I think you can use AI for creative things that convey a message. Isn’t that what it’s all about? For example with memes: stock photos are often used for these, which in themselves probably don’t have much to do with art or creativity. However, if you put them in a different context by adding something to the stock material, interesting, creative and funny things can emerge. This also seems possible to me with an AI-generated image instead of a stock photo.
I completely agree with your point of view. If you don’t control your technology, then your technology controls you.
You should know that it’s really incredibly difficult to actually establish privacy on internet connected devices. They are designed to share information. Security is often an afterthought and privacy is often directly opposed to the goals of the corporations. It is possible to get a fair amount of privacy, but it is not easy. It will cost a lot of time in learning and configuring things, money to buy specific devices with specific features, and the sacrifice of the convenience that comes with mainstream products (you will have to do a lot more for yourself). There is no quick solution, it is an endless struggle - but personally I think the learning process is extremely rewarding and the skills you gain will be very useful.
So, where to begin? I would recommend learning about the technology that underpins all of the data gathering - computer networking. In order to make real decisions about how to use the technology and how to secure it, you need to understand how it works. You won’t ever know if you are leaking data if you don’t understand how that data is collected and transmitted.
I would like to point you to Professor Messer’s Network+ training course, starting with the OSI model. This will help you learn the terminology of computer networking, and the concepts that underlie everything on the internet. If you get through the Network+ content, do Security+ also.
I also want to recommend the Selfhosted@lemmy.world community. A major goal of self hosting is separating your internet services from corporate control. This community is great place to learn and ask questions.
You should get a cheap computer (old, out of date hardware is completely fine) and install Linux on it so you can start learning how to use it (you’ll need this to get away from Microsoft and Apple, and more importantly to have some control over your computing environment).
You might also be interested in the Murena 2 smartphone. It has physical switches for turning off the microphone and camera and network connections, and it runs /e/os (a de-Googled Android version).
thanks a lot man, this is really helpful: veyr understandable. (first time that I read in clear letter that this kind of technologiy is designed primarly to share information. And it is a shame that here in Europe laws don’t force corporation to build technology that has as a goal the privacy first. I am passionate in literature and Cultural studies, thus if we were living in another world I believe I would not read this stuff, because my heart beat for humanities (in a finite and short life: reading all Cormac McCarthy’s opus for a second time it would be for me highly preferrable than learn about networks, but this is the world I live in and I am tired of these damn corporation that treat people like objects)
I’m an asexual, so if by that you mean classic, two-way bodily mingling, then nowhere besides my dreams, and I’m not even sure about that. I’m not averse to it, which is a miracle considering past experiences, but I don’t look forward to it either.
As someone on the aphantasia spectrum, I have a weak relationship with dreams as is, but it does happen, and they do feature that, yes. If I am dreaming of something like that, it’s typically for some kind of in-universe agenda, or if I’m dreaming of events resembling the second thing I mentioned above, there’s a snowball’s chance it’s not a nightmare, but none of that has happened recently to my memory, as my piece of dreamland is preoccupied by things I miss.
Ironically, as an asexual who happens to have turn-ons (the term “asexuality” refers to attraction to humans, it can exist as a label even if attracted to non-life), I have actually tried often to build up my feeling of attraction by not indulging myself in the daytime, which in turn I hope would pressure my dream adventures into not being nostalgic. For brief periods, often it works, albeit you might say it’s way more ritualized for me in my dreams.
I am likely asexual as well and I only had a sex related dream maybe once in my lifetime. Never had sex either, although I’m not necessarily totally opposed to eventually trying it.
Nextdns or a pihole would be a good first step. Blocking tracker and ad domains (and whatever else you want) at the DNS level is fairly easy and inexpensive to accomplish. I use nextdns on my router and on every device that leaves my home network, it took less than an hour to get everything set up.
That’s your cue to research. You’re gonna have to get technical and learn about these options if you plan to up your privacy game. In short though, both will handle DNS queries from your devices and block those that are known for ad serving or tracking purposes. That way you essentially have an ad-blocker on your entire network, rather than on each device or browser.
where do I start from scratch, taking into account that English isn’t my mother tongue and Italian is? Could you point me a guide, video, something for dummies that can explain, and is authentically conceived to educate and teach to person like me who wanto to learn but 4 times out of 5 ends up with frustration for the jargon and language for initiated the is in forums often spoken?
I see, not many guides in my native language either, but I think the respective websites are explaining things well enough and if they don’t have an italian translation available already Google Translate should do the job.
NextDNS is probably your best bet, as it can be setup on your devices or router directly and is not as technical to get started: nextdns.io
For Pi-hole you will need a dedicated device on your network, like a laptop or Raspberry Pi, or a router with custom firmware. On it you install the software, and after that it will basically act as your own instance of NextDNS, and you can point your devices to it for DNS resolution: pi-hole.net
Disclaimer: i am also just getting started with these tools, still in research phase with not a lot of free time to invest in it so if i made any mistakes explaining i apologise, and definitely understand your frustration.
I wasn’t aware of DeepL actually. Google Translate had been my go-to service for a long time so I never searched for another one, but DeepL looks promising , I’ll have to give it a try, and you should certainly use it instead of Google if you know it’s better.
I don’t understand the premise. Do I keep my older memories and experience? So if I take it at age 21, I become a 1yo with the knowledge of a college student? Do I also get to repeat having the memory and learning speed that little kids have? It might be worth considering.
In addition to what was mentioned already, read Door to Door, and use this famous constant (by an Italian!) as a counter argument if the function of the road/project is to solve traffic.
Drunkly got down to it on a very empty train… But someone saw us cause the police were waiting for us at the station. Fortunately there was no cameras where we were, and no corroborating evidence, so we got away with it. But both of us had to go to the station and get questioned… Definte drunken stupidity, and now we’re a bit more circumspect.
Not all New York times articles are also in print, you can use usually check the header or footer or some data on the page that tells you whether or not the online article was printed
Highways notoriously create more traffic , every time we expand a highway or create a new highway, traffic gets worse.
If you just search “highway creates worse traffic” or something similar, there are many, many videos that will give you very good information and statistics about how building roads does not help convenience traffic or a sense of narrow or broad community in most situations, and new roads or new highway lanes almost always create more traffic in urban situations like cities.
Not always the case, but you’re not wrong. Most of the times the new road or added lanes was needed because the traffic density had already increased. Kind of a chicken or the egg scenario. For a new road, well roads arent just built for no reason…obviously the road was needed, so now there will be traffic on it. Sometimes even just an influx of people using the new “alternative route” because they think no one will be on it from the old route, yet many other people had the same idea.
Exception to all this, however is evacuation routes. I grew up in the south, on the gulf of mexico. When hurricanes are coming and everyone is trying to leave, you need those huge highways. 30 years ago you would just have 1000s of people grid-locking 2 lane highways just trying to get anywhere away from the storm, and in some cases being stuck in their car for the storm. Now a lot of those highways are full-on 4 lanes with medians, huge shoulders, etc. These are everywhere across the south, more still being built. Even extra bridges built across bays and sounds that are largely unused (usually have high tolls). 99% of the time the big highways are mostly empty (which makes road trips super nice!) and someone not familiar would think it’s a huge waste. But come an emergency situation, and their purpose is served!
It’s definitely the egg, since the chicken was the road and the egg(traffic density) increases after adding another highway or lane to a “super highway”.
Before that highway or lane was added, there was less congestion.
Ehhh, i still disagree, because that doesnt make sense. Less congestion with less lanes? The extra lanes are added to ease the growing congestion in an area. OP asked about traffic engineering, there is it very simply. Adding lanes doesnt magically create more cars on the road.
I’ve seen the exact opposite in places like Hawaii when they expanded H1 at Honolulu, shrinking all the lanes down to the minimum 8ft so they could add another lane. Now at, I think 6 lanes each way, in places. No space to expand, so the lanes were shrunk to make room for another. You know what adding another lane did? Lessen congestion. Sure there’s still congestion, but it’s way better. They, and other big cities (ie- San Fransisco), literally add and change lanes throughout the day (zipper lanes) to ease congestion. Or even legally allow the shoulder to become yet another lane during peak hours. Because more lanes = more flow.
I’ve also seen what happens when the extra lanes arent open (like the zipper lane cant function because the truck is broke) the whole place is gridlocked taking people up to 9 hours to get home. Because of 2 less lanes.
Not just in America. Places like Auckland, NZ and their famos Nippon clip-ons. If adding lanes added congestion just because of the fact that there is more lanes, then why are roads expanded in the first place? Everything should just still be 2 lane roads.
Adding more lanes does not “magically create more cars on the road”, but it does mundanely create more traffic, so that increasing traffic lanes provides diminishing returns of reduced congestion.
You have to factor in how many cars are acquired every year, how many people are driving, how they are driving where, and when.
Every year people are buying new cars and the old cars don’t just disappear, more people move to where more people already live, and adding new lanes only invites more drivers to where everybody is already going.
A simple, related and more accessible example is adding parking spaces into a downtown area. This does not lessen congestion but increases congestion as more people drive downtown and everyone drives around looking for a parking space rather than walking an extra 7 minutes from a less congested area.
A similar thing happens with highways, and research backs it up.
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