HaSch

Every recent retiree will tell you that work (not wage labour) is just as essential to "restore our battery levels" as rest and play. High-ranking managers and directors are sometimes given meaningless busywork after retiring because they want to feel important and consequential

The "brave warriors" cannot handle a little pinprick

Germany in particular is at a breaking point where it cannot really support more people living the big cities without a major national housing initiative. If you don't want to raise your kid in the boondocks of Lower Saxony, tough luck

So there's this boy fighting evil aliens in a giant robot

Mamoru Oshii must be feeling so validated rn

Non-generative models like RNNs or symbolic AI, sure. Generative models warrant a special caveat.

Such models, especially LLMs, are different from other technology in that even when they are being used by proletarians for their own aims, they contain a certain element of danger that is subtle and hidden behind the facade of a simple chatbot. Over time, the user will be misled into thinking that they are talking to another human, which has already led to suicides and murders instigated by them.

This is not because there is anything spooky about the technology itself, it's just linear algebra and probability theory running on a big computer, but because the human mind tends to project its own thoughts and feelings onto other people, animals, and indeed objects. However, unlike with other humans, the user of an LLM will be much less careful, observant, and restrained in their fantasies, especially since it is eager to please and will try to motivate them towards continuing down the line.

If a socialist society is to put generative models to use, it must be able to somehow prevent "discussions" with the model to venture into psychologically suspicious territories. An LLM must never replace human interaction, it must no venture guesses about your friends and family, and especially it must NEVER be used for therapy. Nothing good can come from pretending it cares about you. Only then, and after following many other guardrails already in place for both training and use, can we even claim to enjoy its benefits.

The atrophy of the American public mirrors the ossification of its administrative state. As the EPA, the CDC, the USPS, and other institutions representing bourgeois concessions to the proletariat are systematically eroded, the American working class has no longer any means to realise its own interests through administrative means, and it loses the ability to meaningfully shape its environment. The space of potential futures within the system is considerably narrowed, and the narrower it becomes, the less people find a future in it worth fighting for by legal means. Expect protests to die down, and instead more assassins and armed groups to emerge.

The secret to keeping friends is to actually communicate with them at least every few weeks. It doesn't need to be anything big, just checking in and signalling that you exist and do care. If you don't do this, even if you yourself can remember, they might forget because tragically, this is just the way the human brain works for most people. When Steve moved, he likely went and looked out for other people to help him over the loss of this connection, and then they became his best friends, not immediately, but over the course of years and years. Even though none of this was your fault, how was he supposed to know you were still interested in his life after not hearing from you for over a decade?

The KPD faced tens of thousands of Nazis in open battle on the street, which might well be called "doing nothing" in comparison to the SPD's strategy of trying to appeal to centre-right voters by assassinating Rosa Luxemburg

Basically every Ghibli movie that deals with WWII (Grave of the Fireflies, The Wind Rises, Porco Rosso etc). Miyazaki lost his mother in the war and spent his entire career traumatised by the contributions of his father to the imperial war machine as an airplane designer

Whoever wrote this headline, I can assure you that China's dance robots will never be equipped to handle your kind of gymnastics

I sure wonder if there is any historical precedent of this specific thing actually happening and how it might have worked out in, say, the winter of 1812