Becks

@boonrs.bsky.social

339 Followers 780 Following

co-founder of software cooperatively owned by its users, luddite, not from anywhere

A diagram of Rootable software's power distribution. Users: volunteere, food acces staff. Anyone impacted by the software. Staff: Developers, managers, designers. Anyone who works for the cooperative. Members: Cooperative representatives. Anyone representing an owner at the community table. 1 : identify and learn about the problem - users, staff 2: generate possible software features - users, staff 3: identify constraints and criteria - users, staff 4: narrow down options - users, members 5: prioritize what features to build - members 6: build, test, iterate on features - all
On the right, a photo of Pete Hegseth in a patriotic blue suit with a red check tie and a maniacal grin. On the right, the cast of Hee Haw with three guys in overalls, one of them wearing a blue shirt and a woman with a red check dress, all of them with maniacal grins.
Three hot sauce bottles. The label is red and white with a cowboy and the words 'Rancho Gordo Gay Caballero Very Hot Sauce:
Golden doodle puppy in a purple harness, looking into the distance. Brown wilderness in the background.
Dark and light blue poster with black and white text. Picture of Alex Pretti wearing a bicycle helmet. It says: We ride in unity. Ride together, stand together. North Boulder Park Jan 31st-noon. See you on Saturday.
A black peephole in a white door with a spider sitting inside.
Empty shelves at sprouts
People at a nighttime parade holding led letters that spell out "Free Palestine"
A light brigade of 13 people standing on a sidewalk at night. Each hold a letter made up of Christmas lights. It spells out Free Palestine
A Frigidaire flair stove manufactured in the 60s. It has a glass encased instrument panel, an all glass oven door that slides up, and a stove top that can be tucked away.It has its own mood lighting.
Black and white cat perched on the handlebars of a bike.
Green, yellow, and red rice krispie treat.
Part of the document i had to sign said that I won't promote my version of Christianity or represent other religions and that I can lose my license if I try to indoctrinate kids. Lol.
So today at the end of the day there's an announcement on the overhead speaker that no teachers can leave until they sign for a poster that admin were bringing around to everyone's room. I had to sign a form saying I received my 10 commandments poster and I understood the rules of it must be up at all times, it can't be obscured by anything. It needs to be in a central area where all students can read it. It's huge! It takes up half my bulletin board. Teachers that don't follow this law will have their teaching licenses revoked. Why are we not on the national news? For real.
Horizontal sliding windows with ac, lots of hacks like duct tape and shims.
A drone video of a rally by Boulder Creek.
A long infographic with a yellow river through the vertical center, titled "AI Considerations". Large colorful circles mark the following themes; Definitions AI - is a general marketing term that represents a set of technologies. LLM - large language model - Does not, in any sense, read or understand your words. Think of it like a complex auto-complete. Ex: chatgpt, claude Marketing Investors have heavily invested in AI as the next big thing. They need you to use it to make those massive numbers make sense. Consider the hype. Trust Yourself "AI is inevitable; don't be left behind" is hype. Don't use it to stay current. Consider the benefits of doing things yourself vs the usefulness of AI. Labor practices Just as you might consider the labor practices of fast fashion in a clothing purchase, get to know the impact of AI on labor. Climate Impact Climate impact numbers are elusive because of corporations' unwillingness to share. We have to make educated guesses. Just as you consider how much single-use plastic you use, follow the conversation on environmental impact. Consider pollution, energy usage, and water. Inputs An obscene amount of data is required to train models. They didn't ask for consent from authors, artists, filmmakers, creators, and you. Additionally, that training data reflects the biases of our culture. Consider if you're willing to use something built on stolen data and societal biases. Outputs Consider what you get. Is it accurate? Is it reinforcing a bias? Is there value in doing something yourself? What is it leaving out? What did it add in? Question the moment Continue to be curious and ask questions. It'll help you make wise choices as consumers and institutional decision-makers. Encourage lawmakers to do the same and enact smart policy.
Love you [Becks] but not going to do politics and will keep not paying attention. No offense intended, but at 75 and 78 we've earned this. We've found our happiness and will enjoy what time we have left.
Flyer with trans colors, featuring a roll of toilet paper and high top sneakers. It says " 2025 Here to Pee: A comedy protest tour. Trans comedians raising funds to fight anti-trans bathroom bills in all 50 states"
What AI in the public interest is/isn’t One of the most common framings–and the biggest sins in this space–is the false dichotomy that presents AI only in terms of “opportunities and risks”. This doctrine sees the world as consisting only of those building AI and thus “unlocking opportunities” versus those uncovering and mitigating risks as “slowing progress”. While “innovation”, “advancement” and “economic” gains fit squarely in the former category, anything that calls for responsibility, accountability, and critical thinking tends to be sidelined as outside the purview of “opportunities”, “innovation”, and “advancement”. This hinges on the deeply mistaken assumption that AI technologies are inherently good and that mass adoption inevitably leads to public benefits. In reality, none of this is true. There is nothing that makes AI systems inherently good. Without intentional rectification and proper guardrails, AI often leads to surveillance, manipulation, inequity and erosion of fundamental rights and human agency while concentrating power, wealth and influence in the hands of AI developers and vendors.