Merry Christmas! May you enjoy the cinnamon nutmeg season as much as I do, with all the peace, major chord progressions, warm drinks, butterfat and sparkling this and that, whatever you believe, however work it ❤️🎄
🎁 here's a great album to get your day going https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=oscar+peterson+live+in+tokyo+1862
nostr:nprofile1qyt8wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kytcqyz73gacaft4fjfa8mpzn58z94meaxpzx7sr6cqzext6kd00drm9gyyqtp37 No, because no modern and useful comms platform provides only text messaging. And if your platform doesn't provide normative features and functionality, people won't use it. And if they don't use it--even if you do--you can't use it either. The network effect rules communications effectiveness.
To conclude: my silver lining hope is that AWS going down can be a learning moment, in which the risks of concentrating the nervous system of our world in the hands of a few players become very clear. And that this can help us craft ways of undoing this concentration and creating real choice ❤️ 13/
📣THREAD: It’s surprising to me that so many people were surprised to learn that Signal runs partly on AWS (something we can do because we use encryption to make sure no one but you–not AWS, not Signal, not anyone–can access your comms).
It’s also concerning. 1/
nostr:nprofile1qyt8wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kytcqyzxqsxnukcp5azs9dh7hd48tpawdm5v9s7638akxs8aa39q0aqcqycg79fx what are you suggesting we decentralize here? Like, walk me through how 'decentralizing' would solve the fact that AWS and two other cos control a large portion of server infra globally.
PSA: we're aware that Signal is down for some people. This appears to be related to a major AWS outage. Stand by.
LOL all morning picturing some finance quant slouched at his desk prompting Dalle, like, "make me a picture of pikachu having sex with the Apple logo" or whatever tf those guys use these things for, then throwing up his hands like "WHY WON'T THIS FIND ALPHA?!"
📣 Germany's close to reversing its opposition to mass surveillance & private message scanning, & backing the Chat Control bill. This could end private comms-& Signal-in the EU.
Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.
New Sunday Times profile in which I succeed, like a fencer in a 2hr marathon match, in fending off Qs abt my personal life & consistently turning focus back to my work & ideas.
(Contra the interviewer's claim, many ppl do know me! They're called friends, & you know who you are ❤️)
Yes, I did sound the alarm on agentic AI's privacy threat, and rightly so.
https://observer.com/2025/07/signal-meredith-whittaker-agentic-ai-risk/
So happy to be joining Burda Media's board of directors! I love a steep learning curve, and this one--schooling up on media business models & opportunities to (re)shape media's relationship to tech--couldn't be more exciting & consequential. Thrilled to contribute ❤️
https://www.burda.com/en/news/meredith-whittaker-joins-burdas-board-directors/
'Meredith,' some guys ask, 'why won't you shove AI into Signal?'
Because we love privacy, and we love you, and this shit is predictable and unacceptable. Use Signal ❤️
Use Signal. We promise, no AI clutter, and no surveillance ads, whatever the rest of the industry does. <3
Happy pride month! Especially to my trans friends <3
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqwgskmwf6plze0jrp2h9y23z84r5vang2p6wpah3t5ncwge5da89scf30mk nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqwf6vcz4s9gges6xtv5k4vjte5m2h7nf22ty78w7vqa3hc0qu349q7hz9x7 I'll be publishing the text with a bibliography soon (when I finish cleaning up the document)
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqjlj9lpmujuxmtn29rp2phu46vvmjm4w66gj677dg30vqrhmpay5q0hp4mx Basically, I'm calling for this https://www.wired.com/story/the-beginning-of-the-end-of-big-tech/
Complete knowledge of the full majesty of universal creation in all its divine facets is when I own an island.
📢NEW: 'Open' AI systems aren't open. The vague term, combined w AI hype is (mis)shaping policy & practice, assuming 'open source' AI democratizes access & addresses power concentration. It doesn't.
@sarahbmyers, @davidthewid & I correct the record👇
https://nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08141-1
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqxg94gccm0fj2qq2ng2jnl8tfzd3y9wewqf3eatgytq45zygvqmms5l35a5 I believe it will be recorded, but the CCC folks can confirm. I believe this because I have regularly gone back and watched old CCC talks. However, I don't know their heuristic for recording and publishing.
Anyone spending the brief liminal window between Christmas and Georgian new year in Hamburg, with the hackers, at CCC?
I am! And I'll be presenting new research and a new talk ☺️
halfnarp.events.ccc.de
Now that "scale is all we need" has predictably faltered...
1. Small AI models often perform better in context.
2. Obsession w bigness has bad consequences, from climate, to power concentration, to research capture.
Me +
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpq4m5nu28anh99cmxqymavktvahtzexknxstgtgedfqk9dv0r3sh3sx5c5h6
@sashaluccioni
arxiv.org/abs/2409.14160