The current open-source/free software world is based on medieval political ideas of aristocracy and monarch, this is OBVIOUSLY useless in the modern world.
Our failed mediation of this with the #stupidindividualism of neoliberalism pushes the current piles of steaming #techshit and touches on the #geekproblem
Good to look at data and metadata for what it is, social glue that holds society together.
Our #deathcult worship separates and atomise people, as does privacy and security coded by the #geekproblem
Take a moment to step back, our contemporary codeing is shaping https://www.britannica.com/topic/liberalism
Its obviously true that society/ecology is sick from this blinded worship.
From this dogmatic liberalism, one thried is our society’s moving to corporate socialism. That is “law” and norms are shaped to value a tiny number of the nastyist people at the “top”.
Data and metadata is privateised, increasingly “National socialism” is the “comman sense” #mainstreaming we code for/agenst.
To address this #geekproblem some of us need to step away and code outside “liberalism” and not in reaction to fashisam.
#OMN #OGB #indymediaback are #openweb native projects.
A. We compost the current tech shitpile by #4opens to weed out 90% of the crap so as a first step we only have to work through the 10% then we are trying projects like #OGB and #OMN to work base on trust links to sift this last down to 1% then it’s human to human scale where we can build links/community’s out wider.
I think we have a good first step, if we can move the projects past the current #blocking
Especially if you want tech hours on it, at the moment.
Because there are folks there looking for a project to contribute to, but they aren’t always sure how to contribute.
A. Not how protest camps or squats, or hippy gathering happens. They are grassroots #DIY were people “just know” what to do because it has to be done to create the “world” around them.
Here you are describing the #geekproblem as a path out of the “problem” am addressing. Protest camps, squats and hippy gatherings all happen in the “real world” and are made by “real people” so “geeks” could/need to do all of them gives you an idea where the “problem” is 🙂
Q. Possibly even put the bite sized chunks into a toot and make it an appeal for help. Because yes we do have issues in the tech community with ignoring the negativity but sometimes folks will make grabby hands for the chance to do something positive, even a tiny thing to move a project forward.
A. have been working on this for 20 years, we can’t “solve” this problem from “inside” the problem. Change/change is needed from meany people to shift the #blocking culture. Am one voice, it requires a community, yes the are tools #4open #OGB #OMN etc are useful. If the chicken and egg “problem” can be mediated.
“All code is ideology solidified into action – most contemporary code is capitalism”
You and your wider community can take the #4opens and judge codeing projects, thus discard 90% of them. The remaining 10% will have obvious holes that then people can focus on, examples are the projects I push. By doing this, building up and widening our “culture” we can focus on the 1% that is really important. From this we change the world as default, and likely our nature. Of course, it’s not this simple and challenge/change can easily be negative. It’s this or #deathcult
Q. OK, so consider that some geeks may not see how they can contribute, it could be background, it could be they haven’t had much of an opportunity to interact with the real world of protest.
We need to open the door both ways. Not just make tech more accessible to folks outside tech, but to figure out how to open the door so that techies can start to learn how they can help.
I think it’s a bit like pebbles on a mountain, small steps then we can build on that and make larger momentum.
A. metaphors are the precursor of action, what is needed is a group of people to take action – this is how every protest camp, squat or hippy gathering starts.
We have the metaphors, we have some actions (#4opens process is easy) what we are lacking is groups of people.
We have a soft social problem, NOT a hard codeing problem.
Urgency is always here, the spiky hashtags are there to find these groups. Use them or lose them.
Q. I think that’s something you can build on.
A. “not how protest camps or squats, or hippy gathering happens. They are grassroots #DIY were people “just know” what to do because it has to be done to create the “world” around them.”
The is a boring circal, The is a “I” “you” issue that surprisingly happens less in the above world. On the web in the context of meany of the people am talking to, I call this #stupidindividualism this hashtag expresses the boring circal.
We can persuade people to our point of view, but it does take energy to do so. Most people don’t come up against life endangering adversity so it’s hard for them to see the issue. We are still wired to see immediate danger rather than what could be seen as existential danger to life.
A. its a cultural problem, how are cultures created is maybe usefully to look at.
How to do affective change/challenge this is a long history of this http://visionon.tv
Yet I still have an immense amount of privilege. Refugees are harmed way more by the edges of society and law than I am. But mainstream folks see people at the edges as a threat.
Basic stuff – use it or lose it #OMN
Everything we do is built on “standards” though we do have a problem of the defining bodies.
Some people like building sandcastles, it is what you are doing if you just make shit up in tech.
Actually this is fantasy as ANYTHING you are already building is already on top of a whole pile of standards.
I think people are expressing tribalism and not talking tech in practical sense at all.
What do you think?
“open industrial standards” nebulous and problematic things, but everything in tech is built on top of a pile of them, It’s where the value is.
Nationalism is a nablus thing as well, and its where the violence is.
Tribalism can be beautiful, it can also be a problem.
Some #dotcons are bigger than nations, so maybe it’s a good metaphor?
The geek “problem” is a 20th century dysfunctional part of a tribe that is damaging to us all, think #climatechaos think #failbook think #diaspora
Talking about real issues I have been fighting for 20 years… The #stupidindividualism that treats this as personal is what am sadly talking about much of the time.
Yes, it becomes a boring circle, but it’s always about the importance of the #geekproblem as a block on the change/challenge that we need #XR
I wrote this in 2005 what has changed:
“Its going slow but we are getting there… One of the main problems seams to be a dysfunctional idea of a division of labour – ie. Every one seams to think I should do everything – as I am pretty useless at many things its no wonder it is going so slow… If you wona see something miracles happen you gota wave year arms around a bit and mutter some arcane words… Go on you can do something… Just look at the blog page to see what”
Http://HamishCampbell.com
A. Getting across the channel was an adventure https://youtu.be/gHpyuw8evBM
Now am starting to get impotently angry with the London boating community as it’s just not here any more and the boats are all full of fearfull hipsters. Kinda expected this but still kinda annoying. Way to meany “boaters” doing crap mooring and leaving piles of trash everywhere…
I left on my boat to get away from it 5 years ago, I arrive back to find it everywhere. Not surprising but kinda hard.
Q. I’m not familiar with the boating world, but my guess would be that as houses become impossible to buy and almost impossible to rent – especially in places like London – more people may be trying to live on the water instead. Free from a landlord.
A. yes the aspiring classes were sold this in meany #mainstreaming articals over the last 5 years. BUT living on a boat is NOT living in a flat… You need a community to be a part of to live on a boat with out this, non boaty people end up miserable poring money down the drain and then sinking when the boat is left empty after a few months of winter.
Its been like this the last few years, xmus is the time of huge run of boat breakins, Both the boats behind me are empty, one of the boats In front has a non comungative hipster types the other is empty. Likely 2/3 of the boats I have moored up next too the last month have been empty. Meany of the rest have fresh faced or scared hipsters.
London boating has not only lost its community, swompted and pushed out of town, but it’s now a slow train reck of abondond to decay dreams.
On a positive side the “policeman” of the waterways #CRT are incompetent, this slows their neo-liberalism based privisation of the remaining inland commons. And the is a relatively affective grassroot’ish counter force in #NBTA who “react” to slow/mediate the privatisation.
BUT this slowing might not survive the inrush of non boaty types who won’t cheap flats on water and happy go with the #CRT agenda as then they can pay to keep their boats static to get the relatively cheap flats on water they desire.
CRT will continue pushing out vagabond boaters by selling off the mooring spots and closeing stretches of canal by development. More “common sense” restrictions are on the way, the community to push back is scattering and srinking.
The #deathcult is killing one more of our few remaining commons.
A. Activist video https://visionon.tv/videos/local?sort=-trending&allVideos=true&c=true&s=3 on the #Fediverse
Or they might have done it on purpose to keep the new feature private…
Did you know they intended to implement the feature you requested, and did you ask to work with them as they did so?
(P.S. if you keep calling them geeks all the time they might not feel like you would be warm and fuzzy to work with…)
Good codeing, bad social – kinda the #geekproblem
Basically funding alowes the geeks to be geeks when the funding comes from geeks.
If you think that’s bad, though, it’s even worst when it comes from academics 😉
Lived and worked through 30 years of this tech shit. Composting, we need some composting 🙂
End thought
Note, I generally only use the “stick” after offering carrots quite a few times. Then alternate between carrot and stick with no plan for a good personal outcome.
Doing this for 20 years, in the medium/long term social change is generally visible. Yes you are right it’s a thankless task but somebody needs to do it and I live on a boat and can sail away, I half joke with the last bit.
This approach has only mediate the problems in my expirence though.