thanks to @caseyjennings who, apropos nothing, has me reading about Caligula. https://museumhack.com/caligula-mad-emperor/
i still don’t have a good way to conceptualize the relationship between elon musk and his firms’ accomplishments.
@vincent @ZaneSelvans a taciturn quip for sure.
they take as axiomatic that success in the market implies creating social value, while they work assiduously to undermine the institutions that might align market forces and social value.
@BenRossTransit @Sarahp genius *in situ* synthesis i’m sure!
@Gustodon i wouldn’t say it’s always harmful, but that as an institution that it’s net harmful. obviously there are plenty of cases where plutocratic philanthropy helps people. but what are its costs? in terms of a our ability to build a world where people might have less need to be helped by discretionary charity?
“In recent months, Twitter and other organizations have also started to complain that the latest wave of A.I. technologies were built using their digital data.”
// THEIR digital data? getting appropriated and mined for some else’s business model, in ways they hadn’t intended? imagine! i mean, who else has had to suffer something like that?
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/18/technology/twitter-microsoft-misusing-data.html?unlocked_article_code=Jr8NOo9S45LONXmoaDDuwOJOHYXXXO1I4R7ArLAHbz7bFqt1gQ8CqT-gWXQKkmyVnGmdXD5Acc5QfyNLYYGIdrPO1POv7XETwhCVdYvI95bpea8J8gTvoZyulIp2B6f8EhhKX8rEhlbHQBLiYe9W2uVYiGjTMI45w_RxQd7Ose3I9o0_hsQ2PXQIjOjUYT9c0pkQqivLNUX_CP-jEvLEjvNeM030HHGjnOv5fRDMjKhtSbKeL4o59L3J2i9uR49bIxO1AP_i848L_ZAcw1JZeZAs2lSNDvnQql0yw7Ly4JA2M-ENS3Fc7KmaH9wnb4ggN_Jpo2vTdw4H0WFgb7uWg_SMMFoz_jxv-zeR&smid=url-share ht @edbott
i mean, shouldn’t they get their pants sued off them, marketing this as a source of “advice” without prominently flagging its propensity for error and bullshit? https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/18/openai-launches-an-official-chatgpt-app-for-ios/ ht @Sarahp
A screenshot of the marketing copy for OpenAI’s chat GPT app that describes it as a source of advice without any caution or disclaimer.
they support good things to justify their bad things, and then the trap is laid.
they win if you let their whitewashing redeem and excuse them.
they win if you let your correct antipathy towards them bleed over into an indefensible antipathy to the good causes, even when the good causes they like dominate and deform the space for activism because of their self-interestedly generous support.
you must walk a tightrope, and of course the voices they finance will say you've failed no matter what.
have you considered getting into the tipsheet biz, @ddayen? https://americanprospect.bluelena.io/index.php?action=social&chash=4afd521d77158e02aed37e2274b90c9c.2053
@dis @Gustodon billionaire philanthropy does more harm than good. it deforms politics and activism to bend to a few individuals’ wills, whether the individuals are well intentioned or not. it whitewashes the inevitably destructive circumstances that allowed them to become billionaires, and the often directly predatory behavior the billionaires engaged in. as individuals, we are all redeemable, billionaires too. as a society, plutocracy just has to end.
@blherrou it is a %#+^! strange world here.
time is unforgivable.
[new draft post] Decommodification and health care utilization https://drafts.interfluidity.com/2023/05/17/decommodification-and-health-care-utilization/index.html
@maikelthedev@blahaj.zone (ha!)
@jgordon @brendannyhan i'm very sorry.
is there a word for a lively putrescence, like the garish wriggliness of maggots on a corpse?
@jgordon @brendannyhan when it impacts people in your own life it will break your heart.