Under a starry veil

I wanted to make something like this for weeks and so here is it dreamy wedding

sandman skrunkl

progress for tonight, again both outfits are from Ralph Lauren fall 2012, will be adding even more pretty outfits for the endlesses

i bet vimes boots theory comic breaching containment makes every discworld fan feel like vetinari at a lords meeting. the answer (poor people have to spend more money constantly for worse products which in the long run keeps them perpetually in poverty) is literally laid out right in the front of them, but you're stuck with a roomful of idiots flailing around missing the point and saying the mindnumbingly stupidest shit possible (just save up! just be frugal! just budget!) when the answer is. literally. right in front of them.

the start of 4.01 where house and wilson break into a patient's place together after the og ducklings have left feels like a small slice of another universe where they're actually acd-style diagnostic partners. just. imagine. in another life i would have really liked just doing regular b&e and medical malpractice with you.

ROUND 2; MATCH A

it’s the schism all over again

Queer music is impossible to define because we are not a monolith and we all have our own tastes and styles but it sure is not harry styles and taylor swift

anyways happy pride to all my high risk queers out there, to all my disabled queers for whom events aren't accessible to, to my immunocompromised folks who can't risk attending events where people aren't masked or taking covid precautions! happy pride to my fellow cripqueers that want to be out there fighting and celebrating with their friends and family and can't because it's not safe for them to do so– you're not alone and you deserve to celebrate too. we all do.

Elizabethan AU inspired by @aeon-of-neon tags

AI & the society

As the WGA strike is still ongoing, I would like to discuss a few things regarding Artificial Intelligence, its role and impact in a society, why it is good that people and organised groups resist it, and finally what is feasible through resistance and what is not.

(My own expertise is mostly on military uses of AI, but the dual nature of AI, as well as the prevalence of private industries in the development and production of AI tech, make knowledge on the civilian uses of AI necessary)

Disclaimer before we begin: when I talk about AI and AI tech, I mean generally any AI-based technology, and will not distinguish between General AI or deep-learning networks etc. because it will take us an entire semester to go through all that.

Also, I will not speak on the algorithmic prejudices which plague AI, such as "feeding" AI with data that is biased against or in favour of certain groups. This is only a minor problem of AI, and I want to talk about general, societal lines. Let's go:

Very very well said V. And as this is something we've discussed quite a bit amongst ourselves I'll add my two cents from a slightly different perspective/area of expertise. First things first though, it is important to make a distinction before delving into more discussions re AI.

Re the WGA strike: this is first and foremost a political issue and the presence of AI in this discussion changes nothing. The stances are between organized labor on the one hand and corporations on the other. If someone claims to support workers right in all instances except this one where AI might "win anyway and there's plenty of content to consume", it's best to ask them to at least try to critically think about their own politics and ask which side they're really on.

Now about AI. V is absolutely right in her explanation above that it could be a good thing. As a development economist, I'm going to go one step further and argue that technology is almost always neutral and technology, in and of itself, does not do harm. In this particular case, AI as a technology has the potential to tremendously increase efficiency, which is a fantastic thing that can solve a lot of our pressing societal problems from the pension crisis to underlying instabilities of the banking system (happy to elaborate on these points but be warned there will be math).

The problem here, as with a lot of problems associated with technological breakthroughs, is with how the gains we as a society get from said increase in efficiency (which we call surplus in economics) get distributed. This is of course nothing new. Take the industrial revolution, for example. Fantastic technologies brought amazing increases in efficiencies and created so much wealth. But it also brought hitherto unseen levels of exploitation and personal suffering. We as a society have learned a lot since then and organized labor is of course one of the most important institutions to emerge from that struggle.

Now the question is - assuming everyone understands AI could be used for good and therefore not banned on those grounds, how do we try to ensure society is better off as a result, and we don't just end up with a handful of guys as trillionaires? The answer is ofc not simple but the path to getting there is straightforward: this is a political issue and need to be addressed as such.

The only way to protect society from technology being turned exploitative is through regulation and legislation. Scientists need to abide by the ethics of their professions and methodologies but asking them to consider societal welfare is outside of their purview. And while it's a nice idea especially in the US, it's neither possible nor desirable to count on corporations to do that either. Corporations are set up and designed to answer to one group of people and one group only: their shareholders. They are not the ones who should be accountable to provide any meaningful solutions here. The ones we need to look to are our elected officials. It's hard to maintain this perspective with all the depressing news nowdays but it's still true. The fact that congress has basically given up on legislating is a disgrace, and we as voters and citizens should not tolerate that.

TLDR: political issues should be recognized as political issues and addressed as such. Don't let regulators and politicians hide behind scientists and corporations. Stand with artists, stand with workers, stand against corporate greed and always, ALWAYS hold legislators accountable.

Fantastic addition by @quillingwords. Especially the point on the politicization of art, ethics and technology: there is no "politicization" because it is all political. If it exists in a society, it is political. Ramifications, effects, causes and solutions, are all political and have to be viewed as such.

I get it, new tech is exciting and progressive! And we all agree on that! The issue is: what we make of it!

drip

being a fan of media that requires critical thinking skills and cant just be broken down into "this one bad this one good" is so hard like can you imagine the fucking takes im seeing

dream: don't you dare to hate on hob or else im giving you nightmares in your sleep

my god…

in order to celebrate 4,000 followers i decided to share some hob/dreamling/memes doodles i did recently. enjoy!

oh wow i remember when this scene first aired. time passes so quickly. the trust,love and hope (all without words) in this scene were conveyed so well.