Activity Log
hackers.town: 2023-03-14 Tue 08:39
@luis_in_brief Agreed. I was thinking hard about adding a second part about how much we’ve enabled with open source — and Linux as the leading wedge of that — but then I started thinking about corporate surveillance, growing wage inequality, nation-state Linux distributions, big-name projects that are practically just throwing builds over a fence with little public input while authors of core functionality we all use can’t pay rent, the rephrasing and resurgence of process patents, and anyways I got depressed.
(no of course it’s on human nature not FOSS but it was just a train of thought)
If Linux is the example, AI will have a huge impact but maybe not the impact they’re hoping for.
hackers.town: 2023-03-14 Tue 08:40
@luis_in_brief AI enthusiasts are currently at the stage where I was, trying to convince my mom that she should use Linux for her occasional computer usage. Which is totally not an area that Linux has been helpful in.
hackers.town: 2023-03-14 Tue 08:44
@luis_in_brief (but you got “lawyer” in your bio and the stronger OSI background so there’s a non-zero chance you know way more than I do about current IP law with the one gloomy blog post I read a few months ago)
hackers.town: 2023-03-14 Tue 08:55
@luis_in_brief I mean — I’m mainly using this thread as a proxy to go back in time and give myself a stern talking-to, and I apologize for that. The impact of FOSS has been something I couldn’t imagine the scale or details of a couple decades ago — despite my own early enthusiasm for installing Linux on any piece of hardware I could connect to my computer — and AI is obviously gonna be another one of those.
But the hand-waving dismissal about AI constraints from enthusiasts is worrying and a little offensive.
hackers.town: 2023-03-14 Tue 12:34
@luis_in_brief One thing I might add / expand on in the “did not” category: I think the average user has less control of their systems and data than a couple decades ago, what with Tivoization and closed systems like Google Docs we use these days (largely built with FOSS foundations thanks to the mentioned success in the server world — feels a bit like we’ve been hammering our own chains sometimes)
hackers.town: 2023-03-14 Tue 12:37
@luis_in_brief but on the other other hand there’s a persistent push for open data. Folks like me are just always gonna push for smaller tech, since anything requiring large resources to run is always ultimately under control of whoever has the most resources.
hackers.town: 2023-03-14 Tue 20:27
https://hackers.town/users/yojimbo/statuses/110025166974844935