The nz SIS also turned a blind eye to people being kidnapped by united front on NZ shores and taken on Chinese ships to China. If one state is able to do this to NZ without our push-over government(s) taking any action what so ever, a cybersecurity threat level report is probably not even the tip of the iceberg. As usual we want cake and to eat it - trade partnerships are being juggled on either sides of the Pacific while NZers rights are trashed. Keep selling that milk powder.
Loneliness is also a thing, and I’d guess it’s rising. Falls under mental health also I guess. I also don’t relate, but we can look at the history of sex tourism, ‘mail order brides’ , dating sites etc, scams in general and there is a fair bit of cross over maybe. Add to the mix these pseudo intelligent LLMs that seem to serve to please and here we are. What I don’t get is how users falling for them aren’t having the bubble burst by the context issues and inconsistent coherence. Perhaps loneliness and other mental issues result in us hearing/seeing what we want to. Self reinforced illusion to fullfill some sort of need. Just speculating tbh.
I’m amazed it didn’t already as someone who has never used or heard one being used. What’s the business model? Just the data harvesting for purpose of their other businesses?
Is this done manually , or there’s a system thing for it ?
Wheres the melodrama in this post ? I’m detecting enthusiasm maybe, but not melodrama. They’re looking for peoples thoughts and experience, i.e what your own terms are for making these choices. Seems reasonable. Sharing that is optional of course and I also choose not to, end of story.
You’re right, but also They get alot more from the deal than you acknowledge. The service has never been free. They already had a profitable model, and now they want even more. I call it evil, but in a sense it’s standard corporate behaviour.
The two approaches you mention need not be mutually exclusive. I ditched google services more than 10 years ago, while loving somewhere they did some truly despicable antidemocratic things. but so what? They’re a corporation. There are political lobby groups, privacy foundations and advocacy groups you can contribute to. Despite being respectfully evangelical with those around me, most other than a fringe really don’t care enough about this. Doesn’t mean I’ll stop. I will still suggest alternatives. They’re my principles. you’re working in their interest if you tell your allies to give up. I understand and share the cynicism around political process especially in democratic nations with disappointing levels of corporate influence over legislation, we can only engage in it best we can, as well as exerting our rights as consumers. The critical mass required may seem insurmountable but negativity toward those effectively on your side is not going to help either.
To a degree perhaps. It has also monopolised industries that feed into each other. Even if you choose not to use their consumer products, you are being used by them as the product in these industries if you use the web at all, which is most of their business model. That isn’t consumer choice. Political intervention is one hope, which in some countries I guess there is some consumer power over, if consumers were to collectivise to a degree more valuable than the lobbying power of this monster. The internet was turned into the yellowpages with sharp teeth by google .
They would still have everything else to make up for and improve, but maybe it would be a start. Unfortunately self criticism is not in the programming, and its a very dangerous failing. Saying that, the boom in mental health awareness in China is an interesting cultural development occurring since covid, and Beijing has been involved in it.
I ditched it around 2014 when I noticed it had effectively become the yellow pages. Its pretending to be one thing to the ‘user’ when its actually serving someone else. This is transparent of course but the balance/compromise or tradeoff of it still providing some utility to the user despite this is what may vary for different people. My threshold was low. That and the privacy violations. Unfortunately its a corporation.
Thanks both. I’ve seen enough. Beyond problematic on substicks part.
Mind providing a bit more context to this so I can look it up ? I’ll boycott substick if need be.
According to police records, there have been 19 incidents of indiscriminate violence in China this year in which the perpetrator was not known to the victims. Sixty-three people have been killed and 166 injured in these attacks. This is a sharp increase on previous years - 16 killed and 40 injured in 2023, for instance. While the incidents are still sporadic and rare, they are high-profile. And the videos that often circulate soon after on social media have prompted concern and fear among people. “These are symptoms of a society with a lot of pent-up grievances,” Lynette Ong, distinguished professor of Chinese politics at Canada’s University of Toronto, told AFP. “Some people resort to giving up. Others, if they’re angry, want to take revenge.” A slowing economy, high youth unemployment and a property crisis that has hurt savings have led to increasing uncertainty about the future among Chinese people.
Meanwhile the NZ gov use this as a distraction while they display a disgusting lack of humility, regret, or compassion to the people who will be most affected by this. What an embarrassment. They behave as if this is a minor loss by the All Blacks, while traipsing around the world on trade junkets with smarmy CEO-like abandon. Talk about up ending NZ’s already tenuous reputation in the South Pacific, and with our long disrespected neighbour Samoa. Not enough that this gov are trashing our local environment and services within the country. They really had to cherry pick these trolls out of a sea of moderate response , most likely at the instruction of their PR social media and info strategy overlords. I’m sure the skipper of this vessel is suffering enough without her government (and employer) cynically using her as a political opportunity for distraction.
Yes, as a lapsed one myself, I believe they preach it as they need it the most, as the self proclaimed representatives of the creator of the universe would, when happening to be historical blood thirsty, wealth hoarding, human trafficking paedophile harbourers they are at their political core. Regardless, forgiveness is a necessary and helpful human value which religion did not invent, much like all of the moral arguments in apology of religion. If it works for you, thats fine. My position is also based on having grown up in it.
This is catholicism we’re talking about.
But the old farts are growing in numbers, so to what degree were conservatives always that way, in other words are people becoming newly/more conservative about immigrants in their old age, or will the more liberal young ones of today bring this more open attitude into their old age , lessening conservatism over time?
This is anthropomorphic thinking. But in order to express the concept that aggressions and other interactions could increase toward species who have built their overinflated infrastructures across migration paths, territories or outright destroyed swathes of habitat of other species, yeh they probably are hella angry at these stupid hairless apes.
You should go to Aus and judge for yourself. They’re also addicted to fossil fuels, and sports (which includes gambling). Funny thing is of all the many Australians I know, and all the many times I’ve been there, none I know seem to mention, do any gambling, take part in or work in gambling related areas. Anecdotal I know. I have seen casinos, and noticed many bars have gambling machines in them. And perhaps when you imply that all Australians are completely addicted, you don’t literally mean “all”. Perhaps you mean a disproportionately large amount of the population in comparison with similarly sized economies with rule of law? Would need to chevk that. I know alcoholism is a big issue. Their economy is most likely addicted to gambling however, with many Western democracies being beholden to special interest groups, most citizens are well aware of what goes on in their democracies. There is also very strong and active rights groups, NGOs, activism and lobbying on all manner of social issues probably including this one. They currently have a slightly less conservative gov right now so perhaps things are being done. I’m with you on how damaging and nefarious gambling industries are to individuals and societies.