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  • I think Alk is referencing, the concept of perverse incentives. Without explicitly saying it. It's a concept, or a way of refering to an incentive structure that gives un-desirable results, in economics.

    Example: When clicks give you ad revenue. And hurt kittens nurtured back to health gives the most clicks. People start hurting kittens, so they have more to nurture back to health for clicks.

    Edit: my example is unfortunately a very real thing. Multiple channels on YT have been found to do it. Someone else will have to find the articles about it. I don't want to ruin my day reading about it again.

    Yes you said it better than I could have. Not only the perverse incentive, but also just the way ads have annihilated the usability of the internet for the average user. I know some sites can't exist without ads, but the web now is an unusable mess of for-profit click bait SEO slop and the average non-profit oriented enthusiast with a website for something has a harder time than ever existing because of it.

    I am not smart enough to know what to change, but I know something has to change. Short of a complete upheaval of the current web, the ones profiting off the current model will do everything in their power to make sure nothing changes.

    This is why I'm conflicted. AI destroying ad revenue is that upheaval that could be fast and powerful enough to disrupt the status quo, but at what cost?

  • Yes you said it better than I could have. Not only the perverse incentive, but also just the way ads have annihilated the usability of the internet for the average user. I know some sites can't exist without ads, but the web now is an unusable mess of for-profit click bait SEO slop and the average non-profit oriented enthusiast with a website for something has a harder time than ever existing because of it.

    I am not smart enough to know what to change, but I know something has to change. Short of a complete upheaval of the current web, the ones profiting off the current model will do everything in their power to make sure nothing changes.

    This is why I'm conflicted. AI destroying ad revenue is that upheaval that could be fast and powerful enough to disrupt the status quo, but at what cost?

    I fear the world must be destroyed first, for humanity to rise beyond Capitalism essentially. The Capitalists will never give up their power and control willingly. To get to -> Advertisements are illegal and banned worldwide, we first need to become the Phoenix. Kinda doubtful personally that it'll ever happen, I feel like climate change and WW3 will ensure our collective extinction.

  • Yes you said it better than I could have. Not only the perverse incentive, but also just the way ads have annihilated the usability of the internet for the average user. I know some sites can't exist without ads, but the web now is an unusable mess of for-profit click bait SEO slop and the average non-profit oriented enthusiast with a website for something has a harder time than ever existing because of it.

    I am not smart enough to know what to change, but I know something has to change. Short of a complete upheaval of the current web, the ones profiting off the current model will do everything in their power to make sure nothing changes.

    This is why I'm conflicted. AI destroying ad revenue is that upheaval that could be fast and powerful enough to disrupt the status quo, but at what cost?

    Thanks you for letting me know that my interpretation wasn't completely off base.

    Well I have an idea and its a bit archaic but it just might work. Local homegrown news bulletins. Like how punk rock bands and other subcultures back in the day spread around. Registers and news, and compilations of cool sites you and your group of friends or "club" have found. The old internet had loads of sites or BBS's that were link lists.

    It doesn't have to be janky paper magazine's. But communities need to engage more in genuine material and sites. Remember happy tree friends? No algorythm spread that. Kids did! Same thing with meatspin and all those crazy sites and content. Word of mouth is crazy powerful. Like take peertube for example, finding content you like there ain't as easy as on YouTube. But if you in a group / forum honestly recomend something or someone you found, chances are someone like minded that didn't know of it, now finds it. But we can't, on the other hand, go around and spam everything we find.

    So monthly bulletins of content, sites etc in a forum would be my 2 cents.

  • Thanks you for letting me know that my interpretation wasn't completely off base.

    Well I have an idea and its a bit archaic but it just might work. Local homegrown news bulletins. Like how punk rock bands and other subcultures back in the day spread around. Registers and news, and compilations of cool sites you and your group of friends or "club" have found. The old internet had loads of sites or BBS's that were link lists.

    It doesn't have to be janky paper magazine's. But communities need to engage more in genuine material and sites. Remember happy tree friends? No algorythm spread that. Kids did! Same thing with meatspin and all those crazy sites and content. Word of mouth is crazy powerful. Like take peertube for example, finding content you like there ain't as easy as on YouTube. But if you in a group / forum honestly recomend something or someone you found, chances are someone like minded that didn't know of it, now finds it. But we can't, on the other hand, go around and spam everything we find.

    So monthly bulletins of content, sites etc in a forum would be my 2 cents.

    Honestly that's kind of what lemmy is, in a roundabout way. I think you are right, but actually getting people to engage with that would be difficult. Today, word of mouth with younger people mostly revolves around individual things inside centralized platforms like a TikTok meme or something. I think in addition to independent sources of content, there needs to be a cultural change in how everyone accesses content. That's the hard part.

  • Honestly that's kind of what lemmy is, in a roundabout way. I think you are right, but actually getting people to engage with that would be difficult. Today, word of mouth with younger people mostly revolves around individual things inside centralized platforms like a TikTok meme or something. I think in addition to independent sources of content, there needs to be a cultural change in how everyone accesses content. That's the hard part.

    Indeed! But let's be the change we want!

    Do you have any good mastodon, pixelfed or peertube or other fediverse recommendations to follow ? I'm still new here so my feeds are pretty monocultural (to borrow an agricultural term).

  • This post did not contain any content.

    The top result is always some AI-gen, 2000-word essay response to a simple yes/no question like "Can a dog eat onions?"

    I swear they do it to train us to just use the shitty AI summary of the shitty AI essay.

  • Are you stupid?

    Another unnecessarily aggressive asshole on the web, what's new.

  • Indeed! But let's be the change we want!

    Do you have any good mastodon, pixelfed or peertube or other fediverse recommendations to follow ? I'm still new here so my feeds are pretty monocultural (to borrow an agricultural term).

    On lemmy, I just browse "all" then filter out anything I don't want instead of the opposite. I don't use Mastodon much, or any twitter-style platform. As for videos I still use YouTube, just through the FreeTube application on desktop.

    Edit: one thing I do follow is the gaming news posts by this person, who puts a whole lot of effort into them: @PerfectDark@lemmy.world

  • On lemmy, I just browse "all" then filter out anything I don't want instead of the opposite. I don't use Mastodon much, or any twitter-style platform. As for videos I still use YouTube, just through the FreeTube application on desktop.

    Edit: one thing I do follow is the gaming news posts by this person, who puts a whole lot of effort into them: @PerfectDark@lemmy.world

    Oh, that's me!

    Thanks, Alk. I'm glad my little posts mean something to the general public here, I appreciate it!

  • Oh, that's me!

    Thanks, Alk. I'm glad my little posts mean something to the general public here, I appreciate it!

    They really do! It's nice to read something that's clearly hand crafted and high quality, especially the big news roundups that you do, as opposed to the usual SEO slop most news sites have. It's a treat every time a new one comes out.

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  • Uber, Lyft oppose some bills that aim to prevent assaults during rides

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    California is not Colorado nor is it federal No shit, did you even read my comment? Regulations already exist in every state that ride share companies operate in, including any state where taxis operate. People are already not supposed to sexually assault their passengers. Will adding another regulation saying they shouldn’t do that, even when one already exists, suddenly stop it from happening? No. Have you even looked at the regulations in Colorado for ride share drivers and companies? I’m guessing not. Here are the ones that were made in 2014: https://law.justia.com/codes/colorado/2021/title-40/article-10-1/part-6/section-40-10-1-605/#%3A~%3Atext=§+40-10.1-605.+Operational+Requirements+A+driver+shall+not%2Ca+ride%2C+otherwise+known+as+a+“street+hail”. Here’s just one little but relevant section: Before a person is permitted to act as a driver through use of a transportation network company's digital network, the person shall: Obtain a criminal history record check pursuant to the procedures set forth in section 40-10.1-110 as supplemented by the commission's rules promulgated under section 40-10.1-110 or through a privately administered national criminal history record check, including the national sex offender database; and If a privately administered national criminal history record check is used, provide a copy of the criminal history record check to the transportation network company. A driver shall obtain a criminal history record check in accordance with subparagraph (I) of paragraph (a) of this subsection (3) every five years while serving as a driver. A person who has been convicted of or pled guilty or nolo contendere to driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol in the previous seven years before applying to become a driver shall not serve as a driver. If the criminal history record check reveals that the person has ever been convicted of or pled guilty or nolo contendere to any of the following felony offenses, the person shall not serve as a driver: (c) (I) A person who has been convicted of or pled guilty or nolo contendere to driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol in the previous seven years before applying to become a driver shall not serve as a driver. If the criminal history record check reveals that the person has ever been convicted of or pled guilty or nolo contendere to any of the following felony offenses, the person shall not serve as a driver: An offense involving fraud, as described in article 5 of title 18, C.R.S.; An offense involving unlawful sexual behavior, as defined in section 16-22-102 (9), C.R.S.; An offense against property, as described in article 4 of title 18, C.R.S.; or A crime of violence, as described in section 18-1.3-406, C.R.S. A person who has been convicted of a comparable offense to the offenses listed in subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (c) in another state or in the United States shall not serve as a driver. A transportation network company or a third party shall retain true and accurate results of the criminal history record check for each driver that provides services for the transportation network company for at least five years after the criminal history record check was conducted. A person who has, within the immediately preceding five years, been convicted of or pled guilty or nolo contendere to a felony shall not serve as a driver. Before permitting an individual to act as a driver on its digital network, a transportation network company shall obtain and review a driving history research report for the individual. An individual with the following moving violations shall not serve as a driver: More than three moving violations in the three-year period preceding the individual's application to serve as a driver; or A major moving violation in the three-year period preceding the individual's application to serve as a driver, whether committed in this state, another state, or the United States, including vehicular eluding, as described in section 18-9-116.5, C.R.S., reckless driving, as described in section 42-4-1401, C.R.S., and driving under restraint, as described in section 42-2-138, C.R.S. A transportation network company or a third party shall retain true and accurate results of the driving history research report for each driver that provides services for the transportation network company for at least three years. So all sorts of criminal history, driving record, etc checks have been required since 2014. Colorado were actually the first state in the USA to implement rules like this for ride share companies lol.
  • US immigration enforcement actions trigger social crisis

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    If AI constantly refined its own output, sure, unless it hits a wall eventually or starts spewing bullshit because of some quirk of training. But I doubt it could learn to summarise better without external input, just like a compiler won't produce a more optimised version of itself without human development work.
  • A ban on state AI laws could smash Big Tech’s legal guardrails

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    It's always been "states rights" to enrich rulers at the expense of everyone else.
  • Copy Table in Excel and Paste as a Markdown Table

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    ptz@dubvee.orgP
    That's based on https://github.com/jonmagic/copy-excel-paste-markdown Would be awesome to see some Lemmy clients incorporate that. I've had it requested but haven't had a chance to really dig into it yet.
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    For sure they are! Meta more then the others though
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    I don't think accuracy is an issue either. I've been on the web since inception and we always had a terribly inaccurate information landscape. It's really about individual ability to put together found information to an accurate world model and LLMs is a tool just like any other. The real issues imo are effects on society be it information manipulation, breaking our education and workforce systems. But all of that is overshadowed by meme issues like energy use or inaccuracy as these are easy to understand for any person while sociology, politics and macro economics are really hard.