Faine Greenwood
@faineg.bsky.social
civilian drone mapping technology and GIS/spatial data consultant, sometimes journalist and writer, monitors small drones in the Ukraine war, humanitarian-aid adjacent, always annoying online. they/them pronouns. minors DNI
Pinned
The Three Dreams You Need to Make a Drone: Tower-Jumpers and Hungry Eagles
To get to drones, we needed to learn to fly first. And throughout the generations upon generations that were required to get humanity into the air, that process often involved a lot of very hands-on e...
little-flying-robots.ghost.io
Guys who fling themselves off perfectly good towers!
Thrones piloted by Alexander the Great and powered by hungry eagles!
Both hypothetical and somewhat more historically validated flights with artificial wings by famous Italians!
The latest in my series on the ancient history of drones:
Thrones piloted by Alexander the Great and powered by hungry eagles!
Both hypothetical and somewhat more historically validated flights with artificial wings by famous Italians!
The latest in my series on the ancient history of drones:
Reposted by Faine Greenwood
Reposted by Faine Greenwood
I'm frustrated that we've allowed gAI to be seen as doing research or writing knowledge, when what it was designed to do was write text that *looks* right. This is super cool technology, and can be useful in specific situations, but what it is *being* used for, and advertised for is not a good use.
Folks might not know a lot of people are getting *very* upset that the materials they request are not available in the libraries/archives they're requesting from.
We're getting lots here at the Library of Virginia: requests of documents likely surfaced by large language models that *do not exist*.
We're getting lots here at the Library of Virginia: requests of documents likely surfaced by large language models that *do not exist*.
I wish a notice like this wasn't necessary.
www.icrc.org/en/article/i...
www.icrc.org/en/article/i...
December 8, 2025 at 2:30 PM
I'm frustrated that we've allowed gAI to be seen as doing research or writing knowledge, when what it was designed to do was write text that *looks* right. This is super cool technology, and can be useful in specific situations, but what it is *being* used for, and advertised for is not a good use.
Reposted by Faine Greenwood
One big effect of AI hype and promotion of unreliable chatbots is that a significant amount of additional friction and labour is being injected into our knowledge-making and -maintaining systems. At a time when these systems are already contracting and being starved by growing austerity.
Folks might not know a lot of people are getting *very* upset that the materials they request are not available in the libraries/archives they're requesting from.
We're getting lots here at the Library of Virginia: requests of documents likely surfaced by large language models that *do not exist*.
We're getting lots here at the Library of Virginia: requests of documents likely surfaced by large language models that *do not exist*.
I wish a notice like this wasn't necessary.
www.icrc.org/en/article/i...
www.icrc.org/en/article/i...
December 8, 2025 at 5:09 PM
One big effect of AI hype and promotion of unreliable chatbots is that a significant amount of additional friction and labour is being injected into our knowledge-making and -maintaining systems. At a time when these systems are already contracting and being starved by growing austerity.
Reposted by Faine Greenwood
People are picking up their lives and driving all the way to Richmond to find materials that were made up by a computer. I understand why they're so upset when they get here and we tell them we can't help them.
December 8, 2025 at 2:12 PM
People are picking up their lives and driving all the way to Richmond to find materials that were made up by a computer. I understand why they're so upset when they get here and we tell them we can't help them.
Reposted by Faine Greenwood
Folks might not know a lot of people are getting *very* upset that the materials they request are not available in the libraries/archives they're requesting from.
We're getting lots here at the Library of Virginia: requests of documents likely surfaced by large language models that *do not exist*.
We're getting lots here at the Library of Virginia: requests of documents likely surfaced by large language models that *do not exist*.
I wish a notice like this wasn't necessary.
www.icrc.org/en/article/i...
www.icrc.org/en/article/i...
Important notice: AI-generated archival references
www.icrc.org
December 8, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Folks might not know a lot of people are getting *very* upset that the materials they request are not available in the libraries/archives they're requesting from.
We're getting lots here at the Library of Virginia: requests of documents likely surfaced by large language models that *do not exist*.
We're getting lots here at the Library of Virginia: requests of documents likely surfaced by large language models that *do not exist*.
Reposted by Faine Greenwood
i dont understand why so many of these guys wanna live forever when it's clear they don't actually enjoy being alive
December 8, 2025 at 10:13 PM
i dont understand why so many of these guys wanna live forever when it's clear they don't actually enjoy being alive
Reposted by Faine Greenwood
facts. back when all of Academia was for Cool Boys with Huge Dicks the Humanities were considered the height of intellectual expression. but then the girls got their cooties on the humanities and now they're just harshing the vibes for the science boys.
December 10, 2025 at 12:41 AM
facts. back when all of Academia was for Cool Boys with Huge Dicks the Humanities were considered the height of intellectual expression. but then the girls got their cooties on the humanities and now they're just harshing the vibes for the science boys.
Reposted by Faine Greenwood
They want to be Lex Luthor or Ozymandias, but they’re at best Roman Sionis
why are people treating me like a d-list comic book villain when I act and talk exactly like a d-list comic book villain all the time, the big tech CEOs ask
It would also help if certain tech overlords I don’t need to list did not come off as over-the-top, constantly monologuing D-list comic book villains who want to use their shiny tools to put everyone out of a job.
December 10, 2025 at 12:41 AM
They want to be Lex Luthor or Ozymandias, but they’re at best Roman Sionis
Reposted by Faine Greenwood
Further evidence for this point: the rage and disdain people feel for jargon and complex writing in the humanities but not in STEM is reflective of the assumption that feminine pursuits should be accessible -- secret/out-of-reach feminine things are scary not impressive
imo this is very much because our culture has decided that Humanities is For Girls and Thus Pathetically Easy Bullshit whereas STEM is For Cool Boys With Huge Dicks
i've mostly experienced it as the even worse version where everyone already innately can Do Humanities just as well as the pros, but math/sciences is difficult and requires a lot of natural talent AND learning to be able to understand it.
December 10, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Further evidence for this point: the rage and disdain people feel for jargon and complex writing in the humanities but not in STEM is reflective of the assumption that feminine pursuits should be accessible -- secret/out-of-reach feminine things are scary not impressive
Reposted by Faine Greenwood
I maintain that a major difference between the humanities and math/sciences is we treat the latter as an innate skillset and we treat the humanities as learnable.
Also the people IME have the most contempt for the humanities are the ones who struggle to write a simple paragraph.
Also the people IME have the most contempt for the humanities are the ones who struggle to write a simple paragraph.
December 10, 2025 at 12:24 AM
I maintain that a major difference between the humanities and math/sciences is we treat the latter as an innate skillset and we treat the humanities as learnable.
Also the people IME have the most contempt for the humanities are the ones who struggle to write a simple paragraph.
Also the people IME have the most contempt for the humanities are the ones who struggle to write a simple paragraph.
it really is fun to make a certain kind of man mad by telling him that economics is a social science, try it sometime
That remind me the men that are offended when I tell them that economy is a social science.
December 10, 2025 at 12:40 AM
it really is fun to make a certain kind of man mad by telling him that economics is a social science, try it sometime
Reposted by Faine Greenwood
I was both told that algebra didn’t matter and also if you don’t know math you’re going to end up flipping burgers and then I got to do neither flipping burgers or knowing algebra because the algebra teacher wouldn’t teach me algebra. And nobody hired me to flip burgers.
I do think that some people who didn’t experience being Bad at Math in the 2000s and 2010s are probably really underrating how demeaning that experience was at the time
speaking on the basis of being a humanities type who struggled with math (until I learned to program later on) who felt that society was giving me a constant message in the 2000s that I was a worthless parasite who would die in a ditch on that basis alone
December 10, 2025 at 12:39 AM
I was both told that algebra didn’t matter and also if you don’t know math you’re going to end up flipping burgers and then I got to do neither flipping burgers or knowing algebra because the algebra teacher wouldn’t teach me algebra. And nobody hired me to flip burgers.
Reposted by Faine Greenwood
They need to stop saying "AI," full stop.
It's a bait-and-switch at this point.
They point at some of the incredible work done by "AI" in medical imaging and detection, or protein-folding.
Then they say "AI is the future" to push their shitty LLMs.
We need precision in nomenclature.
It's a bait-and-switch at this point.
They point at some of the incredible work done by "AI" in medical imaging and detection, or protein-folding.
Then they say "AI is the future" to push their shitty LLMs.
We need precision in nomenclature.
December 10, 2025 at 12:39 AM
They need to stop saying "AI," full stop.
It's a bait-and-switch at this point.
They point at some of the incredible work done by "AI" in medical imaging and detection, or protein-folding.
Then they say "AI is the future" to push their shitty LLMs.
We need precision in nomenclature.
It's a bait-and-switch at this point.
They point at some of the incredible work done by "AI" in medical imaging and detection, or protein-folding.
Then they say "AI is the future" to push their shitty LLMs.
We need precision in nomenclature.
why are people treating me like a d-list comic book villain when I act and talk exactly like a d-list comic book villain all the time, the big tech CEOs ask
It would also help if certain tech overlords I don’t need to list did not come off as over-the-top, constantly monologuing D-list comic book villains who want to use their shiny tools to put everyone out of a job.
December 10, 2025 at 12:39 AM
why are people treating me like a d-list comic book villain when I act and talk exactly like a d-list comic book villain all the time, the big tech CEOs ask
Reposted by Faine Greenwood
Thread of eight posts. It's not normal people's faults that Libertarian "creative destruction" sounds an awful lot like "hurry up and die after you're fired."
I continue to have no sympathy left for whinging about how the public are rude about AI and feel threatened by it when the biggest players in the AI space have spent years very vocally and constantly *threatening the public*
December 10, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Thread of eight posts. It's not normal people's faults that Libertarian "creative destruction" sounds an awful lot like "hurry up and die after you're fired."
this changed very rapidly - it was not long ago when being an edgy novelist was one of the most masculine possible jobs!
imo this is very much because our culture has decided that Humanities is For Girls and Thus Pathetically Easy Bullshit whereas STEM is For Cool Boys With Huge Dicks
i've mostly experienced it as the even worse version where everyone already innately can Do Humanities just as well as the pros, but math/sciences is difficult and requires a lot of natural talent AND learning to be able to understand it.
December 10, 2025 at 12:37 AM
this changed very rapidly - it was not long ago when being an edgy novelist was one of the most masculine possible jobs!
imo this is very much because our culture has decided that Humanities is For Girls and Thus Pathetically Easy Bullshit whereas STEM is For Cool Boys With Huge Dicks
i've mostly experienced it as the even worse version where everyone already innately can Do Humanities just as well as the pros, but math/sciences is difficult and requires a lot of natural talent AND learning to be able to understand it.
December 10, 2025 at 12:36 AM
imo this is very much because our culture has decided that Humanities is For Girls and Thus Pathetically Easy Bullshit whereas STEM is For Cool Boys With Huge Dicks
Reposted by Faine Greenwood
one way the media really fucked us over when it came to trump was portraying him as a big-time, powerful exec who had a ton of world class executive experience, when in reality he was an LLC king who got most of what he had by ripping off people he hired to do the work and cheating on his taxes
he went from having never held any office at any level straight to the presidency. he’s never even run a very large company — all of the trump org scams have been tightly held with a pretty small number of actual employees, they’ve always farmed everything to contractors who they then ripped off
December 10, 2025 at 12:25 AM
one way the media really fucked us over when it came to trump was portraying him as a big-time, powerful exec who had a ton of world class executive experience, when in reality he was an LLC king who got most of what he had by ripping off people he hired to do the work and cheating on his taxes
Reposted by Faine Greenwood
Thread, because this 100%.
The moment the tech bros came in dicks swinging and screaming about how "we're gonna kill your jobs and you can't do anything about it," WHILE they were actively stealing from us, was the moment I became determined to burn GenAI shit to the ground.
The moment the tech bros came in dicks swinging and screaming about how "we're gonna kill your jobs and you can't do anything about it," WHILE they were actively stealing from us, was the moment I became determined to burn GenAI shit to the ground.
I continue to have no sympathy left for whinging about how the public are rude about AI and feel threatened by it when the biggest players in the AI space have spent years very vocally and constantly *threatening the public*
December 10, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Thread, because this 100%.
The moment the tech bros came in dicks swinging and screaming about how "we're gonna kill your jobs and you can't do anything about it," WHILE they were actively stealing from us, was the moment I became determined to burn GenAI shit to the ground.
The moment the tech bros came in dicks swinging and screaming about how "we're gonna kill your jobs and you can't do anything about it," WHILE they were actively stealing from us, was the moment I became determined to burn GenAI shit to the ground.
Reposted by Faine Greenwood
There is an infamous battery deployment in the Bronx where they tried to sneak it in to the community
The blowback was so bad that projects in Brooklyn doing the community work got protesters from the Bronx
I liken that to the "AI is Now in Your Email/Documents/Searches" experience we're having
The blowback was so bad that projects in Brooklyn doing the community work got protesters from the Bronx
I liken that to the "AI is Now in Your Email/Documents/Searches" experience we're having
December 10, 2025 at 12:32 AM
There is an infamous battery deployment in the Bronx where they tried to sneak it in to the community
The blowback was so bad that projects in Brooklyn doing the community work got protesters from the Bronx
I liken that to the "AI is Now in Your Email/Documents/Searches" experience we're having
The blowback was so bad that projects in Brooklyn doing the community work got protesters from the Bronx
I liken that to the "AI is Now in Your Email/Documents/Searches" experience we're having
I do thank that what’s kept the drone industry from being more publicly insane is that everyone in it understands regulators can and will crush them like bugs if they get too uppity.
This has NOT been the case for AI companies - they don’t fear regulators at all - and we are reaping the results
This has NOT been the case for AI companies - they don’t fear regulators at all - and we are reaping the results
Also, you and other reasonable drone professionals/experts don't spend every waking moment pretending that drones will do things that are impossible and/or really terrible ideas.
You all aren't constantly flooding the zone with bullshit and then feigning horror when people call it bullshit.
You all aren't constantly flooding the zone with bullshit and then feigning horror when people call it bullshit.
December 10, 2025 at 12:32 AM
I do thank that what’s kept the drone industry from being more publicly insane is that everyone in it understands regulators can and will crush them like bugs if they get too uppity.
This has NOT been the case for AI companies - they don’t fear regulators at all - and we are reaping the results
This has NOT been the case for AI companies - they don’t fear regulators at all - and we are reaping the results
yeah this also makes me feel genuinely insane
i can’t be the only one old enough to remember how much of the conversation of early twitter was devoted to designers hyperventilating about the dangers of dark patterns in software. idk how we went from that to All Dark Patterns, All The Time that we have now without any real discussion
December 10, 2025 at 12:31 AM
yeah this also makes me feel genuinely insane
Reposted by Faine Greenwood
AI art was basically universally accepted as a fun little toy up until the point the big AI boosters settled on a message of "fuck artists."
It makes you wonder what the world looks like if its biggest evangelists weren't irresponsible repulsive people.
It makes you wonder what the world looks like if its biggest evangelists weren't irresponsible repulsive people.
December 10, 2025 at 12:28 AM
AI art was basically universally accepted as a fun little toy up until the point the big AI boosters settled on a message of "fuck artists."
It makes you wonder what the world looks like if its biggest evangelists weren't irresponsible repulsive people.
It makes you wonder what the world looks like if its biggest evangelists weren't irresponsible repulsive people.
they really do seem to think the public is too stupid to pick up on the contradiction here, despite constant clear evidence that the public has in fact picked up on it
It’s such a weird dynamic. That 60 minutes ai special from a while back where the CEO of Google is like, “we are really scared of AI and the horrible things that might happen. Also everyone should give us money to keep pushing and building AI.”
December 10, 2025 at 12:29 AM
they really do seem to think the public is too stupid to pick up on the contradiction here, despite constant clear evidence that the public has in fact picked up on it
Reposted by Faine Greenwood
meanwhile the marketing to normies is basically “you are a baby, incapable of performing normal day to day human interaction, which you should outsource to our chatbot”
even many people who like the chatbot find it weird and infantilizing
even many people who like the chatbot find it weird and infantilizing
December 10, 2025 at 12:18 AM
meanwhile the marketing to normies is basically “you are a baby, incapable of performing normal day to day human interaction, which you should outsource to our chatbot”
even many people who like the chatbot find it weird and infantilizing
even many people who like the chatbot find it weird and infantilizing