Karsten Schmidt

https://mastodon.thi.ng/@toxi

Intoxicating, non-toxic! 27+ years of interdisciplinary opensource R&D, software dev, computational art/design/craft/edu, landscape/nature photography, darkroom, kallitypes, electronic music. Trying to do meaningful work. Creator & maintainer of the thi.ng ecosystem of 200+ code libraries.

Except boosts/linked content, all published media is my own work & copyright by me. Most posts delete >2 months.

Available for consulting/commissions. Searchable.

he/him

#ThingUmbrella #TypeScript #Zig #Forth #LandscapePhotography #AltProcess #Darkroom #Kallitype #Geometry #AlgorithmicArt #GenerativeArt #PermaComputing #Music4Coding #Hiking

Location: Bavaria (DE)
Web: https://thi.ng
Support my opensource work: https://codeberg.org/thi.ng/umbrella/src/branch/develop/CONTRIBUTING.md#donations
GitHub: https://github.com/thi-ng
Codeberg: https://codeberg.org/thi.ng/
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/toxi
fx(hash): https://www.fxhash.xyz/u/toxi

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npub1lfn827aqxvg9gxel64vxnpjkkundr0khkeh568asjp6qft8csd0ses5lyy

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[email protected]

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nprofile1qqs05en40wsrxyz5rvla2krfsettwfk3hmtmvm6dr7cfqaqy4nugxhcprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmntqyqqulacvj

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relay.momostr.pink

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npub1lfn827aqxvg9gxel64vxnpjkkundr0khkeh568asjp6qft8csd0ses5lyy

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Published at

2026-07-14T10:59:07+02:00

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Last Notes

2026-07-11 10:18:28 CEST

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Strong James Turrell vibes! https://youtu.be/6TGzvDamBZQ?t=410

2026-07-09 09:10:19 CEST

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I second that! Thank you, Tim! Read it last night, on to the other longer one today... :)

2026-07-05 22:28:18 CEST

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Btw. Here's the aforementioned beautiful scene from "Smoke" about photographing the same view of a street corner thousands of time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8WmkAh2nXE
#Photography #Cinema #TimeFade

2026-07-04 18:17:48 CEST

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More about the larger project:
In a moving key scene of the 1995 film "Smoke", William Hurt and Harvey Keitel are browsing through photo albums of thousands of images taken by Harvey's character of the same view of a street corner, every morning at 8am. Their conversation is pondering the more permanent nature of a place itself vs the daily flux and ephemeralness of individual lives inhabiting it, incl. accidental snapshots of loved ones (like William's character's wife), who passed away meanwhile...
During my London years, for 10 years I worked thousands of days on a bench in Highgate Woods, creating some of my best work there. When I found that bench, perfectly located, I too was reminded of Castaneda's concept of "finding your spot", a place which so strongly resonates with you, that you immediately recognize it when you find it. As Harvey Keitel's Auggie character in "Smoke", I too felt a strong desire to document this place each day I went there to work.
Whilst I still have to properly process these thousands of images, I found that my recent life near the Alps and my rekindled passion for vintage photography processes, offers unique opportunities to extend this time horizon and create comparisons which document longer term changes humans have done to places, directly and indirectly, sometimes subtle, oftentimes quite shocking.
The approach I'm taking with this project is partially only possible due to the long history of tourism in the Alps. Because of that, there're copious amounts of research material available as reference for reconstruction/restaging: vintage postcards, photographs, brochures, maps etc.
This series will not only focus on mountains or glaciers, but also the urbanization (extreme in some cases) of alpine settlements/communities and their transformation into tourism hotspots, driving massive infrastructure projects to support these new demands and causing widespread changes to surrounding landscapes.
If you have any interesting places to propose, please do get in touch! Thank you! 🙏
#Timefade #LandscapePhotography #Photography #Art #History #Environment #Alps #Mountains

2026-07-04 18:17:04 CEST

New long term photography project: Timefade — prints and animations documenting alpine places and their changes over decades or a century.
First place completed: Breslauer Hütte and the glaciers of the Gurgler Range. Two images from the same location, separated by 103 years: 1923 and 2026.
The hut was built in 1882 and has undergone several restorations and extensions. The major peaks from left to right: Großer Ramolkogel, Hinterer Spiegelkogel, Firmisanschneide, Schalfkogel, all between 3400-3550m
The shrinkage of the glaciers in this view might seem rather small for a time span of a century, but it's worth remembering that most of the volume losses have only been during the past 25-50 years and the melting process itself is exponential and accelerating... Secondly, for a size/scale reference: On the rightmost glacier (Diem-Ferner), the elevation difference between the top edge of the side moraine and the glacier creek is now >100 meters (more than a 30 storey building)...
It might only be two photos (some more are already in progress), but production involved several weeks of library research (see below) of suitable locations and images, feasibility studies on old & current maps trying to determine photo spots, lenses and viewing angles from where the original pictures were taken, travel and hiking logistics, then taking dozens of photos from different candidate points in situ. Back home after the shoot: Testing different candidate images for best match/alignment potential, tweaking and fine tuning their perspectives, video editing...
Image credits:
The 1923 photograph (author unknown) is from the AKON vintage postcard collection of the Österreichische National Bibliothek: https://akon.onb.ac.at/#id=AKON_AK097_437
The 2026 photograph is by me, taken 24/06/2026 (for future reference)
More about the larger project in the thread below...
#Timefade #LandscapePhotography #Photography #Art #History #Alps #Mountains #Urbanism #Environment #ClimateChange
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/862/603/835/050/102/original/b085724c455ac194.mp4

2026-06-23 08:30:04 CEST

Non-uniform distribution
(@npub1hkl…9agh, please help! 😂)
Also, if you look closely, I'm not sure if these are tadpoles of two species... Are the larger grayish ones going to be toads, or maybe just older?
#TextureTuesday #NaturePhotography #Abstract #Biology #Tadpoles
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/795/972/583/637/232/original/f1cf9d374db411f0.jpg

2026-06-16 23:32:30 CEST

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50MP! 🤯 I'm still rocking an iPhone 11 with only 12MP... no problems there! :)

2026-06-16 22:03:48 CEST

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I thought images & videos are being transcoded server side anyhow? Never ran into any problems myself, but it's a good point to keep in mind... Maybe worth filing an issue about that?

2026-06-16 21:58:41 CEST

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I've uninstalled any Mastodon mobile apps and been using https://phanpy.social in Firefox for the past year or so. Works just as well and I love the UI and features it has...

2026-06-10 17:24:57 CEST

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Depending server software, you might be able to author posts in Markdown (e.g. I'm using glitchsoc on my instance)#
Enormous font##
...or a little smaller(Let's hope this works :)

2026-06-09 16:27:19 CEST

Phew... Just been informed that, https://thi.ng/, my labor of (open source) love of many, many years is on the front page of HN:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48437743
(Thank you, @npub12sq…6w0r for informing me... 🙏 I was already wondering why quite a few people started following me today — welcome!)

2026-06-09 16:20:06 CEST

That cringe Apple-commissioned Erick The Architect app store rap at the end of the WWDC keynote has gotta be conceptually & culturally one of the farthest points hiphop has come/turned from its original roots. Pure cultural re-appropriation, like a Punk song commissioned by the Tories or Consolidated performing at Turning Point. Sampling the aesthetics of a (sub)culture whilst voiding everything it stood for, leaving nothing but an empty husk, facade, stylistic symbols. It's not the first time nor the last, of course. Corporatized attempts to be "edgy" (?) whilst leaving any edginess or originality at the first pre-production Zoom call with lyrics based on the Apple Intelligence prompt: "Write some child friendly rap lyrics using as many iOS app names as possible"...
🤮
(I remember Rob Dougan telling me once that you can make much more $$$ from a 30-second car advert in the US (in the early 2000s) than a #1 album in Europe. I guess the same is true for contemporary rappers taking on gigs like the above...)
#Apple #WWDC #Hiphop

2026-06-06 21:36:58 CEST

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Heh! That also reminds me the River Avon tautology in England (and in NZ). Avon stemming from the Brittonic "abona", i.e. "river" :)

2026-06-06 20:52:31 CEST

RE: https://eldritch.cafe/@VioB/116704420025821004
File under: Ignorance (of other cultures/languages) is bliss... always has been
#note19w6…nt65

2026-06-04 13:45:15 CEST

A/B testing latest refinements (more depth, better details in clouds/highlights and contrast in mid tones). First image is the new version. Next stop double size, 14x10"...
#AltProcess #Kallitype #LandscapePhotography #Photography #BlackAndWhite #NoirCountry #Dolomites #DarkroomPrint #PrintMaking
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/691/665/820/422/493/original/7f1dce06ee8e0328.jpg
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/691/665/820/600/453/original/4834e28c7feb1d43.jpg

2026-06-01 16:05:34 CEST

Monochrome thi.ng (2022)
An old exploration using only circles and the SDF-based fully parametric typeface I created as part of the work on my S-TRACE piece...
See here for other related WIP of this perpetually unfinished project:
https://mastodon.thi.ng/@toxi/tagged/STRACE
#MonochromeMonday #GenerativeArt #AlgorithmicArt #SDF #Typography #NegativeSpace #Animation #Loop
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/675/230/503/699/576/original/0b101391abcead6c.mp4

2026-05-29 15:16:14 CEST

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On the way to Roßgundscharte Pt.2 (2021)
#FootpathFriday #LandscapePhotography #BlackAndWhite #Photography #Alps #Mountains #Hiking
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/658/049/687/559/333/original/7a1c84888e23aba0.jpg

2026-05-29 14:48:07 CEST

On the way to Roßgundscharte (2021)
#FootpathFriday #LandscapePhotography #BlackAndWhite #Photography #Alps #Mountains #Hiking
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/657/939/186/788/159/original/c2a6c6f156cca0d0.jpg

2026-05-27 12:02:33 CEST

Ed Zitron's new mega piece "Revenge of The Business Idiot":
https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-revenge-of-the-business-idiot/
Some choice nuggets & quotes:
"LLMs impress the writers who do not want to write, the coders who don’t want to code, the researchers who don’t want to research, and the lawyers that don’t want to actually understand case law. Those that desperately tell you how powerful AI is and that you simply must use it are looking for you to validate their own laziness or distaste for effort, and those who are impressed with LLMs’ outputs tend to be people with low standards."
"The aggression with which AI boosters and executives act toward those who aren’t impressed suggests a genuine intellectual and moral weakness. Nobody who’s this insistent, aggressive and violative with their language of “it’s here and if you don’t adopt it you’re stupid and dead” has ever been right about anything. Nobody this desperate, insistent and forceful has ever had good intentions, good vibes or brought good omens — they are always bearers of some kind of con."
"Only an economy oriented around coveting and coddling losers would have let AI get this far. Every single story about AI has to either directly gloss over the obvious financial and technological issues or start speaking in the kinds of vague theoreticals reserved for cults and multi-level marketing scams."
"CEOs are uniquely prone to AI psychosis because they’re sufficiently distant from the last mile of work that still has to happen to generate most value with AI." — Aaron Levie, CEO of Box
#NoAI

2026-05-26 11:24:23 CEST

Decades Of Biopatina
Layers upon layers, signs/patterns of struggle, opportunism, reaction diffusion, on the walls of a 150 year old building complex in the mountains...
#TextureTuesday #NaturePhotography #Macro #Fungi #Mould #Texture #Abstract
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/640/150/988/908/215/original/296dec22fcb24c87.jpg
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/640/142/965/913/587/original/e8fd7f724dbdd744.jpg
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/640/151/123/600/636/original/3926e37aaf4197f1.jpg
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/640/142/998/120/869/original/6c9dbace660f8277.jpg

2026-05-21 10:44:41 CEST

Color Therapy. Noisy evolution.
Two snapshots of my piece C-SCAPE, 2022, a multi-organism 1.5D cellular automata simulation. Patterns of symbiosis and annihilation.
Made with https://thi.ng/cellular
#CSCAPE #CellularAutomata #GenerativeArt #AlgorithmicArt #EvolutionaryArt #Abstract #Color #Texture #ThingUmbrella #NoAI
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/611/683/478/012/516/original/b5022cd1506b6ab7.jpg
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/611/683/458/234/355/original/1140be71c6b763c2.jpg

2026-05-20 19:30:04 CEST

Stuibenfall, Tyrol's largest waterfall (October 2025)
A major landslide on the opposite side of the main Ötztal valley around 7000 years ago created a new 300-400 meter tall hill on this side, acting as a dam and causing a large lake to form in the higher up side valley. The water from that lake then slowly carved its way through the rocks, draining the lake and forming this amazing waterfall. The boundary of that ancient lake is still visible on the satellite view...
7000 years might feel a long time ago, but it's worth keeping in mind that this valley had been already partially populated for over 2000 years when this event occurred. How's that for a time horizon to ponder on for a moment?!
#WaterfallWednesday #NaturePhotography #Video #POV #Austria #Geology #History
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/608/057/497/192/442/original/a1f5523ca30e08bd.mp4

2026-05-20 14:18:55 CEST

PSA: Not that it was ambiguous beforehand, but these are times for stating things more clearly...
All #ThingUmbrella package readme files are now clearly stating that these projects are "LLM-free, human-made and cared for software, maintained as part of the https://thi.ng/umbrella ecosystem and anti-framework" 🫡
I cared for and tended this garden of hundreds of projects almost daily for close to 10 years[1] (even if the commit heatmap doesn't always show it). It's a testament to the things I've learned, built, explored and tried to share with the world, things which helped numerous people and companies (big & small) to realize their unique projects/products/services. I'm not gonna sacrifice this body of work and all this cohesion by watering/poisoning it with slopicides[2] and/or making it dependent on the great planetary token machine...
In The Handmaid's Tale, I always found the moment about "freedom from" vs "freedom to" very poignant, albeit in a different/inverted sense to how it was used there: Traditionally, Open Source licenses have granted freedoms "to" certain things, especially unconstrained uses. But if licenses still have any meaning at all (highly debatable in this climate/age), we increasingly need alternative licenses/mechanisms to also grant our creations freedoms "from" certain uses/practices/people/orgs...
[1] ...only the TypeScript/Umbrella parts counted here. Many other thi.ng projects are much older...
[2] Have I just coined a new word?!
#ThingUmbrella #OpenSource #NoAI

2026-05-20 10:18:05 CEST

#ReleaseDay https://thi.ng/column-store introduces support for arbitrarily nested queries and merging of sub-query results using a choice of AND (intersection/constraint), OR (union/alternative) or NAND/NOR (negated versions) semantics.
https://docs.thi.ng/umbrella/column-store/#nested-queries
Also without query nesting, each individual query term's results can be merged as union now. The previous behavior only allowed for term result intersections, with each subsequent term further narrowing the total result set. This behavior limited the types of compound queries possible and therefore required multiple separate queries and additional user effort to merge results manually. Well, no more! :)
https://docs.thi.ng/umbrella/column-store/#term-union
Another (intentional) side effect: Since queries are defined declaratively, creating complex queries is much easier (and legible) now via composition and re-use of predefined sub-queries. The support for nesting also simplifies the creation of user-defined query DSLs (domain specific languages).
As before, for columns with bitmap indexing enabled, most of the query operators are extremely fast since only bit masks need to be combined and no actual row or column data is being visited. The latter is only necessary for predicate-based matchXXX() operators...
#ThingUmbrella #OpenSource #Database #QueryEngine #TypeScript #BitField

2026-05-18 17:58:54 CEST

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🤩 Another year, time for another re-watch of:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fArB5Jz2wos
#Loowit #MtStHelens #Volcano #Anniversary

2026-05-18 16:11:18 CEST

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I made a name generator to help with brainstorming for my sons' game, using a similar (but slightly more complex) system (press "regenerate" for new results):
https://demo.thi.ng/umbrella/procedural-text/#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
Most of the results are questionable, but occasionally there're some interesting outcomes...
You can easily extend/adapt/customize it. If you want, look at other examples from the dropdown or the package readme here: https://thi.ng/procedural-text
#ProcGen #TextGeneration #AlgorithmicArt #DSL #ThingUmbrella

2026-05-18 09:34:16 CEST

RE: https://mastodon.thi.ng/@toxi/116594414069573576
PSA for other people interested in my prints/photography/art:

2026-05-17 19:49:04 CEST

My nervousness is rising & palpable... The new transparencies arrived and I'm currently printing the digital negative for my first 11x15 inch (28x38 cm) kallitype. The amount of detail should be incredible at this size. Already mixed & topped up all chems/solutions, exercised my brushing skills (for applying emulsion)... The first large(r)-format printing session happening later tonight (after some Kelly Kettle evening coffee to celebrate the return of spring)...
#AltProcess #Kallitype #Darkroom #PrintMaking #DigitalNegative

2026-05-17 10:30:11 CEST

Magic Moment (when the view finally opens up)
(On the way to Drachensee, October 2023)
#SilentSunday #LandscapePhotography #Alps #Mountains #Forest #Hiking
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/588/977/206/473/699/original/3a675b990c4ea70e.jpg

2026-05-16 18:53:54 CEST

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This is simply wonderful (and your pictures & documentation too)! 🤩
(Btw. I expected a classic 8-page zine, and was (positvely) shocked by the 100 page PDF...)

2026-05-16 17:32:28 CEST

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Yeah, same frequency. Also boosted that thread earlier... :)

2026-05-15 16:04:10 CEST

Icy Path (2026)
(Fresh layer of snow in the mountains this week. Though this image is from a month ago...)
#FootpathFriday #LandscapePhotography #Ice #Alps #Mountains #Hiking
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/578/965/847/322/079/original/158944139882f169.jpg

2026-05-15 13:06:19 CEST

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Yes, same here. I read about the Antnhropic takeover and then more recently (late April or so) someone having a personal experimental Rust port underway. Then suddenly it's official and already merged 🤯... It all feels so extremely half-baked, but nothing surprises me any more when it comes to this company/industry...

2026-05-15 12:19:22 CEST

Released as a single humongous monolithic pull request within a week since opening, the kind of ad-hoc, uncoordinated, trigger-happy, just-because-we-can attitude of the #Bun "LLM Rust rewrite" is so symbolic of the cultural shift many people & orgs are undergoing, where their focus has moved almost exclusively to quantity & speed-to-market (aka "higher productivity"), completely shoving aside long-term goals and considerations, incl. design principles/strategies, maintainability, safety, but also so many social aspects (e.g. organically grown community/staff, organizational skills/knowledge/understanding, much of it tacit, sometimes built up over decades), consideration of downstream effects, compatibility/composability, costs (not just your own) etc. All of these things, this loss of culture, seems to be treated as easily sacrificable third-class factors, or which are simply assumed to be automatable (and therefore replaceable, unnecessary) in the new mindset. It's uncanny!
The engine can't/mustn't be slowed or halted, and it needs more fodder! Only with maximum speed can we accelerate it enough to jump over the coming chasm, straight into the singularity...
In these developments, I too see very strong parallels to a similar goldrush mindset which emerged during the NFT years and has changed digital/algorithmic/generative art for years to come, and which has similarly 180° reorientated the focus, work & value systems of many artists/peers...
#OpenSource #Culture #AlgorithmicArt #GenerativeArt

2026-05-14 21:47:09 CEST

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Thank you! That's great to hear, since Fixxons might be a little easier to get hold of in the future. I just wasn't sure if it's offering/allowing a similar print density as my beloved Pictorico...
Best of luck with your outdoor exposures/adventures! :) Thank you for sharing and allowing us to follow along...

2026-05-14 19:29:21 CEST

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I always love the printing-out effect with salt printing. What did you end up with as exposure time, now that you've dialed it all in more? Also, just out of interest, which transparencies are you using? Pictorico? Fixons? (I've just re-ordered the former, but looking for experience reports for the latter...)

2026-05-14 15:51:14 CEST

#ReleaseThursday Happy to announce that https://thi.ng/units finally has a little CLI wrapper to perform not only simple unit conversions, but also more advanced calculations, using the existing Lisp-like S-expression based DSL and built-in units and constants.
https://docs.thi.ng/umbrella/units/#cli-usage
The CLI also provides a list command to print out the 172 built-in units, their canonical symbol, any aliases and full names. The output can also be filtered via optional regexp pattern. See attached readme screenshots & more advanced linked example:
https://mastodon.thi.ng/@toxi/116043223284662742
Hope some of you find this as useful as I do! Any questions, please ask!
#ThingUmbrella #UnitConversion #CLI #Calculator #TypeScript #Lisp #DSL
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/573/252/705/606/071/original/bcc21eb262d4903c.png
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/573/252/705/650/662/original/bd1e22a87d55677d.png

2026-05-13 17:12:18 CEST

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😂 Petition to introduce #CompoundWordOfTheDay

2026-05-13 16:55:10 CEST

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Same here. It's going to the post office tonight or tomorrow... :)

2026-05-13 16:50:40 CEST

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That'd be the best of both worlds, and you just proved how easily it's done! If Shakespeare took the liberty to just make up 1600+ new words, so can you/anyone. Just need to form a compoundwordnormalizationlaunchplanningcommittee and get on with it (maybe also invite some ObjectiveC/Java engineers for extra creative help :)

2026-05-13 15:50:34 CEST

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Yeah, so much for technology being the great liberator/savior. In theory maybe, but not if the larger systems are aligned for the opposite goal...

2026-05-13 15:43:05 CEST

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If the German language's superpower is its infinite potential for compound words[1], then verbing definitely is English's superpower. Both can produce amazing eloquence... Still, after 23+ years in UK, mentally, I much rather continue to dwell in that realm of verbing, even after I had to return to the "kingdom of nouns"[2] due to Brexit...
[1] A great example (song title): Peter Kruder's Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänskajütenremix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLu2kD15mFU
[2] A little unrelated (other than the title), but also see: https://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/03/execution-in-kingdom-of-nouns.html

2026-05-13 15:00:56 CEST

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Fully agree! Can only see this challenge happening via some form of self-inflicted "correction" trigger, e.g. circular financing schemes running out of steam, increased risk or unwillingness/inability to fully commission hyperscale data centers, e.g. see Microsoft's challenges in Kenya and general DC cancellations in US... It seems things are moving (more)...
https://thekenyatimes.com/world-news/microsoft-ke-data-center/
https://tech-insider.org/us-ai-data-center-delays-cancellations-7gw-capacity-crisis-2026/

2026-05-13 13:57:59 CEST

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That's be great, but as long as AI is the only perceived growth engine left running, I'm not sure there's political will for this (anywhere) to throw any spanners into its more widespread adoption...

2026-05-13 13:49:25 CEST

Today's instant goosebumps energy (and so, so glad they did eventually release this remix of Antonio's earlier track) — play it loud!
Antonio Ruscito & Luigi Tozzi - Alodrone (2025)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGs5ySm6npw
#Music4Coding #AntonioRuscito #LuigiTozzi

2026-05-13 12:50:44 CEST

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Yeah, the map is becoming the terrain... just another instance of it! 😩

2026-05-13 12:22:30 CEST

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Ooops... Maybe I should also post the image I was referring to... 😉
#LandscapePhotography #NaturePhotography #Erosion #SandPyramids #Dolomites
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/566/769/613/625/726/original/b109159ee04328c5.jpg

2026-05-13 12:13:43 CEST

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Ok, I grant that direct political polls using this method are probably some ways out, but indirectly using simulated polls to easier support a company's position/strategy to then use as tool for lobbying purposes to impact/nudge policies isn't that far fetched at all... Regulators & politicians are picking up these polls and using them (in part) for decision making, just as is done already. But the danger here is that these polls do not represent actual people's opinions, and that all sorts of subtle biases can be introduced via agent modeling/prompting, even more so than via clever formulation and framing of questions in traditional polls (plus let's not forget all the pretrained biases in the LLM corpus). The proposed approach is much more open for increased gaming & manipulation, akin to the impact dangers of Polymarkets on policy making & insider trading etc. Conceptually, this simulated approach also fully embraces the idea of intersectional demographic groups only exhibiting "hive mind" behaviors, maybe with a modeled x% contrarian rate...

2026-05-13 11:32:07 CEST

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Thank you for this, Tim! Listening to it now, very fascinating and right up my street! :) I particularly liked the insight about the Alps still rising (the peaks at least) because of erosion, material being carried away and the resulting lighter load. Makes so much sense, but also somewhat counterintuitive...
As for the self-similarity, I love it too and I'd guess it's down to fractal effects happening at all scales, a lot of it maybe also erosion related, and down to these rocks mostly being relatively soft and uniform composition (limestone). Maybe this homogeneity somewhat amplifies/encourages the appearance of self-similar structures, as you can also see in this photo of the sand pyramids in Terento (Northern Dolomites, also mostly erosion features)... but that's all just me guessing!
Maybe @npub1xsu…my8g would know more about that (or at least some more pointers for further reading)? 😉🙏

2026-05-13 10:11:45 CEST

Simulated opinion polls to drive public policy — what could possibly go wrong!
In the name of saving costs and producing more polls (i.e. the double benefit of increased efficiency AND productivity), statistical truth (traditional polls) is being replaced with its derivative, producing statistical insights via a second layer of statistics and agents simulating known, pretrained demographic behaviors & preferences, instead of interviewing actual people. Yay!
It seems they're blindly following Wheeler’s Law, i.e. "All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection" and ignoring the corollary: "...except for the problem of too many layers of indirection."
Queue future presidential approval ratings based on a simulated population of agents... Too dystopian?!
https://ngmx.com/@pathunstrom/116565726550598652
#LLM #AI #Gallup #Statistics #Poll

2026-05-12 20:04:41 CEST

RE: https://mastodon.thi.ng/@toxi/110293441969762183
I wrote this in May 2023 and I'm still fully standing behind this, maybe even more so by now, with a position strengthened by "recent developments" and the ongoing normalization of mythologizing software/technology (and commercially exploiting these myths) rather than being focused on actively demystifying them, communicating the strengths/weaknesses of algorithms/techniques, their behaviors etc, also creatively/artistically...
#GenerativeArt #AI #Mythology #Criticism
#note16m9…tlcp

2026-05-12 13:08:00 CEST

What Lies Beneath (2025)
As much as it hurts to witness glaciers disappearing more every year, the colors, textures and exposed geological features are some of the things I absolutely cherish each time I find myself in their vicinity...
These are truly unique landscapes to meditate on the age, scale & forces which have been shaping this planet, the environments they've created, directly and indirectly, the fragility of life trying to thrive in them, even if only temporarily, and the hubris human existence is in comparison, the sediment layers of unnecessary blood & pain we've been laying on top throughout our history (and keep on doing so), mostly caused by wannabe grand old sick men and all the people who keep on empowering them, generation by generation anew...
You don't need space travel to appreciate this Pale Blue Dot of ours — a hike in these environments can give you very similar insights...
#TextureTuesday #LandscapePhotography #NaturePhotography #Alps #Mountains #Glacier #Geology
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/561/286/213/062/822/original/83ead65456f146cd.jpg

2026-05-12 11:01:43 CEST

RE: https://mastodon.social/@NoveltyBot/116556777340743157
Just maybe there have always been some issues with the unquestioning adoption of the latest breakthroughs/technologies... No risk, no gain, so they say...
#note1qwh…0ush

2026-05-12 10:01:38 CEST

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Congrats! Just reached that same prime age last week myself... :)

2026-05-12 09:49:46 CEST

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Absolutely need to do better! AFAIK they're calculating the dates from each country's ecological footprint and biocapacity, which they're defining as (and which also partially explains Luxemburg's super bad score, i.e. a typical western consumption profile with almost no land area):
Ecological footprint:
"A measure of how much area of biologically productive land and water an individual, population, or activity requires to produce all the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates, using prevailing technology and resource management practices. The Ecological Footprint is usually measured in global hectares. Because trade is global, an individual or country's Footprint includes land or sea from all over the world. Without further specification, Ecological Footprint generally refers to the Ecological Footprint of consumption."
Biocapacity:
"The capacity of ecosystems to regenerate what people demand from those surfaces. Life, including human life, competes for space. The biocapacity of a surface represents its ability to renew what people demand. Biocapacity is therefore the ecosystems' capacity to produce biological materials used by people and to absorb waste material generated by humans, under current management schemes and extraction technologies. Biocapacity can change from year to year due to climate, management, and proportion considered useful inputs to the human economy. In the National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts, biocapacity is calculated by multiplying the physical area by the yield factor and the appropriate equivalence factor. Biocapacity is expressed in global hectares."
https://data.footprintnetwork.org/#/abouttheData

2026-05-11 20:28:20 CEST

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That's the kind of vast emptiness you'll be hard pressed to find/capture on this continent here...

2026-05-11 19:59:56 CEST

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(Wonder)full emptiness & light!

2026-05-11 15:03:40 CEST

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I hear you. FWIW I only mentioned Germany, because that where I'm based at the moment...

2026-05-11 14:57:03 CEST

RE: https://mastodon.social/@hanshuebner/116555376448801323
I think the difference is that this "coming full circle" is very much constructed/orchestrated/volunteered this time, rather than being merely the result of an "organically" occurring lack/unavailability of cheap hardware/resources because the larger market didn't exist just yet back then... To some extent, becoming more dependent on centralized cloud/compute/AI resources is very much a choice/gamble (most) companies/people are willingly taking, rather than being outright forced into it (which is only still coming if this continues and other options being terminated). Of course, the choice isn't done entirely voluntary because often it's done with a perceived competitive edge in sight... but what if that edge has increasingly diminishing (and eventually negative) returns?
#note19zw…6y4a

2026-05-11 14:18:21 CEST

RE: https://swiss.social/@lugidani/116555176274067802
The Swiss are still doing better in that respect than many other developed countries, incl. Germany yesterday:
https://overshoot.footprintnetwork.org/newsroom/country-overshoot-days/
#Climate #Degrowth #OvershootDay
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/555/900/488/484/512/original/c49bd725b681df96.jpg
#note1kqv…vp0j

2026-05-11 13:16:01 CEST

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"Sorry, not happening!" Quite the response if confronted with well laid out arguments...

2026-05-11 12:54:52 CEST

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Yeah, it's such a beautiful image (by @npub12xl…unqz ), it deserves all the TLC I can give it (plus it's also been very useful to refine my printing process)

2026-05-11 12:43:13 CEST

It's packaging time... archival parchment pouches, book binder's cardboard, linen tape, acid-free stickers.
(This is a print made for @npub12xl…unqz. For my own images, you'd also get a certificate of authenticity included...)
#AltProcess #Kallitype #PrintMaking #FineArt #Packaging
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/555/526/459/692/367/original/d0af1ff42239e5a6.jpg
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/555/526/455/319/259/original/12fce2228c15d36b.jpg

2026-05-11 12:32:32 CEST

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Thank you very much! And yes, more generally, unrelated to my own context, this (partially) AI-induced seeding of doubt, of questioning reality, of skill or of what it takes honing a craft etc. — this is all so damaging... 😩

2026-05-11 12:10:07 CEST

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I'd say it's more of a config issue. On Mac, Canon scanners don't need (or provide) any drivers and so MacOS Image Capture assigns a generic "Scanner Color Profile" ICC profile (the same when using Canon's scan utility software). But that profile is not really representative of reality and they (Canon) should therefore have provided a calibrated ICC profile for download and use with any imaging software (most of which support assigning ICC profiles post-factum). I found some custom ICC profiles someone created for other Canon scanners, and whilst somewhat better, they're also still quite a bit off for my model (at least more so than the curves I painstakingly created by now)

2026-05-11 10:06:44 CEST

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The saga continues... and the new tone curve is now almost perfect too! 🤩 Kallitype has such small value ranges for both dark shadows and (even more so) in the upper highlights, so it's quite tricky trying to retain as much detail as possible in bright low-contrast situations. To retain more fine control, also chemically, I've started experimenting with 4x weaker/diluted contrast agent, which allows me to vary the number of drops mixed in and thus avoiding (to some extent) having to re-print expensive negatives for just tiny changes to highlights.
(Image credit and cc/ @npub12xl…unqz)
#AltProcess #Kallitype #Darkroom #PrintMaking #FineArt #LandscapePhotography
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/554/911/096/980/976/original/ba52aeac15a39f7b.jpg

2026-05-10 22:42:06 CEST

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It's a new scanner and the light looks ok to me. It's also not just simple color temperature which seems off. The variance seems much more non-linear/non-regular and both hue & brightness dependent. Thankfully my main uses for now are limited to scanning monochrome images (mostly my Kallitype prints), and for this purpose I managed to create a bunch of RGB correction curves manually...

2026-05-10 18:53:28 CEST

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Thanks, Eugen! I should get more in the habit of checking profiles before replying... 🤝

2026-05-10 15:45:56 CEST

Looking at my mountain photos, sometimes it feels like the mountains (mostly Alps) which I know & love are very, very different to those other people see & take pictures of. Still not sure how or if that's maybe yet another neurodivergent thing... It's true, sometimes I intentionally try to focus/emphasize the more abstract aspects of being in the mountains (textures, scales, details, light conditions), but it's not the first time that I'm getting comments where people don't even think these are photographs and that throws me (quite) a bit, also because most of my photos aren't even heavily edited (compared to what many other photographers show on their YT channels)... 🤷‍♂️
#LandscapePhotography

2026-05-10 15:31:14 CEST

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Erm... Is it not clear that this is an actual photograph, and the technique used was a few million years of tectonic activity and erosion...? :)
The title refers to a passage from the Bible. I'm not religious, but it sometimes helps to take a "god's eye view" of things/landscapes to appreciate them more... Also see here for an old beautiful Persian legend with a similar context/insight (avid fans of Coldcut/Ninjatune might recognize the sample this was taken from):
"Now those people who fly have a different point of view of the world from the people who spend their whole life on the ground.
Don Blanding wrote a poem once when he was flying, and he called his poem "The God's Eye View", and he said it was so different from the view he always had on the ground, which he called "The Bug's Eye View".
Now I thought about that "Bug's Eye View" when I was over in Teheran in Persia. They told me an old Persian legend. It was about a bug who spent his entire life in the world's most beautifully designed Persian rug. All the bug ever saw in his lifetime was his problems. They stood up all around him. He couldn't see over the top of them, and he had to fight his way through these tufts of wool in the rug to find some crumbs somebody had spilled.
And the tragedy of the story of the bug in the rug was this:
He lived and he died in the world's most beautifully designed rug, but he never once knew that he spent his life in something which had a pattern.
That's why I want you to get up in the air tonight, to see something the old bug couldn't see in the rug. Because even he, this bug, if he had once got above the rug so he could have seen all of it, he would have discovered something - that the very things he called his problems were a part of the pattern."
https://foxyde.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bug_in_the_rug.pdf
#BugsEyeView #GodsEyeView #Timescale #Coldcut

2026-05-10 11:22:32 CEST

The Mountains Flowed Before Him (2026)
(Given a large enough time scale, these mountains would be almost like waves...)
#SilentSunday #LandscapePhotography #NaturePhotography #BlackAndWhite #NoirCountry #Alps #Mountains #Hiking
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/549/546/864/533/260/original/c67a01038f12affd.jpg

2026-05-09 10:27:58 CEST

How is it possible in 2026 for Canon to not provide (anywhere) an ICC profile for their scanners?! The colors are completely off and everything has a purple tint... 😩
Does anyone know where to find ICC profiles for the Canon LIDE series (400)? Otherwise I will have to purchase an IT8.7 calibration target and crack out the LittleCMS tooling to create my own ICC profile. Great customer service!
#Canon #Scanner #ICC #ColorCorrection #AskFedi

2026-05-08 15:46:39 CEST

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I've had my fair share of those (working for "moral" folk), also interspersed by (as long as possible) periods of trying to exclusively focus on my own open source projects, trying to create more meaningful work via those (in some sense not too dissimilar to your own, actually, just not as vocal about it... ;) Yet, I think for many the options between your (a) & (b) are becoming increasingly rare (IMO) and I wish it wasn't so...
What's missing here is also an option (c): leaving software/tech altogether (as livelihood)

2026-05-08 14:59:55 CEST

RE: https://mastodon.thi.ng/@toxi/116521724805037412
Reposting for #FootpathFriday. Not because there actually is a path, but because I just love how that single hiker is creating their own path in this surrounding vast (and otherwise completely abstract) landscape...
#note1jjm…c2y9

2026-05-08 14:43:42 CEST

#ReleaseFriday Triggered by a recent feature proposal[1], I went ahead and polished & published a closely related, already work-in-progress (but still private) feature in https://thi.ng/rdom to support something I call "bare lists"[2]. I've started working on this for another project last year, but needed to do more testing (which I've think have sufficiently done by now).
These "bare" lists are managed reactive list control components which attach items directly to the list's parent DOM element instead of first creating a wrapper/container element for the items and so avoid introducing additional nesting.
There're many use cases where this additional nesting was a real problem with earlier approach, e.g. in containers with CSS grid or flex layout, tables, or generally situations where we want to have static & reactive list items as true siblings...
The new version of thi.ng/rdom is technically a breaking change (sorry!), but the actual changes required (for you) are tiny and purely limited to the $list() and $klist() component function calls, which are now accepting a parameter object instead of positional args for the different possible behaviors. Of course, lists with item wrapper elements can still be created too, just as before (but via new args).
I've updated & tested all existing examples impacted by this change and also created a new fully commented example project (example #187) to illustrate these "bare" lists in situ (check the DOM inspector to see the shallow structure and how updates are applied):
Demo:
https://demo.thi.ng/umbrella/rdom-bare-lists/
Source code:
https://codeberg.org/thi.ng/umbrella/src/branch/develop/examples/rdom-bare-lists/src/index.ts
[1] github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/discussions/562
[2] My use of "list" here is generic, not limited to <ul> or <ol>...
#ThingUmbrella #Reactive #UI #OpenSource #TypeScript #JavaScript #WebDev
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/539/013/260/540/116/original/b3563f811262c878.jpeg

2026-05-08 13:42:03 CEST

Schlangenhaus (16th century, Werdenberg, St. Gallen)
#FensterFreitag #History #Switzerland
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/538/770/820/376/420/original/4c556464805bc813.jpg

2026-05-07 22:56:34 CEST

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Very nice! Looks like everything covered in rime... Also just came across this cool variation earlier today: https://mystical.garden/@janamarie/116527887020070338

2026-05-07 14:44:15 CEST

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These are really marvelous results and I want to try this myself now! :) Reminds me of back in the day when I was hacking cheap webcams for my interactive installations. You had to pry off the IR filter and then replace it with a chunk of exposed & developed 35mm film (kind of as ND filter) so it would mostly let only IR through. Maybe this could work/help on a DSLR too? 🤷‍♂️
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/533/353/135/594/625/original/e54e25fe31866ff0.jpg

2026-05-07 14:08:50 CEST

RE: https://mastodon.scot/@FaithfullJohn/116531903993398867
Is is really so different to industry cartels who are doing just the same, creating exclusive clubs, charging heavily for membership and then inventing "prestigious" awards to give out to themselves/members for branding/marketing purposes... Or a company dressing up a presidential bribe/gift as an artificial award in the form of a 24ct golden paper weight...?
#note1ex0…uwcd

2026-05-07 11:41:58 CEST

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Look forward to reading your thoughts! :)

2026-05-07 11:25:37 CEST

The quest for the perfect print is ongoing...
(Doing a print swap with @npub12xl…unqz and this wonderful image is one of his and I want to give it my best! So over the past 2 weeks I've been going through different variations, whilst also updating and re-calibrating my workflow, curves & equipment... still some more to try out!)
#AltProcess #Kallitype #Darkroom #PrintMaking #LandscapePhotography #Monochrome #Pyrenees #Mountains
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/532/572/024/800/515/original/409b2b8cc992cef7.jpg

2026-05-06 23:32:00 CEST

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yep... bringing us full circle to your earlier point :)

2026-05-06 23:26:57 CEST

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I always felt that the "design" parts of a generative design workflow are both very direct (e.g. in terms of selecting/layering certain algorithms, data structures and other invariants), but that other design aspects are also very, very indirect. For the latter, I'd include first identifying, then selecting and refining possible parameters, their value ranges/resolution, their constraints and relationships with other params... Almost every project (of mine) also seems to go though the same trajectory of me initially adding a ton of params to quickly explore the overall shape of the possible design space and identify interesting "hotspots" (i.e. param combos where the system is producing interestingness™ :), only then to iteratively reduce the number of params again, eliminating/merging them or making them more conditional upon others, with fewer possible values etc. This can only be done in a feedback loop, letting the system produce new outputs, mapping out the variations and then making necessary changes, rinse and repeat... So in this iterative workflow "curation" has always been a fixed part of the overall design process. From what I've read about LLM model creation, their process is similar in principle, only that params (not just model weights) are usually undergoing a form of reinforcement learning and human evaluation of outputs is outsourced to thousands of workers helping to fine-tune the model parameters and training data (being a sampling process, it's also a form of curation).
The more params a generative system has, the harder it becomes to control and to predict or constrain the boundaries of its n-dimensional parameter space. Exponentially so. And especially so, once params are made interdependent and/or if temporal feedback/memory/relationships are thrown into the mix, all of which LLMs do fundamentally...

2026-05-06 22:51:28 CEST

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I agree with some of that from a technical POV, but behaviorally, the effects of operations and dataflows inside the model are incredibly opaque, even if the architecture is well known and the purpose of the different components is well understood.
So a model is implemented using well known traditional algorithms, but in the combined assemblage, it's very hard (if not mathematically impossible) to trace/debug specific model decisions step-by-step like in a classical algorithm. Therefore it's also hard to analyze how or why certain outputs are achieved. This is largely due to the sheer number of model weights and other processing parameters, but also because LLMs are almost the opposite of bijective functions due to their probabilistic, sampling-based nature, the resulting compression and the models mapping many different inputs to similar or identical outputs. So from that POV, I think calling them a black box (or at least gray box) is a good fit...
(And again, this is about LLMs as a whole. Internally, individual model components might well be much more analyzable and invertible in principle)

2026-05-06 21:11:41 CEST

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Not barging into your interesting thread any further, just wanted to point to similar supplementary points made here (re: these models and outputs being designed implicitly and explicitly [via chosen analysis/training/refinement methods/processes and source selections]):
https://mastodon.thi.ng/@toxi/116527449262566457

2026-05-06 13:42:48 CEST

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Btw. The inventor of RSS 2.0 has been entering similar Dawkinsian terrain:
https://social.vivaldi.net/@ianbetteridge/116522439483754901
FWIW Instead of being ND or not, I think the propensity to see and believe LLMs to be "active minds" or "new forms of consciousness" runs along different axes, including that we're evolutionary geared towards a tendency to see minds everywhere (being more cautious, even with a lot of false positives, meant better survival chances, but for LLMs it feels the inverse is just as important 🤷‍♂️).
Then, there are also these factors:<li>LLMs are (still?) complete black-box functions (even if introspectable by experts, they're not fully understood, and for normal users probably the closest to "magic" post-modernism ever got to)</li><li>The mistake of considering language as direct proxy for minds, amplified by the turn-based interaction/conversational pattern imposed by LLM UIs (starting with ELIZA). Growing context windows and larger potential/scale of variability of answers have amplified that effect even further (and therefore also lowered the threshold of believability for some susceptible people).</li><li>A ton of anthropomorphic design choices (dark patterns?) at different layers, e.g. default use of first person voice & conversational/empathetic tone, system prompts to nudge the model output to sound more human & sycophantic... These all are intentional decisions by the model providers! </li>
Also important: Most users NEVER encounter the models during training and generally have no clue (or even interest!) about the incredible amount of human effort required to filter, curate, transform, massage & fine-tune inputs, training data and outputs to reduce the amount of public failure modes.
I've been working with generative art/design processes for ~30 years and know from own experience that the human input/effort (but also our intent) and curation of these systems is the most valuable aspect of this way of working... Even deeply appreciating the sometimes truly "magic" moments of serendipity in the generated outputs, has never made me doubt even once my own agency involved in the process, or to start assigning these systems a form of consciousness, neural networks and genetic programming included...
Lastly, I think Dawkins is a special case, exactly because for decades he's been extremely vocal about the delusion of religion and religious tendencies of people, only to succumb to the lure of LLMs himself... There's a bittersweet irony alone in that!

2026-05-05 23:55:05 CEST

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This related article by @npub1t4p…5qhu is very good too:
https://flux.community/matthew-sheffield/2026/05/richard-dawkins-and-the-claude-delusion/
"Dawkins extending more humanity to a language model than he does toward Muslims or trans people is hardly a surprise based on his personal and political views. But even if he had not moved rightward in his senesence, when you consider Dawkins’s scientific views about what minds are and how they function, seeing him flirting with a chatbot is completely expected."

2026-05-05 14:03:14 CEST

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Thanks! :)

2026-05-05 14:01:37 CEST

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Yeah, I was just looking at https://web.archive.org/web/20200728072447/https://www.lightmeasure.com/ — that looks like a real useful gadget to have!

2026-05-05 13:31:47 CEST

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Yeah, I saw that meter, just found it strange that this setup would take this long and doesn't saturate fully... Wishing you best of luck figuring it out!

2026-05-05 13:27:00 CEST

Postglacial Abstract (2026)
(Forgot to add, find/notice the lone hiker in one of the snow fields, for scale...)
#TextureTuesday #LandscapePhotography #Photography #Texture #Abstract #Art
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/521/724/705/097/479/original/d3877aed697c3881.jpg

2026-05-05 13:27:00 CEST

Postglacial Abstract (2026)
#TextureTuesday #LandscapePhotography #Photography #Texture #Abstract #Art
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/521/724/705/097/479/original/d3877aed697c3881.jpg

2026-05-05 10:24:00 CEST

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Do you know the wavelength of your UV light? If your lows aren't getting dark enough in such a long time, it might indicate your UV light's wavelength isn't optimal. 365nm is supposedly best, but I found it harder to find decent options. So mine are 385nm (40W) and 395nm (200W) and the corresponding exposure times and distances are only: ~1:45min (4 inch) and ~2:40min (16-20 inch). For the latter, I initially also used a sheet of paper to diffuse the light more (for larger prints), but that extended the exposure time to ~17mins for not any noticeable difference...
(Btw. This is all for kallitype, but should equally apply for salt)
#AltProcess #Kallitype #SaltPrint #UVLight

2026-05-05 09:00:02 CEST

The Topkapi Scroll: Geometry and Ornament in Islamic Architecture
by Gülru Necipoğlu (1996, 384 pages, free PDF download)
https://www.getty.edu/publications/virtuallibrary/9780892363353.html
#TilingTuesday #Geometry #Pattern
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/495/764/359/951/132/original/b5fd2a7654e4bf8e.jpg

2026-05-04 21:04:23 CEST

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Thanks! Love seeing the glimpses you're sharing of this place...

2026-05-04 18:14:00 CEST

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By any chance, is that the flow field near Climber's Bivouac on the south side (Parmigan trail or so)? If so, oh man, memories... 🥹 That's as far as I got on a short Friday afternoon hike 8 years ago, this month! Wonderful area and such a brutal contrast at the edge of the lava and the surrounding forest... Felt like a completely different mountain than on the north side!

2026-05-04 16:56:25 CEST

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Dank Dir, Franz! :)

2026-05-04 10:05:25 CEST

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Thank you & yes, couldn't have asked for more! The company, location and weather was just perfect! :)

2026-05-04 09:09:53 CEST

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Thank you very much, all! 🙏 This weekend was a dream come true, and a much needed recharge! Onwards!

2026-05-04 07:45:03 CEST

Alpstein
(To me, one of the most stunning and interesting mountain ranges, the tectonic folds here having created the most incredible forms, formations and stunning valleys in between...)
#MountainMonday #LandscapePhotography #Photography #BlackAndWhite #NoirCountry #Alps #Mountains
https://mastothing.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/513/022/805/693/535/original/0e4f3b86f274b840.jpg