Privacy is a word you’ve definitely heard if you ever stepped into any online space. Hell, you should be familiar with it in your day to day life unless you literally live in a house made of fully transparent glass and shout everything (and I mean absolutely everything) into the city/country-wide radio. Especially in online space it’s something that’s often been brutally abused in favour of actors of not-so-great kind. But at the same time, it’s a necessity to protect those who needed the most; the very victims of the aforementioned abusers. So what to do? Is this another case of K. Popper’s “Paradox of Tolerance” of Socrates’ “Absolute freedom being the highest form of tyranny”? Well, let’s ponder on it for a bit and give some food for thought for your own conclusions.
Rust; the language, not the survival game. The “successor to C” as seen by a lot of its proponents due to it’s strict enforcement of memory safety, data race prevention and many other code ailments which make programmers’ lose hair on many occasions. The very same language which was seen as the a way to safer code found itself in the storm of disdain due to being extensively used by AI tools. But why this one specifically? How did the language of safety become one of the despised tools since it can indicate a heavy-handed use of AI? Well, if you read one of my previous posts on “AI coding” you can probably put the answer together but let’s take this dive once again.
“Rawi, you’re tech person. Why aren’t you excited about all the advances?”
“My dear, it’s precisely because I’m a tech person. It’s because I have a hands-on experience with this stuff. That’s why I consider this ‘people going ape-shit’ insane.”
And the same applies to the age verification and digital privacy stuff. Because I know the “other side”. Yes, you’re reading this right. I’ve been there, on the opposing side of the barricade years ago.
Why am I writing this? Because I want to. I’m not interested in seeking some redemption. And yes, I know some of you will now want to hang me for “being one of them”. To you I say: “People can learn. People can change. If you don’t believe that, you’re not what you claim to be.”
Oh my, I’m going to set off all forms of radiation alarms with the nuclear carpet bombing this will bring upon me but I’m still going to say it in full: “I’m sorry, vibe-coders, but you’re retro-techies >:3”. Granted I’m simplifying a little bit but once you read what I’m talking about, you’ll see that I touched the “original vibe-coding”, which may even be older than me. So sit back and get ready to become grey super quick.
I know, I know, this dead horse has beaten to a pulp, crushed to a paste and then squeezed into a juice but it’s 2026 and this gleeful ignorance of physics, efficiency and a display of engineering stupidity is still a thing. I’m aware that I’m harsh but seriously, the principles of how “wireless” charging works are taught in elementary here so even a kid can see how pointless this thing is. Don’t believe me? Well, let’s sit back and watch the shitshow I’m about to perform!
I was wondering a little bit where to put this one because I have mainly tech-oriented examples for this but I can think of a few ideas which apply everywhere (mainly when it comes to promoting oneself). I’m still probably going to approach this mostly from the technical field as it’s the one I’m most familiar with but no worries, I’m not going to drown you in tech stuff as it’s not my goal. Enough rambling, let’s get to the point. Yes, we, the people (pardon me the reference) have become worryingly incompetent when it comes to choosing the right tools for the task we need to do. The latest trend of “AI” only makes this even more obvious (it’s as if “AI” is the power amplifier/intensifier of everything) but there were signs years and years before the current “incompetence mirror” became apparent. How bad is it? Well, I’m going to present some examples and let you be the “jury”.
Because the technical definition of learning is flawed. There, boom, done, end of post, end of line, end of file. Now that I have your mind sufficiently agitated and ready to flog me with whips made of CAT6 cables, I implore you to sit down and seriously listen in because you might actually align with what I’m saying. And brace yourselves because the stuff is probably going to give some really head-scratching moments and very likely shatter your ideas about “universal AI”.
Recently we’ve all been witnessing more and more pieces of software and for fuck’s sake even hardware fall into the trap of AI code. From a relatively mild things to allowing AI-assisted contributions (which isn’t exactly reassuring and we’ll get into that) to full-on embracing the “hollow text generator” machine. I’m not going to go into the ethical side of things in this write-up because that’d be for an entire book which would take me multiple lifetimes to finish. What I’d like to dive into here is how delving into the AI toolchains revealed a MASSIVE cognitive canyon in tech developers’ minds, both technical and social. Long story short: Techies are idiots. Yes, we are and it’s our damn responsibility to do something about it. And no, the solution doesn’t like in tech field. It very much lies in the field you’re oh so arrogantly shove away as “useless” (been there myself and luckily didn’t allow my braincells to fry). You want long story long? Well, find a cosy corner and let’s dive in.
STEP RIGHT UP! STEP RIGHT UP! FOR YOU'RE TO SEE MIRACLES OF THE NORTH IN THE FUZZIEST, FLUFFIEST AND SILLIEST FORMS!
That's right, woof has gone for another fluffy adventure. Or I should actually say fox because this time it was Roky's time to shine. Back to the cold North of Malmö, but this time for a show. A show full colours and silly fluffy critters; the one and only Cirque Du Nord of Nordic Fuzzcon 2026. A perfect match for my bright orange side of me. And of course I was ready with a bit of a ringleader attire (mild shame I was missing the coat but time was merciless and besides, I can and will make it later). So let's not spend too much time outside and step right into the ring!
No, I’m not kidding. If someone told me this, I’d genuinely reply: “Then I’m going home because that’s where I’m ‘Me’.” You may have noticed that one thing I value a lot is authenticity. One could even say I have an … authenticity kink X3 (gosh, that’s such a stupid joke). It sounds a little odd because for one, I’m more often than not “behind a mask” (which isn’t a mask at all, more like the expression of my true self because this meatbag doesn’t cut it), and for two, being authentic nowadays is “undesirable”. But the latter is probably one of the main reasons why me and likely many others seek authenticity. Yes, it’s a risk. Sometimes you encounter a genuine sack of shit of a person. But there’s quite an important silver lining: You know they’re a sack of shit outright so you can avoid them like a cat avoids a cucumber on the floor (unless you’re our cat because then you just don’t give a single damn).
But why am I talking about this. An inspiration came from two places: my probably the longest following on YT, Skallagrim, and reply to one of my discussions from BSky when I got into a talk about socmed and algorithms. The former pretty much aligns with my views on “getting big” and the latter, especially one answer, gives me an insight into how people perceive and use social media and what motivates them. Curious? Well, you know what to do.