And no religion too

Does this mean I will be able to download F-Droid from Google Play?

Or you just hack into the Tessier-Ashpool mainframe if you can't afford to rent time on Wintermute

That would indeed be the net effect... lawsuit costs just passed directly on to the consumer without even thinking twice. The only people who win here are the lawyers.

I can only see this as a good thing, similar to what Microsoft did to the gaming industry: buy up a bunch of studios, do nothing with them for years, then fire everyone. Basically a money burning party. All those developers are now free to work for independent studios and do something new.

Are blockbuster films and basic cable really things worth preserving?

Well maybe Icogni is for you! For a low monthly fee you can take advantage of their services and reduce your digital footprint. https://incogni.com/benefits/d...

They're the sponsors of this post, you know? We're actually all discussing an ad here.

that's true, but at least it's not negative value yet

Wait, people actually feel a need to maintain a presence on social media? Why?

Mmm, I could go for a hot cup of Mococoa right now.

It's hard to argue with this after reading the latest Penny Arcade comic, which aptly described screen time as "An infinite casino unfolding in the mind of a toddler."

https://www.penny-arcade.com/c...

Social media is a real marketplace of ideas gone wrong. It's like walking into a room and having hundreds of people suddenly start screaming at you while doing obnoxious "look at me" dances, with the audience gleefully going along with it and tearing apart anyone who disagrees. It's exhausting. Why contribute to that? Preening before that unblinking eye is a sick game only attractive to narcissists.

It brings to mind an episode of Star Trek: Voyager which I watched recently: Season 2 Episode 23, "The Thaw." In this episode, the crew finds some people trapped in a virtual world that was supposed to be a utopia... but its program was corrupted, and is now run by a sadistic clown who leads a group of computer-generated characters and forces the trapped "players" to perform torturous and humiliating games.

The episodes aired in 1996 before social media existed, but the sadistic spirit of the simulation really reminded me of the current state of the Internet, only in this case the clown is Mark Zuckerberg.

Come on. You don't need AI to cheat on a take-home test. The problem isn't the AI.

It even pre-dates television. Lots of golden age radio shows had advertisements not just weaved into the show, but were outright named after the sponsors.

The Ford Sunday Evening Hour
The General Electric Concert
Kraft Music Hall
Maxwell House Showboat
Palmolive Beauty Box Theater
Philip Morris Playhouse ...just to name a few.

This trend only continued once television became widespread. My favorite is the the Colgate Comedy Hour! A whole hour of toothpaste commercials interspersed with variety acts.

Everything old is new again.

Does it also contain potassium benzoate?

That makes sense. There are fields of dandelions but people are complaining about being hungry. Then get out there and forage!

Nobody remembers that dandelions are a non-native food crop that was brought over from Europe and then abandoned after we moved on to more palatable foods. It did take over the landscape though, and now it's a "weed."