Gettison

Business Exec, Oakland Native, Former Bay Area Metal legend in his own mind, recovering Marxist

[Gettison @GettisonSean]

I don’t know any “right wingers” in Oakland. My parents moved here in 1967, my Dad was a writer in the new left, started the Berkeley Poets Co-op. I grew up in a left milieu, Michael Parenti was at my daughter’s birthday party and I remember seeing Huey Newton at my brothers graduation from Skyline…

As we got older we grew to understand, as every generation does when they invest time in learning about history, that the revolutionary ideas we coveted in our youth would lead to death and deprivation. So we understood that however profound the flaws in the U.S. were, the system was responsive to demands for reform, that this is not a historic norm, and was worth protecting .

The problem in recent times is that people that know- or should know-better have not evolved in their thinking. Their regressive radicalism is anathema to liberalism so the ideas behind it are kept quiet- part of that obfuscation is to scream that anyone who pushes for policies that don’t adhere to their dogma of pathological leniency and their definition of “root causes” (ie capitalism) are right wing reactionaries (or worse).

I am not saying that @MayorShengThao holds these views, but I am certain that many of her supporters do, and they do her and all of us no favors by hurling these accusations of Maga/right wing etc around. Oakland is a liberal city, and it was a poorer one when I was growing up, but a much safer one. That’s what folks want and the path to this is not complicated.

[Gettison @GettisonSean]

@TruthWarrior091 Robots could take our jobs, or we could badmouth our employer on the Internet and lose it that way.

[Gettison @GettisonSean]

Sit this one out Mr. President. She is an extremely divisive presence in the party, explicitly anti-American, and her father came here not for sanctuary, but to escape justice at the hands of his countrymen for his terrible war crimes. Most of all, the worst of the charges against her are still to come.

[Gettison @GettisonSean]

@elonmusk Thanks for giving voice to this Tim. Most everyone knows full well how exciting this is going to be, but the pressure to stick to the designated talking points is strong.

[Gettison @GettisonSean]

@SenecaSpeaks21 @dannoyes A really glaring question- how is a destitute ex-mayor able to procure world class legal representation in a federal trial?

[Gettison @GettisonSean]

@JoshWest247 @MateRimac This kind of collegial support is great to see, but it’s also kind of a normal human response to seeing something so cool. The yawning sneering disdain from too many is just weird.

[Gettison @GettisonSean]

@CollinRugg Holy shit

[Gettison @GettisonSean]

@brivael For American politicians success is measured by how many laws they have passed (we already have ~50k at the Fed level alone) so both sides are complicit in casting the shadow of government over everything.

[Gettison @GettisonSean]

@DrianneBelleza @LovPrideFreedom These guys are going to regret it- 2 days, at least, of hard time at Oakland Jail and restorative justice until their eyes are watering from the fatigue.

[Gettison @GettisonSean]

@modelstrangers Love your work- it’s an antidote to some of the toxicity we’re exposed to

[Gettison @GettisonSean]

U.S. infrastructure- refineries, our grid, our systems- it’s all extremely vulnerable to sabotage and cyber warfare. A disproportionate response to a U.S. attack might include an in tandem attack on a NATO country by Russia given the escalation there. Let’s hope our military planners have more imagination than they seem to, and have gamed all scenarios.

[Gettison @GettisonSean]

@SydneyLWatson If you’re a linebacker or a center or sumo wrestler, or anyone else, if you don’t fit into a seat you need to buy two.

[Gettison @GettisonSean]

@SenecaSpeaks21 @_LeighM_O Much of the credit goes to you Seneca.

[Gettison @GettisonSean]

@DSA_Watch The only thing she hates worse than Netanyahu is the United States.

[Gettison @GettisonSean]

@benno_nagel Leading to a media tour with this grubby fanatic.

[Gettison @GettisonSean]

@Zlatti_71 I knew Michael - he was a gifted speaker and a fire breathing Marxist until the very end. RIP

[Brivael Le Pogam @brivael]

Mai 2024, déjeuner à la Maison Blanche. Ben Horowitz et Marc Andressen lui en face de l’équipe Biden sur l’IA.

Le pitch qu’ils entendent : l’IA ne sera pas un truc de startups. Deux ou trois grandes boîtes, travaillant main dans la main avec l’État. On les protège. On les contrôle. On leur dit quoi faire. « Don’t fund AI startups. »

Marc objecte l’évidence : l’IA, c’est des maths. L’algèbre linéaire s’enseigne partout. Comment tu interdis ça ?

Réponse, mot pour mot selon lui : pendant la Guerre froide, on a classé des pans entiers de physique. Des branches entières sont devenues secret d’État. La recherche s’est éteinte. On peut faire la même chose aux maths sous l’IA.

Ils sortent. Parking de l’aile Ouest. Un regard. « Yep, we’re for Trump. »

Le bill de Bernie, c’est la version écrite de cette phrase.

Définition si large de la « superintelligence » qu’elle avale n’importe quel modèle un peu général. Pause jusqu’à ce qu’une agence cabinet-level existe. Destruction physique des systèmes. Peine de mort pour les entreprises. Vingt ans de prison pour les chercheurs. Comparaison explicite avec le nucléaire.

Même logiciel : traiter le code comme l’atome. Décider que certaines idées ne doivent plus exister dans le domaine public. Concentrer le pouvoir chez deux ou trois acteurs « responsables », sous tutelle.

Les gens qui portent ça ne sont pas des monstres. Ils ont peur pour de vrai. Sauf que la peur, convertie en monopole + prison, ne produit jamais de sécurité. Elle produit un Gosplan avec un GPU.

L’IA trop dangereuse pour être ouverte devient forcément trop précieuse pour n’appartenir qu’à ceux qui ont le tampon.

On a déjà vu ce film. Les bâtisseurs le connaissent par cœur.

Allez construire avant qu’on classe l’algèbre.

[Gettison @GettisonSean]

@DrKarlynB That’s ridiculous. There are armies of people on the far left (myself included) who have migrated to the middle or further, and completely abandoned collectivism. For generations it’s been a normal part of growing up.

[Gettison @GettisonSean]

@SenMarkKelly We are supposed to be scraping by at 25. It’s when life schools us on the reality of how hard we’re going to have to work to never end up in a retail job again.