A person interested in nature, science, sustainability, music, and videogames. I’m also on Mastodon: @glennmagusharvey@scicomm.xyz and @glennmagusharvey@sakurajima.moe

My avatar is a snapping turtle swimming in the water.

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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 22nd, 2023

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  • Yeah, this seems like a partial solution which is not very broadly viable on its own, but can still have niche applications.

    Also, pardon me for bringing up the topic of violence, but I was thinking about what electronics might have particularly short lifespans and I thought of the circuitry of kamikaze drones and missiles used in military conflicts. It’d be a curious but potentially relevant way for defense industries to be more environmentally friendly in at least some way (and it’s not like weapons production is going to stop anytime soon, regardless of moral questions).

    You’re definitely right to point out that the other components are much more concerning from a pollution standpoint. Still, though, I think this improvement is certainly better than nothing. And it might be part of a more broadly applicable change in the future.





  • So it seems their reasoning is as follows:

    1. billionaires “control” (in some way) the US government
    2. said billionaires have an interest in getting people to join their companies’ platforms
    3. therefore, they will collude to make the US government ban the fediverse

    I doubt that they will readily consider the following information with a level head, but if they are willing to listen, you may want to cite the following:

    • “Big Tech” is actually rather politically unpopular right now.
    • The US government has actually held various hearings grilling leaders of major tech companies. Unfriendly hearings, I would add. (Your friend may just try to dismiss this as “theater”…)
    • The various major tech companies see each others as rivals more than partners. Doubly so with Elon Musk gratuitously adding his own ball of stupid chaos into things. Heck, tech companies are more likely motivated by finding new disruptive technologies to undermine their competition.
    • Meta and Tumblr have both expressed interest in supporting ActivityPub.
    • ActivityPub, Mastodon, Lemmy, and the rest of this whole shebang is all open-source. Even if you make the flagship organizations illegal, the open-source nature of the software will lead other people to create their own hubs, and even to develop these platforms further in the absence of a flagship.
    • The US government is gloriously slow to do anything.
    • Hell, billionaires hate digital piracy! Have they been able to ban it? (This might be your strongest argument…?)