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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 13th, 2023

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  • the issue with death penalty is that even if you have a perfect state that makes zero mistakes when applying such penalty, it can only do so in the context of a criminal offense having been committed.

    but what is a criminal offense? one person’s “that’s a crime” is another person’s “i should be free to do that”

    for example, in yemen, if you are caught performing homosexual acts as a married man, you are to be stoned to death.

    in principle, a capital punishment supporter should also be okay with this.

    if you are one of those who has just caught yourself saying “well… i think death penalty is okay but not like that” then you have just hit my main point like a brick wall

    if the decision to apply death penalty is based on one’s subjective assessment of what a crime is, then that’s not rational or fair


    here’s some homework for you - replace “death penalty” with “any penalty” and re-run my thought sequence again :)

    the very act of “criminalizing” is fraught with moral issues already, so i think we should drop all death penalties until we have perfectly solved the question “what is crime?”

    for further info, here’s a good one (link here, clicky!)






  • the “open source hackers” are always going to win this one, for a simple reason. if the data of the youtube video is handed to a user at any point, then the information it contains can be scrubbed and cleaned of ads. no exceptions.

    if google somehow solves all ad-blocking techniques within browser, then new plugins will be developed on the operating system side to put a black square of pixels and selectively mute audio over the advert each time. if they solve that too? then people will hack the display signal going out at the graphics card level so that it is cleaned before it hits the monitor. if they beat that using some stupid encryption trick? well, then people will develop usb plugin tools that physically plug into the monitors at the display end, that artificially add the black boxes and audio mutes at the monitor display side.

    if they beat that? someone, someone will jerry rig a literal black square of paper on some servos and wires, and physical audio switch to do the same thing, an actual, physical advert blocker. i’m sure once someone works that out, a mass produced version would be quite popular as a monitor attachment (in a timeline that gets so fucked that we would need this).

    if that doesn’t work? like, google starts coding malware to seek and destroy physical adblockers? then close your eyes and mute your headphones for 30 seconds, lol. the only way google is solving that one is with hitsquads and armed drones to make viewers RESUME VIEWING

    as long as a youtube video is available to access without restriction, then google cannot dictate how the consumer experiences that video. google cannot win this.




  • yep i found this one out the hard way when applying for a job in the uk at currys (similar to best buy like in the op)

    didn’t get the job of course, that’s fine, whatever, move on and go to next application

    what i learnt afterwards though was that, they don’t hire for currys/best buy based on your actual understanding of tech. they hire on your ability to sell the items, and help customers engage in excess consumerism.

    the main point being, i obviously wouldn’t sell anyone a $99 gold plated hdmi cable. because firstly, that’s unethical profiteering, and secondly, i know that a $5 would do the same job. i would point a customer to the $5 cable, it’s the correct choice. but this is why i am unhireable for this job.

    currys, best buy, euronics, mediamarkt etc need to hire people that can sell the $99 cable. to do that, they counterintuitively have to hire people who don’t know enough about tech. reason being, if you don’t actually know about tech yourself, you will think that the gold cable is better, and you can then do a more convincing job of selling it. plausible deniability. apply this to every item in the store. you want someone who can push 8k tvs, beats headphones and smart fridges. not someone who will guide the consumer to what they actually need for their use case.

    it’s the reason why you go into these stores and the staff don’t have a fucking clue about actual tech questions. they were hired precisely because they don’t have a clue.


  • you’re right, and i think that the thing that is being called out in the screenshot is not the money making per se, but the doom loop that everyone is forced to experience when trying to perform any basic information lookup using the internet in 2023. it goes something like this.

    1. google “enshittification” to find that neat article you read a few months ago to post in a lemmy comment
    2. first three or four results aren’t what you wanted, so keep scrolling.
    3. click the result you want (beginning of doom loop)
    4. “we value your privacy - so please click all the individual opt-outs, because GDPR didn’t say we can’t harass you with opt-outs to beat you into submission”
    5. “subcribe to our newsletter! we definitely won’t leak this email to a third party”
    6. “do you want to enable desktop notifications for this site?”
    7. “this page would like to know your location (so we can serve you geo-targeted adverts)”
    8. “get full access to our platform for xxx yyy price!” despite fake discounting being illegal in many countries
    9. scroll down to start reading the first paragraph.
    10. “…this is your 1st of 3 free articles this month. to receive 10 free articles a month, please register today!”
    11. after dismissing all of this, you then scroll 2 paragraphs in, and find out actually, this wasn’t the article you needed.
    12. press back on your browser a few times to wade back through all the privacy spam
    13. scroll 2 more results down on google, maybe this next one was it?
    14. goto 3. (you now repeat the doom loop)

    this doom loop has to stop. yes, people and businesses need to make money under the current economic system we live in. but it doesn’t have to be like this.

    but you know something? we all know where this is going.

    some ““visionary”” san fran tech bro startup will have the “genius” idea of offering an interface between journo websites and customers, by offering a one-stop subscription shop. pay the tech bros once, they grant you access to all sites.

    not unlike how uber operates as an interface between taxi drivers and customers, or how airbnb offers an interface between short term lets and customers, or how amazon offers an interface between cheap plastic vendors and customers, or how netflix operates as an interface between media content and customers, or how…

    …the wheel turns.







  • ah okay, i’m way out of my depth then. thanks for the advice

    my specific problems are with fanta zero and coke cherry zero. if not the aspartame, then is there a possible cause that isn’t confirmation bias, or caffeine? i don’t have problems with other drinks with caffeine, and i should stress that i drink 2L of water a day regardless of whether i have a can of soda (in addition). i.e, it’s not headaches from dehydration either.

    i’m willing to accept the possibility that i am an idiot and it’s just confirmation bias, but if anyone knows any other possible causes, i’d be happy to learn 🙂

    another question i have regarding point #2, how much sugar is too much to cause the effects you mention (i.e in one can?). for context, i live in the UK, and most cans of soda are restricted to 16.5g of sugar for the whole can, because of a sugar tax. is 16.5g in one go enough to cause liver damage?

    thank you for reading