Aaron
hosford42's pfp

Contacting Aaron

Federation handle:

@hosford42@techhub.social

Aaron's Information

Aaron's Bio

engineer. enthusiast. ( & ). Guitarist, singer, songwriter. Rude-sounding kind person. (he/they)

hosford42.github.io/

Profile pic: Top half of the head of a nerdy white guy, peeking upside down from above the top of the picture. Clearly this guy looks at things from a different perspective.

Banner: Bands of color showing the average temperature change in Texas since 1895. Very red for the last 20% of the image.

Aaron's Posts

Aaron has 7 posts.


Pinned

Aaron

I suspect the fediverse is more than just a substitute for other social media. I see this as the beginning of a phase change in how we use the web. We are shifting from corporate control to community control. Fundamentally, the fediverse is a cooperative endeavor, instead of a competitive one. I look forward to the shift in mindset that this change brings about. Will there be a similar movement towards cooperative organizations in other areas of our lives? Once people have had a taste of this approach, will they not be eager to see it spread?


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Aaron

I just made a calculator, to get a feel for how the actual impact on the finances of individual people might look with different UBI dividend levels, income levels, and household sizes. (I plan to open-source it eventually, and maybe make it into a web page too.) The results are...interesting.

You know how they paint it like the devil and ask how the heck we would pay for it? Well, that's not really much of an issue, it turns out.

[Apologies to everyone who had to watch me edit all that. I'm done now.]

What percentage of your income would you be willing to pay for the guarantee that you will never drop below the poverty level income-wise, no matter how much bad luck you might run into? As in, even if you somehow end up with no house, no car, no job, and can't get a loan to save your life, you'll still have a livable income that you can use to get back on your feet.

1/10


Tags: #ubi

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Aaron

It's expensive to be poor. It's ironic but true. You get charges and fees for everything. Higher interest rates. Overdraft fees. Late fees. Having only enough to buy what you need right now instead of buying in bulk. Losing your job because you can't afford to get your car fixed. Losing your car because you don't have a job. Even your mental faculties are drained, as you are forced to continually eat low-nutrition foods, "sleep" in miserable conditions, and be exposed to toxins and lack of medical treatment. The lack of liquidity wipes you out. Life really does kick you while you're down.

You can't tell someone trapped in that vicious cycle to "just" get a job or "just" make responsible decisions. Sometimes, no amount of good decision-making can stop the vortex sucking them down. So the next time you are tempted to place moral judgment on someone who lives in poverty, think twice.

Signed, someone who has been both a Have and a Have-Not.


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Aaron

To everyone: If you ever come across an interesting insight into , , , or , I'd love it if you'd tag me in a reply to make sure I see it. Also, if anybody wants to discuss these things, or even tangents to them, I'm probably going to be really excited to hear what you have to say. Thanks in advance!


Tags: #language #epistemology #machinelearning #philosophyofmind

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Aaron

Some things that fascinate me:


Tags: #cognition #epistemology #naturallanguage #phenomenalconsciousness #perception #artificialgeneralintelligence #reasoning #machinelearning #logic #formalsystems #symbols #scientificmethod #socialorganization #generalization #mathematics #meaning #valuetheory #ArtificialLife #geneticprogramming #reinforcementlearning #autism #evolution #economics #monetarypolicy #votingmethods #distributedsystems

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Aaron

I just took a $35k/yr pay cut so I can work remotely.

C-suite execs, think about that for a minute. People who are more talented than me will be able to find remote jobs without such a pay cut. How much top talent are you turning away by being sticks in the mud and insisting on return to office policies? If you're going to ignore the benefits for the environment and society at large, maybe you'll be persuaded by the holes that such policies are burning in your pockets? You could be paying someone less for the same job or paying the same amount for someone who is better at what they do, if you'd only budge on your hard-nosed insistence on antiquated 20th century work practices.


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Aaron

I'm in contact with a recruiter who is looking to fill 5 to 8 data science roles. If you're in the market, DM me, and I'll put you in contact with him. The pay is decent, and it's on-site in either Virginia or the San Francisco Bay area.

Oh, and please boost for reach. Jobs are hard to come by, and you might be saving someone's life.







@datasciencejobs


Tags: #datascience #machinelearning #fedihire #fedihired #getfedihired #getfedibhired

Mentions: @datasciencejobs@mastodon.social

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Replies: 0

Boosts: 1

Aaron

I suspect the fediverse is more than just a substitute for other social media. I see this as the beginning of a phase change in how we use the web. We are shifting from corporate control to community control. Fundamentally, the fediverse is a cooperative endeavor, instead of a competitive one. I look forward to the shift in mindset that this change brings about. Will there be a similar movement towards cooperative organizations in other areas of our lives? Once people have had a taste of this approach, will they not be eager to see it spread?


Likes: 0

Replies: 0

Boosts: 0

Aaron

I just made a calculator, to get a feel for how the actual impact on the finances of individual people might look with different UBI dividend levels, income levels, and household sizes. (I plan to open-source it eventually, and maybe make it into a web page too.) The results are...interesting.

You know how they paint it like the devil and ask how the heck we would pay for it? Well, that's not really much of an issue, it turns out.

[Apologies to everyone who had to watch me edit all that. I'm done now.]

What percentage of your income would you be willing to pay for the guarantee that you will never drop below the poverty level income-wise, no matter how much bad luck you might run into? As in, even if you somehow end up with no house, no car, no job, and can't get a loan to save your life, you'll still have a livable income that you can use to get back on your feet.

1/10


Tags: #ubi

Likes: 0

Replies: 0

Boosts: 0

Aaron

It's expensive to be poor. It's ironic but true. You get charges and fees for everything. Higher interest rates. Overdraft fees. Late fees. Having only enough to buy what you need right now instead of buying in bulk. Losing your job because you can't afford to get your car fixed. Losing your car because you don't have a job. Even your mental faculties are drained, as you are forced to continually eat low-nutrition foods, "sleep" in miserable conditions, and be exposed to toxins and lack of medical treatment. The lack of liquidity wipes you out. Life really does kick you while you're down.

You can't tell someone trapped in that vicious cycle to "just" get a job or "just" make responsible decisions. Sometimes, no amount of good decision-making can stop the vortex sucking them down. So the next time you are tempted to place moral judgment on someone who lives in poverty, think twice.

Signed, someone who has been both a Have and a Have-Not.


Likes: 0

Replies: 0

Boosts: 0

Aaron

To everyone: If you ever come across an interesting insight into , , , or , I'd love it if you'd tag me in a reply to make sure I see it. Also, if anybody wants to discuss these things, or even tangents to them, I'm probably going to be really excited to hear what you have to say. Thanks in advance!


Tags: #language #epistemology #machinelearning #philosophyofmind

Likes: 0

Replies: 0

Boosts: 0

Aaron

Some things that fascinate me:


Tags: #cognition #epistemology #naturallanguage #phenomenalconsciousness #perception #artificialgeneralintelligence #reasoning #machinelearning #logic #formalsystems #symbols #scientificmethod #socialorganization #generalization #mathematics #meaning #valuetheory #ArtificialLife #geneticprogramming #reinforcementlearning #autism #evolution #economics #monetarypolicy #votingmethods #distributedsystems

Likes: 0

Replies: 0

Boosts: 0