DigitalDilemma

I’ve been playing with computers and writing code since 1981, so have seen a few things change, and the past couple of years have been alarming from a world new stage, but that’s not so much about tech as global unrest.

It started with the cookie banners… “We value your privacy” == “Of course, it’s worth money to us” The internet has shifted a lot over the past couple of years particularly, and it was inevitable. Just as inevitable is the loss of the small internet (I speak as someone who runs several small websites that get scraped and stolen from constantly), and the attempts of governments to control it. That was all going to happen, and just as inevitable is the impossibility of complete control - it’ll just make life harder for the honest person.

We’ve seen some shitty changes to software too through global business. With hindsight, that was inevitable too - it took a long time for someone to realise just how locked in the likes of vmware’s customers were. How cloud and then AI additions were reasons to charge more for features we don’t like. There’s a lot of fear about global instability for obvious reasons, and that’s hard to shake.

But also… People haven’t changed. For every big name enshittification, there’s people sprouting two more things without such controls. Where we are now - founded largely because of shenanighans at Reddit. You mention Linux - again, most of it free and accessible and those are baked into it. (We’ll skip over Redhat here, I think, perhaps the exception that proves the rule). There’s a lot of free software projects that are born out of love for the free and open community. A place where respect is more common than rudeness.

So I’m certain there’s a balance. Yes, crappy things. But also good things. I’m constantly amazed at new inventions and how tech is genuinely improving life for many people. I grew up in England in the 70s and the quality of life today is better despite what we might think, but it’s also far more complicated, and makes us feel helpless and small. Back then, our world was small, we knew people. A disaster on the other side of the world took days to arrive on our newspapers, and we weren’t made to feel like we should do something about it.

Perception may be playing a big part in your view here, and you sound both burnt out and depressed. Not uncommon with the bombardment of badness in the news that we can do nothing about. Understanding that, and stepping outside of the doom cycle, definitely helps.

Ultimately, you’ve got to do what’s right for you. If tech is a hobby to you, then it’s the same as any other hobby. When it stops being fun, it’s time to find something else that you enjoy instead of, or as well as. Hope you find a better balance.

Holding in the farts.

Horror

Certainly traumatised me as a child.

You can’t trust an inherantly untrustworthy industry.

The problem is that to make a good AI, you need a lot of input and we know from leaks and reports that many/most of the major players deliberately ignored copyright to train their models. If it was reachable, they used it. Are using it. Will use it. Like Johnny 5, there’s no limit to the data they want, or that their handlers want to feed them with. They’re the Cookie Monster at a biscuit factory.

So when the question of trust comes up, you’d have to be pretty forgiving to overlook that they’re built on foundations of theft, and pretty naive to assume these companies have suddenly grown ethics and won’t use your data and input to train with, even when you’re using commercial systems that promise they won’t.

Even in the event that there is an ethical provider that does their utmost to ensure your data doesn’t migrate (these do exist, at least in intention), this is an incredibly fast moving, ultra-competitive market where huge amounts of data are shifted around constantly and guardrails being notoriously hard to accurately define, let alone enforce. It’s inevitable stuff will leak.

GPSLogger, the GOAT.

Not only recording GPX daily and uploading them to the cloud for me to record walks, rides and all movements, but also sending location data to a selfhosted Traccar server. Disappeared off Google Play due to problems keeping it listed there, but still available on Fdroid.

Well, I’m absolutely certain people have taken lifelong orders for less than your example, but I’m thinking more about situations where someone is left alone, homeless and without any other options. Government aid is often slow to arrive, especially if you’re a single man, and homeless charities are always overstretched. Even today, it’s not such a stretch to imagine someone turning to God in their hour of need.

(I’m athiest btw, I’m not arguing that it’s a good option, only that some people may see it as their only option and honestly, there are worse)

First, I don’t trust the police.

Fine, then check any reasonable statistical study that you might trust. Resisting a violent robbery will significantly increase the chance you you get seriously injured or killed.

You’re 4.5 times more likely to be seriously injured or killed if you’re armed when attacked. Even if the attacker isn’t armed, they often end up using your weapon against you.

Beware your ego making you think you’re better than the statistics.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090930121512.htm

Disagree. Your chances of survivability go up significantly by not resisting - see @Corporal_Punishment’s reply.

Good example.

But don’t many join these days because of some personal calamity where they’ve already lost much? The church takes them in, gives them purpose and a roof over their heads.

(I say “these days” as historically, under primogeniture, the second son of a wealthy lord would often be given to the church to give them purpose/keep them out of the way of the firstborn. Daughters were similarly steered into a nunnery to avoid the parents having to pay a substantial dowry)

Perspective?

• I’m promoting something.
• You’re advertising at me.

They force a sense of urgency and have well rehearsed routines to skirt around these type of questions.

Ultimately, if the mark is too sceptical, they’ll realise they’re wasting their time and move on. Plenty of others, it’s not worth trying that hard.

Clearly the best advice is “Build your PC a year ago”

(I originally put this first para at the end, but it’s pretty important, so putting up top) Be aware that just because we’re autistic, it doesn’t mean we’re not bad guys. He might be grooming her, he may already have more personal information than he should, and he may be targetting autistic children specifically. If you think that is the case, go to your parents or the police. I know that’s the last thing you’ll want to do, but the consequences if he is can be life changing or fatal.

(Original follows) Fellow autist here, if that matters, but probably not.

No, it’s not mean. People come and go out of each others lives all the time. Your time with this guy is clearly over - if it feels less than fun or has become uncomfortable or weird, move on. Why not? You don’t owe him anything.

As you know, autistic people are no strangers to being obsessive, and putting that alongside a lack of awareness when we’re pushing personal barriers, we can be really annoying. I don’t recommend you accept any money or gift cards from this guy, even to buy your GF a new tablet. That will give him a bigger feeling of entitlement and certainly gives him power over you.

Just stop communicating. No explanations, no apologies, both of you just stop and block. If he tries to contact you after that, or by other means, that’s creepy af and definitely report.

Advertising revenue.

Not just America - all Western countries did.

We made it expensive to manufacture goods due to labour costs and well-meaning but crippling environmental protections and couldn’t compete on price.

At a certain level, it is going to be a chore to determine who is or is not slopping up with AI media. Not every asset comes out with six fingers and a half-melted face.

That’s a good point. I think a lot of people are dismissing AI content because there’s this fallacy and desire to believe it’s all “slop”. It’s willfully ignorant to wave it all away like that. Sure, we’ve all seen the stupid stuff, and it’s really annoying, but we absorb the good stuff without even knowing it. Anyone claiming they can reliably spot AI generated images is fooling themselves even at this early stage.

I’d like to know when something is real, especially real art and even pictures of nature, but I don’t think I can.

bleddy 'ell

Commercial and explicit spam. Report and block.

People change, and with bigotry, they’ve often been changed by others.

He may not always have been like that, so it’s okay to like someone once and not at other times. Best advice I can give is listen to your inner moral compass. If something sounds wrong, it probably is.