I do buy the argument that the majority of the shift is due to AI bots / agents. Just looking at the robots.txt I had to implement just to try to keep the majority of bots off my websites is insane (literally 160+ lines of user agents).

But there are some other factors, such as the seemingly steady migration of users from Windows to Linux. I don’t buy the Valve hardware argument as much since the majority of those will be used for gaming on Steam, and not likely to be seen by StatCounter or Cloudflare.

StatCounter itself has flagged the possibility that some of the new Linux activity could be bot-related, including traffic generated by AI agents and other automated workloads, which would make the jump appear much larger than a shift driven entirely by human users.

Oh, it’s because of AI alright. Because Windows users are tired of it being shoved down their f***ing throats.

(I’m just being sarcastic for the fun of it…)

Man, Mamdani is on a major winning streak… Too bad he couldn’t get Netanyahu arrested (but I’m happy he had the possibility researched).

Partch might give you that same curiosity. Here’s an example: Sonata Dementia (1950) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZybJAEPu18

One of the arguments I made in my blog post is that there is a very long history of alternate tunings and microtonality in music. Another composer to get into his Harry Partch, who came up with at 43 tone scale in the 1950s, and had to build his own instruments for an ensemble to perform his compositions.

I’m surprised you didn’t include King Gizzard in your list – especially Flying Microtonal Banana.

So, there are good explanations as to why they are popular, and not a joke even slightly.

What AdP have done is combined:

• Pop rock using looping tech and really tight percussion / guitar work
• Some very technical playing, especially using microtonal instruments with a 24 tone scale
• A dada-esque aesthetic to make themselves standout
• Created a lore that allows them to preserve some privacy

So, no, the music is not a joke. It’s real music, made by musicians that have been performing together since they were ~13 years old (over a decade at this point). If you listened with a critical ear you might realize that many of their pieces are actually satirizing the clichés of pop-rock music. The aesthetic is made to be fun and get attention.

I’ve written a bit more about them here: The Summer of Angine de Poitrine.

Oh, and FYI—if this is a joke, it’s one of the most successful jokes in nearly 20 years. They smashed the attendance record set by Stevie Wonder in 2009 for the Montreal Jazz Festival.

Yup, didn’t even think about that when I was writing. Of course, we don’t typically think of them as microtonal since we’re heavily invested in 12TET in the west, and typically use those instruments in a way consistent with 12TET music.

Yeah, I saw several clips from the show… Just amazing to see.

Depends on what you mean by “popular and lasting”. Rush came up in a different period. The definition of success was quite different because there was no internet, there wasn’t the concept of virality, there weren’t as many opportunities to attract and build an audience.

Look at Phish today. They built their following on the internet, they rose to a reasonable level of popularity, but only have one real traditional radio airplay hit song. And yet here they are 30+ years on, able to play the Vegas Sphere, and MSG. The prototype for a self-built audience was The Grateful Dead. They built their audience, they sold records, and had only a few radio airplay songs like Casey Jones and Touch of Gray.

The definition of success can be very different depending on how you look at it. Today more than ever success isn’t defined in the same manner that it used to be. Streaming plays, live performance, etc. have replaced the traditional measures that Rush and The Grateful Dead came up under. Today, Angine de Poitrine can be more like Phish with a dedicated audience that will follow them.

And, as for them being instrumental, I’ll defer to the (excellent) list @tetrachromac@lemmy.world provided below.

Standard Ebooks takes works that are in the public domain, uses multiple editions of the work to cross-reference, edits for typo’s and other corrections, and then typesets them into well formatted eBooks. These editions are then released as epub2, epbu3, azw3, kepub and xhtml editions. All of their books are free downloads (as should be given they are public domain works).

The focus on literary works, mystery, adventure, science fiction, poetry, biography, and comedy, drama, etc. works.

They currently have over 1900 works available.

Perfect example of the Streisand Effect. I would never have seen this photo if it weren’t for this article.

I assumed the image was a joke since everything about it is wrong… Most likely it was AI generated.

I’m just starting to get into Angine de Poitrine.

My thinking is similar - that there are an overwhelming majority that are state actors. But, my guess is that in the non-state actor accounts it wouldn’t just be some accounts that got “swept up” as a side effect. I would be there would likely be some very noticeable targeting of certain types of accounts (ie, those that have social values that are more left leaning, or those that are trying to promote verifiable information that flies in the face of conservative narratives).

I would love to see an independent research team go through all the data from these 800m accounts, and determine which ones were actually state actors, and which were just accounts that Musk personally disagrees with.

That’s not the argument at all. The argument is that there have been warning signs, big flashing warning signs, about the dangers of using AI for years now. Most technology, in general doesn’t come with anywhere near as many warnings.

And, it’s been a known fact that people using AI are also training in the AI. That’s an active choice that people that signed up for accounts are making.

So yes, users of this technology are taking an active role in the training of the technology, that makes them complicit.

That is a far cry from data brokers going out and harvesting public records, or companies tracking your spending habits and feeding that into a database. If those companies then turned around and made a weapon, no I wouldn’t point the finger at people whose information got scraped. OTOH - if you continued to use a platform that you know is using you to gather information (aka, Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, etc.) and let them do it, then yeah…you have some level of complicity.

Making a mistake is one thing. Ignoring the BIG FLASHING WARNING SIGNS is another. There have been massive warning signs around AI for several years. If you looked at the warning signs and proceeded anyway, you deserve what you get.

That’s no judgment on me. I don’t use AI. I tried it one night 3-4 years ago, realized that it wasn’t ready for widespread adoption, and haven’t touched it since.

Yes, there are applications that can be used for good or evil. But being super reductive and claiming the whole internet has tons of negative uses is ridiculous. The internet itself is a series of protocols running on communications hardware.

It is up to the users of the applications to judge whether the application is inherently positive or negative, or whether the use of the technology is being handled in a positive and/or ethical manner. And more so, it’s up to the user to judge wether the technology aligns with their personal values.

Social networks: Xitter, Farcebook, Instawhore, TikTok, Reddit… all of them have proven they are platforms of manipulation, so I walked away. In fact, most of them I walked away from before it was shown how just how bad they were.

Cryptocurrencies: had the opportunity to be good, but grifters set in on them, so I never got involved.

NFTs: the next generation of CryptoGrifters, stayed away.

AI: has never been ready to be a public application / platform. That has been apparent for the last 3-5 years. If you didn’t read and pay attention to the signs and still signed up for an account despite all the warnings being out there, then yes, you have aided and abetted in the use of the technology in manners that are going to have a severely negative impact on the world.

Here’s the thing: we have a long, long history with technology. We know that it can be used for both good and bad. However, we also should have evolved in our thinking over the past 6-7 decades in terms of how technologies are being applied.

Nuclear reactors: Mostly good with negative side effects. Judgment on this needed longer terms study to understand it’s implication. Nuclear bombs? Clearly evil.

Cassette recorders, VCRs, CD Recorders: predominantly good, but open to bad uses (i.e., piracy). The balance: mostly good, minimal negative effects

AI? Potentially good, but immediately threw up huge red flags in terms of negative uses (deep fakes, revenge porn, etc.). Even AI researchers have expressed concerns over the direction of the research.

The thing is, technology is something that we’ve lived with since the industrial revolution. Every single technological invention since that time has had major implications for it’s impact on society. We can choose, on an individual basis, how that impact is shaped. If you chose to use a technology, then you are better that it’s uses will align with your values. Don’t cry when it’s used in ways that don’t align with your values, or is used against you.

Impossible purity test? That’s utter bull crap. There have been many warnings about the negative uses of AI for years now, for example: https://aiforgood.itu.int/event/addressing-the-dark-sides-of-ai/

To expect people to be able to understand that this use could be expanded to committing state sponsored atrocities is not a stretch.