We live in a capitalist society, we have a few super wealthy persons who managed to rise extremely above everyone else. Calling them capitalist overlords is not exactly a stretch. You might be projecting something here but I'm unsure what.

Yes but the capitalist overlords need you to function enough so that they can replace you with AI. Somehow it makes sense.

The EU parliament is also one of few legislative entities in the Western world that care about consumer protection. I don't agree with everything it produces, but that doesn't mean they're always wrong. Although twelve year olds tend to think in such absolutes.

This is not about data and significance. This is a breach of trust.

Companies like Anthropic need smart people. Are you suggesting that there are many "peaceniks" (whatever that means) among smart people?

You are making it very clear that you will not be convinced by either reason or evidence.

Some consider that programming first happened with a loom, is that enough? Every self-respecting nerd knows that btw.

The ad hominem is unnecessary. I did look at both Framework and Apple a while ago, and concluded that I could either get good but non upgradeable hardware and give money to Apple, or pay more to get significantly inferior but modular hardware. I ended up doing neither, for reasons that I believe are obvious to everyone here. It's fine if you don't work this way, that doesn't mean I'm bullshitting. I'm unsatisfied by the two options I considered, for different reasons, and it turns out that I can live without a new laptop. In the process, I realised that Apple is quite cheap these days given what you get for the price. Hence my reply to OP.

I think we generally agree. Buying a framework laptop means being willing to pay more for modularity, which might translate to cost benefits in the distant future. Considering to buy one is balancing whether it's worth the price now. What I'm saying is that Apple Silicon is weighing further in that balance. Apple used to be expensive relative to the PC market, at least when disregarding hardware robustness and life expectancy; nowadays I don't think it's still true. Which is why I disagreed with OP saying it's overpriced.

I do have a MacBook air from 2013, and while I don't use it every day, it still works perfectly. I have not upgraded the ram or the storage. So overall it wasn't that expensive for me, in hindsight. I'm sure some PC laptops last that long, but I know it's not the norm. And nowadays the buying price of Apple laptops is relatively lower than it used to be (at least that is my perception, taking other things like inflation and competition into account). I just don't think it's generally accurate to say that Apple hardware is over priced. Right now, you get much better hardware for significantly less money, and upgraded ram and storage in five years won't be enough to compensate for that. Battery life is also significantly in favour of Apple, and that won't be solved with modularity. I hope the PC hardware catches up, right now it's lagging behind.

Apple hardware is currently not overpriced, quite the opposite. That's because Apple Silicon is really efficient, especially if you take energy consumption into account. Check out the Mac mini for example. I was considering buying a laptop recently and considered the framework laptops, then I saw that the apple laptops are better by most (not all) criteria and also cheaper.

In my experience, this is not true. Maybe some cars do it that well and I haven't driven these cars. I mostly drive rentals, if that's relevant. Another explanation is that you don't have the same need to immediately start the car as others do. Or that you are unconsciously tolerant to the delay and don't even register it. Regardless, there's several people here who have experienced delays when restarting.

Are you sure you want to go there? How independent from China, Chinese products, Chinese manufacturing and Chinese capitals is your lifestyle?

Also congratulations on missing the point. The point was that Europe is happy to use American products as long as its sovereignty is respected. Stop respecting that sovereignty, start treating Europe like a bunch of vassal states, find out that they're not and that you have more to lose. Europe prefers the post-WW2 mutually beneficial situation, but the US is shitting the bed and Europe does not want to stay in a bed full of shit.

How exactly have "we" been bullying Russia? In case that's relevant: no country has sought to expand its borders in what is currently Russia. Russia, on the other hand, is trying to expand its borders in what is currently Ukraine.

We lost so much productivity when we switched code wrapping from 80 to 100 columns.

The thing is, with every vote being relatively close to 50-50, a minority acting in bad faith can make a lot of damage.

Also "I don't understand all of that" is a weak reply. If you don't understand, there is the option to not vote. I don't mean to disrespect your father, I make no claim to perfection myself, and I certainly don't understand 100% of every issue at stake in every election. But the way immigrants are treated is a pretty big thing, and the authoritarian tendency is one that was warned about well ahead of the election.

Ultimately I don't have all the context with your father. But the person I have been talking about made public claims that this was clearly a good thing for society, that he knew better despite the woke propaganda, basically acted superior. I reject the notion that this person was deceived.