Wednesday, July 31, 2019

facebook hate speech

10. Hate Speech
Facebook removes hate speech, or content that directly attacks people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, disabilities or diseases. However, Facebook allows posts that examine hate speech for the purpose of awareness, education, humor, satire, and social commentary.

Monday, July 29, 2019

dystopia - fb - blakey

Blakey Vermeule
There so many .... different and interesting things going on here.
1) facial recognition - you have to assume that they are doing this. Or will be doing this.
1a) Pro - awesome, that is not me buying that donut, so you know that my account was stolen.
1b) pro - oo that bad guy mugged me - yay the police have his picture
1c) con - oh no the Stasi are coming to get us!! yawn.

I have read a mountain of scifi. They have covered every possible outcome. Orwell was still, properly, reacting to the cold war and things like the Stasi and the CIA.

Snowcrash (you have read this, yes? put it on the list.)
Snowcrash is a much more modern take on ubiquitous tech. Even set in a bleak balkanized america. The book looked at a huge number of dimensions where that ubiquity is helpful.

My guess, is that 99% of the reaction is hand-wringing.
Oh no, that motorized car will put the stables out of business!!
Oh no, self-driving cares will put those drivers out of business.
Oh no, electric lights will destroy the coal gas industry.

What amuses me, is that people who on one had say "THOSE people are so uninformed and should study the issue and be more informed" .. .when talking about healthcare or voting issues or equal rights, etc.
But when it comes to something like the future, they have ignored the available material and wring hands.

Probably one of the more ... interesting aspects of so much Dystopian fiction is just how far from the mark it has always been. Versus the rest of scifi.

50s-60s were filled with cold war dystopia.
60s-70s were filled with starvation dystopia.
70s-80s were filled with nuclear winter dystopia.
We had OH NO killer robots/machines.
We had plagues and Zombies
Running out of oil oh no.
And now there is a ton of running out of resources dreck.

Fear sells. That they have constantly gotten it wrong is quite interesting.

so um ... need any help for a class outline??
 

Zero Guidance

Zero Guidance

I have never had guidance. What some people might have called guidance was the exact opposite, orders.
I was ordered to go to the catholic grade school and endure horrific indoctrination and brainwashing.
I was ordered to complete my Confirmation, a step where I am supposed to CHOOSE to renew my vows of faith.
(When I asked if I could choose to not do this, I was ordered to do it. That day I became an atheist forever.)

I had "choice" in HS, De La Salle Catholic, St Rita Catholic, FUCK NO Tilden Public.
I picked the closest one.
I had no choice when I picked Whitney Young over Tilden for 10th-12th.
I had no guidance in HS, I picked random classes to meet the graduation requirements.

I had not college prep guidance, took at least one of the test stoned out of my mind and just missed the national merit cutoff. lol
I late admitted to college, showing up 3 weeks late, and still made the deans list freshman year. (I fixed that sophomore year!!)
I never saw a guidance counselor, ever. Randomly took computer classes. Woke up one day, took that 2nd english comp class in the summer and escaped from college.
I friend said there was job here. I went and got it.
When I left, the guy taking my job said his old job was still open, I went and got it.
When I left there, I called a friend who had left, he said come on down, I went and was hired.

Dating? lol
Most of the people that I dated asked me out, or hung around until we started dating.
And left when it was clear that I was never going to make plans. They were great!! Without them, I would never have taken those vacations, or seen those strange bands, or musicals, or ballet (oh yes, I have), or those movies, or or or or. And in strange ways, it meant that we had things in common, and I was at least minimally willing to make plans.

My first apartment was downstairs apartment from my sister, "pete, they moved out, you could move in".
My next was a random upgrade closer to work so I could walk to work.
My girlfriend found the next two places, I bought the second place when it went condo.
My current place was found by a friend, randomly looking at places in Chicago.

I have never had guidance. Ever.

...

After thoughts, and part of what drove this essay.
Remind me again how you are raising a child who will be able to be strong and assertive and do for themselves,
when EVERYTHING that they currently do is ORDERED.