grandvalleydave
I like my books to help me explore the world, people, and the big questions. I serve on our Library Foundation board. I ruptured my Achilles tendon so my reading is going to get me through this.
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How can any quest calling itself a Stephen King Epic Saga not include The Stand?!
Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky, #1)
Rebecca Roanhorse
There are few books that I’d consider good candidates for interpretation as a movie (or series), but while reading Black Sun and thinking about it subsequently, this books would be really interesting to see rendered as moving images. I found the universe to be especially compelling.
The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius
Recently someone posted in a forum I’m also in, I read the book, they’re reading it now (duh lol). They had an opinion on one of the lines of the book and I’ll just say they didn’t like it and it made them think the author was xyz thing because of it (keeping it vague on purpose, NOT trying to call out this person AT ALL! They had a valid argument, I understood their point and had a good conversation with them in the comments). However, a couple people downvoted the post. This has also happened to me in a different forum, where I complained about not liking something about the book and I got downvoted a couple times. I totally understand not agreeing with someone’s opinion, I think it’s absolutely necessary for everyone to have opinions on things, because if we don’t then we aren’t individuals and that’s a problem. My question for you all is: do you downvote people you disagree with? Do you comment and not down/upvote at all? What are downvotes for? I’ve begun downvoting posts in forums that don’t add anything of substance to the forum. I know there’s guidelines for posting in a forum and it seems like a good amount of people are not following those guidelines. I definitely don’t, sometimes, so I’m guilty of this, too, and I’m also trying to now only add to forums when I have something of substance to say. I think a lot of posts in forums would make more sense as personal notes for who is reading, not as posts for everyone to see. This is getting long but I wanted to know your opinions on this. Here’s my questions again: Do you downvote people you disagree with? Do you comment and not down/upvote at all? What are ultimately downvotes for?
grandvalleydave commented...
I don’t expect people to agree with me. In fact I find it more interesting and valuable if they present a differing opinion in a logical manner that helps expand my understanding. My goal is to better understand the world. If someone has a better, reasoned, informed opinion than me, that is an opportunity for improvement.
Downvoting without any comment is useless and kinda vindictive and doesn’t support the core values of PB in my opinion.
I operate with the general position: If I am wrong and you can explain why, tell me. I am eager to learn and improve myself with better information. And if you think I am wrong, but can’t defend your position, maybe you have an opportunity to learn.
How can any quest calling itself a Stephen King Epic Saga not include The Stand?!
grandvalleydave commented...
Lead by example and be very cautious about using their language. Even using “Ai” in your arguments cedes ground.
Consider the lessons of abortion rights. The anti-abortion activists labeled the debate “right to life” ignoring the fact that they are often jeopardizing the life of the mother, were actively engaged in murdering doctors, and ignoring (purposefully confusing the fact) that embryos that are considered for abortion are not alive (by medical definition).
And look at the branding of the idea of “climate change”. I use the term branding because it was paid for by polluting, climate destroying businesses and their paid politicians. Change is innocuous. Change happens. Change is hard to argue against. But what is actually happening is Climate Destruction. Clearly using that framing changes the balance of the argument.
Finally an even more pervasive example. Consider how often people substitute “I believe” for I understand. Faith has shaped language and society so profoundly that it is nearly invisible. But understanding something is different than believing something. Belief is feeling something with no verifiable evidence where understanding requires a basis of evidence. Belief may be appropriate for deities, but belief in the value of your bank account, or the design of an airplane are not appropriate.
Words matter. Readers know this so I am preaching to the, um… librarians. But I suggest you be thoughtful and intentional in how you shape your arguments and what language you use to make your case.
Hi Boundligs,
I know many discussions about AI in creative spaces or at uni have already been had - but today I'm specifically seeking out your help to argue against AI as a sort of productivity tool at office jobs.
I've recently started a job in the renewables sector - a sector which should be "sustainable" or at least concerned with it - but I've been shocked to find out that a majority of people seems to be incredibly pro-AI. At networking events, companies will actively push it as a tool to "make your work more efficient and take away annoying repetitive tasks" and generally people seem to not reflect upon AI's devastating impacts at all.
I know that some people in my company are also very fond of AI - luckily some also very much support my stance, but at some point I always feel it gets hard to argue against using AI for some tasks. I mean, ofc, the impacts the data centers have, and the ethical impacts of labour in the global south etc. should suffice - but in the end it always boils down to the economical argument of "we have to compete and AI is making our work better by e.g. checking our documents for mistakes or composing difficult emails or improving the workflow etc.".
If you have any, any info, literature, websites, substack articles or personal opinions that could help, please lmk! I want to be happy about having found a job but this topic is making it very difficult and I want to be as well-equipped as possible to counter pro-AI talk - I really hope I can make a difference of some sort.
I know y'all are very smart and well-read (ofc haha) so I'm rlly happy to have this space to kinda vent to and search for support🫶
Edited for clarification - I'm talking abt GenAI (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Claude
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grandvalleydave commented...
Why is either considered a vote? These aren’t votes. They don’t result in a decision. And I am concerned that by labeling them as “votes” we further degrade our crumbling democracies.
What the little arrows function more accurately as is; I Agree/I Disagree. If we simply renamed the arrows (or their equivalent indicators), I wonder if we would get better use and maybe less contentious use?
The interaction ladder would then be:
Would this tweak address the primary concerns of the downvote ambiguity and the inaccuracy of calling them votes?