Erica "digifox" Kovac
@digifox.binaryden.net
Software Engineer | Social Democrat | Pro-Nuclear, Pro-Growth | in the vicinity of "Tomboy Transfemme", she/her | Opinions are mine, not my employer's.
Pfp by @nicnak044.bsky.social
Pfp by @nicnak044.bsky.social
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let the version of the industry that does this repent through bankruptcy; if I pay for technology I expect it to serve *my* interests, not those who wish to control and surveill me
Software is a tool, and tools should serve the user above all else.
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
this is pretty solid spiritual advice tbh
“Be prudent, be wise, be careful that your use of AI does not limit your true human growth. Use it in such a way that if it disappeared tomorrow, you would still know how to think, how to create, how to act on your own, how to form authentic friendships.”
“Be prudent, be wise, be careful that your use of AI does not limit your true human growth. Use it in such a way that if it disappeared tomorrow, you would still know how to think, how to create, how to act on your own, how to form authentic friendships.”
Pope Leo XIV told students not to use artificial intelligence for homework, saying that AI ‘won’t stand in authentic wonder before the beauty of God’s creation.’
Even God Is Worried About ChatGPT
Pope Leo XIV told students not to use artificial intelligence for homework, saying that AI ‘won’t stand in authentic wonder before the beauty of God’s creation.’
www.vulture.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:45 PM
this is pretty solid spiritual advice tbh
“Be prudent, be wise, be careful that your use of AI does not limit your true human growth. Use it in such a way that if it disappeared tomorrow, you would still know how to think, how to create, how to act on your own, how to form authentic friendships.”
“Be prudent, be wise, be careful that your use of AI does not limit your true human growth. Use it in such a way that if it disappeared tomorrow, you would still know how to think, how to create, how to act on your own, how to form authentic friendships.”
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
The vibe I get is that "wanted Trump to win" is directionally correct but misses the primary motivation of wanting the boring wonks who kept trying to get them to give a shit about policy to lose.
November 27, 2025 at 1:09 AM
The vibe I get is that "wanted Trump to win" is directionally correct but misses the primary motivation of wanting the boring wonks who kept trying to get them to give a shit about policy to lose.
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
the context is that Latin Americans consider "American" to refer to anyone from the western hemisphere, hence the SP and PT term "Estadounidense."
At the risk of furthering the semi-regular discourse, y'all are waaay too bothered by people who use the term USians, which is just written shorthand for US Americans. Which, itself, is nothing to get so weird about. No one's making you use it.
November 27, 2025 at 1:14 AM
the context is that Latin Americans consider "American" to refer to anyone from the western hemisphere, hence the SP and PT term "Estadounidense."
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
like Democrats have had to and have won with shitty, superficial, both-sides slanted journalism before. they lost this election. but Trump's comeback was in an environment that was favorable to him in almost every way
dc journalists and beltway media culture are significantly, if not nearly entirely, to blame for where we are right now
November 27, 2025 at 1:10 AM
like Democrats have had to and have won with shitty, superficial, both-sides slanted journalism before. they lost this election. but Trump's comeback was in an environment that was favorable to him in almost every way
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
I think it's already quite bleak. The collapse of computation into competing corporate offerings is a tragedy.
November 27, 2025 at 12:55 AM
I think it's already quite bleak. The collapse of computation into competing corporate offerings is a tragedy.
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
The kinds of databases:
• Fancy files
• 1970s stays winning
• This would be so cool if it worked at scale
• Oh, that's why google has a monopoly on search
• Fancy files
• 1970s stays winning
• This would be so cool if it worked at scale
• Oh, that's why google has a monopoly on search
November 27, 2025 at 12:26 AM
The kinds of databases:
• Fancy files
• 1970s stays winning
• This would be so cool if it worked at scale
• Oh, that's why google has a monopoly on search
• Fancy files
• 1970s stays winning
• This would be so cool if it worked at scale
• Oh, that's why google has a monopoly on search
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
also, it seems to be an accepted journalistic practice to know things of vital public interest and not to publish them until it is too late for the public to act on them; the way Lizza is an outlier is that he wasn't holding onto it for a book but for a substack trashing his ex
November 27, 2025 at 12:15 AM
also, it seems to be an accepted journalistic practice to know things of vital public interest and not to publish them until it is too late for the public to act on them; the way Lizza is an outlier is that he wasn't holding onto it for a book but for a substack trashing his ex
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
while many people experience the expectation of gender performance as a straitjacket many people enthusiastically and sincerely love performing their gender as they understand it.
same people sometimes, even.
same people sometimes, even.
November 26, 2025 at 6:02 PM
while many people experience the expectation of gender performance as a straitjacket many people enthusiastically and sincerely love performing their gender as they understand it.
same people sometimes, even.
same people sometimes, even.
To be clear it's bad that this is the case, but: yes.
yes, I feel like you can safely ignore anyone who tells you with a straight face in 2025 that you can just do without a smartphone
This article makes really good points about the inability of most people to cut expenses without entirely losing the ability to participate in the economy. I get tired of people telling me to live cheaper by eliminating things that are necessary for modern life.
November 26, 2025 at 9:22 PM
To be clear it's bad that this is the case, but: yes.
This isn't quite Goodhart's Law, but it's close.
This is very interesting (and yeah, I also had an initial “oh come on, that’s nuts” reaction to the first part of this article, but as I read on, I realized he was making some pretty compelling points)
This is an insightful but deeply upsetting article about why everyone in the US feels poor, and why the current political situation emerges as a direct result.
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
November 26, 2025 at 9:18 PM
This isn't quite Goodhart's Law, but it's close.
LLM proponents are going to have a lot to answer for when the open web becomes a wasteland.
November 26, 2025 at 9:09 PM
LLM proponents are going to have a lot to answer for when the open web becomes a wasteland.
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
The based alternative.
November 26, 2025 at 8:58 PM
The based alternative.
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
I think the answer is “acceptance”:
most thoughtful accounts here have moved toward “AI is real, is happening, and if it has downsides we need to address them.”
However there are still several thousand accounts who hate nothing more than hearing that and will try to stop the process by brigading.
most thoughtful accounts here have moved toward “AI is real, is happening, and if it has downsides we need to address them.”
However there are still several thousand accounts who hate nothing more than hearing that and will try to stop the process by brigading.
Is this platform still massively against AI or has it moved more towards acceptance?
November 26, 2025 at 2:48 PM
I think the answer is “acceptance”:
most thoughtful accounts here have moved toward “AI is real, is happening, and if it has downsides we need to address them.”
However there are still several thousand accounts who hate nothing more than hearing that and will try to stop the process by brigading.
most thoughtful accounts here have moved toward “AI is real, is happening, and if it has downsides we need to address them.”
However there are still several thousand accounts who hate nothing more than hearing that and will try to stop the process by brigading.
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
It's not that people don't have free will, it's that their choice set is shaped by society. So if most people choose to use AI (even stipulating that we actually mean, like, the stupid AI assistants or whatever), that doesn't necessarily tell us if they *want to live in a world with this much AI*
November 26, 2025 at 8:25 PM
It's not that people don't have free will, it's that their choice set is shaped by society. So if most people choose to use AI (even stipulating that we actually mean, like, the stupid AI assistants or whatever), that doesn't necessarily tell us if they *want to live in a world with this much AI*
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
you should support liberal currents!
November 26, 2025 at 4:02 PM
you should support liberal currents!
Generative AI is mostly being used as a tool to paper over the erosion of the open web. It's just "give me this information without a bunch of ads surrounding it."
scorn was an effective weapon for the monkey jpeg NFT shit because it was effectively a status good, generative AI is a tool that millions get utility out of daily and you can't sneer your way out of that.
November 26, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Generative AI is mostly being used as a tool to paper over the erosion of the open web. It's just "give me this information without a bunch of ads surrounding it."
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
the phrase "its not my job to educate you" has done insane damage to the trans liberation movement btw
November 24, 2025 at 4:40 PM
the phrase "its not my job to educate you" has done insane damage to the trans liberation movement btw
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
#ofcom only punches downwards, and is too frightened to enforce UK law against musk/trump
Lib Dem MP Luke Taylor in last week's debate on social media:
Elon Musk's recent London speech represented "a foreign billionaire, armed with his global megaphone, fanning the flames of division and calling for the overthrow of our democratically elected Government."
"We call that treason here."
Elon Musk's recent London speech represented "a foreign billionaire, armed with his global megaphone, fanning the flames of division and calling for the overthrow of our democratically elected Government."
"We call that treason here."
November 24, 2025 at 1:40 PM
#ofcom only punches downwards, and is too frightened to enforce UK law against musk/trump
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
#publicAI needs nurturing not nixing - walledculture.org/why-public-a...
November 24, 2025 at 1:48 PM
#publicAI needs nurturing not nixing - walledculture.org/why-public-a...
Agreed that libraries are a pretty good solution to cultural access and preservation for the written word, in spite of my objections to intellectual property as a concept in general.
I’m just going to block anyone attempting to justify or excuse pirating books. Times are hard, yes, but absolutely NO ONE needs to steal books. Libraries exist. There are umpteen works legitimately in the public domain. You don’t need to take income from authors trying to scrape a living.
November 24, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Agreed that libraries are a pretty good solution to cultural access and preservation for the written word, in spite of my objections to intellectual property as a concept in general.
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
every social media company is bad but Meta really is uniquely evil
Instagram’s former head of safety and well-being Vaishnavi Jayakumar testified the company had a “17x” strike policy for accounts that engaged in the trafficking of humans for sex.
“You could incur 16 violations and upon the 17th violation, your account would be suspended"
time.com/7336204/meta...
“You could incur 16 violations and upon the 17th violation, your account would be suspended"
time.com/7336204/meta...
7 Allegations Against Meta in Newly Unsealed Filings
Court filings allege Meta tolerated sex trafficking, hid harms to teens, and prioritized growth over user safety for years.
time.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:08 PM
every social media company is bad but Meta really is uniquely evil
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
the “thanksgiving food is bad” discourse raises its ugly head every year, but the truth remains that thanksgiving food can be amazing as long as you know how to cook. the problem is we’re throwing a few million sunday drivers directly into a grand prix
I think this is unfair to turkey. turkey is good but hard to cook well because it is so damn big. turkey *parts* are great but lack the esthetic appeal of a centerpiece bird.
it is tired to the point of cliche to say if turkey was good, people would make it more than once a year. but it is understated that at least one American explodes every Thanksgiving in a brave attempt to make the main dish more palatable
November 23, 2025 at 7:44 PM
the “thanksgiving food is bad” discourse raises its ugly head every year, but the truth remains that thanksgiving food can be amazing as long as you know how to cook. the problem is we’re throwing a few million sunday drivers directly into a grand prix
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
You know, eight hundred years after the War of the One Ring, there would be chin-stroking conservative professors in Middle Earth bemoaning the destruction of the One Ring and writing long articles about how Sauron had a point.
November 22, 2025 at 11:40 PM
You know, eight hundred years after the War of the One Ring, there would be chin-stroking conservative professors in Middle Earth bemoaning the destruction of the One Ring and writing long articles about how Sauron had a point.
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
Bonus trivia: the Sharpe v Winterville case that clearly established recording cops as 1A-protected conduct here originated from a tweet
November 22, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Bonus trivia: the Sharpe v Winterville case that clearly established recording cops as 1A-protected conduct here originated from a tweet