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Cake day: July 4th, 2023

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  • I think that’s a good take on things.

    Ultimately it still holds true. Information does want to be free. You just can’t mix that with misinformation, have everything on the same level and a general audience completely oblivious to the fact and uneducated.

    Things have changed. Back in those times it was a small elite on the internet. People who could afford computers and an internet connection and make some use out of it. You needed some amount of intelligence because you had to put some effort in to get online, learn about the tools because that wasn’t easy or provided to you. So you’d generally be at least somewhat intelligent if you ended up on the internet. And that’s beneficial when it comes to receiving unfiltered information. Combined with the fact that there were comparatively more academics and students, because that was the origin of the internet.

    And it wasn’t that common to push your agenda there or advertise for your skewed political views in the way people do it nowadays. Due to the nature of the internet and the amount of people there, it wasn’t worth the effort. You’d be better off focusing somewhere else where you could influence more people. So the dynamics were just different due to history and circumstances.

    Things have changed. Nowadays everyone is online all the time. It’s the place to influence people and make money. And that’s the other part of the problem. The actual people, connecting them and providing information to them (or to each other) isn’t what’s most of the internet is about, anymore. Motivations are gathering data about people and selling them, making people become addicted to your platform so they spend more time there and you can make more money. Everyone is competing for attention. And bad, emotional stories are what works best. Giving people the “simple truths” they seek instead of an intellectual and nuanced view. Factuality just gets in the way of all of that.

    I sometimes like to compare that to the Age of Reason / Enlightenment. Back then it was monarchs, bad dynamics and missing education. Now it’s big tech companies, bad dynamics and insufficient education. People need to get emancipated, educated and leave the current “immature state of ignorance” (to quote Kant.)

    Information and education are key. And the internet, algorithms and AI are just tools. They can be used for progress, or to enslave us. At least the internet has the potential (and was build) to connect people and provide a level playing field to everyone. But it can be used for a variety of different things. And choosing the right things isn’t something that can be solved by technology alone.




  • Entirely depends on the software you install on it?!

    I mean the OS and UI don’t give you “smartness”. And I’m not completely sure about the definition. I for example think it’s smart not letting big tech companies steal all your data. So I might choose a different OS and different Apps than somebody else.

    Concerning AI: I think ChatGPT runs on all of them. And I think all the assistants also run more or less in the cloud and don’t depend on the exact phone model. However, there are AI things that run on the phone itself. Camera picture enhancement and speech recognition for example.

    Manufacturers often advertise with new AI features and unlock them on their newest flagship models. So the answer to your question regarding AI in preinstalled apps is probably: The current most expensive flagship models of Google/Samsung/Apple. One will have a slightly better camera AI, one a better photo editor and one a better AI assistant.


  • Kids should use their own creativity, practice reading, creating something. Play outside, get dirty. Do sports, maybe learn a musical instrument. And do their homework themselves.

    I’d say many things are alright in the proper dose. I mean ChatGPT is part of the world they’re growing in to…

    And 16 isn’t a kid anymore. They can handle some responsibility. I don’t see a one-size-fits every 16 yo solution. I think you should allow them and decide individually.

    I’d say at 16, give them some responsibility and let them practice handling it. But that means supervised. You can’t just give them anything and hop they’ll cope on their own. And AI has some non-obvious consequences / traps you can run into. Not even most of the adults can handle or understand it properly. So your focus should be teaching them the how and why, in my opinion. Alike you’d teach your kid how to use the circular saw at some point that age. As a parent you should lokk at them and see if they’re ready for it and how much supervision is appropriate.


  • I applaud your optimism. And you’re right. The design of the fediverse encourages these properties. But there are also other dynamics at play.

    I wouldn’t describe Lemmy as an intellectual place. It’s more a cross-sectional take on society. It’s a diverse place of common folks, a few nerds, people posting the news, sharing memes or asking questions…

    It depends a bit on the specific community. Some have nice people and active conversation, some don’t. Especially niche topics are a mixed bag. We’re just 50.000 active users so that means for some smaller hobbies you can’t really get a conversation going. But you included some broad topics. I’m sure some of them work well here.

    !technology@beehaw.org regularly has good posts. Debate and politics work very well all across the platform… I’m not really an expert on the communities here, I hope other people can give good recommendations. Art, literature and ecology also have healthy communities. Sometimes entire instaces dedicated to it.

    I think if you’re willing to share this place with a diverse group of people, you can get happy here.



  • I’m not sure when it gets to the legal side of things. It’s probably really difficult (as it’s always the case with law ;-) depends on the jurisdiction of the harmed user, the instance’s jurisdiction and yours. And the case-specific details.

    I’m not a lawyer but I’d say it’s not necessarily you in the line. Even if you willed the specific community into existence. The instance owner is providing the service. And it’s also them having the final say in things and they have the logs if something goes wrong. And the actual offense is also commited by somebody else. So it’s primarily their responsibility.

    I think I’m more concerned with the ethical side. And if I were you I’d pay attention it doesn’t interfere with the career. So I’d stay pseudonymous and not use my real name.

    You’re probably more qualified than some other random person. And always thinking about the negative extreme isn’t getting people anywhere. It’s more the people who just try things who succeed. And sometimes great things come from it. That’d be arguments to do it. In your cases there are bad consequences if you do it wrong. This isn’t the case for casual conversation on Lemmy, but you can also really help people.

    Some Ideas: Try distributing the responsibility over more shoulders. Some communities have mods spread across the ocean so there’s someone awake most of the time. And on Lemmy there are lots of people from the USA and from Germany. And you can manage expectations. Tell people what to expect and how to handle negative experiences. That enables them to make a decision for themselves.

    I’d like to add that is just my opinion and what my common sense provides me with. So despite me wording this a bit factually, it’s just my 2 cents.



  • I’d say you’re fucked. Best thing I can come up is fake being sick and hope there’s another try available in a few weeks. And use that time to prepare. In proper maths, it doesn’t really if they test your knowledge or calculation skills… Both requires you to learn.

    Concerning the cheating: Entirely depends on the situation. Usually there are people watching and making sure no one cheats… They might have seen some attempts and be better at spotting it than you are doing it if it’s your first rodeo. I wouldn’t try unless it’s a single 65 yo dude who doesn’t care.





  • You’re right. My brain kind of skipped a bit on the fact that what we call the Old Testament is also an accumulation of texts from a larger timespan.

    I was under the impression that all of that was more a tribal thing. This is the story of the descendants of Jacob, the Israelites, Samaritans etc. Versus Babylonians, Egypts, Assyrians… And group identity was very important. You can’t rob your direct neighbor who is part of the same group. That would leave everyone in anarchy and chaos, not a somewhat stable society. So instead you burgle rivaling groups of people, steal their food, donkeys, women, and make them your slaves. It’s not really about ethnicity or religion. All of that is more a means of having a strong cohesion within your group and have them fight against the rivaling groups, not amongst themselves. Or a stronger group will take your things. Tribes also are friendly towards some other tribes and might share a common enemy. The content of the stories and traditions isn’t that important, but it’s what makes you distinct from your rivals, regulates who you’re allowed to enslave and gives a feeling of belonging to your group and also reassures you that you’re right. But in my view it’s more a means of forming stable tribal structures, and not a cause of something. I’m not a historian, though.


  • You’re entirely changing the topic here. That was not what we were talking about. But I feel for the people living there. The whole situation is just bad. And it doesn’t get better. You’re right with the history. The USA and USSR were fighting and funded the most heinous and evil people, gave specifically them money and weapons out of their own political motivations. Oil and other interests added to it over the years. Lots of that did not have the intended consequences, they could have seen that coming and all of that brought the current situation into existence. And they added yet more bad decisions on top in recent times. It’s mostly politics and not religion. However I think some of the mujahideen and isis terrorists who actually do the murdering are fueled by religion. At this point it probably doesn’t matter much since all they’ve seen since they were 14 and started fighting is violence and death… I don’t have a point to make here. It’s bad. I’d change it if I could.


  • Which one is a bad source… secularism? wikipedia? the times? feel free to enlighten me. i know i sound a bit negative, but i’m not opposed to learning new things as i think this is somewhat a topic that is important for humanity as a whole. i mean the terror groups like ISIS aren’t seperate to the whole religion thing. wars and terror are part of that and can’t be viewed seperately. of course if you exclude all the bad parts of religion and just view the moderate ones that do less harm… it looks way better. but both are a part of the whole story.

    And the question was if the death penalty for apostasy is part of islam. And I said yes, it is part of law of countries, additionally people do it in the name of God. And it’s written in the hadith. So whether you or I like that or how my neighbor practices islam or what the secular people think… doesn’t change the facts.