Yup, it is a humanitarian thing, and trying to keep people safe. Something like that happened with my MIL. She was far into end stage dementia, the part where the brain is so far gone that bodily processes are shutting down. She was in an end care nursing facility. Her heart stopped early one morning. The damn EMTs arrived, and after 10 or maybe 15 minutes, they got it started again. So we ended up with her at the hospital. Doctor came in and told us she was basically brain dead. So there she was on a ventilator, and it extended her so called life another 5 hours or so.

It was at that point I thought to myself - no way, no more. I didn't blame the EMT's, but I was surely not happy what they did.

I had to convince the wife that needed to happen. She was exhausted from all that stuff that creeped up, so it really wasn't too hard to convince her in the end.

It is a problem to even discuss. Say something to the wrong person, and next thing you know, you have therapists and suicide hotline type people call you. Yet I'm the farthest thing from suicidal, I just want to save my family from that "long goodbye", a particular cruelty of modern life..

And? Autism is pretty hard to prove, and yes, there was a time when a lot of things got rubber stamped. All that said, if the ATM spits out a thousand dollars, and you take it, then you are stealing it. The child claimed to be autistic to a point where he needs supplemental income just to live, yet presents normally socialized, and will be going to college is hardly a person who needs that money.

It isn't his fault, it is his mothers. but interesting that you support the fraud. No, just because there was a time that little investigation happened does not exonerate the theft of money applied for under deception.

The guy who lost his jerb to AI just checked in! Whatever you do, don't learn anything any more, you know enough now and forever.

You sound like some of the guys who were pissed off about transistors taking over from tubes.

I know a few Hams who are that way. Bragging about their Heathkit tube radios, While my radio is an RF front end, tied to a server Software defined radio and spectrum analyzer.

This is true. I look at the prompting issue as learning another language. I experiment, I shift things and change words. When something turns out correct, I note what I prompted mentally as well as documented.

And that is what intrigues me. I see something that is coming along, perhaps even inevitable, so I learn about it. I always have. I cam into the workforce at the end of the tube era, so I dove into transistor tech, then IC, I dealt with old school video with linear editing, and the nightmare of frame by frame 3-D animation to tape, then I went to non-linear editing, then switching a department from chemical photography to digital. Learning learning, learning.

At most of these steps, there was someone who didn't want to change, like the old ways were the good ways.The new ways were always bad. I kept my jerb, many of them were laid off.

I'm even having fun learning, I wonder how much for the people bitching and moaning about AI are having?

Is that societies problem? Is there a restriction on what the public sees?Is it not possible to encounter quality?

The closest I can come to agreeing with you is that one facet of consumerism has convinced many that the only metric is price.

I dunno if I hang with a different group, but I look at what I want to buy, then research the price. Then I buy it if it is acceptable.

If not, I don't. Wife and I even do this with groceries. If something is soaring, we don't buy it. And our grocery bill is significantly smaller than most people, yet we eat healthy. Always have, always will. Same with products.

It isn't difficult. Maybe some people aren't all that good with money. But that isn't society or capitalism's fault. At some point, people need to lose the everyone else is at fault narrative. And I got to where I am from poverty, so I'm nothing special. One of the people who are supposed to be the designated victims.

I doubt they are any more of less moral, it probably just reflects a better quality of life for most people.

Nostalgia has a lot of people believing that we live in some sort of latter day hell, while pre - 1900 times were halcyon days.

A whole lot this. Now that we can keep dementia sufferers alive for a dozen or more years, it means that if they are going to get 24/7 care at home, someone will have to stay at home 24/7. It doesn't mean the family is callous. It means that someone will have to give up a significant portion of their lives, when at one time it was just a much smaller part.

And yes, all of the things that killed the demented, since their entire physical and immune systems are failing, are being circumvented. There is a saying that Pneumonia is the old person's friend. That it is a merciful end to suffering. But we stretch out the suffering as long as possible today, for both the older person and their families.

And I've made no bones about it, when I hear that bell tolling, I'm checking out. Told the wife that if I can't do it myself, to put me on a flight to point Barrow, and have them sit me out overnight. Quick and pretty painless.

Seems a little odd that you believe the general public buys things they do not want.

At this point, I believe there are a few failtroll users who comment on every topic on Slashdot with generalized doom and hatred. I hope you don't actually feel this way - if so, you need the anti-depressant/anti psychotic cocktail they give some people now to numb their ennui,

Perhaps your goal is to return to pre-industrial times when everything was better? Or just anarchy in general.

It would be as difficult as eliminating free speech. If I were to make that hypothetical movie in a couple days, what would be the law that could be created that would keep me from showing it, at an indie fair, and even making money with it on say Youtube?

If I were an actor, I would be looking to find employment in a different field.

This. Is it disruptive? Yes. But it is also just how it is. Will it put actors and actresses out of work? Yes. But no one guarantees me my job, if technology comes along to replace what I'm doing now, I adapt and move to something else.

A tax? we're reaching the point where I can in my own office, create movies with AI actors. So a desperation tax will just accelerate the demise.

Perhaps, just perhaps - if Hollywood were to decide to tell better stories, they might stave off the inevitable for a while. Because between you and me and the neighbor's dog, I don't find AI "slop" all that much worse than what we're being provided now. But I kinda doubt it.

Fortunately my wife is more cautious about clicking on stuff than I am, very unusual for a non-technical woman. She'll ask me if something is okay.

Places like Facebook capitalize on that. They have a lot of "ads" for these (frankly) adorable cat t-shirts and sweaters. She asked, so I clicked on one, and my computer blocked it immediately. Another wanted people to try to buy something, then same thing happend. So you get a lot of people clicking, and unknowingly giving out their emaill and identity.

But none of us are completely immune. It isn't as easy to hit me with malware/virus/general pwning, but I'd be a fool to think I'm impervious.

One huge scam pulled on people is people claiming to be capitalists, or free marketeers.

When applied without restraint both systems fail quickly. As soon as one gtoup rises to the top, the last thing they want is a free market. Same with capitalism. Some amount of restraint is necessary to keep either in bounds.

The people who make the most, don't want to share it. The top "capitalists" want all the other's capital, a system based on greed can work if we keep the pathological greedy from wrecking it.

Plutocracy. There is a tough one. Wealthy have always tended to run things. Less wealthy can participate. But there's a real catch. The doomers in here claiming that nothing can be done, and spin a narrative that there is no hpe for the poor, seem to be doing their best to discourage those without a lot of wealth.

And then there is the communistas....Amazing that a system that is proven to not work keeps getting spun over and over, like a holy grail of equality, when their greatest offerings are Stalinist Russia, and Mao's cultural revolution. Sprinkled with a bit of Pol Pot's Cambodia and The great experiment in North Korea,

Modern China has added some capitalist bits to survive.

It can be done. We can batten things down pretty well. Most people here should be astute enough to do the work to eliminate most of it.

I hate the intrusions with a passion - I mean I come close to a temper tantrum, because it interrupts my mental workflow.

I do think you are right that most people don't care. I sure do.

First thing is you have to seize the means of production, and allow the proletariat to rise in an ongoing revolution toward a brave new future.

After a fashion yes. For instance, wife spends a lot of time on Youtube. I have a sub, and don't get any, but she says she doesn't want one. I utterly hate the ads. She apparently doesn't mind them. Weird thing - she is hella more impatient than me.

I quess a lot of people think that the intrusions are just part of using teh intertoobz.