anyway. That said, there may be some potential negative consequences that could happen: * The package could get lost. * If several people live at the address, the package could be given to the wrong person. @@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ The potential consequences might not present a problem for you or they might be Other than that, you'll have to make your own choice if the privacy is worth the risk. -### Mitigation - Give a Different Address +### Mitigation — Give a Different Address The address problem isn't so easily solved. The address isn't redundant information. It's actually used for shipping. The cheapest mitigation is to use a geographically close friend's address for the package. Have them receive the package on your behalf. While possible in theory, there are several reasons this may be a bad idea, so I don't recommend it. Instead, you should pay for a proper mailbox service. A mailbox service can offer a real address that you can use online and a place to store your package until you go pick it up. The mailbox service may be willing to accept packages with a pseudonym, fake name, or no name at all, as well as your real name. Some mailbox services may hold your package and require you to show ID to receive it, which could get complicated if the package name and your real name don't match. This is why you should ask about their protocol for non-matching names before you register with the mailbox service. If you can make it work, a fake name combined with a mailbox service can fully anonymize you to the seller. @@ -37,31 +37,31 @@ Instead, you should pay for a proper mailbox service. A mailbox service can offe ## Mailbox Service's Records Keep in mind that, if you choose to use a mailbox service, you aren't anonymous to that service. It's common for mailbox services to keep digital records of the sender, their address, the receiver, the type of package, weight, size and other information for months, years or even indefinitely. If the mailbox service ever has a data breach, the data will be available to everyone. Using a mailbox service is still better than the online marketplace knowing your name and address because at least the mailbox service doesn't know what you bought. Almost all online marketplaces automatically share your data with third parties. By using a mailbox service, you're not immediately identified, but the mailbox service's records still pose a privacy issue. -### Mitigation - Choose a Service With a Short Data Retention Period +### Mitigation — Choose a Service With a Short Data Retention Period Some mailbox services keep records only for a few months. Others keep records for years. For some, how long the record is kept depends on the type of package and if it has tracking or requires a signature. The only way to find this stuff out is by doing your research and asking questions about their mail record retention policy before you register. It's important to choose the service that keeps records for the least amount of time. ## Email Address So you've given a fake name and your mailbox service's address which has a short data retention policy. But now, the marketplace wants your email. But giving out your email is nearly as identifying as giving out your real name. What to do? -### Mitigation - Give a Throwaway Email +### Mitigation — Give a Throwaway Email Don't give a fake email. You may be required to confirm the purchase over email or receive some other important information that way. This mitigation is comparatively easy: Simply create a one-time use email address for the purchase and never reuse it. Do this every time you make a purchase. ## Phone Number The bad news is the marketplace might still require a phone number. The good news is marketplaces don't usually require phone number verification for buyers. -### Mitigation - Give a Fake Phone Number +### Mitigation — Give a Fake Phone Number Since marketplaces don't verify the number, you can make one up. The marketplace will probably only text it details of your order. I don't know of an online marketplace that forces buyers to verify their phone number. If you run across one, my advice is find a different marketplace. There's plenty out there. ## Browser Fingerprinting and IP Address If you made it this far, then you've managed to not explicitly give out any personal information. Unfortunately, because the web is a privacy disaster, this isn't enough. There are dozens of other ways to leak your identity without it being obvious. For example, many online shopping sites have proprietary JavaScript and cookies which facilitate tracking buyers across the web. Your IP address is also identifying information which can be used to deanonymize your purchases. But do not fear, for Tor Browser is here! -### Mitigation - Use Tor Browser +### Mitigation — Use Tor Browser The best way to avoid browser fingerprinting and leaking your IP address is installing [Tor Browser](https://www.torproject.org/download/). Tor Browser protects you from browser fingerprinting while making it very hard for the site to figure out your real IP address. Use Tor Browser on the highest security setting that doesn't break site functionality. If "safest" mode breaks the website, try "safer". If "safer" mode breaks the site, use "standard". I also recommend using the [LibreJS](https://www.gnu.org/software/librejs/) addon to prevent proprietary JavaScript analytics scripts from running in your browser. ## Tor is Blocked If you can't access the site on the "standard" security setting in Tor Browser, then it probably blocks Tor exit nodes. Some sites do allow you to browse while using Tor, but won't let you purchase anything. You just have to find out which ones are Tor friendly and which aren't by trial and error. If a site isn't Tor-friendly, all is not lost. There is still hope with Proxychains. -### Mitigation - Use Proxychains +### Mitigation — Use Proxychains If you still insist on using that website for your purchase, you can configure [proxychains](https://proxychains.sourceforge.net/) to hide the fact that you're using Tor while still getting the privacy benefits of the Tor Browser. Just search for the IP address and port number of an open proxy. If you've properly configured Proxychains and Tor Browser is still not letting you visit the site, then most likely the site does some kind of anti-spam browser fingerprinting to determine if you're a real user and Tor browser is getting you flagged as a bot since it's resistant to fingerprinting. You could use a different browser proxied through Tor, but at this point I'd just look for the item on a different website. If the website requires browser fingerprinting, then you can't expect to buy anything anonymously. @@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ If you've properly configured Proxychains and Tor Browser is still not letting y I wish I could say that's all because it feels like the overhead for making a private purchase is getting outrageous. But there is one more privacy threat to overcome. That is the payment method. The payment method more than anything is going to eliminate online web stores from our list of private marketplaces. Here's a non-exhaustive list of the payment methods that you have to throw out the window when it comes to privacy: * debit card * credit card -* Paypal +* PayPal * Google Wallet * Stripe * Apple Pay @@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ I wish I could say that's all because it feels like the overhead for making a pr Any payment system that identifies you can't be used for privacy. Until something like [GNU Taler](https://taler.net/en/) becomes popular, we're left with 1 option that offers real payment anonymity: cryptocurrency. -### Mitigation - Monero +### Mitigation — Monero Since most places require some form of ID verification to buy cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency ledgers allow transactions to be easily traced, no cryptocurrency is suited for an anonymous purchase, except for 1: [Monero](https://www.getmonero.org/) or XMR. It's so private that [the IRS is offering $625,000 to anyone who can crack it](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2020/09/14/irs-will-pay-up-to-625000-if-you-can-crack-monero-other-privacy-coins/). You can acquire Monero through centralized or peer-to-peer exchanges. The great thing about Monero is you don't need to acquire it anonymously to make an anonymous purchase with it. Coins are untraceable and transactions are unlinkable. Feel free to acquire the Monero however is most convenient for you. Localmonero.co is a solid option that doesn't require any identification or proprietary JavaScript and it has a Tor onion service. Just remember to store the coins on the Monero wallet on your own machine, not on an exchange. Also I recommend proxying the Monero client through Tor to prevent transactions being linked to your IP address. Unfortunately few online stores actually accept Monero. Bitcoin still reigns supreme. Luckily there are coin swap services online that accept Monero and pay out Bitcoin. Kilos' KSwap is one example. It requires no sign up, no JavaScript and it's a Tor onion service. @@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ The hidden fees are of course embedded in the exchange rate. When you go to buy ## Third Parties Many sites you run into have no problem giving your IP address and other identifying information to third parties. If you follow all the steps above, you don't have anything to worry about. But if you skip some steps or you just want to be thorough, you should still take note of the online shop's privacy policy. -### Mitigation - Read the Privacy Policy +### Mitigation — Read the Privacy Policy Every online shop has its own privacy policy. Read it carefully before you make a purchase so that you understand what's going to happen to the data you provide. If you provide all fake data, then the privacy policy doesn't affect you. However, if you provide any identifying information during a purchase, even non-obvious identifying information like your real IP address, you should read the privacy policy. Just be aware of how the data you provided is going to be used. ## Conclusion diff --git a/content/entry/psychedelics-are-a-rite-of-passage.md b/content/entry/psychedelics-are-a-rite-of-passage.md index e888810..450dab5 100644 --- a/content/entry/psychedelics-are-a-rite-of-passage.md +++ b/content/entry/psychedelics-are-a-rite-of-passage.md @@ -21,11 +21,11 @@ Psychedelics have undeniable, life-transforming benefits. They offer a way of lo Terence McKenna, American ethnobotanist and advocate for psychedelic drugs, once said: -> "I think of going to the grave without having a psychedelic experience like going to the grave without ever having sex. It means that you never figured out what it is all about..." - Terence McKenna +> "I think of going to the grave without having a psychedelic experience like going to the grave without ever having sex. It means that you never figured out what it is all about..." — Terence McKenna While I don't think sex is comparable to psychedelics, Terence did have a point. Healthy people who abstain from psychedelic drugs are missing out on an important life experience. -If someone doesn't want to take psychedelics because of lack of interest, I suspect they might not see the value anyways. Maybe those people aren't missing out. But when someone abstains from psychedelics because they drank the [D.A.R.E.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_Abuse_Resistance_Education#Reception) Kool-Aid and they think all illegal drugs are nothing but bad, I feel bad for them. They might be missing out on some of the most important experiences in their life thanks to ignorance and stupidity. +If someone doesn't want to take psychedelics because of lack of interest, I suspect they might not see the value anyway. Maybe those people aren't missing out. But when someone abstains from psychedelics because they drank the [D.A.R.E.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_Abuse_Resistance_Education#Reception) Kool-Aid and they think all illegal drugs are nothing but bad, I feel bad for them. They might be missing out on some of the most important experiences in their life thanks to ignorance and stupidity. If I ever have offspring, which I don't plan on, I hope they never try heroin, methamphetamine, or give themselves brain damage with large quantities of cough syrup. But if they go to the grave without ever using psychedelic drugs, I will feel that they missed out on one of the most important experiences life has to offer. diff --git a/content/entry/re-atomic-habits.md b/content/entry/re-atomic-habits.md index e7a8a1b..e1c489b 100644 --- a/content/entry/re-atomic-habits.md +++ b/content/entry/re-atomic-habits.md @@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ It often happens to be the case that getting people to develop certain bad habit It's difficult to organize collectively against these economic incentives because the rich write the laws. Barring comprehensive changes in existing economic or political systems, I predict that it will continue to get more difficult to maintain good habits and avoid bad ones, [regardless of any individual efforts made](/2023/09/10/individual-vs-collective-advice/ "Individual vs Collective Advice"). -If you take the principles of Atomic Habits in the larger context, I think you also have to conclude that we can't just try to improve our habits individually, but that we must take collective action for a system of government and an economy that makes it easy for us to have good habits rather than the insane system we have now that allows a handful of CEOs to get rich making large fractions of the population obese by marketing ultra-processed junk food and [driven insane by addictive manipulative social media platforms](/2022/12/06/book-stolen-focus-why-you-cant-pay-attention-and-how-to-think-deeply-again/ "[Book] Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention - And How to Think Deeply Again"). +If you take the principles of Atomic Habits in the larger context, I think you also have to conclude that we can't just try to improve our habits individually, but that we must take collective action for a system of government and an economy that makes it easy for us to have good habits rather than the insane system we have now that allows a handful of CEOs to get rich making large fractions of the population obese by marketing ultra-processed junk food and [driven insane by addictive manipulative social media platforms](/2022/12/06/book-stolen-focus-why-you-cant-pay-attention-and-how-to-think-deeply-again/ "[Book] Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention — And How to Think Deeply Again"). When human well being and corporate profit are in conflict, human well being must prevail. diff --git a/content/entry/re-dkim-show-your-privates.md b/content/entry/re-dkim-show-your-privates.md index 36a9e6a..7176843 100644 --- a/content/entry/re-dkim-show-your-privates.md +++ b/content/entry/re-dkim-show-your-privates.md @@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ date: 2023-03-15T00:00:00 tags: ['computing'] draft: false --- -I recently read Ryan Castellucci's blog post, "[DKIM: Show Your Privates](https://rya.nc/dkim-privates.html)". The problem Ryan points out is that DKIM, which signs outgoing emails as a way to to reduce spam, has a negative unintended consequence: it's harder to deny that you sent an email if it gets leaked. As Ryan points out, saner messaging protocols like [OTR](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Off-the-Record_Messaging) and the [Double Ratchet Algorithm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Ratchet_Algorithm) do implement cryptographic deniability of messages. +I recently read Ryan Castellucci's blog post, "[DKIM: Show Your Privates](https://rya.nc/dkim-privates.html)". The problem Ryan points out is that DKIM, which signs outgoing emails as a way to reduce spam, has a negative unintended consequence: it's harder to deny that you sent an email if it gets leaked. As Ryan points out, saner messaging protocols like [OTR](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Off-the-Record_Messaging) and the [Double Ratchet Algorithm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Ratchet_Algorithm) do implement cryptographic deniability of messages. There is a way to mitigate the loss of cryptographic deniability in email. You simply rotate DKIM keys, invalidating the old one and publishing its private part. The point of publishing the private part is that any leaked emails which were signed with that key could be forged. Thus, one can deny past emails signed with that key. @@ -18,11 +18,11 @@ The Session team's blog post, "[Session Protocol: Technical implementation detai > > Instead of designing a cryptographic protection, Session will add the ability to edit other users’ messages locally, thus providing a way to completely forge conversations. Since signatures are deleted after messages are received, there will be no way to prove whether a screenshot of a conversation is real or edited, diminishing the value of screenshots as evidence." -Programmers could still change the Session source code to save the message signatures anyways, but I highly doubt anyone is doing this. By contrast, email servers *do* retain email signatures even after emails are already validated. So there's more of a concern for email being cryptographically undeniable than Session Private Messenger. +Programmers could still change the Session source code to save the message signatures anyway, but I highly doubt anyone is doing this. By contrast, email servers *do* retain email signatures even after emails are already validated. So there's more of a concern for email being cryptographically undeniable than Session Private Messenger. So, in my opinion, all email providers should publish expired DKIM keys. Especially the big ones that handle lots of mail like AOL, Gmail, iCloud, Outlook, Yahoo, Yandex, etc. I'll quickly debunk some of the main objections. -Publishing expired keys doesn't make spam harder to combat since the key gets revoked anyways. Since email accounts rely on the security of both client *and* the server and many people use weak passwords and fall victim to phishing attacks, determining whether someone sent a particular outgoing email depends more on context (server logs, IP addresses, other info) than DKIM signatures. So publishing expired keys probably doesn't make computer forensics harder. +Publishing expired keys doesn't make spam harder to combat since the key gets revoked anyway. Since email accounts rely on the security of both client *and* the server and many people use weak passwords and fall victim to phishing attacks, determining whether someone sent a particular outgoing email depends more on context (server logs, IP addresses, other info) than DKIM signatures. So publishing expired keys probably doesn't make computer forensics harder. This practice could make valuable corporate/government email leaks less credible, but CEOs and politicians aren't the only ones who use email. Everybody uses it and making everybody less safe to gain slight confidence that occasional, albeit important email leaks are legitimate doesn't seem worth it. diff --git a/content/entry/re-dr-pordan-jeterson-answering-the-toughest-question-of-all.md b/content/entry/re-dr-pordan-jeterson-answering-the-toughest-question-of-all.md index 434eac2..3766ed6 100644 --- a/content/entry/re-dr-pordan-jeterson-answering-the-toughest-question-of-all.md +++ b/content/entry/re-dr-pordan-jeterson-answering-the-toughest-question-of-all.md @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ title: "Re: Dr. Pordan Jeterson: Answering the Toughest Question of All" date: 2023-09-06T00:00:00 draft: false --- -A few months ago a Youtuber that goes by the alias DarkMatter2525 made a video titled '[Dr. Pordan Jeterson: Answering the Toughest Question of All](https://yewtu.be/embed/RGCKIOBBK7Y?local=true)' showing the confusing way public intellectual [Jordan Peterson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Peterson) communicates. +A few months ago a YouTuber that goes by the alias DarkMatter2525 made a video titled '[Dr. Pordan Jeterson: Answering the Toughest Question of All](https://yewtu.be/embed/RGCKIOBBK7Y?local=true)' showing the confusing way public intellectual [Jordan Peterson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Peterson) communicates. Peterson has a fairly large and dedicated following. I found a few of his psychology lectures online. They were alright. He's obviously very passionate and able to communicate clearly at least some of the time. I'm not going to criticize his opinions in this entry because I have no idea what he actually thinks. What I think he deserves the most criticism for is his way of using language. diff --git a/content/entry/re-ive-stopped-using-mobile-phones-in-my-life.md b/content/entry/re-ive-stopped-using-mobile-phones-in-my-life.md index 385bbc2..3b2ea23 100644 --- a/content/entry/re-ive-stopped-using-mobile-phones-in-my-life.md +++ b/content/entry/re-ive-stopped-using-mobile-phones-in-my-life.md @@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ Jakub goes on to talk about how he makes purchases without using a proprietary b > "My solution to money is to just pay use cash. I can hear people who read this screaming in disbelief, but it is true. I only use cash, I always did and I dont know why I should stop. I honestly don't even know why I get so many weird reactions when I say this, or actually very cheerful reactions from people involved in Free Culture or Privacy. As if it was something hard, almost impossible to do. I truly don't know what is so hard about it. Cash is the only good way of transacting privately nowdays, without being surveilled by Big Brother. I think people should be more aware of how dangerous it is for democracy that the government knows what each and every person is buying, where they're sending money etc." -I live in Mexico where cash is universally accepted and many vendors don't even have card readers, so carrying cash is necessary anyways. I'm happy that I never need to worry that cash might be rejected. But I'm keenly aware of societies that are trying to go cashless, making private monetary transactions impossible. I think this could account for why some people into free culture and privacy are so impressed. Where they live, it may be much harder to go cashless. +I live in Mexico where cash is universally accepted and many vendors don't even have card readers, so carrying cash is necessary anyway. I'm happy that I never need to worry that cash might be rejected. But I'm keenly aware of societies that are trying to go cashless, making private monetary transactions impossible. I think this could account for why some people into free culture and privacy are so impressed. Where they live, it may be much harder to go cashless. As for the weird reactions Jakub receives, they probably come from clueless people who don't understand why privacy matters. In a world filled with people who either don't know or don't care that their choices are empowering a surveillance state that erodes democracy, hearing about other young people who see the problem clearly and do something about it cheers me up. diff --git a/content/entry/re-on-transgender-athletes.md b/content/entry/re-on-transgender-athletes.md index b6dc0ba..732483c 100644 --- a/content/entry/re-on-transgender-athletes.md +++ b/content/entry/re-on-transgender-athletes.md @@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ It's true that looking at chromosomes is a useful method for identifying biologi > "Biological women who don't want to compete against trans women aren't being antitransgenderist. They just don't want to get crushed by trans women who, in many cases, have clear biological advantages over them." -I would go further and say that trans people who participate in sports leagues without disclosing that they're trans are probably acting in bad faith. It's not for trans people to judge whether or not they have a distinct biological advantage in the league they wish to participate in. +I would go further and say that trans people who participate in sports leagues without disclosing that they're trans are probably acting in bad faith. It's not for trans people to judge whether they have a distinct biological advantage in the league they wish to participate in. > "We choose how to divide people up and there's plenty of room for reasonable people to disagree about the divisions." diff --git a/content/entry/re-video-dont-talk-to-the-police.md b/content/entry/re-video-dont-talk-to-the-police.md index 6d1bfc0..96cbbc0 100644 --- a/content/entry/re-video-dont-talk-to-the-police.md +++ b/content/entry/re-video-dont-talk-to-the-police.md @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ draft: false --- Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer and none of this is legal advice. -A couple years back I promoted a [talk](/2021/03/01/video-dont-talk-to-the-police/ "Don't Talk to the Police") given by American law professor at Regent University School of Law and former criminal defense attorney James Duane. His advice was basically to never talk to the police, especially if you're innocent. +A couple of years back I promoted a [talk](/2021/03/01/video-dont-talk-to-the-police/ "Don't Talk to the Police") given by American law professor at Regent University School of Law and former criminal defense attorney James Duane. His advice was basically to never talk to the police, especially if you're innocent. I now find myself disagreeing with defense attorney James Duane and the reason I disagree with him is because I think he possesses some biases which color his opinion. For one, as a former defense attorney, I think he's used to helping people who are already accused of a crime. The best advice for them is just what he says: shut up and lawyer up if you can afford it. But for normal everyday situations where you're not under suspicion of a serious crime, I don't think it's always the best advice. @@ -19,6 +19,6 @@ When you're dealing with cops like this who escalate situations, trick you, thre It's easy for privileged white guys like Duane and I to tell people "Always comply with what the police tell you. Never resist. If they violate your rights, fight it in court later." and I think that's generally good advice. I certainly wouldn't advise anyone to deviate from that as a policy, but if you don't believe there are circumstances that call for deviating, I think you're just naïve. -Most of us have probably heard of the tragic death of [Eric Garner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Eric_Garner "The Killing of Eric Garner"), a man the police choked to death over (allegedly) selling untaxed cigarettes. Garner stated *11 times* that he couldn't breathe, but the officer kept his knee on Garner's neck anyways. What was Garner supposed to do in that situation? Just let the police murder him? +Most of us have probably heard of the tragic death of [Eric Garner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Eric_Garner "The Killing of Eric Garner"), a man the police choked to death over (allegedly) selling untaxed cigarettes. Garner stated *11 times* that he couldn't breathe, but the officer kept his knee on Garner's neck anyway. What was Garner supposed to do in that situation? Just let the police murder him? I think the best course of action when interacting with police is almost always to comply, assert your rights whenever possible, and rarely to resist. Ultimately though it depends on context and individual circumstances and one has to use their best judgment. diff --git a/content/entry/re-why-even-let-users-set-their-own-passwords.md b/content/entry/re-why-even-let-users-set-their-own-passwords.md index 39c8da9..9b1dfb0 100644 --- a/content/entry/re-why-even-let-users-set-their-own-passwords.md +++ b/content/entry/re-why-even-let-users-set-their-own-passwords.md @@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ There are several flaws with this email token approach to account security as de First, as Hugo points out, since the alternate login flow (password recovery) only requires the email token, the password not only becomes a pointless inconvenience that increases system complexity with no security benefit, but it also gives the user a false sense that their account is protected using two-factor authentication when it's not. -Even if the email tokens were truly two-factor, most users probably access email from the same device they use to log in to online accounts anyways. So it still wouldn't be "proper" two-factor. +Even if the email tokens were truly two-factor, most users probably access email from the same device they use to log in to online accounts anyway. So it still wouldn't be "proper" two-factor. Second, these email tokens actually give the attacker several more avenues to gain account access, and in ways the user likely isn't considering, doesn't know about, and has no ability to mitigate. Here are a few: @@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ Second, these email tokens actually give the attacker several more avenues to ga > "Often this will be combined with fallacious notions such as “remember this device”, the idea being you only have to go through all this the first time when logging in from a particular device. This idea is fallacious because the web has no notion of a “device”, and this is a very intentional design choice made for privacy purposes. We are literally living through the gradual phase-out of third-party cookies, amongst other functionality, specifically to try and prevent this sort of thing, so why do web developers persist in believing in this fiction of a “device”? My own browser erases all cookies from an origin immediately after the last tab from that origin is closed, so these sites are convinced I am logging in from a new “device” every single time, and then demand I respond to one of these challenge emails." -I don't see the "remember this device" terminology as a problem. I think it helps non-technical people understand what's going on while technical people understand what it's doing anyways. +I don't see the "remember this device" terminology as a problem. I think it helps non-technical people understand what's going on while technical people understand what it's doing anyway. My browser also erases cookies, so I also have to log in every time, but this is the desired behavior. diff --git a/content/entry/rejecting-visual-studio.md b/content/entry/rejecting-visual-studio.md index c09e5bf..e6ef99e 100644 --- a/content/entry/rejecting-visual-studio.md +++ b/content/entry/rejecting-visual-studio.md @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ draft: false This semester I took Intro to Artificial Intelligence at [SIUe](https://www.siue.edu). Artificial Intelligence is a senior level course. I'll call the professor, "Professor X" to preserve anonymity. # Story -## Assignment One - Cats +## Assignment One — Cats Since my time giving in to using Visual Studio in software engineering class and seeing the inner conflict that caused, I was much more prepared to stand up for my beliefs in A.I. class. The very first assignment we got was to write an A.I. that solves a "cat in the hat" problem involving finding certain values for the height of the cats and number of cats in each hat (each cat has a hat with more cats except the cat at height one). I was intrigued. I could have written a program that simulates the cats, but I instead went for an analytical approach and derived two single logarithmic equations that yielded the values efficiently. I still wasn't sure how to solve both equations, so I developed a binary search algorithm for the right value instead. I was disappointed however when after reading the specification I discovered the project had to be completed using Visual Studio and written in C++. Visual Studio is proprietary software made by Microsoft that requires users to agree to a license agreement (which I read) and submit themselves to privacy-invading telemetry. Ew. I was not thrilled about this, so I opted to write my program using a different IDE and compile it with the gnu-c++ compiler. I wanted to get ahead of this so there wouldn't be any issue, so I emailed Professor X explaining why Visual Studio is proprietary malware, or at least potential malware. Professor X responded that he did not believe it is malware and I should use it anyway. So I responded over email again explaining my beliefs about free software and why students ought not be required to use Visual Studio. He said he would consult with his colleagues about it and the grader as well. Professor X and the grader got back to me explaining that they couldn't change the assignment just for me as there were over thirty students in the class and allowing students to submit their work differently would be too much hassle. Maybe don't ask students to use proprietary software? @@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ The professor and grader agreed, just for this one time, to regrade my program t ## Assignment Two and Three The second assignment was Huarong Path, also called [Klotski](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klotski). It is a sliding puzzle where you try to get a particular piece into a particular spot on the board by sliding all the tiles around until you have the piece in the destination spot. There are many heuristics you can develop for this, but I found that implementation was just as important as heuristics. The third assignment was Fore & Aft where you try to reverse the positions of the differently colored pegs. Imagine a large square broken into four quadrants, but two quadrants that are diagonal to one another are missing, and there is one empty center peg and the quadrants have differently colored pegs. The rules are that you can move any peg into an empty adjacent peg or jump over pegs like in the game checkers. I ended up using [A*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A*_search_algorithm) to solve the puzzle. I was able to submit these two assignments with only the source code files, so I didn't have to use Visual Studio and there was no problem. -## Assignment Four - N Queens Puzzle +## Assignment Four — N Queens Puzzle Fast forward to the fourth assignment. It was an N Queens puzzle. For N=8, this is better known as the [8 Queens Puzzle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_queens_puzzle). This was my favorite puzzle to write a solution for. I found a simple [hill-climbing algorithm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_climbing) from our textbook that was much faster at finding solutions than was asked of us. We had to find three unique solutions. I just allowed my program to take as input the board size as well as the initial position of the first queen. For some reason it was stipulated that we had to enable one queen in the solution to be "fixed" to a certain square so she was guaranteed to be there. It didn't take me long to have this solution written up and submitted, but my grade unexpectedly returned with a failing grade for the assignment. It was because gnu-c++ allowed specifying C arrays without a size, but the standard C++ compiler didn't, so it didn't compile in Visual Studio. When I turned on warnings when compiling with gnu-c++, I immediately saw what the grader was talking about and fixed it. The grader allowed me to fix it since it was just an issue with the compiler compatibility and not my code. I got full points back for this assignment. I was told after the first assignment that it would be my responsibility to make sure my code worked in Visual Studio and if it didn't, I would be graded accordingly. But the grader was willing to allow this to slide since it was such a minor issue and strictly to do with compiler compatibility. diff --git a/content/entry/remote-fair-coin-flipping-with-friends.md b/content/entry/remote-fair-coin-flipping-with-friends.md index cfce132..c525278 100644 --- a/content/entry/remote-fair-coin-flipping-with-friends.md +++ b/content/entry/remote-fair-coin-flipping-with-friends.md @@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ It is possible to perform a remote fair coin flip with 3 or more participants, b 10. Convert the value from step 9 back to heads or tails as defined in step 1. ## Flipping Multiple Coins with 3+ Friends -This is the most difficult coin flip: multiple coins with more than 2 participants. I think you get the gist of it by now and I don't really need to type all this out, but I will for completeness sake. Not much will be changed from the above steps though. +This is the most difficult coin flip: multiple coins with more than 2 participants. I think you get the gist of it by now and I don't really need to type all this out, but I will for completeness' sake. Not much will be changed from the above steps though. 1. Flip N physical coins. Heads represents 0. Tails represents 1. Concatenate the coin flip results. 2. Append to the result of step 1 a space followed by a [nonce](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptographic_nonce) that your friends cannot easily guess. Never reuse the nonce. For the sequence heads tails heads tails heads, it will look like this: 01010 yabynkgpbfnagntyzvgvgmwaa diff --git a/content/entry/save-american-democracy.md b/content/entry/save-american-democracy.md index e3c83cb..94bfb62 100644 --- a/content/entry/save-american-democracy.md +++ b/content/entry/save-american-democracy.md @@ -32,14 +32,14 @@ Let me extend an olive branch to the MAGA camp. I also hate the sanctimoniousnes The guy who you're thinking of voting for is a pompous narcissistic bully. He spreads disinformation and lies at a velocity never before seen in all of American political history. He breaks longstanding political norms. He says things that, had *any* other presidential candidate said them, it would've ended their political career forever. He insults US allies and talks about "falling in love" with brutal dictators like Kim Jong Un. He attacks journalists, calling all negative press coverage of him "fake news". He wants to give up the fight against climate change and let the human race perish. He doesn't even respect the Constitution or the rule of law. And he tried to coup the government because he prioritizes his own interests over democracy. -I agree with Trump voters that Biden is clearly unfit for office and Kamala has flaws just like any other politician, but I'm going to vote for her anyways because at least I can count on her not to end democracy or run the United States straight off a fucking cliff. +I agree with Trump voters that Biden is clearly unfit for office and Kamala has flaws just like any other politician, but I'm going to vote for her anyway because at least I can count on her not to end democracy or run the United States straight off a fucking cliff. ## Disinformation I know some of you Trump supporters are thinking "Fake news! Trump derangement syndrome! You bought into the media conspiracy against him!" -Let me ask you something. Where do you get your information from? Do you ever check your sources? Or can you just admit that you eat up whatever bullshit gets spoon fed to you from your MAGA social media propaganda bubbles on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Tiktok, and Youtube? +Let me ask you something. Where do you get your information from? Do you ever check your sources? Or can you just admit that you eat up whatever bullshit gets spoon fed to you from your MAGA social media propaganda bubbles on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Tiktok, and YouTube? These are rhetorical questions. I know that you never go "Hey, I wonder if Trump is telling the truth." and look up his claims with a search engine because if you did, you'd find out that every single thing that comes of his mouth is a big fat fucking lie. You don't see any real information because nobody ever taught you basic media literacy. You're ready to elect this guy as the next US president but you haven't even skimmed *any* of the [criminal](https://www.justice.gov/storage/US-v-Trump-Nauta-De-Oliveira-23-80101.pdf "Trump Corruptly Conceals National Defense Information and Obstructs Justice") [indictments](https://www.justice.gov/storage/US_v_Trump_23_cr_257.pdf "Trump Obstructs The Election") against him and you probably can't even name what he was being charged with before his corrupt US Supreme Court [declared him immune from prosecution](https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-939_e2pg.pdf "US Supreme Court Gives Trump Immunity From Prosecution"). And by the way, did you even watch *any* of the January 6th footage or did you just believe the lie that it was Antifa? diff --git a/content/entry/shouting-into-the-void.md b/content/entry/shouting-into-the-void.md index 337b7bf..e9fbfe4 100644 --- a/content/entry/shouting-into-the-void.md +++ b/content/entry/shouting-into-the-void.md @@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ I want to reach a wide audience. I want my ideas to make a difference in the wor I plan to start keeping track of how many site requests are made. Right now, my only metric for estimating read count is the occasional email I receive. If you would, please [email me](/about/) letting me know how often you read this journal, which platform you're using to access it, and any other demographic information you're comfortable providing so I get an idea of my audience. -I have no way to collect analytics for Flounder, Gitlab, Gemini, Freenet, or Zeronet. I'm against adding tracking scripts on the web version of this journal. Page views don't necessarily translate into interested readers and that's about all I can see. So if you're reading this, I'm counting on your input. But I digress. +I have no way to collect analytics for Flounder, GitLab, Gemini, Freenet, or Zeronet. I'm against adding tracking scripts on the web version of this journal. Page views don't necessarily translate into interested readers and that's about all I can see. So if you're reading this, I'm counting on your input. But I digress. I've been thinking it would be nice if I had a way to monetize my writing. Donations aren't working but I'm uncomfortable with my ideas being restricted from people just because they don't have enough funds. So I'll always make my thoughts available through my writing on a "pay what you want" basis, even if that payment is zero. If I decide to try my hand at writing ebooks rather than online journal entries, I'll give the ebooks away for free with the option of payment. diff --git a/content/entry/site-update-001.md b/content/entry/site-update-001.md index 56337ae..34c13db 100644 --- a/content/entry/site-update-001.md +++ b/content/entry/site-update-001.md @@ -7,4 +7,4 @@ draft: false # What's New I just finished migrating this site to a new server in Poland and I made a few changes along the way. I added IPv6 support to the site. I cleaned up the [about page](/about/) and added some context to give the site a clear purpose. The primary crypto donation method is now Monero instead of Bitcoin. It's better for privacy. I also switched from Ko-fi to [Liberapay](https://liberapay.com). Liberapay supports multiple currencies and languages. It's a non-profit that handles transactions transparently with [free software](https://github.com/liberapay). -As for the site mirrors, I removed the SIUe mirror since it's insecure and I seem to have lost access since I don't attend any more. I changed the onion address to a [new vanity onion](http://nick6gsepvtmkcpibpid6dqtqroxt62u6ab4ep65vxrenffruumj6jad.onion). I also registered my I2P site with zzz's I2P domain name service so it's more memorable. It will take up to a week to propagate through all the nodes, so you'll have to use the direct [base32 address](http://nickg4tsj3wy3i23faxp5momjcnlwrvwl5ek5l7lkm5vrbblvgbq.b32.i2p) or a jump service to access this blog over I2P for now. I don't plan on changing the links again so it's safe to bookmark the new onion address and I2P link. I've made a backup of the private keys for the eepsite, onion, and Zeronet addresses. In the event of a future server migration, I'll be able to keep the addresses the same. +As for the site mirrors, I removed the SIUe mirror since it's insecure and I seem to have lost access since I don't attend anymore. I changed the onion address to a [new vanity onion](http://nick6gsepvtmkcpibpid6dqtqroxt62u6ab4ep65vxrenffruumj6jad.onion). I also registered my I2P site with zzz's I2P domain name service so it's more memorable. It will take up to a week to propagate through all the nodes, so you'll have to use the direct [base32 address](http://nickg4tsj3wy3i23faxp5momjcnlwrvwl5ek5l7lkm5vrbblvgbq.b32.i2p) or a jump service to access this blog over I2P for now. I don't plan on changing the links again so it's safe to bookmark the new onion address and I2P link. I've made a backup of the private keys for the eepsite, onion, and Zeronet addresses. In the event of a future server migration, I'll be able to keep the addresses the same. diff --git a/content/entry/site-update-008.md b/content/entry/site-update-008.md index 883dd47..9eccc74 100644 --- a/content/entry/site-update-008.md +++ b/content/entry/site-update-008.md @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ draft: false It seems I'm making update posts more often than I imagined, but it's fine. I'm going to try out a list format for this one. * Change "recommendation" tag to more specific tags. (e.g., "books", "videos") -* Sign commits on Github/Gitlab so users can [TOFU](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_on_first_use) this blog +* Sign commits on GitHub/GitLab so users can [TOFU](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_on_first_use) this blog * Minify HTML and CSS # Future Plans diff --git a/content/entry/site-update-009.md b/content/entry/site-update-009.md index f05eda3..718f932 100644 --- a/content/entry/site-update-009.md +++ b/content/entry/site-update-009.md @@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ I haven't posted anything for a while and I've been working behind the scenes to * Output RSS content as full post content rather than mere content summaries for better accessibility to RSS users. * Move the custom inline CSS to the external stylesheet. -* The site's Github and Gitlab CI workflows that host the site mirrors have been fixed. Before, I was locally generating files and uploading them as a single commit. Now, I upload the source files and let the remote servers do the work. +* The site's GitHub and GitLab CI workflows that host the site mirrors have been fixed. Before, I was locally generating files and uploading them as a single commit. Now, I upload the source files and let the remote servers do the work. * Launch Gitea server on new subdomain (https://git.0gitnick.xyz) to host site content and theme for better organization and transparency in generating the site. The reason I did not go with Savannah as I planned in my last site update is because Savannah has very strict licensing requirements. Since my site is forked and I might fork more projects in the future, I'd rather not spend hours fixing license text before I can even upload the project. I have no problem with meticulously licensing my own work. It would just be too demotivating to do that for someone else's work. * Write content summaries for every post. This was very tedious but worth it. It makes the site more aesthetically pleasing and much easier to follow. It's my own fault for not doing this from the beginning. * Add Ethereum address and tokens for more donation options. diff --git a/content/entry/site-update-011.md b/content/entry/site-update-011.md index c935179..c2636a7 100644 --- a/content/entry/site-update-011.md +++ b/content/entry/site-update-011.md @@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ I paused posts because I've been busy migrating my blog to [Gemini](Gemini speci * All tags and separate feeds are gone. I don't feel like the tagging system was very valuable. I often didn't know what to tag my posts or whether to create a new tag for them or remove a tag. Now I don't have to think about it. I can get on with just doing what I like which is writing posts. As for you readers of my blog, I have doubts that anyone much uses the tags anyway. Reading the title and summary probably does more to help readers make a judgment if they want to read that post than tags. I would've had to reimplement them in my content management system and it didn't seem worth the work. # Future Plans -* Write configuration files for CI pipelines so the Github and Gitlab site mirrors work again. Since I'm using a content management system I wrote myself, I also have to write the CI pipeline configuration for generating the site myself and I haven't gotten to it yet. +* Write configuration files for CI pipelines so the GitHub and GitLab site mirrors work again. Since I'm using a content management system I wrote myself, I also have to write the CI pipeline configuration for generating the site myself and I haven't gotten to it yet. Ignore what site update 10 says about the repos. It only makes sense to have 1 repo to maintain content on Gemini and the Web. The repo nicksphere-www is deprecated. It will no longer be used at all. The canonical repo for my content is now nicksphere-gmi. It contains generator scripts for Gemini and the web as well. It still needs work such as the CI pipelines, but it's close enough to use for my capsule and my site now. diff --git a/content/entry/site-update-012.md b/content/entry/site-update-012.md index 2b27477..b16e0bf 100644 --- a/content/entry/site-update-012.md +++ b/content/entry/site-update-012.md @@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ draft: false --- # What's New * The wonky CSS is fixed. The result is the site is much more presentable and easy to read on mobile and desktop. Specifically, the spacing is more consistent. -* Gitlab pages now correctly generates my website using .gitlab-ci.yml. I deleted my Github mirror since I didn't want to write a CI script to support the proprietary Github pages system. +* GitLab pages now correctly generates my website using .gitlab-ci.yml. I deleted my GitHub mirror since I didn't want to write a CI script to support the proprietary GitHub pages system. * New Privatebin instance on the bin subdomain # Future Plans diff --git a/content/entry/site-update-013.md b/content/entry/site-update-013.md index 56ac314..796e991 100644 --- a/content/entry/site-update-013.md +++ b/content/entry/site-update-013.md @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ draft: false * Full content [Atom feeds](/atom.xml) have returned. Before Gemini, I had a full content web feed, not just the summaries. After Gemini, I changed it to summaries only. Now, full content is supported again along with summaries. It was a mistake adding Gemini without full content web feed support. I shouldn't have taken that feature away from readers without warning. I was just so focused on getting Gemini that I ditched the web feed to roll that out early. Apologies to anyone using it. I don't really care how readers access my blog as long as they're reading it and I want to make it as accessible as possible for everyone. * New [content submodule](https://archive.softwareheritage.org/swh:1:snp:14fb224d5e13136ac433bb459e3803aed63a0bb7;origin=https://git.nicholasjohnson.ch/nicksphere-gmi-content). This almost entirely separates the text on my blog from everything else, significantly reducing the number of files in the main repository. I did this to create a logical separation between the text on the blog and everything used to generate/display that text. * Clearer licensing. The licensing was unclear before because I didn't clearly indicate which licenses went with which files. Now that content and scripts live in separate repositories, the main repo can use GPLv3 exclusively and the content CC BY-SA 4.0 exclusively. -* Gitlab pages is fixed as of [this commit](https://archive.softwareheritage.org/swh:1:rev:3ea0615f72fcae2d345f239569019429c5d5d168;origin=https://git.nicholasjohnson.ch/nicksphere-gmi;visit=swh:1:snp:fb9bef300f9b939382f5656232d95377c8630a10#swh-revision-changes). Before, it wasn't recursively cloning the new content submodule, so the generation process was failing and the mirror was down for a while. +* GitLab pages is fixed as of [this commit](https://archive.softwareheritage.org/swh:1:rev:3ea0615f72fcae2d345f239569019429c5d5d168;origin=https://git.nicholasjohnson.ch/nicksphere-gmi;visit=swh:1:snp:fb9bef300f9b939382f5656232d95377c8630a10#swh-revision-changes). Before, it wasn't recursively cloning the new content submodule, so the generation process was failing and the mirror was down for a while. * GNU Audio Video mirror link added. I'm now mirroring all the GNU audios and videos. Before I had the A/V on the mirrors subdomain and A/V links weren't working that way. I realized that particular mirror requires its own domain to display properly, so now it has one. # Future Plans diff --git a/content/entry/social-media-alternatives.md b/content/entry/social-media-alternatives.md index 62629c7..e7ea2fd 100644 --- a/content/entry/social-media-alternatives.md +++ b/content/entry/social-media-alternatives.md @@ -6,12 +6,12 @@ draft: false --- You don't want to miss out on social media, but you also don't want to deal with tracking scripts, ads and other nonsense that comes along with using proprietary walled garden platforms. Luckily there are publicly available privacy-respecting alternative front-ends for these popular social media sites: -* Instagram - Bibliogram ([source](https://sr.ht/~cadence/bibliogram/)) -* Reddit - Teddit ([source](https://codeberg.org/teddit/teddit)) -* Twitter - Nitter ([source](https://github.com/zedeus/nitter)) -* Youtube - [Invidious](https://invidious.io) ([source](https://github.com/iv-org/invidious)) +* Instagram – Bibliogram ([source](https://sr.ht/~cadence/bibliogram/)) +* Reddit – Teddit ([source](https://codeberg.org/teddit/teddit)) +* Twitter – Nitter ([source](https://github.com/zedeus/nitter)) +* YouTube – [Invidious](https://invidious.io) ([source](https://github.com/iv-org/invidious)) -There is also an Android app in [F-droid](https://f-droid.org/) called [UntrackMe](https://f-droid.org/en/packages/app.fedilab.nitterizeme/) which redirects Youtube, Twitter and Instagram links to their free alternatives. Reddit support was just added 2 weeks ago. +There is also an Android app in [F-droid](https://f-droid.org/) called [UntrackMe](https://f-droid.org/en/packages/app.fedilab.nitterizeme/) which redirects YouTube, Twitter and Instagram links to their free alternatives. Reddit support was just added 2 weeks ago. I recommend exclusively using the free alternative links when using a web browser. It's also best if you send others the alternative links when sharing content. The alternatives don't always support all the features of the official website. diff --git a/content/entry/start-fresh-in-every-moment.md b/content/entry/start-fresh-in-every-moment.md index 4f25f5b..2748698 100644 --- a/content/entry/start-fresh-in-every-moment.md +++ b/content/entry/start-fresh-in-every-moment.md @@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ Before I get into this subject, let's get the obvious out of the way so that I d ## People Have Patterns of Thought And Behavior Newton's first law of motion states: -> "Objects tend to keep on doing what they're doing unless acted upon by an unbalanced force." - Sir Isaac Newton +> "Objects tend to keep on doing what they're doing unless acted upon by an unbalanced force." — Sir Isaac Newton The same is true for people. People tend to keep the same patterns of thought and action. That's why we have the word "personality". A personality is just observed patterns in thoughts and behavior. This isn't to say people are incapable of change, just that it's not the default. The default is people keep doing what they're doing. @@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ There's a false dichotomy that the only two options are facing the cold, hard, d ## Toxic Positivity You don't necessarily need to lie to yourself about what's going on in the world not to be depressed. A few people opt for that strategy. They put a positive spin on everything and when that becomes impossible, they outright lie to themselves. This is a form of [Toxic Positivity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_positivity). -For examples of toxic positivity, just search Youtube for how to get rich. You'll find clueless one-percenters who genuinely seem to think poor people only exist because they have the wrong mindset. I don't think I need to explain how harmful this is. This extreme can be avoided by just not lying to yourself. +For examples of toxic positivity, just search YouTube for how to get rich. You'll find clueless one-percenters who genuinely seem to think poor people only exist because they have the wrong mindset. I don't think I need to explain how harmful this is. This extreme can be avoided by just not lying to yourself. # Starting Fresh in Every Moment What does any of this have to do with starting fresh? Well, people tell themselves they can't do things based on past attempts that went badly or imagining things going badly in the future. People with social anxiety imagine that they'll make a fool of themselves in their next interaction which hasn't happened yet. Recovering drug addicts think because they relapse once, they're a user again. diff --git a/content/entry/started-from-the-bottom-stayed-at-the-bottom.md b/content/entry/started-from-the-bottom-stayed-at-the-bottom.md index d26fab9..89b6c19 100644 --- a/content/entry/started-from-the-bottom-stayed-at-the-bottom.md +++ b/content/entry/started-from-the-bottom-stayed-at-the-bottom.md @@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ Even ignoring that the economy as a whole isn't meritocratic, ignoring that meri That may seem like a trivial question, but I argue that it's not. There's room for reasonable people to disagree. For example, if I say I can do something, but I'm never motivated enough to do it, is it fair to say that I can do it then? That's unclear to me. -I think I've sufficiently critiqued the conclusion enough to convince the audience that it should be rejected outright or at least be treated very skeptically, but we have to go along with it anyways to understand the mindset of those who believe it. +I think I've sufficiently critiqued the conclusion enough to convince the audience that it should be rejected outright or at least be treated very skeptically, but we have to go along with it anyway to understand the mindset of those who believe it. The [modus tollens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modus_tollens) of "Anybody can upgrade their economic stratum if they only work hard enough." results in "People who can't upgrade their economic stratum don't work hard enough." which often gets twisted into "Poor people are lazy." diff --git a/content/entry/struggle-to-graduate-without-nonfree-software.md b/content/entry/struggle-to-graduate-without-nonfree-software.md index f3705d1..15eaa46 100644 --- a/content/entry/struggle-to-graduate-without-nonfree-software.md +++ b/content/entry/struggle-to-graduate-without-nonfree-software.md @@ -132,4 +132,4 @@ I believe at some point Wojciech and I both asked someone else to use proprietar There is however one major difference between mine and Wojciech's situation: money. In Poland, attending university is tuition-free for nationals. In the United States, college is very expensive. Since I'm not wealthy, continuing college for me would've meant thousands of dollars in student loans every semester. Every time I failed a class for refusing proprietary software, that would've been money down the drain. If college were tuition-free in the United States, I'd consider returning because even if I failed for refusing proprietary software, I could try again. It would only cost my time. Unfortunately free college in the United States doesn't seem likely within the near future. -In conclusion, I think the cost factor made a major difference in the outcome. Did it make *the* difference? I don't know. Nonetheless, I salute Wojciech for his dogged persistence in completing his studies in freedom. He's the only other person I know of who insisted on his computing freedom to the point of being willing to fail classes. We need more stories like his. Success or failure doesn't matter. What matters is putting pressure on the educational system to transition to free software. Even a small number of vocal students fighting for their computing freedom in universities has the potential to break big tech's stranglehold on education. +In conclusion, I think the cost factor made a major difference in the outcome. Did it make *the* difference? I don't know. Nonetheless, I salute Wojciech for his dogged persistence in completing his studies in freedom. He's the only other person I know of who insisted on his computing freedom to the point of being willing to fail classes. We need more stories like his. Success or failure doesn't matter. What matters is putting pressure on the educational system to transition to free software. Even a small fraction of vocal students fighting for their computing freedom in universities has the potential to break big tech's stranglehold on education. diff --git a/content/entry/stupid-laws-regarding-teen-sexting-and-child-pornography.md b/content/entry/stupid-laws-regarding-teen-sexting-and-child-pornography.md index 750dbd5..558fba1 100644 --- a/content/entry/stupid-laws-regarding-teen-sexting-and-child-pornography.md +++ b/content/entry/stupid-laws-regarding-teen-sexting-and-child-pornography.md @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ draft: false --- ## Teen Sexting -The majority of teen sexting goes unpunished even if police end up finding out somehow. That's because police are usually reasonable enough to see, for example, in places where the age of consent is 18, that a 17-year-old and 19-year old sexting consensually harms nobody and neither deserve to be charged with a crime or suffer the stigma of being labelled a sex offender forever. +The majority of teen sexting goes unpunished even if police end up finding out somehow. That's because police are usually reasonable enough to see, for example, in places where the age of consent is 18, that a 17-year-old and 19-year-old sexting consensually harms nobody and neither deserve to be charged with a crime or suffer the stigma of being labelled a sex offender forever. However, some teen sexting cases are prosecuted as possession of child pornography, leaving teens with a criminal record. This is a completely over-zealous and senseless application of criminal law. If the images are being coerced in some way, that's different. But I'm talking about cases where police are punishing completely victimless and consensual behavior. @@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ Furthermore, teens have been prosecuted for child pornography for merely possess "But what if the nude pictures end up in the hands of pedophiles?" -If a 51 year-old-man man solicits nude pictures from a 13-year-old girl, that's obviously a problem because consent becomes very questionable with that big of an age gap. In other words, it's likely that the girl is being manipulated. But suppose the 51-year-old man just goes online and downloads nudes of a 13-year-old girl that were leaked by somebody else. Is that harmful? +If a 51-year-old man solicits nude pictures from a 13-year-old girl, that's obviously a problem because consent becomes very questionable with that big of an age gap. In other words, it's likely that the girl is being manipulated. But suppose the 51-year-old man just goes online and downloads nudes of a 13-year-old girl that were leaked by somebody else. Is that harmful? ## Child Pornography diff --git a/content/entry/taking-back-the-web-with-haketilo.md b/content/entry/taking-back-the-web-with-haketilo.md index 4fd3a37..ff502a3 100644 --- a/content/entry/taking-back-the-web-with-haketilo.md +++ b/content/entry/taking-back-the-web-with-haketilo.md @@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ date: 2022-04-08T00:00:00 tags: ['computing'] draft: false --- -About a month ago, [I announced my LibrePlanet presentation](/2022/03/14/come-watch-me-present-at-libreplanet-2022/) "Taking Back The Web With Haketilo". In case you missed the livestream, there's now a final, edited copy available on the [LibrePlanet website](https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/taking-back-the-web-with-haketilo/). Find the direct link [here](https://media.libreplanet.org/mgoblin_media/media_entries/2710/neptune-saturday-1430.webm). +About a month ago, [I announced my LibrePlanet presentation](/2022/03/14/come-watch-me-present-at-libreplanet-2022/) "Taking Back The Web With Haketilo". In case you missed the livestream, there's now a final, edited copy available on the [LibrePlanet website](https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/taking-back-the-web-with-haketilo/), mirrored on [my journal](/static/taking-back-the-web-with-haketilo.webm "Taking back the Web with Haketilo") as well. There is room for self-improvement, but I think the final copy turned out fine and I attribute that to the rehearsing I did the weeks prior to the talk. If you have extra time, please also watch Amin Bandali's talk "[The Net Beyond The Web](https://web.archive.org/web/20220523023637if_/https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/the-net-beyond-the-web/)". Find the direct link [here](https://web.archive.org/web/20220523023637if_/https://media.libreplanet.org/mgoblin_media/media_entries/2711/saturn-sunday-1620.webm). diff --git a/content/entry/thank-you-destiny-for-exposing-maga.md b/content/entry/thank-you-destiny-for-exposing-maga.md index b4979c5..badc213 100644 --- a/content/entry/thank-you-destiny-for-exposing-maga.md +++ b/content/entry/thank-you-destiny-for-exposing-maga.md @@ -10,14 +10,16 @@ Before I talk about internet streamer Destiny's work, I just want to make clear ## Destiny's Work -Steven Kenneth Bonnell II, online alias Destiny, has worked tirelessly [exposing MAGA](https://yewtu.be/channel/UC554eY5jNUfDq3yDOJYirOQ?dark_mode=true "Destiny's Youtube Channel") as the dangerous cult it is by debating Trump supporters and disseminating factual information about January 6th and election issues. He deserves recognition for his work, so please spread it like the plague. Thank you Steven! +Edit (15-02-2025): Destiny's videos covering MAGA have been very valuable, but due to credible allegations against him which I became aware of after posting this, I must clarify that I don't endorse his online community, I recommend against funding him at this point, and I don't think he's someone to look up to as an exemplar of ethical behavior. Don't make [heroes](/2023/08/22/never-meet-your-heroes/ "Journal Entry: Never Meet Your Heroes") out of people folks. + +Steven Kenneth Bonnell II, online alias Destiny, has worked tirelessly [exposing MAGA](https://yewtu.be/channel/UC554eY5jNUfDq3yDOJYirOQ?dark_mode=true "Destiny's YouTube Channel") as the dangerous cult it is by debating Trump supporters and disseminating factual information about January 6th and election issues. Thank you Steven! What I think Destiny has revealed in his recent debates is that **the bottom line for MAGA supporters is that they want Trump crowned king**. They (speaking in general) actually want the United States to become an authoritarian dictatorship under Trump's rule. They don't believe in democracy. They don't care how many crimes Trump commits or how brazenly he commits them. There's absolutely nothing he could do to lose their vote. According to them, all information that casts Trump in a bad light is part of the global media conspiracy against him. They're completely divorced from reality, with many believing in the craziest of conspiracy theories. They don't care about facts or evidence. As Destiny said, they live in "an epistemological echo chamber". ### The Failure of Left-Wing Media -I think Destiny's hardball approach to public debates with MAGA cultists is the best chance at winning over undecided voters and convincing MAGA cultists in the audience not to vote. I also agree with him that **the left-wing media is doing a massive disservice by holding Trump and his apologizers to lower standards to maintain the appearance of being unbiased**. MAGA folks accuse the media of partisanship anyways, so who are they even appeasing? +I think Destiny's hardball approach to public debates with MAGA cultists is the best chance at winning over undecided voters and convincing MAGA cultists in the audience not to vote. I also agree with him that **the left-wing media is doing a massive disservice by holding Trump and his apologizers to lower standards to maintain the appearance of being unbiased**. MAGA folks accuse the media of partisanship anyway, so who are they even appeasing? When invited on news programs, MAGA cultists don't debate in good faith. All they do is apologize for Trump, gaslight and straw man the opposition, move goalposts, do mental gymnastics, spin the conversation, many openly support political violence, and the media just acts like this is all normal. The left-wing media needs to stop being overly concerned with appearing biased and do what Destiny is doing, which is to treat MAGA cultists based on how they act, not giving them the benefit of the doubt even as they demonstrate they have no intentions of debating in good faith. diff --git a/content/entry/the-best-way-to-proselytize-mindfulness.md b/content/entry/the-best-way-to-proselytize-mindfulness.md index a04115e..13e8b32 100644 --- a/content/entry/the-best-way-to-proselytize-mindfulness.md +++ b/content/entry/the-best-way-to-proselytize-mindfulness.md @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ draft: false --- When I started practicing mindfulness and seeing benefits, the first thing I wanted to do was tell everybody how great it was. Naturally when one finds something good, one wants to share it. The problem is [most people incessantly think all the time](/2021/02/06/the-addiction-to-thinking/). They're too lost in thought to give mindfulness a try. They're especially not going to try it just because I say so. -I've found the best way to proselytize mindfulness is through actions, not words. On this text-based journal, all I have is words, so I write about it. But in real life, I don't proselytize meditation any more unless it comes up because that doesn't work. What works is other people observing the way I am. +I've found the best way to proselytize mindfulness is through actions, not words. On this text-based journal, all I have is words, so I write about it. But in real life, I don't proselytize meditation anymore unless it comes up because that doesn't work. What works is other people observing the way I am. Those who are mindful have a way about them. Through seeing the impermanence of the objects of consciousness again and again, they stop identifying with those objects. Nothing that happens seems to phase them. Not because they're stuck in some edgy teenage nihilist phase, but because they accept their conscious reality and its transience. The resulting equanimity of mind presents itself different ways in different people, but typically it's obvious to attentive observers. diff --git a/content/entry/the-cult-of-productivity.md b/content/entry/the-cult-of-productivity.md index 77cdbb9..0ae6e7f 100644 --- a/content/entry/the-cult-of-productivity.md +++ b/content/entry/the-cult-of-productivity.md @@ -46,6 +46,6 @@ In conclusion, just ask questions and practice unproductivity. Why is working lo See? Questioning the assumptions of the cult of productivity is easy. You can apply these questions to your own personal life and come up with new ones. All it takes is some out-of-the-box thinking. You can encourage others to do the same and deprogram themselves. Form your own opinions. Don't just go along with whatever the corporate media and the government tells you. They want good, obedient workers that produce without ever questioning why. But you don't have to blindly follow what they say. Choose to be your own independent thinking person. I'll end with a quote. -> "Think deeply about things. Don't just go along because that's the way things are or that's what your friends say. Consider the effects, consider the alternatives, but most importantly, just think." - Aaron Swartz +> "Think deeply about things. Don't just go along because that's the way things are or that's what your friends say. Consider the effects, consider the alternatives, but most importantly, just think." — Aaron Swartz Thanks for reading. Don't forget to share this post if you enjoyed it. diff --git a/content/entry/the-dream-of-life.md b/content/entry/the-dream-of-life.md index 30e4d05..8b37208 100644 --- a/content/entry/the-dream-of-life.md +++ b/content/entry/the-dream-of-life.md @@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ Would losing your job bother you if you never thought about it? No. How could it "So what? I already know that my thoughts are just thoughts!" And you know that dreams are just dreams too. But you don't realize you're dreaming during the dream. In the abstract, you know that thoughts are just thoughts. But you don't realize you're thinking during the thought. You only realize you were thinking after the fact. Realizing you're thinking during the thought takes practice. ## Lucid Dreaming -What happens when you realize you're dreaming during a dream? You have this sudden realization that you're not just this isolated dream self any more. You're the builder of the dream world. You're the one crafting the narrative. The whole world and everything happening in it is just a play that you're putting on and you're the actors, the props, the director, and the audience all at once. When you realize this, you become free to do whatever you want. You become god, figuratively. +What happens when you realize you're dreaming during a dream? You have this sudden realization that you're not just this isolated dream self anymore. You're the builder of the dream world. You're the one crafting the narrative. The whole world and everything happening in it is just a play that you're putting on and you're the actors, the props, the director, and the audience all at once. When you realize this, you become free to do whatever you want. You become god, figuratively. ## Lucid Thinking So what happens when you realize you're thinking during a thought? Well who exactly is doing the thinking? When you have the thought "I lost my job. I'm a failure.", who is meant to hear that? Yourself? Why do you need to tell yourself anything? Wouldn't you already know everything you want to tell yourself? Why even have the thought at all then? diff --git a/content/entry/the-eternal-here-and-now.md b/content/entry/the-eternal-here-and-now.md index b34c66b..eea554a 100644 --- a/content/entry/the-eternal-here-and-now.md +++ b/content/entry/the-eternal-here-and-now.md @@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ For more exercises, you can visit [headless.org](https://www.headless.org/experi # What's the Point? By now I think I've exhausted my allowance of strange sounding questions directed at the reader. For readers that don't get the idea yet, I'm going to come out and say it. All these exercises are trying to get you to experience one thing: The only time and place is here and now. In objective reality, there are separate places and times. Events "happen" here, or there. They happen in the past, present or future. To say everything happens at the same time and place seems like gibberish. Who would say such a thing? The catch is, it's meant in a very specific sense. I'm not denying that there's a real world that persists independently of our experience. Trees that fall down in the forest do make a sound even if no one is there to hear it. I'm merely pointing out that to experience something is synonymous with it appearing in consciousness. Consciousness is the only place for anything to appear. Past events are just memories recalled in the present. Future possibilities are imagined in the present. The reality of our experience is always now. We all live in an Eternal Here and Now. -The Darth Vader of responses to this is "So what? What does it matter?". It can be really hard to show someone why this matters if they don't already see significance. There could be practical benefits to this kind of realization but the primary one is no longer being confused about what you are any more, and no longer suffering for it. People in the midst of this realization sometimes have a peculiar way of phrasing things. Instead of saying "I'm happy", they say "There is happiness" as in "Happiness is present in consciousness". You are never really happy, but there is happiness sometimes. Our usual way of talking is with subject-object form. But the sensation of being a subject in relation to a separate, external world of objects is itself a sensation appearing in consciousness. "There is a sensation of I". As a side note, none of this entails that it's not useful or important to have a sense of personal identity. A sense of identity is socially necessary. The contrapositive of that is that in order to lose your sense of "I", it's useful to undergo social isolation as many monks do. +The Darth Vader of responses to this is "So what? What does it matter?". It can be really hard to show someone why this matters if they don't already see significance. There could be practical benefits to this kind of realization but the primary one is no longer being confused about what you are anymore, and no longer suffering for it. People in the midst of this realization sometimes have a peculiar way of phrasing things. Instead of saying "I'm happy", they say "There is happiness" as in "Happiness is present in consciousness". You are never really happy, but there is happiness sometimes. Our usual way of talking is with subject-object form. But the sensation of being a subject in relation to a separate, external world of objects is itself a sensation appearing in consciousness. "There is a sensation of I". As a side note, none of this entails that it's not useful or important to have a sense of personal identity. A sense of identity is socially necessary. The contrapositive of that is that in order to lose your sense of "I", it's useful to undergo social isolation as many monks do. # Am I just an Observer? You might wonder after reading all this if you're just some passive observer to this flow of experience. I've written at length about this before, but it's certain that [you don't have free will](/2020/06/19/free-will-is-incoherent-part-1/). It's possible through meditation and other means to notice this firsthand. While it's possible to feel either way about it, that you are doing things or that things are happening to you, we know neuroanatomically that the feeling of being the author of your actions, that you are doing things, has to be an illusion. There's nowhere for the author to be hiding. There are only actions. And in that sense [you aren't ultimately responsible for your actions](/2020/08/22/free-will-is-incoherent-part-2/), at least not in a way that justifies punishment for the sake of it. It's just because of the way language is that we have to talk about a "do-er" and an "action" as if you could ever really separate the two. diff --git a/content/entry/the-importance-of-early-autism-diagnosis.md b/content/entry/the-importance-of-early-autism-diagnosis.md index 95e0876..78a22b7 100644 --- a/content/entry/the-importance-of-early-autism-diagnosis.md +++ b/content/entry/the-importance-of-early-autism-diagnosis.md @@ -41,14 +41,14 @@ I spent a lot of time on homework which meant that I had little time or energy l My mental health eventually declined so much from stress that I started feeling like I was on autopilot all the time. I daydreamed frequently, zoned out during lectures, and lost track of time. I couldn't concentrate and started forgetting things. For example, I'd often enter a room and forget why I was there and what I was doing. -I think I only realized how negatively public school had affected me after I dropped out of university for unrelated reasons. In hindsight, I never should've been in the regular public school system. There are other reasons besides autism that I wasn't a good fit for public school, but autism was a major factor. Unfortunately nobody knew I was autistic, so I was put through the system anyways like a square peg in a round hole. +I think I only realized how negatively public school had affected me after I dropped out of university for unrelated reasons. In hindsight, I never should've been in the regular public school system. There are other reasons besides autism that I wasn't a good fit for public school, but autism was a major factor. Unfortunately nobody knew I was autistic, so I was put through the system anyway like a square peg in a round hole. ## The Importance of Diagnosis It's very common for people like myself with low-to-moderate support needs autism not to get diagnosed until very late in life when the damage has already been done. I've struggled to keep a job and support myself. I've stumbled my way through every relationship and social interaction. Education took a huge toll on my mental health as I sleepwalked through it. I had no idea why life was so hard for me. Other people just blamed me for it, saying I "wasn't trying hard enough", whatever that means. **Getting an autism diagnosis mostly hasn't changed the way people treat me**. Even after diagnosis, the people who were jerks to me before are still jerks. The people who downplayed my symptoms and denied my condition before still do. And the people who were nice to me before are still nice. -The crucial difference is that **getting diagnosed has completely changed how I think about myself**. My past now makes sense because I have the correct context with which to interpret it. Even though it's hard for me to keep a job or maintain relationships, at least now I know why and I don't have to blame myself any more. I don't have to feel guilty for not meeting others' expectations of me because those expectations were never reasonable to begin with. I now have a way to advocate for myself. My condition is legally recognized and I'm afforded certain protections under the law. +The crucial difference is that **getting diagnosed has completely changed how I think about myself**. My past now makes sense because I have the correct context with which to interpret it. Even though it's hard for me to keep a job or maintain relationships, at least now I know why and I don't have to blame myself anymore. I don't have to feel guilty for not meeting others' expectations of me because those expectations were never reasonable to begin with. I now have a way to advocate for myself. My condition is legally recognized and I'm afforded certain protections under the law. ## The Importance of Early Diagnosis I got diagnosed this year at 24 years old. I'm just now teaching myself basic emotional intelligence skills, skills I desperately needed but was never taught because I wasn't diagnosed early. I consider myself lucky to have been diagnosed at all, but I can't help imagining what life would've been like for me if I'd been diagnosed earlier and gotten early intervention. A lot of pain, struggling, and confusion could've probably been entirely avoided. diff --git a/content/entry/the-meaning-of-life.md b/content/entry/the-meaning-of-life.md index 6d947f0..718addf 100644 --- a/content/entry/the-meaning-of-life.md +++ b/content/entry/the-meaning-of-life.md @@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ The evolutionary perspective is the gene's perspective of what humans are here f The final perspective I want to talk about carries the most significance. If you want to talk about the meaning of life, what better place to start than your own life perspective? # Personal -Why should purpose have to be divine? Doesn't it make more sense to talk about meaning and purpose as whatever makes you personally fulfilled? For example your life's purpose could come from relationships, experiences, hobbies, self-discovery, doing good, helping others, etc. The beauty of the personal sense of meaning is you get to decide it. It varies varies from person to person. Everyone can have their own individual, unique sense of purpose in the world. +Why should purpose have to be divine? Doesn't it make more sense to talk about meaning and purpose as whatever makes you personally fulfilled? For example your life's purpose could come from relationships, experiences, hobbies, self-discovery, doing good, helping others, etc. The beauty of the personal sense of meaning is you get to decide it. It varies from person to person. Everyone can have their own individual, unique sense of purpose in the world. At the end of the day this is really the only useful notion of meaning. There's no apparent "divine" meaning in the universe and if there were we'd probably rebel against it. We can of course observe our purpose from other points of view such as that of a gene or even a factory. From the perspective of a factory, the purpose of humans is to keep it running. But those perspectives are mostly just entertaining intellectual exercises and not what we really mean when we talk about our lives having meaning. diff --git a/content/entry/the-narrative-self.md b/content/entry/the-narrative-self.md index b71811d..9fb388c 100644 --- a/content/entry/the-narrative-self.md +++ b/content/entry/the-narrative-self.md @@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ For most of us, our inner monologue is characterized by problem after problem af Even if you're an extremely lucky person, your inner monologue is bound to be self-referential, boringly repetitive, negative, and problem-focused much of the time. Being identified with this monologue, this story, is a primary source of human suffering. And to be clear, in this context, by suffering, I mean something akin to continuous dissatisfaction, not the "I broke my arm and now I'm in pain!" suffering. # Strategies For Dealing With the Narrative Self -There's 2 broad strategies you can employ to deal with this neurotic, problem-seeking voice inside your head. By the way, these strategies are generalized tools against suffering. They're not limited to the narrative self. They can also be used for dealing with physical pain, for instance. +There are 2 broad strategies you can employ to deal with this neurotic, problem-seeking voice inside your head. By the way, these strategies are generalized tools against suffering. They're not limited to the narrative self. They can also be used for dealing with physical pain, for instance. ## Stoicism The first strategy is changing the narrative. You can recondition yourself to "think positive" by telling yourself a better story. 21st century Stoics such as William B. Irvine employ a number of mental exercises to put life in perspective and reduce suffering. I won't get into Stoicism here as there are many different exercises, but you can see [William's website](https://www.williambirvine.com/) for more information. @@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ There's mass overconsumption. There's a [cult of productivity](/2021/05/21/the-c # Summary So why am I writing about this? I'm writing this as a response to the widespread confusion about the causes of happiness. If everyone already understood that achieving the next goal, acquiring more goods and social status doesn't bring lasting peace, I wouldn't be writing this. I'm not here to spoon-feed you the traditional lies about what makes people happy. I'm here to debunk them and promote Stoicism and Zen, highly practical and broadly applicable philosophies for life. -I've already explained the mechanisms by which both reduce suffering in terms of the narrative self. You can reason through it on your own. You don't have to blindly accept what I'm saying. There's plenty of studies out there showing that practices like mindfulness (Zen) and reframing thoughts (Stoicism) drastically improve people's lives. +I've already explained the mechanisms by which both reduce suffering in terms of the narrative self. You can reason through it on your own. You don't have to blindly accept what I'm saying. There are plenty of studies out there showing that practices like mindfulness (Zen) and reframing thoughts (Stoicism) drastically improve people's lives. # One Final Observation As a final observation, I've come across people who think they can't be more content before something good happens. They think the only thing they can do to affect their mind is achieve momentary happiness by reaching their next goal. diff --git a/content/entry/the-perils-of-social-media.md b/content/entry/the-perils-of-social-media.md index 73147f8..2e2b8f3 100644 --- a/content/entry/the-perils-of-social-media.md +++ b/content/entry/the-perils-of-social-media.md @@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ draft: false ## Recording Everything Without Consent I'm exhausted of people recording everything they do wherever they go and posting it to [antisocial media](/glossary/). I don't have antisocial media for a reason. I don't consent to pictures/videos of me being uploaded to antisocial platforms. I don't agree to the terms and conditions. I don't want to be featured, not even in the background. -I hate it when I'm out somewhere doing stuff and I get peer pressured to take group photos. I wouldn't mind taking pictures, but they somehow always end up on platforms I take issue with. Even if I ask people not to put me on antisocial media, that doesn't exclude all the surveillance apps they don't think of as social media. It inevitably ends up synced to Goolag or crApple's iCloud anyways. +I hate it when I'm out somewhere doing stuff and I get peer pressured to take group photos. I wouldn't mind taking pictures, but they somehow always end up on platforms I take issue with. Even if I ask people not to put me on antisocial media, that doesn't exclude all the surveillance apps they don't think of as social media. It inevitably ends up synced to Goolag or crApple's iCloud anyway. When I say I don't want to be in pictures, it doesn't mean take a picture of me behind my back. It doesn't mean keep pestering me for the next half hour and act like I'm a jerk for not wanting to end up on platforms I never consented to. It may seem to you like I'm splitting hairs, but I'm not. I'm simply declining helping you feed the surveillance state with information about myself. @@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ A lot of people have the idea that if there's not a permanent digital record of Stop living your life through a screen filled with platforms that manipulate you for money. Go connect with real people face-to-face. Maybe you don't remember this if you're very young, but there was a time when people enjoyed themselves with others without the need to create a permanent digital record of it. People just went out, did things together, and had a good time. And since nobody else knew about it, they had something to talk about. -I'm not saying that never happens any more, but it surely happens a lot less often. Nowadays, there's hardly any need to talk because we know what our friends are doing in real time. All we have to do is check their feed and there it is. Rather than them telling us about their great time the way they remember it, we experience it alone through a glowing brick. How boring! +I'm not saying that never happens anymore, but it surely happens a lot less often. Nowadays, there's hardly any need to talk because we know what our friends are doing in real time. All we have to do is check their feed and there it is. Rather than them telling us about their great time the way they remember it, we experience it alone through a glowing brick. How boring! ## Poor Communication Skills Another reason I hate social media is it cultivates poor communication skills. @@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ Here I am, a real human being in your company trying to spend time with you, but It's amazing how people rationalize antisocial media addiction. Some studies show the majority of people checking their phone a hundred times a day with young people checking it up to two or three times as often. Checking your phone every five minutes is addictive behavior, even if it is normalized. -Among the worst things antisocial media does to our species is robbing us of the benefits of spending time truly alone. Again, this problem didn't start with antisocial media, but antisocial media has worsened it. Take a few hours to sit quietly in your room alone without being on your phone or watching television. Observe your own thought patterns. Reflect on your habits, relationships, goals, health, and career. There's so much more to life than watching the next Youtube video. +Among the worst things antisocial media does to our species is robbing us of the benefits of spending time truly alone. Again, this problem didn't start with antisocial media, but antisocial media has worsened it. Take a few hours to sit quietly in your room alone without being on your phone or watching television. Observe your own thought patterns. Reflect on your habits, relationships, goals, health, and career. There's so much more to life than watching the next YouTube video. ## Being Sucked In I also hate the way antisocial media forces people to sign up and sucks them in. I've already written at length about how antisocial media and online disservices are making it practically impossible not to sign up in my entry titled "[Manufacturing Agreement](/2021/08/21/manufacturing-agreement/)". diff --git a/content/entry/the-privacy-implications-of-weak-ai.md b/content/entry/the-privacy-implications-of-weak-ai.md index e7175bd..e4b89f0 100644 --- a/content/entry/the-privacy-implications-of-weak-ai.md +++ b/content/entry/the-privacy-implications-of-weak-ai.md @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ tags: ['computing'] draft: false --- # Introduction -So a few days ago I started writing this entry titled "Societal Implications of Weak AI". Over the course of the next few days, I found out just how broad of a topic that is. I kept thinking of more topics and subtopics. With weak AI, there's so much to discuss. Eventually the entry ballooned to an unmanageable 30+ minute read. I couldn't figure out how to organize all the topics. So I just decided it would be best to split it up into separate, more digestible entries. +So a few days ago I started writing this entry titled "Societal Implications of Weak AI". Over the course of the next few days, I found out just how broad of a topic that is. I kept thinking of more topics and subtopics. With weak AI, there's so much to discuss. Eventually the entry ballooned to an unmanageable 30-minute read. I couldn't figure out how to organize all the topics. So I just decided it would be best to split it up into separate, more digestible entries. I've chosen to limit the scope of this entry to weak AI only. I'm purposely omitting AGI because it warrants its own discussion. AGI, or general artificial intelligence, is AI with intelligence equal to or far exceeding human intelligence in every way that matters. Weak AI by contrast only handles narrowly-defined, limited tasks. But make no mistake. Just because it's limited doesn't mean it's not dangerous. This entry is all about how weak AI threatens our privacy and what we can do about it. @@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ The 'nothing to hide' people don't understand this, but privacy is important for AI is already destroying our privacy in numerous ways. Just have a look at [awful-ai](https://github.com/daviddao/awful-ai), a git repo tracking scary usages of AI. AI can be used to infer criminality from a picture of a person's face. It can recreate a person's face from their voice alone. Everybody already knows about facial recognition which is a privacy disaster. Big retailers use it for tracking. China uses it to surveil Muslims. Any time you see 'AI' and 'privacy' in the same sentence, it's always bad news. # AI Will Become a Worse Privacy Disaster -AI is already very bad for privacy and getting worse all the time. The most worrisome thing is we have no idea how good weak AI can get at privacy-invading use cases. The only limit in sight is how much personal information can theoretically be derived from input data. Can AI accurately predict the time frame when someone last had sex based on a 1 minute video of that person? What about how they've been feeling for the past week? It's hard to say what future AI will be able to predict given some data. +AI is already very bad for privacy and getting worse all the time. The most worrisome thing is we have no idea how good weak AI can get at privacy-invading use cases. The only limit in sight is how much personal information can theoretically be derived from input data. Can AI accurately predict the time frame when someone last had sex based on a 1-minute video of that person? What about how they've been feeling for the past week? It's hard to say what future AI will be able to predict given some data. You may be publicly sharing information about yourself online now, knowingly or unknowingly, which a future AI Sherlock Holmes (just a metaphor) can use to derive information about you that you don't want anyone to know. Not only that, but it will be able to derive information about you that you don't even know. How much information will future AI be able to derive about me from these journal entries? What will it learn about me from my style of writing, what I write about, when I write about it, etc? I don't know. Just imagine what inferences future AI will be able to derive about someone given all the data from intelligence agencies and big tech. Imagine how that could be weaponized. @@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ No matter how accurate future AI Sherlock is, there are a few things that will p * We must educate people about the importance of privacy and create political pressure to protect it. * [more items here...] -If you notice, almost all of the above points are related to preventing data collection and not preventing AI use. AI is just software. To stop people using it would require extremely draconian measures that might undermine privacy anyways. I'm not saying draconian measures protect us from AI will never be justifiable. I'm just saying why resort to that when there are solutions that aren't draconian and will actually allow us to preserve our rights? +If you notice, almost all of the above points are related to preventing data collection and not preventing AI use. AI is just software. To stop people using it would require extremely draconian measures that might undermine privacy anyway. I'm not saying draconian measures protect us from AI will never be justifiable. I'm just saying why resort to that when there are solutions that aren't draconian and will actually allow us to preserve our rights? The best way to stop privacy-invading AI is to stop the data collection. AI needs data to make predictions about people. Without data, AI can't make predictions. We should still allow mass data collection with AI to predict things like the weather. That doesn't violate anyone's privacy. The violation happens when there's collection of personally identifiable data about people, or collection of data which AI can later use to deduce personally identifiable information about people. That is what we have to prevent. diff --git a/content/entry/the-self.md b/content/entry/the-self.md index 2000c0e..7e2fe83 100644 --- a/content/entry/the-self.md +++ b/content/entry/the-self.md @@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ The problem with any spoken language is that in order to be useful, it has to cr This is something that I have always found intuitive but is an easy mistake to make in philosophy. I would argue that a rather large fraction of academic papers about philosophy aren't actually creating an interesting argument or bringing any substance to the table. Academics are simply bickering about how words should be used without even realizing it. For example, look at the [Ship of Theseus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus). The essential question it poses is this: "Is an object the same object if all its component parts are replaced over time?". I agree with Noam Chomsky that this is a cognitive issue manufactured by humans because we get really bent out of shape if we don't know what to label something. We have to have a label. So what we do we call something if all its parts are replaced? Do we call it something else or do we call it the same thing? Now the problem becomes more clear. It's a question about language. -The right question is "If an object's parts are replaced, should we still call it the same object?". We could make a pros and cons list of calling it the same object versus giving it a different name and decide what makes more sense. One might think I'm being being pedantic about this and philosophers understand the real question is about what we call the object. My own personal experience has shown that this is not true. People often do not understand that they're arguing about what to call something, and it's not any deeper than that. This is called [Mistaking the Map for the Territory](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Mistaking_the_map_for_the_territory). +The right question is "If an object's parts are replaced, should we still call it the same object?". We could make a pros and cons list of calling it the same object versus giving it a different name and decide what makes more sense. One might think I'm being pedantic about this and philosophers understand the real question is about what we call the object. My own personal experience has shown that this is not true. People often do not understand that they're arguing about what to call something, and it's not any deeper than that. This is called [Mistaking the Map for the Territory](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Mistaking_the_map_for_the_territory). But we have also created another problem. What is an object? Let's take a car for example. Let's say we haven't replaced any parts. Where does the car stop and the car's environment begin? Is the air inside the car also the car? What if the car is in orbit around the earth and it has no air, is the space inside the car still the car, or is it just empty space? This questioning is ridiculous in one sense because when I say the word "car", every English speaker intuitively knows what the word "car" means. For all practical usages of the word "car" we will never have to worry about bizarre philosophical quandaries about the identity of the car (especially since there's no "Car of Theseus"). We all just sort of know what other people talk about when they talk about a "car". @@ -20,13 +20,13 @@ Everything implies its opposite or negation. I don't mean this in a logical sens It's possible to see things from another point of view. What if instead of treating what we call a "car" as a separate idea from the environment of the car, we treat the car and the environment as one whole system. It could be called the "car-environment". We are not accustomed to thinking of objects in these terms, primarily because we are conditioned to think using language that pretends that our distinction of what is a car and what is its environment is a real distinction made by the universe itself, not a somewhat arbitrary distinction as a product of evolved language. This is why we forget that voice in our head that we hear when reading this sentence is not us. So what about the word I? Where is the self that answers to the word "I", that is yourself? # The Self -As a matter of language, the word "self" implies the word "other". Other than self. Not self. Are you you're brain? Where do the boundaries of "you" begin and end exactly? Where do "I" go when I sleep? The right question to ask is "What definition should the word I have?". But we must remember that "I" is just a word, a concept. The concept of "I" is no more you than the concept of a "car" is an actual car. No matter how far you zoom in to a continuous function, you won't see the discrete points that make it up. Eventually you get the idea of continuity. The self is similar. The more you zoom in to what you are calling "I", the less it makes sense to separate "I" from the rest of the cosmos. You are continuous with everything that is. You are one with the unfolding process that is this cosmos. You are not physically separate from it, despite the pesky word "I" that would have you think otherwise. +As a matter of language, the word "self" implies the word "other". Other than self. Not self. Are you your brain? Where do the boundaries of "you" begin and end exactly? Where do "I" go when I sleep? The right question to ask is "What definition should the word I have?". But we must remember that "I" is just a word, a concept. The concept of "I" is no more you than the concept of a "car" is an actual car. No matter how far you zoom in to a continuous function, you won't see the discrete points that make it up. Eventually you get the idea of continuity. The self is similar. The more you zoom in to what you are calling "I", the less it makes sense to separate "I" from the rest of the cosmos. You are continuous with everything that is. You are one with the unfolding process that is this cosmos. You are not physically separate from it, despite the pesky word "I" that would have you think otherwise. Meditation is a practice that can help you experience this oneness, but it takes practice. Specifically, mindfulness meditation is a good place to start. Instead of "zooming in", I often use the phrase "getting behind oneself". For instance, you are reading this sentence and suddenly a thought pops into your head "What should I make for dinner tonight?". Let's say the thought pops up exactly like that, in a bit of language. And then it passes and you keep reading. Where did that thought come from and where did it go? Did you generate that thought or did it just pop up? If you pay close enough attention, you can see how thoughts, moods, and sensations come and go without you "doing" anything. One might call this level one of getting behind yourself. When you have an angry thought, you are no longer entranced by it. You are the self that notices the angry thought or the physiological change that comes with resurrecting that thought. You are no longer your thoughts. You are behind them, listening as a passive observer as if they are someone else's thoughts. Getting behind yourself a second time could mean that you notice the observer of your thoughts. To recap, level one is observing your thoughts and sensations. You are not behind your eyes, in your head as a matter of experience. You are the self that notices the feeling of having a head, the feeling of being behind your eyes, but you are not in your head behind your eyes. You are the noticer. Level two means that you notice the self that notices the feeling of having a head. What the ultimate goal here is, is trying to find the self that is doing the searching. You are trying to pay attention to your attention itself. I can call this level one and level two for clarity, but I think it's more of a continuous spectrum of awareness without clearly defined "levels". -Think about a dog chasing its own tail. Puppies might not realize that what they're chasing is their own tail. But once they catch it and bite down, they know. Perhaps it's better explained as a game of hide and go seek. You forget who you really are as you grow up. Others give you a name and assign adjectives to you as if that's who you really are. You are told you are John, the clever thirty year old quirky accomplished artist and you better not think you're anything else. To use the words of Alan Watts, you are an isolated ego inside a "bag of skin". Life is like playing a game of hide and go seek where you are both the one hiding and the one seeking. And meditation is a technique for looking in the mirror and finding out the hider and seeker are the same person. Except the seeker goes by the name of "I" and the one hiding goes by the name of "the environment". And when I say "the environment", I don't mean just the physical environment. I mean the thoughts inside your head including the feeling of having a head. +Think about a dog chasing its own tail. Puppies might not realize that what they're chasing is their own tail. But once they catch it and bite down, they know. Perhaps it's better explained as a game of hide and go seek. You forget who you really are as you grow up. Others give you a name and assign adjectives to you as if that's who you really are. You are told you are John, the clever thirty-year-old quirky accomplished artist and you better not think you're anything else. To use the words of Alan Watts, you are an isolated ego inside a "bag of skin". Life is like playing a game of hide and go seek where you are both the one hiding and the one seeking. And meditation is a technique for looking in the mirror and finding out the hider and seeker are the same person. Except the seeker goes by the name of "I" and the one hiding goes by the name of "the environment". And when I say "the environment", I don't mean just the physical environment. I mean the thoughts inside your head including the feeling of having a head. ## Conceptual Understanding of Self Versus Experience If you get what I'm saying about the self so far, that's great. You have a conceptual understanding of it. But to only have a conceptual understanding is to miss the point. It's like if a person were blind from birth. They can learn every fact there is to know about color. They can learn the cultural significance. For example, in American culture, blue means calmness and security. Black means darkness. Purple represents mystery. The blind person can learn the wavelengths that produce every color. They can know what colors go well together and what art styles are used with what color. But they have never actually seen color. So we would still say they lack perhaps the most important thing there is to know about color. The experience. The experience of color can't be replaced by knowing facts about it. diff --git a/content/entry/the-tipping-point-rejecting-windows-zoom-lockdown-browser-and-the-lockdown-monitor.md b/content/entry/the-tipping-point-rejecting-windows-zoom-lockdown-browser-and-the-lockdown-monitor.md index 0a54a84..fc4208b 100644 --- a/content/entry/the-tipping-point-rejecting-windows-zoom-lockdown-browser-and-the-lockdown-monitor.md +++ b/content/entry/the-tipping-point-rejecting-windows-zoom-lockdown-browser-and-the-lockdown-monitor.md @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ --- -title: "The Tipping Point - Rejecting Windows, Zoom, Lockdown Browser, and the Lockdown Monitor" +title: "The Tipping Point — Rejecting Windows, Zoom, Lockdown Browser, and the Lockdown Monitor" date: 2020-03-30T00:00:00 tags: ['computing', 'siue'] draft: false diff --git a/content/entry/there-is-nothing-wrong-with-incest.md b/content/entry/there-is-nothing-wrong-with-incest.md index b05fe3c..1d910ad 100644 --- a/content/entry/there-is-nothing-wrong-with-incest.md +++ b/content/entry/there-is-nothing-wrong-with-incest.md @@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ Some online articles use the term "incest survivor" when referring to survivors # Pedophilia First, there's pedophilia. Pedophilia is often perpetrated by a family member, making it easy to mix up pedophilia and incest. But incest without pedophilia isn't morally wrong. Two adults engaging in incest doesn't necessarily pose any concerns related to their ability to consent. -Incest between adults and teenagers can be consensual as well. If 16 and 18 year old siblings have sex, there isn't necessarily a victim even though age of consent laws might make it a crime. If the age gap is large and there are power imbalances in the relationship, say a 17 year old son and 40 year old mother, then that's more morally gray and may warrant legal action. It depends on if the 17 year old fully understood and agreed with what happened. +Incest between adults and teenagers can be consensual as well. If 16 and 18-year-old siblings have sex, there isn't necessarily a victim even though age of consent laws might make it a crime. If the age gap is large and there are power imbalances in the relationship, say a 17-year-old son and 40-year-old mother, then that's more morally gray and may warrant legal action. It depends on if the 17-year-old fully understood and agreed with what happened. -Past the cutoff age of adulthood, people should legally be allowed to have sex with any other consenting adult. If a 20 year old has sex with their 50 year old relative, that should not concern the legal system. Although there is a 30 year age gap, a healthy 20 year old is mature enough to make that decision without it necessarily being coerced or manipulated. +Past the cutoff age of adulthood, people should legally be allowed to have sex with any other consenting adult. If a 20-year-old has sex with their 50-year-old relative, that should not concern the legal system. Although there is a 30-year age gap, a healthy 20-year-old is mature enough to make that decision without it necessarily being coerced or manipulated. # Inbreeding The second issue often brought up in conversations about incest is inbreeding. Inbreeding with immediate family members is bad for two reasons. For one, [breeding right now is bad for the planet](/2021/09/05/antinatalism/). For two, inbreeding with immediate family members causes a high chance of genetic abnormalities in offspring. diff --git a/content/entry/thoughts-on-blogging.md b/content/entry/thoughts-on-blogging.md index 97a8381..328b551 100644 --- a/content/entry/thoughts-on-blogging.md +++ b/content/entry/thoughts-on-blogging.md @@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ I'm not advocating for self-censorship. I'm also not advocating avoiding controv With all that said, it's also true that the internet has made us less able to forgive. Memory plays a huge role in forgiveness. Before the internet and smartphones, when you did something foolish or said something regrettable, the people that saw or heard it would forget about it. The memory would fade away. Even if they shared your mistake with someone else, that someone couldn't really "relive" the experience. It was just their recollection of events transmitted via spoken words. -With the internet, your mistakes are permanent. Anything you do or say can be recorded and stored forever, and you can never take it back. It's also harder for others to forgive and forget because your mistake is digitally preserved in video, audio, text and other formats. It can be easily shared with an unlimited number of people. To see the full impact of this, all you have to do is look at [the high-profile suicide of Amanda Todd](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Amanda_Todd). She was a 15-year old Canadian student that was cyberbullied with nude pictures of herself that got screen captured. Those pictures followed her ultimately driving her to suicide. +With the internet, your mistakes are permanent. Anything you do or say can be recorded and stored forever, and you can never take it back. It's also harder for others to forgive and forget because your mistake is digitally preserved in video, audio, text and other formats. It can be easily shared with an unlimited number of people. To see the full impact of this, all you have to do is look at [the high-profile suicide of Amanda Todd](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Amanda_Todd). She was a 15-year-old Canadian student that was cyberbullied with nude pictures of herself that got screen captured. Those pictures followed her ultimately driving her to suicide. ## The Importance of Forgiveness My point is, if someone says or does something regrettable and it gets digitally captured and put on the internet, whether or not they meant to upload it, it doesn't make sense to judge them by that forever. Amanda Todd is an extreme case and I'm not equivocating her suicide with intentionally publishing content in blogging. I'm just pointing out that the internet is an unforgiving place when it comes to making mistakes whether that is a mistake on your blog or leaked nude photos. diff --git a/content/entry/thoughts-on-logic.md b/content/entry/thoughts-on-logic.md index a02785b..999df5d 100644 --- a/content/entry/thoughts-on-logic.md +++ b/content/entry/thoughts-on-logic.md @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ The term "critical thinking" gets thrown around a lot in schools, but children a The point of teaching the formal, symbolic logic starting at a young age is not so kids, teens and young adults become good at truth tables. The point is they'll internalize logic like any other concept. The pattern recognition part of their brain will automatically recognize valid arguments when they see them. It will also recognize invalid forms of argument and logical fallacies without consciously doing any heavy lifting. That's where the most value is in teaching logic. -When I studied philosophy in community college, I remember there was an art student. He had a great personality and was a very likable person. Whenever he got called on to answer a question though, he was never able to produce the right answer. It was clear to me that he never learned how to think logically. I wondered what it must be like to be a young adult never having learned that. There are also plenty of functioning older adults out there that never learned how to think logically. To be clear, studying formal logic isn't a prerequisite for logical thought. What I find to be the case with nearly everyone without training in formal logic is that they have an intuitive sense of how to reason, but there's important pieces of the puzzle they're missing. That's what I'm going to focus on in this post, the things that those without experience in formal logic get confused about. In my posts, I try not to assume prior knowledge, so I'm going to explain a bit about logic before I explain some of those missing pieces. If you're already familiar with logic, click here. +When I studied philosophy in community college, I remember there was an art student. He had a great personality and was a very likable person. Whenever he got called on to answer a question though, he was never able to produce the right answer. It was clear to me that he never learned how to think logically. I wondered what it must be like to be a young adult never having learned that. There are also plenty of functioning older adults out there that never learned how to think logically. To be clear, studying formal logic isn't a prerequisite for logical thought. What I find to be the case with nearly everyone without training in formal logic is that they have an intuitive sense of how to reason, but there are important pieces of the puzzle they're missing. That's what I'm going to focus on in this post, the things that those without experience in formal logic get confused about. In my posts, I try not to assume prior knowledge, so I'm going to explain a bit about logic before I explain some of those missing pieces. If you're already familiar with logic, click here. # Logic Logic is the study of [rules of inference](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_inference). Rules of inference allow you to draw conclusions based on premises. In other words, starting with a statement A, you can conclude statement B. For example, the earth is round is a true statement. Therefore the earth is round or up is down is also a true statement. In fact, I could replace the statement up is down with any proposition Z and the earth is round or Z would still be true. I used the rule of inference "addition" to draw my conclusion, so I'm guaranteed that it's true no matter what Z is. I can apply another rule of inference to get humans have 3 legs therefore either the earth is round or up is down. That is also a true statement. It sounds strange because the normal way of understanding "therefore" is as a causal relationship. In this context, it's a strictly logical implication, not causal. Despite how strange it sounds, humans have 3 legs therefore either the earth is round or up is down logically follows from the earth is round. @@ -19,10 +19,10 @@ To test your skills in logic, I suggest trying out some logic puzzles such as [K Now that I've talked about what logic is, I want to talk about some of the important aspects of logic people commonly get confused about. ## There Are Only 2 Ways an Argument Can Be Disproved -The first way to disprove an argument is by showing that one of the premises is false. The other way is showing that [the structure of the argument is invalid](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Logical_validity). People are used to thinking of arguments in terms of "arguments for" and "arguments against". That's why it's easy to get confused here. It's the attitude "There's some good arguments for a proposition and some good arguments against it and it's my job to weigh the pros and cons". But, in logic, an argument is either sound or unsound. The property of [soundness](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Soundness) means that the premises are true and it has valid form. If the conclusion of an argument derives from valid rules of inference based on the premises, then the only way to disprove the argument is to show one of the premises is false. If all the premises are true and the form is valid, then the argument is sound and the conclusion is true. There's no "arguments for" and "arguments against", or "maybe it's wrong some other way". There's no two ways about it. No if, ands or buts. If an argument is sound, the conclusion necessarily follows. +The first way to disprove an argument is by showing that one of the premises is false. The other way is showing that [the structure of the argument is invalid](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Logical_validity). People are used to thinking of arguments in terms of "arguments for" and "arguments against". That's why it's easy to get confused here. It's the attitude "There are some good arguments for a proposition and some good arguments against it and it's my job to weigh the pros and cons". But, in logic, an argument is either sound or unsound. The property of [soundness](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Soundness) means that the premises are true and it has valid form. If the conclusion of an argument derives from valid rules of inference based on the premises, then the only way to disprove the argument is to show one of the premises is false. If all the premises are true and the form is valid, then the argument is sound and the conclusion is true. There's no "arguments for" and "arguments against", or "maybe it's wrong some other way". There's no two ways about it. No if, ands or buts. If an argument is sound, the conclusion necessarily follows. ## How Logical Fallacies Work -A logical fallacy is an error in reasoning. It can be [formal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_fallacy) or [informal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informal_fallacy). Formal fallacies have to do with the structure of an argument. If an argument has bad structure, it is invalid. Informal fallacies have to do with the content of an argument. In my experience, it's more rare for people to commit formal fallacies. This is because there are so many more ways to commit informal fallacies than there are ways to commit formal fallacies. There are only a few ways to structure an argument improperly, but there are virtually endless ways to get the content wrong since the content can be anything at all. Take a look at [yourlogicalfallacyis.com](https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com). It's good to become familiar with informal fallacies by name and be able to call them out in real time. To challenge yourself, try doing that during a live presidential debate. There's so many logical fallacies in those it's impossible to keep up, at least for me. +A logical fallacy is an error in reasoning. It can be [formal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_fallacy) or [informal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informal_fallacy). Formal fallacies have to do with the structure of an argument. If an argument has bad structure, it is invalid. Informal fallacies have to do with the content of an argument. In my experience, it's more rare for people to commit formal fallacies. This is because there are so many more ways to commit informal fallacies than there are ways to commit formal fallacies. There are only a few ways to structure an argument improperly, but there are virtually endless ways to get the content wrong since the content can be anything at all. Take a look at [yourlogicalfallacyis.com](https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com). It's good to become familiar with informal fallacies by name and be able to call them out in real time. To challenge yourself, try doing that during a live presidential debate. There are so many logical fallacies in those it's impossible to keep up, at least for me. The thing people get confused about when they're unfamiliar with logical fallacies is they think fallacies are a minor problem for an argument, similar to the "arguments for" and "arguments against" I talked about earlier. They see the fallacy as the "argument against" part. That's completely the wrong way to think about logical fallacies. The presence of a single logical fallacy in an argument means that argument is toast. A logical fallacy is not a "counterpoint" to an argument. It fully invalidates the argument. An entirely new argument is needed to prove the conclusion. @@ -78,6 +78,6 @@ I've said that for an argument to be valid, the premises must be true. But how d In the early 1920's, famous German mathematician [David Hilbert](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hilbert) put forward a proposal calling for the axiomatization of mathematics. He wanted to make all mathematical truths reducible to an agreed upon set of axioms such that all true statements could be proved, but no false statements could be proved. In 1931, one of the most significant logicians in history, [Kurt Gödel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_G%C3%B6del), showed that no set of axioms is capable of proving all truths about the arithmetic of natural numbers. See [Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems](https://stopa.io/post/269). Gödel used mathematical logic to show that there are some places mathematical logic cannot go. Boiled down, he proved that logic cannot prove everything. This is also true in computing. See [The Halting Problem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halting_problem). The essence of the trick seems to be, no matter which logic you're talking about, to find a way to encode [the liar paradox](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Liar_paradox) in the system. A prerequisite for that is somehow getting the logical system to talk about itself. Gödel found a very fascinating theorem and I would recommend for anyone interested to look more in depth at it. # Conclusion -That's all I've got for this post. I think I've packed in a lot of information and good examples to research. Even if you never learn logic, I believe by reading this post you get a sense of what logic is all about and how to at least recognize some common informal fallacies and misunderstandings. I tried to include plenty of useful external links. This post is barely scratching the surface though. For some readers, just scratching the surface is good enough. But for all I know, the next Gödel might be reading this. In 2011, [a 25-year old math problem about superpermutations was solved by an anonymous 4chan user](https://yewtu.be/embed/OZzIvl1tbPo?local=true). If that doesn't show that cleverness can come from anywhere, I don't what does. +That's all I've got for this post. I think I've packed in a lot of information and good examples to research. Even if you never learn logic, I believe by reading this post you get a sense of what logic is all about and how to at least recognize some common informal fallacies and misunderstandings. I tried to include plenty of useful external links. This post is barely scratching the surface though. For some readers, just scratching the surface is good enough. But for all I know, the next Gödel might be reading this. In 2011, [a 25-year-old math problem about superpermutations was solved by an anonymous 4chan user](https://yewtu.be/embed/OZzIvl1tbPo?local=true). If that doesn't show that cleverness can come from anywhere, I don't what does. I hope you enjoyed the post. If there's anything that you think I should have covered in this post or that I should talk in the future, [let me know about it](mailto:nick@nicholasjohnson.ch). diff --git a/content/entry/thoughts-on-spirituality.md b/content/entry/thoughts-on-spirituality.md index 5809e10..4118880 100644 --- a/content/entry/thoughts-on-spirituality.md +++ b/content/entry/thoughts-on-spirituality.md @@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ Allow me to clear up what's going on here. If you try to use meditation to stop Using meditation to try to make something else happen means you're not giving full attention to your present experience. There's a stream of thought distracting you which is saying "I'm meditating. Am I enlightened yet? No. I'm still dissatisfied...what about now? Nope. Still not enlightened. This isn't working...". This sabotages your attempt to fully connect to the present moment. -But there is a sense in which meditation enables real progress, even if you have an ulterior motive. If you spend enough time doing mindfulness meditation, you strengthen your attention. You start to become aware of your ulterior motive as a mere thought happening in the present moment. Then it ceases to motivate you because you see it for what it is: just another thought. It's unable to sneak up behind you and sabotage you any more because there's nothing to sabotage. +But there is a sense in which meditation enables real progress, even if you have an ulterior motive. If you spend enough time doing mindfulness meditation, you strengthen your attention. You start to become aware of your ulterior motive as a mere thought happening in the present moment. Then it ceases to motivate you because you see it for what it is: just another thought. It's unable to sneak up behind you and sabotage you anymore because there's nothing to sabotage. ### Ulterior Motives For Meditation A big problem with novice meditators is they develop ulterior motives for meditating without realizing it. For instance, they meditate once or twice just to see what will happen and it produces mild calming effects. So they start using meditation as a stress reduction tool. But then, instead of meditating without expectations like they were before, they spend the whole time thinking about what's making them anxious and how the meditation they're not doing is supposed to be stopping it. @@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ So just meditate. Don't worry about having an ulterior motive and don't worry ab # Spiritual Bypassing Do watch out for other ways that the ego can creep back in though. Many novice meditators, after having insights about the nature of the mind, become convinced they're permanently enlightened and try to act as if they are all the time. This can be very psychologically destructive. It's called [spiritual bypassing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_bypass), a term coined in 1984 by American psychologist [John Welwood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Welwood). I'll let Wikipedia explain it: -> "On the other hand, when spiritual bypass is used as a long-term strategy for ignoring or suppressing unaddressed mental health issues, negative consequences can include "the need to excessively control others and oneself, shame, anxiety, dichotomous thinking, emotional confusion, exaggerated tolerance of inappropriate behavior, codependency, compulsive kindness, obsession or addiction, spiritual narcissism, blind allegiance to charismatic teachers, and disregard for personal responsibility" - Wikipedia, [CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) +> "On the other hand, when spiritual bypass is used as a long-term strategy for ignoring or suppressing unaddressed mental health issues, negative consequences can include "the need to excessively control others and oneself, shame, anxiety, dichotomous thinking, emotional confusion, exaggerated tolerance of inappropriate behavior, codependency, compulsive kindness, obsession or addiction, spiritual narcissism, blind allegiance to charismatic teachers, and disregard for personal responsibility" — Wikipedia, [CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) It's not a hard trap to fall into. I think staying humble is a good way to avoid it. Admit that you don't have it all figured out, that you're probably not "permanently" enlightened, and you still get lost in thought and let your emotions get the better of you from time to time. @@ -97,10 +97,10 @@ Regardless of how the problem is described, the basic solution is the same: non- ## Deepak Chopra In the past, myself and others have lamented the fact that the atheist/skeptic/rationalist community doesn't get more involved with spirituality. When sane, rational people don't write books about spiritual inquiry or speak about it, the floor is given people who promote incoherent pseudoscientific pseudospiritual technobabble. Their technobabble sounds just scientific enough so lay people have a hard time distinguishing between the quacks and real scientists. People like [Deepak Chopra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepak_Chopra) who promote alternative medicine and make proven false claims such as "you can tell your body not to age" cannot continue to represent the spiritual movement. -## Myself And an Unnamed Youtuber +## Myself And an Unnamed YouTuber That's part of why I'm writing this entry. If people like me don't want quacks like Chopra to continue being the authority on all things spiritual, we have to step up and start our own dialog rooted in the principles of science and skepticism. -A famous Youtuber whose name I won't say recently made a video trying to recount his secular spiritual experience, worrying aloud that he would sound crazy, and deleting the video soon after it was posted. It was reposted, but I won't share it here out of respect for him. Reading through my earliest [journal](/2020/05/02/the-self/) [entries](/2020/06/14/doublethink/) [on spirituality](/2020/08/02/ego-traps/), I notice that [I really struggled to explain myself](/2021/01/17/on-spirituality/) too. I think this entry does a much better job at it though. +A famous YouTuber whose name I won't say recently made a video trying to recount his secular spiritual experience, worrying aloud that he would sound crazy, and deleting the video soon after it was posted. It was reposted, but I won't share it here out of respect for him. Reading through my earliest [journal](/2020/05/02/the-self/) [entries](/2020/06/14/doublethink/) [on spirituality](/2020/08/02/ego-traps/), I notice that [I really struggled to explain myself](/2021/01/17/on-spirituality/) too. I think this entry does a much better job at it though. ## Eckhart Tolle The presence of so much spiritual mumbo jumbo out there is a testament to the difficulty of putting spiritual concepts into words. It's very hard to explain it in such a way that people won't horribly misunderstand you. diff --git a/content/entry/using-email.md b/content/entry/using-email.md index 813ab9a..78d24e8 100644 --- a/content/entry/using-email.md +++ b/content/entry/using-email.md @@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ I've gone over some of the technical details, but I haven't mentioned the busine Nothing I've mentioned gives you a 100% guarantee that the email provider is secure, will stay in operation, doesn't sell your data to advertisers, or is competent. But the more criteria that the email provider meets, the better the chances that it's a good one. At some point you have to say "Okay, this email service meets so many criteria of being ethical that it either actually operates ethically or is so good at faking it I could never hope to tell the difference anyway". Once you do enough research where you can confidently say that, then you should consider using it. There are other features email services provide that I haven't mentioned such as email aliasing and email storage space. Those depend heavily on how you use email and if I listed all possible features of an email service, I'd never finish this post. But I think I have covered some of the key features to look for when choosing an email service. # Using an Email Client -The most common way by far to access email nowadays is using webmail which is a shame. Webmail is when you access your email account in the browser. Remember that email predates the web, so it doesn't rely on the web at all. It's just that people have been spoiled by web apps and never need to leave the browser environment any more. Using an email client, also known as a user agent, is a more satisfying way to use email. It provides functionality such as easy account navigation, email filtering, email flagging, calendaring, contacts, and more. Webmail also provides the same features, but often requires running proprietary JavaScript to accomplish the same tasks. Using an email client gives you a single, unified user experience that you can customize to your liking for all email accounts, even if the accounts are on different email services. Using an email client empowers you to use inbound encryption, managing your encryption keys yourself. I just want to quickly mention that [Protonmail](https://proton.me/mail) requires installing a [proprietary bridge application](https://proton.me/mail/bridge) for IMAP and SMTP support. If you want to use Protonmail with your own email client, you'll have to install their software. I'm not trying to pick on them in particular. I just want to point out it's more secure to use email clients that work for any email provider, not client programs that the specific email service has home-brewed even if they are free software programs. Individualized email clients and client-related programs likely have less code review and less scrutiny which means you're less secure using them. Some good email clients are [Thunderbird](https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/), [Evolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_%28software%29) or [Mutt](http://www.mutt.org) if you prefer a terminal. [Microsoft Outlook](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Outlook) is common, but it is proprietary. Don't use it. +The most common way by far to access email nowadays is using webmail which is a shame. Webmail is when you access your email account in the browser. Remember that email predates the web, so it doesn't rely on the web at all. It's just that people have been spoiled by web apps and never need to leave the browser environment anymore. Using an email client, also known as a user agent, is a more satisfying way to use email. It provides functionality such as easy account navigation, email filtering, email flagging, calendaring, contacts, and more. Webmail also provides the same features, but often requires running proprietary JavaScript to accomplish the same tasks. Using an email client gives you a single, unified user experience that you can customize to your liking for all email accounts, even if the accounts are on different email services. Using an email client empowers you to use inbound encryption, managing your encryption keys yourself. I just want to quickly mention that [Protonmail](https://proton.me/mail) requires installing a [proprietary bridge application](https://proton.me/mail/bridge) for IMAP and SMTP support. If you want to use Protonmail with your own email client, you'll have to install their software. I'm not trying to pick on them in particular. I just want to point out it's more secure to use email clients that work for any email provider, not client programs that the specific email service has home-brewed even if they are free software programs. Individualized email clients and client-related programs likely have less code review and less scrutiny which means you're less secure using them. Some good email clients are [Thunderbird](https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/), [Evolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_%28software%29) or [Mutt](http://www.mutt.org) if you prefer a terminal. [Microsoft Outlook](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Outlook) is common, but it is proprietary. Don't use it. ## POP3 Since most email users have been totally spoiled by the web, they have never heard the terms POP3 and IMAP. When you use an email client, you will have a choice of which protocol you prefer. POP stands for Post Office Protocol. The first version of POP was created in 1984. POP3 fetches emails from the remote email server, then deletes them from the server. It can be configured not to do that, but that's its main benefit. If you only check email from a single device and you don't want your emails hanging around on someone else's computer, then POP is the way to go. Sent emails are stored in the client you sent them. Deleted emails are only deleted in the client you deleted them in. So POP is not a good protocol if you are using multiple devices to check email. It doesn't try to sync across devices. POP is also good to use if you have very little space allocated to you on the remote server, but you regularly send and receive large email attachments. @@ -63,4 +63,4 @@ In summary, the most privacy-preserving way to use email is to avoid using email If and how you segregate out your email accounts is up to you. This is just an optional extra step you can take. Using multiple email accounts doesn't always make your emails more private or your accounts more secure. It just improves "unlinkability". A common example of this is having a personal email and a work email. Keeping your personal life and your work life separate is important for many people. You wouldn't want your workplace to know all the services you're signed up for and you wouldn't want to be receiving work emails on your personal email account. # Motivation -Those are my tips for getting the most out of email. It's a lot of information to take in, but I wanted to be thorough. My motivation for writing this post as I said in the beginning was seeing the way most people use email. Until we have a widespread protocol that supersedes email, we should at least get the most out of it. And the way most people are using email right now is the absolute worst way to use it. There's a lot of things in computing that aren't harder to do a different way, it's just that people haven't been shown the better way of doing things. Most people don't know anything beyond webmail despite the fact that email predates the web. I wrote this post to promote my preferred way of using email. I hope you have found it useful. +Those are my tips for getting the most out of email. It's a lot of information to take in, but I wanted to be thorough. My motivation for writing this post as I said in the beginning was seeing the way most people use email. Until we have a widespread protocol that supersedes email, we should at least get the most out of it. And the way most people are using email right now is the absolute worst way to use it. There are a lot of things in computing that aren't harder to do a different way, it's just that people haven't been shown the better way of doing things. Most people don't know anything beyond webmail despite the fact that email predates the web. I wrote this post to promote my preferred way of using email. I hope you have found it useful. diff --git a/content/entry/video-breaking-bad-how-the-war-on-drugs-traumatizes-everybody.md b/content/entry/video-breaking-bad-how-the-war-on-drugs-traumatizes-everybody.md index 6a8226f..65d173a 100644 --- a/content/entry/video-breaking-bad-how-the-war-on-drugs-traumatizes-everybody.md +++ b/content/entry/video-breaking-bad-how-the-war-on-drugs-traumatizes-everybody.md @@ -5,4 +5,4 @@ draft: false --- Breaking Bad is a fantastic series. It does a great job of debunking the black and white portrait of the drug war the DEA likes to paint: that they're the good guys catching the evil drug users, dealers, and manufacturers. Through the lives of each of the characters, you see that what's really going on is much more nuanced. -A new Youtube commentator who goes by the name of Ali Nisah produced a [video](https://yewtu.be/embed/Kw6kHCPZuAs?local=true) sharing his analysis of Breaking Bad as a political statement against the drug war. I enjoyed it and I think you will too. +A new YouTube commentator who goes by the name of Ali Nisah produced a [video](https://yewtu.be/embed/Kw6kHCPZuAs?local=true) sharing his analysis of Breaking Bad as a political statement against the drug war. I enjoyed it and I think you will too. diff --git a/content/entry/video-fixing-social-media-for-good.md b/content/entry/video-fixing-social-media-for-good.md index 52a18d8..f6f31e6 100644 --- a/content/entry/video-fixing-social-media-for-good.md +++ b/content/entry/video-fixing-social-media-for-good.md @@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ Recent events have brought the issue of social media censorship to the forefront * Pinterest censors Trump related topics * Shopify removes Trump's merchandise from its platform * TikTok removes Trump's speeches -* Youtube removes videos claiming widespread voter fraud +* YouTube removes videos claiming widespread voter fraud No informed person is disputing that these are private companies and they have the legal right to do whatever they want (within the bounds of the law) with their platforms. The 1st amendment doesn't apply here. Nonetheless it's very alarming that voices coming from the political left are sympathetic to widespread censorship just because it's Trump. If it were someone within their own ranks being censored they would no doubt be making the same argument I'm going to make about the danger of censorship. Voices coming from the political right actually have a saner viewpoint on the censorship problem in the sense that they can actually recognize censorship as a social problem which Trump's situation has only highlighted. diff --git a/content/entry/video-vengeance.md b/content/entry/video-vengeance.md index 3ba96bb..4797ed6 100644 --- a/content/entry/video-vengeance.md +++ b/content/entry/video-vengeance.md @@ -3,5 +3,5 @@ title: "[Video] Vengeance" date: 2020-12-29T00:00:00 draft: false --- -[Darkmatter2525](https://yewtu.be/channel/UCLhtZqdkjshgq8TqwIjMdCQ?dark_mode=true) explains punitive prison systems (5min 43sec - 11min 43sec). +[Darkmatter2525](https://yewtu.be/channel/UCLhtZqdkjshgq8TqwIjMdCQ?dark_mode=true) explains punitive prison systems (5min 43sec – 11min 43sec). Click [this link](https://yewtu.be/embed/LX2VeWumRQ8?local=true) to watch only the relevant part of the video. diff --git a/content/entry/warning-to-monero-users.md b/content/entry/warning-to-monero-users.md index 9c34e6c..73139ad 100644 --- a/content/entry/warning-to-monero-users.md +++ b/content/entry/warning-to-monero-users.md @@ -5,12 +5,12 @@ tags: ['computing'] draft: false --- # Obligatory -I don't support the use of Monero or other proof of work cryptocurrencies since they're [destroying the planet](/2021/07/18/avoid-using-cryptocurrency/). However, I know people are going to use Monero anyways. So it makes sense to give this warning. +I don't support the use of Monero or other proof of work cryptocurrencies since they're [destroying the planet](/2021/07/18/avoid-using-cryptocurrency/). However, I know people are going to use Monero anyway. So it makes sense to give this warning. # Practical Statistical Attack on Monero There's a practical statistical attack on Monero related to its [decoy selection algorithm](https://ccs.getmonero.org/proposals/Rucknium-OSPEAD-Fortifying-Monero-Against-Statistical-Attack.html). Work to resolve the issue is in progress. It's not clear how severe this vulnerability is, but Monero's adversaries (DEA, FBI, IRS, NSA) may already be using it. -It might not be safe any more to rely on Monero for your freedom. If you still must use Monero, use non-KYC exchanges, different addresses for every transaction, and make sure your addresses never get linked to your real-world identity. +It might not be safe anymore to rely on Monero for your freedom. If you still must use Monero, use non-KYC exchanges, different addresses for every transaction, and make sure your addresses never get linked to your real-world identity. # Defense in Depth None of us knows how soon Shor-capable quantum computers will be built. But when they are built, Monero's privacy may be under threat yet again. diff --git a/content/entry/website-gethuman.md b/content/entry/website-gethuman.md index 9870431..0fd6b44 100644 --- a/content/entry/website-gethuman.md +++ b/content/entry/website-gethuman.md @@ -5,6 +5,6 @@ draft: false --- Most of you reading this have probably had the experience of dealing with large company's customer service lines. You dial or talk through the automated menu trying to get a human on the other end to resolve your problem, but all you get is a useless robot that can't help you with your unique situation. -Luckily there's [GetHuman](https://gethuman.com/), a directory of guides instructing how to get a real live human being on the phone. I've seen some bad reviews, but I've used the directory a couple times before and it's never failed me. So I thought "Why not share it? Other people might find it as useful as I do." +Luckily there's [GetHuman](https://gethuman.com/), a directory of guides instructing how to get a real live human being on the phone. I've seen some bad reviews, but I've used the directory a couple of times before and it's never failed me. So I thought "Why not share it? Other people might find it as useful as I do." I recommend visiting the website with JavaScript disabled to block the Goolag tracking ads. Also, please don't download the mobile app. It's non-free software. diff --git a/content/entry/website-tosdr.md b/content/entry/website-tosdr.md index f5e3ea8..447de13 100644 --- a/content/entry/website-tosdr.md +++ b/content/entry/website-tosdr.md @@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ It provides a searchable online database cataloguing and simplifying the terms o > "I have read and agree to the Terms." -Each service also has a grade based on its terms. You can interpret the grade however you want, but I interpret it as a measure of whether or not I ought to use the service. It's incredibly useful for quickly ascertaining the risks of using a service. +Each service also has a grade based on its terms. You can interpret the grade however you want, but I interpret it as a measure of whether I ought to use the service. It's incredibly useful for quickly ascertaining the risks of using a service. [The people behind the project](https://tosdr.org/about) participate in free software, free culture, and law. They're funded by non-profits and [individual donations](https://thanks.tosdr.org) and all the info on the site is open data. If you want to contribute, ToS;DR has a [forum](https://tosdr.community/) and [community](https://tosdr.org/community) page. diff --git a/content/entry/what-is-sensory-overload-like-attempt-2.md b/content/entry/what-is-sensory-overload-like-attempt-2.md index 3f4e418..b3e4dde 100644 --- a/content/entry/what-is-sensory-overload-like-attempt-2.md +++ b/content/entry/what-is-sensory-overload-like-attempt-2.md @@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ So what happens subjectively is I start understanding fragments of sentences her One thing that makes sensory overload even more stressful is that neurotypicals seem to have difficulty accepting it. If someone tries to tell me something while I'm overwhelmed, I can explain to them "I'm autistic and I'm overwhelmed right now. I cannot understand you. Whatever you're saying, please tell me later." but that usually doesn't do any good. It usually just prompts them to start repeating themselves, thinking that I didn't hear them properly or something. -But when I don't understand neurotypicals, it's not because I don't hear them. What's happening is that their words have no meaning attached because my ability to understand language is offline. I can make out that they're saying words as opposed to gibberish, but I have no idea what those words mean. Repeating themself with different words won't change that. It doesn't matter how inconvenient this is for them because my autistic brain doesn't function according to the convenience of neurotypicals. +But when I don't understand neurotypicals, it's not because I don't hear them. What's happening is that their words have no meaning attached because my ability to understand language is offline. I can make out that they're saying words as opposed to gibberish, but I have no idea what those words mean. Repeating themselves with different words won't change that. It doesn't matter how inconvenient this is for them because my autistic brain doesn't function according to the convenience of neurotypicals. If I continue being overwhelmed by my senses, I experience a shutdown. From the inside, a shutdown looks like a breakdown of the ability to perceive and interpret what's happening in my environment. Language and physical objects no longer have any meaning. There's only raw sensory awareness of light, colors, sounds, smells and sensations. From the outside, I look frozen. I become temporarily mute, lose my ability to mask or socialize, and may abruptly leave the scene before matters get worse. diff --git a/content/entry/what-is-sensory-overload-like.md b/content/entry/what-is-sensory-overload-like.md index 4172f62..1a942b7 100644 --- a/content/entry/what-is-sensory-overload-like.md +++ b/content/entry/what-is-sensory-overload-like.md @@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ Have you ever been lost in a lecture before? You were listening to the professor For example, during sensory overload, it's harder for me to find things. It's not that I don't see them. It's just that my brain stops labeling what I'm seeing and giving meaning to it. It's closer to pure seeing. The normal object recognition filter applied to seeing is diminished. There's just a sphere of color and light full of nameless purposeless objects. -You might be thinking "How the hell can object recognition cease? It's automatic.", and to that I'd respond "The same way sentences lose meaning when you're lost in a lecture". The lecture either makes sense or it doesn't, and whether or not it makes sense in the moment is fundamentally a mysterious process. We can talk about the psychology of why certain lectures make more sense to certain people and we can come up with post hoc rationalizations about why particular lectures make sense to us. But ultimately, from our own subjective perspective, it's a mystery. All we can say is "it just makes sense" or "it just doesn't make sense". +You might be thinking "How the hell can object recognition cease? It's automatic.", and to that I'd respond "The same way sentences lose meaning when you're lost in a lecture". The lecture either makes sense or it doesn't, and whether it makes sense in the moment is fundamentally a mysterious process. We can talk about the psychology of why certain lectures make more sense to certain people and we can come up with post hoc rationalizations about why particular lectures make sense to us. But ultimately, from our own subjective perspective, it's a mystery. All we can say is "it just makes sense" or "it just doesn't make sense". So how is it that I lose the ability to recognize objects? It's the same as with the lecture. I just do. If you've never experienced sensory overload yourself, there's no way for me to communicate it to you. That analogy is the best I can do. diff --git a/content/entry/why-autistic-people-are-targets-of-manipulation-and-how-to-avoid-becoming-a-victim.md b/content/entry/why-autistic-people-are-targets-of-manipulation-and-how-to-avoid-becoming-a-victim.md index 979e36d..22bb84f 100644 --- a/content/entry/why-autistic-people-are-targets-of-manipulation-and-how-to-avoid-becoming-a-victim.md +++ b/content/entry/why-autistic-people-are-targets-of-manipulation-and-how-to-avoid-becoming-a-victim.md @@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ So us autistic people assume everybody is straightforward and rarely lies. The p This is very hard for us autistic people to wrap our heads around. Why would someone not verbalize exactly what they're thinking? Why wouldn't they always be honest? We know people are indirect and deceptive in the abstract, but we never suspect it in our own social interactions. -Us autistics are generally bad at deception, so we're also bad at detecting it in others. Since we're always the least cool people in the room anyways, lying for popularity doesn't usually work. Even if it did, we're uninterested in the social hierarchy anyways. Our infrequent lying combined with the cognitive bias of assuming that others are like us means that when a "friend" or stranger asks for something, it doesn't occur to us that they may have malicious intent. +Us autistics are generally bad at deception, so we're also bad at detecting it in others. Since we're always the least cool people in the room anyway, lying for popularity doesn't usually work. Even if it did, we're uninterested in the social hierarchy anyway. Our infrequent lying combined with the cognitive bias of assuming that others are like us means that when a "friend" or stranger asks for something, it doesn't occur to us that they may have malicious intent. When we're asked to do something amoral, illegal, overly generous, or something that otherwise puts us at a disadvantage, we do it under the false pretenses supplied by the other person and end up suffering the consequences intended for them. @@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ Four out of five autistics are either unemployed or underemployed. Unless we can When we think of autistic people being manipulated and treated poorly, we think of "friends" and strangers doing it, but family members are probably the most common perpetrators. Many parents, rather than admitting they birthed an unemployable autistic person and making the best of a tough situation, they deny the autism and push their autistic offspring to repress their true nature, leading them into depression, anxiety, and self-hatred. ### Emotional Dependence -But financial dependence is only part of the equation. Since not many people want to associate with us, we become emotionally reliant on a small number of close relationships. We avoid crowds and the safety that comes along with them. +But financial dependence is only part of the equation. Since not many people want to associate with us, we become emotionally reliant on a few close relationships. We avoid crowds and the safety that comes along with them. This goes hand in hand with isolation. The fewer people in your tribe, the easier it is for a manipulator to isolate you from that tribe and twist your mind to suit their purposes. @@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ It's not all doom and gloom though. There are strategies we can use to improve o ## Don't Blindly Trust Others The first thing is not to blindly trust everything others say. Ask yourself "Does what they're saying make sense? Is it consistent with other things they've said? Is it consistent with their own motivations? Can I verify it? Do their friends know about it or believe it?" Just ask questions. -If you catch someone in a lie, figure out what sorts of things they lie about. There are different types of liars. Do they lie all the time or only in regards to this one thing? Are they lying to keep a secret? Do they admit to lying when called out on it? +If you catch someone in a lie, figure out what sorts of things they lie about. There are different types of liars. Do they lie all the time or only in regard to this one thing? Are they lying to keep a secret? Do they admit to lying when called out on it? I consider lying/deception a serious breach of trust. If someone lies to me even once, I'm skeptical of everything they say after. If they don't stop lying, I cut them off. There's no point being in a relationship with someone who constantly feeds you bullshit. It's not a real relationship. diff --git a/content/entry/why-biden-should-expand-the-supreme-court.md b/content/entry/why-biden-should-expand-the-supreme-court.md index a1ce953..9c9f99a 100644 --- a/content/entry/why-biden-should-expand-the-supreme-court.md +++ b/content/entry/why-biden-should-expand-the-supreme-court.md @@ -11,8 +11,8 @@ The illegitimate radical conservative majority in the Supreme Court gutted abort Biden could expand the Supreme Court and have all these radical idiotic rulings undone, but he said he doesn't want the Supreme Court to be turned into a "political football". His opponent in the 2020 presidential election incited an insurrection to overthrow democracy and he's worried about packing an already illegitimate Supreme Court? -If we had a more tame political environment that still respected precedent, I might agree with him that packing the Court is a bad strategy. But if the wannabe dictator successfully rigs the next election, he will do everything in his power to turn this country into a fascist dictatorship anyways. +If we had a more tame political environment that still respected precedent, I might agree with him that packing the Court is a bad strategy. But if the wannabe dictator successfully rigs the next election, he will do everything in his power to turn this country into a fascist dictatorship anyway. He wouldn't even concede the last election. He clearly doesn't give a damn about precedent. The only reason burgerland isn't a dictatorship is thanks to decent morally upstanding people, both democrat and republican, who resisted his relentless pursuit for power. -When your only political opponent is a power hungry fascist bully who doesn't respect precedent or norms, who will do everything he legally can to gain power along with some illegal things too, who would rather see a civil war than concede, then not packing the Court is just plain stupid. Who is Biden trying to impress? The supporters of his fascist opponent will never vote for him anyways and he'll please much of his voter base by doing so. I really hope he changes his mind about the Supreme Court, but I doubt he will. +When your only political opponent is a power hungry fascist bully who doesn't respect precedent or norms, who will do everything he legally can to gain power along with some illegal things too, who would rather see a civil war than concede, then not packing the Court is just plain stupid. Who is Biden trying to impress? The supporters of his fascist opponent will never vote for him anyway and he'll please much of his voter base by doing so. I really hope he changes his mind about the Supreme Court, but I doubt he will. diff --git a/content/entry/why-disappearing-messages-are-important-for-private-messaging.md b/content/entry/why-disappearing-messages-are-important-for-private-messaging.md index 23adfbd..32c3ced 100644 --- a/content/entry/why-disappearing-messages-are-important-for-private-messaging.md +++ b/content/entry/why-disappearing-messages-are-important-for-private-messaging.md @@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ One approach to mitigating this is disappearing messages, a feature which automa The benefit of the online implementation is that all parties can be confident that no others hold records of messages older than a certain date, given that they're not purposely circumventing this security mechanism through screenshotting or something like that. Online disappearing messages can be made adjustable, so the sender and recipient can decide an appropriate time window to retain messages according to their threat model. This mitigates private information disclosure against thieves, [thugs](/glossary/), stalkers, and snooping spouses who gain physical access to the device. -Another way to mitigate private information disclosure is requiring the user to set a password for the messaging app. People will still choose weak passwords, but for most common threat models, attackers will simply give up after seeing a password prompt anyways. +Another way to mitigate private information disclosure is requiring the user to set a password for the messaging app. People will still choose weak passwords, but for most common threat models, attackers will simply give up after seeing a password prompt anyway. In general, password protected apps are not a bad idea. But the problem with password protecting *messaging* apps is they must stay logged in on the user's device after the password is entered. App developers could require entering the password every time the app is opened or after some set interval, but that's too much inconvenience for most people. Since most people message on smartphones which would have the app logged in 24/7, password protection offers no real additional security. diff --git a/content/entry/why-i-dont-have-a-smartphone.md b/content/entry/why-i-dont-have-a-smartphone.md index 6ff4f7b..a8857ba 100644 --- a/content/entry/why-i-dont-have-a-smartphone.md +++ b/content/entry/why-i-dont-have-a-smartphone.md @@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ Even if I didn't have a phone to borrow, I could use the PinePhone as a home pho Regular readers of this journal are probably wondering when I'm going to mention privacy. It's widely understood that smartphones are tracking and surveillance devices, so surely that's another objection, right? ## Smartphones Are Surveillance Devices -Well actually no. It's possible to have a smartphone that isn't a mass surveillance device. When I had the Google Pixel, I enabled airplane mode and MAC randomization. I used free software from F-droid exclusively. Traffic was onion-routed via Tor. Bluetooth was disabled and wifi as well when I wasn't using it. [I taped both front and rear cameras.](/2021/04/07/cover-your-cameras/) So privacy wasn't an issue for me. +Well actually no. It's possible to have a smartphone that isn't a mass surveillance device. When I had the Google Pixel, I enabled airplane mode and MAC randomization. I used free software from F-droid exclusively. Traffic was onion-routed via Tor. Bluetooth was disabled and Wi-Fi as well when I wasn't using it. [I taped both front and rear cameras.](/2021/04/07/cover-your-cameras/) So privacy wasn't an issue for me. The average person's smartphone is a surveillance device with dozens of proprietary apps tracking them every which way and a crippled, vendor-locked excuse for the latest version of Android. As for iPhones, there's no excuse for having that trash. They're even worse for your freedom than vendor-locked Androids. diff --git a/content/entry/why-i-left-its.md b/content/entry/why-i-left-its.md index 4a4c980..031607b 100644 --- a/content/entry/why-i-left-its.md +++ b/content/entry/why-i-left-its.md @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ tags: ['computing', 'siue'] draft: false --- # Background -In October of 2018, I was hired to work at [information technology services at SIUe](https://www.siue.edu/its/), where I also studied. I worked there until early this year. I worked part time and met many good people there and learned how the university works and is organized. The job was well-suited for students because we usually have some free time to do our studies. I worked at the [help desk](https://www.siue.edu/its/helpdesk/) answering calls for a while before I eventually moved to a labs and classrooms technician position. The duties of the labs and classrooms student workers were essentially to do anything technology-related that needed done in the labs and classrooms. This included taking inventory for all the items, imaging computers, assisting professors and students if something broke during class time, setting up projectors, conference areas, replacing hardware, and responding to support calls. It was a good first job for learning common workplace skills. +In October of 2018, I was hired to work at [information technology services at SIUe](https://www.siue.edu/its/), where I also studied. I worked there until early this year. I worked part time and met many good people there and learned how the university works and is organized. The job was well-suited for students because we usually have some free time to do our studies. I worked at the [help desk](https://www.siue.edu/its/helpdesk/) answering calls for a while before I eventually moved to a labs and classrooms technician position. The duties of the labs and classrooms student workers were essentially to do anything technology-related that needed to be done in the labs and classrooms. This included taking inventory for all the items, imaging computers, assisting professors and students if something broke during class time, setting up projectors, conference areas, replacing hardware, and responding to support calls. It was a good first job for learning common workplace skills. # Learning About Free Software Everyone that is passionate about free/libre software has a story. Most students and teachers working with computers have never even heard about free software, even in computer science courses. It's one of the biggest social issues people are completely ignorant about. Part of that is because the ideas are misunderstood because "open source" has replaced free software in the classroom and workplace. Another reason is programmers don't get into programming because they want to grapple with the ethical implications of computing. What I'm saying is the kind of person who studies programming oftentimes is uninterested in ethics. Obviously this isn't true for every programmer out there, but the point I'm making is this: If you have any values at all, everything you do either moves you closer to your values, farther away from them, or is neutral. Whether you like it or not, this implies an ethical dimension to everything, including computing. @@ -13,13 +13,13 @@ Everyone that is passionate about free/libre software has a story. Most students When I took my job at ITS, I had never heard about free software. I still used GNU/Linux though. And I had heard of open source at the time. I knew who Linus Torvalds was, but had never heard of Richard Stallman until one day at the help desk my coworker told me about a disagreement between Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman. I wasn't given any details besides that. We probably got on the subject after talking about Linus or Linux. Anyway, this piqued my interest. So when I returned home that day, I researched about it and found the Free Software Foundation. I remembered watching a Computerphile video about free software months prior, but the ideas didn't stick. I only completely understood after watching some of Richard Stallman's lectures. After listening to Stallman explain free software from the ground up and seeing examples of how proprietary software is used to mistreat users, and my own past experiences, his ideas about how computing should be rang true for me. Stallman's ideas gave me a whole new model to understand software. Everything came together and past experiences with proprietary software suddenly made more sense. I acquired an ethical framework for computing overnight. # Reduced Hours -Adjusting to my new understanding of free software was a gradual, effortful process. Over the course of several months, I slowly stopped using proprietary applications I had been using and moved over to free software instead. Nearly 100% of my job was working with proprietary software though. If I had refused to use proprietary Windows or fix Windows machines at my job, I would most certainly have been let go for refusing to do the work. The whole university IT department wasn't going to change the way they did things because I didn't want to use the proprietary software. In my personal life, I was using almost exclusively free software. I was struggling very hard to do so in my classes and to promote free software. Yet at my job, I was being completely inconsistent. I was going around all day working on and fixing Windows machines. I was supporting proprietary software on university computers, sometimes imaging entire classrooms of 30 computers with Windows. I knew that Windows was an evil platform, and I was installing it. Every week I went in to work, I became increasingly bothered by what I was participating in while trying to advocate for the opposite outside of work. Outside of ITS, avoiding proprietary software while completing my coursework took up so much of my time. I was falling behind on assignments, so I asked for reduced hours at ITS. +Adjusting to my new understanding of free software was a gradual, effortful process. Over the course of several months, I slowly stopped using proprietary applications I had been using and moved over to free software instead. Nearly 100% of my job was working with proprietary software though. If I had refused to use proprietary Windows or fix Windows machines at my job, I would most certainly have been let go for refusing to do the work. The whole university IT department wasn't going to change the way they did things because I didn't want to use the proprietary software. In my personal life, I was using almost exclusively free software. I was struggling very hard to do so in my classes and to promote free software. Yet at my job, I was being completely inconsistent. I was going around all day working on and fixing Windows machines. I was supporting proprietary software on university computers, sometimes imaging entire classrooms of 30 computers with Windows. I knew that Windows was an evil platform, and I was installing it. Every week I went into work, I became increasingly bothered by what I was participating in while trying to advocate for the opposite outside of work. Outside of ITS, avoiding proprietary software while completing my coursework took up so much of my time. I was falling behind on assignments, so I asked for reduced hours at ITS. # Quitting I found that even with reduced hours, I could not get all my work done. I was already extremely demotivated from jumping through hoops no other students had to jump through emailing professors back and forth to avoid the proprietary software my courses were pushing on me while still trying to complete assignments. But I also had the feeling that I couldn't go on every day supporting Windows machines and Microsoft software. It wasn't just Windows either. There were multiple proprietary systems that we had to interact with. It started really getting to me. It did take a long time, but eventually I couldn't avoid the feeling that I was doing a harm to the world. I gave my 2 weeks notice and then resigned from my position at ITS in early 2020. The larger reason I resigned was due to the proprietary software. But a smaller part of it was that I needed more time to focus on studies. So it wasn't a decision based purely on ethics. Some readers are going to think resigning (partially) over ethical reasons was a mistake because some other student would just take my place and the job would be done anyway. But I don't find that convincing. For one, even if someone else took my place, at least it wouldn't be me. Leave someone else to cross that line. It's too psychologically burdensome for me to work with proprietary software knowing I'm doing the world a harm. It's likely that whoever would take my place would not know about free software and would not feel so bothered by the work they are doing because of that. Also, this kind of thinking is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If everyone thinks this way, then everyone will reason that they should just accept the injustice because someone else will if they don't. That's a good way of keeping giant evil corporations like Microsoft in power. Microsoft prefers you to think that way. I'm not saying it's necessarily untrue. Maybe someone has already taken my place. But I'm saying to keep in mind that it's self-fulfilling. That kind of thinking is exactly the kind that discourages challenging existing power structures. -Another objection readers might have to me leaving my job over free software is that even if I find another job where I don't have to use any proprietary software, I might be contributing to other social harms. In other words, it's hard to find a place to work that is without ethical problems. I can't deny this is true. Some people work at jobs where they have to use Windows, but they have kids to take care of. If they don't go in to work, they might not be able to support their family. I'm not trying to suggest everyone should do what I did. I'm definitely not trying to take the moral high ground compared to those people. I'm just explaining why I did what I did. But there are less "nuclear" options for people who can't quit their job. Spread the word about free software to friends, family, and coworkers. Set an example for others by being a mindful consumer. For example, don't buy home assistants with proprietary software such as the Amazon Alexa or Google Home. Don't buy "smart" devices like smart TVs, smart fridges, smart light bulbs, etc. These are small sacrifices consumers can make right now. With collective effort, we can create a large market for ethical tech and eliminate the market for unethical tech if only enough of us refuse to buy it. If the relatively small sacrifices aren't made now, the sacrifices required in the future to turn the tide will be much, much greater. Living without proprietary software is already far more inconvenient than most people will accept. And it's only going to get worse unless we reject proprietary products today. +Another objection readers might have to me leaving my job over free software is that even if I find another job where I don't have to use any proprietary software, I might be contributing to other social harms. In other words, it's hard to find a place to work that is without ethical problems. I can't deny this is true. Some people work at jobs where they have to use Windows, but they have kids to take care of. If they don't go into work, they might not be able to support their family. I'm not trying to suggest everyone should do what I did. I'm definitely not trying to take the moral high ground compared to those people. I'm just explaining why I did what I did. But there are less "nuclear" options for people who can't quit their job. Spread the word about free software to friends, family, and coworkers. Set an example for others by being a mindful consumer. For example, don't buy home assistants with proprietary software such as the Amazon Alexa or Google Home. Don't buy "smart" devices like smart TVs, smart fridges, smart light bulbs, etc. These are small sacrifices consumers can make right now. With collective effort, we can create a large market for ethical tech and eliminate the market for unethical tech if only enough of us refuse to buy it. If the relatively small sacrifices aren't made now, the sacrifices required in the future to turn the tide will be much, much greater. Living without proprietary software is already far more inconvenient than most people will accept. And it's only going to get worse unless we reject proprietary products today. That was my short call to action. If you've made it this far, thank you for reading. If you find my ideas valuable, then please consider making a donation. Details are on my [about page](/about/). diff --git a/content/entry/why-you-cannot-get-rid-of-your-ego.md b/content/entry/why-you-cannot-get-rid-of-your-ego.md index f2946f6..9ec5e4e 100644 --- a/content/entry/why-you-cannot-get-rid-of-your-ego.md +++ b/content/entry/why-you-cannot-get-rid-of-your-ego.md @@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Now "losing one's ego" or "ego death" doesn't literally happen. It would be like There are different levels at which I can address that question. The first is the feeling of being a subject. You feel that you have a body, thoughts, moods, emotions, senses, and all the rest. You're the experiencer, in addition to the experience. It's possible to lose this sense of being a subject. In other words, to recognize that there is no feeler of emotions, haver of moods and thoughts, senser of senses, or resident of the body. The objects of consciousness normally associated with the subject are perceived "on equal footing" as those associated with the other. ### Awareness Level 2 -The second level of awareness comes after you lose the feeling of being a subject. When that falls away, there is this sense of "well, I'm the one experiencing the lack of a subject". The feeling of ego can't be associated with the subject any more, so it takes up refuge as the perceiver of the lack of subject. But there is no one who experiences the lack of subject. The feeling of there being an experiencer is simply part of the experience. +The second level of awareness comes after you lose the feeling of being a subject. When that falls away, there is this sense of "well, I'm the one experiencing the lack of a subject". The feeling of ego can't be associated with the subject anymore, so it takes up refuge as the perceiver of the lack of subject. But there is no one who experiences the lack of subject. The feeling of there being an experiencer is simply part of the experience. ## Death of The Ego Illusion You are just as free of ego when you're completely lost in thought as you are at this second level of awareness. The illusion of being an ego can come and go, but you're always egoless. You just don't recognize it all the time. So if you want to be pedantic, you shouldn't say "ego death", but instead "death of the ego illusion". diff --git a/content/entry/will-you-support-my-work.md b/content/entry/will-you-support-my-work.md index 61ad0c9..115b51b 100644 --- a/content/entry/will-you-support-my-work.md +++ b/content/entry/will-you-support-my-work.md @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ title: "Will You Support My Work?" date: 2023-09-28T00:00:00 draft: false --- -Thanks to all of you who read my journal. Over the past three years, I've went through multiple iterations of its design, settling on a first-of-its-kind Gemini-supporting [Hugo theme](https://git.nicholasjohnson.ch/hugo-theme-journal "Hugo Theme Journal") I built from the ground up. As for the journal itself, I've averaged about one entry every five days, discussing a wide variety of topics and I have no plans on stopping. I've also made several contributions to the libre software community. +Thanks to all of you who read my journal. Over the past three years, I've gone through multiple iterations of its design, settling on a first-of-its-kind Gemini-supporting [Hugo theme](https://git.nicholasjohnson.ch/hugo-theme-journal "Hugo Theme Journal") I built from the ground up. As for the journal itself, I've averaged about one entry every five days, discussing a wide variety of topics and I have no plans on stopping. I've also made several contributions to the libre software community. All the public work I've done so far except for [this LibrePlanet talk](/2022/04/08/taking-back-the-web-with-haketilo/ "Taking Back The Web With Haketilo") has gone unpaid, which I'm fine with since there was never any expectation of payment. I'm content to make my journal and software available at no cost forever and always. diff --git a/content/entry/you-dont-need-an-antivirus.md b/content/entry/you-dont-need-an-antivirus.md index 7b1f6f1..fbea762 100644 --- a/content/entry/you-dont-need-an-antivirus.md +++ b/content/entry/you-dont-need-an-antivirus.md @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ This entry is in response to recent news of [Norton Antivirus putting a crypto m Most commercial antiviruses are targeted towards Windows users. News flash. If you're using Windows, you already have known malware installed on your computer. It's called Windows and no antivirus program can remove it. Same for Macs as well. You should remove Windows or Mac and install a free Linux or BSD distro. -If you still decide to use Windows or Mac, realize you don't actually need an antivirus anyways. Windows and Mac already come with built-in protections against 3rd-party malware. Of course both systems still let their own malware execute. +If you still decide to use Windows or Mac, realize you don't actually need an antivirus anyway. Windows and Mac already come with built-in protections against 3rd-party malware. Of course both systems still let their own malware execute. Most proprietary antivirus programs are themselves adware and spyware. And now Norton has a crypto miner. Installing proprietary antivirus software these days is just paying to install malware on your own system. Don't fall for it. |