3296

Where’s Galactus?

3297

I expected him to drive Twitter in an unsavory direction, not

3298

Billionaires like Musk spell eugenics differently

Trigger warning: punchable faces

https://archive.ph/2022.11.17-191234/https://www.businessinsider.com/pronatalism-elon-musk-simone-malcolm-collins-underpopulation-breeding-tech-2022-11

3299

I really love the comment supposedly from a Twitter employees in Europe:

"Elon’s email is as legally binding as me sending him an email saying ‘FYI I’ll work 3hrs per day from now on, k thx.’

So I just keep working as before, as per my contract, until I get some official notice of what really is happening."

3300

I think there’s at least a couple of women there, so I doubt it’s much worse than previously. Gender diversity in IT tends to be awful; more so if the company does not have it as a focus (which I doubt Twitter has had).

The picture also isn’t going to dispel rumors that almost only visa-holders remain, but again it’s hard to say whether it would have looked very different before. The couple of US IT companies I’ve visited (and worked in) had a significant majority of employees from Asia and the middle east.

3301

Kara Swisher summarizes the view from within Elon’s personal bubble, and why those in the inner circle say they’re not worried:

The thread buries the lede (though arguably that’s because it’s intentionally presenting the worldview of techbro idiots.) Point 10 is that none of them have the slightest idea how to generate revenue out of Twitter. But hey, banks will keep lending Elon money, so who cares? In other words: Twitter is and will remain a giant money pit.

Which is fine for those in the inner circle, I guess. If both Tesla and the overall stock market hold up, Musk can keep on doing this for 66 more years at current Twitter burn rates. Plenty of time until you need to stop booking the private jets. … But on the other hand, if his net worth has a couple more years like this one (where it fell 30%) …

Also amusing are points 4 and 8, which are basically “We’re gonna use Twitter to troll like crazy. Yes, it drives advertisers away. But the important thing is it draws more users onto our tottering platform to gawp!” Say it with me, folks: “Sure we lose money on every unit, but we make it up on volume!”

3302

Wtf does “grok” mean?

3303
3304

It’s from this book.

It means “understand”.

3305

Thanks. Thought it was a Unix thing like grep.

3306

From what I remember from reading Stranger, it means much more. It’s essentially understanding something to the point that is is part of you.

3307

And it had a cultural moment late 60s/early 70s when it was adopted briefly by the hippies. Kind of like folk music, we dodged a bullet when it didn’t catch on.

3308

This.

3309

Well, I was trying to simplify it to how it’s used in common nerd circles today, for someone who hasn’t read the book.

3310

We live in different circles. :) The first wife and I had a group of friends where we did the water ceremony and had sex with each other. I’m sorry it didn’t catch on. :)

Gotcha.

3311

Or different eras, when Grok was popularized it would have been a federal offense to have me participate in a swinger party. ;)

3312

It does seem to be the whole movie, including three tweets to provide the end credits.

3313

Not swinger parties. At least for me. The ex was essentially a lesbian before I met her. We met at a Star Trek convention. She was a burlesque dancer and ran a con security group that was all female. I was the only male. Except for Bud. Bud was permanently a friend.

It was a wild ride. I regret nothing! Except for it ending. XD

3314

Heh. It really should be a unix command for something.

3315

And it’s down. I’m sad because I was watching it — I do own a copy and it looks like it’s also on HBO Max and Hulu — but somehow it was more fun watching it on Twitch.

Looks like it lasted about 2 hours from Tom Warren (of The Verge)’s Tweet, not sure how long it was up before Tom found it.