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Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 31st May 2026 (awful.systems)
submitted 5 days ago by BlueMonday1984@awful.systems to c/techtakes@awful.systems
238 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Want to wade into the sandy surf of the abyss? Have a sneer percolating in your system but not enough time/energy to make a whole post about it? Go forth and be mid.

Welcome to the Stubsack, your first port of call for learning fresh Awful you’ll near-instantly regret.

Any awful.systems sub may be subsneered in this subthread, techtakes or no.

If your sneer seems higher quality than you thought, feel free to cut’n’paste it into its own post — there’s no quota for posting and the bar really isn’t that high.

The post Xitter web has spawned so many “esoteric” right wing freaks, but there’s no appropriate sneer-space for them. I’m talking redscare-ish, reality challenged “culture critics” who write about everything but understand nothing. I’m talking about reply-guys who make the same 6 tweets about the same 3 subjects. They’re inescapable at this point, yet I don’t see them mocked (as much as they should be)

Like, there was one dude a while back who insisted that women couldn’t be surgeons because they didn’t believe in the moon or in stars? I think each and every one of these guys is uniquely fucked up and if I can’t escape them, I would love to sneer at them.

(Credit and/or blame to David Gerard for starting this.)

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[-] zogwarg@awful.systems 16 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Encyclical from the pope about the dangers of AI, mostly sane actually: (provided link skips quite a bit about social justice and referencing previous literature)

https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html#Artificial_intelligence

EDIT, snippets:

  1. We cannot be satisfied with [...] the so-called “alignment” of AI [..] without [..] openly discussing the ethical frameworks involved and subjecting them to shared standards of social justice. Otherwise, those who control AI will impose their own moral vision, which will become the invisible infrastructure of these systems. A more moral AI is not enough if that morality is determined by a few. [...]
  1. [ about post and transhumanism ] From the perspective of the Church’s Social Doctrine, the key issue is not the use of technology as such, but the vision that underlies it. If the human being is treated as something to be perfected or surpassed, it becomes easier to accept that some lives are less useful, less desirable or less worthy. In the name of progress, “necessary sacrifices” may begin to be justified, placing the burden on the most vulnerable in pursuit of a supposed optimization of the species. [...]
[-] V0ldek@awful.systems 20 points 4 days ago

When our enemies are so fucking immoral I have to hand it to the HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC FUCKING CHURCH when the fuck did I enter the twilight zone

[-] mawhrin@awful.systems 10 points 4 days ago

for the nerds here, said head of the catholic fucking church quotes (correctly!) one gandalf from the works of well known catholic writer named tolkien

[-] sailor_sega_saturn@awful.systems 12 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I don't think anyone here is at risk of being tricked into thinking that the pope is their friend (unlike some people on social media...)

Under the last pope the church used similar arguments to argue that transgender people are unnatural (unsaid part: and probably shouldn't be given healthcare). It's hard for me to read this without thinking about that backdrop:

Desiring a personal self-determination, as gender theory prescribes, apart from this fundamental truth that human life is a gift, amounts to a concession to the age-old temptation to make oneself God, entering into competition with the true God of love revealed to us in the Gospel.

[-] EponymousBosh@awful.systems 3 points 3 days ago

"The Catholic Church is an institution which has harmed, and continues to harm many, many people" and "it's really good that the leader of the world's largest religious organization is speaking out against AI and fascism" are both true statements

[-] sailor_sega_saturn@awful.systems 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Thank heavens the church is speaking out against fascism as they cheer on a fascist government taking away my healthcare.

I don't care if you want to celebrate it and I wasn't saying you shouldn't or that it's a bad thing. But this comment is really inviting a "no shit sherlock" kind of response.

[-] blakestacey@awful.systems 11 points 4 days ago
[-] blakestacey@awful.systems 10 points 4 days ago

Timnit Gebru:

... an Anthropic cofounder was specifically thanked during the Pope's speech where he said that they will "work together to "find the way for humanity, in this time of artificial intelligence." Chris Olah wasn't a random attendee. The Vatican had been cultivating these relationships for many years.

[-] mawhrin@awful.systems 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

gebru straight up judges the text on the composition of the guests at the unveiling, and declines to read it, this is kremlinology in the worst style.

it is a doctrinal document directed at the catholic faithful, it is useful to actually take it at face value, and criticise it for its own (de)merits.

[-] lurker@awful.systems 7 points 4 days ago

what the fuck’s the Pope gonna do, convert Claude to Christianity?

[-] Evinceo@awful.systems 8 points 4 days ago

Not if Dawkins converts Claudia to Atheism first!

[-] lurker@awful.systems 5 points 4 days ago

I can’t decide if I hate hardcore atheist or hardcore christian claude more

[-] mirrorwitch@awful.systems 8 points 4 days ago

Seizing "the res novæ of our time" [derogatory] from this

[-] fiat_lux@lemmy.zip 5 points 4 days ago

we must realistically ask ourselves who holds this power today and how they use it...

Edging dangerously close to self-reflection there, but quickly pivoted.

Technological power thus takes on an unprecedented, predominantly “private” aspect, which makes it even more challenging to discern, govern and direct such power toward the common good... The narrative shows how the city is reborn, not through the initiative of one man, but through the shared responsibility of all...

A timely reminder that the Vatican Bank were fighting lawsuits as late as 2010 where they argue they were justified to use filthy lucre from the WW2 fascists they trafficked, because Communists are dangerous. Such dedication to rebuilding demolished cities and the common good.

The Church does not claim to assume the functions belonging to the State. On the contrary, she esteems those who serve the common good, and she firmly acknowledges the responsibility that civil institutions hold within society.

Doesn't claim to assume the functions belonging to the State, while being a literal ethnostate, with a bank distributing official Euros, which argues they're immune from prosecution under the US Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

Fuck right off. The Vatican has just found a new group of fascists willing to fill their coffers as payment for shelter.

From the pope's first address to the college of Cardinals: “In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution"

Here we see how the treasury of social teaching manifests. The Church is a laundromat, specializing in whitewashing. I can't even get past the first full chapter of this shit.

[-] fullsquare@awful.systems 8 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

tired: butletian jihad

wired: butlerian crusade

e: maybe we should have seen this coming, prospective Keeper of Two Masjids wanted to build ai dc in Neom

[-] lurker@awful.systems 3 points 4 days ago

I encountered this in the wild over on Reddit about the Pope and AI

this post was submitted on 24 May 2026
16 points (94.4% liked)

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