Yes, indeed. RIP Grumpy Cat and all the others.

Is the lifespan of cats in this scenario 1,000 years or 9 x 1,000 years because of their nine lives?

I think what makes most people pessimistic is not technology itself, but the realization that it is always embedded in existing conditions and cannot change these conditions of its own accord.

The internet in particular has shown very impressively in the lifetime of many how quickly promising technology geared towards the common good can actually make life worse instead of improving it for everyone.

Because the advertising business is highly centralized. Getting sponsorships is not as easy as you think.

An example: YouTube pays content producers per click, so to speak, a ridiculously small amount, but in total, with billions of clicks, a crazy amount. The money to finance this comes largely from advertising revenue (also Google’s main business model). They are the Gatekeepers so to speak.

But the content producers can’t live off this because Google keeps most of it for itself. They do give people the opportunity to find sponsors themselves tho - and that’s how people actually make the most money. But you have to find them for yourself or through intermediaries (that’s an industry in itself). This is only realistic if you have sufficient reach (subscribers in the example). And that, in turn, is only possible if you have already invested hundreds of hours in the production of content (you can’t make a living if you don’t get paid for that).

So I think it would be best if the platforms themselves were powerful enough in terms of reach to be able to negotiate well with advertisers. But not as powerful as Google, for example, who can afford to pay content producers a pittance because - unlike small platforms - they are not dependent on them.

I think we should be realistic. Content costs money because it requires a lot of effort. It’s naïve to think that content would just be created because people feel like posting something. If the Fediverse is to compete with companies like meta, this is only possible if there are opportunities for content creators to earn money. That should be self-evident, but it obviously isn’t here.

I’m not saying it’s necessary, but it is if the Fediverse is to have mainstream appeal.

Simply because the absolute majority of people are out and about where everyone is. And that’s where the content is. That’s the point: if you want good content, it costs money. It’s not just corporations that make a living from it.

What I want to say is this: The Fediverse could provide fairer conditions for the people who produce content. That makes sense and is necessary because the Internet lives from that.

I just don’t understand why people here don’t want to realize that work has to be paid for. That’s really strange.

MF DOOM - Lofi Villain

Not a good proportion of the things Trump claims - most of them are either misrepresented or outright lies. But yes, of course, his disastrous decisions and policies still affect citizens and thus become reality.

We here in Germany also have such a MAGA-style Nazi bullshit party. Fortunately, they didn’t do as well as many feared in the last election. But unfortunately they still got a frightening 20% of the vote. If these people somehow manage to seize power, we’ll be in exactly the same situation.

I’m from Germany. I subscribe to a decent weekly newspaper (“die Zeit”) and follow German news sites. I try to stay away from news on social media, but that’s hardly possible.

On Lemmy, I’ve mainly blocked keywords and names relating to US politics because the ridiculous bullshit from the White House is unbearable. Despite this, my feed is still full of the stupid drivel from Trump & Co. This is not news, but at best political soap opera entertainment far removed from reality.

Because this stupid stuff potentially affects me too, of course, I have subscribed to a decent monthly newspaper with an international focus (“Le Monde diplomatique”). I can’t stand US politics in particular any other way.

That sounds as if Musk could soon make an offer to take over the company. Then probably also an out-of-court settlement worth some millions so that he can call himself co-founder as usual. Finally, he could speed off into the sunset on a goddamn cyberbike - hopefully never to be seen again.

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I don’t want to destroy any illusions, but I don’t believe that much resistance can be expected from the military. The command principle applies here and the president is the Commander-in-Chief. I don’t see why any civil disobedience could be expected here in particular. Besides, it’s not as if those who actually make up the majority of soldiers would have much say in military affairs. If that were the case, there might be a chance, but the military is also run by old, greedy, white men - just like any other US institution.

True that. It’s the lesser evil. That would probably even be the case if it wasn’t just a deal for the Chinese market.

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I think the best thing to do is just completely ignore everything the guy says. Don’t feed the trolls.

Fine by me, as long as the Bluetooth logo is never changed. Long live King Harald Gormsson, the unifier!

If you look around the world, it seems to me that the information age was quite short and the disinformation age has long since begun.

Are you serious?

Not sure what you are talking about: Tesla delivered 1.79 mio cars last year, less than the year before and not much more than BYD (source). Just for comparison: Toyota alone sold more than 2.3 million cars in North America in 2024 (source)

The 7 million cars you mention without a source can only refer to all the cars Tesla has ever sold. That would still be fewer than Toyota sells worldwide in one year.

That’s what I’m getting at: on the stock market today, it hardly matters whether a business model is actually successful or not - or even whether there is a realistic possibility of success. Tesla is certainly a company with sustainable technology. But does that justify Tesla being worth more than the 5 largest car manufacturers combined, each of which sells way more cars per year than Tesla? Especially in view of the considerable competition in the EV market.