It is not enough to talk of an alternative if the underlying structure reinforces centralization. This is so especially when federation protocols are active and seeking adoption.

“Luddite” has been turned into a slur over time but it is actually a view point that humans should have a say on what technology does to them and for who. They were not technophobes. They were technodeterminists.

Me: Leave that to me. I know what I want.

The horror! I detest that website with my all. It was one of the earliest places I saw a nasty dark pattern. They would bait you to pay to see who viewed your profile, preying on job seekers desperate for a signal that something may come their way. Nasty evil people those!

Again, scientists used AI to develop a viable bacteriophage genome. To say AI did it is confusing.

How do you track gender category when it is not listed or asked anywhere on the forums?

And it may keep getting worse in the months ahead.

Got it via their website jumping over walls. From October 2023, not that that diminishes it’s sting.

Is that top right image from a real Economist post or it is edited? I did not find it by simple search (search is so sloppy of late).

Edit: Link to article.

Europe had been moving towards the slaughterhouse for years, and by 1914 a conflict was all but inevitable—that, at least, is the argument often made in hindsight. Yet at the time, as Niall Ferguson, a historian, noted in a paper published in 2008, it did not feel that way to investors. For them, the first world war came as a shock. Until the week before it erupted, prices in the bond, currency and money markets barely budged. Then all hell broke loose. “The City has seen in a flash the meaning of war,” wrote this newspaper on August 1st 1914.

Could financial markets once again be underpricing the risk of a global conflict? In the nightmare scenario, the descent into a third world war began two years ago, as Russian troops massed on the Ukrainian border. Today Israel’s battle against Hamas has the frightening potential to spill across its borders. American military support is crucial to both Ukraine and Israel, and in Iraq and Syria the superpower’s bases have come under fire, probably from proxies of Iran. Should China decide it is time to take advantage of a distracted superpower and invade Taiwan, America could all too easily end up being drawn into three wars at once. The rest of the world risks those wars interlocking and turning into something even more devastating.

It is as if it is a general rule at this point that centralization breeds corruption. No matter how many statements people make early on in social engagements, centralization leads them to screw people depending on these systems. When making long term commitment to anything, check if it is centralized or how easy it is to unshackle yourself from it.

That’s a fine looking painting. RIP to your dad.

No fucking roots shall hold.

A classic!

Like workday hours v weekend hours.

The grey is faster than the red, then I ask to myself, what a wonderful world.

“The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.”

James D. Nicoll

I think this is something most people rarely talk about but it strikes home to many of us. As a parent, I have a responsibility to defend my children against this persistent cognitive manipulation and experimentation. Just as I would not want a random stranger at the corner have exclusive attention of my kid and sell them insurance or grammarly or mesothelioma, I would also never want them to have that unfiltered access to my kids online. One can then say AdBlocks are a parental obligation.

Choice sounds like something people should not be fighting over :)

May I have the honor of introducing you to African Rhumba: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O3BexfHBTIg

That is a favorite one. The album is by two of the greatest in African music: Franco Luambo (of TPOK Jazz) and Tabu Ley (of Afrisa International). They did this album to cool down rumours that they were fighting and don’t see eye to eye. They called it Lisanga ya Banganga (Congress of the Wizards).

This specific song I share is solemn, as they are mourning the death of their mentor, Kabaselle.

Check their respective Wikipedia entries. It is a whole new world you are peeking into.

Luddites were not as opposed to new technology as you say it here. They were mainly concerned about what technology would do to whom.

A helpful history right here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/brian-merchant/blood-in-the-machine/9780316487740/?lens=little-brown