What Happens After Big Tech is Finally Abolished

[Deleted member 111282]

Exactly what scam are you saying I fell for.

I quote "Money gives the masses a false sense of security, and like them, you fell for the scam."

If you're implying that money is the scam and the false sense of security then YOU try living without it and see how that turns out.

I have a house payment and 2 car payment plus insurance on the house and cars a family to support etc and let me tell YOU that takes money.

To successfully maintain a normal everyday life above the poverty level the Wife and I both have to work and without money none of that is possible.

I am implying that money is the scam (and no, I'm not trying to piss you off by saying that). While I'm not at all saying you providing for yourself and your family is bad (in fact, I applaud that), living the ""normal" everyday lifestyle", and spending most of your life chasing after money, does not make you or your family free. You work for money, the debt collectors come and take most of it, and the cycle constantly repeats. Before you know it, you're stuck on the hamster wheel. This was never how humanity was supposed to be. The gift economy has existed since the beginning of time, and through heavy amounts of conditioning, most of us wouldn't have even known that. Some of us view the people who engage in it as poor homeless bums who don't want to get a day job and become a debt slave like the rest of the masses. In reality, they're actually living much more fulfilling and happier lives because they've found ways to get around the system of control that the banking cartels have created.

Whenever you're worried about not having this, that, or the other thing, look online for people who are generous enough to give away their unused goods. You may find what you're looking for.

 

[f33dm3bits]

Some of us view the people who engage in it as poor homeless bums who don't want to get a day job and become a debt slave like the rest of the masses. In reality, they're actually living much more fulfilling and happier lives because they've found ways to get around the system of control that the banking cartels have created.

I wouldn't want to trade places with a crack/heroin addicted homeless person, be my guest if you want to do that and chase the dragon. I used to know a few junkies and alcoholics and I can tell you they were not living happy worry-less lives as you are portraying it. So if you got it all figured out enlighten the rest of us because the bills have to get paid and I still like to go on vacation on the other side of the globe to visit friends, Even though my life isn't perfect I worked hard to get a good job and one that I actually like.

You are in a way insulting everyone that is working hard for the life that they built, the life you are talking about where you don't have to think about money is only available for multi-millionaires and beyond aka the extremely rich. The only way to maybe have a life like that for the middle-class would be if you moved to Asia or Eastern-Europe where life is cheaper than here in the West.

 

[Mike13Foxtrot]

Hard to paint the right picture in fonts. I am like NEO, eyes have been opened a long time. I can read people very well. From teachers in grade school, to Drill Sgts in the ARMY. I am acutely aware of my surroundings, I am not a Sheep, nor a Wolf, I am a Sheepdog. While being related to the Wolf, while it would eat the meat from the Sheep if given to it, It would rather fight the Wolf than kill the Sheep.

While on a Dog forum of all places , I have found the herd of Sheep to be growing exponentially. I have had Dogs and Horses all my life, trained them. Have only been bit once by one dog trying to stop it from attacking another. And I have been in a lot of "violent dog" situations. I gave some advice to a woman who had a problem dog, the Mod warned me that they do not teach that way anymore. It was like saying if your child is about to stick their hands in the fire you let them, because you do not want to be negative. BS. The "New" way with dogs they say is the outdated idea of a "pack leader" I stated "Really? Tell that to a pack of Wolves. Two old sayings, "Wolves care not for the opinion of Sheep." and "Throw me to the Wolves, and I will come back leading the Pack."

When a "friend" stabs me in the back, I keep the knife. I have known too many who give it back and then get stabbed once again. I am a born skeptic. I pay attention to things people miss. I do not suffer the fools who like the "new" way to train dogs, is the same way they say you should raise children. While the dog bites you and kills the neighbors cat, and the child sets your house on fire. There are things you cannot control, but there are ways to not be controlled either. I do not deal in illusions.

 

[Deleted member 111282]

I wouldn't want to trade places with a crack/heroin addicted homeless person, be my guest if you want to do that and chase the dragon. I used to know a few junkies and alcoholics and I can tell you they were not living happy worry-less lives as you are portraying it. So if you got it all figured out enlighten the rest of us because the bills have to get paid and I still like to go on vacation on the other side of the globe to visit friends, Even though my life isn't perfect I worked hard to get a good job and one that I actually like.

You are in a way insulting everyone that is working hard for the life that they built, the life you are talking about where you don't have to think about money is only available for multi-millionaires and beyond aka the extremely rich. The only way to maybe have a life like that for the middle-class would be if you moved to Asia or Eastern-Europe where life is cheaper than here in the West. I guess I should I should just kill myself with your reasoning about not being free and living a pointless life, good thing I don't live in the US or else that would have been easy with the gun laws there.

When I use the phrase "poor homeless bums", I was NEVER implying that people who purposely live without money were those types of people. YOU interpreted it that way, so joke's on you for thinking that I was.

As far as you claiming I was "insulting" people who've worked hard for the life they've built, that's also a strawman fallacy, because one of the things everyone respects in someone is their work ethic, NOT the money they have. You could have Bill Gates' money, and people would still care more about your work ethic than anything else. Its ironic how I've already mentioned how volunteer work is fulfilling and meaningful, and you still ignore that, claiming you'd live a "pointless life". You could actually pursue your passions, instead of working at some day job just so you can pay your bills, and that'd still be "pointless" according to you. It just goes to show how the legitimacy of money is nothing more than a cult.

 

[Deleted member 111282]

How do you support yourself.

Simple! You provide goods and services to someone or some business, and some unrelated person or business provides goods and services to you. Because I'm a future artist and author, lets say I complete an issue of a story serial, and after its printed and self-published, its then shipped to stores for people to obtain (for no charge, mind you). I provided a good to someone, so now I can go get groceries, get my car fixed, get new clothes, etc, and rather than paying for those things, they're given away instead.

For someone who watches a lot of Star Trek, you've forgotten this scene of First Contact, where Picard says "Money is no longer the driving force in our lives. We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity."

 

[Deleted member 101831]

How do you support yourself at the moment.

Where does your money come from at this time.

I don't watch that version of Star Trek.

I watch the original Star Trek.

 

[Deleted member 111282]

How do you support yourself at the moment.

Where does your money come from at this time.

I don't watch that version of Star Trek.

I watch the original Star Trek.

At the moment, it comes from the money I've acquired from my current job

Speaking of the original series, there's also a few mentions in The Voyage Home that the Federation doesn't use money

 

[f33dm3bits]

When I use the phrase "poor homeless bums", I was NEVER implying that people who purposely live without money were those types of people. YOU interpreted it that way, so joke's on you for thinking that I was.

As far as you claiming I was "insulting" people who've worked hard for the life they've built, that's also a strawman fallacy, because one of the things everyone respects in someone is their work ethic, NOT the money they have. You could have Bill Gates' money, and people would still care more about your work ethic than anything else. Its ironic how I've already mentioned how volunteer work is fulfilling and meaningful, and you still ignore that, claiming you'd live a "pointless life". You could actually pursue your passions, instead of working at some day job just so you can pay your bills, and that'd still be "pointless" according to you. It just goes to show how the legitimacy of money is nothing more than a cult.

That last sentence of mine I was being sarcastic, yes I admit it wasn't very appropriate(I will remove it if you can remove it from my quote since it added nothing to what I was saying, I said it in my previous post before that as well so If you can remove it from that quote as well) that's why I added the wink face. You didn't literally insult everyone but you gave the impression that because you say no one knows real freedom because they are stuck to their jobs and bills. I still very much enjoy my life and the work I do and and growing personally never stops so life always stays as interesting as you make it. Although this topic seems to be getting too much of a negative vibe, it was interesting up to the point where it started going to the direction that everyone is slave to their job and the system.

 

[Deleted member 111282]

You didn't literally insult everyone, but you gave that impression because you said no one knows real freedom, and because they are stuck to their jobs and bills. I still very much enjoy my life and the work I do, and growing personally never stops, so life always stays as interesting as you make it. Although this topic seems to be getting too much of a negative vibe, it was interesting up to the point where it started going to the direction that everyone is slave to their job and the system.

I agree with your previous response about having happiness and sadness. Yes, there's plenty of things I still enjoy, and despite what still feels like freedom in the US becoming even more of a memory these days, I'm still able to do things like go wherever I want, obtain whatever I want, and associate myself with whomever I choose. However, I don't enjoy things like being reduced to a second class citizen, or being looked down upon by the sheeple, just because I refuse to get the vaccine (I rarely ever get sick, and I've never been hospitalized for any serious infection, so I feel no need to get it). In response to your issue with me saying that everyone is a slave to their job and the system, that was exactly what was talked about in The Matrix where Morpheus tells Neo "The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now in this very room. You can see when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth." Then he goes onto say "You are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage. Born into a prison in which you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind."

 

[Deleted member 101831]

At the moment, it comes from the money I've acquired from my current job

What is your current job.

 

[captain-sensible]

well might as well put my penny worth in although i usually avoid that. Its a objective reply with nothing personal


@SpongebobFan1994

There's a huge difference between a society that is 'free' and one that isn't. Your free to take the vaccine or not - that’s slightly different from a society where you might be in fear of uttering anything detrimental about the Government . There's a few cognitive distortions in your comments; not everyone would say your a 2nd class citizen if you don't take the vaccine. That's an over generalization on your part and your thinking

In terms of not taking the vaccine because you consider yourself fit- it implies your only thinking about yourself; since for instance you can be fit, with no symptoms and excrete Salmonella. They are called "salmonella excretors" and create a health hazard for others in being a 'vehicle' for transmission and contamination by Salmonella .Same with Covid .The point of the vaccine as per masks, is not for you but for everyone you may come into contact with to protect them. So your implicitley implying your not bothered about everyone else.

When people would protect you being able to take the choice of the vaccine maybe with their life, that's a free society. Taking a responsible assessment on the pro’s and cons of taking the vaccine some might be frustrated by those that decide not to take it. So some might “frown” on your decision not to take it.

Nobody has to be a slave if they have a career plan in place ; perhaps there needs to be some philosophical thinking though if somebody doesn’t have sought after knowledge or skills.

Lastly you added content about a film I.e “fantasy” what’s in the script is just what somebody put in the script that's all .

 

[Deleted member 111282]

What is your current job.

I'm part of the kitchen staff at a bar

 

[Deleted member 101831]

I'm part of the kitchen staff at a bar

Cool a lot can be learned working in a bar.

I worked in a bar as a bouncer for a year or so and it was a lot of fun.

I didn't have to bounce many folks out just sent the to drunk to drive home in a cab or made sure someone picked them up.

 

[Deleted member 111282]

well might as well put my penny worth in although i usually avoid that. Its a objective reply with nothing personal


@SpongebobFan1994

There's a huge difference between a society that is 'free' and one that isn't. Your free to take the vaccine or not - that’s slightly different from a society where you might be in fear of uttering anything detrimental about the Government . There's a few cognitive distortions in your comments; not everyone would say your a 2nd class citizen if you don't take the vaccine. That's an over generalization on your part and your thinking

In terms of not taking the vaccine because you consider yourself fit- it implies your only thinking about yourself; since for instance you can be fit, with no symptoms and excrete Salmonella. They are called "salmonella excretors" and create a health hazard for others in being a 'vehicle' for transmission and contamination by Salmonella. Same with Covid .The point of the vaccine as per masks, is not for you but for everyone you may come into contact with to protect them. So your implicitly implying your not bothered about everyone else.

When people would protect you being able to take the choice of the vaccine maybe with their life, that's a free society. Taking a responsible assessment on the pro’s and cons of taking the vaccine some might be frustrated by those that decide not to take it. So some might “frown” on your decision not to take it.

Nobody has to be a slave if they have a career plan in place ; perhaps there needs to be some philosophical thinking though if somebody doesn’t have sought after knowledge or skills.

Lastly you added content about a film I.e “fantasy” what’s in the script is just what somebody put in the script that's all .

My problem with Covid has more to do with the fear mongering than Covid itself. I'm not at all downplaying what the effects of it has done to people's health, considering how many people have died from it, and how many people (such as my brother, sister-in-law, and niece) have been infected with it. However, because the sheeple fear what they don't understand, and the mainstream media and government are experts at Pavlovian Conditioning, I wasn't at all surprised to see the sheeple go looney tunes when all of these lockdowns first started, and then be afraid of everyone around them. As long as they keep doing, repeating, and believing whatever they're told, the mainstream media and government are going to keep kicking the can down the road like they do with every societial problem.

While its true that nobody has to be a slave if they have a career plan in place, the problem is the sheeple just do what the other sheeple are doing because they think its "normal", and because they've trained since childhood to not think for themselves.

What you said about movies is true. However, movies like The Matrix, They Live, and the Star Trek movie series (minus the Abrams era) are more like social critiques with other movie elements thrown in.

 

[Fanboi]

So as not to clutter this thread, I'm using wizardfromoz's favourite of my isms: spoiler tags! Seriously, it's a long read, very optional.

I take it that those of you who'd rather value money over principles don't realize that the US dollar, and similar currencies, are fiat currencies (currencies backed only by governments declaring it's value), and the only reason they still exist is because the psychopathic banking cartels, through the use of government force, want control every aspect of humanity. Here's info for anyone who wants to know more about fiat currencies: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fiatmoney.asp

Spoiler

You're right about fiat, but not quite. Yes, fiat is not backed by anything any more, correct. But no, it's not the government that really declare its value, people do. If people had turned around and said, "Fck off, I want mah gold!" and many did, then the fiat would never have taken hold. But enough people agreed upon its value, and the masses control inflation. Not govt, but consumerism. Not keeping up with the Jones's, but surpassing them. Yes, it's corporations who really control the system and they own the govt, too. So, what about BTC? Lemme shatter an illusion here: BTC is in the same position as fiat. It's a consensus by the masses, not gov. Whether it gains traction will be decided by corporations. People have always traded in representation of asset. You can't carry your land around, but you can carry a title deed...which is paper...which is worthless other that starting fires and art projects...like fiat. I mean, could you pay me with several truckloads of gold for Github? No, I'd need something simpler. A representation. And we need something uniform. Fiat and crypto give us that and they're essentially the same, just different caveats. While the cow is there, milk it. When it changes to a goat, milk that. Either way, you're milking. So it's down to who wins. I want crypto to simply because it's easy to move "money" around, especially with Covid and bank notes being such a good vector. I have no red tape buying or receiving cash from across borders. No taxes, no conversion fees, privacy, and fairly quick transfer. So, no, I don't value money over principles. I value pragmatism, and because of that, I value what money can do ATM. And I could do a shiteload of good with money, even though my thinking may be a little naive and anime-inspired. Still better to die trying than live with the regret you didn't, right?

Not necessarily so.


All human's have a level of greed and want that's normal and part of being human.


An individual with that amount of financial capital could sponsor whatever projects they believe would best benefit the FOSS world and anything else that individual wanted to.


I know sounds kinda corney however could become a reality with that amount of monetary capital.


I'd like to know how it feels having 7.5 billion dollars to do with whatever I want to.

Spoiler

Exactly what I was thinking as I read that: Take the money, ensure I'm comfy and safe, then use the money against the asshats that paid me, lol! I mean 1-3 billion USD could probably buy the Western Cape (RSA, where I live) from our corrupt gov and outfit it with reasonable defences since our corrupt military happily sells weapons and vehicles. I can't get political here (again), but some of you know my views on meritocracy vs democracy. Also, for those wondering, my economic plan focuses on people. So, I reckon I could create jobs for people to develop competitive AAA FOSS apps and games to attract the global community. Basically use their weapons against them. I haven't figured out a way FOSS can really financially benefit ethically aside from the RHEL model or donationware, but there may be answers in allowing RMT in games with a percentage going to the platform and similar with apps and user-content.
IDK, but if I had that kinda cash, I wouldn't know what to do other than make myself/friends/fam comfy and then try to make the world a better place by setting an example through establishing a "country". I mean people would see it and say, "Gee that's nice" and then forget the moment they saw the next cat meme on FB, but it'd linger subconsciously, and pushing out AAA cartoons and CG films would be cost-effective propaganda. I speak as a dude who was into anime when VCDs with fansubs were a thing and honestly, I fell in love with Japan and at one point I wished I was Japanese (even though reality != anime, lol). So media, as we see just with today's politics, is powerful. Providing software, services, entertainment, and a good example may be impossible, but I'm sure it won't stop people trying. Marx was a cynical alcaholic, but Das Kapital influenced the world and even led to different "distros" (lol).

I am implying that money is the scam (and no, I'm not trying to piss you off by saying that). While I'm not at all saying you providing for yourself and your family is bad (in fact, I applaud that), living the ""normal" everyday lifestyle", and spending most of your life chasing after money, does not make you or your family free. You work for money, the debt collectors come and take most of it, and the cycle constantly repeats. Before you know it, you're stuck on the hamster wheel. This was never how humanity was supposed to be. The gift economy has existed since the beginning of time, and through heavy amounts of conditioning, most of us wouldn't have even known that. Some of us view the people who engage in it as poor homeless bums who don't want to get a day job and become a debt slave like the rest of the masses. In reality, they're actually living much more fulfilling and happier lives because they've found ways to get around the system of control that the banking cartels have created.


Whenever you're worried about not having this, that, or the other thing, look online for people who are generous enough to give away their unused goods. You may find what you're looking for.

Spoiler

Everything is a scam, really. You don't value your RTX 3090 (or the apartment you traded to get one), you value two things: 1) What it gives you. 2) The status it gives you, which actually boil down to the first. No game in the world benefits from this card, but it is the top of the pyramid, so people want one. It gives them something: A status symbol, a delusion that it'll make them better CS:GO players, or just sentimental value. The last actually touches on seemingly worthless things we buy like figures, dolls, teddy-bears, and the like. And that leads into the entire jewellery, clothes, cosmetics, et al. arena. You see, your asset-based society is just as much an illusion. The only things of value realistically are food, water, and condoms (last one sort of a joke). You could add furs if you live in cold climates. You're not "free" until you define "free". But once you define it, you are limiting both what it is to be free, and who can be free, thus subjugating others. I don't want to deconstruct too much here, but you're sticking yourself in your own hamster wheel now. Real freedom is choice. It's the one thing we all have, even when we think we don't. I choose to operate within the confines of society and I choose to seek assistance maintaining my people skills to my own ends: I want to keep the people I like in my life and I want to have the things that serve me. So, I've chosen the system for now. That's my freedom. If I obtained everything I needed, I'd choose to opt out again. My freedom. Now before you talk about rules, law, etc., don't bother. If I killed my neighbour, that's my freedom. I know I will (probably) go to jail. I am choosing to accept that and exercise my freedom all the same. When I'm in jail, I am free to kill someone else. I am free to escape if I can. I am free to do anything I want, the consequences, example me failing to escape prison or my neighbour turning out to have superior training, are simply cause and effect, the established fundamental reality since there was reality. And reality, I hate to say, is only perception.
Are those homeless people living happier and more fulfilling lives? Well, that depends on their perception for them, your perception for you, my perception for me, and so forth. It's an insane statement...but my reality...right now... I can exercise my freedom to change my ideology whenever I want.

My problem with Covid has more to do with the fear mongering than Covid itself. I'm not at all downplaying what the effects of it has done to people's health, considering how many people have died from it, and how many people (such as my brother, sister-in-law, and niece) have been infected with it. However, because the sheeple fear what they don't understand, and the mainstream media and government are experts at Pavlovian Conditioning, I wasn't at all surprised to see the sheeple go looney tunes when all of these lockdowns first started, and then be afraid of everyone around them. As long as they keep doing, repeating, and believing whatever they're told, the mainstream media and government are going to keep kicking the can down the road like they do with every societial problem.


While its true that nobody has to be a slave if they have a career plan in place, the problem is the sheeple just do what the other sheeple are doing because they think its "normal", and because they've trained since childhood to not think for themselves.


What you said about movies is true. However, movies like The Matrix, They Live, and the Star Trek movie series (minus the Abrams era) are more like social critiques with other movie elements thrown in.

Spoiler

I agree with you about Covid...in a way. Numbers don't lie and the fraction of the global population killed by it is negligible in comparison to war, starvation, regular influenza, and so on. The reason for the precautions, however, is not to save a tiny percentage of lives that Covid may or may not kill, it's to save everyone else. Imagine a world where govt did fckall about it. No vaccines, lockdowns, masks, social distancing, etc. Very soon the conspiracy theorists would come out proclaiming the government was trying to trim the population because they wanted to save bucks on social welfare. Then there'd be the problem of overcrowded hospitals (we saw this during the first phase) which means less beds for GSW patients, etc. Then there's the medicine. I'm not just talking prescription stuff, I'm talking over-the-counter meds. People with seriously weak immune systems who could end up with Bronchitis from a simple rhinovirus (about 1/4 cases) may have been protected had they been on immune boosters. And, possibly, anti-virals may be out of stock in hospitals because of Covid. Not to mention ventilators. Now consider that as just phase #1, the onset. So now people are paranoid, they're voluntarily locking themselves up, businesses are closing, people are quitting their jobs, and ultimately everyone's looting to survive. Phase #2, the anarchy. Eventually, there's hope. Word spreads that there's a "cure" that you need to have a certain metabolism for. By this stage, almost everyone is grasping at straws, and hey, it sounds scientific, it must be right, right? Phase #3 desperation. Now this cure doesn't work on everyone. Obviously it's BS and the survivors just had better immunity, but people like to believe if it quacks like a duck... However, that duck is being refuted by science. But that duck was science? (to the lay person). But, but, but... I thought this, now I know that. Phase #4 Cognitive Dissonance. So, how do we reconcile all this? That's when the cults start appearing. You see the only ways to reconcile this are through confirmation bias or rationalisation. So some cults offer religion as an excuse. God's will: both sides were wrong, but it was God's will this happened because it is moving us towards paradise. Conversely, it was the work of Satan, decieving people with these false sciences (like he did with fossils, right?). Ergo: This is not my fault, rationalised. Then you get the more "scientific" cult serving the same crap they did with a side of "that" science was wrong because of this and that. Now people have all this "evidence", they look no further, they just keep looking for more evidence to support their "scientific" belief, ignoring evidence to the contrary; confirmation bias. Phase #5, Dark Age. Once again we're back to belief and superstition over critical thinking. Science clashes with belief, but whenever that happens, science usually loses, goes underground, and waits for its chance to return. Faith dominates and dictates morality. Final Phase, Reset.
...or maybe, just maybe, we could've avoided this by trying to minimise the infection rate, death toll totally irrelevant.

Do I necessarily believe this? No, it's mostly conjecture. But it's illustrative of how a system can fall apart if we're not careful. You know Chaos Theory. So you know it's possible. As possible as fckall happening if there'd been no lockdowns (side-note: I blame lockdowns for the state we're in coz if we'd just worn masks, social distanced, taken precautions, lived healthier lifestyles, and been cleaner, we'd be fine coz most of us woulda caught it and survived, preventing its continued spread eventually and subsequent mutations, and maybe buying time to make a more extensively-tested, more effective vaccine with less variables, and thus, less distrust). But hey, I'm just speculating. For transparency's sake: my mother and I have both had Covid and both nearly died. She went to hospital, I refused govt healthcare and even decided to go nursing her when she was discharge early. Yeah, I was nearly dying while looking after someone nearly dying. Kinda funny. Her GP said she's really lucky to be alive at her age. I must've done a good job. My GP went ballistic when I told him the story. He shouted at me, lol.

 

[Deleted member 111282]

So as not to clutter this thread, I'm using wizardfromoz's favourite of my isms: spoiler tags! Seriously, it's a long read, very optional.

Spoiler

You're right about fiat, but not quite. Yes, fiat is not backed by anything any more, correct. But no, it's not the government that really declare its value, people do. If people had turned around and said, "Fck off, I want mah gold!" and many did, then the fiat would never have taken hold. But enough people agreed upon its value, and the masses control inflation. Not govt, but consumerism. Not keeping up with the Jones's, but surpassing them. Yes, it's corporations who really control the system and they own the govt, too. So, what about BTC? Lemme shatter an illusion here: BTC is in the same position as fiat. It's a consensus by the masses, not gov. Whether it gains traction will be decided by corporations. People have always traded in representation of asset. You can't carry your land around, but you can carry a title deed...which is paper...which is worthless other that starting fires and art projects...like fiat. I mean, could you pay me with several truckloads of gold for Github? No, I'd need something simpler. A representation. And we need something uniform. Fiat and crypto give us that and they're essentially the same, just different caveats. While the cow is there, milk it. When it changes to a goat, milk that. Either way, you're milking. So it's down to who wins. I want crypto to simply because it's easy to move "money" around, especially with Covid and bank notes being such a good vector. I have no red tape buying or receiving cash from across borders. No taxes, no conversion fees, privacy, and fairly quick transfer. So, no, I don't value money over principles. I value pragmatism, and because of that, I value what money can do ATM. And I could do a shiteload of good with money, even though my thinking may be a little naive and anime-inspired. Still better to die trying than live with the regret you didn't, right?

Spoiler

Exactly what I was thinking as I read that: Take the money, ensure I'm comfy and safe, then use the money against the asshats that paid me, lol! I mean 1-3 billion USD could probably buy the Western Cape (RSA, where I live) from our corrupt gov and outfit it with reasonable defences since our corrupt military happily sells weapons and vehicles. I can't get political here (again), but some of you know my views on meritocracy vs democracy. Also, for those wondering, my economic plan focuses on people. So, I reckon I could create jobs for people to develop competitive AAA FOSS apps and games to attract the global community. Basically use their weapons against them. I haven't figured out a way FOSS can really financially benefit ethically aside from the RHEL model or donationware, but there may be answers in allowing RMT in games with a percentage going to the platform and similar with apps and user-content.
IDK, but if I had that kinda cash, I wouldn't know what to do other than make myself/friends/fam comfy and then try to make the world a better place by setting an example through establishing a "country". I mean people would see it and say, "Gee that's nice" and then forget the moment they saw the next cat meme on FB, but it'd linger subconsciously, and pushing out AAA cartoons and CG films would be cost-effective propaganda. I speak as a dude who was into anime when VCDs with fansubs were a thing and honestly, I fell in love with Japan and at one point I wished I was Japanese (even though reality != anime, lol). So media, as we see just with today's politics, is powerful. Providing software, services, entertainment, and a good example may be impossible, but I'm sure it won't stop people trying. Marx was a cynical alcaholic, but Das Kapital influenced the world and even led to different "distros" (lol).

Spoiler

Everything is a scam, really. You don't value your RTX 3090 (or the apartment you traded to get one), you value two things: 1) What it gives you. 2) The status it gives you, which actually boil down to the first. No game in the world benefits from this card, but it is the top of the pyramid, so people want one. It gives them something: A status symbol, a delusion that it'll make them better CS:GO players, or just sentimental value. The last actually touches on seemingly worthless things we buy like figures, dolls, teddy-bears, and the like. And that leads into the entire jewellery, clothes, cosmetics, et al. arena. You see, your asset-based society is just as much an illusion. The only things of value realistically are food, water, and condoms (last one sort of a joke). You could add furs if you live in cold climates. You're not "free" until you define "free". But once you define it, you are limiting both what it is to be free, and who can be free, thus subjugating others. I don't want to deconstruct too much here, but you're sticking yourself in your own hamster wheel now. Real freedom is choice. It's the one thing we all have, even when we think we don't. I choose to operate within the confines of society and I choose to seek assistance maintaining my people skills to my own ends: I want to keep the people I like in my life and I want to have the things that serve me. So, I've chosen the system for now. That's my freedom. If I obtained everything I needed, I'd choose to opt out again. My freedom. Now before you talk about rules, law, etc., don't bother. If I killed my neighbour, that's my freedom. I know I will (probably) go to jail. I am choosing to accept that and exercise my freedom all the same. When I'm in jail, I am free to kill someone else. I am free to escape if I can. I am free to do anything I want, the consequences, example me failing to escape prison or my neighbour turning out to have superior training, are simply cause and effect, the established fundamental reality since there was reality. And reality, I hate to say, is only perception.
Are those homeless people living happier and more fulfilling lives? Well, that depends on their perception for them, your perception for you, my perception for me, and so forth. It's an insane statement...but my reality...right now... I can exercise my freedom to change my ideology whenever I want.

Spoiler

I agree with you about Covid...in a way. Numbers don't lie and the fraction of the global population killed by it is negligible in comparison to war, starvation, regular influenza, and so on. The reason for the precautions, however, is not to save a tiny percentage of lives that Covid may or may not kill, it's to save everyone else. Imagine a world where govt did fckall about it. No vaccines, lockdowns, masks, social distancing, etc. Very soon the conspiracy theorists would come out proclaiming the government was trying to trim the population because they wanted to save bucks on social welfare. Then there'd be the problem of overcrowded hospitals (we saw this during the first phase) which means less beds for GSW patients, etc. Then there's the medicine. I'm not just talking prescription stuff, I'm talking over-the-counter meds. People with seriously weak immune systems who could end up with Bronchitis from a simple rhinovirus (about 1/4 cases) may have been protected had they been on immune boosters. And, possibly, anti-virals may be out of stock in hospitals because of Covid. Not to mention ventilators. Now consider that as just phase #1, the onset. So now people are paranoid, they're voluntarily locking themselves up, businesses are closing, people are quitting their jobs, and ultimately everyone's looting to survive. Phase #2, the anarchy. Eventually, there's hope. Word spreads that there's a "cure" that you need to have a certain metabolism for. By this stage, almost everyone is grasping at straws, and hey, it sounds scientific, it must be right, right? Phase #3 desperation. Now this cure doesn't work on everyone. Obviously it's BS and the survivors just had better immunity, but people like to believe if it quacks like a duck... However, that duck is being refuted by science. But that duck was science? (to the lay person). But, but, but... I thought this, now I know that. Phase #4 Cognitive Dissonance. So, how do we reconcile all this? That's when the cults start appearing. You see the only ways to reconcile this are through confirmation bias or rationalisation. So some cults offer religion as an excuse. God's will: both sides were wrong, but it was God's will this happened because it is moving us towards paradise. Conversely, it was the work of Satan, decieving people with these false sciences (like he did with fossils, right?). Ergo: This is not my fault, rationalised. Then you get the more "scientific" cult serving the same crap they did with a side of "that" science was wrong because of this and that. Now people have all this "evidence", they look no further, they just keep looking for more evidence to support their "scientific" belief, ignoring evidence to the contrary; confirmation bias. Phase #5, Dark Age. Once again we're back to belief and superstition over critical thinking. Science clashes with belief, but whenever that happens, science usually loses, goes underground, and waits for its chance to return. Faith dominates and dictates morality. Final Phase, Reset.
...or maybe, just maybe, we could've avoided this by trying to minimise the infection rate, death toll totally irrelevant.

Do I necessarily believe this? No, it's mostly conjecture. But it's illustrative of how a system can fall apart if we're not careful. You know Chaos Theory. So you know it's possible. As possible as fckall happening if there'd been no lockdowns (side-note: I blame lockdowns for the state we're in coz if we'd just worn masks, social distanced, taken precautions, lived healthier lifestyles, and been cleaner, we'd be fine coz most of us woulda caught it and survived, preventing its continued spread eventually and subsequent mutations, and maybe buying time to make a more extensively-tested, more effective vaccine with less variables, and thus, less distrust). But hey, I'm just speculating. For transparency's sake: my mother and I have both had Covid and both nearly died. She went to hospital, I refused govt healthcare and even decided to go nursing her when she was discharge early. Yeah, I was nearly dying while looking after someone nearly dying. Kinda funny. Her GP said she's really lucky to be alive at her age. I must've done a good job. My GP went ballistic when I told him the story. He shouted at me, lol.

I'll admit those were well-thought-out counter-arguments, and I'll admit that while what I've said isn't wrong per-se, I have come off as somewhat arrogant in responses. Human rights abuse riles me up (as it does with everyone), and causes me to go off the deep end. Not to toot my own horn, but I guess you could call me a modern day Malcolm X. Regardless though, there's no denying that a moneyless society would be a much more beautiful one than what we have now, and would be free from the evils of institutions like Big Tech.

 

[Fanboi]

I'll admit those were well-thought-out counter-arguments, and I'll admit that while what I've said isn't wrong per-se, I have come off as somewhat arrogant in responses. Human rights abuse riles me up (as it does with everyone), and causes me to go off the deep end. Not to toot my own horn, but I guess you could call me a modern day Malcolm X. Regardless though, there's no denying that a moneyless society would be a much more beautiful one than what we have now, and would be free from the evils of institutions like Big Tech.

Hey, nuthin' wrong with having views. I have enough to fill a book, lol.

 

[DexTheDog]

Apple announced it will be checking your I phone cloud storage for Child abuse images. Sending the info to authorities. In the article it talks about says it will compare the image data with collected data. Yet also says it will learn? So you have an I phone, and Apple just happens to ooops you to law boys. Sorry our bad. Yet it won't take long to use it for anything political. Post some anti commie meme but it got learned. Or just the meme itself is "radical"

Big staters gotta state, the US is the only place for Free Speech, or it was. People say other countries have free speech. Not true. Comedians are fined in Canada. People go to jail in England. In France the pres wants to arrest someone for a billboard with him pic'd as a Nazi. When Big tech is just helping the gov's of the world. The only course is either Linux, VPN's or typewriters and soup cans and lots of string.

I post here, not much elsewhere. Don't do TW, or AP, or FB. Don't have a smart phone, until a Linux Phone is really a thing then maybe. People do not realize that Ma Bell already installed switches in the Phone system when they built it because Gov. In order to license. Still needed a warrant to flip the switch. Just like we see in Cuba, when gov controls the web they just turn it off.

It might be worth trying I have not tried yet but running kali on a phone

 

[Mike13Foxtrot]

Ring has 1800 Police Dept's across the US "partnered" to allow access to your cams images.

If a homeowner has a camera that may have captured whatever, then they need to ask, you can say get a warrant. It is not about "doing something wrong" or the argument that "I have nothing to hide" It is about individual rights. It takes a little "step" next thing is your IP allows access to your Web camera. Phones are already monitored. Not surprised, Ma Bell when wiring the phone system in order to get OKAY by gov. wired in switches to allow lines to be tapped. With the idea that they would be there already and the gov would get a warrant. How many stories of FBI etc.. tapping phone lines through the decades?

You do not arrest someone for thinking about maybe doing something illegal, only when they appeared to have done so. Then it still has to be proven.

I just installed Win10 in a VM on my MX Linux laptop. Just playing around with VM's, by the standards being set, I must be about to start WWIII or steal gold bars.

 

[Fanboi]

Ring has 1800 Police Dept's across the US "partnered" to allow access to your cams images.

If a homeowner has a camera that may have captured whatever, then they need to ask, you can say get a warrant. It is not about "doing something wrong" or the argument that "I have nothing to hide" It is about individual rights. It takes a little "step" next thing is your IP allows access to your Web camera. Phones are already monitored. Not surprised, Ma Bell when wiring the phone system in order to get OKAY by gov. wired in switches to allow lines to be tapped. With the idea that they would be there already and the gov would get a warrant. How many stories of FBI etc.. tapping phone lines through the decades?

You do not arrest someone for thinking about maybe doing something illegal, only when they appeared to have done so. Then it still has to be proven.

I just installed Win10 in a VM on my MX Linux laptop. Just playing around with VM's, by the standards being set, I must be about to start WWIII or steal gold bars.

It's so true. Remember in 1991 (IIRC 91/92) when senator Joe Biden tried to eliminate electronic privacy? Too much too soon. So they decided to take it slow. Requesting IP logs from ISPs started off as WTF?! but now it's "normal". How? Just say "terrorism" or "child porn" and the masses bend over and drop their pants. Then filesharing gave them the "piracy" horseman, too. I mean they try to compel ya to decrypt an encrypted hdd/sdd. That's a violation of the 5th amendment. Not to mention violating the 4th by "searches" at airports. Technically these Amazon surveillance partnerships also breach the 4th, but hey, screw our privacy coz it protects us from terrorists (good job with that Mosque bomber, really saved lives... oh wait) and pedos (who have fcking networks that existed pre-internet and will continue to exist long after all your online/digital activity gets logged). People are conditioned by fear mongering, hooked into services they become slaves of (I am proud to have no FB/Twitter/Instagram/whatever fcking else account of my own -- sadly, everyone I know does, which means FB knows who I am), media downplaying privacy issues, technological ignorance, and simple prolonged exposure to surveillance culture. Biggest joke: Remember speculative fiction about chips implanted in us to monitor our thoughts back in the 1980s? Well they succeeded and without any public resistance. In fact people willingly installed those chips. Only they weren't implants, they were fcking cellphones. Nobody ever wonders why you can't login as root on an Android phone (by default). Coz if you could, you could get rid of all Google's BS like the YT app which just opens links, no option to use a browser instead. But the biggest one is the bootloader. Why TF is that locked? Why do you need to risk bricking your phone just to flash something less vomitous than Google's Android onto it? Gee..
Here's the future I see:
1. A compulsory monitoring app on all PCs which is ported to all platforms.
2. Hardware level monitoring tools like intel's ME.
3. Infringement of <insert some shitty bill> to circumvent 1 & 2.
4. Ring or something similar everywhere
5. A PC/phone/tablet license.
6. Vital services relying on smartphones to stop people going off-grid.
7. Re 6, a cashless society (Sweden is getting there, I believe).
8. Two generations' minorities opposing this BS to no avail and the next gen growing up accepting it as normalcy.

So, yes, we have to draw a line now, if we're not already too late, to stop this kinda future.