Matrix org isn’t obligated to run a public instance at all - they could stick to developing the spec, and let other people run instances.

And honestly maybe they should, because then we wouldn’t have this huge consolidation problem on matrix.org in the first place.

Promoting that the nunber exists as a actual thing people should use is good, yeah. :)

The actual number isn’t so important, though. If ever needed to call the non-emergency number I’d search it up, which fortunately I can do given I’ve got loads of time because it’s not an emergency.

For sure.

If they’ve got a problem with non-emergency callers dialing 911, surely it would be best to try and reduce that problem through other means (such as fining persistent inappropriate use of 911)

I don’t want to talk to a robot when I’m on the floor dying.

I loved that app and I still miss it (and reddit) in some ways, but the API Apocalypse was when I decided I had to take a moral stand and quit. No way was I going to be railroaded into the first-party app full of ads and nonsense.

I haven’t looked back since.

I agree with you, it’s insidious.

Given you’ve got a Pixel phone, you can save at least yourself from this problem by running Graphene or Calyx on it.

The exact same trends go round and round in web design too (and now apps).

At first things were square (because that was all the technology could do) then in the 2000s CSS exploded and everything went colour gradients and rounded corners, just because people could, then that became old-hat and everything went flat and square again, and then rounded came back (but without so many gradients)

Everything is cyclical.

The ship was one of the best parts for sure. Once you are competent it feels super liberating how nimbly you can zip around a planet.

The other good parts of that game were progression, and death.

I love that knowledge is the only thing retained between loops - the only currency of value. And I loved the feeling of making new discoveries.

And with death as an expected mechanic, the game doesn’t have to put up any guiderails to save you from it. There are no training wheels. You want to go outside without a spacesuit? Bad idea but we’ll let you. You want to literally lose your ship so you can never get it back? Sure, go for it. You want to fall into a space anomaly and see what happens? Be our guest.

Masterpiece game honestly.

The classic example we already have of this is when you are stopped at a side road about to enter the main road, and a car coming towards you on the main road signals to turn in.

Many people take the fact the other car has their turn signal on as a guarantee that it’s safe to emerge, but any good driving instructor will tell you to wait until the car actually begins to turn before you yourself emerge.

They had their signal on but that doesn’t mean they’re actually going to DO what the signal said they would.

Same with the front brake light. It would be like “Well their front brake light came on, so I assumed it was safe to step into the crosswalk” NO. They could have just tapped the brake a second, doesn’t mean they saw you, or they will actually stop.

Those meme email chains were annoying at the time, but kinda endearing to look back on in retrospect.

I kept getting added onto ones my mum and dad were getting from a bunch of their friends that had people’s random corporate/work email addresses included and stuff…

It was a simpler time, when boomers hadn’t discovered social media yet, and were making their own fun without Facebook and without the algorithm.

If someone offered me a chance to magic social media away like it never happened, and the price I had to pay was unfunny memes spamming my inbox, it’s a price I’d pay gladly.

Execs aren’t hell-bent on anything apart from making money.

If they could replace every job in the world with AI (except their own) then of course they would, but they can’t because AI cannot do every job.

AI cannot stack supermarket shelves. AI cannot make coffee. AI cannot wait tables.

But AI certainly can produce pictures and text and music - to some questionable degree of “quality” - and so it’s these creative jobs which are being stolen.

And that’s exactly the irony the comic is pointing out. The creative things are what humans actually want to do, but those are the very things we are being replaced in.

I’d suggest not moving towards even more consolidation on the biggest instance. It rather defeats the point of decentralisation.

I myself am a lemm.ee refugee (just registered this new account today) and I specifically ruled world out because it benefits the health of Lemmy more to spread users and communities around.

I’m dumbfounded there are people out there who will tolerate spending upwards of $1,000 on a phone which then pushes ads at you on your lock screen.