This is pathetic.

Correct. Let’s now have ourselves a chicken dinner winner.

Shift the conversation towards autonomy, dignity and self-respect.

The user’s interaction with the-billion-dollar-company’s software is unpaid labour, which is why they profit and the user suffers. They suffer from having their data stolen; they suffer the expenses fostered on to them; they pay for the computers that spy on them; they pay for the electricity to run the spyware; they pay for the data-subscriptions that facilitate the theft of their data. They cover all the expenses of a billion-dollar-company and are deprived of any profit. They do not even garner a wage.

If one wishes to move towards the point of “my data is worthless” point out the company’s profits or even its speculative valuations. Clearly it’s not worthless. The products that are derived from their exploitation lead to even greater profits for those companies. “A.I.” is a looting of the collective commons. A privatization of humanity’s interaction with computers.

Do they like being exploited? Do they like their batteries draining faster, because their mobile-computer is running software to spy on them? Do they like running out of data because their mobile-computer is forcefully downloading ads and spyware-updates? Do they like ads? Do they like being interrupted by the highest bidder? Do they like annoying notifications that are just ads? Do they like this shitty experience? Are they complete docile slaves? They are less than wage-slaves for they do not even garner a wage! Have some self-respect and dignity!

I have not heard one good thing about India. Please share. As far as I can tell only China has blossomed and it’s incredibly striking. India? … I guess capitalism just doesn’t work. Let’s check back in maybe… 100 years? How long does it take for a capitalist nation to build itself up? 500 years?

Everything’s wrong on your list my dude.

We were all panicking a bit about this one. Glad it turned out to be nonsense. Full steam ahead–er… full oil burn everything!

Umm… You’ve seen NSA’s data centers?

“No way every domestic telephone call is being recorded and transcribed!”

Next moment:

“Woah! Gnarly dude! A.I. that’s been trained on ludicrously large datasets! It can mimic your mom’s voice, dude! Here, check it out! It can also write e-mails like a human!”

All the leaked intel points to: this is a very real and possible situation. Better not think about it and stick your head deeper into the sands.

On a technical level Google knows where 80% of Americans are, because they’re using Google’s Android. It could report back what cell-tower their mobile-computer is using, or it could be using the mobile-computer’s GPS, or it could take the SSID of any nearby WiFi or Bluetooth device and compare it to a map that’s diligently updated daily by every Google Android user. To say Google knows where every Google Android user is is very technically possible. It’s also technically possible to infer other things with a satisfactory probability, like where the other 20% are.

The NSA, CIA and FBI were the data harvesters. The solutions to their needs were financed by them and we got… for instance, Google. They had vasts amounts of data and needed a way to search through it. Likewise the intelligence-agencies wanted ways to impersonate others digitally and… oh look, we have live ‘deep-fakes’. I won’t bother espousing how the economy serves the state’s needs first and any consumer commodities are second- or third-order artifacts, but really? You don’t think the very thing advertisers are doing now–in no way secretly either–are not technically feasible for the rapacious, infinite-money pits of the secret-police?

Right–I forgot! Only communists have secret-police!

Added some subtle context.

Absolutely not. The assumption for telephone networks is this: every call is automatically transcribed and recorded. Further autonomous analysis is done on that transcription and if flagged a human would start listening to the recordings or ask for a live feed. Your telephone is a hot mic.

Americans would point to legal protections, but the intelligence agencies don’t care. If it can be done it is done. Outside of America you’re open game. The NSA has always put forward that autonomous collection by computers is not ‘surveillance’ and therefore not illegal anyway. Other jurisdictions will be using similar arguments.

Public prosecution is often a news item and sometimes the evidence can be enlightening. E.g. the evidence is a recording of a telephone call years before prosecution even began. It’s a rather mundane prosecution too. Nothing remarkable that would warrant elevation towards state actors and their capabilities.

There’s water in the windows?

There is no link between sweet foods and being sated? Sugar makes me feel ill. I dislike confectionery. I’ve tried some imported American products and the Americans are just a different breed. If I were in America I think I’d die. Their food is inedible.

Yea. After being prescribed lisdexamfetamine I’ve begun to gain weight and I need to reassess what I’m consuming. I feel I need to provide context for people who aren’t reading the entire post: gain-weight doesn’t mean obesity. In this context it means not being skin and bones.

I’ve likewise taken breaks, but always relapse. Even after that period of caffeine withdrawal ends you don’t feel any ‘healthier’. During that period I will vomit. Once that’s all settled you’re annoyed, because you feel the same, only know you have a nagging thought that doesn’t go away: I want caffeine.

Thanks for the links. I’ll give them a read through.

They didn’t separate artificial sweetened beverages from those with sugar in the article about gallbladder cancer. That’s sort of… important from my perspective. Cancer and gallstones are different things anyway. I’m confidant my issues were with malnutrition over my gallbladder and the problematic gallstones.

Likewise, obese people consume “diet” sodas in an attempt to diet. Even in that review it has garbage conclusions like “consumption of any type of soda”. Yea, that’s real helpful in figuring out if aspartame is a carcinogen–let’s sample people who don’t drink aspartame exclusively to collect two data-sets: those that drink water exclusively and those that drink sugar-soda exclusively. That says nothing about aspartame.

A lot of this is garbage. I hate meta-reviews. They’re always garbage.

Like, I’ve already stated I’m not obese, yet people keep bringing up obesity and sugar-related diseases. Thanks for not reading.

Salt always seems to be added to fizzy water. There’s probably a reason. It’s very noticeable and unpleasant. In other carbonated drinks the saltiness is masked. (All carbonated drinks seem to have salt.)

I’m not convinced drinking seltzer is any better than a no-sugar cola. One still has the concerns of carbon dioxide making bones more brittle. Issues about artificial sweeteners and over consumption of caffeine are removed, but at that point just drink water.

Water isn’t addictive, neither is seltzer, but caffeinated drinks are. This advice to just drink seltzer/water is just as helpful as telling a life-time cigarette smoker, “just suck on a stick and pretend you’re smoking”.

I agree. It’s a weird phenomenon where people mimic an industry.

I kid, diddy.

But soda’s 99% water.

By drinking liters (of no-sugar) cola. Usually during heavy exercise water is the dominant drink (hot weather or not), but as a trend I always go back to an over-consumption of caffeinated, sugar-free colas.

Where people would relax and have a tea or coffee I’d drink a soda. Being idle will dramatically increase consumption though, to the point of just pissing it out. If I’m idle it means I’m at home though and pissing every 30 minutes isn’t really an issue there.

Yea, I specifically noted the no-sugar content. I don’t like sweet things in general, especially food that’s majority sugar. I’m not an American. Real food exists in my country. I’ve never struggled with weight abundance, but the inverse: being too skinny. I don’t like eating. I’ve talked with doctors about this and I’m assuming it’s due to being skinny, but I get no response.

My teeth are “ok”. I’ve had one dental filling over my life. Dentists usually comment on how clean they are. None have yet to say anything negative about overall hygiene. They’re overcrowded so cosmetically they don’t look great.

Right now I’m going through 8 cans a day, or 3 liters. On days I’m not occupied, like weekends, it could be more.

I’ve also always been physically active and I continue to be.

Again, weight or excess sugar and its diseases are not relevant.

Yes. It tastes foul. I’m addicted to caffeine. I’ve tried to cut back over the years and I just can’t.