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Todd Grotenhuis

See "Links, About" page to. 1) Get cybersecurity help. 2) Ask me about Underground Seminary.

Ideas

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    Cory Doctorow says there’s more to the long-game in the attention wars

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    This essay from LeGuin helps explain why her 📚 are so great: The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction

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    Food for Thought: 2018-01-08

    Here are some things I’ve found thought provoking, recently. Recommend your own in the comments.

    “The search for a more human understanding of power and consent is not simply stage-dressing for a bigger fight. It is the big fight.” Consent of the Ungoverned is a great read about sex and politics. Immensely quotable.

    Security Planner is an excellent resource from Citizen Lab. Answer a handful of super-simple questions and they will make quality, achievable recommendations on how to digitally protect yourself.

    There were at least 1129 killings by police in the USA last year, and most of the known ones started with responding to a suspected non-violent offense. Again, it’s not even clear that guns even need to be brought to those situations, as they endanger to the officer, the suspect, and bystanders. Rather, we need prioritization of de-escalation techniques and the ability to follow-up after the event.

    Related: mother isn’t allowed to see her dead, SWATted child.

    Some New Jersey prisons have banned New Jim Crow, which sorta proves the point.

    Are Technica reports on research detailing common causes for poor patents being approved. These are fundamental structural problems with the process, though fixable. As you know, I’d prefer to #AbolishIP.

    ProPublica reports on scams and malware in political ads on Facebook. But really, this isn’t just about Facebook, but any large-scale ad-driven site. (Here’s they are getting the data. Here are the ads.)

    In addition, a reminder that social media sites are becoming “news” for many people, and oppressive governments are able to delete opposition viewpoints.

    (Spoilers) This article makes the case that The Last Jedi starts to redeem the prequels.

    I’m not fully convinced, but daniel siegel makes the case that to pursue goals in computing, we often bring humans down to machine level, instead of raising machines to human level.

    New sushi place in Nora (yay!) but also new Martha Hoover restaurant (boo!)

    zing! also zing!

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    📚 2017 Book Recommendations

    Goodreads made this list from my reading, but here are my direct recommendations:

    Non-fiction:

    Fiction:

    What are your recommendations?

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    Reminder: you cannot win a debate with a gamergater, alt-righter, or any other internet troll.

    Want to know why? For starters, there's no debate to be won. They aren't there to discuss ideas and opinions. They are there to put on a show.

    You are operating in the realm of True and False, of facts vs. fiction. But they aren't operating in that realm at all. They are operating in the realm of memes, circuses, and bullshit. Whether something is true or not is irrelevant. Whether it creates the right reaction is what matters, to them.

    The best you can do is shut down the conversation: delete the posts, ban them, ignore them, whatever. Deny them their audience and platform. Don't give them anyone to entertain, perform for, or incite.

    If you want to help them (and please do), handle it personally. Talk to them without an audience. Then you may able to reason with them.

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    The Key Ingredient Is Violent Power

    Reminder: the key ingredient is violent power.

    People are often jerks. People sometimes have frightening opinions. People do things we dislike. People can be ignorant, sometimes willfully so. People are frequently selfish.

    These are problematic, so we seek empathy and enlightenment. And it is good that we do.

    But the above are not truly damaging unless they attached to violent power.

    Without violent power, these issues are an opportunity for discussion and learning.

    But when backed by the ability to call on armed men & women, the ability capture & hold people, the ability to acquire with force, and the ability to strike and kill: they become coercive and potentially deadly.

    We cannot and should not stop educating. We cannot and should not stop furthering socialization and empathy.

    But we also need to be more focused on limiting violent power and the systems that coordinate it. Too often we excuse the amassing of violent power because it is done by someone with a friendly face or someone agreeable to our causes.

    History tells us time and again that such violent power will always be abused eventually.

    Immediacy is not an excuse to trust it. Tribalism is not an excuse to trust it with “our side.”

    We must fight being distracted by opinions and strike at the root.

    Fight the power.

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