@aud @CptSuperlative Famously stability is a low priority for applications running in COBOL.

@Subrote I've been frustrated with some cyberpunk-derived games that don't seem to get the original point. The punks are people who survive against the odds in a hostile world. "The street finds its own uses for things."

@bjmllr @sam We were using Slack for a lot of internal communication, especially after the start of the pandemic. This was using a free tier, with a maximum number of accounts, and we'd hit the limit. Upgrading to the paid tier would have cost an enormous amount of money -- I don't remember how much, but way more than we could afford.

@sam Yeah, exactly. With other folks, I'd blame consumerist training, but it's astonishing with people who actively reject that in other circumstances.

I've wondered if I've just been around computers so long that I'm oblivious to whatever it is they're objecting to.

@sam It's a real frustration. When I was in DSA, we'd keep getting techies who'd be excited about using open source tools. Non-techies would agree in principle but balk literally within seconds of seeing an open source tool.

Out of necessity, our chapter switched from Slack to Mattermost, and people were furious about it.

@enoch_exe_inc @alexch Part of the reason "generative AI" appeals to a lot of entrepreneurs is that they have an ideological commitment to an incredibly reductive idea of humanity.

One side of the dual nature of the commodity is its use value. We can create use values because we are human and understand the desires of other humans.

"Generative AI" is a fantasy of a perfect slave that can create use values without actually having desires. But that's an incoherent concept.

@alexch I see a lot of left-leaning techies, like me, expressing enthusiasm for Luddism. Not because we hate technology, per se, but because we see how it's being used to enslave humanity and destroy the ecosystem.

The fact that "Luddite" has long been a common term of abuse in the tech industry adds to its power, ironically, as we want to directly challenge the ideology that progress is inevitable and unidirectional.

We should be able to decide our futures.

@aud @adrienne Contracts are a sick joke.

@katanova No, just that I'd want to be careful about boundaries first. Because I know about my own emotional responses.

@katanova Close. More that I'm cautious about acknowledging a sexual attraction earlier. And those are potential dangers.

I think it's also potentially a problem in a long term relationship, where you do have trust and affection, but your feelings about sexuality differ.

Also, I don't think what I'm trying to describe is a pathology, but a difference.

I feel like I have strong emotions around sexuality, that I feel sexuality is more of an emotional experience than a physical one -- though it is certainly both for me -- and that I am prone to quickly feeling an emotional bond when I feel sexual attraction, which means that I'm very vulnerable if I even admit attraction. So I'd need to develop trust with another person first, and I can't do that quickly or easily.

I often hear this split in attitudes described as a difference between genders, but from what I've seen, it doesn't map to gender at all.

I've noticed a sharp split in attitudes towards dating apps as they exist now, with some people saying that dating and sexual relationships are easier than ever, others saying that the apps are alienating and they're little or no help in overcoming loneliness.

I wonder if there's a fundamental divide in approaches to relationships, one that's often obscured with moralism and misunderstanding.

@aud This is what I get for trying to come to terms with my heterosexuality.

I was wondering if there's such a thing as a COVID-safe gym, and I'm quickly getting the impression that gyms are more hostile than anywhere else.

@sidereal @hipsterelectron The FSF reminds me of Wikileaks: an organization with a grand mission that is utterly subordinated to its founder's selfish ego.

Anyway, I know that the way we talk about aging is really fucked, that the concept of life stages is closely connected to the patriarchal model of the family and is bullshit, but bullshit I have a hard time clearing out of my head.

Also, perimenopause and menopause seem to be severely underdiscussed and treated simplistically when they're discussed at all.

I had a few brief relationships in my early twenties. I only really dated in my mid-thirties, and it was very difficult. I didn't know about autism, I just thought I was introverted and inexperienced.

Dating in my fifties seems much worse. Dating sites and apps seem actively hostile. There are fewer people my age available, and I feel like I'm even more backward in comparison to my peers than I was when I was younger.