Purity tests and purges

Fascists gonna fascist.

It makes you a rational human.

There have been journalists publishing accidentally and maliciously false articles since the dawn of the press.

It’s healthy to engage in appropriate scepticism of all that you read, particularly that of the press. Fact check everything that doesn’t feel right (or anything that feels too reductive or simplified), over time you get a feel for who the serial liars are and who are generally reporting faithfully

The Dems rely on corporate America, they will not be an ally in revolution

Makes me wonder if they would potentially roll back the “no more DLC” thing too.

I would 100% do another full playthrough if we got another phantom liberty sized expansion with the currently cancelled moon story

Yahoo is legitimately still a big deal in Japan, I was surprised to find out recently

Hotmail just evolved into outlook, I know a few people who still use it

My dad is the only person I have come across in at least a decade who still uses his AOL email address

An independent NGO or watchdog kind of regulatory body staffed by psychology and technology experts with the legislative teeth to issue cease notices with meaningful fines to back them up (take the GDPR penalties as inspiration) should a media platform implement a harmful user experience.

It would be important that the organisation is protected from lobbying interests and direct control from the elected politicians. Though obviously its existence would hinge on the corresponding legislation being persisted.

The result will be a couple of big fines and then everyone else will play ball

This article gets so close but it feels like it goes right past the actual point.

Profit motivated tech companies are weaponising psychology to dominate your time. There’s nothing stopping them from turning your reward system against yourself. Plus given this time is generally being spent on passive consumption, of course people are gonna end up dumber—brains need exercise just like the rest of your body.

Regulation is basically the only way to remedy this (beyond actually nationalising these organisations) and unfortunately it’s gonna have to be American regulation for the most part, which I’m not gonna hold my breath for under the next administration

This.

“Don’t just copy and paste from Encarta” was commonly recited by my teachers when I was younger

Surely it’s gotta be loser

Oooh right of course. I’ve not had a maccies breakfast in a while and kinda forgot. Most breakfast places I’ve ever been to just sell “baps”, “rolls” or “butties” even if they end up serving it on a muffin roll

Muffins?

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an advert for a muffin

That being said, since it’s actually good I now expect it to be nerfed and/or abandoned in about 6 months

Exactly this, Google is where it is because generally its products start out pretty good

I live in the UK, a capitalist country.

The Scottish have this already, everyone gets free education including university, no strings. In England we only have it for people from lower economic backgrounds (via means tested grants to pay tuition), but still, we still do it for some people. It’s not a remotely absurd idea.

Hell even most pragmatic capitalists would agree that a free-at-the-point-of-use education system is generally a good investment in the labour pool. If skilled workers are rare, they have negotiating power, and we know how much capitalists just love workers that are able to negotiate from a position of power.

Education to any level should be free at the point of use. Hell I’d even go as far as to say people should be given a (non-means-tested) grant if they go into higher education. We need more smart people.

The more educated & informed a society is, the more productive, safe and free it is. No one should deny themselves the education they otherwise want because they can’t afford it.

My local area group is pretty much the only thing I remotely use it for and that’s a rarity

I’ve not posted anything about myself in getting close to a decade now

Ikr, people in this position are expected to be malicious, they’re also generally expected to be the smart kind of sociopath.

This guy clearly has no idea of the situation he finds himself in

Gotta be honest, that’s literally what outlaw means

Rich people spending some money is not trickle-down economics.

Trickle down economics is the lie that centralising capital in the hands of the few benefits everyone due to their increased ability to invest their capital.

What happens is they spend a small amount of their fortune in self-serving pursuits (e.g. their security in this scenario) and then they hoard the vast majority of what’s left. The incentive structure of capitalism means a capitalist benefits more from holding capital than distributing it.

The system is broken by design and cannot be fixed without replacing it

Ultimately, oil companies through the medium of corrupt political organisations.

Man made climate change is an objective fact, anyone denying it in 2024 is either making a shit load of money from the petrochemical industry and is morally bankrupt or they’re an actual, paint-chip eating, mortally-gullible moron.

I wonder if he’s trying to speedrun this kid hating him. Not going to be a nice day when the kid realises daddy used him as an emergency bullet sponge