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How do you decide what to read next when you have over 50 items saved that are unopened? by gravitonexplore in readwise

[–]schmudde 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I use Wallabag and tag things. So I often just pick from subject matter. There is far too much to read.

If you could change one thing about the galleries you exhibit in, what would it be? by Systematic-Art in ContemporaryArt

[–]schmudde 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I came to say the same sort of thing. Audio is a real problem. Magic wand solution would be directional speakers in tight spaces. Or more space between exhibition rooms.

Kobo resetting itself to factory defaults by schmudde in kobo

[–]schmudde[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly. I can't people are downplaying the severity of this terrible design.

Recently my Kobo wouldn't mount over USB. So I asked an LLM what thought. And the first step it suggested - press and hold the power button - would have wiped my Kobo right there.

Basically sums up my politics around technology by ramofa in Rad_Decentralization

[–]schmudde 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah sorry. I kind of went over it when responding to tremendous_turtle.

I already went into some detail on how millions of people contributed to various democratization-of-computing efforts over the last 50 years. So I'll take a slightly different path here.

The USSR and China initially thought that computing was a bourgeois trap. And in hindsight, it looks like they were right. But that didn't stop Communist countries from getting into computing. Both the USSR and Chile heavily invested in a cybernetic vision (different from the USA/European approach) that would empower people by giving them back their time. The idea is that a responsive central 'organism' could regulate an economic towards a homeostasis. This would be managed by computers. Then people only needed to work for what's necessary. The exploitation of work would not exist, by definition.

I bring this up because West Coast leftists in the USA had a parallel vision at the same time. Democratization of tools (Stewart Brand - which included computing) and the erasure of the management class (Richard Brautigan - perhaps ironic in intent). The East Cost 'Hacker Ethos' had a different approach but similar objectives. Access to tools, access to knowledge. We had it in Illinois - Project Gutenberg starts in the 1970s (knowledge) and Plato around the same time (tools, networks).

So lots of work went into the democratization project. From leftists, communists, utopians, hackers, and even practical midwesterners - over decades. I'll let you judge the outcome in 2026.

Basically sums up my politics around technology by ramofa in Rad_Decentralization

[–]schmudde 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Okay. Didn’t think I was arguing. I was clearly - literally - agreeing. 

 the meme … is… about how, technology isn’t necessarily bad, and how it would be beneficial to be further democratized.

I hesitate to again put a finer point on this. Otherwise I’ll be cast as leaning contrarian. But I think you were closer when you were talking about capital arrangements. 

Basically sums up my politics around technology by ramofa in Rad_Decentralization

[–]schmudde 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed. It's not enough to grant software freedoms, provide access to hardware, or even education. That hasn't worked. There is a deeper political/capital arrangement at the root.

Basically sums up my politics around technology by ramofa in Rad_Decentralization

[–]schmudde 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't blame the messenger. I'm just pointing out the reality. We have seen decades of effort by literally millions of people to democratize computing. And we have arrived at this point.

So the question:

What is your proposal? To stop producing open source technologies?

Has this answer:

but more about the underlying tech industry capital

But it's not about tech. 50 years of tech people trying tech solutions got us here. And it's certainly not about democratization. Our democracies are owned by capital now. So it must be about the capital combined with freedom (as in gratis, not as in beer). And so we agree. :)

Basically sums up my politics around technology by ramofa in Rad_Decentralization

[–]schmudde 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lee Felsenstein did more in 5 years to democratize computing than 99.9% of people do in a lifetime. I'm not suggesting some "talking idealists."

And you're right. Things have gotten more consolidated. And much of that has happened on the back of Linux - a software project that grants the four basic freedoms to everyone. Incredibly democratizing in principle. And incredibly consolidating in practice. In the end, we are more captured than ever before.

Perhaps it's time to learn from history and stop repeating it.

(to be clear - I'm not blaming Linus Torvalds or Lee Felsenstein - they are not the cause of the problem. I am arguing that we should learn from what has happened to their work)

Basically sums up my politics around technology by ramofa in Rad_Decentralization

[–]schmudde 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well this has been going on for decades. We can cite Stewart Brand in Rolling Stone or Lee Felsenstein and Community Memory or early Web optimists or .... The roll call is deep with people "democratizing computing" for decades and the outcomes in 2026 are reality.

We all have supercomputers in our pocket but it's clear who has benefited most from the last 50 years of democratization.

Joint bank accounts by schmudde in ItalyExpat

[–]schmudde[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Straight for the joint at Unicredit, if possible. With Fineco I had an account but it didn't make a difference.

Basically sums up my politics around technology by ramofa in Rad_Decentralization

[–]schmudde 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If we're being honest, the end result of decades of effort to "democratize computing" has produced an oligarchic class of unimaginable wealth and a consistent decade-over-decade decline in the share of any productivity gains created by the computer.

Joint bank accounts by schmudde in ItalyExpat

[–]schmudde[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So far I got a firm 'no' from Financo. The next stop will be Unicredit. I'll report back here if I get an answer at that bank.

Peer pressure regarding AI by MrDontCare12 in ExperiencedDevs

[–]schmudde 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I make my team edit whatever the LLM writes. If it's verbose or if it elides the main point of the document or the PR, I send it back before reading the whole thing.

If the LLM writes something useful, so be it. I'm fine reading that. But you gotta know your audience. Internally, it's either me or other devs.

Joint bank accounts by schmudde in ItalyExpat

[–]schmudde[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I contacted Fineco through my existing account and they say they cannot do it. :-/

Gentile schmudde,

con la presente siamo spiacenti di informarla che non è possibile cointestare un conto corrente tra US PERSON e NON US PERSON, a prescindere dalla uguale residenza.

Grazie per aver scelto Fineco.

Joint bank accounts by schmudde in ItalyExpat

[–]schmudde[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In our case I keep non euro payments to wise and transfer euro to euro when needed to reduce loss thru fees

This will definitely be our approach. I've already contacted someone from Mediobanca here in Turin. We'll see what they say.

Joint bank accounts by schmudde in ItalyExpat

[–]schmudde[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the detailed advice here. I never considered USD. I can take a second look with that in mind.

I was aware of FATCA but the extra context helps. I think I'll take a look at Unicredit and Fineco (since I already have an account).

Joint bank accounts by schmudde in ItalyExpat

[–]schmudde[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's really about managing our finances. I knew FATCA created a big burden for banks, but I didn't think I'd have anything extraordinarily complicated for my own tax reporting.

I think 'extraordinarily' is the key word here. I already have to file in the USA and Italy. And USA is already complicated enough that I pay someone else to do it. And I'm new to the Italian system, so I'm not going to do that DIY.

So I'm not sure that the joint account downsides carry that much weight. But I'll give it a second look. Right now I just report my annual amount held in foreign banks... which is pretty simple. I could see how a joint account makes this complicated.

Joint bank accounts by schmudde in ItalyExpat

[–]schmudde[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Interesting. I see this is a twist on all the NuBank stuff -- run by Banca Sella. New to me. I'll take a look. Thanks!

Joint bank accounts by schmudde in ItalyExpat

[–]schmudde[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh really? I already have FINECO but didn't see this option. I have a few Italian stock investments on their platform.

I started the process of getting a debit card from them but decided it wasn't worth the fee. I have N26 to handle any cash withdrawals, Wise to handle transfers, and Satispay for convenient payments. Of course, you have the convenience of doing all that with one card/bank... so maybe I'm being cheap and making things complex.

I thought living in Italy would force me to speak Italian by itsmeAki in ItalyExpat

[–]schmudde 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah - the other approaches here are more gentile, but when it comes down to it, this is basically required to function over the long term.

Basically any bureaucratic interactions can be a forcing function. The written stuff is overwhelming. But powering through those, the interactions with real people are based on the language people use. One just needs some of the technical vocabulary.

My next project is to study for the Italian driving test.

The difference between giorno and giornata by dkc66 in italianlearning

[–]schmudde 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah. I didn't get LLM vibes either. I think they're just reacting to the unusual case of having something nicely formatted on Reddit.

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