Post #1798114

2026-04-30 04:26 UTC

I said it before but: I really believe that with the rise of #AI we need dorky people more than ever. We need niche special interests. We need specialized academic fields. We need knowledge like the person&#39;s on Insta who keeps pointing out that AI generated images of Cambrian fossils are clearly fake, because the crustacean shell has the wrong number of little bumps. We need people like the witchy person who likes fiber arts so much they learned how to shear sheep and process wool themselves.

Replies (13)

@TarkabarkaHolgy@ohai.social 2026-04-30 08:13

Okay, follow-up toot: What's your own niche offline AI-busting expertise? 😄 Mine is folklore and mythology ("Nope, that 'ancient goddess' is AI made") But I also crochet, sail, and do traditional archery. #ai #science

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@chris__martin@functional.cafe 2026-04-30 05:00

@TarkabarkaHolgy The latter there is more straightforwardly pragmatic than dorky, since wool products are useful and demand outweighs supply in wool processing.

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@alsvha@sunny.garden 2026-04-30 05:34

@TarkabarkaHolgy I agree fully and am in awe of those who can. I wish I was smart enough to actually challenge the status quo, instead of simply becoming a victim of it.

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@thomas_decker@mastodon.online 2026-04-30 07:07

@TarkabarkaHolgy and people researching obscure Filipino folk tales?

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@tokensane@mastodon.me.uk 2026-04-30 07:26

@TarkabarkaHolgy My Mum taught herself to dye wool with natural dyes, and then later to spin it. I did suggest that a sheep was the next logical step, but it never happened.

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@NatureMC@mastodon.online 2026-04-30 09:26

@TarkabarkaHolgy I can use bad #AISlop to create colourful jewelry. Also beads made of code. #paperArt

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@njr@mathstodon.xyz 2026-04-30 11:47

@TarkabarkaHolgy @juliette It’s a little tricky, though: you’re kind-of asking the world to provide the RLHF* data free for the AI companies. Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback

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@saltywizard@beige.party 2026-04-30 13:21

@TarkabarkaHolgy roller skating! gonna put a website/blog together eventually. on the subject of niche: if you haven't spent anytime with marginalia, i cannot recommend it enough. https://marginalia-search.com/explore

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@feorlen@appdot.net 2026-04-30 15:53

@TarkabarkaHolgy @jtheseamstress it me, I’m the fiber person. No animals, that isn’t something I can reasonably do here at the moment. I am literally a certified fiber nerd, but not for pay. As a source of income that is not just competing with people in low wage countries, I’m competing with industrial machines in low wage countries.

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@WanderingBeekeeper@weirder.earth 2026-04-30 18:21

@TarkabarkaHolgy We went one better. My spouse raised her own alpacas.

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@B3r6ur@chaos.social 2026-04-30 19:06

@TarkabarkaHolgy there is always a lot of need displayed, but little pay given unfortunately

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@sibylle@troet.cafe 2026-04-30 20:24

@TarkabarkaHolgy oh, that witchy person shearing sheep gave me goosebumps. That's me. To make it a bit more - niche ? - I'm starting a garden for plant dyes. And I call out AI lamb videos, when I spot one.

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@farmbiodiesielUtopias@norcal.social 2026-05-01 06:23

@TarkabarkaHolgy word!

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