The Matrix vs Ghostbusters

[craner]

Whoever holds information has power, so I don't disagree in theory

@version

 

[version]

I think what makes the current situation so insidious is that it's cloaked in the language of care and efficiency. It's presented as being all about "optimising" things, making people safe. I don't get the impression a lot of the people doing it are particularly evil or anything like that either, it's just this sort of banal, "we know what's best for you" attitude and a desire for order.

 

[craner]

To be fair, though, it does make things very efficient and easy, for those who can use the internet or afford to.

 

[craner]

We've lost the audience @version quick do a meme

 

[version]

To be fair, though, it does make things very efficient and easy, for those who can use the internet or afford to.

Yeah, totally. It's much easier to have everything on a kindle than it is to have stacks of books all over the place, but the trade-off's that you relinquish any control you once had over your personal library. The texts can be changed, removed and so on at any time and without any say on your part.

 

[version]

We've lost the audience @version quick do a meme

 

[craner]

Yeah, totally. It's much easier to have everything on a kindle than it is to have stacks of books all over the place, but the trade-off's that you relinquish any control you once had over your personal library. The text can be changed, removed and so on without any say on your part.

Fuck Kindle, I like books. I've also been dragged into doing internet banking which I really did not want to do because my local bank branch has closed, and I object to this sort of thing (post offices, too).

On the other hand, airbnb and online booking makes travelling cheaper and easier which enhances life experiences.

 

[craner]

Not one of me, you bastard!

 

[version]

Fuck Kindle, I like books. I've also been dragged into doing internet banking which I really did not want to do because my local bank branch has closed, and I object to this sort of thing (post offices, too).

On the other hand, airbnb and online booking makes travelling cheaper and easier which enhances life experiences.

The feeling of being dragged into this stuff is really unpleasant. I don't particularly want someone's Alexa listening to me or to be photographed and put on people's social media, but it's so normal now that it's awkward to object.

 

[Clinamenic]

Yeah, totally. It's much easier to have everything on a kindle than it is to have stacks of books all over the place, but the trade-off's that you relinquish any control you once had over your personal library. The texts can be changed, removed and so on at any time and without any say on your part.

Well you can also just get PDFs and keep them on an external drive of some sort

 

[Clinamenic]

I think that was the issue with the free U2 album a while back. People are understandably opposed to having their libraries revisable by central powers, whether it entails adding or subtracting items.

 

[version]

One incident which really made an impression on me re: people's photos being online was someone deciding to falsely accuse a Sikh guy of being an Islamic terrorist in the wake of an attack and Twitter getting hold of and circulating one of his selfies.

 

[catalog]

i think showgirls would have been better choice of visual on this ocasiion. those are the two poles. showgirls and pinhead.

 

[luka]

Recently I’ve been getting phishing emails, on my main personal email, from personae claiming to have watched how much I masturbate, that I masturbate with disturbing frequency and that I should be ashamed of myself, etc.

actually have to admit, that was me. sorry Stan.

 

[Clinamenic]

actually have to admit, that was me. sorry Stan.

You could've sold it better, I'm disappointed.

 

[luka]

apologies to yyaldrin. you actually were right but i read it wrong.

 

[sus]

I think what makes the current situation so insidious is that it's cloaked in the language of care and efficiency. It's presented as being all about "optimising" things, making people safe. I don't get the impression a lot of the people doing it are particularly evil or anything like that either, it's just this sort of banal, "we know what's best for you" attitude and a desire for order.

This is how progressives have always been, it's almost definitional to progressivism as an ideology. You look back you see a long history of forced reform, eugenics. Vaccine mandates are the most recent instance. And I agree, get your vaccine! But you're talking about a mommy or daddy state here.

 

[sus]

Whatever the faults of libertarians, and there are many, their advocacy of non-coercion is admirable.

Humans are mimicking animals. Cultural learning takes place as lower-status individuals asymmetrically observe and imitate higher-status ones. Use it to set up an opt-in system.

 

[sus]

Also, let's learn from natural selection—you actually don't want everyone behaving in the exact same "perfect" way. You want variation; without variation there is no selection; a species bottlenecks and dies. Get different sub-populations trying different approaches, seeing what works. Because we're never really sure. Everyone who got vaccinated could keel over in six months of cancer. It's exceedingly unlikely, and I got double-dose Moderna, but you can't fall into human hubris, think you know everything, think you can rationally predict the future. You can't. There's always something you didn't account for. The only way to actually know is testing.

 

[sus]

Indeed, one speculation as to why "neurodivergence" exists—the spectrum of mental illness, retardation, autism, etc which eugenecists would gladly eliminate—is as a discovered (by natural selection) macro-strategy for diversifying human cognitive capacities.