At at times like this i wish i was a musician.. I just had a sound vision of a track that starts out as the national anthem 6 bars in there is an abrupt but somehow graceful transition to another piece of music. I'm thinking the Star Trek TNG theme.
Purely because that's my go to for optimistic future based on good moral values.
But the intent is to reject "patriotism" where that's used as a synonym for Jigoism/right wing values. And make clear that inclusive tolerance and service to the truth Are American values. I don't know how to bring something like this about though.
Here is a favorite of what i have managed to do musically nothing to do with the stuff i was discribing
there are those who say "Disabled People aren't oppressed"... According to one of my friends it is acceptable to punch such individuals in the face. Although providing education is preferred. Here's your education for today.
In order to access most US govt programs for disabled adults, your required to receive social security benefits.
Social Security Disability Benefits don't start until you've worked a job that pay social security payroll taxes for a certain number of years
For people that fall outside this requirement there's Social Security Insurance. Which pays about half as much. And has an "income and asset limit"
This limit is set by congress is not tied to inflation. It was last updated in 1984 and stand currently at $2k for a thirty day period.
This limit was always strictly enforced, but under Trump it got bad.
Real bad, like i'm required to tell the SSA if i sell my Magic the Gathering cards bad, small amounts of Mutual Aid are fine.. For now.. .But I can forget about replacing my positional support chair, any time soon...
Meaning that some of my people are in nursing homes right now. Because they don't have enough to make rent and if they ever were to get enough they'd be fined up to $5k for the first offense.
Which the SSA takes out of what it's giving you btw.
Yes, there's Sec 8 and ISS (in some states) but those take time and there are waiting lists, and the supply of housing for these programs is limited and so forth. I'm lucky I've a roof over my head for now.
We want to make clear that, though we find the categorical condemnation for AI to be problematic for the reasons stated below, we are troubled by situational abuse of AI, and that certain situational abuses clearly conflict with our values. We also want to make clear that AI is a large umbrella technology and that the size and complexity of that category (which includes both non-generative and generative AI, among other uses) contributes to our belief that it is simply too big to categorically endorse or not endorse.
I have just read NanNoWriMo's AI Ableism statement I HAVE THOUGHTS
Indeed some NoAi arguments are rooted in Ableism, this means that the opposition to AI needs better arguments. Some disabled people look at such arguments and conclude that NoAI people are ableist.
This is reasonable coming from a community that is so oppressed within society, that many, including members of other oppressed groups deny we are and have been oppressed.
But there's a distinction to be made between an ethical argument that is rooted in ableist cultural assumptions, and the person making it holding ableist views themselves.
It is fully understand if a disabled person, who can't or, doesn't want to make that distinction
A non profit organization run primarily by able bodied people, and who serves primarily able bodied people, should approach this issue with that distinction in mind, and should seek to educate the people that they serve.
About how ableism works to suppress the creative potential of disabled people, why many disabled people see GenAI as a beacon of hope, and why using conventional anti ai arguments in discourse with disabled people particularly the lazy ones about "talent, and work" makes you come off as an arsehat.
For NaNo to make the NoAI is ableist argument without further explanation is shooting the community they seek to be in solidarity with in the foot, and reeks of paternalism. At least to me
Full disclosure my belief is that if GenAi helps a disabled person gain autonomy. They have the right to use it, and owe no explanation to anyone. But beware of the risks
To the CoHost haters out there just shut up. It was a nice website, although i never got into it as much as i meant to.
The world needs more cozy websites.
Not all communities need/want to be federated. That isn't why it's going away. And if you want a federated Tumbleloging software suite go and build one, I'll wait...
Cohost as i understand it was an experiment to find a way. To build communities, without the capitalism driven enshitification. Which has rosined all aspects of the current Technological Revolution. It didn't work. But they haven't failed either.
The next team to pick up the torch will have valuable data. This is how any human endeavor that is worth anything at all works
We are building a Cathedral here not a strip mall. It's taken us about 400 years to get into the current mess, i expect it'll take about as long to g
I applaud the non software software club for building a site that tried to put people first.