LLM AI bases its responses from aggregated texts written by … human authors, just without having any sense of context or logic or understanding of the actual words being put together.

@gothicdecadence I feel you too, friend! I have definitely spent many days (years?) feeling paralysed and helpless. It’s definitely hard watching what feels like everyone else in my country/part of the world/social media just continuing to live as if the future will remain as luxurious and comfortable as it is today. For my own sake I’ve decided to just focus on what I can do—it’s not a lot l, but I have the privilege of being able to learn a little here and there to better put myself in a position of contributing.

@gothicdecadence the article argues that the faux-optimism created by faulty IPCC models/assumptions has led to less urgent (and also unjust) policymaking. We need to know what we’re dealing with if we want to start solving it.

It’s also not true that there isn’t hope—even if the worst situation happens, there’s still harm reduction that can be done. All these require knowledge of what’s happening and would happen—instead, the “optimistic” models have caught many people, including scientists who relied on the models, by surprise.

I personally am done acting like I’m helpless even though I know I am one person and my sole contribution doesn’t matter. I’ll do what I can to the best of my abilities and circumstances to reduce my own harm to the planet (including by sacrificing my own lifestyle standards and expectations) and encourage the people in my life to do the same, and in the meantime also learning whatever skills I need in order to best serve and care for my community in the near future (ie growing food, etc).

If you live in a humid and wet country like I do (South East Asia), dry boxes are crucial to help stave off fungus growth. I use an electric dry box—the brand is Samurai, but honestly most dry box brands around my country seem to be rebranded Chinese OEMs so as long as it works it shouldn’t matter. It’s good habit to keep your cameras and lenses dry and making sure they’re dry before storing them away.

I’m a professional photographer but I don’t have insurance for my photography equipments because of the small insurance market for freelancers in my country. The cost of the insurance would be disproportional to the costs of my equipments. But if I have those $10k+ lenses, then it might start to make sense for me to look into it. Some home insurances might cover theft/fire/flood damage to your belongings, but read the fine prints.

That’s how I’ve been feeling for years now, intensified with the fact that there’s not enough being done even as things escalate faster than expected. As someone with lifelong anxiety and depression, what I’ve learned is to not focus on my own helplessness and lack of self-worth, but instead what I can do and contribute in any little way to any person or creature. It’s up to every one of us to give our own life meaning, and I’m trying to choose kindness.