people say the fediverse runs on activitypub, but actually the fediverse runs on the tenuous web of mutual trust created between all of its participants, and activitypub is but the clumsy messenger
"Almost six months after the removal of Maduro, the judicial reform seems to be progressing on two parallel and contradictory fronts: there are official announcements and public consultations, while the entrenched old practices continue within the courts." https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-06-28/non-transparent-laws-venezuelas-judicial-reform-arouses-suspicion.html
#politics #Venezuela
Hi fedi. Are there any microbiologists, mycologists, botanists, or other scientists or science enjoyers #OnHere who would have some reading recommendations for me in understanding the succession of life in forefields and other sterile environments?
I am a filthy scifi writer so I am actually interested in this process in the setting of exoplanet regolith but I feel like understanding the research we have on similar environments on Earth is the only real place to start.
Please boost 💜 Thank you!
#AskFedi #ScienceSideOfFedi #AskMastodon #Microbiology #Mycology #Botany #Biology #Scifi #FediPaperClub
The principle of "free speech" was articulated in part as a remedy to the authoritarian concentration of power that an uninformed public made possible. Now "free speech absolutism" is being deployed as justification for tools and systems that concentrate money and political power in authoritarian hands by rendering the public less capable of distinguishing reliable information from unreliable.
This goes hand-in-hand with the hollowing out of a professional Fourth Estate. The free speech value of journalism is that it informs debate and decision-making in the public square. The framing of social media as the global public square drew journalists into a digital domain that put their work on par with the verbalized thoughts of everyone, and "free speech absolutism" ensured that information unearthed at a high cost would have to compete with bullshit generated for virtually nothing.
In the hands of tech oligarchs, "free speech absolutism" gives a veneer of liberal principle to the practice of flooding the zone with mis- and disinformation. It bleeds into not only tolerating but also legitimizing and funding the promoters of hostile and anti-democratic ideologies. The fact that the technologies marketed by such self-professed free speech absolutists have made measurable contributions to the fragmentation of civil society is looking less and less like an unintended byproduct.
When a tech oligarch invokes "free speech absolutism," it's almost always in defense of a policy structured to preserve their business' freedom to act. Those policies almost always privilege malicious or unscrupulous speech at the expense of conscientious and civil speech. That's often framed as an unfortunate side-effect of an otherwise laudable and necessary principle, but the last decade has shown how potent it is as a tool for amassing money and power. Which is, perhaps, the actual point.
AFAICT, the notion of "free speech absolutism" emerged from legal defense efforts on behalf of journalists, but it seems clear to me that tech oligarchs have seized on it as a strategy for effectively destroying the sort of public discourse that the principle free speech was intended to facilitate and protect.
This is all very shock doctrine. https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-06-28/venezuela-faces-catastrophe-with-an-overwhelmed-state.html
#politics #Venezuela #USA
Sure, I'll contribute to your political campaign, just as soon as I'm done contributing to medical crowd funders for every person I know.
It's great, in part, because it's built on an acknowledgement of the value that motivates the community it governs. Fan communities are driven by recognition, appreciation, and enthusiasm for a topic. At best, an AI can only accomplish one of those three, and even that's more a matter of statistical probability than cognitive recognition. Excluding AI works may result in less polished submissions, but they'll be submissions more directly informed by those values.
Oh wow, this is legitimately great policy: https://www.reddit.com/r/StreetFighter/comments/1uf2xkl/comment/otokvvb/?context=3 (via Audrey Watters' Second Breakfast)
The products of AI are unintentional approximations, therefore, AI generated content is off-topic.
That principle applies to so many contexts.
That said, the mainstream book market does seem to cater almost exclusively to a niche of readers who prefer the euphony of a particular kind of prose. I can't help but think that the Anglophone world might have more readers if it gave more space to a less self-consciously bookish style.
Or don't. There's probably no market in catering to my preferences. My taste as a reader is increasingly defined by a bundle of pet peeves.
These days, my tolerance for try-hard prose is very low. So much density where it's not needed. Thin it out some, author. Just say what you mean. Mean a little less, if you have to.
Liberalism: Every person should be accorded the maximum amount of liberty compatible with the rights of others.
Libertarianism: Every person should be accorded the amount of liberty they can grab before someone else does.
Expiration dates are just guidelines. The only way to really tell if your cat has gone bad is to sniff its head from time to time.
The other wild card in this calculation, I suppose, is: "How much more difficult will it be to avoid AI integration if I wait to buy a replacement?"
(For context, I recently had to replace my phone, and deliberately chose a model that didn't have the chip required for AI integration — that way, I didn't have to worry about upgrades silently opting me into AI features I don't want. But now, even that option is increasingly unavailable.)
Do I wait until prices come back down before I replace my ancient desktop computer, or do I replace it now before prices increase even more?
Hot on the heels of its authoritarian success against the Prairieland protestors, the Trump administration is preparing a new case against #StopCopCity protestors who the state has already failed to convict. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/26/trump-administration-cop-city-protesters-antifa
#politics #USA #Atlanta