Humanity has this default setting where tribalism = TRUE, and social media gives you a place where you can form new tribes around anything and everything all of the time. As a matter of fact, it tends to encourage modern day tribalism. Why do you think antivaxxers and flat earth are a thing. In ancient times that sort of behavior was confined to the house of the local village idiot.

I wonder if they also have anti-tank weapons available.

It depends on the kind of risks you have in mind.

Are you worried about someone hacking an account, stealing passwords and committing identity theft? If so, the stakes are pretty high, but the probability is low as long as your brother takes care of updates and passwords. Also, avoiding shady software and sites helps too. I prefer to call this category security, but it certainly has privacy aspects too. IMO online security should be a high priority.

However, if you’re mainly concerned about Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Google and other companies collecting data about you, the situation is very different. I call this thing privacy, and the risks are smaller, but the probability is very high.

When it comes to security, you just need to show what has happened to other people who screwed up and made themselves an easy target. However, privacy is a bit trickier. Appreciation of privacy is a more philosophical matter, since the practical side of it isn’t as tangible. If your brother doesn’t have certain values, principles or philosophy, it’s going to be difficult to convince him that privacy matters.

If your brother already takes good care of online security, but ignores privacy, you could talk about the way companies use your data. Focus on the ethical side of these practices. If not, forget about privacy and focus on security instead, since that should always be the higher priority.

You could also make the scissors so big nobody will be able to smuggle them.

When I moved, I just didn’t plug the TV in at the new place. Instead, I started using it exclusively as a monitor for my HTPC. Watching online videos on a bigger screen is just so much nicer. Besides, ublock origin is doing a good job blocking all the nonsense a smart TV is designed to show you. When visiting friends and family, I end up watching normal TV a little bit, and I can’t say I miss any of that.

I’ve also heard stories of a Mercedes giving you 1 000 000 km (or 1 Gm) as long as you take good care of it.

Any observations on Mercedes and Audi?

Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss have jokes about the art style. Sounds to me that the characters see each other the way we see them.

Oh, wait. Turns out, this thing I’ve been using as monitor for my HTPC actually has some of this ancient TV stuff people keep talking about. Who would have known.

So do I have a TV now? Technically…

Wikipedia says that the Gaza Strip (قِطَاعُ غَزَّةَ) is pronounced Qiṭāʿ Ġazzah [qɪˈtˤɑːʕ ˈɣaz.za]. If you take that into account, the logic just falls apart.

But advertisers care, and they are the true customers Alphabet has to please.

Remember that time when YT started showing banner ads below the video? Yeah, that was like just after the dinosaurs were wiped out and before blockchains became a thing. I was a long time ago, ok. Anyway, that’s when I was about to quit watching YT, but then I suddenly discovered the wonderful world of ad-blocking. Turns out, YT became watchable again.

Short answer: money

Long answer: As more and more ad sales started rolling in, YT was like: “Yes please! Can I have some more of that sweet sweet ad money?” Advertisers were like: “Yeah, sure why not. That seems to boost sales, so how much money can we dump into this black hole?” Some users were like: “WTF! I’m installing an adblocker.”

Meanwhile, nobody was like: “Yes please. I want to see more ads. Who cares about the videos as long as there are lots of ads to watch. This is the best thing ever!”

”Facebook’s AI spam problem is one that is powered and funded primarily by Facebook itself”

Now that you have created a problem, it’s time to start selling the solution. Make a spam detector AI, and put it behind a monthly subscription. People will pay good money to filter out the trash. Also, better include some lootboxes and micro transactions too, while you’re at it.

There are people who buy a new phone every years, even though they don’t really need to. Why wouldn’t the same philosophy apply to some people who are enthusiastic about computer hardware? Actually, when it comes to CPUs and video cards, it already does.

But anyway, even though the customer could get some perceived benefit from this arrangement, the company would still benefit more from the perpetually rising stock value. You know the usual capitalist mentality that would drive this sort of innovation and product development.

Not a surprise. That’s how subscription companies operate these days. Basically like the heated seats BMW tried a few years ago.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/12/23204950/bmw-subscriptions-microtransactions-heated-seats-feature

If I made a service like that, I would require the customer to send the old one back every year. Then the company could sell the refurbished mice instead of throwing them away.

Yeah it’s a horrible idea in all the usual ways, but hear me out. What if Logitech figures out a way to provide actual value to the customer? What if you get a new mouse every year if you send the old one back? That way, you would be paying a subscription for always having the latest mouse. Probably not something I would do, but someone who has more money might appreciate a service like that.

What about her policies though? Being more than one step away from the grave is great, but would she actually make sensible decisions?

And then someone will create a new AI capable of defeating the old one. It’s just AIs all the way.