Brutkey

Cassandra is only carbon now
@xgranade@wandering.shop
Cassandra is only carbon now
@xgranade@wandering.shop

It is amazing and amazingly cool that we're now at a point where many Windows games not only run unmodified on Linux, but get significantly better framerates on Linux than on Windows.

Cassandra is only carbon now
@xgranade@wandering.shop

If only trans folks could be nicer about transeliminationist hate, maybe cis folks would give a shit.

Hmm. I don't see that attitude working out too well for us.

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:esrrgaktqbyod6pcd7fvh66x/post/3lvykofpjmk2y

Cassandra is only carbon now
@xgranade@wandering.shop

There's a reason I look askance at the widespread adoption of Bluesky-the-company's product. Because it is a product, and a corporate one at that.

I remember when Google used to make money by doing nice things for the open web, when Twitter played well with Instagram, when the tech companies of yore saw value in playing nice. I also remember what happened next.

Cassandra is only carbon now
@xgranade@wandering.shop

I bridge, and I don't block on bridging. I laud that Bluesky is doing more than the average startup to uphold the open web. But I also have precisely zero trust that they'll keep doing that once they've got enough market power.

I've said before, I don't even think ill of Graber et al (aside from the Singal thing, that was heinous). My unease is about power structures, not individuals.

Cassandra is only carbon now
@xgranade@wandering.shop

But perhaps the biggest difference comes from the power dynamics. When Bsky backs people like Singal and Vance, that affects not just a plurality of ATProto users, but the near-entirety. When a user locks their skeets (again, ew), it's specifically a Bluesky-the-PBLLC account I need to interact with them.

Bluesky-the-company has far, far more control over ATProto users than Mastodon-the-nonprofit has over ActivityPub users.

Cassandra is only carbon now
@xgranade@wandering.shop

There's a reason I look askance at the widespread adoption of Bluesky-the-company's product. Because it is a product, and a corporate one at that.

I remember when Google used to make money by doing nice things for the open web, when Twitter played well with Instagram, when the tech companies of yore saw value in playing nice. I also remember what happened next.

Cassandra is only carbon now
@xgranade@wandering.shop

For one thing, Bluesky is an American PBLLC, not a German NPO. There's a lot more room for extraction in PBLLC structures.

For another, Mastodon does not own or control the spec to ActivityPub the way Bsky does to ATProto.

It's true that Mastodon has an outsized influence on AP, in that implementers have to worry not just about the spec, but bugs in Mastodon's implementation, but it's still an important distinction.

Cassandra is only carbon now
@xgranade@wandering.shop

But perhaps the biggest difference comes from the power dynamics. When Bsky backs people like Singal and Vance, that affects not just a plurality of ATProto users, but the near-entirety. When a user locks their skeets (again, ew), it's specifically a Bluesky-the-PBLLC account I need to interact with them.

Bluesky-the-company has far, far more control over ATProto users than Mastodon-the-nonprofit has over ActivityPub users.

Cassandra is only carbon now
@xgranade@wandering.shop

For one thing, Bluesky is an American PBLLC, not a German NPO. There's a lot more room for extraction in PBLLC structures.

For another, Mastodon does not own or control the spec to ActivityPub the way Bsky does to ATProto.

It's true that Mastodon has an outsized influence on AP, in that implementers have to worry not just about the spec, but bugs in Mastodon's implementation, but it's still an important distinction.

Cassandra is only carbon now
@xgranade@wandering.shop

I really think it's missing some pretty important details to say that Mastodon-the-NPO is analogous to ActivityPub in the same way that Bluesky is to ATProto.

Cassandra is only carbon now
@xgranade@wandering.shop

I no longer do quantum computing consulting, so have this one for free: if someone tells you that quantum computing is five years away, or that quantum computing will give you "unlimited" anything, they're lying.

Cassandra is only carbon now
@xgranade@wandering.shop

Two tech-y examples off the top of my head:

• Discord "servers." They're not servers, that's not what the term means, and that misuse is intentional.
• "Open source" AI models. If anything is "open," it's sure as hell not the source used to produce those models.

Cassandra is only carbon now
@xgranade@wandering.shop

brb coining neologism

disnomer : misnomer :: disinfo : misinfo