Computers used to be fun. I used to use Windows 9x, and it was unstable as hell, and you kept having to lean over backwards to get things to work. Then I used bleeding edge Linux, and at some point I've ended up running pure framebuffer tty for months because X11 was broken. But despite all the breakage (or maybe even because of it), it was fun. It was fun because random accidental breakage was the worst you could expect.

Nowadays, accidental breakage is rare. Things are relatively stable. However, every step of the way you have to watch out for bad actors. No, not criminals, they are rare. Evil corporations who are looking at every opportunity to fuck you up. Using computer is no longer fun, it's no longer a tool that helps you, and it's no longer your choice. You are forced to use it, and if you don't want to be hurt every step of the way, you have to spend all the effort on fighting back. And you're fucked up anyway, because even if you manage, your family and all the people around you won't care and will let their devices, their computers and their smartphones fuck you up.

I've started using FLOSS so many years ago, for the trivial reason that I didn't want to pay for software. I stayed because I enjoyed doing it. And I wanted to make a difference, I wanted to contribute positively to the world. Even if in a little way, but I wanted to be able to say that as much harm I've done to the planet, there's at least something positive to balance it out.

But nowadays I hate FLOSS. It's been overrun by the worst people in the world. The people who aren't happy with just fucking you up. They want everyone to keep fucking everyone up. It's the kind of horror where whatever you do, it turns out you're causing harm.

I don't trust my #Gentoo #packaging work anymore. So much of the software I touch turns out to be #slop. When I file a pull request, I'm worried it will trigger #LLM reviews. When I file a bug, I'm worried it will trigger LLM responses. And today, I've learned that my old bug report to a #NoAI project resulted in a dozen slop pull requests already. Whatever you do, #AI folks smile and tell you "see, you fucked up the world even more after all".

Honestly, I don't know what to do. I hate all of this so much. But even if I managed to figure out something else to do for a living, I can't escape computers. And if I stop doing them, if I stop fighting them, I will only end up being fucked up more.

#NoLLM #AI #FreeSoftware