Ya know? Most of the time I don’t get to say this, but I think if the fediverse had a MySpace type service, I think the fediverse version might actually out-perform the official real version of MySpace. Which would probably be the thing that makes some corporate entity try to sue the fediverse.

Now in theory, MySpace can’t sue this Fediverse version of MySpace. For clarity sake, let’s call this fictional version of MySpace “FediSpace”.

So if MySpace tried to sue FediSpace, we all know that the decentralized nature of the fediverse should make that more or less impossible. But how would it hold up in real life? You can make all the laws you want. You can plan your government to run however you want. If the last few years have taught me anything it’s that none of that matters. If the people with money want to win, the courts are not an obstacle. They will make shit up, ignore shit, do whatever they can so the company with the money wins in court.

I just have no idea what that would look like. I don’t rule out the possibility, but I think it would require thousands of lawsuits. And I don’t see MySpace footing the bill for that. So I have no idea how to imagine it.

Oh god not again!!! MySpace Tom is about to kidnap people in vans, and shoot innocent people on the street while taking no responsibility in the slightest.

What? That’s what happened last time someone trying to make a comeback said that. Look what happened within a year.

Well clearly nothing could go wrong with that, right? …right?

Government: Describe how they opened the artificial tubes of intelligent internet.

AI companies: Oh. It would appear we can lie our asses off, because these dustpiles don’t understand the core concepts at play here…

AI companies: They used a zappy gun. Which is why we need to install mass surveilance on every phone and street corner to find all the zappy guns.

Government: My god!!! Those zappy guns go pew pew pew and now everyone knows I wear pink panties and a dog collar in my wifes basement! Fund the AI immediately!

Hell it’s the only place I’m okay with something up my ass.

Psssshhhhhh! Prude!

Btw, I’m not defending these doctors with the glasses. Fuck that shit! That should absolutely be banned.

I’m just saying anal is awesome! You’re missing out.

Here’s the thing.

looks around

Hmmmm, yeah. That’s what I thought. Everyone here is the wrong audience to really comment on this.

The reason peoples opinion here doesn’t matter much is because like it or not, Lemmy is a hive mindset.

Don’t like linux? Booooooo

Don’t care about open source? Boooooo

Don’t engage in antisocial behavior? Boooooo

And thats the audience here. It’s impossible for you to comment on the mental state of the general broad population when this site seemingly collects an audience that goes out of their way to stay away from the broad general population. How could you possibly relate to someone like my brother in law, who uses Windows 11, without issue? I asked him how he can stsnd all the AI, and the spying. I was expecting an actual answer, and maybe some insight as to how to not make Windows 11 the dumpster fire that it is. Instead, he defends Windows 11 with blind faith ignorance. Insisting that there is no spying in Windows 11, and the AI is actually a good thing.

And I watched as an entire room nodded along in understanding. All agreeing with these points. I realized in that moment that there is zero conversation to be had with these people. I know for fact that Windows 11 spies on you. I know for fact that there is AI in Windows 11. It’s easy to see that if left at its current rate, that AI and data centers that support AI will inevitably lead to mass water shortages.

And I’m confident that these words would land harder here on Lemmy, where I think 99% of you understand the gravity and real nature of what I’m saying.

The problem is, 99% of Lemmy’s typical userbase accounts for 0.01% of the general population. This website is a bubble. Which is a shame, because I fully believe the model for Lemmys infrastructure is the cure for the problems that the general population complain about.

But it’ll never be tested at scale. Most people do not give a fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck about privacy, or open source, or decentralization. Facebook knows my phone number, and has photos of me. Against my consent. And my mom who’s in her 80s, who uses facebook to keep in touch with her sewing community, sees nothing wrong here.

Thats why the people here, who only support mastodon, will never understand why that stratagy won’t work for the masses. And honestly, even if it did, then it wouldn’t work for you.

Because twitter has something like 375 million users. When taylor swift wants to promote something, she does it on twitter. Because it’s where the people are. It’s also a right wing agenda platform, owned by a literal seig hailing nazi, but yet its still the default service regardless if you’re left or right. It’s just where the people are.

Here is what you have done. You saw an ocean. You took note of all the problems fish have in the ocean. You then designed a new concept where fish can swim in a tiny little manufactured pond. But if it gets too small, it can be scaled bigger. You removed the threats of being eaten. You’ve removed the fishing boats. You managed the algae. You planted seaweed so they have food. You installed everything a fish needs to have a happier healthier life from your perspective.

Except there’s no water in this pond. The fediverse concentrates so hard on the advanced features that would make for a great experience…and then forgets the basics that are needed to support life here. Social media only survives when it has an audience, just as fish only survive when they have water.

All the advanced stuff that goes unused in the fediverse means nothing without an audience. Basically if bluesky dies, the users go back to twitter.

You complain that mastodon is better. But bluesky only got popular because the general population didn’t want twitter with nazis. They wanted old twitter. Bluesky is old twitter without the nazis. Thats all they wanted. But it’s only got a tiny fraction of the audience twitter has. So again, taylor swift says her things on twitter. Not bluesky. Not enough people on bluesky to be considered the default. Just like the fediverse can’t keep fish surviving without water, the same is true on bluesky.

The order it goes is that celebrities need to say things to hold an audience. Before the internet, that platform was tv/radio. There were also a lot less celebrities. Because tv/radio just didn’t have a need to create more celebrities. But now, a celebrity can either get their message across to 375 million, or 14 million.

Celebrities go where there is an infrastructure that can handle their fame, and the audience goes where the celebrities go. Below that are us. We’re not the 14 million. Lemmy has 60k and shrinking. But for us the order goes “infrastructure THEN audience”. Which is never going to pull in a huge audience. It can support a large audience. Argueably better. But it’ll never be tested.

Sooooooooo, we as a nation have ALREADY just given up that trump can and will run for a 3rd term? I always said he’ll try to force a loophole. So far he’s done nothing of the sort. No loophole has been established. There is from a legal standpoint no reason to think he can currently run for a 3rd term.

Yet all across the internet I keep seeing people talk about it like it’s inevitable. Like we’re just going to skip the two term limit, and just pretend he found the loophole, because otherwise he’ll drag us through some bullshit to get there. So now, rather than challange him at all, we as a society have already given up, 2 years before the election even happens. We’ve come to accept that laws and constitution mean nothing. Trump is just going to run for a 3rd term. That’s just how it is. Laws don’t matter. Government doesn’t matter.

And who exactly decided all this? I for one plan on repeatedly challenging his ability to run for a 3rd term.

Oh man! I can get a gyro now??? Sweet deal!!!

deadpans left

deadpans right

…I was being sarcastic!

Also every camera malfunction they try to claim, or footage gone missing, it’s all just an admission of wrong doing.

…not sure who that is, and I’m unsure why you’d throw him under the bus for stealing flock cameras.

Hercules was with me all night. We were doing competitive pushups.

He won. Because he’s awesome, and he can balance a spoon on his nose, and he tore down soooooo many flock cameras…I mean…no, not that last one. I don’t know why I said that. He was with me all night in the garage doing push-ups.

I will never run for any office. I feel like the campaign part would kill my chances of being elected.

The people who are forced to get to know me always say the same thing.

“I thought you were like some kind of animal abusing serial killer! You just give off serial killer vibes. But now that I know you, I know that’s way off.”

So I don’t think the people would ever choose me.

But if I were in a place of power, first thing I’d do is introduce the 20% tax rule. I don’t care if you make 10 dollars a year, or 10 trillion dollars a year. You pay 20% flat for everyone.

Next thing I’d do is beef up the IRS.

I’d have the IRS preparing a temporary tax return before you even get your W2. The IRS would know what your tax return is supposed to look like. So it you don’t file, or you file very wrong, the IRS moves your return to a team to review. This would be done on a case by case basis.

A lot of these reviews would be correcting simple mistakes. There would be no penalty for these mistakes, though you would need to pay any taxes that hadn’t been paid.

If you’re found to have tried to cheat the system, either through unclaimed earnings, or offshore accounts, or whatever, 20 years in jail. No bail.

And here’s the thing. That money would then go back into the communities. I’d set up food banks in any city that doesn’t have them. I’d fund them. I’ve only ever been to one food bank. The shelves were bare. All the food was off brand. People were treated like cattle. It was very dehumanizing. Which I’m sure is the point.

I’d make them feel like any other grocery store.

I’d also put EVERYONE on snap. Yes, even elon musk. Regardless of your earnings, you get SNAP too.

I’d also include SNAP to include things like toilet paper, and toothpaste, and soap, and any other product that may not be food, but is something that people have a need for daily living.

Then, I’d buy either land, or apartment buildings in really rich areas. I’d make these apartments free for everybody. It would be a slow shift, but studies have proven that cities grow when lower class and upper class people live in and routinely share the same environment. I suspect it would also lower racism. Can’t be mad at “all these immigrants”, if they’re also your neighbors and friends.

I would set up daycares with free daycare. And I’d want these daycares to be under-utilized. I want there to be a situation where if some parent had an emergancy, and needed daycare for 1 day, the daycare would be able to accept the extra child no problem.

I’d also set up universal basic income. It would be paid for by taxes leftover after all the other programs. And it may not be much. It would fluctuate every month. It would also come with a warning NOT to rely on UBI as your only source of income. Because some months might be WAAAAAY lower than other months. It’s basically the remainder.

It also means that rich people won’t like UBI. As they’ll pay 20%, same as everybody else, but they’ll recieve a fraction of what they paid. Whereas a poor person will feel rich.

I’d also have to find a way to control inflation, as these policies will make things go crazy in the short term.

But when voters see me? They’d probably think I was going to take out a rusty hook and peel their skin off.

Of late???

Buddy, the government has been lying since it’s inception! The government on day 1 said “All men are created equally”.

They signed those exact words into a legal document that defines the identity of the newly born country.

Then, after they all agreed that all men are equal, the work day was over, and they all went home where they all owned slaves.

Wait…you had a party and didn’t invite me???

Rude.

Our current government took its cue from Drew Carry.

Everything’s made up, and the points don’t matter.

I mean for gods sake! One of our senators has been dead for weeks, and they’re just weekend at mcconnels over here.

Correction: No they fucking didn’t.

And if you think you saw someone doing this, no the fuck you didn’t.

You say /s, but that’s the literal exact reason that Microsoft has all the market share.

No no no. Twitch is owned by amazon. It’s not part of the fediverse.

but then I thought, fuck it

I feel like this one half sentence explains all of human history.

“Democrats are asleep at the wheel”

Yes…why are you bringing it up now after 48 years?