The U.S. is alienating itself greatly already anyways.
No, get it straight: The current POTUS and the people he's appointing to cabinet positions are alienating the rest of the world, our allies included. He seems to think that the U.S. can stand alone in the world and survive. He, of course, is completely wrong.
No, see, it'll be worse than that. It'll be stupid, evil rich people living forever, that we'll have to put up with. Include politicians in that group. Think about this: Vladimir Putin running Russia for the next 100 years (or more). They'll do whatever they can to make sure the treatment is very expensive so only The Rich can afford it -- and as a matter of fact they'll probably buy up all the rights to it and bury it, so only The Few of The Rich can have it, and no one else. Hell, this is the sort of thing that, if it works and is safe, people will be killed over it.
Part of me would like something like this; I'm an athlete now, and I'm in my 50's, and would love it to go back to being in my 20's physically and make the best of my chosen sport. But another part of me wants this to fail, not be real at all, because it could actually be very destructive to our civilization and our species as a whole.
Well, for your kids' sake, I certainly hope you're socializing them properly (with real people in person, not so-called 'social media') and not allowing them to become antisocial/socially avoidant hermits. There's already too much of that in the world and it's not a good thing.
When I actually need to go into the bank for something it's because it's something their webpage or telephone automated system can't handle and therefore I need an actual human being to help me, not some half-assed pseudo-intelligent so-called deep-learning algorithm 'expert' system.
Sure it does. You knew Trump was all over Israels' jock as soon as he did the unspeakable and declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel, pissing off the Palestinians probably forever. Oh and let's not mince words: Israel would like nothing better than to erase Iran from the map completely, leaving a smoking hole in the Earth where it once was.
Well now, if there's an uptick in activity against U.S. interests from Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations that Iran has played sponsor to, we'll know why now won't we? With the Iran deal, we gave Iran enough rope to hang themselves -- assuming they weren't going to play things straight up. If they did play it straight, then great for everyone; if not, then we could all say "We tried! But you screwed the deal, you have no one but yourselves to blame, Iran!" and everyone could then pile on them en masse with a clear conscience. But no, Trump had to stick his thumb in the Iranian pie, didn't he? Well, who knows what the hell's going to happen now? Probably nothing good.
1. More ways that Google (and 'partner companies', I'm sure) can track more aspects of your life.
1a. More opportunities for hackers to pry your personal data from you.
1b. More opportunities for criminal hackers to commit fraud (fraudulent purchases via hacked 'digital assistant', etc).
2. More depersonalization of your interactions with other people.
3. More excuses to avoid interactions with other human beings.
4. Less opportunities for people to develop their interpersonal skills/be properly socialized.
In my opinion, what Social Media is doing is just a symptom of the overall problem, not the problem itself, which I believe is our entire culture (at least in this country; can't speak for the rest of the world.
Think about it:
* We keep looking for 'magic pills' to make us lose weight
* People want to look like bodybuilders, so they go buy anabolic steroids
* People binge-watch TV shows
* Drive-thru everything
* Buy things online, get same-day delivery
* 'Twitch' games on your smartphone
* Smartphones in general
* Everything has to be faster, faster, faster
What do all these things have in common, you ask? A lack of patience, which the corporate world has indoctrinated us to and encourages us to accept as 'normal'. Got to get that immediate satisfaction, that quick rush of validation! Forget about tomorrow! Live for the now! If you have to wait for it then it's not worth it!
I'll express whatever opinions I want, buddy, and if you don't like it then that's your problem. I think most 'IoT' things are useless junk, a waste of money, and just one more way people's privacy is invaded by nosy corporations, and again: if you don't like my opinion, that's your problem, I don't need to hear about it from you.
All these wirelessly connected vehicle systems should, for safety/security purposes, have a government mandated hardwired 'off' switch that completely disables any radio transceivers so it's not possible for it to 'connect' to anything.
Word to the wise: Terminate the transceiver end of that cable with a 50-ohm dummy load, preferably one that's shielded, otherwise it may be able to connect anyway if you're in a strong signal area. Also you won't burn up the transmitter that way (which for all I know would make the 'check engine' light come on).
I argue against 'consumers wanting' these stupid things, and for the idea of 'marketers convincing people they want things they don't need and that don't make any sense', which is what salesmen do: convince you to buy things you don't really want and don't really need. Stupid is stupid.
Trees are bad for capitalism! Why have space- and resource-wasting nonsense like TREES when you could pave over that space and charge people to park their cars there? Or get rid of that completely useless public park and put up another high-rise office building, or better yet, luxury 'loft' spaces to lease out to rich people for HUGE profits?
..yeah, sure. Just pave over the whole gods-be-damned country, especially with someone occupying the Whitehouse who wants to open up National Parks to oil drilling and 'development'. Natural spaces? Natural beauty? LOL what do we need that for when it can make more MONEY? MONEY is the only GREEN you should want in your life, right? Excuse me now, I'm going to go throw up.
No, you have it wrong. This is the beginning of the War Between Citizens and Shitty Corporations' Marketing Departments Who Are Rushing A Half-Assed Product To Market That's Killing People.
I can't wait for them to decide enough is enough and they ban these from public use. We need REAL AI not this half-assed pseudo-intelligence 'machine learning' crap. What we really need is better driver education, training, and testing, and stricter penalties for bad drivers, up to and including revoking their driving privilege permanently when they demonstrate they're incorrigibly incompetent. No need to make ALL drivers pay the price for SOME BAD drivers.
Because I don't want to break the only working setup I have for something I haven't worked out all the kinks in, that's why, and also the XP box is >10 years old, single core processor, 2GB RAM, and just not worth bothering 'upgrading' an OS on. I have a newer setup that will replace it -- as soon as I get all the OS-related problems worked out. Also I don't spend much time playing with computers anymore so I'm not going to waste time duplicating effort for no reason. Also it's not a huge 3-alarm-fire priority; it'll happen when I have time and wherewithal to get it done.
Once or twice a week lately I see these sorts of calls: fake caller ID, same area code and prefix as my phone. I don't answer them; if it's a for-real call and they need to contact me they'll leave a voicemail, otherwise I guess it's either a scam or not important enough.
This sort of thing, to me, is just another sign of the times being tough, people being desperate for money, and unscupulous/criminal types will do whatever they think they can to squeeze money (or something they can sell) out of whoever and however many people they can.
You're saying I'm missing your point, meanwhile you're missing my point: You can only do what you can do, and you can't control anyone but yourself. You can reclaim some of your privacy. If you want more (or all) of it back then you have to cut everything and everyone off. Until the world changes (unlikely) that's the way things are. You can try policing your friends, tell them not to share your contact information, not upload things, no pictures of you, etc, but it's an uphill battle when people don't understand. How far do you want to take this? That's what you have to ask yourself.
Technically I did have it forced on me -- by my employer, a large microchip manufacturer. Showed up for work one Monday and the gods-be-damned drive encryption wouldn't accept my password. So they tell me "Oh, that's not compatible anymore, we have to 'upgrade' you to Windows 10". So I had NO CHOICE in the matter. Of course they own the damned computer, too, but I had to put up with it. I've hacked the living shit out of Win10 though so it's as sanitized as I can make it, use a different UI shell so it's more like Win7, and being the Enterprise version most all of the telemetry (spyware) is cut out or disabled (and more after I got done with it), so I'm coping. But at home? Still on XP, until I get around to upgrading the hardware, in which case it looks like it'll be Ubuntu. No more MS for me, thanks anyway.
If you're worried about Google snooping in your email, then don't use Google anymore.
If you're worried about your phone calls being listened in on, then don't discuss sensitive subjects on the telephone, do it in person, in private locations, away from anyone or anything that might be listening.
If you're worried about Facebook/Twitter/whoever on the Internet snooping into what you're doing, then you'll have to decide whether or not these so-called 'services' are worth the intrusion into your private life -- or perhaps you should modify what you post in those places.
What people seem to forget is that we used to live productive, fulfilling lives before there was an 'Internet'. You could drop it today for the most part, use it only for 'official' purposes (if necessary), and you'd get along just fine without it otherwise. Sure, you'd have people look at you funny (because they don't get it) and some things would be less convenient than they used to be. But you wouldn't starve, or die of exposure, or be forced to become a hermit. You'd just have to adjust.
I'm one of those who gets looked at funny. I don't use so-called 'social media' at all anymore, haven't for about 10 years now. In the last year or so I stopped using plastic to pay for things if at all possible, and pay cash instead, so purchases can't be tracked. I do not own nor do I want to own a smartphone, so you can't track/surveil me with that; I have a cheap clamshell phone, and it's not even turned on unless I'm actively using it, if you don't leave a voicemail then it must not be very important to contact me. I can't avoid all the gods-be-damned cameras everywhere in public, but I doubt my every move is being tracked with them anyway, and there are plenty of places I go where there aren't any cameras anyway (unless they start putting them in the woods, LOL). And so on.
The bottom line is you can protect (and reclaim) much of your privacy if you're willing to do what it takes -- which these days includes, sadly, some small-minded, short-sighted people looking at you like you're a nutjob. Are you swayed (or ruled) by peer pressure? If yes then I guess you give up on privacy and become one of the herd. If no then you take back what was once yours and have some dignity.
Probably the best thing that can be done about public records of people, at least until someone comes up with a better idea, is to put a financial barrier in the way: you have to pay a fee in order to access public records about a private citizen. This might prevent (or at least curtail) 'scraping' of public records databases by 'bots. Beyond that I have no idea; require verifiable government ID if you want to access public records, and the access is logged? That way at least you'd know who has been snooping into your life.
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The U.S. is alienating itself greatly already anyways.
No, get it straight: The current POTUS and the people he's appointing to cabinet positions are alienating the rest of the world, our allies included. He seems to think that the U.S. can stand alone in the world and survive. He, of course, is completely wrong.
No, see, it'll be worse than that. It'll be stupid, evil rich people living forever, that we'll have to put up with. Include politicians in that group. Think about this: Vladimir Putin running Russia for the next 100 years (or more). They'll do whatever they can to make sure the treatment is very expensive so only The Rich can afford it -- and as a matter of fact they'll probably buy up all the rights to it and bury it, so only The Few of The Rich can have it, and no one else. Hell, this is the sort of thing that, if it works and is safe, people will be killed over it.
Part of me would like something like this; I'm an athlete now, and I'm in my 50's, and would love it to go back to being in my 20's physically and make the best of my chosen sport. But another part of me wants this to fail, not be real at all, because it could actually be very destructive to our civilization and our species as a whole.
The last video game I spent any time with was Warcraft 2. After that I lost interest. I see now that I'm not missing out on anything.
Well, for your kids' sake, I certainly hope you're socializing them properly (with real people in person, not so-called 'social media') and not allowing them to become antisocial/socially avoidant hermits. There's already too much of that in the world and it's not a good thing.
When I actually need to go into the bank for something it's because it's something their webpage or telephone automated system can't handle and therefore I need an actual human being to help me, not some half-assed pseudo-intelligent so-called deep-learning algorithm 'expert' system.
Sure it does. You knew Trump was all over Israels' jock as soon as he did the unspeakable and declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel, pissing off the Palestinians probably forever. Oh and let's not mince words: Israel would like nothing better than to erase Iran from the map completely, leaving a smoking hole in the Earth where it once was.
Well now, if there's an uptick in activity against U.S. interests from Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations that Iran has played sponsor to, we'll know why now won't we? With the Iran deal, we gave Iran enough rope to hang themselves -- assuming they weren't going to play things straight up. If they did play it straight, then great for everyone; if not, then we could all say "We tried! But you screwed the deal, you have no one but yourselves to blame, Iran!" and everyone could then pile on them en masse with a clear conscience. But no, Trump had to stick his thumb in the Iranian pie, didn't he? Well, who knows what the hell's going to happen now? Probably nothing good.
1. More ways that Google (and 'partner companies', I'm sure) can track more aspects of your life.
1a. More opportunities for hackers to pry your personal data from you.
1b. More opportunities for criminal hackers to commit fraud (fraudulent purchases via hacked 'digital assistant', etc).
2. More depersonalization of your interactions with other people.
3. More excuses to avoid interactions with other human beings.
4. Less opportunities for people to develop their interpersonal skills/be properly socialized.
In my opinion, what Social Media is doing is just a symptom of the overall problem, not the problem itself, which I believe is our entire culture (at least in this country; can't speak for the rest of the world.
Think about it:
* We keep looking for 'magic pills' to make us lose weight
* People want to look like bodybuilders, so they go buy anabolic steroids
* People binge-watch TV shows
* Drive-thru everything
* Buy things online, get same-day delivery
* 'Twitch' games on your smartphone
* Smartphones in general
* Everything has to be faster, faster, faster
What do all these things have in common, you ask? A lack of patience, which the corporate world has indoctrinated us to and encourages us to accept as 'normal'. Got to get that immediate satisfaction, that quick rush of validation! Forget about tomorrow! Live for the now! If you have to wait for it then it's not worth it!
I'll express whatever opinions I want, buddy, and if you don't like it then that's your problem. I think most 'IoT' things are useless junk, a waste of money, and just one more way people's privacy is invaded by nosy corporations, and again: if you don't like my opinion, that's your problem, I don't need to hear about it from you.
All these wirelessly connected vehicle systems should, for safety/security purposes, have a government mandated hardwired 'off' switch that completely disables any radio transceivers so it's not possible for it to 'connect' to anything.
Word to the wise: Terminate the transceiver end of that cable with a 50-ohm dummy load, preferably one that's shielded, otherwise it may be able to connect anyway if you're in a strong signal area. Also you won't burn up the transmitter that way (which for all I know would make the 'check engine' light come on).
No more need be said.
That was some of the most incoherent nonsense I've ever heard.
I argue against 'consumers wanting' these stupid things, and for the idea of 'marketers convincing people they want things they don't need and that don't make any sense', which is what salesmen do: convince you to buy things you don't really want and don't really need. Stupid is stupid.
We don't need 'Internet of Things', and 99.9% of them are stupid.
Trees are bad for capitalism! Why have space- and resource-wasting nonsense like TREES when you could pave over that space and charge people to park their cars there? Or get rid of that completely useless public park and put up another high-rise office building, or better yet, luxury 'loft' spaces to lease out to rich people for HUGE profits?
..yeah, sure. Just pave over the whole gods-be-damned country, especially with someone occupying the Whitehouse who wants to open up National Parks to oil drilling and 'development'. Natural spaces? Natural beauty? LOL what do we need that for when it can make more MONEY? MONEY is the only GREEN you should want in your life, right? Excuse me now, I'm going to go throw up.
No, you have it wrong. This is the beginning of the War Between Citizens and Shitty Corporations' Marketing Departments Who Are Rushing A Half-Assed Product To Market That's Killing People.
I can't wait for them to decide enough is enough and they ban these from public use. We need REAL AI not this half-assed pseudo-intelligence 'machine learning' crap. What we really need is better driver education, training, and testing, and stricter penalties for bad drivers, up to and including revoking their driving privilege permanently when they demonstrate they're incorrigibly incompetent. No need to make ALL drivers pay the price for SOME BAD drivers.
I told you what my point was but apparently you're one of those people who can't be bothered to READ EVERYTHING.
Because I don't want to break the only working setup I have for something I haven't worked out all the kinks in, that's why, and also the XP box is >10 years old, single core processor, 2GB RAM, and just not worth bothering 'upgrading' an OS on. I have a newer setup that will replace it -- as soon as I get all the OS-related problems worked out. Also I don't spend much time playing with computers anymore so I'm not going to waste time duplicating effort for no reason. Also it's not a huge 3-alarm-fire priority; it'll happen when I have time and wherewithal to get it done.
Once or twice a week lately I see these sorts of calls: fake caller ID, same area code and prefix as my phone. I don't answer them; if it's a for-real call and they need to contact me they'll leave a voicemail, otherwise I guess it's either a scam or not important enough.
This sort of thing, to me, is just another sign of the times being tough, people being desperate for money, and unscupulous/criminal types will do whatever they think they can to squeeze money (or something they can sell) out of whoever and however many people they can.
You're saying I'm missing your point, meanwhile you're missing my point: You can only do what you can do, and you can't control anyone but yourself. You can reclaim some of your privacy. If you want more (or all) of it back then you have to cut everything and everyone off. Until the world changes (unlikely) that's the way things are. You can try policing your friends, tell them not to share your contact information, not upload things, no pictures of you, etc, but it's an uphill battle when people don't understand. How far do you want to take this? That's what you have to ask yourself.
Technically I did have it forced on me -- by my employer, a large microchip manufacturer. Showed up for work one Monday and the gods-be-damned drive encryption wouldn't accept my password. So they tell me "Oh, that's not compatible anymore, we have to 'upgrade' you to Windows 10". So I had NO CHOICE in the matter. Of course they own the damned computer, too, but I had to put up with it. I've hacked the living shit out of Win10 though so it's as sanitized as I can make it, use a different UI shell so it's more like Win7, and being the Enterprise version most all of the telemetry (spyware) is cut out or disabled (and more after I got done with it), so I'm coping. But at home? Still on XP, until I get around to upgrading the hardware, in which case it looks like it'll be Ubuntu. No more MS for me, thanks anyway.
If you're worried about Google snooping in your email, then don't use Google anymore.
If you're worried about your phone calls being listened in on, then don't discuss sensitive subjects on the telephone, do it in person, in private locations, away from anyone or anything that might be listening.
If you're worried about Facebook/Twitter/whoever on the Internet snooping into what you're doing, then you'll have to decide whether or not these so-called 'services' are worth the intrusion into your private life -- or perhaps you should modify what you post in those places.
What people seem to forget is that we used to live productive, fulfilling lives before there was an 'Internet'. You could drop it today for the most part, use it only for 'official' purposes (if necessary), and you'd get along just fine without it otherwise. Sure, you'd have people look at you funny (because they don't get it) and some things would be less convenient than they used to be. But you wouldn't starve, or die of exposure, or be forced to become a hermit. You'd just have to adjust.
I'm one of those who gets looked at funny. I don't use so-called 'social media' at all anymore, haven't for about 10 years now. In the last year or so I stopped using plastic to pay for things if at all possible, and pay cash instead, so purchases can't be tracked. I do not own nor do I want to own a smartphone, so you can't track/surveil me with that; I have a cheap clamshell phone, and it's not even turned on unless I'm actively using it, if you don't leave a voicemail then it must not be very important to contact me. I can't avoid all the gods-be-damned cameras everywhere in public, but I doubt my every move is being tracked with them anyway, and there are plenty of places I go where there aren't any cameras anyway (unless they start putting them in the woods, LOL). And so on.
The bottom line is you can protect (and reclaim) much of your privacy if you're willing to do what it takes -- which these days includes, sadly, some small-minded, short-sighted people looking at you like you're a nutjob. Are you swayed (or ruled) by peer pressure? If yes then I guess you give up on privacy and become one of the herd. If no then you take back what was once yours and have some dignity.
Probably the best thing that can be done about public records of people, at least until someone comes up with a better idea, is to put a financial barrier in the way: you have to pay a fee in order to access public records about a private citizen. This might prevent (or at least curtail) 'scraping' of public records databases by 'bots. Beyond that I have no idea; require verifiable government ID if you want to access public records, and the access is logged? That way at least you'd know who has been snooping into your life.