#Best Tech 2017

[neverlandnightingale]

Hey do y'all remember several years ago when we were all freaking out about net neutrality being overturned? Well despite net neutrality's win in 2024, a federal court just overturned it.

For those who aren't aware, net neutrality is the simple principle that companies like Verizon and Comcast should treat all web traffic equally – not pick and choose based on who is willing to pay more or who they like best. Big Tech companies obviously don’t like that – which is why they spent millions lobbying against it over the years.

Now, these megacorporations will be able to seize control back over our Internet. The likely result? Throttled access to streaming services, monopolistic pricing that cuts out competition, and a slower, walled off, and less free Internet for all of us.

And unfortunately, rulings like this will only get more common now that the Supreme Court has overturned the “Chevron deference” – giving judges, rather than qualified public servants, a blank check to toss out protections like net neutrality, environmental safeguards, or food safety standards.

When Trump’s FCC repealed net neutrality back in 2017, they gave big corporations total control over our Internet – putting free and open access at risk.

Internet providers responded by exploiting their newfound power to speed up certain websites, and slow down – or even block – others. They failed to provide crucial Internet infrastructure in rural areas, low-income communities, and communities of color. They even slashed firefighters’ Internet access during severe wildfires.

But over 126,000 people spoke out and we were able to reinstate net neutrality – until now.

The time has come again to take action: please sign this petition from Common Cause so we can reinstate net neutrality.

[amn-group]

What's in my Tech Bag! v6.0

It'' s been a while since I'' ve. And being on the roadway right'now, I figured it ' d be the. Fast shout out, if you'' re not following me on Instagram, obtained a possibility to win an actually. sick set of kicks from Puma. And details on that particular are down below. (positive songs) So, first off the bag, the knapsack. The most fundamental part. of a What'' s in My Bag. This is the Air Tech…

[probablyasocialecologist]

An increasing number of Silicon Valley investors and Wall Street analysts are starting to ring the alarm bells over the countless billions of dollars being invested in AI, an overconfidence they warn could result in a massive bubble. As the Washington Post reports, investment bankers are singing a dramatically different tune than last year, a period marked by tremendous hype surrounding AI, and are instead starting to become wary of Big Tech's ability to actually turn the tech into a profitable business. "Despite its expensive price tag, the technology is nowhere near where it needs to be in order to be useful," Goldman Sach's most senior stock analyst Jim Covello wrote in a report last month. "Overbuilding things the world doesn’t have use for, or is not ready for, typically ends badly."

[...]

According to Barclays analysts, investors are expected to pour $60 billion a year into developing AI models, enough to develop 12,000 products roughly the size of OpenAI's ChatGPT. But whether the world needs 12,000 ChatGPT chatbots remains dubious at best. "We do expect lots of new services... but probably not 12,000 of them," Barclays analysts wrote in a note, as quoted by the WaPo. "We sense that Wall Street is growing increasingly skeptical." For quite some time now, experts have voiced concerns over a growing AI bubble, comparing it to the dot-com crisis of the late 1990s. "Capital continues to pour into the AI sector with very little attention being paid to company fundamentals," tech stock analyst Richard Windsor wrote in a March research note, "in a sure sign that when the music stops there will not be many chairs available." "This is precisely what happened with the Internet in 1999, autonomous driving in 2017, and now generative AI in 2024," he added.

27 July 2024

[batboyblog]

Hi, idk if you're a Mdni page or not, but I'm really scared. I'm 15f, I live in a mostly red state, I've grown up here, and everyone I know is voting red. I was previously in the middle, I didn't care either way who won. I'm terrified of the election after reading about everything the Republican candidate did and plans to do. I wanna know if there's anything I could do to help prevent Trump from winning the election? I have a younger sister, and I don't want her to have to live in a country where her rights are being stripped from her. I just wanna know how to help. Thank you for reading and feel free to delete if I broke a boundary.

for the record I don't mind anyone sending me an ask, everyone is welcome to interact respectfully.

that out of the way, I remember working for Hillary in the 2016 election (by my math you would have been 7?) and our intern was your age and he was... he was everything he was so dryly sarcastic, smart, unflappable, could do anything, he kept us sane and he saved our asses with his can do (and tech skills) more times than I can count.

So to any teens out there who are not yet old enough to vote and think "oh there's nothing I can do" in 2016 we won a Senate race by 1,000 votes, which 100% was the doors we knocked and the voters we talked to out of our office, a 16 year old intern working his ass off saved Obamacare in 2017, not a word of a lie, you can make a difference as an intern or volunteer

Now, from the tone of what you're saying it sounds like your parents would into that, idk if you're parents are the kind of people who let you explore your own thing, or the kind of people who just wouldn't notice, or if they're the kind who would seriously object to you volunteering for the Democrats or progressive groups.

A lot of people assume because they live in Red States or Blue states they don't matter, but for example there are key Senate races this year in Texas, Montana, Ohio, and Florida (Red) and Maryland (Blue) Alaska is a traditionally red state but its one and only Congressperson is a Democrat who will run a very close race to get re-elected again this year. So where ever you live there is a key race, even if it's local. And lots of chances to call voters or send them postcards in swing states

Any ways everyone check out ways to Volunteer Run for Something also supports younger local candidates so if you live somewhere very red or very blue it can be helpful to find locals running for school board or city Council

now for you personally young person, and everyone else, have real and serious conversations with people in your life about this stuff, I can not TELL you how often I knock on someone's door and we talk politics and they tell me "oh well I'm a Democrat, but everyone around here is really a Republican" but like I just talked to 4 other people who were Democrats in their neighborhood, they just saw one Trump sign and gassed themselves up about it. People are often much more swingable than you think, feel everyone out, if there's an adult in your life thats convincible, work on them find out what they care about and bring them facts, be claim and reasonable and work on them. Each of us doing one on one work with people who know us is WAY! more impactful than any TV ad a campaign can buy.

finally if your parents won't let you volunteer for Dems, reach out to the League of Woman Voters, they're not partisan, so they're not Dems or Republicans, they believe in voting. When I was in High School I organized a voter registration drive in my school at lunch time, thats a great thing to do, call your county/town clerk's office and talk to your school, get a social studies teacher involved they love that shit, young people are much more likely to be Democrats so just registering them is helpful.

best of luck, in the words of Hitchhiker's Guide, Don't Panic.

[littlejazzy]

👻 Spooky Shows For Spooky Littles 👻

The season is changing, and with it, Halloween approaches! Here's a list of shows that are thematically appropriate, viewable for free on Archive.Org or free with ads on Tubi! It's organized kinda sorta from shows for the littlest little to things that might be more appropriate for middles - but don't let that stop you from exploring anything that looks interesting!

Super Monsters (2017) [S1] [S2] [S3] [x] [x] [x] [x]

The children of various monsters learn lessons and how to use their monster powers! (The [x]s are various specials that occur after the main series)

Ruby Gloom (2006)

Staring the titular Ruby Gloom, this is a really cute show about her and her slightly spooky friends!

A Pup Named Scooby Doo (1988)

Adapted for a younger audience, Mystery Inc. is similarly aged down in this extremely cartoony and silly animated series!

Sabrina The Animated Series (1999)

Admittedly, Sabrina is pretty cutesy, but she is a witch, so watch as this fact gets her into hijinks and adventures with her friends and talking cat! (Tubi Mirror)

Tutenstein (2003)

A 10 year old mummy is brought back to life after 3,000 years and has to adjust to modern day! Heavy focus on Egyptology and fairly accurate portrayals of Egyptian deities and myths!

Growing Up Creepie (2006)

Adopted and raised by a family of bugs, Creepie is a girl who's entering middle school and learning how to interact with humans! There's a heavy focus on bugs and fun facts about them!

Bump in the Night (1994)

A stop-motion cartoon, Mr. Bumby is a monster that lives under the bed, who at night has adventures with Squishington (a slime monster who used to live in the toilet tank) and Molly Coddle (a ragdoll)! (Tubi Mirror)

The Addams Family (1972)

An animated adaptation based off of the original comics, watch the spooky family and their kooky adventures!

Beetlejuice: The Animated Series (1987)

Follow the adventures of Lydia Deetz and her best friend from the Netherworld, Beetlejuice! (The archive is only for the first season - as of posting this, the full series is available to stream, with ads, on Tubi)

Freaky Stories (1997)

An animated anthology show hosted by two, gross live-action puppets!

Scooby Doo, Where Are You? (1969)

(Only available on Tubi) The original show that started it all, watch Scooby and the gang explore spooky places and solve mysteries!

Making Fiends (2009)

Follow Vendetta as she makes fiends, while Charlotte makes friends!

The Real Ghostbusters (1986)

This show follows the adventures of the Ghostbusters after the events of the original film! Some episodes are silly and cartoony while others can get a bit more intense and serious. The last few seasons are a spin-off show for younger audiences.

Extreme Ghostbusters (1997)

Follow-up to The Real Ghostbusters, this show follows the adventures of a new team of 'busters... in the extreme 90s!

Archie's Weird Mysteries (1999)

Watch Archie and his friends explore the strange and sometimes spooky secrets of Riverdale... but, erm, not like the latest adaption, lol (Tubi Mirror)

The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (2001)

After losing a bet to two children, the Grim Reaper is forced to be friends with them - mayhem ensues! (due to how the files are named, the series is scrambled, but is otherwise all there)

Tales from the Cryptkeeper (1999)

Animated anthology series of kids and teens facing spooky situations! (Tubi Mirror)

Nightmare Ned (1997)

Ned has frequent nightmares based off of what happened to him during the day!

Monster Force (1994)

A group of teenagers from the futuristic year of 2020 fight monsters and creatures using high tech gadgets!

Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths and Legends (1999)

(Only available on Tubi) Aliens live among us, evolving into what we know to be monsters, myths, and legends - A man named Logan joins the Global Alliance, a shady government organization, to unravel conspiracies and to do good!

GhostWriter (1992)

A live-action show, a team of children gather clues and evidence to solve neighborhood mysteries and crimes... with the help of a ghost who can only communicate with them by altering written text! (due to how the files are named, the first 9 episodes are out of order)

Gravity Falls (2012)

Twins Dipper and Mabel Pines explore the mysteries of the titular town of Gravity Falls! (if you have the space, probably make a copy of this one, lol)

Eerie, Indiana (1991)

Live-action show that follows new teenage resident of Eerie, Indiana, Marshall as he finds out that his new town is, well, eerie!

Goosebumps (1995)

Each episode/two-parter is based off of R.L. Stine's books, this live-action anthology show will give you, well, goosebumps! (as a bonus, here's pdfs and e-pubs of every single book - enjoy!)

Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1992)

The live-action spooky anthology show of all time, this show is perfect for middles ready to get scared! Listen and watch the Midnight Society gather around the campfire to tell spooky tales!

📼 Enjoy your shows! And remember - if you really like something, you should probably back it up! 📼

[mariacallous]

In the end, the return of net neutrality was short-lived: Today, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down rules introduced by the Biden administration that would have prevented internet service providers from favoring some apps or websites over others. It’s the conclusion of a decades-long fight for a more equitable internet—and a harbinger of what may await other consumer protections in the years to come.

It’s easy to get lost in the technicalities of net neutrality, but the basic thing the Federal Communications Commission wanted was the power to prevent broadband providers from engaging in bandwidth discrimination, slowing speeds for certain customers or to certain sites. Those protections existed under the Obama administration but were rolled back shortly after Donald Trump took office in 2017. You probably won’t feel much near-term impact; we’re largely back to the status quo, and Spectrum is unlikely to immediately try slowing down YouTube to get you to watch its own cable news channels. But that’s also why the way the Sixth Circuit arrived at its decision may be even more alarming than the ruling itself.

The three-judge panel frequently cited Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the recent Supreme Court decision that overturned a legal doctrine known as Chevron deference. Under Chevron, courts were required to defer to regulatory agencies when it came to deciding how relevant laws should be interpreted when their provisions were unclear. Now, courts are free to decide for themselves. And the Sixth Circuit did exactly that.

“Unlike past challenges that the DC Circuit considered under Chevron, we no longer afford deference to the FCC’s reading of the statute,” the ruling reads. “Instead, our task is to determine ‘the best reading of the statute’ in the first instance.”

In other words, the court substituted the subject matter expertise of the FCC with its own.

“It's a sad day for democracy when giant corporations can forum-shop for industry-friendly judges to strike down some of the most popular consumer protection rules in history,” says Evan Greer, director of the digital rights nonprofit Fight for the Future. “The court citing Loper Bright here is an alarming harbinger of industry-friendly rulings to come.”

And not just on issues affecting the broadband industry. The Sixth Circuit showed today how courts might use the end of Chevron deference to shape all sorts of policy, from tech to the environment to health care to pretty much any area where legislative ambiguity reigns.

Critics of Chevron argued that Congress too often delegated the work of interpreting policies to unelected bureaucrats working for federal agencies, says John Bergmayer, legal director at the consumer advocacy nonprofit Public Knowledge. “Now we have the alternative: The first panel of judges to hear an issue can set nationwide policy.”

There’s at least one way out of this imbalance of power, Bergmayer says: Congress can pass a bill that explicitly says agencies have the authority to interpret laws. That seems unlikely, though, in a GOP-led legislature that’s wary of—or outright hostile toward—the administrative state.

After all, Congress also could have codified net neutrality as the law of the land rather than leaving it to the FCC. Outgoing FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, still hopes that it will. “Consumers across the country have told us again and again that they want an internet that is fast, open, and fair,” Rosenworcel said in a statement. “With this decision it is clear that Congress now needs to heed their call, take up the charge for net neutrality, and put open internet principles in federal law.”

That certainly would have been preferable to forcing net neutrality to ride on a political seesaw for the past two decades, passing in and out of favor depending on who’s in charge. (Former FCC chair Ajit Pai, who rolled back net neutrality rules under Trump, hailed the Sixth Circuit’s opinion as “excellent.”) But unless and until that happens, the regulatory whiplash that takes place when a new party takes power will only fuel the courts’ willingness to take matters into their own hands—especially now that they have a green light from the Supreme Court. “Applying Loper Bright means we can end the FCC’s vacillations,” the Sixth Circuit opinion says.

There’s some good news in all this. In 2018, California passed its own net neutrality law that, after years of legal challenges, fully went into effect in 2021. Because the internet doesn’t stop at state borders, California’s law does offer some degree of protection to everyone in the US. “California’s law is quite good,” says Bergmayer. “It’s just that something nationwide would be better.”

Which means, at least, that some net neutrality protections still exist. They’re not as comprehensive as digital rights advocates hoped for and not as strong as the FCC would have granted, but it’s something. But as courts increasingly invoke Loper Bright, that won’t always be the case. The Sixth Court has shown how easily consumer and environmental safeguards can now be erased in an era when it takes only one court ruling to make them disappear.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ramon Antonio Vargas at The Guardian:

The Washington Post’s Pulitzer prize-winning editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes has resigned from her position at the newspaper after its refusal to publish a satirical cartoon depicting the outlet’s owner, Jeff Bezos – along with other media and technology barons – kneeling before Donald Trump as he gears up for his second US presidency. “I have had editorial feedback and productive conversations – and some differences – about cartoons I have submitted for publication, but in all that time I’ve never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at,” Telnaes wrote on Friday in an online post on the Substack platform detailing her decision to quit. “Until now.”

In a statement reported by the New York Times, the Post’s opinions editor, David Shipley, defended the newspaper’s decision against publishing Telnaes’s cartoon, saying he disagreed with her “interpretation of events” and that “the only bias was against repetition”.

“Not every editorial judgment is a reflection of a malign force,” said Shipley, whose statement added that he had spoken with Telnaes and asked her to reconsider leaving. “My decision was guided by the fact that we had just published a column on the same topic as the cartoon and had already scheduled another column – this one a satire – for publication.” Telnaes’s Substack post from Friday contained a rough draft of her cartoon. Beside Bezos, who founded Amazon before buying the Post, the cartoon portrayed caricatures of Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong and Walt Disney Co mascot Mickey Mouse.

“The cartoon … criticizes the billionaire tech and media chief executives who have been doing their best to curry favor with … Trump,” Telnaes said. “While it isn’t uncommon for editorial page editors to object to visual metaphors within a cartoon if it strikes that editor as unclear or isn’t correctly conveying the message intended by the cartoonist, such editorial criticism was not the case regarding this cartoon.

“To be clear, there have been instances where sketches have been rejected or revisions requested, but never because of the point of view inherent in the cartoon’s commentary. That’s a gamechanger … and dangerous for a free press.” Telnaes announced her resignation less than three months after the Post and Bezos faced withering backlash over the outlet’s decision to prevent its editorial team from publishing an endorsement of Kamala Harris in the presidential election of 5 November. Soon-Shiong had also similarly refused to allow the LA Times’ editorial board to publish an endorsement of Harris.

[...] Telnaes won the prestigious Pulitzer for illustrated reporting and commentary in 2001 – coincidentally, while working for the LA Times Syndicate – and was a finalist in the same category for the Post in 2022. She also received the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben award in 2017, becoming the first woman to win both that prize as well as a Pulitzer.

Pulitzer-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes resigned from The Washington Post over the paper spiking her cartoon that was very critical of its owner Jeff Bezos in that the cartoon depicting Bezos and other tech and media moguls kneeling in front of a Donald Trump statue. The Post’s refusal to publish this cartoon is more proof that many outlets are obeying in advance to Trump’s attacks on the freedom of the press.

See Also:

The Left Hook: Drawing The Ire of Trump and the Broligarchy: A Cartoonist Resigns to Defend The Free Press

[esperchallenge]

Day 1: Snoozetown, Zhalfir

The Commander

The commander for this first list is Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir, first printed as the face commander of the esper Cavalry Charge precon, released alongside the set March of the Machine. He is the fifth commander to be printed with Eminence, only seen before in the 2017 Commander set. Eminence is powerful because it gives your commander an effect on the game while they're still in the command zone: the only limitation is that all the Eminence abilities work with a single creature type. In Jabari's case, that's knights.

(more under the cut)

Jabari allows you to loot a card once per turn cycle when you attack with a knight. On its own, this isn't that powerful, giving you a small amount of card selection. The true power comes out when Jabari himself hits the battlefield. His last ability lets you reanimate any knight in your graveyard, returning it to the battle for free, as long as Jabari can connect with an opponent. He has flying to help him get through, and first strike allows you to pull shenanigans, since what you reanimate will hit the battlefield before normal damage happens. This means you can bring back a lord effect during first strike damage and pump the rest of your knights when they all connect afterwards.

The obvious way to build Sidar Jabari is knight typal, but you can also go more of a reanimator route, playing cheap knights that let you put your finishers into the graveyard to reanimate in any number of ways. You could also go for an aristocrats strategy: there are multiple knights that have a blood artist-adjacent effect. One last option is to build around the card Nazgûl, as they're knights that scale each other up, and you can run nine of them in the deck. You could even run Conspiracy-type effects and make all your creatures wraiths as well as knights!

The Decklist

Since this is my first decklist in the challenge, I decided to go the obvious route and build a knight typal deck. There will be other chances to go in a more goofy direction. The name of the deck, Snoozetown, Zhalfir, is a reference to the fact that I admittedly went the boring route and also because you're trying to go Knighty Knight lol.

This is a creature heavy deck, with 43 total creatures including the commander. There are a surprisingly high number of lords for the knight type. We have 14 total lord effects in the deck, ranging from pumping power and toughness to giving them abilities like double strike, indestructible, and even horsemanship.

The lands and ramp are from a basic manabase package of lands and rocks that I'll be using in most of my decks, filling it out with basics, unless they call for any additions or changes. For this deck, I've added a Three Tree City to the lands, and an Urza's Incubator to the ramp.

The Standout Cards

Haakon is an absolute house in this deck. He acts as a backup way to get your knights back from the graveyard, if your commander is starting to get prohibitively expensive. He also allows for some of my favorite tech in the game: he specifically allows you to recast knight spells from your graveyard, and you know what are technically knight spells?

That's right: Kindred Changeling cards! We are running two removal spells that count as knights, so you can cast them as many times as you'd like when Haakon is out.

The Council of Four is the one non-knight creature in the deck, but I assure you, it's well worth the inclusion! The best part of this card's text is the word "player" because then you can trigger its effect as well. Even if your opponents are avoiding triggering The Council, you can feel free to cast two spells to make another body, or swing with a knight to loot, triggering the first ability and drawing you an additional card.

The Win Conditions

The first, most obvious way to win is to build up a board of knights and turn them sideways. With enough lords and bodies, you should get through eventually, and cards like Knights' Charge and Moonshaker Cavalry just speed up the process.

If, for some reason, you can't attack, be it a board stall or pillowfort cards, you can just work on building up a decent board, then cast Curry Favor, draining everyone out, or work towards some Syr Konrad or Corpse Knight shenanigans.

Final Thoughts

This was a fun place to start! Typal decks are usually fairly straightforward, but knights have some fun options. All-in-all, I feel good about my first deck in the Challenge.

Talk to you next time, when I go over my Urza, Chief Artificer list!

[ms-boogie-man]

Ahem…

Do not come to me pretending to know the outcome either way of this apparent partnership between Tulsi Gabbard, RFK jr, Elon Musk, and President Donald Trump. There is not one person here on Tumblr who has any more info on this than I, so there is not anyone qualified to badmouth me in this. You can have your hunches and concerns, that is fine… I would like to hear them, but do not get uppity with me about it

Here are some facts:

Elon is a businessman and a wildcard. He is the world's biggest contractor to the US government… and that means bigger than Raytheon, HR Textron, Ameron Global, and all the rest. He did not invent the Tesla automobile… he took a rag-tag group of tech hippies, invested in their ideas, put a corral of organization and logic around what they were doing, and brought the Tesla to fruition. His son was brainwashed into the trans cult and is now lost to him, and that may be part of his bone to pick with globalists. Elon bought Twitter, made it into X and has stood up for free speech ever since. He is also said to be the creator of the overhead network of satellites that will form our internet in the future. He also has shown a huge and often disturbing interest in Artificial Intelligence and chipping people.

Robert F Kennedy Jr is a hardcore liberal who may hold some common goals with conservatives, but he also has some national desires that go against conservatives, i.e., gun laws, as one example. His views on health are important though. While working on the goals he has in common with the Trump admin, RFK jr may be hoping to get a couple of his liberal notions thru on the backside. It will be up to us, We the People, to stop this from happening.

Tulsi Gabbard has always held a soft spot within my heart. Like me, she is very pretty, and too, she talks a good game, and, she seems to have served her country cleanly and well… but… I know that she has been involved with the Clowns In America, and this gives me pause yo. I will never trust anyone fully if they have been thru that rat mill. I do like her apparent commitment and vigor yo

What can I say about Donald Trump? He confuses me at times… then at other times, I feel very sure of his commitment to our republic. Feelings are not what this movement is about yo Either way, unless we are going to put a lot of lives on the line, Trump is our best bet to take back our country as peacefully as possible… and that is a fact yo

I have brought up the following before Did anyone notice this 👇🏼 in January 2017?

Btw, JAG stands for Judge Advocate General

These gentlemen, officers in our military, stood with President Trump for 17 seconds *begins counting on her fingers

Yup! Just as I thought yo! The 17th letter in our alphabet is the letter Q

*interesting

Angie/Maddie🦇❥✝︎🇺🇸

[blorbocedes]

It's probably time to admit Nico's monaco based youtuber days are over 🥲

in 2023 he only posted 1 video, 8 months ago. In 2022, when he got his rimac his videos popped off among car enthusiasts with over a million views (he was the very first! that's where the monaco based youtuber headline came from lol) and he promised a bunch of stuff he was gonna film with it, like drag racing and 0-1s accelerations but he never did. nicotube was always a passion project, he never did ads or sponsors. in 2017/2018 he was using it to find his post f1 career footing, those videos were more car porn, driving around in fancy sportscars, vlogs of boats or even f1 race vlogs and recaps, starting his own karting team (which kimi antonelli raced in!), and finally dipping his toes into sustainability with greentech festival. he started doing one hour podcast sessions with f1 and then other notable figures, which really popped off during covid. also doing f1 simulator races of every track and talking about the best ways/corners to drive and optimise the track. even tracks he never drove, like he did the sim for Miami in 2022, but not vegas. f1 is ofc his childhood love, he talks about the sport and his career fondly but even that with his sky commentary duties he only attends like 5 races, and no more race vlogs or his driver rankings of the season.

these days, his most used social media is linkedin actually. he's big on tech, startups, and specifically sustainability. esp with Rosberg Philanthropies where he's funding scholarships to phd grads in Oxford who research in sustainability and environmentally friendly tech. so making videos of ferrari car porn doesn't really align with the brand unless it's to promote electric cars.

does that mean his YouTube channel is over? no. I wouldn't be surprised if he drops another video whenever he feels like it, but the olden days of a bunch of sleekly produced videos every other week are long gone. he's moved past it and gotten into other projects he cares about and knowing the rosbergs I wouldn't be surprised if he slowly transitions into more projects where he's not the public facing front of it anymore.

I loved nicotube. i probably wouldn't be as big of a fan if I hadn't discovered it because it allowed a glimpse into nico outside of f1 driver, outside of sky sports narrative, just nico rosberg the person who is genuine in his enthusiasm of explaining how car wings work, who is cringe and funny and endearing and embarrassing. there's some absolute gems there. I'm sad there won't be more but hey, people change and people grow. 🥹 nico especially f1 fandom at large likes to box into unchanging, fixed category, like he was f1 driver til 2016, then monaco youtuber from 2017-♾️, but that's not exactly true and I'm acknowledging one of the changes.

[sugudoe]

hii i wanted to ask for a match make whistle as i love ur works and ideas sm!!!!?! 🪷

I’m 5’5 and a smidge chubby but I carry it curvy (am not keen though) (5’6 on a good day)

I’m quite a sarcastic person and make jokes quite a bit

I’ve been told that I am very kind despite my constant whining ( i try not to b a party pooper but need constant reassurance)

I love to bake! (Brownies is a personal fave recipe)

My mbti is infj (although I’m more of an ambivert depending on the situation. e.g. if there’s a rlly big crowd i will have to link arms with someone it’s an anxious habit. notoriously)

Love languages are 120% physical touch like i crave neck kisses n cuddles(who doesn’t) and i also like acts of service!

I like to spend time in to putting my makeup on and looking pretty- though I despise clothes shopping (head gets all fuzzy!)

I also have a fascination with reading!! Oh- and rollercoasters!!!

tysm whistle if you come to do this❤️❤️ you’re amazing keep up ur work bc i look forward to engaging and reading it!!!!

hii my angel, hope u like it! 🤍

✶ 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: okkotsu yuta

Out of all your classmates and close friends, the first years of Jujutsu Tech, 2017 class, you are the most interesting one for Okkotsu Yuta — let’s recap that there is a boy who only speaks in ingredients and a literal panda that talks and fights.

Maybe, he finds you the most amusing because when Gojo Satoru introduced him to class, you were the only one that stayed with your weapons and powers down, in fact, you jumped in front of Yuta to save him from your classmates. Rika would never admit, but she did liked you that day.

Yuta is, very notable for anyone, the most introvert and awkward person anyone had ever met, and a part of you tried to take care of him. Is a heavy power he has, a curse, but you are there when the weight feels too much.

It’s not only all about Yuta, all your needs are answered with the same intensity you devote to him! And Rika, although creepy sometimes, learns to give you space. Yuta has to threaten her, something that took you by surprise, he was always so gentle.

Your relationship starts merely days before the attack Geto planned, and he knew who you were from the start — trembling ideas in his mind, should he or should he not try to go for Okkotsu’s most prized thing? He did, in the end, you got badly hurt.

Through your blurry vision, drenched in blood, you saw Rika and your boyfriend fighting, and you tried to get up, but ended up falling to the ground, to slumber and defeat.

The feeling of fingertips tracing figures in your arms, and whispers of begging is what wake you up, in the hospital bed. He is all over you in an instant, after a small “Yuta..?”, his head goes straight to your neck, desperately devoting kisses to your beating vein, serving as a reminder that you are well.

Yuta takes his boyfriend and personal nurse duties to a charming extent, Rika doesn’t dare come and complain, you’re already hurt enough.

The boy makes sure all your needs are taken while you recover, he buys your groceries for your dorm, he sleeps with you instead of your teddy bears, and he makes your meals — even desert, you teach him while sitting on the small sofa how to make your perfect brownies, and the first tries he accidentally made cake, but practice makes perfection, and soon, you will be long healed and both making brownies for your friends to taste and say which one is the best.

Yuta does not like public spaces as much as the next person, but he goes wherever you want — a fair, a museum, anywhere and he follows. And if you feel like drowning in a bit of fear, you don’t even have to move first, he is already giving you his arm to hold. Yuta actually prefers to hug you.

In his arms, is a fact everyone can see, that’s your both safe space. A safe harbor.

──── ✎ ° ⋆ FUN FACTS.

◛ ₊· in your second year, your relationship sadly turns into a distance relationship one. fear not, call him at any time and he will pick up (even during a mission).

◛ ₊· he is kinda scared of roller coasters, but your insistence and his needs to make you happy always wins. he will scream though.

◛ ₊· you always picks him up from the airport, any moment with him in japan is mostly spend with you, in the safe space of your room, eating brownies and watching movies.

◛ ₊· he takes a while to understand your sarcasm, but he still laughs at your jokes. he is down bad.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Google’s new phones can’t stop phoning home

On OCTOBER 23 at 7PM, I'll be in DECATUR, presenting my novel THE BEZZLE at EAGLE EYE BOOKS.

One of the most brazen lies of Big Tech is that people like commercial surveillance, a fact you can verify for yourself by simply observing how many people end up using products that spy on them. If they didn't like spying, they wouldn't opt into being spied on.

This lie has spread to the law enforcement and national security agencies, who treasure Big Tech's surveillance as an off-the-books trove of warrantless data that no court would ever permit them to gather on their own. Back in 2017, I found myself at SXSW, debating an FBI agent who was defending the Bureau's gigantic facial recognition database, which, he claimed, contained the faces of virtually every American:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/mar/11/sxsw-facial-recognition-biometrics-surveillance-panel

The agent insisted that the FBI had acquired all those faces through legitimate means, by accessing public sources of people's faces. In other words, we'd all opted in to FBI facial recognition surveillance. "Sure," I said, "to opt out, just don't have a face."

This pathology is endemic to neoliberal thinking, which insists that all our political matters can be reduced to economic ones, specifically, the kind of economic questions that can be mathematically modeled and empirically tested. It would be great if all our thorniest problems could be solved like mathematical equations.

Unfortunately, there are key elements of these systems that can't be reliably quantified and turned into mathematical operators, especially power. The fact that someone did something tells you nothing about whether they chose to do so – to understand whether someone was coerced or made a free choice, you have to consider the power relationships involved.

Conservatives hate this idea. They want to live in a neat world of "revealed preferences," where the fact that you're working in a job where you're regularly exposed to carcinogens, or that you've stayed with a spouse who beats the shit out of you, or that you're homeless, or that you're addicted to Oxy, is a matter of choice. Monopolies exist because we all love the monopolist's product best, not because they've got monopoly power. Jobs that pay starvation wages exist because people want to work full time for so little money that they need food-stamps just to survive. Intervening in any of these situations is "woke paternalism," where the government thinks it knows better than you and intervenes to take away your right to consume unsafe products, get maimed at work, or have your jaw broken by your husband.

Which is why neoliberals insist that politics should be reduced to economics, and that economics should be carried out as if power didn't exist:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/05/farrago/#jeffty-is-five

Nowhere is this stupid trick more visible than in the surveillance fight. For example, Google claims that it tracks your location because you asked it to, by using Google products that make use of your location without clicking an opt out button.

In reality, Google has the power to simply ignore your preferences about location tracking. In 2021, the Arizona Attorney General's privacy case against Google yielded a bunch of internal memos, including memos from Google's senior product manager for location services Jen Chai complaining that she had turned off location tracking in three places and was still being tracked:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/01/you-are-here/#goog

Multiple googlers complained about this: they'd gone through dozens of preference screens, hunting for "don't track my location" checkboxes, and still they found that they were being tracked. These were people who worked under Chai on the location services team. If the head of that team, and her subordinates, couldn't figure out how to opt out of location tracking, what chance did you have?

Despite all this, I've found myself continuing to use stock Google Pixel phones running stock Google Android. There were three reasons for this:

First and most importantly: security. While I worry about Google tracking me, I am as worried (or more) about foreign governments, random hackers, and dedicated attackers gaining access to my phone. Google's appetite for my personal data knows no bounds, but at least the company is serious about patching defects in the Pixel line.

Second: coercion. There are a lot of apps that I need to run – to pay for parking, say, or to access my credit union or control my rooftop solar – that either won't run on jailbroken Android phones or require constant tweaking to keep running.

Finally: time. I already have the equivalent of three full time jobs and struggle every day to complete my essential tasks, including managing complex health issues and being there for my family. The time I take out of my schedule to actively manage a de-Googled Android would come at the expense of either my professional or personal life.

And despite Google's enshittificatory impulses, the Pixels are reliably high-quality, robust phones that get the hell out of the way and let me do my job. The Pixels are Google's flagship electronic products, and the company acts like it.

Until now.

A new report from Cybernews reveals just how much data the next generation Pixel 9 phones collect and transmit to Google, without any user intervention, and in defiance of the owner's express preferences to the contrary:

https://cybernews.com/security/google-pixel-9-phone-beams-data-and-awaits-commands/

The Pixel 9 phones home every 15 minutes, even when it's not in use, sharing "location, email address, phone number, network status, and other telemetry." Additionally, every 40 minutes, the new Pixels transmit "firmware version, whether connected to WiFi or using mobile data, the SIM card Carrier, and the user’s email address." Even further, even if you've never opened Google Photos, the phone contacts Google Photos’ Face Grouping API at regular intervals. Another process periodically contacts Google's Voice Search servers, even if you never use Voice Search, transmitting "the number of times the device was restarted, the time elapsed since powering on, and a list of apps installed on the device, including the sideloaded ones."

All of this is without any consent. Or rather, without any consent beyond the "revealed preference" of just buying a phone from Google ("to opt out, don't have a face").

What's more, the Cybernews report probably undercounts the amount of passive surveillance the Pixel 9 undertakes. To monitor their testbench phone, Cybernews had to root it and install Magisk, a monitoring tool. In order to do that, they had to disable the AI features that Google touts as the centerpiece of Pixel 9. AI is, of course, notoriously data-hungry and privacy invasive, and all the above represents the data collection the Pixel 9 undertakes without any of its AI nonsense.

It just gets worse. The Pixel 9 also routinely connects to a "CloudDPC" server run by Google. Normally, this is a server that an enterprise customer would connect its employees' devices to, allowing the company to push updates to employees' phones without any action on their part. But Google has designed the Pixel 9 so that privately owned phones do the same thing with Google, allowing for zero-click, no-notification software changes on devices that you own.

This is the kind of measure that works well, but fails badly. It assumes that the risk of Pixel owners failing to download a patch outweighs the risk of a Google insider pushing out a malicious update. Why would Google do that? Well, perhaps a rogue employee wants to spy on his ex-girlfriend:

https://www.wired.com/2010/09/google-spy/

Or maybe a Google executive wins an internal power struggle and decrees that Google's products should be made shittier so you need to take more steps to solve your problems, which generates more chances to serve ads:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

Or maybe Google capitulates to an authoritarian government who orders them to install a malicious update to facilitate a campaign of oppressive spying and control:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfly_(search_engine)

Indeed, merely by installing a feature that can be abused this way, Google encourages bad actors to abuse it. It's a lot harder for a government or an asshole executive to demand a malicious downgrade of a Google product if users have to accept that downgrade before it takes effect. By removing that choice, Google has greased the skids for malicious downgrades, from both internal and external sources.

Google will insist that these anti-features – both the spying and the permissionless updating – are essential, that it's literally impossible to imagine building a phone that doesn't do these things. This is one of Big Tech's stupidest gambits. It's the same ruse that Zuck deploys when he says that it's impossible to chat with a friend or plan a potluck dinner without letting Facebook spy on you. It's Tim Cook's insistence that there's no way to have a safe, easy to use, secure computing environment without giving Apple a veto over what software you can run and who can fix your device – and that this veto must come with a 30% rake from every dollar you spend on your phone.

The thing is, we know it's possible to separate these things, because they used to be separate. Facebook used to sell itself as the privacy-forward alternative to Myspace, where they would never spy on you (not coincidentally, this is also the best period in Facebook's history, from a user perspective):

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3247362

And we know it's possible to make a Pixel that doesn't do all this nonsense because Google makes other Pixel phones that don't do all this nonsense, like the Pixel 8 that's in my pocket as I type these words.

This doesn't stop Big Tech from gaslighting* us and insisting that demanding a Pixel that doesn't phone home four times an hour is like demanding water that isn't wet.

*pronounced "jass-lighting"

Even before I read this report, I was thinking about what I would do when I broke my current phone (I'm a klutz and I travel a lot, so my gadgets break pretty frequently). Google's latest OS updates have already crammed a bunch of AI bullshit into my Pixel 8 (and Google puts the "invoke AI bullshit" button in the spot where the "do something useful" button used to be, meaning I accidentally pull up the AI bullshit screen several times/day).

Assuming no catastrophic phone disasters, I've got a little while before my next phone, but I reckon when it's time to upgrade, I'll be switching to a phone from the @calyxinstitute@mastodon.social. Calyx is an incredible, privacy-focused nonprofit whose founder, Nicholas Merrill, was the first person to successfully resist one of the Patriot Act's "sneek-and-peek" warrants, spending 11 years defending his users' privacy from secret – and, ultimately, unconstitutional – surveillance:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/03/depth-judge-illstons-remarkable-order-striking-down-nsl-statute

Merrill and Calyx have tapped into various obscure corners of US wireless spectrum licenses that require major carriers to give ultra-cheap access to nonprofits, allowing them to offer unlimited, surveillance-free, Net Neutrality respecting wireless data packages:

https://memex.craphound.com/2016/09/22/i-have-found-a-secret-tunnel-that-runs-underneath-the-phone-companies-and-emerges-in-paradise/

I've been a very happy Calyx user in years gone by, but ultimately, I slipped into the default of using stock Pixel handsets with Google's Fi service.

But even as I've grown increasingly uncomfortable with the direction of Google's Android and Pixel programs, I've grown increasingly impressed with Calyx's offerings. The company has graduated from selling mobile hotspots with unlimited data SIMs to selling jailbroken, de-Googled Pixel phones that have all the hardware reliability of a Pixel, coupled with an alternative app suite and your choice of a Calyx SIM and/or a Calyx hotspot:

https://calyxinstitute.org/

Every time I see what Calyx is up to, I think, dammit, it's really time to de-Google my phone. With the Pixel 9 descending to new depths of enshittification, that decision just got a lot easier. When my current phone croaks, I'll be talking to Calyx.

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/08/water-thats-not-wet/#pixelated

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[warningsine]

If it was ever possible to maintain the illusion that good work will attract an audience simply by virtue of its quality, it isn’t now. In 2017, there’s simply too much out there to guarantee that the best series will attract the biggest audiences. It’s a miracle, then, that Halt and Catch Fire, a show originally meant to fill the hole left by Mad Men, has managed to make it to the end of its fourth and final season, which concluded this weekend in the US.

A tech drama that takes place entirely between the first iteration of Microsoft Word in 1983 and Windows 95, Halt and Catch Fire kept its focus squarely on the haze of an emerging field, without any of the fist-pumping moments that might have come from a show focusing on the rise of Google or Facebook. The characters never achieved lasting success or transformation, perpetually stymied by the major players in a nascent and clunking industry. Instead, they faced an endless, thankless series of intractable workplace decisions about integrity, product quality and business logistics.

These seemingly pedestrian moments dominate the show’s central relationship between Donna Clark (Kerry Bishé) and Cameron Howe (Mackenzie Davis), two women who attempt to found a tech company and spend the next few years discovering what they’re willing to sacrifice in the effort. Eventually, it’s impossible for people this committed to their work to separate their personal values and their professional ones, and while that conflict might sound cliche, in the hands of Halt and Catch Fire’s cast, it’s enthralling.

Over the course of the series, the characters’ business interests range from building personal computers at Dell competitor Cardiff Electric to videogames, web-based chat, and e-commerce at Cameron and Donna’s startup Mutiny to antivirus software at MacMillan Utility to, finally, early search engines at Comet and Rover. (All of these companies are fictional and, with the exception of Cardiff, are founded by the characters themselves.) Halt and Catch Fire’s cast is full of classic Silicon Valley résumé – they’re perpetually successful enough to keep working, and to live more or less comfortably while pursuing other ventures, but they never quite strike it big, whether that’s because of conflicts between the partners, technological limitation, or, most often, the presence of an enormous corporation capable of choking the market.

Every major character on the series contains multitudes. Donna is a hard-assed businesswoman, but she’s also a practically minded, savvy person who wants to do her best to create a thriving company with an innovative product. Cameron’s myopia is frustrating, but it’s part of why she’s such a successful coder. Steve Jobs-style visionary Joe MacMillan (Lee Pace) is also, to varying degrees, a charlatan, and tinkering softie Gordon Clark (Scoot McNairy) becomes irritable when he has to leave his comfort zone.

Those relationships contained a staggering number of stories. In just the fourth season alone, Halt and Catch Fire handled a teen coming-out story, the fallout from a divorce, a marriage, several mid-life crises, and a sudden, heart-rending death. But none of these stories are the defining features of the characters; they’re simply facets of their lives. Where another drama might end with the consummation of a romantic pairing, or the strengthening of a family, Halt and Catch Fire ends with Donna having an idea, and pitching it to Cameron. We don’t hear the idea, but that’s not important – the point is beginning the cycle anew.

In this respect, it’s similar to the Mad Men finale – but where Mad Men is ambivalent, at best, toward the bolt of inspiration that leads Don Draper to create the “I’d like to buy the world a Coke” ad, Halt and Catch Fire maintains a single commitment: ideas are what we have. That’s why the show could never have become a smash hit, why it got renewed by the skin of its teeth, and why it’s highly unlikely it will ever be brought back by an ambitious investor. With so many self-consciously explosive series vying for your attention, Halt and Catch Fire played a different game. It kept itself contained, forcing the audience to match its subdued, mesmerizing rhythm. Eventually, the audience and the characters learned the same lesson: sometimes, it’s worth putting in the work.

[inkmemes]

halt and catch fire  (  2014-2017  )  s01e01 sentence  starters ↪  taken  from  amc's tech drama.  alter  as  you  see  fit  ♡

“oh... glad you could join us.”

“something funny?”

“i don't think you really know what that is.”

“what's your name?”

“do you need a quarter?”

“are you afraid to give me a straight answer?”

“hey, can we get two more?”

“what is this anyway, some kind of job interview?”

“you still haven't answered my question.”

“this doesn't mean you get the job.”

“you mean we're not in love?”

“ain't no jail cell can hold me.”

“look, i had one too many drinks. it got away from me.”

“you still have a job?”

“what i know is that you need to be at work in four hours.”

“you're drunk, so the best thing you could do right now is to shut up.”

“you sound pretty sure about that.”

“i couldn't agree with you more.”

“maybe i'm a guy who's done doing business like that.”

“it ain't sexy, but it sure as hell makes us some serious money.”

“and what is this? what am i looking at?”

“well, we're married.”

“we'll take my car, it's closer.”

“i don't think there is such a thing.”

“well, they had me fooled.”

“what a fearful way to do business.”

“you've made just enough safe choices to stay alive, but not enough to matter.”

“you can be more. you want to be more, don't you?”

“the window of opportunity is closing. this is your chance.”

“this is about you finally having the confidence to walk out on the ledge and know that you're not going to fall.”

“i'm not going to apologize for caring about your business, even if the people who work for you don't.”

“i'll think about it.”

“look, it's better than a flat-out no.”

“are you gonna fix it?”

“i don't care who broke it.”

“you want to take a look and see what's wrong with that?”

“okay, [name], do you want to maybe get me the salt? maybe you could reach into the cabinet about seven inches from your head, take out the salt and put it in my hand so i can finish cooking this. do you think you could at least get me the salt?”

“i'm not in the mood, all right?”

“why don't you go blow-dry your hair some more or something?”

“don't you realize what you wrote?”

“if you see him around, i wanna meet that guy.”

“what are you doing? why are you doing this?”

“we're headed out the door to a movie.”

“he wanted to know if you thought about what he said.”

“oh, yeah? what kind of ideas?”

“we spoke on the phone earlier.”

“what? why? what would be the point?”

“wow, you're serious.”

“look, that's a terrible idea.”

“i'm sorry, but you missed it.”

“are you out of your mind?”

“how are you gonna force their hand?”

“do you have a family, [name]?”

“could you please acknowledge how crazy that is?”

“he's just keyed up about something.”

“[name], we can't do this again. you know we can't.”

“it's just literally a mistake that we can't afford to make again.”

“do you have any idea how expensive this thing was?”

“i faked a fever, so... let's turn this thing inside out.”

“the good news is there's a way around that, sort of.”

“i am a little rusty at this.”

“wait, wait, wait, what am i doing here?”

“how are you getting this from that?”

“you found a needle in a haystack.”

“we still have a lot to do.”

“i-i thought you weren't gonna be back till monday.”

“would you please tell me that you didn't buy all this?”

“why would you lie to me?”

“no, i did not lie to you.”

“this right here, this is what i want to do with my life!”

“well, it's not enough. okay? i'm sorry, it's not enough.”

“come on, [name], don't be like that.”

“i'm sorry, but i think you'll wanna take this.”

“i guess i can say it's good to know he's alive.”

“i wish i could've warned you, but now it might be too late.”

“we've got a problem.”

“i told them.”

“[name], look at me. i'm not like you, okay?”

“oh, go to hell, [name].”

“there is no "we," [name].”

“i figured you needed a break.”

“look, i've been awful. i'm sorry.”

“whatever it is you're dreaming of, build it. i know you can make it great.”

“you son of a bitch.”

“now, why didn't you tell me about this yesterday?”

“i admire your tenacity, but i draw the line at you claiming that you did me a favor.”

“don't screw this up.”

“later, spooky bitch.”

“you know i screwed him, right?”

“let's be adult about this.”

“you love talking down to me, don't you?”

“who are you again?”

“you need me, otherwise you wouldn't be here.”

“i wanted to see what i was so wrong about the first time.”

“i'm sorry you feel bad for hurting my feelings, but don't worry, you didn't.”

“it wasn't supposed to be personal.”

“this is too important to get wrong.”

“i don't need you.”

“how much money would you give me?”

“i'm never... i'm never gonna forget that.”

“holy shit.”

“what are you trying to prove with all this?”

[auideas]

Ermmm sorry if this is weird but do u maybe have any like, ““original”” cyberpunk prompts? I want to write something cyberpunk for an au but I just don’t have any ideas right now no matter how long I brainstorm

Exploring Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk is a very unique genre, which is why so many people are both attracted to it and stumped when attempting to develop plots within an unknown world. Think of Black Mirror created by Charlie Brooker (TV show), Blade Runner written by Philip K. Dick (a movie based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, a classic Cyberpunk novel), Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan (modern Cyberpunk novel), etc. -- each of these were incredibly influential in their own right, but they all also build their worlds gradually while having a single easy-to-explain concept that can spawn an entire universe. To be more specific, each story establishes an issue created by an advanced society ignorantly abusing technology, then allow their characters to explore that problem and try to find a solution in a manner that isn't explicitly black or white for society as a whole, but every shade of grey.

For Black Mirror, each episode anthologically builds upon a high-tech future within the same universe and explores how its characters interact with problems created by new pieces of said technology, both good and bad.

For Blade Runner, the story establishes that androids seem to be malfunctioning, but the bounty hunter charged with hunting them down discovers that the true issue lies in society's understanding of what it means to be human.

For Altered Carbon, the novel explores the issue derived from the obscene length of time it would take for humans to travel between planets stretched across the universe, then dives into more detail regarding how a solution has been abused.

How to Construct a Cyberpunk Concept

What we'd recommend is to start by asking the right questions and looking in the right places. Black Mirror takes its inspiration from a variety of technology, both new and old; Blade Runner explores the idea of AI and androids during the 80's when robotics was on the forefront of innovation; Altered Carbon took note of our increasing ability to travel in an interstellar fashion, then posed a simple question regarding the limits of humanity (specifically, time).

This may sound strange, but the best thing you can do is seek out trends online and scientific journals about new breakthroughs, then ask questions about what may go wrong. For example, an old post we featured here on AUideas that has since been removed from ~2017 because it's in the process of being developed into a script (sorry guys, our bad!) called Dreamscape Co. uses this exact method. When the prompt was made, Admin M was in the process of reading a scientific journal about how neurologists had been able to project a person's thoughts into an image. Although the technology was rudimentary at the time, Admin M posed the question "if dreams can be viewed, what if dreams can be watched in real time with a high quality image? What if they could be immersive? What would that industry look like? Who would pay how much to see a certain person's dreams?" This spun out into a sweeping cyberpunk mini-series, yet came from a simple news article.

Some Cyberpunk Inspiration

When performing a quick search, some amazing ideas seemed to jump out from technology news headlines these past couple weeks alone:

Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal (FLC) Technology Being Used in 3D Displays

Unlike holograms, this technology uses liquid crystals that exhibit spontaneous polarization, meaning their orientation can be influenced by an electric field. They're high-speed, low-power, and have innumerable applications in the future. So, what could go wrong?

How could this technology impact the medical field? Although this may not be possible, consider what could occur if FLCs were injected into human bodies and influenced by electric fields to perform different tasks and functions, such as replacing an organ, attacking cancer cells, etc. How could such a technology be abused or go wrong? How many could die with a simple pulse, like an EMP?

Real-Life Freeze Ray Technology Created for the US Airforce

This technology hasn't been developed to be used as weaponry, but instead to replace large amounts of coolant that must be used on space and air crafts to prevent the machinery from overheating (coolant is heavy and can reduce efficiency yet is absolutely necessary due to the fact that space is a vacuum and therefore does not cool heat like air would on Earth). This "freeze ray" technology utilizes plasma's strange property that seems to break the second law of thermodynamics: it chills down when touching another object before heating up, which experts have proposed is because it vaporizes the ultra-thin layer of carbon and water on an object upon contact, similar to how water evaporates off your skin when stepping out of a pool. The question must be asked: how could such technology be used for not just utilitarian means, but outside of the Airforce's intentions?

Perhaps the technology could be manipulated and over-chill an aircraft, or otherwise damage internal engineering.

Consider its potential applications here on Earth: what could benefit from being chilled with something light-weight and low-power? How could it be integrated into homes? What could be disastrously destroyed with such technology?

Breakthrough in Enhanced Geothermal Systems Technology May Completely Replace Carbon Energy Sources

Google and Fervo have successfully developed geothermal technology that has increased its efficiency and broke records by changing existing rock formations in the Earth's crust. For a natural geothermal energy system to produce electricity, it has to have the right amount of heat, fluid, and rock permeability -- these Goldilocks conditions can be difficult to find 'in the wild'. However, this new Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) targets the most-easily found aspect (rocks with high heat) then creates the necessary permeability artificially by drilling to the intended rock formation and injecting fluid to create fractures in the rock, achieving the necessary Goldilocks conditions. Sure, this may be carbon-free energy, but what would happen if this were employed on a mass scale?

When energy is prioritized by a high-tech society over food and water, how could citizens gain access to those resources?

What long-term effects could such a system have on the Earth as a whole? Could the ground become unstable? Maybe earthquakes crumble city after city? Maybe the entire Earth's crust loses its integrity and disintegrates, pulling only a lucky few deep underground and forcing them to survive off the left over fluid injected into the Earth's crust and whatever they can find.

Closing Thoughts

As you can see from above, there's a crazy amount of inspiration that can be drawn from current technology events. What's important to remember is that yes, we've been talking about complicated technology, but only you have to understand how it functions in your universe down to the molecule, not your audience. Deep technology topics can be dry to a certain extent, and over-explaining your world can be damaging to your story. Explanations regarding how technology works in each of the stories we discussed is limited for that same reason (Black Mirror's overarching concepts, specifics about how Blade Runner's Replicant technology are rarely discussed, etc.). Leave some mystery surrounding how your cyberpunk world functions and allow how your characters room to breathe and interact with that world -- it can speak for itself. Your audience may first love the idea behind your story, but what they'll remember and relate to is how your protagonists and antagonists suffer and prevail within your universe.

We hope this answered your question, and feel free to follow up if you'd like some more guidance and advice on how to construct your Cyberpunk story! In addition, feel free to check out our other post which outlines more information on how to build a Cyberpunk world.

Now get to writing, and have an awesome week!

-- Admin M x

[skitariiposting]

Hey Jerry, so random thought with thr adeptus mechanicus tech lore building anything must be like Lego.

Hear me out, all knowledge is out there some where so you wouldn't design a part for a function as the part you need already exists, so like with Lego you don't make pieces you dig through the pile until you find one that works. And building is mostly is just following the instructions but then some people build new things with the same prices mixing multiple sets and the are right and wrong ways of putting bits together.

Does any of that make sense or am I just going mad trying to justify playing with Lego?

I mean, you're pretty much right. Honestly, it's a good layman's explanation for what tech priests do. As someone who has a Lego collection that's constantly teetering on the razor-thin edge of either "adult lego hobbiest" and "adult who still plays with Legos," I've tried to put together a set with just the box pictures without the instructions on a whim and that shit's hard. The guesswork of the internal structures is always the bit that falls apart. You can try your best to make it look right on the outside all day long, but figuring out how the internal bits work to keep it together is challenging.

The idea of tech priests finding a box of golden age weapons with pictures on the front but no instruction manuals and then just, trying to get them assembled and working is practically canon, that's pretty much what they do. Utilizing ancient tech with partially assembled or completely lost ancient knowledge to improperly use or somehow cobble it together in a way that works is how the admech does things. The knowledge they *do* have (past experience with taking apart and then putting back together lego sets with instructions) is how they go about it.

So yes, essentially, a tech priest is a Lego hobbiest who has instructions for a 2017 millennium falcon lego star wars set and is trying to put together a 2007 Mars mission set with only the box and two scraps of the instruction booklet, one of which is the page with the choking hazard warning and the other is the minifig assembly steps.