Avoidance

i have been here for 1,000 years leave me alone y'know

[azspot]

An ex-Intel CEO’s mission to build a Christian AI: ‘hasten the coming of Christ’s return’

Patrick Gelsinger, executive chairman of Gloo, has made it his mission to advance Christian principles in Silicon Valley

In March, three months after being forced out of his position as the CEO of Intel and sued by shareholders, Patrick Gelsinger took the reins at Gloo, a technology company made for what he calls the “faith ecosystem” – think Salesforce for churches, plus chatbots and AI assistants for automating pastoral work and ministry support.

The former CEO’s career pivot is taking place as the US tech industry returns to the political realm as a major revenue stream. Some of its most prominent present-day leaders have funded Donald Trump’s re-election and renewed their pursuit of government contracts as the second Trump administration has revitalized religious conservatism in Washington DC.

Now Gloo’s executive chair and head of technology (who’s largely free of the shareholder suit), Gelsinger has made it a core mission to soft-power advance the company’s Christian principles in Silicon Valley, the halls of Congress and beyond, armed with a fundraised war chest of $110m. His call to action is also a pitch for AI aligned with Christian values: tech products like those built by Gloo, many of which are built on top of existing large language models, but adjusted to reflect users’ theological beliefs.

“My life mission has been [to] work on a piece of technology that would improve the quality of life of every human on the planet and hasten the coming of Christ’s return,” he said.

[blackwoolncrown]

[oneheadtoanother]

[teathattast]

[azspot]

U.S. Broadband Is Racist

The U.S. almost got close to acknowledging systemic racism in broadband deployment. Then a coalition of corrupt shitgoblins sent the country spiraling backwards.

At the tail end of 2023 I wrote a feature for The Verge exploring how the U.S. government, for the first time ever, had openly acknowledged that U.S. broadband had a rich history of race and class discrimination.

Data had shown for decades how giant regional phone and cable monopolies had not only refused to upgrade poor and minority communities to better broadband (despite untold billions in taxpayer subsidies), reporters found they actually charged poor minority people higher prices for shittier service.

Why? One, because broadband deployment discrimination mirrors structural discrimination in other sectors (like electrical power). And because a generation of unchecked corruption and corporate consolidation had hollowed out U.S. regulators like a cheap Dollar Store fake chocolate Easter bunny.

Things changed a little with two bits of 2021 legislation born out of pandemic lockdowns (and the white hot public rage at shitty broadband).

[azspot]

“Capitalists hate capitalism, but they love feudalism. Feudalism is like capitalism, in that you have a ruling class that creams off the surplus generated by labor; but under feudalism, society is organized to protect rents (money you get from owning stuff) over profits (money you get from doing stuff). The beauty of rents is that they are insulated from risk: if you own a coffee shop, you’re in constant danger of being put out of business by a better coffee shop. But if you own the building and your coffee shop tenant goes under, well, you’ve still got the building, and hey, now it’s on the same hot block as the amazing new cafe that’s driving its competitors out of business”

— Cory Doctorow

[scullys]

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER 1997 - 2003 | 5x22: "The Gift"

[girlmostlikely]

You literally have to just get over yourself every day

[bikefuckersoftheworldunite]

Velvet Goldmine (1998) dir. Todd Haynes

[sorenkingsley]

[derry-rain]

mary bennet just having the best time.

[random-brushstrokes]

Judith Müller - Europa (1952)

[marinella-ela]

[ackwardroots-deactivated2022090]

[thefugitivesaint]

Maginel Wright Enright (1877-1966), 'He Drew His Sword and Advanced Upon the Serpent', ''The Mermaid's Gift and Other Stories'' by Julia Brown, 1912

[temilades]

MEGAN THEE STALLION and DANIEL RADCLIFFE The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins — S01E05

[azspot]

“When Republicans lose power, Americans will do what democratic nations already proved possible. Congress will outlaw biometric mass surveillance, mandate full transparency across every hidden system, and dismantle the infrastructure piece by piece. The surveillance apparatus exists because Republican expansion of government power fused with incarceration incentives and security bureaucracy to construct a permanent monitoring machine. Americans will continue rejecting the system and speaking out. Courts, legislatures, and civil society will strip authority, funding, and legal protection until the surveillance state is buried.”

— Hacking Palantir

[azspot]

“Republicans are sounding the alarm about the ballooning debt and suggesting the only way to address it is to cut more programs that benefit the American people. But that raises fundamental questions about the purpose of the U.S. government. What should it do? Whom should it benefit, and why?”

— Heather Cox Richardson