Imagine how much better the world would be if there was just a simple process of psychological screening for would-be politicians, and psychopaths were barred from holding office.
As a rural internet user I find it entirely unsurprising.
Starlink has benefitted from a very simple and obvious market deficiency.
Until they came along, the satellite internet providers - the only viable alternative for internet access for people outside of cable or cell service - were universally shitty. They used the fact that they faced no meaningful competition (other than from each other) to provide shitty, data-capped service for far too much money. Pretty much the only choice customers had was whether they preferred getting fucked over by Hughes or getting fucked over by Viasat.
Then Starlink came along with a very simple strategy - to offer better service without data caps for the same or even less money.
And entirely unsurprisingly, it worked.
That’s it really. The existing providers were so awful that all that was necessary for success was for a new company to not be awful. And Starlink is not awful.
Even with as startlingly insane as modern Anerican politics is, it still seems that RFK Jr must be some sort of troll candidate. It just doesn’t seem possible that he’s actually real, much less that he’s actually being taken seriously by some. He’s so ridiculous that it seems like he must be the invention of a couple of giggling freshmen passing a joint in a dorm room at 3AM.
So… by my count, the board of directors actually outnumber the employees.
At a “non-profit” (until that was revoked) company that gets most of its funding through Patreon.
Years from now (and at this rate, not very many of them), when people wonder how it was that such a promising venture that championed decentralization turned into just another enshittified megacorporation squatting over a piece of internet real estate and extracting rent to pay obscene salaries to a handful of executives - this is how. We’re watching as the foundation is being laid, right now.
I would presume it’s not paid yet (though the CEO certainly is). That phase of the operation comes later.
For the moment, they’re working to solidify as much control as possible of as much of the fediverse as possible, which control will allow them to gatekeep it, monetize it, extract rent from it and inevitably enshittify it. That, so it’s hoped, will be the phase during which their investment now will pay off.
England’s already the snooping capital of the west, isn’t it?
It seems that every time a new privacy-invading technology comes floating down the pike, England just instantly adopts it. They don’t even hesitate -it’s like, “Ooh… new survellance technology? I’ll take that one and that one and that one and… you know what? Just give me the lot!”
And every time, I cynically reflect on the fact that Orwell was English.
Imagine Israel, of all countries, crying to the UN, of all organizations, about a purported “flagrant violation of narional sovereignty, international law and Security Council resolutions.”
I laughed out loud when I read that. As if that isn’t exactly what Israel does virtually on a daily basis, and has done for decades now, and while thumbing their nose at the UN the entire time.
That’s a pretty good list - I particularly like Brazil, My Life as a Dog, Woman in the Dunes and Paris, Texas. And I didn’t even know there was a film version of Stalker - I loved the novel.
Though there are so many (over 1,500 total) and they’re so good that there’s room for many more.
Just browsing the full list, I’m also partial to, among others: Repo Man, Harold and Maude, Coup de Torchon, Night on Earth (and really everything by Jim Jarmusch), Withnail and I, Jabberwocky (the source of my username), After Hours, Slacker, Koyaanisqatsi, Wings of Desire, Vernon Florida, The Princess Bride, If…
And I noted, in talking about Ron Perlman, the author mentioned City of Lost Children, and I can’t help but wonder how that’s not part of the Criterion Collection - it seems such a perfect fit.
I also note a sort of surprising lack of Luc Besson. He seems a perfect fit too.
Mostly though, browsing the list made me realize how many great movies I still haven’t seen.
It actually sort of bothers me to have a favorite Jarmusch film - it sort of feels like I’m cheating on the others. But even as much as I love the rest of them, Night on Earth just stands out.
Ah - I was wondering how in the hell anyone could say that it’s worked, and then when I clicked on the link, I instantly got the answer - it’s Paul Krugman, who’s made an entire career out of carrying water for the ruling class.
They’re like children who heard some grown-ups talking about someone being impeached and they’re not sure what that is but it sounds strong, so they’re running around pointing finger guns and shouting, “I’m gonna impeach you!”
I’ve sometimes compared politics to professional wrestling, in the sense of “faces and heels in mostly staged battles to entertain the masses.”
This is the first time I’ve been tempted to compare it to professional wrestling in the sense of “heavily made-up freaks shouting threats into microphones.”
Neither censorship nor reeducation would be generally voluntary, so somebody would have to be given the authority to mandate them.
There’s a simple test then for whether or not something is a good idea:
Think of the person or people or political party you consider to be the greatest threat to others. Then think of what they would do with that power.
Because it doesn’t matter what the original intent is - if such a power is granted, no matter to whom or for what, those people WILL, sooner or later, get their chance to wield it.
The problem is that whether or not an AI is self-aware isn’t a technical question - it’s a philosophical one.
And our current blinkered focus on STEM and only STEM has made it so that many (most?) of those most involved in AI R&D are woefully underequipped to make a sound judgment on such a matter.
They’re sort of like the old Italian man in Catch-22:
“I was a fascist when Mussolini was on top, and I am an anti-fascist now that he has been deposed. I was fanatically pro-German when the Germans were here to protect us against the Americans, and now that the Americans are here to protect us against the Germans I am fanatically pro-American.”
The only difference is that, as you note, NYT’s focus is on their own gravitas. Their goal isn’t merely survival, but to maintain their image as an authoritative voice in national affairs. And they do that in large part simply by currying favor with whoever currently has the biggest coattails.
Basically I’m looking for a heterodox political lemmy community where moderate opinions are valued and the level of discourse is pretty good. Where people are there to talk and there’s not as much venting.
I not only haven’t seen such a thing on Lemmy - I haven’t seen such a thing on the internet as a whole for at least 20 years or so.
Gone are the days when reasonable people could discuss and debate issues. Now it’s just shallow, virtue-signaling dogmatists crashing around hurling rhetoric, fallacies, and cant in the general direction of anyone who bears a passing resemblance to their sworn enemies.
Sen. Lindsey Graham Suggests Nuking Gaza, Calls Hiroshima ‘the Right Decision’ (www.thedailybeast.com)
Analyst on Starlink’s rapid rise: “Nothing short of mind-blowing” (arstechnica.com)
RFK Jr. says he had parasitic brain worm, undisclosed memory loss (www.washingtonpost.com)
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone joins board of Mastodon's new US nonprofit | TechCrunch (techcrunch.com)
Brexit Britain wants to be the snooping capital of the West (www.politico.eu)
Hamas and Iran celebrate anti-Gaza war protests taking US colleges by storm (www.usatoday.com)
Eels - I Like Birds (2000) (www.youtube.com)
Israel requests to convene the Security Council, in the face of "a flagrant violation" of "sovereignty, of international law" "a concrete threat to the peace and security of the entire region." (mbin.grits.dev)
Iran launches drones at Israel in retaliatory attack - BBC News (www.bbc.co.uk)
Devo - Uncontrollable Urge (1978) (m.youtube.com)
20 Essential Criterion Collection Films (www.flickeringmyth.com)
They are:...
1980s Sci-Fi Books That Aged Badly (And 4 Still Worth Reading) (bookriot.com)
Not every book holds up over the decades. Here are four 1980s sci-fi books that aged badly—and four still worth reading today.
Opinion | Why Has Obamacare Worked? (www.nytimes.com)
Colorado Republicans, facing power gap, will try to impeach — or recall — Jena Griswold over Trump ballot case (www.denverpost.com)
Biden’s reference to ‘an illegal’ rankles some Democrats who argue he’s still preferable to Trump (www.denverpost.com)
Marjorie Taylor Greene warns Democrats they will "face the wrath" (www.newsweek.com)
Israel approves plans for 3,400 new homes in West Bank settlements (www.bbc.com)
How do justify censorship and reeducation as a means for doing good?
Claude 3 notices when a sentence about pizza toppings doesn't fit with its surrounding text. Whole internet including Tim Sweeney and Margaret Mitchell concludes that it's probably self-aware now. (arstechnica.com)
There is something wrong at the New York Times | From presidential polls to refusing to report on Trump’s stumbles, things aren’t adding up at the Gray Lady (www.salon.com)
Is there a lemmy commuity for moderate political discussions?
Basically I’m looking for a heterodox political lemmy community where moderate opinions are valued and the level of discourse is pretty good. Where people are there to talk and there’s not as much venting.