Wait, they're going to ban it by stopping the app updating and creating a potential vulnerability on every device with the app they're trying to ban. The stupidity of these people
Facebook, Amazon etc....
- Thread starter Raoul
- Start date
Wait, they're going to ban it by stopping the app updating and creating a potential vulnerability on every device with the app they're trying to ban. The stupidity of these people
Zuckerberg’s censorship claims were ‘misleading’ — EU tech chief
https://www.politico.eu/article/mar...rkkunen/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=social
This is a very weak argument. First, I don't believe that both China and the US will choose strictly dominated, sub-optimal strategies. I also don't think even if China did somehow harvest that data it would cause any meaningful problems. As I said, for personal security, Facebook is by far the biggest personal security threat and its not even close. And that comes from "ethical hackers" I've spoken to (one employed by the US government and other in the private sector). It's frankly a stupid suggestion to think banning Tik Tok somehow helps national security.
Second, and this is my opinion, by far the biggest threat to Western liberal democracy is not an external threat. The biggest threat to the Western liberal democracy order collapsing is internal. It's far-right movements and billionaires that prop them up like Musk. It's climate change deniers like the GOP in America running head first into a brick wall with a blindfold on.
Small compared to what Zuck is up to, but another reminder that Bezos forced then to stop endorsing Kamala for president
Even not counting the potential threat of TikTok sending Western users data to CCP, TikTok should be banned just because every big software/internet Western company is banned in China.
Even not counting that at this stage the US and China are adversaries, it is hard to compete with China if China bans your companies and you do not ban China’s.
Even not counting that at this stage the US and China are adversaries, it is hard to compete with China if China bans your companies and you do not ban China’s.
Also the dancing. They should ban it because of the dancing.
True. But then they should also ban Instagram because of the dancing. Which I am all for.
We should just ban social media altogether and force people to go outside every now and then.
The last thing boomers want is yoovs on the streets. They want them kept thoroughly out of sight which gives the added bonus of being able to post memes about how when they were kids they used to stay out on their bikes with a playing card in their spokes until the street lights came on.
They all played that weird game where they push a hoop with a stick in my mind.
Add Nvidia to the list of Trump ass kissers who want unbridled ability to have all powerful AI controlling our lives:
https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/ai-policy/
Every tech company with interests in getting unfiltered access to data is supporting the guy. Another failure of the Dems to capitalize on fears of a lot of people.
https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/ai-policy/
Every tech company with interests in getting unfiltered access to data is supporting the guy. Another failure of the Dems to capitalize on fears of a lot of people.
Zuckerberg Says Most Companies Need More ‘Masculine Energy’
Such a shame he can't contribute in this way.
Such a shame he can't contribute in this way.
Is being extremely insecure a requirement to become successful in tech?
Zuckerberg is a robot but he always seemed to be one of the sensible tech founder despite being ruthless.
He doesn't need to be saying/doing the things he is saying/doing, so he must believe them.
these are the modern werner von brauns, korolevs, and also the modern jp morgans, rockefellers... are we just in a singularly stupid era?
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c...-[isapi]&at_format=link&at_bbc_team=editorial
Hidden hashtags:
democrat
liberal
leftist
progressives
ResistTrump
DumpTrump
StopFascism
ProChoice
Abortion
AbortionRights
NoBanNoWall
Obama
Pelosi
Kamala
Biden
Bernie
LizCheney
VoteBlue
Jan6
Fauci
reddit was keeping a list of hashtags that were "hidden"
Hidden hashtags:
democrat
liberal
leftist
progressives
ResistTrump
DumpTrump
StopFascism
ProChoice
Abortion
AbortionRights
NoBanNoWall
Obama
Pelosi
Kamala
Biden
Bernie
LizCheney
VoteBlue
Jan6
Fauci
Let me add a few points to your discussion as someone who actually lives in a fairly neutral country in Asia and has worked across Asia for three decades now:
1) The vibe in Asia is that there is not going to be an inevitable war. Any war rhetoric seems to be coming out of the Western press, in particular the US mainly. War drums, in my opinion. The view here is that the Americans are seen as provoctuers when the rest of Asia just wants to do business. That's why the trend has been a shift of favourable views towards China as a country versus the US in the past five years. The majority of the population of ASEAN countries now are pro-China (with the exception of Philippines.)
2) If China can wait a hundred years to get back Hong Kong and Macau, why should they instigate a war by 2027—unless the Taiwanese President declares independence, which I think he won't? He would probably get impeached by the majority pro-status quo/pro-China Taiwanese Parliament. So that leaves the US military.
In fact, currently the majority of people are pro-status quo, and a large majority expect an inevitable reunification with the Mainland at some point. Most Taiwanese people have relatives in the province of Fujian across the Straits.
I was even told that the Taiwanese Air Force pilots will not pair their wingmen together until the very last minutes for the fear that their pilots will not shoot the Chinese planes/soldiers, as many see the Chinese as their relatives/ancestors from across the bay.
3) What's happened to respecting treaties? The US and majority of countries in the world have a One China policy, ie respecting that there is only One China and that the legit government is in Beijing, despite an unconcluded 'civil war' between the governments in Beijing and Taipei. In fact, until recently, the government of Taiwan still had legitimate claims on the majority of mainland China as part of their manifesto as a remnant of this civil war.
By interfering in this local conflict, the US will open up a whole can of legal worms. Example: There are US special forces training Taiwanese soldiers on Kinmen Island, Taiwan, which is only 5km from the city of Xiamen, PRC.
4) The US seems to be suffering from mass chronic cognitive dissonance. What wars or conflicts have the Chinese been involved in recently? They collect data—like the US? Even on its allies like Merkel, Macron etc. The entire natsec aparatus has been corrupted for a couple of decades now. It is now just part & parcel of the Military Industrial Complex, generating fear and demand with their acolytes who will provide the solutions and the massive profits that come along with it.
Or China is such a threat to the US, but where are hundreds of US military bases at? All along China's shipping routes—the world's largest manufacturer and trader of goods—who obviously want their shipping lanes to be clear. Yet the US claims to be the one who wants to protect these very same shipping lanes?
Trust me, whenever I have this discussion with my family back in the US, the same talking points are thrown at me, which is scary. I now know what its like for them when they have discussions with people who only get their news from Fox. Its the same thing, but in this case, on a national level. Same trigger words like CCP, which, by the way, isn't even an accurate term/acronym. But it is in Western Media -- thats how I know where they get brainwashed sources. Its CPC.
Even the Internet natives of the Tiktok generation/refugees were surprised at whats going on in China—the lifestyle etc? Its ironic that the Internet was supposed to bridge societies and cultures. And yet the American refugees are surprised? Thats more surprising in an Internet age.
At this point, the media is now just a mouthpiece of the Natsec apparatus. So are the sponsored think tanks, never mind the corporations that have their fists in the honey pot thats being all paid for by the American tax payers.
Like the current AI craze. Its all there to pump and then dump on Wall Street. Generative AI isnt even that mature, but just look at the pricing of their shares. Its what you all being on a Gartner curve. Yet people seem to trust their financial press and also the NatSec press (and I am not even going to mention the Iraq War, a illegal war that has not yet seen any accountability.)
5) Back to Tiktok -- firstly they complied with all the requirements that the US gov't required. Locating all the services and data on US-based network. In this case, Oracle's. Google, Facebook were banned in China because they didnt like them. They refused to comply with the Xhinese laws, which were to base their servers in China, and the data kept within China. FB/Meta and Google refused back then and still refuse, (unlike Tiktok.)
This whole Tiktok debacle is just an old-fashion shakedown. Big Tech wants to own that demographic segment, which happens to be the most lucrative for advertisers. The 13-30 age group. Trump is leveraging his position to get a piece of the pie.
Anyone who has done business in China will know that the Central Gov't provides at best an industrial policy. The economy is highly decentralised. You cant get funding from the provincial or even the city gov't but everyone serious economy does that.
The Central Govt have no direct influence on a business on where it needs to go. Its just hilarious that they think the Xi pulls the levers for everything. He would need to invent a time-expanding machine if that was the case -- 2nd largest economy in the world, run by one 'dictator'. Or either that, he sleeps 1hr a day. Its just another extremely ill-informed reports out of the (proxy) western press.
The US isnt a democracy anymore. By the People, For the People? Then what's happened to Gaza? For the people when the majority are against it? Why not spend money on healthcare, homelessness, education, infrastructure, etc for the People instead of generating and participating in conflicts?
There is only one reason—only very few people, connected ones will benefit from such conflicts.
No the US is a flailing and failing one, at best. Its a corrupt plutocracy, IMO.
Last edited:
Meta to exit Delaware, possibly reincorporate in Texas: https://www.wsj.com/tech/meta-incorporation-texas-delware-f06e8bab
Jeff Bezos emails staff at the Washington Post announcing that the Post opinion pages going forward are largely going to focus on personal liberties and free markets. Current opinion section editor David Shipley is out.
Last edited:
Crazy stuff.
There is going to be another huge down surge in WaPo subscriptions. Bezos knows this of course but he’d rather tell a few hear what he wants them to hear than many hear things which oppose his world view.
Very dangerous times.
Very dangerous times.
We'd all do well to find alternatives to Amazon, Facebook, etc.
It is because he does not want to piss off Trump and Musk. Lot of these capitalists are now lining up to make money off the Govt it seems.
"now"?
Is there a billionaire who isn't evil?
You need to do quite a few bad things to reach there. Most probably. But I think there are some who (probably) would not meet the definition of evil.
Jensen Huang (CEO of Nvidia): When covid happened, everyone was a bit scary about their job. Remember him doing an all-hands meeting and commiting that no one will get layoffed. Furthermore, he also said that janitors, people who work in the canteen etc will also not be fired/layoffed under any circumstances (despite that they were employed by a third party). So despite that they did not have to do any work for over a year, they got paid which I think was a good gesture. Later in 2022-2023 when almost every bigtech company did layoffs just to scream 'efficiency, lean' and other buzzrods to increase the stock value, Nvidia (together with Apple) did no layoffs. I also remember that he was very accessible, even as an intern in the short amount of time I was to office, I met him a couple of times (and peed next to him a couple of times). He definitely tried to give the impression that he is not a God amongst mortals, which is the opposite of the likes of Musk and Bezos, with their short intimidating emails and random firings to keep everyone in their toes.
Warren Buffet is also another one who gets mentioned often. For example, Berkshire this year paid 5% of the corporate tax in the entire US, and I think Buffet has the record for the individual who has given to charity more than anyone else.
And then, there are some random people who didn't do much bad in their life (Ilya Sutskever for example, albeit his money is mostly paper money). Or I guess the likes of Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Paul McCartney.
But, most of them go from shitcnuts (for example Gates whom despite doing lots of good things in his later life, was kinda of a prick when leading Microsoft) to cartoon villains (Bezos and most notably Musk and Trump). When you get that rich and powerful, you probably get detached from reality *, which inevitably makes you evil.
* Probably the reason why Buffet is not that evil is cause he decided to keep the same old house, the same old car and essentially live around normal people.
Think Bezos is just annoyed Musk has also overtaken him in the "most obviously evil" running.
Seriously, is there a limit on how rich you have to be to have enough dignity to not suck Trump’s cock? I mean, he is worth 250B, being worth 150B-300B if he doesn’t suck Trump’s and Musk’s dicks or being worth 200-400B if he does so shouldn’t change his life so much, right?
What is the point on getting so rich to still be a total bitch?!
Because Money is not important after some point. Is just a tool for power for them. And they are a total bitch because it allows them to amass more power. More Money is a biproduct
Instagram has been giving people loads of gore/graphic reels like people being shot etc. today. I’ve had the same despite all I follow being mates, climbers, djs and some gym and hiking accounts.
My reels were all that stuff yesterday and now every other one is something grim. They’re full of comments of people wondering why they’re getting them all of a sudden and I’ve seen people talking about it on Reddit too. Very weird.
My reels were all that stuff yesterday and now every other one is something grim. They’re full of comments of people wondering why they’re getting them all of a sudden and I’ve seen people talking about it on Reddit too. Very weird.
Last edited:
At some point a broader discussion will finally occur about what the algorithms and AI are doing to us on a health level.
It has been done intentionally as a social experiment in the past. Wouldn't surprise me even a little if that's what it is. Sick bastards to be frank. Better off off all such stupid platforms if you can find alternatives. Some people cannot leave because they can only contact this or that person there.
The entire social media thing is one large degeneracy. You offer yourself up as the product in exchange for some videos and the capacity to do what opensource software can also do (message people).
If you asked 30 years ago what Billionaire's need to do to get to where they were, the answer would be lots of fecked up things.
Nowadays, the amount of VC/Seed funding available to startups that can make some average guy with an average product into theoretical billionaires negate a lot of the need to do dirty things.
For example, Jack Dorsey in 2006 was just a software engineer earning a decent bob in California as most Software engineers at the time did.
Him and his mates come up with Twitter, and when the company literally only had 30 employees, he got VC funding which made him worth 800 million USD overnight, on paper.
Dorsey has turned a bit odd since then, but at that point, I'm not sure what "evil" he had to do to get to being a theoretical billionaire.
Nowadays, the amount of VC/Seed funding available to startups that can make some average guy with an average product into theoretical billionaires negate a lot of the need to do dirty things.
For example, Jack Dorsey in 2006 was just a software engineer earning a decent bob in California as most Software engineers at the time did.
Him and his mates come up with Twitter, and when the company literally only had 30 employees, he got VC funding which made him worth 800 million USD overnight, on paper.
Dorsey has turned a bit odd since then, but at that point, I'm not sure what "evil" he had to do to get to being a theoretical billionaire.
I've NEVER even heard of insta reels or even use the app. I regret looking it up now. Saw 2 women get killed point blank and a man getting eaten alive by a shark. So much for a good night's sleep. Fecking hell.
Wtf I use Instagram on a daily basis and nothing of that nature pops up on my reels. It's most just memes and snippets of random cooking recipes and restaurant recommendations. What did you search?
Just cancelled my subscription, although the teaser they offered for a dollar per week was tempting. I cancelled WSJ a month ago. The only thing I have left is this place and NYT.
i imagine quite a few more will be doing the same. and that bezos knew this was coming.
which suggests he cares more about either the ideology or about pleasing trump than the few millions he was making from these subscriptions. either way, not a good sign.