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by Maciej Drabik

a 2024 Estonian stamp from a series on electric trains

[ID: an image of a modern passenger train. the train has an abstract design that is predominantly orange and with white lines. it has four carts. end ID]

95 027 im Dampflokwerk Meiningen

any sliver of a chance i had of appreciating AI has been completely decimated by this clownery

My New Article at WIRED

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So, you may have heard about the whole zoom “AI” Terms of Service  clause public relations debacle, going on this past week, in which Zoom decided that it wasn’t going to let users opt out of them feeding our faces and conversations into their LLMs. In 10.1, Zoom defines “Customer Content” as whatever data users provide or generate (“Customer Input”) and whatever else Zoom generates from our uses of Zoom. Then 10.4 says what they’ll use “Customer Content” for, including “…machine learning, artificial intelligence.”

And then on cue they dropped an “oh god oh fuck oh shit we fucked up” blog where they pinky promised not to do the thing they left actually-legally-binding ToS language saying they could do.

Like, Section 10.4 of the ToS now contains the line “Notwithstanding the above, Zoom will not use audio, video or chat Customer Content to train our artificial intelligence models without your consent,” but it again it still seems a) that the “customer” in question is the Enterprise not the User, and 2) that “consent” means “clicking yes and using Zoom.” So it’s Still Not Good.

Well anyway, I wrote about all of this for WIRED, including what zoom might need to do to gain back customer and user trust, and what other tech creators and corporations need to understand about where people are, right now.

And frankly the fact that I have a byline in WIRED is kind of blowing my mind, in and of itself, but anyway…

Also, today, Zoom backtracked Hard. And while i appreciate that, it really feels like decided to Zoom take their ball and go home rather than offer meaningful consent and user control options. That’s… not exactly better, and doesn’t tell me what if anything they’ve learned from the experience. If you want to see what I think they should’ve done, then, well… Check the article.

Until Next Time.

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Read the rest of My New Article at WIRED at A Future Worth Thinking About

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Train passing through the night in Chongqing, China - Shenzhen Channel

Air Wonder Stories, (Gernsback, 1929-30). It was an American science fiction magazine published in 1929 and 1930 by Hugo Gernsback.

A picture of the famous German loco "Adler" ("Eagle"). It was the first steam locomotive to operate in Germany in 1835, built by George Stevenson in England. As the original loco was scrapped before 1900, the loco depicted here has been rebuilt in 1935 to celebrate 100 years of railways in Germany.

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Ein Foto der berühmten Dampflokomotive „Adler“, der ersten Dampflok Deutschlands. Sie wurde 1835 vom englischen Lokomotivbauer George Stevenson gebaut. Da das Original leider schon vor 1900 verschrottet wurde, ist auf dem Bild der Nachbau von 1935 zu sehen.

📸 Mine, in Meiningen.

Victorian Trains and Madness

The rapid rise of railway travel and the increased locomotive speeds were blamed for triggering dark desires in Victorian men, driving them to madness.

During the Victorian era, trains were suspected of an outbreak of “railway madmen” attacking fellow passengers. The new technology was thought to cause insanity (like later the radio was thought to encourage indolence). This belief persisted up until the beginning of the 20th century.

Scholars have long pointed to stories of death and disaster on the railways as proof of profound Victorian anxieties about technology.

As Professor Amy-Milne Smith wrote, “not only might you be attacked by a madman on a railway journey—you might become one.” As a result railways became associated with insanity.

[A]ccording to the more fearful Victorians, these technological achievements came at the considerable cost of mental health. As Edwin Fuller Torrey and Judy Miller wrote in The Invisible Plague: The Rise of Mental Illness from 1750 to the Present, trains were believed to “injure the brain.” In particular, the jarring motion of the train was alleged to unhinge the mind and either drive sane people mad or trigger violent outbursts from a latent “lunatic.” Medical journals at the time were very concerned about how railway madmen could be detected when their madness might lie latent. One “American Traveller” spoke of carrying a loaded revolver on trains in England because of the prospect of encounters with a “madman.” The media did its part to whip up a frenzy over railway madness. One 1864 story, starkly titled “A Madman in a Railway Carriage,” gleefully related how a burly sailor became incensed, flailing around in an erratic manner first trying to climb out of the window.... A superhuman strength gripped this aggressor and four people were required to restrain him and he had to be bound to a seat. 

The Victorian Belief That a Train Ride Could Cause Instant Insanity

Why Were Railways Unpopular In Victorian Times?

Shattered Minds: Madmen on the Railway

if you don't mind, make like a fishmonger by underscores board. i kinda wanna see what you would think it's like ¯⁠\⁠(⁠◉⁠‿⁠◉⁠)⁠/⁠¯ guess put some fish and new jersey kinda stuff in there, i also definitely want the longport water tower in the middle

thanks!

The Fish Song now has the honor of being the 600th song on my master playlist

👥 🌧️ 👥 / 🌧️ 👥 🌧️ / 👥 🌧️ 👥