Jesus that’s… something.

There are not a lot of news items lately that give me pause. This one made me do the slow blink.

Just straight lunacy.

Sounds awesome. I’m gonna check it out!

What’s it about?

I’m neurotypical and I don’t remember exact dates. I don’t even know how far into the month it is most of the time. Or really what day it is unless I look.

In fact, now that I think about it most of my personal history is kind of like slices of events that don’t seem to make any sense or are even clustered together relative to each other, temporally speaking, nor ordered in any kind of chronological way. More like a sherbet swirl.

Meh, probably not important. Time keeping seems sort of extraneous in the big scheme of things, except when timing experiments which, of course, should be exact. Or making appointments, I suppose. Which I lean heavily on others to do and keep track of. Or sometimes I check my phone but the calendar events are often not up to date unless I put it on auto clone. But did I clone the specific date… or the day of the week…? Ugh, which means it’s probably off.

Eh, that’s why nobody should use these things, too many unimportant details to keep track of.

¯_(ツ)_/¯

Plot twist, the aliens were the dinosaurs.

Who’s AI? There aren’t any rogue agents hiding on unsuspecting users computers running around solving science questions. They are all delpoyed by a company or persons.

So the proper question is “Will a company utilize your work and take the credit?”

You’re not wrong. America is just about as imperialist as they come in the modern sense. The bulk of the ‘glorious history’ of Americanism is simply being in the right place at the right time in world development and a whole lot of Hollywood. It’s been bullshit from the very beginning. The same as any large and expanding country since the beginning of time.

That said, there are only two options for humans, sit down in defeat, weighed under the crushing conformity of tradition. Or set a new course and brave the inertia and violent established interests.

You and I are more alike than we are to our respective leaders. Thus, the common man must join forces with all neighbors to climb on the back of our wolves and hold on tightly by the ears. A government unchecked by its people is a dangerous and rampaging beast. It’s our responsibility to hold our governments to higher standards. By force if necessary, but it must also come by working through and changing the system wherever possible.

That’s the way it is but not the way it should or can be.

The American people have largely abandoned their civic duty and disengaged from the process. We are reaping what we, and our parents, have sown and it’s not pretty. Complacency, escapism, consumerism, feelings of disempowerment, having taken their toll.

Contrast that to a literal workforce that runs 24/7 backed by billions from special interest groups who have been seeking to undermine the republic for decades now. Decades. It’s no wonder the system is corrupt and the democratic process fails to serve the people. We’ve allowed it to happen, but we can also undo the damage.

It’s an uphill battle but the garden belongs to the people. The fruits of our labors belong in our baskets. This miasma can be dispelled the moment people say they’ve had enough and stand up en masse.

Word.

Every time an article like this comes and you are tempted to reply to the seemingly inevitable creeping surveillance apparatus with “well, it can’t stop a paintball/hacksaw/.50 cal/etc. etc.” you need to stop.

Stop for a moment and listen to yourself. Look at the bigger picture. I admire the bravado and pushback but does this really sound like a reasonable solution to a systemic issue? That’s like saying “if I think there’s cockroaches infesting my house, I’ll just step on everyone I see” Like that is going to solve the problem.

(And honestly, are you really going to get off your lazy ass, go buy a portable angle grinder and go cut down a light pole in the middle of the night? Really? How many beers does that take?)

So, next time you want to post something like that, instead, just post a link in support to the person, be it a politician or advocate, who is willing to legislate against this encroachment of privacy.

Oh, you don’t know of any?

Well maybe that’s actually getting to the heart of the problem.

This is true everywhere, but especially in the US, if you are looking right now at current events aghast with a feeling of doom rolling over you- that is the sign.

It’s time to stop being a passive acceptor of circumstances. It’s time to act.

We have to dig political aspirants out of the woodwork and push them onto the stage. There is somebody in your area that is capable of advocating for your rights. You need to find them.

If you can’t find a local group. Start a discord, IRC, hell facebook page, what ever, just start connecting people in your town, in your neighborhood. All it takes is a few minutes a day to start.

You have to be politically active. Or else your future is going in the meat grinder. Nobody is coming to save you.

There is no group who has an interest in keeping you, your society, your children, your futures, free from fascist control. Not the DNC, not the State government, not city hall. There is only you and your friends. You have to fight for it yourselves. When the garden is left untended the weeds take over. The weeds have taken over. It’s time to return to the garden.

It can be done. The people hold all the power - Provided They Are Given A Plan of Action To Follow. You need to help craft that plan. Organizing and agitating gets results. Facts.

Stop posting bullshit on Lemmy and start posting real shit in your local advocacy group.

What even is this 😆 I can’t

Oh yeah? Well I’m releasing micro-me’s into takeaway cups. Take that, microplastics industry!

This is great, I’ve made plenty of cash transfers to low income mothers over the years. I should get a medal and their kids should support my retirement.

A trillion dollar industry believes so.

I believe some things in life are important enough to risk. You see where I’m coming from?

Damnit, I knew I shouldn’t have eaten all those delicious paint chips!

No. But I wasn’t doing anything particularly complex, just a LAMP stack server for some game forums. Think I had a Dell desktop. Was a dishwasher at the time.

Took a few days fumbling through tutorials but I eventually got it up and running. Repeated that a few times over the years, once to host a blog, stuff like that.

Would like to get into it again but all I have now is a tablet.

Ah, a fellow controls guy out in the wild.

Going outside