It’s not alarmist: A second Trump term really is an extinction-level threat to democracy

No, it is not an extinction-level threat to democracy. We have plenty of democracy in the rest of the western world, thank you very much. A second Trump term would be a huge threat to US democracy though. But that’s not what this headline implies. Extinct means gone forever, from everywhere. That’s simply not the case. I’m tired of Americans forgetting that there’s a world outside their borders.

What’s so strange about that? It’s not like the government - any government - is just one person. Of course some people in government can mess with other people in government. Even people in the same office mess with each other. Intra-office politics, and so on.

“We”? Who are “we”? Star fleet?

People have to remember that this is the Internet, this thing is global.

So if we can’t completely 100% deal with a problem, we shouldn’t even try? I mean, you’re correct, but we can’t solve all problems at once. If we deal with at least one, then we’ve made progress. Then we can try to deal with the next one.

The US is fucked.

Yes, I agree, and it makes me very sad. The US has been very good for me personally, I get movies, music, technology, relative stability in the world, and so on from the US. I just feel sad for the poor saps who have to live there.

But now, we can’t count on the US being the top political power in the world anymore. So now the EU really has to step up, because we don’t want China or Russia to become the new #1.

Because we as consumers have the power to change the world, if only we can be bothered to wield it. Most can’t, and that’s a huge problem.

Of course! Why, then, implying that I’m claiming to be “without sin” for saying I’m not “a giant piece of shit,” if there’s lots of degrees in between?

So the two options are being “without sin” and “being a giant piece of shit”? There is no in between?

it’s time to admit that deep down the human experience is being a giant piece of shit

Well, I’m tempted to say “speak for yourself there, buddy”. I’d agree if you said that a lot of people are like that, but you seem to imply that goes for basically everyone?

Lol, of course not.

… my cutting hammers are in the bathroom.

Yes. I’ve experimented with this too. This is the perfect use case for LLMs - there are no wrong answers, the LLM should just make something up, which is what it does.

Agreed. As far as I know, there is no actual artificial intelligence yet, only simulated intelligence.

Really? Why is it illegal to film there?

Well, it could be argued that Trump is a cold-blooded fossil who looks kind of like that, so I think this has some merit.

he never had sex with a couch to completion

Uhmmm… what? Why would he say that? Was there actually some truth to the claim that he had sex with a couch, or what?

I’m out of the loop on that one. Can you explain it to those of us who missed it, please?

No, he doesn’t. He thinks he can do anything. The people around him, who do understand that he can’t, has given him other reasons not to participate that he can accept. Something like “it’s not fair,” “it’s a setup,” “people will think you’re brave for saying no,” etc.

No, it’s not. Anytime I meet someone who says “I’ve done nothing wrong, so I have nothing to hide,” I respond with “Okay, drop your pants then.”

Everybody wants and deserves privacy. There is nothing wrong with having sex, but most of us hide when we do it.

spreading a conspiracy

I know this is off-topic, but can we please go back to saying “conspiracy theory”? Conspiracy and conspiracy theories are not the same. There are actual conspiracies (a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful) , and there are theories of conspiracies. They should not be confused.

My one thing I feel like I can brag about in tech circles is that I switched to Linux in 1995 (Linux kernel version 1.2.1), and I haven’t looked back since. This was even before Windows 95 was released.