HexesofVexes

How dare you! You can’t throw facts at puritanical arguments; that’s illegal.

Just allow companies to charge a small fee to process a DMCA takedown, and establish a daily compensation rate based on view counts for the uploader (cost payable by the company issuing the takedown - not the entity they represent). Suddenly you only issue a takedown for clear infringement, with the cost paid by the uploader only when clear proof is given that it is a DMCA infringement. If there is a long delay, the uploader gets more compensation, whereas the uploader is only liable for the initial takedown fee.

Not overly much - society has “dysfunctioned” along perfectly well for millennia. It will continue to be dysfunctional for many more millennia.

Better to enjoy your life and spite that dysfunction than to live under its heel.

Yep, that’s just how it is these days. Let me ask though, does it really matter?

If the girls are afraid of the guys, that’s their problem, not yours. Stick the time into something else you enjoy, let nature run it’s course. Find a job you don’t hate, spend your money as you like, live a happy life without the anxiety of rejection.

Different strokes for different folks - windows 11 does have it’s uses.

Ever since our office laptops “upgraded” they’ve made excellent space heaters during the winter. Open up Teams, a PowerPoint, and a YouTube video and you’ve got a nice toasty office!

Windows 11 the plumber:

I come round, and I’ve brought a few friends who start rifling through your photos and desk; I state I can fix your toilet, but only if you agree to always use me to fix your toilet, and pay £120 a year even if your toilet never needs fixing.

Meanwhile, I change your aircon settings, sign you up to a new expensive energy supplier, cancel your streaming subscriptions and sign you up to mine. Oh, and I give my weird mate a copy of your house key so he can photograph you and your loved ones daily.

But don’t worry, the toilet is fixed. Every 6 months or so I’ll come back to your house and break a random appliance, just so you feel I’m value for money.

Oh no, someone might not be paying them for their user generated content (!)

To be fair, it’s probably best that history forgets this period of the web…

Good to know, I’ll go ask one if the profs in our school of built environment for more info. See if they can offer more insight there.

Definitely a good point to raise; thanks for doing so!

Here’s a fun one - where do you stand on those forced to commute dur to housing prices near inner city work (e.g. I live in near poverty paying a mortgage for a small place near where I work due to poor public transport so I can walk to work - how does this figure into the anti-car vision? Is it an employer issue, a government issue, a personal sacrifice, or something else entirely?)

I dunno, the use of AI Ethicist fits as they’re not against the concept of generative AI as a whole, they’re against unethical generative AI (in terms of stolen training data and environmental harm).

If the world transitioned to a post-IP (intellectual property) society (as we need to), with AI eating less power, then AI Ethicists are unlikely to object.

Would you happen to be a vegan who is also anti-car by any chance?

If so, I can recommend fuckcars on ml as they share your viewpoint.

I applaud folks like this - they make a choice and stick with it. No “I’ll never use AI to generate art but I vibe code to save time” hypocrisy. No “I use it to help me with maths, but I’d never use it to steal artistic work”.

Just straight up “it is an environmental hazard, it is unethical, not engaging”. Should be called “AI Ethicists” rather than “AI Vegans”.

*so that the government can say kids won’t watch porn.

Rule 1 of computers that everyone who has taught an ICT class learns - if little Timmy wants titties, he finds a way.

If I can buy a game on Gog I do - their lack of DRM, Linux ports, and prices just make me happy.

That sounds a bit like fear mongering from Reform: a VPN is safety 101 when using public networks, and most businesses make use of VPNs to secure their data. They are also a key component if WFH (you use the company VPN).

If Labour are stupid enough to go after VPN usage, I suspect it would guarantee their loss at the next election.

Trouble is, there is little that can be done.

Enough folks drank the coolaid, and now we’re stuck with surveillance laws masquerading as child protection laws.

Those laws can, and will, get worse over time. However, new mediums will arise, or old ones will rise to the occasion (IRC goes brr). The main thing to do is remain calm, make it a key voter issue, and watch the bastards fold right before the next election.

See, there are a few ways this could go.

1. Age verification is as secure and private as promised, and it’s left at that. I like to call this “the miracle”, and we all know those don’t happen.

2. Age verification is as secure and private as promised, but a government asks for “access to data to prevent crime” - things degenerate from there. This is the “systemic failure” scenario.

3. Age verification is as secure and private as promised, but new scams evolve around it to make it dangerous. This would be the “criminal element” scenario.

4. Age verification is not as secure and private as promised, and a leak occurs destroying lives and careers. This is the “system failure” scenario.

5. Age verification is as secure and private as promised, but a few companies start scraping and selling data, leading to widespread harms. This is the “unethical merchant” scenario, and the most likely outcome.

All in all, there is only one “ok” scenario, and a lot of horrific ones. The math says we’re entirely boned ^_^

Well we all saw that coming.

The parental and elderly voting bloc is very hard to ignore, and those groups tend to be less privacy conscious (as well as pro-anything “protect the children”).

The only way it’s getting repealed is if enough labour voters raise a fuss. Given Reform’s messaging (i.e. repeal it) and how worried Labour are over Reform’s polling, that is likely the only lever that’ll work. However, that’s a long game - one that will take years to play out.

I’ve not read blindsight, now I feel I need to!

Thanks for the quote ^_^

We are such small and limited things that this is no great surprise. We do not wander through life blind, more we drift through life bereft of senses (and indeed, sense!).

The world we see is an echo of an illusion concocted by crude senses, and guided by a thought process that (while beautiful) is limited in what it can conceive.

Still, like a flower anchored to earth and at the mercy of all around it, we bloom and blossom to the delight of much around us - we play our part in the chaotic heartbeat of all around us.

So it’s not all cosmic apathy and horror, more blissful optimism with a hint of cosmic humour.