Tekdeb

Ok… At least stop putting words in my mouth. And aside from what you’re trying to do right now, there have been no strawmen in our conversation so far. Something not being illegal doesn’t inherently mean everyone should do whatever that is. I’m not saying “you should do that but you shouldn’t do that”. I’m saying you shouldn’t do that, but that is has to remain legal. As an example that I truly hope most people would agree with, cheating on your partner isn’t illegal (most places), but it’s still a really shitty thing to do.

We can definitely disagree on the social ethics around such jokes. As you say, you think such jokes are fine and I don’t. And that’s fine. I’m not advocating for censorship or anything like that. I think I’ve made it very clear that I think freedom of speech is important.

Yes. Again, we agree… I’m both saying it shouldn’t be done because it’s bad, and that you should be able to do so because it’s legal and freedom of speech is incredibly important. Those aren’t contradicting statements.

Yes, we agree. You should be able to. No one should face legal action until an actual crime has been commited and joking isn’t a crime. But that doesn’t mean doing so is good. I did not say there are things you shouldn’t be able to joke about, just that there are a few topics so serious and tragic that joking about them is bad.

That’s fine. I think we’d get along fine if you don’t make a habit of joking about killing kids, slavery, rape or animal abuse. If you think that makes me too sensitive then I’m happy to stay away.

Me thinking that joking about killing kids isn’t ok makes me a fascist? I don’t quite understand how you got to that conclusion, but ok.

To be clear, I didn’t say people can’t say what they want to. I think that freedom of speech is incredibly important. It’s none of my business what you choose to say if I’m not involved, but I would not be comfortable joking around with such a serious topic. If you are, then more power to you I guess?

The relevant part of my reply was about mass surveillance being bad, and I don’t think that’s a very hot take. What I think about certain dark joke topics doesn’t matter.

I believe there are a few things you simply shouldn’t joke about. Killing children is one of those things. But yes, everybody has a fundamental right to their privacy and it’s insane that mass surveillance is becoming more and more common and way too many people seem to just accept or ignore it.

Not just that… I’ve met plenty of teachers that were almost completely tech-illiterate and that includes to some degree a few that even taught tech-related classes. Being a teacher doesn’t magically mean you know everything, even within the field you’re specialized in.

I mostly agree, but even if LLMs were 100% correct all the time (they’re not), there are still some pretty serious ethical issues surrounding it. It is up to each person to decide if they find that acceptable or not.

Even Microsoft (probably) isn’t that stupid or desperate yet. What seems much more likely to me is that they will keep introducing AI features and more invasive ads gradually and making them opt-in or removable with the intention of making them mandatory later on.

I 100% believe that Microsoft fully understands that a lot of people aren’t happy with most of these changes, but profit must grow and they are elbow-deep in their AI gamble so they must keep pushing just slowly enough to avoid most users and businesses feeling like looking for alternatives is worth the effort. They are treading a fine line and are sometimes pushing too hard, but that in itself can be a solid negotiation tactic to manipulate people into accepting bad deals and my guess is that it’s fully intentional.

Thanks for the recommendation. Qobuz has lots if things I would appreciate, but the last time I tried it it was missing a lot of the music I regularly listen to. It has only been a few months since then, but I will give it another try to see if it has changed.

True, which is why I don’t think Deezer is a perfect choice for me either, but at the surface level 41.4% US-owned is better than closer to 100% which all the other services are that meets my requirements. Personally I found that number on the Deezer Wikipedia page, but it is marked with “citation needed”, so it could be completely wrong. And that probably is the case if it’s true that Access bought exclusive control.

“The US that you hate” doesn’t exist. I disagree with a lot of decisions and policies and want better for the American people and the rest of the world that is both directly and indirectly affected, but there’s no hate. But you do make an important point that I hadn’t thought deeply enough about and I agree with you. I believe it’s better to support something that’s simply based in the US rather than the specific policies I disagree with even if it’s more money.

Qobuz would be my choice as it would avoid this dilemma, but their catalogue wasn’t good enough for me the last time I tried it. I’ll have to try again to see if it has gotten better since then. But I have changed my mind and will cancel my Deezer subscription regardless and try to find an alternative. Or maybe I’ll just drop streaming services completely for now as most of my active listening is done with my own local collection anyways and I could always set up a Jellyfin instance if needed.

I’m quickly running out of options… Apple Music was honestly really decent, then the US did their thing so I looked for non-US options. One of my requirements is lossless quality, so Spotify is out (regardless of their own ethical issues). Tidal is also out as it has been a US-owned service for a long time. The remaining options are Deezer and Qobuz. Qobuz seems good in terms of ownership and whatnot, but their catalogue is missing things I listen to quite often, or at least it did when I last checked it out a few months ago. I think I’m staying with Deezer for now. It’s not ideal as Access Industries own 41.4% of Deezer whose owner this post is all about, but it’s the least bad of all the options I’ve found. They also don’t have every song I’m interested in, but they’re pretty close.