One can be concerned by a monopoly even when there are no bad actors. Google used to be good before it was evil, and Gabe Newell will die eventually. Consolidation of market power (Audible for audiobooks, for instance, or Steam for video games) is not ideal. It is a shame Epic is such a piece of shit.

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Any company that mandates RTO should pay massively higher taxes to account for the externalities — we spend trillions in higher medical and infrastructure costs, not to mention the incalculable damage to families who are robbed of precious hours together for absolutely no reason. The boards of directors of these companies should be bankrupted and thrown into gulags.

It costs society nothing to replace C-suite management, since they’re all morons. Speaking from experience, the people graduating from (and teaching at) Harvard business school are so dumb, it figuratively blew my mind.

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I wish researchers like Hinton would stick to discussing the tech. Anytime he says anything about linguistics or human intelligence he sounds like a CS major smugly raising his hand in Phil 101 to a symphony of collective groans.

Hinton is a good computer scientist (with an infinitesimally narrow window of expertise). But the guy is philosophically illiterate.

A desire is literally a compulsion.

You may well have needs that you have no desire to fulfill, such as finding community, imbibing some bad-tasting medicine, or getting exercise.

Reproduction is a paradigmatic example of a meaningless urge or desire. You can certainly choose to reproduce, if you want, but nothing bad happens if you don’t.

Colloquially, you can think of fundamental values or virtues. So, community might be one of your values, which translates to specific needs, like a sense of belonging or acceptance. Similarly, if being alive is important to you, then food and water will be among your list of needs.

On the other hand, you might have a desire to chew your nails, which would briefly relieve your anxiety but cause other long-term problems. You weigh these facts and decide not to fulfill your desire to chew your nails.

You cannot reasonably opt-out of having friends, however, if community is important to you; hence, that is a need.

Desires are just natural facts, like headaches. Desires aren’t rational or irrational. They just are. The way you respond to your desires can be good or bad, but the desire itself is something that’s happening to you.

Needs are instrumental in some broader normative context. For instance, self-actualization is probably one of your fundamental values (which are less optional than people think). To that end, you have Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to worry about.

You also have to contend with a laundry list of desires, fulfilling some of which could make you happy or sad. Rationality is your sensitivity and responsiveness to facts that count in favor of pursuing (or eschewing) these desires.

Denying intellectual disparities denies the vulnerability of people with special needs, not to mention average folks who are constantly being deceived, swindled, manipulated, propagandized, and parasitized by the rich and powerful.

You don’t know people who are clearly dumb?

The average ACT score for college-bound seniors in Florida is 18. The test costs money, so they’re trying. It’s childishly easy. My cat, who is illiterate, can score almost as high (answering at random).

What kind of conversations can you have with folks who can’t do arithmetic or read simple sentences?

I want to stress that Americans, uniquely, are really weird about testing mental ability, because of their history of racism. Nevertheless, intelligence is a real phenomenon.

A high IQ doesn’t make you a good person, and it clearly has very little to do with accumulating wealth. But it does make life a hell of a lot easier. It enables you to do second order reasoning and engage in abstract deliberation, which is indispensable for ethics and science. Or do you think it’s a coincidence that average IQs rose 30 points in the last 100 years exactly in tandem with moral progress?

I agree about Graphene OS, of course.

I’ve used Android since launch and occasionally switched back and forth with iOS. One of my main complaints is in virtue of Android’s versatility, which makes it less reliable and straightforward to use — no integrated password manager, no easy wireless connection to external computers, less smooth and pleasant (and easy) to use. Honestly, I’m just lazy. I want my text messages and calls migrated to my computer automatically, screen sharing, file sharing, passwords and security codes populating instantly, and so on.

I don’t disagree but android was already clunky, with less integration across devices (for better or worse), and now you can’t even sideload. What advantages does it have left?

Are you high?

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No clue why you’re being downvoted. Obama was a neoliberal who made a good faith effort, but intentions pale in the light of obvious moral ignorance. Imagine signing indefinite detention into law. Just imagine. What lunacy?

If my wife knows my location it’s an invasion of privacy

I seriously doubt any of the losers in this thread have been in a loving relationship before.

Apple’s built-in location sharing is not sent to advertisers.

No, I’m not worried about my wife reading “my diary” because I’m not a child.

It honestly sounds like you need to work on your marriage and are projecting. Maybe try a couple’s therapist?

Yes, Apple already has my location. Using the location finder in iOS does not share data with advertisers. Also, I spend 99% of my time at my house. Wtf kind of secret shit do you think I’m up to?