I think the 100 or so miles I can generally drive in my car while it still has gas is different from my car just stopping suddenly because of a power outage.

I really, really can't get behind this sentiment. Having a reliable, accurate time keeping mechanism doesn't seem like an outlandish issue to want to maintain. Timekeeping has been an important mechanism for humans for as long as recorded history. I don't understand the wisdom of shooting down establishing systems to make that better, even if the direct applicability to a single human's life is remote. We are all part of a huge, interconnected system whether we like it or not, and accurate, synchronized timekeeping across the world does not sound nefarious to me.

> The ownership class are the ones who invented things like time zones to stop their trains from running in to each other

In a world where this didn't happen, your comment would most likely read:

> The ownership class are the ones who had such indifference toward the lives of the lower class passengers that they didn't bother stopping their trains from running into each other.

Tell me how you feel about DST.

Paid from lower income countries or Israel's section 8200.

Interesting idea. Any numbers to back it up?

I appreciate the alarm. However, I don't know if we should feel China having this is less safe than an America, European, or other country. I think we have seen that whatever alleged rights to privacy and data protection we have are becoming more-and-more meaningless as the corporatocracy of the US manifests itself more.

I mean to say, this should not be any more alarming than if, say, Oracle, Microsoft, or Amazon bought Roomba vs. any random Chinese company.

I say this not to say that China has no human rights issues to worry about, but rather, that the US and other Western countries have just as many concerning human rights issues (including privacy, freedom of speech suppression, and police state) that we're just more familiar with and used to, compared to the Other that is China.

Basically, 6 of one, a half dozen of the other.

I think, if given the conscious choice, people would choose to not have ads as they are now. The point is, that choice is not given, and most people don't know how to eliminate them from their lives, or that they even have a choice

A lot happens in the world because people are passive, or prioritize their attention on other things, not that they are "okay" with it. If it was made easy for them, they'd choose it.

Lobbying ensures such choices are taken away from people, outside of the envelop of actionability by most people.

It's a big deal even if it's been happening for a while. It should not be something we shrug our shoulders to and move on. These are stepping stones to a greater police state.

I'm really confused why this comment is downvoted to me. It's a pretty salient observation in my opinion. If it's because it's obvious to others, I think it bears repetition because it's an important distinction to the contrary.

How do you think this tech was developed in the first place? It's probably trained and used in the surveillance bid for a decade before it comes to consumers, and this probably isn't the SoA stuff that governments have access to, we're probably 5-10 years behind what's on the cutting edge.

I wouldn’t bet. IT innovation used to be lead by the defence industry, but that has changed and now consumer technology is driving the innovation from what I have been told.

I’m sure they have some cool secret stuff, but they are perhaps not 10 years ahead. Also, I find unlikely that those secrets wouldn’t make it to the public society now, as we are probably close the top of the AI bubble.

I'm only commenting because I absolutely love this thread. It's an insight into something I think most of us are quite (I'm going to say it...) blind to in our normal experiences with daily life, and I find immense value in removing my ignorance about such things.

I admire and respect this stance. I have been very AI-hesitant and while I'm using it more and more, I have spaces that I want to definitely keep human-only, as this is my preference. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one like this.

Thank you :) and you're definitely not the only one.

Full transparency, the first backend version of phrasing was 'vibe-coded' (long before vibe coding was a thing). I didn't like the results, I didn't like the experience, I didn't feel good ethically, and I didn't like my own development.

I rewrote the application (completely, from scratch, new repo new language new framework) and all of the sudden I liked the results, I loved the process, I had no moral qualms, and I improved leaps and bounds in all areas I worked on.

Automation has some amazing use cases (I am building an automation product at the end of the day) but so does doing hard things yourself.

Although most important is just to enjoy what you do; or perhaps do something you can be proud of.