Even though I don’t regularly use it, I’m glad I have a p38 can opener on my keychain. Just in case I end up in a survival situation, it’s good to have alongside a good keychain bottle opener. Obviously not as good as a leatherman, but for under $20, yeah, these two are worth it.

There’s too many solid reasons to be upset with, well, not AI per say, but the companies that implement, market, and control the AI ecosystem and conversation to go into in a single post. Sufficient to say I think AI is an existential threat to humanity mainly because of who’s controlling it and who’s not.

We have no regulation on AI, we have no respect for artists, writers, musicians, actors, and workers in general coming from these AI peddling companies, we only see more and more surveillance and control over multiple aspects of our lives being consolidated around these AI companies and even worse, we get nothing more in exchange except for the promise of increased productivity and quality, and that increase in productivity and quality is a lie. AI currently gives you the wrong answer or some half truth or some abomination of someone else’s artwork really really fast…that is all it does, at least for the public sector currently.

For the private sector at best it alienates people as chatbots, and at worst is being utilized to infer data for surveillance of people. The tools of technology at large are being used to suppress and obfuscate speech by whoever uses it, and AI is one tool amongst many at the disposal of these tech giants.

AI is exacerbating a knowledge crisis that was already in full swing as both educators and students become less curious about subjects that don’t inherently relate to making profits or consolidating power. And because knowledge is seen as solely a way to gather more resources/power and survive in an ever increasingly hostile socioeconomic climate, people will always reach for the lowest hanging fruit to get to that goal, rather than actually knowing how to solve a problem that hasn’t been solved before or inherently understand a problem that has been solved before or just know something relatively useless because it’s interesting to them.

There’s too many good reasons AI is fucking shit up, and in all honesty what people in general tote about AI is definitely just a hype cycle that will not end well for the majority of us and at the very least, we should be upset and angry about it.

Here are further resources if you didn’t get enough ranting.

lemmy.world’s fuck_ai community

System Crash Podcast

Tech Won’t Save Us Podcast

Better Offline Podcast

Might I interest you in a podcast?

Very sweet. Thank you!!

Yeah I use Seal when NewPipe is having issues, and there are graphical front ends for yt-dlp for desktop, I’m just not familiar with most of them.

Thanks for mentioning that. Hopefully someone finds it helpful.

Yeah, but for some people that’s too much.

Nice. Hopefully somebody puts it up on FDroid.

There are many ways around the YouTube algo. Look into LibRedirect , Invidious, NewPipe, and subscribing to channels using an on device RSS reader. Also look into yt-dlp if you’re savvy enough to use a command prompt/terminal.

Alternatives all have their drawbacks. Nebula is the best IMO, but there are some gate keeping sort of practices going on over there regarding how creators are chosen to be platformed there.

Floatplane is good for gamers and techies but ultimately supports the guys over at Linus Tech Tips, who have a bad reputation for their history of misogyny and grifting their audiences in various ways.

Rumble is a conservative cesspool for people too hateful for the YouTube platform.

And Peertube is the Federated alternative that has a lot of potential but nearly no traction and thusly there’s not a whole lot of content.

Ultimately, I still watch YouTube (albeit less and less these days), via the platforms mentioned above like Invidious and Newpipe, using yt-dlp.

I do hope Peertube and the fediverse continues to grow. These platforms on the Fediverse are the last bastion of a decent internet imho.

EDIT: grammar.

Gym, Meditate, Therapy, Volunteer, Meetup, Hobbies. Any combination of these, at least 2.

Accumulating money doesn’t count as character building nor living. Spend money wisely, but do spend it. Wisely is subjective, but see above for what I think that means in this context. Good luck.

Edit: wording.

UCLA Climate scientist, Daniel Swain talks about this exact topic during his recent interview with Adam Conniver on his podcast, Factually.

Go to timestamp 17:45 and you’ll hear Swain talk specifically about how this was a unique firestorm.

Earlier in the interview (around the 12:00 minute mark) Swain points out that it has to do with the increasingly longer periods in between wet and dry periods that are occurring that contributed so heavily to the conditions for a fire of this magnitude becoming more likely to occur, especially when particularly strong Santa Ana Winds occurring this year.

Yes. You don’t need anything more.

Very.

Playing tabletop RPGs with my friends. Or just hanging out with them and playing video games.

Yeah that makes sense. I appreciate your thoughtful response.

Yeah I can see that. These payment platforms need to be centralized due to just the nature of, y’know, nation state backed currencies.

My only interest in this thread comes from my curiosity as to whether or not Patron, KoFI, etc. Can still provide their services at the level they already are, but way cheaper (I.e. give a higher percentage back to the creators). I know its somewhat low currently, but is it as low as possible?

Just something I occasionally think about.

Yeah I feel this OP. I am always forgetting birthdays, even my own sometimes tbh. I do randomly get gifts for friends and family, but its never for the usual holidays.

I…don’t have many friends, lol. But the ones I do have all understand my stance on holidays and celebrations. It’s just not for me.

Mobile:

Desktop:

I’ve been depressed…hell I still am, though I cope better than I used to.

I’m guessing its not just the holidays that gets you down. There’s two ways out, and I suggest doing both.

1. Conform to some of the social norms that basically means take some of the classic advice you’ve already seen on here. Get out of the house and participate in activities that you might not initially enjoy, but hold some promise of you at least getting a bit of enjoyment out of, or at least stick around for the socializing. Think of it like taking your vitamins, you don’t have to like it, but its probably good for you and therefore you should consider doing it.

2. Find things you enjoy doing in your solitude that are nondestructive/neutral or even healthy (depends on the context if its avoidance/addiction or not). Listen to podcasts, read books, learn a new skill, listen to music, meditate, exercise, etc. Just something. We can give you ideas all day, but just choose something and stick with it for at least a couple weeks before trying something else.

The harsh truth is that without some kind of existential raison d’etre, life is just a series of activities we use to distract ourselves from our own loneliness or avoiding ruminating on other topics like death.

The world right now has made it hard for people of all walks of life to connect authentically, and so don’t blame yourself entirely for the situation you’re in. That said, when you’re down in the shit, there’s only two choices, you either wallow in it or you clean yourself up and do what you can to make your way up and out of it.

And I hold no judgments on what you or anyone decides to do here, life is hard and yeah, it can suck. But I personally look at it that I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t. But I already know what it’s like being damned if I don’t… might as well find out what it’s like being damned if I do.

Take it or leave it, that’s all I’ve got for you or anybody. Good luck out there.

Why we’re choosing to destroy ourselves due to catastrophic climate change. I just…I get it now, but there are too many facets of it for me to want to list them all right now.

But I understand it. It doesn’t make it justifiable, just comprehensive.

“Though the grease burns out of the torch, the fire passes on, and no one knows where it ends.” -Zhuangzi