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ebbi

589 karma · joined September 25, 2025

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ebbi··on Apple defeats liability for not scanning iCloud for CSAM
Yeah, I started watching those videos with uncontrollable rage to thinking about how can society change things to avoid/minimize this.
ebbi··on Apple defeats liability for not scanning iCloud for CSAM
I can't reply with stats, but I sometimes get in a bit of a loop watching the 'pred vs catcher' videos on social media.

After having watched what would probably be hundreds (across the US and UK), you start to see some patterns on offenders:

- The ones that are obviously mentally ill/brain development issues - they're adults but act and talk like a child. With some of the interactions with this cohort, some/many don't even realise what they're doing is wrong.

- The ones that seem ok from a developmental perspective, but are physically undesirable from societal norms and don't have a legal outlet - whether that's because of looks/weight/age/disabilities etc. This is where you see many old married men - probably not being fulfilled at home.

- The ones that have a fetish for a type and will go to any lengths after not being able to fulfil this legally (this is where, I think, immigrants over-index: they have a fetish for 'white' women, and can't fulfil their desires legally, so try with the most vulnerable)

- The ones that seem mentally and physically ok, but you can glean from their interactions that they are cold-blooded, ruthless, know what they're doing is wrong. These are the ones that take many calculated steps to cover their trails. When caught, they show barely any regret, and when they do, it's only regret because they were caught.

Then obviously I think there's a class of them that don't come up on these sites, but we can get a glimpse of it from the likes of the Epstein files. The rich. The famous. The ones that think they can do whatever they want. How pervasive this is in society is anyone's guess, but it seems like there is a dark underworld for this class. A Netflix documentary comes to mind about two boys who were trafficked by their parents to wealthy elites in the UK.

Obviously what differentiates all of these to people that may sit in one of those cohorts but don't resort to this despicable behavior is some underlying predisposition to predatory behavior.

ebbi··on Bananas sprout in Rayleigh Garden UK after 15 years
Slightly off-topic:

When I used to eat banana-flavored things (milkshakes, chocolate bars, etc), I always thought that the flavor was artifically inflated and tasted nothing like an actual banana...

...until I went to Fiji. Externally, the appearance of the banana would probably render it as waste in Western countries as it doesn't look nice and yellow - and looks close to what an overripe/rotten banana looks like, but gosh they tasted amazing!

ebbi··on My midlife crisis Corolla is fast, furious, and modded
Except a car with a loud exhaust you'll hear for a max 10 seconds as it drives past you/ your house is not the same as having a house that is stationary, with a loudspeaker, that the neighbours will hear all the time.
ebbi··on Who has profited most from the war on Iran?
> They also killed 30 000 of their own

Thought it was 40,000?

ebbi··on Economists say 'we must act now' on AI's economic impact and job displacement
Because you're assuming the people on the top have liquid assets needed to sustain themselves. They would need the economy to be operating and funds flowing into their accounts via their businesses/holdings.

And these investments you talk about - they'll just be even more concentration of wealth than what we see today, especially with these more advanced AI systems and robots, not needing to hire as many people for the same output.

Why would Chase loan out money to someone that doesn't have a job, because the above AI systems/robots are now doing those jobs for the capitalists?

ebbi··on An Englishwoman who sketched India before photography took hold
William Dalrymple's books are great reads. Makes reading history enjoyable. Highly recommend all his books, particularly his most recent 'The Golden Road'
ebbi··on Economists say 'we must act now' on AI's economic impact and job displacement
I've been pondering this, and have been moving between cynicism and (cautious) optimism.

I think there will be more action on this than climate change, only because the AI impact will have a more immediate, direct impact on politicians.

One thing I can't get my head around is the promise that AI will make everyone better off. If AI is taking peoples jobs, that will lead to more people unemployed, which will lead to more people not being able to purchase goods that ultimately benefit the rich who have large amounts of influence on politicians.

Once this impact starts to hurt the people that has influence, we will start to see some action.

Climate change is something that won't impact many of today's leaders for too long, so the can is constantly kicked down the road.

ebbi··on Apple sues OpenAI, accuses ex-employees of stealing trade secrets
Well what else do you expect in response to your vagueposting?
ebbi··on China sentences official to death for taking $325M in bribes
I thought a life was a life, but given you stated it's 'separate issues', thanks for proving my point.
ebbi··on China sentences official to death for taking $325M in bribes
> advance

Like those 'advanced' countries that don't have death penalties but are silent - or arming/funding - a genocide?

I guess some deaths are ok.

ebbi··on China sentences official to death for taking $325M in bribes
I suppose it is only non-violent on the surface. What if the stolen money could have been used to strengthen the healthcare system or improve citizens’ lives in other ways?
ebbi··on Resetting Xbox
I should have been more clear and my initial comment didn't portray the intent: sometimes Good business decisions requires a longer time horizon for the strategy to play out. But with companies on the stock exchange, Good business practice often comes at the expense of market perception -> share price. And when that happens, there is a lot of pressure on the Board -> CEO to ensure gains are being shown immediately.

So my comment isn't to suggest that a Gamer could be a good person to run the business with good business nous, it's that their experience in the industry would most likely lead them to make decisions that are Good but need a longer horizon, vs immediate impact to satisfy the shareholders.

It happens with any company, and we're starting to see this happen with Apple as well. As their main product lines have started to taper off in growth, they have needed to do things to offset that, often making decisions that are contrary to what Apple would usually stand for or would not have considered, say, 15 years ago.

ebbi··on Resetting Xbox
I should have been more clear and my initial comment didn't portray the intent: sometimes Good business decisions requires a longer time horizon for the strategy to play out.

But with companies on the stock exchange, Good business practice often comes at the expense of market perception -> share price. And when that happens, there is a lot of pressure on the Board -> CEO to ensure gains are being shown immediately.

So my comment isn't to suggest that a Gamer could be a good person to run the business with good business nous, it's that their experience in the industry would most likely lead them to make decisions that are Good but need a longer horizon, vs immediate impact to satisfy the shareholders.

It happens with any company, and we're starting to see this happen with Apple as well. As their main product lines have started to taper off in growth, they have needed to do things to offset that, often making decisions that are contrary to what Apple would usually stand for or would not have considered, say, 15 years ago.

ebbi··on Resetting Xbox
It's a publicly listed company. They needed someone without the emotional attachment to 'Gaming', but with business nous, to make the decisions needed to meet her mandate, which is to ultimately increase shareholder value.

A 'Gamer' would have found that more difficult to do.

ebbi··on Resetting Xbox
What else do you expect from publicly listed companies?

Mix that with the increasingly higher concentration of wealth, and things are just going to get worse.

ebbi··on Department of Commerce has lifted export controls on Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5
Probably didn't kiss ass as much as most other tech CEOs.
ebbi··on U.S. allows Anthropic to release Mythos AI to ‘trusted’ US organizations
Given recent history, I'd be more likely to be killed by American actions than Chinese ones.
ebbi··on Israel targeted Gaza children resulting in genocide, UN inquiry says
You purposely trying to claim Hussaini was 'the pope' of Muslims as though he was a central figure of authority that spoke for Muslims/Palestinians just shows how biased you are - not surprising, given your constant bias on this topic on many other posts.

A cursory study on Islam will show you that Islam doesn't have a central figure of authority like the Pope. Therefore what Hussaini did, was him as an individual, and not a decision that can be attributed to all Muslims/Palestinians.

So the fact remains that Zionists as a group collaborated with the Nazis. Hussainin acted as an individual.

ebbi··on Israel targeted Gaza children resulting in genocide, UN inquiry says
> What about

ism.

You just did an ism.

ebbi··on Israel targeted Gaza children resulting in genocide, UN inquiry says
True. I have a friend in Southern Lebanon who I met a few years ago at a conference. Our group chat is eerie - we haven't heard from him in over two months. We just don't know how he is, and it's sickening.
ebbi··on Israel targeted Gaza children resulting in genocide, UN inquiry says
Yep, Xero published a blog post outlining their stance on Russia and outlining their sanctions (it was literally less than a handful of accounts for them):

https://blog.xero.com/news-events/our-position-on-ukraine-an...

But they didn't do anything for Israel. Actually, at the height of the genocide, they decided to invest in an Israeli company.

slow claps

ebbi··on Israel targeted Gaza children resulting in genocide, UN inquiry says
At this point, we're all useless.

The circumstances of little Hind Rajab's death plays on my mind every single day, and haunts me. The fact something as brazen and blatant as that could happen, and the world did nothing.

Truly a stain on our generation.

ebbi··on Israel targeted Gaza children resulting in genocide, UN inquiry says
"Every attack has to end with occupation, destruction and expulsion." - David Ben-Gurion.

Pretty sure he died well before Oct 7.

ebbi··on Steam Machine launches today
That's true, but even the settings you can tweak are essentially a curated set to choose between higher res vs lower fps, or vice versa.

I think the other aspect is that when gaming on console, you know the game was optimized for a certain hardware config - not having to worry about whether the graphics card you bought a few years ago will net you the best experience on a recently released game.

It's just one less thing to worry about for many people, including myself.

ebbi··on Japanese symbols that speak without words
> It surprises me to hear that about NZ? As I think of NZ, as our friendlier cousin.

Kiwi here. Our driving is, in general, absolutely atrocious.

I've driven in America, Australia, UK, Canada (also India, but let's exclude that for this purpose). Out of all these, NZ is the worst to drive in. Aggressive drivers (especially Ute/truck drivers). Drivers that shouldn't be on the road because they don't know how to drive (Toyota Aqua drivers!). People that drive totally oblivious to their surroundings. And then you have the selfish ones. They won't stay on the left-most lanes if not passing, they won't move to the left if another vehicle is behind them, and when on a single lane approaching a double lane section (overtaking lane), they will start to speed up so the cars behind them can't overtake. I think it comes down to the 'tall poppy syndrome' that Kiwis are known to have.

Never experienced this kind of driving anywhere else. Other places, the drivers would have the courtesy to move out of the way if other vehicles are behind them.

ebbi··on Steam Machine launches today
Probably because it's very niche. Talking to many friends, and an increasing number of posts on various console subreddits, there's lots of comments from PC gamers that embraced the console life due to it's simplicity. This has increased since the PS5 Pro released - "Close to PC-level graphics, without the PC-level costs and mucking around with settings"

There is a certain appeal to this for many people that hacking it to run your own OS isn't really sought after.

ebbi··on GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17
Thanks! I've been contemplating trying out Graphene, but I really enjoy the user experience of iOS. But I feel like I should at least get acquainted with Graphene as the inevitable enshittification of iOS will occur.
ebbi··on GLM-5.2: Frontier Intelligence, Open Weights
Yeah, that's what I mean anyway. Each model has certain design tropes it repeats everywhere, and some of them are very old-school or not really UI best practice.

And then the more ambitious cases where you ask for a feature without being prescriptive with UI needs, the end result is sometimes atrocious with weird font use, colours, etc.

ebbi··on Leak Exposes Members of Peter Thiel's Secretive 'Dialog' Society
I'd argue Sam Harris' content was mostly political masquerading as philosophy. Most of his criticisms were very concentrated toward one group, and due to that, he has put himself into a corner.

For example, when he's been asked about Israel being a 'promised land', as an atheist to agree with that and to overlook the atrocities it took/takes to achieve that, is pretty hypocritical.

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