Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
mastodon
4.5.8
Day job: #geospatial #datascience #python #security
Academic research: #LandReform #STS #Scotland #Ecology #Landscape #CommunityOwnership
STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff.
I live and raise a fuss in #Durham #NC
Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions.
MA Geography
Ph.D. Constructed Environment
He/him http://git.io/vxjC7
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Joined February 23, 2018
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
2d ago
Impeachment articles filed against Hegseth.
Good. This probably won't work. But it might. There might be a handful of Republicans for whom his extreme dereliction of duty is a bridge too far and at least send it to the Senate.
Normalize impeaching incompetent shitheads!
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/15/democrats-pete-hegseth-impeachment
#uspol
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
3d ago
@Richard_Littler I tried, but an old man there told me they weren't the droids I was looking for.
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
4d ago
@zzt It won't work with that sound card.
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
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5d ago
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Apr 10, 2026
@LilahTovMoon
I don't even think 5 referenda are needed. I think requiring two consecutive ones would be plenty. If Brexit had been put back up for a vote, it probably would have failed. (Jeremy Corbyn completely fumbled the opposition politics of Brexit, it was painful to watch.)
Jedidiah Purdy made the case a few years back that all of these fights over originalism vs. "living document" when it comes to the Constitution happen because we stopped amending it. Amendments can clarify disputes.
I've seen a lot of "be careful what you wish for" stuff regarding an Article V Convention. But I'm not sure the outcome would be worse than the status quo.
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Apr 09, 2026
@dingemansemark
A lot of people like him. I don't mean to throw you off. But sometimes you get hung up on a thing and it stays with you.
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Apr 09, 2026
@dingemansemark @jonny that’s perhaps unfair to judge someone so harshly for one bit of analysis, but it’s so bad that it makes me suspicious of anything else he wrote. It doesn’t help that he wrote to Walter Benjamin and used the jazz analysis as proof of a bigger point.
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Apr 09, 2026
@dingemansemark @jonny It’s his writing on jazz that makes me dislike him so much. It’s the epitome of a European leftist essentializing nonwhite phenomena as fundamentally derivative of and only relevant to prior European standards and having no relevance or existence beyond that. It’s so, so bad and colonialist.
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Apr 08, 2026
@dingemansemark @jonny
I look forward to reading this! (And I promise to set aside my intense dislike of Adorno for it!)
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Apr 06, 2026
@jeffowski
Jesus: "I wish I could, like a mother hen, gather you in." (Luke 13:34)
Reactionary Xians: "Weird pervert."
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Apr 06, 2026
@BlackAzizAnansi That thread . . . is some heavy reading.
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Apr 05, 2026
@mirth @alienghic @cwebber
As for the custom chips, I'm not sure how much more customized you can make a chip for ML models than what NVIDIA is cranking out, but at the very least here's what's going on with Microsoft's attempts to get Azure to work on smaller hardware. This is a really sobering read from a former MS system engineer.
Certainly, the capability of ARM chips to really change cloud computing if someone can get the ultra-efficient ones to scale up shouldn't be overlooked. And someone else who isn't Microsoft will probably figure it out (although AWS in particular is also staggering under its immense technical debt right now).
But there is just one titanic mess after another under the hoods of the major tech firms burning hundreds of billions of VC dollars right now.
https://isolveproblems.substack.com/p/how-microsoft-vaporized-a-trillion
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Apr 05, 2026
@mirth @alienghic @cwebber
Anthropic gets some credit for getting Claude Code to actual usability and decent code if you spend enough time scolding and cajoling the model and manually forcing it through various code quality assurances. But they're not doing it on cheap models, they're doing it on the biggest, most expensive models which require the biggest and most expensive GPUs. You can't get those results out of Deepseek or Ollama or any of the smaller, cheaper models. The code quality goes right back into the toilet, no mater what guard rails you put on it.
Given the horrific mess that is the Claude Code source code (see this megathread for a walk through the chaos fractal that is Claude Code https://neuromatch.social/@jonny/116324676116121930) it's possible that they could tighten the hell out of it and clean up some of the immense noise in it to get some efficiency. But then what does that say about Claude Code's code quality?
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Apr 05, 2026
@mirth @alienghic @cwebber
What downward trend in average model complexity? What downward trend in energy consumption? They're both going up! Nobody can get the cost of inference to go down outside of going with discount models like Deepseek which are okay for spouting text but you can't get anywhere near the code quality of something like Claude Code (and even with CC, as the OP link says, quality is still something that only works well in certain languages and in certain situations, with lots and lots of guard rails).
Ed Zitron isn't everyone's cup of tea, but he's been watching the finances of this for a while and there's absolutely no sign of the burn rate slowing down or the cost of inference dropping.
https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-subprime-ai-crisis-is-here/
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Apr 05, 2026
@mirth @alienghic @cwebber
The point is that current pricing is paying for about 10% of the actual operating costs of running the services, and many customers are already finding the token fees onerous or the monthly limits too low to use to its potential on a daily basis. There is no AI product outside of NVIDIA right now where the revenues are more than like 30% of operating costs, and most are well below 15%.
At some point, that VC/PE/PC subsidy is going to dry up and either the subscription costs will have to go up or they will have to find a way to get the same level of quality out of smaller models, cheaper hardware, or some other cut. And despite that being the very strong goal of most of the big AI model holders and hundreds of billions of in R&D costs, nobody has managed that yet.
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Apr 05, 2026
@alienghic @LunaDragofelis @ChristianRiegel @ocdtrekkie @cwebber
Yeah, and thankfully I think Neo hails the end of "let's try to make iPadOS into a real notebook OS!" It's crippleware on the hardware at this point, and they could spend lots of time and money continuing to try to warp iOS into something that can be functional . . . or they can do what they did and just let you run MacOS on iPad-level hardware.
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Apr 05, 2026
@mirth @alienghic @cwebber
So far, from what I've seen, any time one of the subscription AI places put up their prices to something resembling actual operating costs (nevermind paying back gigantic sunk capital costs), users have screamed and then bolted.
Honestly, doing the really heavy duty Claude Code stuff that's getting pushed now will easily run to $50k per developer at current costs. And no, I don't see that as something that enterprises will ultimately be willing to swallow. Nor do I see a path for them to get the GPU cycle burn down easily.
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Apr 05, 2026
@LunaDragofelis @ChristianRiegel @ocdtrekkie @cwebber @alienghic For those that want to explore the technology, yes. For those who want to use it and not think about it too much (which is FINE), an iPad or a Neo is a fine place to start.
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Apr 05, 2026
@alienghic @ocdtrekkie @cwebber
Yeah, if you look at how the big object stores are managed, folders are just a naming convention, not anything that represents the actual way the data are stored on disk.
I like folders and still use them of course. But I'm not sure they're a critical element of understanding computing the way they used to be.
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Apr 04, 2026
@ocdtrekkie @alienghic @cwebber
I agree with a lot of your posts on this thread but not this one. There's nothing inherently superior about a Windows PC over a Chromebook in terms of understanding what's happening underneath, just a ton of headaches, mysterious error messages, and unnecessary software compat errors.
If we want kids to understand the tech, give them something where they have to use a shell. Most kids and most adults don't need to know that. But the ones who do will find their way anyway.
I got given an account on an AIX workstation when I was 16, and shortly thereafter we got a bunch of Sun workstations. That was when I learned the first of the tech skills I'm still using today at age 49. I've forgotten most of what I knew before then because who the hell needs a .BAT file or how to manage a TSR program, or how to track down an IRQ conflict?
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Apr 04, 2026
@ocdtrekkie @alienghic @cwebber
And I think when that happens, there's enough sunk capital into the models and built data centers that there will be a desperate search for some way to put those to effective use, and I think they'll find something. But I don't know what it's going to be (if I did I could make myself very, very rich, probably).
But I think the downsizing/de-skilling of this period that we're in the middle of is going to leave a gaping hole in the US's tech sector capacity, and I'm not sure it's going to recover.
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Apr 04, 2026
@alienghic @cwebber
The thing most likely to get people to stop is the end of the massive subsidies for its use that the VCs are currently pouring in.
Already firms are starting to panic a little about token use for things like Claude Code, and are putting limiters in their workers that really defeat the purpose of all of the "YOU MUST USE THIS OR BE FIRED" diktats. But operating indefinitely at those prices will bankrupt Anthropic soon.
So at some point the private equity love affair with everything AI will dry up (possibly because of a Iran war-induced financial crisis), and at that point it's going to be "my org can spend $50k annually on my personal Claude tokens to make me 20% more productive . . . or it could just hire a junior dev?"
There's a chance they manage to optimize this, or get it to work using a lighter weight model. But I think it's unlikely.
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Apr 04, 2026
@cwebber Also, I really recommend this talk. It's very clarifying in thinking about "how will AI change the world?"
As she says, AI doesn't have to be awesome at coding to upend some major social conventions.
https://slideslive.com/39055698/are-we-having-the-wrong-nightmares-about-ai
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Mar 25, 2026
I have to believe this made the headline writer's day.
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Mar 23, 2026
I echo @404mediaco@mastodon.social's take on the death of the Metaverse:
"A few things on the end of Horizon Worlds, the metaverse that Mark Zuckerberg believed in so much that he renamed his company:
1) It’s very sad that many of the people who worked on it have been unceremoniously laid off because their leaders appear to have no idea what they’re doing
2) lol
3) lmao, even"
(Edit: link added)
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Mar 15, 2026
@TexasObserver
Evangelicals may be the largest Christian grouping, but they're still just the largest minority of many minorities.
There is plenty of headroom in pulling mainline Protestant, Catholic, and other denominations out of the GOP coalition. And sometimes making the worst of the Evangelicals show their ass is a good way to do that.
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Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
Michael Bacon
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
Day job: # geospatial # datascience # python # security Academic research: # LandReform # STS # Scotland # Ecology # Landscape # CommunityOwnership STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff. I live and raise a fuss in # Durham # NC Currently block-happy. Too many dudes being basic in my mentions. MA Geography Ph.D. Constructed Environment He/him http:// git.io/vxjC7
social.coop
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop
·
Apr 17, 2023
Whatever you're building right now that brings people together to make a small thing better, keep building it.
Whatever you're maintaining right now that supports your community, keep maintaining it.
May there be joy in that work.
Even if it feels useless, keep at it. You have no idea how far reaching the effects might be.
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