aaron
@aaron@infosec.pub
- Comment on Russia is at war with Britain and US is no longer a reliable ally, UK adviser says 15 hours ago:
Hijacking this post to say: there are too many Americans in this thread arguing about the second world war, somehow apparently suggesting the US is not an untrustable former ally, rather than the important story itself.
- Comment on Former Meta exec says asking for artist permission will kill AI industry 1 week ago:
And not asking for it will kill the creative industries.
What do you want, a few years of ai slop followed by the more or less rapid decline of the internet, that does afford the likes of Clegg (in his role of ‘meta’ executive) a huge payout, or creative people having any hope of a sustained ability to make a living?
- Comment on Markets sink as debt worries hammer U.S. bonds 2 weeks ago:
That scenario could help keep a lid on inflation, which can be fueled by rising levels of government spending.
Because that is what is causing inflation. The US is entering the hypernormalisation phase.
- Comment on Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College 4 weeks ago:
I have a degree, and was a lecturer. Assuming I didn’t want to be a public figure who might get found out in the future, or I didn’t need a specific education for obvious professions - medicine/engineering or whatever, I would just lie and say I had a degree. Here in the UK no one checks. I only need to learn prompt engineering anyway. What’s the point? I don’t think it is worth the lesser UK cost is it?
- Comment on What the Technofascists and Religious Fanatics Have in Common: End Days Theology 2 months ago:
There is always a best and worse case scenario, so there is always a reason to try, but it is also very important not to waste energy on unimportant battles, battles that are already lost, and battles that are not already lost but also cannot be won. A lot of people are going to die unnecessarily shitty deaths after unnecessarily shitty lives because of climate change, for no good reason, and there is nothing I can do about it.
People like Roger Hallam in the UK have studied, devised, and are trying to enact a program for building a social movement against unchecked climate change. If he isn’t currently in prison I am pretty sure he has been sentenced to five years for doing so. I’m not convinced they have all of it right but if you are really interested maybe something like that is worth a look.
The most carbon intensive activity I can think of is warfare, and it looks like there is every chance that world war three hots up in the coming years. Good luck telling people not to burn fossil fuels should that happen. Or telling people across the ‘developing’ world they have to just sit there and die, rather than burn the fossil fuel reserves they have available to them. I am at peace with what I can and cannot change. I always found the Buddhist notion of ‘cause least harm’ as a useful mental tool to keep happy while dealing with my part in things. Making the decision not to have children for environmental reasons makes these decisions easier. I am not interested in what individuals like Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk think. Their role in society (somebody is going to fill those roles within capitalism, not necessarily them) is only of passing interest because I have better things to think about.
- Comment on What the Technofascists and Religious Fanatics Have in Common: End Days Theology 2 months ago:
Capitalism evolved in the period of greatest abundance humanity will likely ever experience (in terms of primary energy). What is likely to replace it when this energy source runs out? A return to feudalism is not a great leap.
Realpolitikaly speaking we have lost the battle for 3c at (or more likely before) 2100, and are beginning to lose the battle for 4c. Many people educated in relevant fields equate this to the deaths of billions and an end to organised co-operative international society as we knew it in the 21st century.
In light of the above, both silicone valley hyper-capitalists’ desire for, or expectation of a coming feudalism (where they are the lords) and many others’ expectation of an end-times (or at least end of fossil fuel powered capitalism) shouldn’t be considered all that wild.
- Comment on [deleted] 2 months ago:
Post-modernism laid the groundwork for an ‘I have my facts and you have yours’ culture. Or call it ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge’. Community has been replaced by an atomised screen time facing our individual echo chambers. Decades of neoliberalism has impoverished swathes of the population, materially and intellectually. There are many chickens coming home to roost.
- Comment on Zen browser had a backdoor enabled by default 2 months ago:
It’s either obvious bullshit, or the bloke is out of his depth.
I suppose I should try and not just throw people under the bus, but I struggle to buy it.
- Comment on Germany to reach out to France and UK over sharing of nuclear weapons 2 months ago:
I am not the slightest bit interested in the majority of your post, it is irrelevant. However I will say that I sense you might assume political affiliations I do not hold.
what’s the alternative to nuke sharing? Germany builds its own arsenal and you have no stake or say in it whatsoever. Does that sound more appealing to you?
If Germany are allowed under international law to build nuclear weapons then it is their choice whether they do so or not. I don’t mind either way.
- Comment on DOGE Plan to Push AI Across the US Federal Government is Wildly Dangerous 2 months ago:
Musk’s various ponzi schemes - up to the Artemis-killing SpaceX fiasco, were coming due. Trump provided the opportunity for him to pivot into government, making himself too big to fail.
It will severely weaken the US. Those to blame are all those that never called him out throughout his rise.
- Comment on Germany to reach out to France and UK over sharing of nuclear weapons 2 months ago:
Well clearly we did hold cards. The very post you replied to has pointed out exactly the cards we held, and still hold.
But his isn’t a brexit argument, that is a long-resolved issue. T
his is about the UK’s relationship with the EU. (And notice I say EU, not Europe. I read media reports conflating the EU with Europe every week. Even this week talking of EU countries creating a ‘European Army’: well if they are going to exclude the UK from Europe so be it, why wouldn’t we maintain our special relationship with the US, and lean towards Russia, while maintaining our friendly relationship with China?
You reap what you sow.
Now if the EU wants the protection of our nuclear weapons they demonstrate how the have significantly changed their attitude towards the UK on an ongoing basis and the EU’s role in EUrope, and they pay economically.
- Comment on Germany to reach out to France and UK over sharing of nuclear weapons 2 months ago:
They did everything they could to weaken the UK. To punish the UK for deciding to leave the EU.
No quarter given.
I think it is perfectly reasonable for the UK to give no quarter back now that the Germans are asking for the protection of our nuclear weapons.
Now, to some degree the UK is going to remain aligned with the US. Our military and intelligence capabilities seem to be very much intertwined. The alternative for the EU, a UK completely aligned with the US, Russia, and a friend of China, is the alternative.
Perhaps they should have been reasonable when the UK decided to leave the EU.
- Comment on Germany to reach out to France and UK over sharing of nuclear weapons 2 months ago:
I doesn’t look like us Brits can completely break with the US in military or intelligence terms, at least for the time being (if not foreseeable future). But closer military co-operation with the rest of Europe clearly has to happen, assuming maintenance of our nuclear capability isn’t completely reliant upon the US.
The Chinese are going to build their biggest embassy in Europe in London about half a mile or so from the US embassy. I’d guess the UK will continue trying to play a mediating role.
- Comment on Does it make sense to buy a lifetime supply of honey? 2 months ago:
Do you really want to carry your lifetime supply of honey around with you every time you move apartment?
What other foodstuffs are you going to buy your lifetime supply of? Dried goods? Tins? You could get yourself a winnebago and fill it with all your lifetime’s worth of food or something, which would make lugging it all around with you forever easier. Just hope nobody nicks it.
- Comment on FCC chair says we’re too dependent on GPS and wants to explore ‘alternatives’. 2 months ago:
And what’s that? I haven’t looked into it but who wants to bet it is starlink?
And if it is, does America really want to rely on that lol?
- Comment on DOGE slashes entire government agency with average salary of $131,000 a year to just ONE staff member 2 months ago:
Any reply is a win for you.
Easy block.
- Comment on DOGE slashes entire government agency with average salary of $131,000 a year to just ONE staff member 2 months ago:
There isn’t anything to see.
- Comment on What is the minimum number of words needed to communicate 2 months ago:
This might sound daft but I’ve traveled for years and literally found that mime, the more extravagant the better, works fine.
- Comment on DOGE slashes entire government agency with average salary of $131,000 a year to just ONE staff member 2 months ago:
/u/Donald_Musk is completely oblivious to the privileges printing the world’s reserve currency has bought to the US, and the obligations the US has in order to maintain the dollar’s position.
Where on Earth does the US think it is going to find the money to pay its debts going forward if it isn’t printing the money everybody else is using to buy oil?
Musk and Trump are speed-running the US’s collapse. They are simply nowhere near intelligent or experienced enough to maintain the US’s position of dominance. It is kind of fascinating to watch it play out, kind of horrifying, kind of banal.
Ultimately the American people voted for this. None of the people really destroying the US hid what they were going to do. Chaotic times ahead because if Trump has a plan it appears to be to try and bully his way to global dominance. He couldn’t even manage the taliban.
On a personal level I can say that I take almost zero pleasure in seeing the predictions I and many other people dismissed as ‘doomers’ have made over the past fifteen years (in my case, others longer). I won’t be replying to any messages from previous acquaintances that say ‘hey you were right’.
Let’s see how long it takes for the US to resemble a country like Brazil. The shanty towns are already being formed.