There is no way to enforce age limits unless you require identification for a login or it is something built into the devices, themselves, that signal it is a minor and in lockdown mode. And since the latter seems to not be happening, the trend is to try and "age-wall login" more and more sites. And that requires ID. And that strips both adults and children of privacy.

I think the parents should be setting the age limits for what minors access, with recommendations made available by various sites and organizations.

... and should've closed with "Would you like a more concise or more elaborate version of this article?". 8-)

I know, right?

In the main loop just add:

If (user.getMentalState().equals(MentalStates.SUICIDAL)) { printHotlineInfo(); exitSession(); }

It's hard to make guardrails and it's fun to circumvent them.

"Just as long as any loss is still public and any profit is kept private"

Better not happen. That's the future dreamt of by American financial companies. How embarrassing would it be to have Mexico get their first?

Sounds like the US needs another moonshot.

It’s a commitment to the tribe above all else. Learning to be fine with being required by your leader to contradict the position you were arguing for just a few moments ago is not difficult, and is very protective of the psyche. It’s why end-of-world cults have often survived the passing of prophesied dates.

The onus should be on the parents and their agents to control and restrict any internet-connected devices that children have access to. Children should not have unrestricted access to the Internet, unless directly supervised by an adult. The end.

There aren't just "some" sites that are a problem. There are millions of them. Trying to control all sites and strip adults of their privacy is not an acceptable way to deal with the problem. A whitelist restrict is needed. It needs to be made socially unacceptable and shocking that a minor has full access to the Internet on any device, or to call/text/media to/from a stranger.

They need to put this energy into helping to make better/newer/easier lock-down tools for devices parents want to give to minors and leave everyone else alone.

The bad writers never stopped. The AI is in addition to.

This is why I'm interested in something like the 90s web directories. The idea of a human scoping out the worthwhile stuff, manually evaluating it for inclusion.

The web feels incredibly closed-off now, like a box. So much content lost in the black hole of social media. It used to feel like you were sailing out into the wide world to see what you could find. Now it's like some company has you in the lockup with some cellmates. They feed you slop 3 times a day, monitor your every breath, and never let you out.

The problem is the knock-on effects when large numbers of idiots are allowed to be scammed. Idiots here means corporations and governments in addition to individuals.

Stupid people, doing stupid things, which harm someone else, is why the concept of "law" was invented.

Then there's the implied message that scamming people is OK as long as they're stupid. Not sure those kind of ideas lead to a good culture or civilization generally.

it's quite possible that thoughtful, original, human-generated writing will become even more valuable"

Much as I would like to think that's true, I don't buy it. If one thing has become true in the last twenty years, it's that thoughtful, original anything seldom strikes enough of a chord to reach mass appeal. Straight up the middle schlock aimed at the lower half does far better, and AI can do that already. In fact, for a large portion of the populace, nuance and subtlety of thought isn't just wasted on them... they're actively antagonistic towards it, and popular culture has made that a laudable stance. Willful stupidity. Taking enjoyment in deliberately missing the point. AI may do vastly better at reaching them than a human author could hope for.

I admire Francesco's optimism, even if I don't share it.

Certainly beats letting foreign companies come in and have their way with your nation's children.

Exactly. That's why comparing the positions of Japan and the US isn't valid. They are very different situations. Japan is pretty well insulated. The US is far more vulnerable.

I still don't understand. Are you agreeing with me regarding the fragility of the US dollar's status? Because I did not bring up BRICS, nor did I put forward any candidate currencies. I even went so far as to point out you don't even need one to step up right away.

The wealthy prefer a dystopian hell hole for 99.9% of the population and extraordinarily god-like opulence for themselves. They want to be able to control who lives and who dies on such a fundamental level that they are like the Pharaohs of old literally exalted to godhood.

You cannot as a regular person comprehend the kind of greed that a man like Elon Musk or Bill Gates experiences as their normal state of being. It is way past just wanting money or yachts or any of that and into the point where they want to be transhuman.

And you need to understand that they do not think of you as a human being. You are not at the same level organically or as a species in their eyes. You aren't even at the level that you for example perceive a chimpanzee as in their eyes. To a guy like Elon Musk you're more like a slime mold. An utterly alien existence that might occasionally be useful.

I mean you could stop voting for right-wing politicians because you don't like queer people or brown people or whoever the fuck it is you don't like (in Japan it's certain job descriptions because the Japanese can't tell each other apart well enough to create racism).

You could also get over that stupid 12-year-old feeling of it's not fair when you see somebody having food and shelter without being miserable 40 hours or more per week.

But you're not going to do that. Or if you do your friends and family aren't. So like crabs in a bucket we are going to destroy ourselves.

I'm not acting like there's anything that can be done about it I'm just venting. Flaws in human reasoning and emotions mean our species is doomed and it is incredibly frustrating that we're all going to die for such a stupid and idiotic reason.

Who knows maybe one of the other species will take over after we kill ourselves. Smart money is on raccoons. A few more mutations and they'll have opposable thumbs. Beavers are also in the running.