Board errors

[WeepingElf]

So my impression was wrong; I apologize. I know that this problem is affecting the entire Internet, and indeed in my semi-optimistic (i.e., things get better after first getting worse) "Global Spring" near future setting (which I haven't said much about here yet, because so much is in flux there), the entire Internet collapses about 2030 under the onslaught of AI scrapers, similar to the way Usenet died about 2000 because it was helpless against spam.

This is not unlike the phenomenon of "gray goo", or indeed the inevitable end-product of AI slop constantly regurgitating itself. But don't panic; I'm sure the techbros have plans to stop it happening or to keep it under control. They're so clever!

Yes, they will do something - they'll do what is most profitable for them, and that will likely be a rebuild of the Internet as a centralized online service filled with AI slop and adverts (Napster has already announced that they will carry only AI-generated music soon).

The tech corporations eventually decide to try again the old business model of the centralized online services (like AOL or CompuServe in the early 1990s), in which they are supported by authoritarian governments, and thus replace the Internet by the Metaverse (the techbros are already talking about such a thing today)

Note for the potentially confused: this has nothing to do with what zompist.com used to be called.

Of course not; both Mark and the techbros merely picked up the same name of a fictional cyberspace (from Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash).

Well, both Usenet and the Internet are experiments in practical anarchy; one has already failed, the other is likely to fail soon.

That's an interesting insight. Remember the old saying "The Internet treats censorship as damage and routes around it"? Where's that optimism now?

Authoritarian governments (1) don't like the rhizome-like structure of the Internet because it is hard to censor and (2) listen to the techbros. And the techbros support authoritarian governments; eventually they will settle on abolishing the Internet in favour of a centralized online service. Also, authoritarian governments like AIs because those have no opinions of their own and just regurgitate what they are trained on - and because they are bringing that damn uncensorable Internet down! (This may sound a bit like malloc's paranoia, but we do have an unholy alliance of techbros and far-right politicos, and their combined power is quite considerable.)

And I have revised my decision to leave the ZBB. There are alternatives, but I don't want to miss it.

Glad to hear it!

Thank you. It pleases me to hear that many people feel as if the ZBB missed something if I left.

[malloc]

(This may sound a bit like malloc's paranoia, but we do have an unholy alliance of techbros and far-right politicos, and their combined power is quite considerable.)

Indeed. Hence my confusion when rotting bones accused left-wing critics of the tech industry of Heideggerian crypto-fascism. There is plenty of overt fascism in the tech industry.

[WeepingElf]

And the CBB can't contest with the ZBB. It is a bit of an overstatement to say that it is a bunch of conlanger wannabees who constantly churn out naïve projects that always lose momentum after a few days, and play silly games, but not very far from the truth, either. Something like the Great PIE Thread is unthinkable there (I tried, but it didn't work) - there simply is not the kind of knowledge and interest in such matters necessary to keep such a ball rolling. And the CBB also has technical issues, though of a less pervasive kind: every now and then, it logs you out, and I have lost quite a few posts that way (though I have found a rather easy way to prevent such loss: mark everything you wrote before hitting Submit, so you can paste it back into the edit window when it happens), which is annoying - though a mere nuisance compared to the outages we sometimes have here. The German-speaking Weltenbastler community is nice, but people there have very little interest in linguistics. There is of course the CONLANG mailing list, but that one has been in decline for years, and to some degree dominated by engelangers. Apart from the outages, which are a problem of the entire Internet, some crankiness in the political discussions (which I mostly ignore) and some minor nuisances such as Talskubilos (who, however, is as much a source of amusement as an annoyance - we all just laugh about his etymologies, don't we?), the ZBB is just the kind of community I want and I feel at home in. Hence, I have decided to stay here.

[bradrn]

This may sound a bit like malloc's paranoia

It really does. I’m not nearly that pessimistic.

[WeepingElf]

This may sound a bit like malloc's paranoia

It really does. I’m not nearly that pessimistic.

OK. And I am not at all sure about it, either! It is just a gut feeling I got in the current AI bot crisis - already, many web sites have set up effective countermeasures against it, so there is hope that the Internet will survive, especially if the AI bubble bursts and many AIs go out of business because they burn money rather than returning fat profits. Also, of course, pretty much everyone has a stake in the Internet, so there is enough motivation to keep it alive and running. A future without Internet is about as likely as a future without railroads, or one without aviation - i.e., not likely at all. Hence, I have decided to remove the death of the Internet from my future history.

[alice]

and some minor nuisances such as Talskubilos (who, however, is as much a source of amusement as an annoyance - we all just laugh about his etymologies, don't we?)

Especially the ones that are obviously borrowed from somewhere else.

[quinterbeck]

Note for the potentially confused: this has nothing to do with what zompist.com used to be called.

I wasn't confused but now I'm curious! What prior name are you referring to?

Also I love your current signature

[alice]

Note for the potentially confused: this has nothing to do with what zompist.com used to be called.

I wasn't confused but now I'm curious! What prior name are you referring to?

It used to be called "The Metaverse", the source of which (and the potential confusing) is explained above by WeepingElf.

Also I love your current signature

Aha, someone's noticed! It's quoted from what I remember of the end of a parody of a certain type of overheated Victorian novel, which was printed in either Not 1981 or Not 1982, and tells the story of a newlywed couple who go to stay in an inn, whereupon the wife suddenly finds herself at the mercy of a particularly revolting villain, only to be foiled by the hero's heroic narrative actions.

[bradrn]

Aha, someone's noticed! It's quoted from what I remember of the end of a parody of a certain type of overheated Victorian novel, which was printed in either Not 1981 or Not 1982, and tells the story of a newlywed couple who go to stay in an inn, whereupon the wife suddenly finds herself at the mercy of a particularly revolting villain, only to be foiled by the hero's heroic narrative actions.

Oh, I’ve noticed, just never found the right moment to mention it! I thought you made it up yourself… if you can find the source again I’d love to read the whole thing.

[malloc]

This may sound a bit like malloc's paranoia

It really does. I’m not nearly that pessimistic.

Some might call it paranoia or pessimism, but I consider it caution. Given the incredible stakes of this technology, it makes sense to worry about what will happen if it comes to fruition. Admittedly my rhetoric has often tended toward hyperbole and frenzy and perhaps I could have expressed my point better.

[WeepingElf]

This may sound a bit like malloc's paranoia

It really does. I’m not nearly that pessimistic.

Some might call it paranoia or pessimism, but I consider it caution. Given the incredible stakes of this technology, it makes sense to worry about what will happen if it comes to fruition. Admittedly my rhetoric has often tended toward hyperbole and frenzy and perhaps I could have expressed my point better.

I am pretty much worried about the same things as you are (and I have a similar neurological condition to yours), but I have learned not to be swayed too much by the bad news, and focus on the good news. There are plenty of people who work against the problems, and have good solutions for many of them. And that gives me hope and confidence that the current crisis can be overcome.

[alice]

Aha, someone's noticed! It's quoted from what I remember of the end of a parody of a certain type of overheated Victorian novel, which was printed in either Not 1981 or Not 1982, and tells the story of a newlywed couple who go to stay in an inn, whereupon the wife suddenly finds herself at the mercy of a particularly revolting villain, only to be foiled by the hero's heroic narrative actions.

Oh, I’ve noticed, just never found the right moment to mention it! I thought you made it up yourself… if you can find the source again I’d love to read the whole thing.

Correction: 1982, and 1983, not 1981 and 1982. Alas, however, my copy of the source is lost, and has been for decades, and you'll be very lucky to find another copy for a price you're willing to pay.

[WeepingElf]

Have had "Too many requests" a few times earlier today.

[Raphael]

Have had "Too many requests" a few times earlier today.

Same.

[Travis B.]

Have had "Too many requests" a few times earlier today.

Same.

Same here.

[Man in Space]

I as well.

[Raphael]

I just got a email alert telling me that someone had quoted me in a post back on September 1st.

[Raphael]

A few errors today again.

[Man in Space]

Hey zomp—do you have an llms.txt file set up for the site? Like the standard robots.txt?