Need to let loose a primal scream without collecting footnotes first? Have a sneer percolating in your system but not enough time/energy to make a whole post about it? Go forth and be mid: Welcome to the Stubsack, your first port of call for learning fresh Awful you’ll near-instantly regret.

Any awful.systems sub may be subsneered in this subthread, techtakes or no.

If your sneer seems higher quality than you thought, feel free to cut’n’paste it into its own post — there’s no quota for posting and the bar really isn’t that high.

The post Xitter web has spawned soo many “esoteric” right wing freaks, but there’s no appropriate sneer-space for them. I’m talking redscare-ish, reality challenged “culture critics” who write about everything but understand nothing. I’m talking about reply-guys who make the same 6 tweets about the same 3 subjects. They’re inescapable at this point, yet I don’t see them mocked (as much as they should be)

Like, there was one dude a while back who insisted that women couldn’t be surgeons because they didn’t believe in the moon or in stars? I think each and every one of these guys is uniquely fucked up and if I can’t escape them, I would love to sneer at them.

Last week’s thread

(Semi-obligatory thanks to @dgerard for starting this)

  • bitofhope@awful.systems
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    30 minutes ago

    I made a sneer about moving from Twitter to yet another Jack Dorsey social network, but after looking into it he apparently left Bluesky and joined Musk’s team instead, because of moderation options. Geez, maybe I should sign up. But creating and keeping track of new accounts to sites is a pain in the aaaaaaassssss.

    • BlueMonday1984@awful.systemsOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      16 minutes ago

      Dorsey jumping ship’s about as good a reason as any to jump to Bluesky, especially considering Twitter’s currently haemorrhaging users from the one-two-three punch of the AI training, the crippled blocking and THE ELECTIONtm.

      By my guess, the AI training is probably doing the most damage - that one’s prompting artists to bolt for the exits, and if Tumblr’s NSFW ban taught me anything, its that if the artists start leaving, they’re gonna start taking their fans with them.

    • bitofhope@awful.systems
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      7 hours ago

      Didn’t have that on my bingo card for this year, but it’s on brand. A big part of The Onion’s MO is just riding out the insanity and inject a little of their own.

  • swlabr@awful.systems
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    19 hours ago

    Folks, huge W today. I was hanging out with my parents today and my mother was scrolling her feed, commenting out loud about everything she saw when she came across some autoplag content. “This is fake!” she said, and I could not be prouder. Not just because she IDed the slop, but because it meant she at least has a better brain than my trumper family members that habitually repost trumper slop.

    Cherry on top: she showed me a text chain where she was trolling a “my phone died, this is my new number” scammer.

    • Sailor Sega Saturn@awful.systems
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      15
      ·
      1 day ago

      Yeah it’s sad. As the article points out similar incidents have happened repeatedly. Anyone who saw the door design could have (and did!) predict something like this would happen. My coworker was trapped in his Tesla in his garage for 15 minutes (and he wasn’t in a panic).

      Look at the picture of the manual door release here: It’s pretty well hidden, you reach in and pull up on the door buttons.

      … then scroll down and look at the picture of the rear door manual release. You have to pull off some trim from inside the pocket, pull off another panel, and then pull a cable.

      … but wait! There’s more!

      Note: Not all Model Y vehicles are equipped with a manual release for the rear doors.

      Jesus, I hope the engineers who signed off on this think about what they’ve done and do better. I would say I hope someone regulated bad emergency door releases out of existence but… y’know.

      • Soyweiser@awful.systems
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        1 day ago

        Imagine what other flaws these cars have if the tried to ‘innovate’ like this on the solved technology that is fucking doors.

        • Sailor Sega Saturn@awful.systems
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          edit-2
          20 hours ago

          The lack of a speedometer in front of your face is a pretty glaring quality issue. You have to turn your head to look at the massive touchscreen. The one that replaces all other dashboards and most tactile controls for manufacturing cost savings to be a cool futuristic vehicle of the future.

          I won’t even start talking about the whole CyberStuck thing again because that’s too easy; except to point out that it has turn buttons on the steering wheel instead of a turn signal stalk, a shifter on the ceiling, and the steering wheel is not round.

          I only recently bought my first car and it’s just old enough that it didn’t even have a backup camera until I got one installed. Honestly half the reason of buying used was so I could have a car without a touchscreen haha.

          • self@awful.systems
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            26 minutes ago

            a shifter on the ceiling

            I still can’t get over the design, engineering, and basic reasoning failures that must have gone into the decision to put supposedly the main way to change gears on the same type of mount that secures your rear-view mirror; a notably inconvenient and fragile place to put anything (and just like a rear-view mirror that got fucked with too intensely, a bunch of these shifters have already detached)

  • Architeuthis@awful.systems
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    edit-2
    2 days ago

    The job site decided to recommend me an article calling for the removal of most human oversight from military AI on grounds of inefficiency, which is a pressing issue since apparently we’re already living in the Culture.

    The Strategic Liability of Human Oversight in AI-Driven Military Operations

    Conclusion

    As AI technology advances, human oversight in military operations, though rooted in ethics and legality, may emerge as a strategic liability in future AI-dominated warfare.

    Oh unknowable genie of the sketchily curated datasets Claude, come up with an optimal ratio of civilian to enemy combatant deaths that will allow us to bomb that building with the giant red cross that you labeled an enemy stronghold.

    • Sailor Sega Saturn@awful.systems
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      1 day ago

      As AI technology advances, human oversight in military operations, though rooted in ethics and legality, may emerge as a strategic liability in future AI-dominated warfare.

    • o7___o7@awful.systems
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      edit-2
      23 hours ago

      This is awful for sure, but thankfully low impact. Turns out that this Terminator Enjoyer is an unemployed idea guy. Maybe he’s wrangling for an IDF contract?

      From jobbie site:

      “An accomplished manager, with expertise in developing innovative concepts and ideas into client services operations and streamlining delivery of products/services within Defence / Cyber Security and Information Technology industry.”

      and

      Technology and Innovation executive , Currently on short sabbatical May 2024 - Present 7 months

      Also, the image is perfect. I especially like the Joe Kucan-looking general embedded in the star trek tactical station. The Technology of Peace ain’t what it used to be, is it?

      • istewart@awful.systems
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        1 day ago

        Eliminating Mothman is our prime strattgic priority

        Private Bbailcy! I see you back there! Cut it out with the oversighing, you’re dragging down morale KPIs for this quarter!

      • JFranek@awful.systems
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 day ago

        Also, I the image is perfect. I especially like the Joe Kucan-looking general embedded in the star trek tactical station. The Technology of Peace ain’t what it used to be, is it?

        Is that a screenshot from Command&Conquer 4?

    • Mii@awful.systems
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      2 days ago

      So, ethics and legality are strategic liabilities? Jesus fucking Christ, that’s not even sneer-worthy. This guy is completely fucking insane.

      • skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        edit-2
        1 day ago

        This is straight up Hague material right there, all he wants is plausible deniability

        Computer said so 🥺

        e: that’s a shit take for several reasons and we have autonomous killers already. it’s called air defense (in some modes) because how many civilians are going at mach fuck with RCS of 0.1m^2, that’s no civilian that’s ballistic missile. also lmao at speed of decision

        perun video on this topic https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tou8ahLZvP4

      • Architeuthis@awful.systems
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        edit-2
        1 day ago

        If you’ve convinced yourself that you’ll mostly be fighting the AIs of a rival always-chaotic-evil alien species or their outgroup equivalent, you probably think they are.

        Otherwise I hope shooting first and asking questions later will probably continue to be frowned upon in polite society even if it’s automated agents doing the shooting.

  • swlabr@awful.systems
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    2 days ago

    Just a general comment on the state of things. Now that Musk has fused with the ideological flesh chimera of the next US government and is tapping others to be absorbed, any US politics will be TechTakes-adjacent. Perhaps some ground rules must be set so we aren’t drowned in non-procedurally generated slop.

    Either way, I’m cutting back on the musk unless it is directly sneerable.

  • BlueMonday1984@awful.systemsOP
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    18
    ·
    2 days ago

    Elon Musk, Ramaswamy land Trump admin roles

    President-elect Trump has tapped tech entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead an advisory group focused on cutting federal spending and reducing the size of the government.

    Trump announced Tuesday that Musk and Ramaswamy would lead his “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), an initiative meant to “slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures” and restructure federal agencies.

    We live in the dumbest timeline

  • o7___o7@awful.systems
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    edit-2
    2 days ago

    Another proposal for naming our militia: The Cassandra Division

    Our Motto: “Sic diximus vobis”

    • o7___o7@awful.systems
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      edit-2
      2 days ago

      begins invisible accordion

      Then Curtis Marvin, very smart guy, went to MIT like my famous uncle, he said, “but sir, a monad is just a monoid in the category of endofunctors”

      Many such cases, I said.

    • istewart@awful.systems
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      3 days ago

      But Trump can’t explain things, and Urbit defies explanation. So does the statement “Trump explains Urbit” represent undefined behavior in English?

      • Soyweiser@awful.systems
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        edit-2
        2 days ago

        What is worse? Trump explaining urbit and coming close? Or him explaining it so wrong you feel the need to set the record straight about the gravest misconceptions? (“Trump said Elon invented it, but it actually was Yarvin, also as Elon didnt invent it, he certainly didnt say ‘good idea sir’ to Trump”).

        • istewart@awful.systems
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          11
          ·
          2 days ago

          I think in this case, the equivalent of a compiler error for undefined behavior would be a swiftly forgotten wire story entitled “Trump promotes cryptocurrency project” published on a Friday afternoon. Just one more scam among the flood, and not one that can be offered for easy monthly payments with a banner ad in the margins of an RSBN broadcast.

          • YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systems
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            8
            ·
            2 days ago

            Yeah, everyone in the traditional media seems to be even more committed to sane-washing than they were in the lead up to the election.

            Though the spike doge got today is definitely in the “laugh to avoid screaming” column.

    • swlabr@awful.systems
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      2 days ago

      Have any of the trumps been on the red scare pod yet? Feel like that’s on the timeline.

  • BlueMonday1984@awful.systemsOP
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    3 days ago

    Should’ve probably posted this earlier, but fuck it: South Korea’s ‘4B’ Movement Goes Viral in US After Trump Elected

    “4B” is shorthand for a South Korean movement in which women refuse to engage in heterosexual marriage, childbirth, dating, or sex with men. It comes from the words bihon, bichulsan, biyeonae, and bisekseu, all of which start with a Korean prefix for “no.” It originated in 2019 in response to a culture that women felt was patriarchal beyond repair, and has since gained some traction in other countries.

    Also, fuck it, quick sidenote:

    This is mostly gut instinct, like most of the Trump predictions I’ve made, but I’m expecting a spike in full-blown misandry over Trump’s term. Mainly because Trump managed to win over Gen Z men this election, and because the Trump administration is almost certainly going to town on abortion/women’s rights.

    • bitofhope@awful.systems
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      2 days ago

      Trump managed to win over Gen Z men

      …in the sense that more Gen Z men voted for him than in the last election. I am seeing this spin a lot and it honestly seems like a deliberate scapegoating ploy.

      The exit poll stats seem to tell a different story.

      Data from NBC News considering “key states” (apparently Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin)

      Exit poll result charts, subsection "Age by gender". Men 18-29 (7%): Blue 47%, Red 49%. Men 30-44 (12%): Blue 43%, Red 53%. Men 45-64 (16%): Blue 38%, Red 60%. Men 65+ (12%): Blue 44%, Red 55%. Women 18-29 (7%): Blue 61%, Red 37%. Women 30-44 (12%): Blue 54%, Red 43%. Women 45-64 (19%): Blue 49%, Red 50%. Women 65+ (16%): Blue 54%, Red 45%.

      Yes, young men favored Trump. So did all other men (and even Gen X women, if narrowly). Among both genders included in the data, Gen Z was the least likely to vote for Trump and the most likely to vote for Harris.

      Granted, these stats are only from the aforementioned states and can’t represent the full picture, but they are the only relevant statistics I have seen posted on the matter and the best data I could quickly find. If anyone can show me the data that the darn kids these days are to blame, I’d like to see sime data.

    • swlabr@awful.systems
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      2 days ago

      a spike in full-blown misandry

      Misandry as in something equal to misogyny? If so, then I have to disagree, since men have historically been absolute pieces of shit towards women throughout history and misandry has never really manifested significantly.

      E: I noticed I have a downvote. Hello to our sole MRA lurker!

      • YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systems
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        12
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        3 days ago

        Misandry as a concrete power structure that advantages women and disadvantages men? Unlikely, though with the likely resurgence of active patriarchy we should expect to see the negative consequences this has for men, especially non-normative men. Patriarchal masculinity is a game that necessarily has more losers than winners. I’d go so far as to say that some of the more politically-minded incels and MRAs are going to get even louder because while they blame feminism the actual source of the problems they’re feeling is patriarchy.

        Misandry as a vague cultural meme about men being terrible and the friction that this causes, particularly for men struggling to find a healthy way to exist under patriarchal masculinity as discussed above? Very likely. At the same time while this won’t feel good for men it’s worth noting that these men are going to be complaining about losing a game where women are game pieces rather than players, which is pretty crappy. Like a king complaining to a pawn about how cruel it is to only move one square at a time without acknowledging that the entire game revolves around them.

        I actually have no idea how to navigate this in a healthy way since I’ve definitely been on the losing end of patriarchal masculinity in ways that while deeply hurtful are very different in kind even if not in scope from the ways that system hurts women.

        • BlueMonday1984@awful.systemsOP
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          3 days ago

          Misandry as a vague cultural meme about men being terrible and the friction that this causes, particularly for men struggling to find a healthy way to exist under patriarchal masculinity as discussed above?

          Looking back, that’s definitely the kind of thing I was expecting to spike. I was just too deeply peeved about vaguely gestures at everything to see that clearly.