Alphane_Moon

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Yeah, a mandatory work phone (where the employer can define requirements) should be purchased and funded by the employer.

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Alphane Moon @lemmy.world 11mo ago

Ah, yeah forgot about that one.

That wasn't the glasses though, it was his eyes/cameras.

But makes sense.

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Alphane Moon @lemmy.world 11mo ago

The keynote was to feature the Ray-Ban Meta Display, the latest version of what is essentially a face-mounted iPhone – ideal for the consumer who lacks the energy to pull a device from their pocket and idolizes both Buddy Holly and the Terminator.

What does Terminator have to do with any of this? Did they add the reference because Schwarzenegger wears sunglasses in the movies?

Alphane Moon @lemmy.world 11mo ago

Now they need to be forced to remove the stupid 60 day login requirement and extend the support window to October 2028 (no new work will be required from MS since the fixes would have been made anyway).

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Alphane Moon @lemmy.world 11mo ago

but I’m not sure if piefed instances are compatible with it yet.

I don't believe they are. I tired posting a piefed community and it didn't seem to work.

Alphane Moon @lemmy.world 12mo ago

I never said anything about US democrats (who are centre-right) or leftists. And where did I say you are American or even that you are a conservative or Democrat. Why are you bringing this up?

I said something very specific, that US conservatives are beholden to oligarchs and even their alleged deeply held beliefs do not pass the basic smell test if you've lived in different countries / speak different languages and so on (this is true irrespective of you political views). It's like claiming the United Russia party has deeply held beliefs. This is a ridiculous proposition.

Making claims that "US conservatives support the marketplace ideas" is exactly the kind of thing that brings up massive red flags. Conservative/Progressive refers to broad political alignment. You can have people in both camps who support the marketplace of ideas and those that don't. You can also have people who like to make statements about supporting the marketplace of ideas for superficial reasons.

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Alphane Moon @lemmy.world 12mo ago

Is that really true though?

When living in the US, it seemed American conservatives seemed mostly to be oligarch shills and with very shallow and performative beliefs.

Mind you, I think there needs to be balance of sorts between left and right, competition to keep both sides honest. But this doesn't apply to American "conservatives" who at least at the high level seemed to mostly consist of demagogues.

The "marketplace of ideas" phrase is a perfect example of the theatrical and performative nature of American conservativism.

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Alphane Moon @lemmy.world 12mo ago

So would you be OK with treating transphobia in the same way? Not bother with it in an attempt to find common ground?

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Alphane Moon @lemmy.world 12mo ago

You should also include their support for russian genocidal imperialism.

Let's hope one day Nutomic, Dessalines and all other degenerate tankie roaches end up in a russian prison. It will be a good lesson for them.

Alphane Moon @lemmy.world 12mo ago

Agreed, the ramp-up is the hardest part on some level.

This might be due to the benefit of hindsight, but when the vector of protests seems to be accelerating, there is a genuine sense of energy in the air, like history being made in front your eyes (and with your participation).

I think there are also pragmatic reasons for this. Oligarchs and senior business community leader can start trying to hedge their bets or try to get an "edge" on the oligarchs who are firmly on the side of the regime. They want to get in early and not lose in the game of musical chairs so to speak.

Commoners too are influenced by the situation. People with marginal support for the regime start changing their views. No one wants to risk social ostracization and potential reputational damage.

People with moderate support for protesters can be influenced by severe actions from the regime and they become less open to compromise and supportive of direct action (in Ukraine this was the killing of protesters, that arguably radicalized much of the population, people now believed that Yanukovich must go).

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Alphane Moon @lemmy.world 12mo ago

That’s by design. Friends across the pond talk about mass protest as a solution, but not only is the US akin to a bunch of countries loosely allied together (300M people), but we do not have the job/civil rights protections necessary such that everyone can protest safely. If you get injured during a protest (or worse), you have to pay a lot of money to get treatment. If you “say something the wealthy don’t like,” you can lose your job, get smeared all over social media, and be blacklisted from future employment. If you snicker at a public event or sit quietly on a campus, you could wind up in jail or in front of a judge who will be more than happy to take cops’ words for it that you are a public nuisance or were resisting. Our “right” to protest is functionally a guideline, in practice.

With all due respect (and apologies for the overly polemical statement), but freedom is a complex thing and it is scary and painful. What you've outlined (I believe you're exaggerating a little bit) is modest stuff compared to what you experience in other countries for protesting.

I will speculate that if 60-70 million Americans start daily nationwide protest while partially undermining government authority (taking over parts of major urban areas) and showing the country they will not back down no matter what, the issues you outline will become less relevant. You will have people donating to protest camps, field hospital with doctors and medical personnel who are joining the protest. Camps and living quarters.

This is not a fantasy (I recognize how this might have sound if I was saying this while I was living in the US), this is real historical action taken by people from different continents of the world. Look at the global history of protest movement (particularly the successful ones).

The real problem is that unfortunately as things stand today, American society is fundamentally disconnected from an understanding of freedom (beyond comical, childish polemics about freedom of this and freedom of that, "I am free speech absolutist").

I have some bad news. We’re already there. This is already a Mafia State, and although the lower courts still seem to be on the side of the people, the Supreme Court has been handing the Executive Branch more and more power when asked.

I would disagree that the US is fully a mafia state (or a fascist state). With respect to global comparisons and history, it's currently a proto-fascist oligarch state that nevertheless still has a modicum of independent institutions (although this seems to be rapidly changing).

You should reconsider those friendships, because they are the reason we are here at all. They are the problem, and befriending the American far right is just befriending fascists. If you care about the future of global society and democracy, you cannot also hold space for the far right.

I have more to lose from Trump than the vast majority Americans (I am Ukrainian). they are not fully aligned with Trump and they will come about. Beating fascism is also about converting people to your side and understanding their mode of thinking.

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Alphane Moon @lemmy.world 12mo ago

Fascinating stuff.

As a thought experiment it would be interesting to send this info through time to the US leadership in the 70s or 80s (let alone 50s). I wonder what they would think about the current direction of their country.

That being said there is a silver lining to all of this. For the rest of us (who support humanism, believe in democracy, believe in a just, fair and compassionate society) this is a good signal that the American model (in it's current form on a medium/long term basis) is coming to a dead end from a political, social (and even economic) perspective.

This sort of degenerate behaviour (supporting your direct adversary and the spread of fake news under the auspices of "freedom of speech" or "economic freedom [for oligarchs that enable fake news]" will have a caustic effect on American society. One would have to be a complete idiot to think that America (or your own country) is somehow immune to the realities of human societies.

I have always supported the US in a pragmatic manner, but it is time to admit that American society lacks the capability to implement meaningful political and criminal/judicial reform to address the challenges outlined by the article.

I pray to god (and I am an atheist) that I am wrong, US becoming an authoritarian/nihilist mafia state is not good for global democracy. But that doesn't mean one should engage in delusions about the capability American society to address it's current challenges. The country is simply too well off and American society (including sane Americans) is too risk averse to make scary, difficult choices to protect their own freedoms.

P.S. I am not American, but I've lived there, travelled extensively and I have very good American friends (both far right leaning and centre right).

Alphane Moon @lemmy.world 12mo ago

Sure. I agree.

I was just pointing out that the "god-hole", which to my understanding refers to divergence from "traditional" religious participation, isn't necessarily a lack of god in your life (a "god hole" if you will).

I believe some of the apocryphal biblical texts from the 1st/2nd century CE also refer to concepts such as "god is all around us, god is everything". These texts were rejected for formal inclusion in the Bible for whatever reason.

I also disagree that concepts outlined by Watts (in that specific quote and in general) are necessarily skeptical in their outlook. I would say they are very empowering and align with our broader understanding of the universe.

But my bigger point is the rise of "FaithTech" is more of socio-political issue. Oligarchs have started dominate and there is no way out so people endulge in LLMs as opposed to going to church (or engaging in approach proposed by people such as Alan Watts).

Alphane Moon @lemmy.world 12mo ago

15 years is a massive time to just update your OS.

The last version of Windows 10 (22H2) is nothing like the RTM release from 2015 (1507). 1507 still has Cortana and their failed "Continuum" concept.

Essentially we are asking Microsoft to support Windows 10 22H2 for another ~5 years, which is reasonable considering 22H2 is a just under 3 years old.

Alphane Moon @lemmy.world 12mo ago

"Reports of delusions, 'AI psychosis,' and unhealthy attachment keep rising. And as hard as it may be to hear, this is not something confined to people already at-risk of mental health issues," he wrote.

How did they confirm this? I am curious if anyone has more info on this. One would think you would have to have underlying issues to suffer severe delusions like described in the article.

We really are entering a world like in the 80s/90s cyberpunk novels and movies. Don't even need true AI, a mere LLM is enough to damage people.

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Alphane Moon @lemmy.world 12mo ago

I don't know if I agree with the notion of a god-hole.

There are different philosohcal approaches to making sense of it all and finding extistential meaning.

One my favourite quotes from Alan Watts (from the 50s no less):

"It's like you took a bottle of ink and you threw it at a wall. Smash! And all that ink spread. And in the middle, it's dense, isn't it? And as it gets out on the edge, the little droplets get finer and finer and make more complicated patterns, see?
So in the same way, there was a big bang at the beginning of things and it spread. And you and I, sitting here in this room, as complicated human beings, are way, way out on the fringe of that bang. We are the complicated little patterns on the end of it. Very interesting. But so we define ourselves as being only that. If you think that you are only inside your skin, you define yourself as one very complicated little curlique, way out on the edge of that explosion. Way out in space, and way out in time.
Billions of years ago, you were a big bang, but now you're a complicated human being. And then we cut ourselves off, and don't feel that we're still the big bang. But you are. You are the big bang, the original force of the universe, coming on as whoever you are."

The gist of it is there is no god and yet paradoxically god is literally everything. How can there even be a "god-hole" with such an approach?

I am not saying this (or any other approach) is the right way for a given individual. Just pointing out an existential view that works for me.

My argument is that we have all these information technologies and we don't really know what to do with them. As things stands they merely enable a group of oligarchs, authoritarians, professional demagogues, fraudulent hustlers.

And deep down no one wants to be in such a position and no amount of money or technological distractions can account for that.