Libb

I’ve been expecting it for a few years: VPNs will be outlawed for average users (aka, us) and only journalists, NGO, lawyers, govs and so on, will be allowed to use one.

The same way our wonderful elected democratic leaders want to pass laws that will break encryption for everyone save themselves and their friends.

Edit: For context, I’m from France which, exactly like the UK, is another of those perfectly working democracy that has not forgotten who the real boss of the Nation is supposed to be. We’re ruled by the most competent an honest leaders, quite obviously. Edit: helped in their task by incredibly efficient and competent journalists, like this Guardian paper demonstrates (/s ?)

In French, we have this saying: 'qui veux tuer son chien l’accuse d’avoir la rage." which could very roughly read as ‘when one wishes to kill their dog, they say it’s rabid.’

Was it always like that? I mean, I don’t need that much sleep and never needed much. I go to bed between 22 and midnight and will wake up at 4AM every single day, no alarm needed. I will wake up even when I go to sleep much, much later. I’ve been doing that most of my adult life.

One thing that helps me a lot as I study a lot at night, is to study under a yellowish Led lamp (and not in bed, but sitting or standing at a desk).

I also exercise a lot. I walk, every single day. I will walk as often and for as long as I can, and will use any excuse to do so. It helps me feel much better and a lot less stressed out when I go to bed. Maybe that is something you could try? If not by walking, by doing gymnastic, or something?

The first two questions should be:

1. Do you have any health issue and if so is it treated?
2. What do you do in the evening before going to sleep?

Hard to give any suggestion without knowing that.

Thx, I understand that and it goes along the context also mentioned in another comment.

Thx everyone for the clarification :)

I would certainly not want to defend AI and AI-usage but I don’t understand this remark. I mean I understand what it says, but I don’t understand why it’s mentioned at all:

The unauthorized AI enhancements represent a concerning trend where artificial intelligence increasingly mediates reality before it reaches viewers, potentially eroding authentic connections between creators and their audiences[^1].

There is no such thing as an ‘authentic connection’ or a non-mediated ‘reality before it reaches viewers’ if by ‘authentic’ the author means ‘direct’, unfiltered or unedited.

In a least two ways, a video is always edited, aka mediated:

• A video being scripted and or scenarized, even say just by the choice of lens and lighting used, or by the props visible in the frame. Not forgetting the sound (the way the voice is recorded/enhanced) and the music used to suggest/enhance some mood. And/or when the video is edited (selection of sequences to keep and other to discard). Which makes even the most basic videos, even a live stream, not an authentic (unmediated) connection.
• It’s also not unmediated by the very way video works, like photo: the ‘reality’ mentioned and that is being recorded is just that: a record of it. And not even of it, a record of the image of it which is a recording of the photons that were hitting said reality and that were bounced back (first mediation) onto the camera’s sensor (second mediation) that were then transformed by the camera into an electrical signal (third) that was stored as binary data (fourth) to be later on converted again into something the viewer (add as many as the ones already listed) at every single conversion there was an interpretation and a decisions were made (one of the reasons there can be so large image differences between various brands is that they don’t use the same sensors and don’t use the same algorithms to convert signal into data and vice versa). It’s not just with digital, any recording, even a film one, or an old handmade painting or a sketch, is a a lot of mediation between a reality (that can sometimes be long gone and forgotten) and its viewer (us).

So, to me the issue should not be that this mediation was made using an AI-powered tool by Youtube to change the video. It should focus on the fact that YouTube violated the creator’s copyright by deciding on their own to ‘improve’ said videos without the creator’s consent.

A bit like we should not accept when anyone, no matter their reasoning and intentions, wants to edit an existing creation because they think it should be changed (say they don’t like the dude’s face, or their nose or even they disagree with what they say and want to change it). Unless they get explicit authorization to edit it, they should not have any right to do so.

Sorry for the lengthy comment, I find it odd when I read that a video is about ‘authentic connection’ between a supposed reality and us. It’s not, with or without AI involved.

Is dilettante connoted as negatively as the OP depicts the person?

Asking this as a non-native English speaker and because in French dilettante means ‘someone doing an activity for the sheer pleasure/satisfaction they get out of doing it.’

Are you satisfied with your writing?

Nope, which is another motivation to try to do better. Beside the relentless desire to write, I mean.

How often do you write?

Daily.

What is it about?

Some attempts at fiction (short stories and plays, for the most part). A mix of philosophy/sociology/history. Journaling, too.

Do you dream of people finding out about it eventually?

Nope. I just don’t think it’s interesting enough (nor good enough). Also, since I don’t publish it anywhere and since it’s not even stored on a computer (I write longhand, using actual pen and paper, or I type on a good old typewriter), there is very little chance for it to be accidentally leaked online.

I wonder which one of our wonderful democratic leader will propose a similar idea making it mandatory to install the app and to allow it to scan absolutely everything that’s on our phone, because, you know, ‘think about the children’ and they need make sure they are able to capture the armies of perverts roaming our streets.

A failed democracy.

I could have been confusing seeing somebody on Linux using the Command Box thing as more intricate coding, but for somebody in my shoes, with limited tech knowledge, it all looks like coding and is a little intimidating.

It is, I will agree with you. But it’s not that complex . It’s just… different and require we learn to use it, like when one learns a new foreign language of some sort…

And, btw, I did learn to use it that command prompt… not because I was forced to but because I realized how effective it was. It’s incredibly useful even though I barely use it at all, compared to experts. I run some scripts to prepare content for my website… First, I was doing everything by hand, which was a real pain, but it’s so much simpler and faster to let a script do all the work. And, like I said in my previous comment, I’m anything but a coder ;)

‘bla-bla-bla’ (French).

More spelling are available: ‘blabla’, ‘bla-bla’, ‘bla-bla-bla’.

11 - I avoid it as much as I can ;)

More seriously, I will often be the one people around ask for help but it doesn’t change that I also learned to absolutely distrust tech.

All tech, be it corporate-owned as well as free/Libre… I’m using Linux and have no issue (I like it) but I’m also terrified by the many ‘social code of conducts’ that have been popping out in many communities. Not necessarily because I disagree with their core values, that would not even matter much, but because it’s stating a precedent to allow a group to remove any user they don’t like/disagree with the right to use a tech… and that power will be used even when not ‘the good guys’ will be in charge.

Hence me slowly falling back to analog as much as possible…

Edit: typos, clarifications

Yep, the first thing I imagined: how shitty would it be to not be able to see who I’m talking to… because I value my (and other’s) privacy I would ask them to not wear their glasses and would not be wearing mine ;)

“Our goal is to make glasses that make you super intelligent the moment you put them on,”

A bit too late guys, as glasses have always made anyone look super intelligent. If that wasn’t the case, why would anyone want to wear them? Because that’s the only reason I wear mine, and certainly not because I’m as blind as a bat when I don’t.

More seriously, their plan is to kill IRL conversations by making it impossible to trust anyone we would directly talk to?

Impressive. Sad & frightening, but impressive.

Also, I wonder who they will blame the moment they realize the hell they will have made of everybody’s interactions?

edit: typos

We do miss a few things but not that much as my spouse and I are much more into works that will challenge us, not make us feel right/validated or whatever along those lines that seem to be so trendy.

Plus, there are so many great things to watch on DVD and books to read, more than enough to occupy every second of whatever time we have left on this planet would we ever want to do just that ;)

A bit like there are many paintings I will never have the opportunity to see IRL, that’s fine. I can appreciate so many already.

I’m a bit older too. I started older than you are ;)

There is a lot of things I decided to move away from digital/online, including actually meeting people. The only social I still use is here.

Did the same things (my iPhone is the dumbest one can imagine, no social, no apps, no games, there is not even email configured on it). Including reading print newspapers and printed books… not just for the peace of mind but also for privacy and ownership reasons.

Also got rid of all subscription streaming and services and never looked back. If I can’t buy/rent a DVD I won’t watch whatever it is I’m interested in, simple as that. The same with music.

Because it’s much more pleasant, so much quieter and simpler (no update, no Notifications, no menus, no nothing) and relaxing I also went back to writing longhand (I don’t need to be constantly fast, but I need to enjoy writing) , using fountain pens/pencils and paper.

My agenda is a paper one too which can sometimes be an excuse way to trigger unexpected conversations with people that are surprised to see you using such a strange tool ;)

I’m a 50+ years old dude.

There is no ‘good’ argument to persuade anyone (of anything) the moment they don’t want to change their mind. But, depending who your talking to, asking a question maybe? More often than not the ‘nothing to hide’ is just an excuse to not change their habits (which is their right), exactly like the ‘I don’t have time to read books’ so, so many people use today to explain why they never read.

What questions? Well, first, I would not do that. to be clear. But if I really wanted to force them to realize they have things to hide, like we all have, I would go for the most intimate/unsettling… depending who I am discussing with:

Did you poop today? And was it easy? (this one should be both easy to answer while being considered so intimate, at least to most people, that they should have a hard time answering it without feeling disturbed).
How much do you earn?
How much do you pay in taxes? (or how do you manage to not pay taxes?)
How often do you have sex? What is your favorite position? or How reacted your spouse when you told them about that little affair you had with someone else? (here again, it all depends the person you’re talking to)

And so on.

I insist, it is not something I would do but I also have little doubts most people would instantly feel like they too can value some privacy and intimacy ;)