this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2023
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“Yeah, they’re gone”: Musk confirms cuts to X’s election integrity team — “‘Election Integrity’ Team.. was undermining election integrity,” Musk writes::"'Election Integrity' Team... was undermining election integrity," Musk writes.

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[–] [email protected] 208 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (8 children)

I have a hunch that in the terrifyingly near future, we're going to see the internet absolutely dominated by enshitification.

Don't get me wrong, it's bad now ...because like the frogs in hot water, we collectively just tolerate changes for the worse. But it used to be small incremental changes over a long period.

Then this Musk asshole comes along, looks at the frogs ever so slowly cooking.... and cranks the stove to max, pisses in the frog-pot, supplements the heating element with a welding torch, and flips the frogs off as he pours gasoline all over the kitchen.

And the frogs JUST FUCKING TAKE IT.

What message does that send to the rest of the internet?

[–] [email protected] 116 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Here's a bit of good news. The idea that frogs just wait to get boiled is proven false. Every animal has a limit to what they will tolerate due to self preservation. The from will jump out when it gets too hot.

That being said, I just recently watched Idiocracy... I'm a bit worried.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

You should be worried, in the movie they recognized their stupidity and made way for the smarter character to lead.

our timeline is worse than idiocracy

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

It is not a real phenomenon, though a useful tale for expressing a concept.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Just remember that, regardless of the creators' intents, Idiocracy is essentially pro-eugenics.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

That's not true at all, genetics only play a part in the mental development of a person, much of it is instead related to the environment where a person has been growing.

It is as with talent, some people are better than other at certain activities but even the most gifted person cannot compete with a professional who has spent his life training and studying his craft.

The same can be said for "intelligence": if you are never taught to think you'll never think once in your lifetime, even if you are the exact copy of Leonardo da Vinci; on the other hand, even if you are thick as a rock but you've been growing in a society focused on your development you'll be able to become a normal person.

Eugenetic politics do nothing for humanity betterment, social structure is much more important IMHO

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Eugenics IMO is just another way to blame poor people for the bad luck of their birth. If we truly wanted to "perfect humanity" there are a million better ways, like free education.

Just piggy backing off of what you're saying

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Absolutely. Poverty comes never alone, it usually brings other friends to the party. Like poor education, lack of security, stress, poor nurishment and poor social environment. All this together can easily bring out the worst of people, while the contrary can improve their conditions.

If you are focused on surviving you'll never be able to grow as we are all supposed to

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Poverty comes never alone, it usually brings other friends to the party. Like poor education, lack of security, stress, poor nourishment and poor social environment.

This is so true. Even "breaking out of" poverty is hard, if you're lucky enough to have managed it, because you can't ever change where you've come from. Just anecdotally, my siblings and I have done very well for ourselves financially, but we've had to take on a lot of other family members' debt just to keep them from going under.

So not only do poor people lack the safety net of family wealth, but they experience a kind of opposite effect if they even do manage to "make it."

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Okay, I agree with you and I'm not sure why you're saying I'm wrong. That movie definitely has a eugenics bent and that's why I'm saying people shouldn't put too much stock in it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Because the movie does not hint at eugenetics as solution to the crisis, it's a hymn against stupidity and a cry to better educate the masses. First of all about sexual education and the danger of unprotected sex and secondly about politics and civic duties. I mean, I really don't see how one could interpret the message of the movie as "do eugenetics", that's all.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I think the people seeing it as pro-eugenics are latching onto the “stupid person makes stupid babies” part as being the reason for the Idiocracy. Basically they think the movie is arguing “IQ is 100% nature and 0% nurture”

But IMO the intro pretty clearly showed that the main factor in the degradation of society is that the low IQ family were raising too many kids in a chaotic environment with no actual parenting.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Yeah it's in the opening thesis of the movie:

uneducated people kept having more kids and learned people kept putting it off

Not saying I agree with the premise at all, and I'm putting it much more lightly than the movie does.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Idiocracy is satire.

Do you think Fight Club was celebrating super cool guy Tyler Durden too?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It certainly was intended to be satire. Seems that they kind of failed at that over time. We need a new word for when someone makes super cool and blow cereal.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Attack of voice dictation and lack of proofreading. Super Colon Blow, It was an old Saturday night live skit

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

You should have seen me trying to convince it not to write super: blow

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Makes sense.

I thought it was slang that I was too old to understand.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 year ago

If that's the outcome of abstaining from eugenics, I'm willing to give it another shot.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago

I've been reading more books.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Most everyone I know doesn't have a Twitter or Instagram. Obv I deleted my reddit. What are people supposed to do except just not use the platform? Most authors I want to follow are on substack or mastodon.

I think that as the platforms further enshittify, people will realize there are no intelligent conversations happening on platforms like X, Instagram, Facebook, etc. Ragebait content can only captivate audiences for so long before they either abandon it or are brainwashed by it. If everyone on X is a musk dickrider right wing lunatic then it makes it easier for sane people to stay off of it. Honestly it might be better to give them their safespace echo chamber as long as Democrats, liberals and libertarians mobilize and make their arguments where it matters.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

There never was intelligent conversation. People mostly used Twitter to talk about the news. Twitter has gotten worse, but it's always been full of L takes.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

What message does that send to the rest of the internet?

You know… it would be funny but also sad and believable if he’s doing all of this just to spite the internet because we wouldn’t let that one emo leather longcoat pic die.

Edit: the pic

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's like Trump running for president because Obama and Seth Meyers roasted him in front of the world... So much awful shit in our world is a direct result of rich, whiney narcissists making things worse for everyone as collateral damage in whatever petty feud they've mostly invented in their heads.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

But for real, I am actually fully convinced that that was the inception point in Trump’s head for the idea of going for the presidency.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

well now you have to share this picture and keep it going

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

Let's hope the FCC and whatever other agencies applicable, get teeth and clamp down hard on how these social media giants. the way they operate its damn near treasonous at this point how open they are with allowing other governments to influence their policies. Especially with advertising and to children.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It has been predicted for years that the Internet would split and I'm all for it at this point.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

That's an interesting take. I'm kind of curious what you mean by the split. It seems like it's already split a few times, and I sort of see Lemmy as another split. I think the biggest craziness that will get thrown into the mix is serious amounts of AI content, which I know people are tired of hearing about now, but it's a huge deal. I think people are underestimating its power.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Your point still stands, but as far as I can tell in my city, no one really cared about or used Twitter. Even more so after Elongated Muskrat took over. Twitter was always an echo chamber for the most part when it came to mainstream stuff. Sure, there are a few niche cases, but with those cases there was usually already an alternative. Twitter was never as popular to normal people as it is to influencers, celebs, and for some weird reason government personnel or groups. That’s just my experience with the platform at least. I do not know a single person who even used Twitter once in my entire life.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Don't panic until it smells like butter and garlic?