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Delete all your accounts, and tell all your friends and family to do the same. Refuse and reject any service designed to fixate your attention. You won’t miss them, most people alive today lived in a world without their influence.
We shouldn’t be integrating AI into our lives though. AI sucks.
I concur, though my job has me integrating some open ai into our software. Not much I can do besides so what they like, bit of transcription and summary.
Had a coworker give me replies from gpt for an issue . I could tell easily because I had worked with similar data for years (parsing PBX data for calls) and knew the reply had errors. Like I know I can have issues parsing our data sometimes but it was insulting he gave an AI reply. So I nicely pointed out all the errors in the reply saying I assumed it was from ai. Mean did it nicely he was trying to help (and is a really nice dude) but still I know how to google and sift as well as ai probably does. And if I get the answer I remember it due due to the work I did.
It’s too stressful to worry about divesting from everything all the time. We do our best here in the swamp
Last season of Westworld was about guiding people through AI to control them. Your destiny was preordained by AI.
Thank fuck I literally use none of those services.
Right? It’s getting hard to talk to people nowadays because everyone seems brainwashed.
But you can’t get them out of it. Asking people to not check those feeds every day is like asking them to go without water.
It’s embarrassing how dependant folks have become with technology and social media. I’m not immune myself, but I’ll drop anything that goes against my values.
I keep trying to relate this to when we started mass-producing books. It must have been the same. We integrated that tech and got better.
I am not personally a fan right now.
I wish WhatsApp wasn’t the main form of communication in my area of the world.
That’s the only one I’m on and it’s because I could not convince anyone around me to just use texts or download signal
Yes you should break yourself from all of the US and Israeli tech stack. They cannot be trusted.
It’s hard to get away from the hardware companies through. I’m all AMD because they’re a little less evil, but they’re in the same AI bubble and also currently doing little in terms of innovation since they already have the performance advantage
You should break yourself from any tech stack that isn’t open source and either decentralized or federated if it’s an online service, regardless of country of origin.
I don’t read news in WhatsApp, tho
Neither do I, I only use it for sending and recieving messages. I don’t think anyone uses the AI bullshit that was added to it.
No actually we all seem to loath that. Like anyone who has to use WhatsApp (like me) finds it annoying. You can tag it in a duscussion, for example, but other than that the productivity use is limited
It was so much better when the search bar was just for contacts or chat messages instead of all the genuinely useless terms
They’re trying to compete with telegram and X on some level, but it was always just meant to be a messaging app. Telegram works fine but it’s full of questionable users and channels.
The dumb thing is that Meta owns Instagram and WhatsApp, so if every one of their apps have these features what’s the point of downloading more than one of them?
EDIT: I misread telegram as Instagram lmao, but either way there’s no point in using any of them
But everyone else does and they will be voting in the next election dragging you down with them.
I can’t control other people, only myself. If they want to sleepwalk into lies and fake propaganda there is nothing I can do.
Your point?
The control of media and of communication by the wealthy is mainly a threat to society.
It’s not like eating junk food where you’re only harming yourself.
We’re all threatened by people being ignorant and propagandized.
Now, what you can do, there are many things. Talk to your neighbors, involve yourself in your community, get people to come on the Fediverse, demonstrate, etc.
I do all of that already. If my friends and family take my advice it is their choice. I cannot nor would I want to force them into it. You can’t save people from themselves, especially if they’re unwilling. You can only save yourself.
I commend you for doing your part.
ur still affected by how these influence the news cycle and general societal conversation
Yeah that’s the problem. I don’t use them, but a bunch of other people do. How do we get them to stop?
Ok, and? Why is everyone up my ass because I’m happy I don’t support these elites? Sure the rest of the sheep are grazing in the pasture. How is that my problem? It’s not like I don’t talk to those in my circle. I can lead a sheep to water but I can’t make them drink.
I don’t either. Too bad 99.9% of the rest of the people do.
Too bad 99.9% of the rest of the people do.
This is the problem.
Good job lemmings, pat on the back for separating yourself from all this bullshit. Unfortunately, the thousands of us here don’t have super mega voting power…
Really is a shame
Lol. Lmao even. You think shaping your habits will protect you. You can’t personal responsibility your way out of this.
If you can’t solve the problem 100%, why even bother.
Just vote for trump. It’s all the same.
I don’t think that’s the criticism, rather we fixing the problem at the wrong end of things. We can’t fix society by stressing personal responsibility, we need a different tactic.
If the tactic doesn’t benefit the person doing it at all, then they won’t do it.
Sure, and that’s why I don’t bother telling people their voting tactics are wrong.
It has little to do with protection and more to do with keeping a clean conscience. I won’t support evil.
The issue here isn’t your about your conscious. The majority of people do use these and those people are being influenced.
Your comment has a sort of fuck you I got mine vibe to it.
No it’s not, lol. If people stop using these platforms they will fail. Sounds to me like you’re just justifying your continued support of these services and platforms. Defeatist loser mentality.
You just assumed I use those platforms which makes you the fool here.
You not supporting evil doesn’t stop evil. To try for another approach here since you seem rather dense, evil prevails when good men do nothing.
I’m sure you’ll just attack that too becuase what’s important here to you is your feelings. Doing something was never going to be an option for you
And what are you doing Mr. Holier-than-thou?
Thank you for asking so nicely and with such curtesy and humility after graciously answer my questions.
I actively encourage and warn others to not use these platforms. I also pirate all their shit and share it with those around me who struggle to shake their addiction to the content.
I mean, congrats? Kind of irrelevant to the discussion here, then.
“Oligarchy becomes smaller and more powerful” - article
“Good thing they don’t get my money via direct means” - you
Lol, short of going out and killing these bastards there isn’t much else I can do other than to stop supporting these services. I have to hope if enough folks like me stop using these services they will fail. There is a point where it only takes one straw to break the camels back.
That’s basing your imagination that we’re a meritocracy. There’s meaning behind the saying “failing upwards”. I don’t know how to counteract it either, but their success comes from failure. Let alone the Island stuff.
What are you even talking about? I didn’t say shit about meritocracy or failing upwards. I’m talking about not supporting those services and platforms that support evil.
Right, and I’m trying to explain to you that it’s not what they base their success on. I know you mean well, but we’re not a meritocracy and they do fail upwards.
The only one mentioned here that i have is WhatsApp, but i barely use it
Although i do still use some other nonfree Amerikkkan services. Discord is the main one, i’m quite active on there and it’s not that easy to replace because of its structure with communities (also there aren’t good alternatives yet, quite hopeful for Fluxer tho). I also use an iPhone and Apple Messages, and i have a Macbook (which I don’t use much at the moment) but I’m gonna install Linux on it. I don’t make use of iCloud tho, i use Proton Drive and selfhosted email.
I’m not trying to rib you here, but I hate that excuse that it’s too hard to drop these products. We’ve lived thousands of years without them, but lack the will now? WTF kinda weak ass shit is that?
I am not saying that it’s hard to drop
I’m saying that because of Discord’s structure it’s hard to move Discord communities to other platforms because you need to move a community of many people rather than just an account on which you post and view posts like when moving from Twitter to Mastodon or Reddit to Lemmy
It’s not hard at all. You either move or you don’t. It’s binary. If you can’t be bothered to do a little bit of legwork then just stay where you are and give the corps what they want. If that fragments your community so be it, build another one. All I hear are excuses as to why folks can’t stand by their morals because it’s inconvenient. IMO it’s pathetic, but everyone is entitled to their opinion.
We are on the losing end of the class war. And it feels like we aren’t even trying to fight back.
Luigi fought back
A poll came out the other day that put Mamdani +49 (that’s not a typo +49) in New York. People are waking up, all the propaganda in the world cannot change people’s mind when they see someone fighting for their material interests.
I’ve been in this fight since Bernie in 2016 there are people who’ve been in it much much longer than me.
We are winning…
in NYC, but i dont see any other cities having a smilar situation. thats why the DNC and gop stop attacking him on MSMs, they dont want to inflame and spread his influence. Walz in minnesota has pretty much lost favor due to how weak he has become in light of the ICE attacks.
I heard some inside baseball that Walz might not have been as comfortable passing the far-left legislation that came out of MN over the last few years as we previously thought. I’m hoping Jesse Ventura will get back in there and do a better job when Walz term is up.
It’s certainly harder to organize outside of places like NYC, and there aren’t many places like NYC in this country. But I don’t see why people wouldn’t respond similarly to having their material interests served by government if people manage to organize for such a candidate.
When FDR was passing the new deal he won 4 landslides in a row across the entire country. Why wouldn’t people respond similarly today? (Besides the fact they passed term limits to stop a similar situation.)
I’ve been fighting since Gore “lost” in 2000. It’s never felt like winning.
Firstly…
I completely agree that it has never “felt” that way. My point was that we need to stop and intellectually consider where we have been and where we are. If you slow down and think for a second you can see that some progress has been made.
Secondly… and please don’t take this as an attack.
Notice that I didn’t say Hilary lost, I said Bernie lost. The fact that you said Gore lost, as opposed to Nader lost suggests to me that you weren’t yet apart of the fight I was referring to in the year 2000. You were still a reactionary at that point, you were still thinking in terms of harm reduction or partisan politics, rather than an affirmative vision for what could serve the material interests of everyday average working people.
If you now have an affirmative vision — beyond blindly supporting whatever the Democratic Party does — that too is progress.
@[email protected] made me realize I take solace in the fact I’ll never feel like we’ve won or are satisfied with the state of governments. Yes, plenty of countries have great safety nets and protection for their civilians, but it’s still nothing compared to my dream of an idealized world. That long list of desires for a peaceful existence will just never get filled, but I continue aiming for it regardless with whatever time I have here.
The only winning move is not to play.
Big reason why I chose not to reproduce and am encouraging others to similarly abstain. Billionaires can’t exist without the rest of us.
This was a problem decades before Trump took office, and the exact same problem will remain after he’s gone.
Those corporations are “donating” (bribing) every election cycle for a reason, and it’s not charity.
Each candidate has a billion dollars, win or lose… that we know of. Our reps and their entire families are millionaires. Bribery is blatant and legal.
See Super PACs and Citizens United for further details.
“Lobbying”
People are talking about it, but the conversations are muffled or muted by those same billionaires.
Large no kings rallies should have had massive coverage, but were actively ignored by the news who frequently report on a handful of protestors who are promoting hate. Heck, with all of the pro Trump bullshit being a tidal wave of shit it just drowns out everything else so trying to actively discuss problems anywhere but niche communities is like trying to have a conversation in the middle of the dance floor at a rave.
The percentage of sociopaths involved with creating a society should never be greater than zero.
Financial obesity is an existential threat to any society that tolerates it, and needs to cease being celebrated, rewarded, and positioned as an aspirational goal.
Corporations are the only ‘persons’ which should be subjected to capital punishment, but billionaires should be euthanised through taxation.
First time I’ve seen the term “financial obesity” and I love it. Thanks.
I’m rolling with it.
Kind of ironic that this was posted on Twitter (X).
If these people could read…
Well it makes sense, the people who most need to think about this are people consuming the content on the sites.
Alternatively, it just would be preaching to the choir.
Is this any different than making a post on Reddit encouraging people to switch to Lemmy?
Does that make it less ironic?
If someone is on Xitter (or Reddit, or wherever) and using it, what means would you use to ask them to stop using it and suggest an alternative platform?
I would use the platform… Ironically.
I have no great love for the current administration and nor do I agree with most of its policies.
But I’m definitely going to have to see a source on the claims mentioned in this post.
Are you an idiot or have you not been paying attention?
This isn’t “I need a source” type stuff. They aren’t hiding this…they just aren’t talking about it on their platforms, for obvious reasons.
Do you know who Elon Musk is? Jeff Bezos? Larry Ellison?
You should. Because they are paying a lot of money to have nearly exclusive control (among themselves) of all national media.
Meanwhile, Sinclair and Nexstar are fighting to control all of the local broadcast stations. They aren’t just buying up the station, they are buying the reputations of the known and trusted local news-anchors. That shit is priceless when you are running a propaganda machine.
This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.
You should. Because they are paying a lot of money to have nearly exclusive control (among themselves) of all national media
Once again, I’m going to need to see some proof.
All I see are wild-ass claims. Claims, claims, claims.
Seriously, what’s happening in the U.S. is insane. I am ashamed of my country. But one thing I’m tired of is these wild claims from all sides, by the way. You think the right MAGA camp isn’t making the same wild accusations against the left? They are. My request remains the same: show me some fucking proof.
I get what you’re saying but honestly I’m finding it quite surprising that you’re on Lemmy and haven’t already seen it a billion times.
Alright, the founder of Oracle…One Rich Asshole Called Larry Ellison…had a kid. David. David owns Skydance Media. He founded it in 2010. Daddy helped him round up the capital to acquire Paramount, last year.
Here’s what that got him.. But importantly, CBS (including many local stations)
Now he’s trying (and thus far succeeding) to also buy Warner Brothers. Here’s what’s in that package. Importantly, CNN.
Oh yeah, he also has a big stake in TikTok, via Oracle.
You know Jeff Bezos, yea? He bought WaPo a while ago now, and over the past couple of years has been asserting more influence over the content of the paper, drawing sharp criticism. Relevant.
We all know about Rupert Murdoch. No sense talking about him.
And we all know who owns Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, and what a colossal piece of shit he is.
And who owns X, and how he makes Zuck look like a rabbit turd.
I really hope I don’t have to explain Sinclair and Nexstar to you. They’ve been buying up practically every local broadcast affiliate. In my area, all local broadcast news is controlled by these two companies. Sinclair especially has been called out a few times calling for national runs of their highly opinionated script (“this is extremely dangerous to our democracy”).
And then, there’s /u/spez. Fuck /u/spez.
For extra credit, Peter Theil. Manipulative, conniving, petty piece of shit that he is. Founded Palantir, the surveillance mecha. Look how he used Hulk Hogan for litigious revenge. Major Trump supporter. Huge bigot. Vance’s mentor. An openly gay, apartheid, libertarian bigot. You can’t make this shit up.
There’s a lot for you to go on here. It’s not like I can just give you a link that explains everything. You really need to be following along because there’s years of shit to unpack here, and as they enjoy controlling the news, they aren’t going to be outright about telling you about it. You’ve got to dig.
I get it. I feel like a conspiracy nutter now too. But I don’t have the time to hold your hand and open your eyes to the reality that’s been surrounding you for years. It’s there. Look.
The fourth estate is entirely controlled by billionaire interests that are friends, donors, and protectors of Trump. It’s not hidden.
Let me know if and when they take over thelemmyclub, I’ll be out of here in a heartbeat
Lol, posted on “X”
Exactly where people who need to read this message are. What’s your point?
Moral superiority. It’s seems to be a strong theme around here. Why worry about others when we’re all so much better then them.
assigning moral value to software is such a weird thing when you really think about it
“haha look i’m a morally superior person due to the specific 1s and 0s that run on my CPU” ok
You just described a sizeable portion of the FOSS community.
As somebody that loves FOSS, the community around it can come off like a morally superior vegan/christian/other-commilunity-known-for-this-attitude quite often. “I DID IT, WHY CANT YOU!?” Is an attitude I’ve encountered frequently, and it’s hard to get them to understand that not everybody has the same tech knowledge level, or use cases, or can manage the loss that comes with stopping/moving away from corporate solutions.
It’s also funny and weird how the epstein files are also just 1s and 0s
gotta reach people
posting it on an alternative would be preaching to the choir
With a paid blue verification check mark, no less.
They said…on twitter/X … with a blue check…
And how dare they criticize capitalism while living in a capitalist country!
And how dare they push for better labor laws while using electronics made by child labor!
Stop with the silliness.
But twitter is a nazi platform and there are valid alternatives available.
Alao participation in capitalism might be necessary to survive, posting on Twitter isnt.
Just gonna ignore that blue mark huh. Or do you not know what that means
It means they reach a bigger audience.
You criticize society, yet you live in one.
Paying for the checkmark is out of line though.
Someone’s gotta reach where the masses are
gotta reach people
And some people will defend billionaires saying thjs is just the free market working.
