Right on. AI feels like a looming paradigm shift in our field that we can either scoff at for its flaws or start learning how to exploit for our benefit. As long as it ends up boosting productivity it’s probably something we’re going to have to learn to work with for job security.

I tend to gravitate towards female characters in single player games and I ask myself this same question a lot. The weird thing is that I have no gender preference when my options are more limited - it’s only when I’m being asked to customize my appearance. With male characters I never really know what I’m looking for - usually what looks right is what looks familiar. Maybe I’ll be scrolling through hair options, find something that reminds me of Aragorn, and before I know it that’s who I’m roleplaying. With a female character it’s easier for me to resist these influences and make someone original because I can rely on my own preferences to tell me what looks right. I’ll still play male characters if I have a specific influence in mind, but otherwise I find myself much more likely to actually finish a game as a female PC.

It’s certainly possible that Meta has a plan to destroy the fediverse with Threads, but I wouldn’t dismiss the possibility that they’re just doing this because they can. If their plan was to take over the fediverse from within, and that plan hinged on instances not defederating out of caution, then it’s off to a poor start. I might just be totally naive but this feels more like them testing the water by opening their doors to the fediverse - I don’t know if they know what happens next.

Remember when they snuck off on some escape ship to go get help for their crew in imminent danger and then decided to dick around on some horse racing casino planet? It’s like they completely forgot why they were there. I thought TLJ had some neat ideas but I don’t know how anyone can overlook that weird loss of urgency in the middle of the film. It’s like your house is on fire and your family is trapped upstairs, so you run over to a neighbor’s house to call the fire department, but you discover that they got some dog fighting thing going on in the backyard so you decide to go deal with that first, then you call the fire department but it turns out the dispatcher was in cahoots with the arsonist who started it in the first place, and then you return home with your tail between your legs and your mom didn’t even know you had left. The whole second act could have been a dream sequence and it wouldn’t have changed a thing.

If there is an opportunity to change the culture from within, you should consider that first. I’ve done some recruiting and I’ll admit the short stints don’t look great on a resume. It makes you seem like someone who is more willing to run from a problem than to try to fix it. Keep in mind that you may not need permission to do some of the things you want to do. Dress down a little - see if anyone cares enough to call you out. Set aside a few hours for innovative work. If you can’t get anywhere with that, then I’d agree - time to look for another job, and best to be honest about why you’re leaving. If you can speak to some of your efforts to improve the situation before bailing, that could definitely help to quell some concerns about your commitment.