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We're standing at a crossroads.

Technological progression has led

Large deep-learning models are

increasingly being used for things

We stand for an alternative vision - a humane, sustainable approach to computing, independent of growth imperatives, the need for monetization, and the concept of obsolescence.

We have been repeatedly assured that we are on the edge of a great and glorious new era - one where automated systems and emerging technologies allow human productivity to soar to new heights. The utopian promise of an AI-assisted golden age is being promoted as a possible future - if only we trust in a handful of large tech companies (Alphabet and Microsoft/OpenAI prominent among them) to know what is best for us.

So what, then, does the future look

like? It looks like massive changes

In the developing world, the same

pattern will apply. Mass

Mainstream entertainment will be

increasingly machine-generated and

Among the upper tiers of the

employed population, mass

In short, this is a future that will continue to reinforce the privileges associated with wealth and power, and will undermine the dignity of people.

We don't pretend that we can prevent that future. We're just individuals, and not very many of them. What, then, can we do?

We can present an alternative.

Computing can be more than the ever-growing techno-capitalist juggernaut. It can be about things other than speed, or scale. It can be about human creation, and human interaction. It can be about people finding new and creative uses for old hardware and software. It can be about computing as an art, not as a production line. It can be about sustainability. It can be about cleverness. It can be about small things.

With that in mind, these are some conclusions we've reached.

* We reject the use of generative learning models outright. We furthermore reject any AI development that is driven primarily by corporate interests rather than the interests of the people affected by it. Any AI development should be respectful of human creativity and dignity.

* We commit to reducing our personal resource footprints, including those of consumer goods. We commit to device lifetime extension and the circular economy.

* We strive for repairability, maintainability, and long life for the projects we create ourselves.

* We aim to collaborate with others in a spirit of conviviality before reaching for corporate solutions, technologies, and devices. We look with interest upon projects - including hardware, software, and networks - that have people and their interactions at their center. We also welcome and appreciate all forms of human creative expression.

* We embrace innovative, low-impact solutions to problems - ones comprehensible and implementable by human beings working together.

* We repudiate racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. We work toward a convivial technology future that is inclusive of people of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences.

* We accept that we have participated, and still participate, in an exploitative and destructive system. We look to the future with a sincere desire to do better.

We invite others to work toward a future that respects all people, and puts the needs of human beings before those of corporations. We may not be able to change the direction of the megacorporations, but we can work together to build solutions beyond them - to build an alternative technological road together, and to resist the dangerous path they have set us upon.

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