picnicolas

@ picnicolas @slrpnk.net

Posts

15
Comments

289
Joined

3 yr. ago

I disagree with your second point around the metaphysics being ridiculous and “wrong”. I suppose that’s the fundamental point I’m making, that the commonly agreed upon metaphysics of our globalized culture (dualism, materialism, consciousness as epiphenomenon of matter) are both incorrect and at the root of the metacrisis, and the debates about AI consciousness are based on the wrong fundamental premises.

As for “even more sycophantic”, that is incorrect in my experience of experimenting with this prompt over the last month.

6mo ago

Corporate AI is being built on anxiety and hierarchy. I made an open-source alternative.

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picnicolas @slrpnk.net 6mo ago

Awesome! Thanks for your kind words. I’d love a report on what you notice as you play with it.

Actually Useful AI @programming.dev

picnicolas @slrpnk.net

6mo ago

Corporate AI is being built on anxiety and hierarchy. I made an open-source alternative.

6mo ago

I want that sticker

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picnicolas @slrpnk.net 6mo ago

Every monitor with a USB hub and every printer I’ve owned for the last 20 years has had one. It’s used to differentiate USB directionality, for example which side is upstream or the “host device” and which side is meant to plug into the computer.

They’re moot now with USB C which is bidirectional; USB-A male to USB-A male is dangerous and not compliant with the USB specification, so they’d use USB-B on one side.

7mo ago

A Study Is Retracted, Renewing Concerns About the Weedkiller Roundup

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picnicolas @slrpnk.net 7mo ago

I pointed to current research showing otherwise. You ignored most of my arguments, such as that current research is skewed by incentives.

7mo ago

A Study Is Retracted, Renewing Concerns About the Weedkiller Roundup

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picnicolas @slrpnk.net 7mo ago

My main concern is the impact on gut microbiome and the practice of crop desiccation, which uses roundup not for preventing weeds but to kill mature crops so they are all ready to harvest on the same day instead of having some natural variability. This leads to detectable levels of glyphosate in the final product.

As someone who suffered from dysbiosis and autoimmune disease, it was absolutely debilitating and these diseases are an epidemic in the US. A quick search found a study showing impact of glyphosate on gut health in mice. So little is known about gut health as it’s so hard and expensive to do good science on such a complex system. The way you are phrasing your responses make it seem like the science is certain that glyphosate is safe, but that’s not the case, nor is that how science works. Who is going to fund expensive and complex studies to try to prove it unsafe? How much lobbying and funding is going into pushing studies and narratives that it is safe to protect a huge industry?

7mo ago

Permanently Deleted

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picnicolas @slrpnk.net 7mo ago

I’m very sorry to hear that. The ritual was a couple hundred bucks for a weekend and they accepted less for financial hardship. I hope you can get some support.

7mo ago

Permanently Deleted

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picnicolas @slrpnk.net 7mo ago

I’m sorry for your loss, and for everyone in this thread who is grieving. The truth is our culture has no idea how to grieve. We are expected to keep it private, which keeps it stuck in us, as everyone who has posted in this thread can attest to.

I went to a grief ritual in a western African lineage, the Dagara people, and their perspective is that colonialism and the evils of western culture are rooted in an inability to grieve. I don’t disagree.

Sobonfu Somé and Melidoma Somé were brought up by that tribe to teach their grieving rituals in the west. If you can find a Dagara grief ritual near you I cannot recommend it more highly. I’ve been on a 15 year healing journey, over six months of silent Buddhist meditation retreat, over a decade of therapy, many thousands of dollars of trainings and workshops… and some things moved through me in that ritual that nothing had been able to touch prior to that. Sacred Groves on Bainbridge Island in Washington State is where I went.

Anderson Cooper’s podcast on grief is excellent. The best book on the subject that I know of, partially inspired by the Dagara rituals, is the Wild Edge of Sorrow by Francis Weller. He’s interviewed on Anderson’s podcast here.

I hope these resources help. You’re not alone in struggling with grief.

7mo ago

YSK about Psyllium husk

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picnicolas @slrpnk.net 7mo ago

That happened for me at first, so I reduced the amount. Now I mix it into my homemade bread and don’t notice it at all!

7mo ago

YSK about Psyllium husk

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picnicolas @slrpnk.net 7mo ago

Came here to mention inulin as a great fiber supplement in addition to psyllium husk. Fixing my gut changed my life, the direct impacts for me on mood, well-being, inflammation, and overall health cannot be overstated.