PhilipTheBucket @ PhilipTheBucket @piefed.social

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1 wk. ago

"They can't monetize our users' self-created content for ridiculously exploitative gains. Only we can monetize(*) our users' self-created content for ridiculous exploitative gains!"

(* Well, try to monetize, they haven't actually got it to work yet)

Reddit: Trust us we're GENIUSES bro, most popular web site in the world, we're so smart I swear

Also Reddit: Hey can we have more money, we lost it all again. This new plan's gonna work tho

Oooh... I get it. Yeah, there are people all over their media who are playing up the cynicism and making it sound cool. That's absolutely a big problem too. And yes, it makes them more cynical about everything (both the people who buy into it, and the people who don't, which is an impressive achievement.)

I cannot overstate how wonderful this is. Thank you.

That's not really what I'm talking about. Being trusting of "the establishment" certainly helps make Fox News's job easier, but I'm talking about people who had health insurance, good unions, qualified doctors, all that stuff, for all of their adult lives. It just leads you to generally be of this kind of boomer "firm eye contact and a handshake will get you far" mindset in life.

It's not fascist to like the system you're embedded within because it gave you a fair deal.

I feel like this is kind of the amateur-hour stuff. It's certainly dangerous, but in comparison to a lot of state-actor activities (or even committed-amateur activities), this kind of supply-chain attack is pretty blatant and easy to spot. Which doesn't mean it's easy to spot -- I just mean would be trivial to volunteer and contribute some minimal fixes and enhancements to some open source project, and then at one point smuggle in a zero-day that will basically never be detected unless someone detects the intrusion itself and then works backwards from there with a ton of time to spend on it.

If you've ever looked at the obfuscated C contest it should be obvious that this kind of thing can be made completely invisible if you know what you're doing. Some of the interactions and language features that lead to problems are basically impossible for a casual viewer to see, even if they're paying attention, and the attack surface is massive and the amount of attention that goes into checking it for weird subtle vulnerabilities is minuscule.

I'm sure smartphones don't help, but there is also an additional factor that I've observed: The social contract has changed radically. A lot of people from older generations have the idea that if they show up and do a good job at work, go to the doctor and obey what they say, read the newspaper and take it seriously, all these kind of "doing what you're supposed to" elements of life, that they'll be well-served and well taken care of. For young people, that is not at all the case. And, because they're not stupid, they've noticed (how could they not?), and it makes them cynical and nihilistic about the whole concept of "doing what you're supposed to" as a general life principle.

At some point, someone is going to decide to teach the Chinese navy what the Russians have been learning about the safety and utility of big naval vessels in the new drone-centric meta.

"NO NO NO, NOT LIKE THAT!"

Same as anything really

They actually observed the natives setting those controlled burns, and decided to themselves, "Yeah they're wild savages, they clearly don't give a fuck about anything or know what they're doing, here's me with syphilis and muskets and I think it's time to share civilization with them, they'll thank me later." All that magic prairie ecosystem (which is basically gone now) was a carefully constructed environment maintained over generations to make hunting big game cheap and easy. But no, let's have railroads and lead paint instead.

What I used to do when I lived in an area with a decent number of homeless people, was offer to get them some food, if I had the time for it. I'd walk somewhere with them, say what do you want I'll grab it for you, and come out and hand it to them. It was honestly a little bit awkward to do it without feeling like a ponce, making conversation with the person or whatnot feeling condescending, but whatever.

I would say the majority would discount the suggestion. I didn't feel the slightest bit bad saying no you can't have any money then. A minority would be really into the idea and clearly fucking light up at the idea of having their hands on a sandwich. Those dudes I felt like it was important that they get their sandwich.

I also knew a guy who used to be homeless, volunteered with homeless services and substance abuse programs and etc, spent a ton of time on it. He never gave money on the street. He got very bitter about the subject, he just said that it doesn't help them. Make of that what you will, I don't really know the ins and outs, but that's what he said.