Ooh baby, this is just a tiny part in how terrifying they actually are for the open web. Their implementation of manifest V3, platform for browser extensions (that they basically force every other browser to use), along with the deprecation of V2-based extensions (starting this month) is straight up authoritarian. In short, they entirely remove blocking of webRequest and Event pages (user-side background scripts), among other things. This will essentially kill open ad blockers (like uBlock origin) and let them control the supported ones (like AdBlock), meaning we will have ads from advertisers who pay the fee purposely let through.

We have known about this coming change and its implications for 5+ years.

https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBlock-issues/issues/338#issuecomment-496009417

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/12/chrome-users-beware-manifest-v3-deceitful-and-threatening

https://developer.chrome.com/blog/resuming-the-transition-to-mv3/

Meanwhile Firefox, who would also have to implement it for cross-compatibility, will not remove those critical features, as well as will keep support for V2 extensions. This is only one aspect in which Firefox is committed to user privacy, security, and control. I would highly recommend Firefox to everyone, including the Android version.

https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2024/03/13/manifest-v3-manifest-v2-march-2024-update/

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/manifesto/

I gave a number of real life use cases where it would solve real problems. There are so many more, especially “boring” ones like official documents, research, and medical records that would benefit from it tremendously. Blockchain does not equal crypto, but they complement each other really well.

Proof of stake could make the thing not too environmentally damaging but it’s been years that major blockchains are saying they will implement it the next year

What do you mean, Ethereum is pos.

I AM NOT SHILLING CRYPTO IN ANY WAY OKAY THANK YOU

With that out of the way, those are not intrinsic qualities of either. The fundamentals on which every shitcoin and the bored ape garbage were sold to the public are still very strong. This is like saying “online shopping is horrible” in 2004 - technically not incorrect, but very shortsighted. While the proof of work protocol (mining for it to function and who mines more is the truth) is unsustainable, proof of stake (who holds more is the truth) and mixed ones are fundamentally amazing. Imagine stablecoins pegged to indexes of international currencies. BRICS coin, for example. With smart contracts (rules built into the transaction itself) and being practically legitimate international currencies it opens up so many possibilities. Transparency and easy comparisons in payments - salaries, rents, goods and services. Immutability - you can’t just whack a person and steal the deed to their house. The “chain” part of blockchain - clear history of ownership of assets, no more “I accidentally bought a stolen car/house”. And eventually the contracts can be made complex enough to cover most interpersonal transactions.

And the same thing for nfts. Especially now, in the rapidly exploding era of unethical AI art, music, etc. Artists could easily sell/lease rights for their work, including for it to be a basis for generative models. It’s not limited to digital products - whatever you want to to confirm ownership of can be tagged with one-way encrypted signatures baked into nfts.

So both are great technologies that can still be improved on a lot. But it’s just that the ways in which they’re used today are almost exclusively rugpull bubble dogshit.

That’s neat and all, but especially considering the eventual outcome this has nothing on the legendary Soviet faceted glass. Autogenerated auto translated subs on the video are pretty good.

I can only say from the experience of my centrist liberal friend who was getting a PhD in math in Western Europe, the people there were very very conservative, both socially and academically, to a point where he quit it a year or two in and went for an entirely different career.

I’m saying this as someone who went (and is still going) through the same experience of not fitting anywhere, including my own head, incapable of hard labor, and for the longest time unable to land a spot to work with my brains. The only thing that really matters is that you do well by yourself. If you’re not okay, you’re definitely not freeing the colonies, not helping Palestinians or bringing about the revolution.

There is nothing fundamentally broken in you. People are very different, but the conditions of the world force everyone to be the same, and then shame you for not trying hard enough if you’re not. There absolutely is a place for you in the world and lives of others. I can’t give you a solution, but my advice is to be more open, with yourself and others, and to learn to ask for and accept help. Coworkers, family, friends, government, mutual support orgs, whomever. It might be extremely difficult. But you’re not alone in any of this, and people are built to work together. You’ve done a good job getting this far.

Slendersquid.

That’s not a new thing at all. There was always “the norm”, and the rest, who were usually seen as outcasts, rebels, or just straight up unworthy. But as long as the culture has existed, so did the counterculture. All throughout history some people presented as alternative. And one of the main reasons, if not the reason, was because they felt alienated within the mainstream system, and this was a way to connect with people outside of it.

Take music - cool cats, beatniks, rockers, hippies, metalheads, rappers, ravers. All of those were initially obscure underground movements that went against the grain. And as the mainstream industry caught up and commodified them, new alternatives kept popping up to counteract that and distance themselves from normies. And this process applies to every societal structure that people are pressured to participate in.

“Yeah, but what about October 7 sweaty?” - Ben Shapiro

In Soviet countries there was a tradition to keep the remotes in their original packaging or a fitting plastic bag. They work almost the same, and this prevented the remote from getting nasty over time, or breaking apart all over the place when dropped.

Doing public action stuff is kinda like going to the gym. It’s great for you on multiple levels when you do it, but doesn’t really hurt when you don’t. I’d suggest you check out a smaller thing first, maybe a reading club or a local meeting. That way you can meet the people you’d be protesting with, maybe even link up and go together next time. But just the vibes of being around like-minded people are very inspiring and motivating.

PSA - remember to pin versions of the dependencies your software uses. Just recently there was a 0day vulnerability in libwebp with CVE severity score 10/10, and that library is extremely widely used.

This is from his article “Why socialism” in the very first issue of monthly review. It’s also an amazing song by Hobo Johnson.

Extremely well put. I personally always thought of science as evidence that the dialectical approach makes the most sense, so OP’s question was hard for me to rationalize. To touch the moon we needed experts from almost every field to work together on a single goal. It doesn’t really get more interconnected than that.

It’s a good thing for good people to have money. It can go a long way - to relief orgs, mutual support funds, helping family and friends. And just to take care of yourself physically and mentally, so that you can reach your further goals. There’s a lot to be done. Get your bag, king.

Absolute classic.

Don’t feel bad for not reading “enough”. Capitalism is indeed shit, so you can just go from there. Doing stuff irl is more important that debating the nuances of state and revolution on twitter. Check out your local social orgs - mutual help funds, soup kitchens, shelters, etc. If you have free time, they could always use your help. And you can make some like-minded friends along the way.

There’s a lot of confusion, other comments addressed it pretty well. Meanwhile you might be interested in looking into IPFS. It’s kinda like the internet over torrent.

You can usually find English movie showings. Either in proper theaters, or sometimes in public centers, game cafes, etc. You can look those up on ig/fb/local boards. From my experience people there are pretty open to socializing. Smaller shows for international bands can also work. And just stuff that’s not too reliant on language in the first place - gym, sport activities/events, food festivals.

If you are experiencing alienation that strongly, there are definitely other people who are in the same boat and are looking for new connections.

Same. Don’t sully the beautiful and working maglev trains with that garbage scam that killed any HSR hopes for millions of Californians.