Well, it sounds thrilling and hopeful, everything you urge.
But find me a roomful--even a small uncomfortable roomful--of people who aren't in one way or another secret or overt authoritarians. It's just they don't want "them guys" telling them what to do. They want to be the ones telling "them guys" what to do.
This is a natural human impulse. Fighting it is hard. Always has been. Every dissident group ever, that ran away from the authoritarians of their times and places to make brave new free worlds, just recreated the patterns.
Yeah--Elon. A guy who makes EVs and is devoted to space exploration and depends for his various nefarious products reliable access to very bad actors was never gonna be a friend of freedom.
Everyone here: how much freedom do you really want people you hate to have?
There's a lot of talk on Substack these days about the sad sorry state of education in the US and how that might be rectified.
I got a plan. Teach kids to be competent at reading, writing and arithmetic. For subject matter work, say, history and civics: present extracts to the class from a quality conservative historian and a quality liberal historian, and have them read, think about and discuss each perspective and what they think is a correct interpretation and an incorrect one, and why. Do that for science too. Give the kids an overview of how "scientific truth" has changed over the centuries and why it will of course continue to do so.
How many people really truly have the stones to let kids examine both or many sides of everything? Or they really just want the kids taught *their* side?
Aha! You want them to THINK! Not just turn into a bunch of happy little blank-fillers!
Alas, that train last left the station in the 1970s, and then the station was taken over by filth and rats and eventually bulldozed. Now nobody even remembers what used to be there... there was a sign once, but it was graffiti'd so bad that even that was ignominiously and unceremoniously removed.
It's hard to find a group of even two where one does not want to tell the other what to do, think, or be. Just attend a PTA or HOA board meeting, if you don't believe it. A bunch of wanna-be tyrants. And they are your friends and neighbors...
The only way Gato's plan works is for it to evolve organically, without a center or a plan or a manager. Such an evolution is inefficient (because it goes down so many blind alleys) but it is more likely to produce an egalitarian result than any sort of managed program. I'd argue that it is already underway but we just can't see it, which is an inevitable consequence of such a beast -- you can't describe it, you can't define it, you would not recognize it if you saw it. But one day it will just seem to be there, and it will almost be as if it were always there. Because in a way, it always was.
It might not surprise you that in my brief volunteer term on a city council (they call this place a city but...) advisory committee, I was the sole representative of the peasants' rebellion and I rebelled so much they were perpetually troubled about my--uh--tone. These types I know over-well.
I do like your last paragraph here. We should always remember what those weeds do to concrete, eventually. Even as a kid, I loved seeing it.
Doesn't surprise me at all. And after you've lived in a place like NYC, the word 'city' takes on a special meaning that no little burg of ten or twenty thousand can hope to match. They can call it 'the City of Newtown' or whatever they want... it is still a crossroad to those whose experience of a city is something more profound.
Detroit after the riots of 1967 went through a 'weed renaissance' as you might call it. At the time (before the riots) Detroit was the 4th most populous and one of the richest cities in the USA. The Motor City -- home of American manufacturing know-how. Whole blocks were deserted, the population cratered and will likely never come back. Nature abhors a vacuum, something will fill it. Ragweed lives almost everywhere.
I have a hard time with the word 'allowed' in this context. Events like riots are not planned; they have a life of their own. Even if someone starts them intentionally, like the Antifa 'summer of love' in 2020, how it plays out can rarely be foretold. You can light the fire, but you cannot control the wind.
This is true. Or perhaps partially true. There's a type of person who imagines himself to be a leader but is really just an instigator of chaos. That person does indeed light the match and really gets off on the thrill of the spark. There's always a moment of choice--"which way do I push them?"
And they will never accept responsibility for it, or even feel regret for it.
During the 68 riot in Detroit, the radio played the Doors "Baby won't you light my fire" about every ten minutes. The riot was not just allowed, but promoted.
Have you tried Gab? That's basically them in a nutshell.
As a free-speech-ist I do feel like wanting to find some middle ground, where people can create whatever they want (that is legal) yet not have unwanted things shoved in front of you... perhaps the concept of "consent" can be extended to sexual content in general, so that you have to get an informed "ok" first before posting porn to someone? (But drawing the line between 'sexy models' to 'porn' will be hard...)
Yes, Gab has a very much "no porn, no exceptions" policy, but anything other than that is pretty much "anything you like so long as it is legal, and if people don't like it it's on them to block you".
I think I used Gettr and Gab a little but never too much. I like the general "community" (Lol) I am following on Twitter and too lazy to start over.
Yes, now that you say it we should be able to opt in or out of pornagraphic material as part of our account settings and any user posting porn should have a special setting allowing it. Then, violators get dumped. The pretty girls (porn in clothing) are annoying but much more tolerable to the crazy stuff I have accidentally seen on Twitter. I didn't even know people did those things! Images burned in my brain and forever traumatized!
Substack is privately owned and is not a protocol. Nor is it peer to peer. But those peer to peer networks are often hard for non-tech people to figure out. For those of us who grew up in IRC, it brings back the halcyon days of text chat without the dumbass ads.
I see this place as a nice big allowed-to-run-wild back yard with lots of tables and lawn chairs. Eventually we all figure out who we want to sit down with and kibitz, and who don't necessarily suit our temperaments. But there's enough room for everyone.
You make an important point. Part of what makes these private platforms vulnerable is that they make their money by selling ad space. So they are always at least somewhat beholden to the "sponsors." Substack doesn't have ads. 😉
Just visited home page of matrix. I’m 50-50 about how easy it might be to use, I may check it out for real. Thanks for posting!
A consideration that I rarely find in discussions about technology use, is the application of a multi-generational approach. We currently have a wide disparity between younger generation who has never know life without software, laptops, servers, personal devices of one sort or another; and the older generations who used dial-up telephones with party lines, recall the advent of teletype and fax machines, may or may not have adopted personal computers as soon as they were affordable, entered DOS commands to execute functions(thereby risking wiping out company hard drives, as yours truly did early on)...etc.
I am eager to witness a “decentralized information infrastructure”... I can tell you far too many in my world will just be overwhelmed.
I anticipate AI scraping this platform, and shutting down contrary content, maybe it’s already happening. 🤷♀️ Does anyone know if the brains behind this operation put safeguards in place?
Husband has an instance running, not federated with other matrix servers, but getting friends (even tech aware ones) to connect to our server requires that they do some black magic incantation. The wife acceptance factor of the "create account" process is low. 🤣
But it's mostly just chitchat as text. You can upload files, images, etc.
Offspring doesn't know how to use the basic phone app (I assume) because he defaults to secure calls over our server.
It ain't no joke I'd like to be Empress of the Universe. Remember what I said about finding any non-authoritarian types? I'm as impure as any. The thing is, I recognize my tendencies.
Twitter is supposed to be the place of free speech and your point has little to do with what's now going to happen at twitter as the authoritarians start to find other more subtle ways to censor opinions.
Talking about inherent human nature is a completely different subject.
Here! I'm willing to let you speak your mind about anything you like. Just be aware that incompatible concepts is a thing and I reserve my right to tune you out or, if you are attempting to appeal to my baser instincts, altogether block you.
Authority chains are necessary. Its just the question of which and how large. The gargantuan psychopathic , parasitic and bureaucratic states of Present times aren't it
What kind of cat hangs out in your house? HOUSE CAT!
What kind of cat hangs out in the alley? ALLEY CAT!
What kind of cat is a chocolate candy bar? KIT KAT!
What kind of cat are you? What kind of cat are you?
Tell me tell me true, what kind of cat are you?
I'll give you some clues. What kind of cat are you?
What kind of cat has the first name of Tom? TOM CAT!
What kind of cat is really really scared? SCAREDY-CAT!
What kind of cat hangs out at the copy shop? COPYCAT!
What kind of cat is actually a fish? CATFISH!
What kind of cat breaks into places at night? CAT BURGLAR!
What kind of cat hangs out with Bat Man? CAT WOMAN!
What kind of cat has a thousand legs? CATERPILLAR!
What kind of cat is a big expensive car? CADILLAC!
What kind of cat is a great big disaster? CATASTROPHE!
What kind of cat is an even bigger disaster? CATACLYSM!
What kind of cat rhymes with that and is a long religious recitation?
CATECHISM!
What kind of cat is connected to the engine of your car?
CATALYTIC CONVERTER!
What kind of cat facilitates a chemical reaction? CATALYST!
What kind of cat comes in the mail from Sears? CATALOGUE!
What kind of cat is a group of things that are similar? CATEGORY!
What kind of cat is a whole bunch of cows? CATTLE!
What kind of cat throws stuff over the wall of a castle? CATAPULT!
What kind of cat tunnels under the castle? CATACOMB!
What kind of cat floats on two pontoons? CATAMARAN!
What kind of cat takes a picture of the inside of your body? CAT SCAN!
What kind of cat obscures your vision? CATARACT!
What kind of cat is being followed by a moon shadow? CAT STEVENS!
What kind of cat is the capital of Nepal? KATMANDU!
What kind of cat carries your golf clubs? CADDY!
--------------
Regarding free speech and censorship, at the risk of sounding like a broken record:
Give up your free speech at your peril. Once they are able to silence you, the game is over. The loss of all of your other freedoms will follow immediately after. Anyone that advocates to censor you, or to unmask your anonymity is your adversary. Treat them like one - no matter what else they say.
---
Why is it so vital and necessary for the combined monolithic apparatus of government, corporations, and NGOs, to brute force censor everyone while decimating the careers and reputations of the dissenters? Here is why:
The reason the First Amendment is prime directive order 1, is because it is the most important freedom we have for the same reason it is the first target an adversary subverts, disrupts, and destroys during a crime, a war, or a takeover—preventing a target from assembling, communicating, and organizing a response to an assault grants an enormous advantage to the aggressors.
This is and has been occurring all across the globe since the minute this COVID-19 fraud was propagated to every corner of the earth.
The Second Amendment is second because it is the remedy for anyone trying to subvert the First.
While I fully understand why you may think property ownership is more important than free speech--You do not actually have rights that involve land property. If you do not believe me void paying your land taxes for ten years. This may interest you: https://bitchute.com/video/D3SzbLyk0SAV [23 mins]
You are not wrong. Property rights would be equal to speech in the enlightenment model. They are not because not having ownership over the land is the ultimate source of slavery the only defense of which is speaking out against such tyranny (speech).
Tell more more, about why this matters to you, please.
I said elon will make it worse. My prediction was that he will force everyone to verify their identity and then with this profile you can say whatever you want. If you dare. But shadowbanning also works...
Yes, probably, oh... fall 2024. Just like Glenn Beck got taken off CNN in 2008, just before Obama's first selection. And from FOX in 2012, before the 2nd. And like Sun News Canada was shut down in 2015 before Trudope's selection... the truth can be inconvenient at times, especially when you are a wanna-be dictator.
While I don’t disagree with much of what you say, these are I think relevant points, admittedly, my opinions:
1) Elon has realized he has bitten off more than he can chew. While I was there the censorship never went away, my posts got buried and remained unseen. He was not able to control it.
2) Yaccarino was a desperate effort to fix the losing profitability battle. Poor judgment yes, but it wasn’t because he liked her WEF ties or whatever censorship she may have been involved in.
3) I see only minor differences here, except here it’s likely all profitability. If I criticize a user, however justifiably and that user is making them money, my criticism shall not be seen.
Basically the premise becomes, you can say what you like unless people notice.
As far as changing the circumstances, yuh, that’ll be as easy as was the American Revolution.
I seem to recall Elon himself musing publicly about what kind of person would be foolish enough to take the CEO job. I think he had to take what he could get.
I remember that too. Funny thing about people. Some think they’re not necessarily responsible for outcomes to things they’ve done or will do. Elon belongs to a second group that recognizes responsibility.
Globalists and the usual corporate types are in the first group.
In the first place we can learn quite a bit from our brothers and sisters in totalitarian states like China who developed their language online to evade censorship. And who in times prior to the net used fable and story to speak truth to power. In the second place, frankly, for 30 years I have championed from BBS to the WWW political organizing and free speech used to create a new community. A fascinating What If to be sure, what if the energy and enthusiasm from 1963-1980 had been able to be harnessed online? It hasn't. It won't. An incessant babbling about brutality but no direct actions, simply hands on keyboards reporting on the Home Front Casualties caused by the Civil Defense Community-CDC-will. And nothing changes. Tweedle Dumb holds power until pried from the hands of Democrats. Tweedle Dee will be just as bad. And the beat goes on:
i fear that such "coded speech" will fail in the face of AI and self learning large language models. the censorship wars are about to get hopelessly more complex with suppression, subversion, tinsel, gaslighting, thematic burying, and "agree and extend to absurdity" operations to discredit taking place so fast it will be hard to discern what is real.
the only solution here will be a verified reputation economy. everything else is going to become static.
I know that you're not a huge fan of bitcoin, but those many of those folks are very serious about privacy and freedom. And they're good at tech. Please take a look at Nostr
A.I. is not really needed though of course deployed. I am sure China uses A.I but as you see speech is more than hammering a nail.
I personally favor plain speech in political discourse and direction action is speech. During the bombing of El Salvador Americans resisting this war did alter billboards to present US planes bombing. There many other examples of speech modifying billboards. We have to resist. Open discourse is best. Speaking the truth to shame the devil's disciples. The devil does not care.
So if A.I. did not it is a routed to human eyeballs in Torrance, CA at the PLA Knowledge Intercept site where for about 1/3d of 2022 minimum wage cadre can come to California for a job and settle in barracks and then in LA.
It pains and tortures my poor old boomer soul to see this. And I am beginning to think maybe they really ARE putting stupid juice in the water.
Lets get this out of the way first: You are carrying in your pocket access to the most powerful information gathering\sharing, communications tool ever known to humanity.
Now time for the history lesson. No Virginia, Al Gore did not invent the internet, the US military did. Inter Net, get it? The whole point was to make an information gathering\storing\sharing\communicating tool, so that if some evil, wild-eyed enemy bombed NYC the same information could be found on computers in Cleveland, Topeka, Farmington, Winslow, etc, and accessed, shared, communicated, etc. Take off your Google glasses! Decentralization is BUILT IN to the internet. On purpose. Hilariously ironically by none other than the good old US GOVERNMENT.
El gato is of course correct, they can censor and police Twitter and Facebook and YouTube. But the internet? Not even in their wildest most unfettered wet dreams. And as one of the other posters has so brilliantly said, anyone who remembers Usenet and knows how it worked, knows this. Ditto IRC (internet relay chat). Ditto a bunch of other "old school" internet stuff. Unpolicable. Uncensorable. Maybe that's why they moved everyone away from this old tech, ya' think? And convinced you Twitter and Facebook etc are so much better, LOL. There is absolutely no need to overcomplicate this. We ALREADY have the technology, have had for a very long time now. Stop being outraged and crying about this and I hate to say it, just say NO to Musk and Zuckerburg. Grow some gonads for pity sake.
Long before the Web, there was Usenet. The agora was the set of "news groups". They were collections of text email messages posted to the groups. Anyone could start a new group, and anyone could read it. The communication protocol was UUCP (Unix to Unix Copy). Communication was entirely decentralized: A computer would contact one or more other computers (over dial-up modems) periodically and transfer the new messages, and thus the messages were spread. Anyone could add their computers to Usenet. The owner of each computer would decide which outside computers it would share data with, and which groups it would share. Each computer held the entire database of messages - the net was quite small then. In time, the system became bogged down by spam messages.
Some time after the Web was born, Google took over the Usenet groups, put them under centralized control, and renamed them "Google Groups". They may still exist, but I'm not sure.
Something like a modern version of the original Usenet is, I think, what would work.
I'm sure we could do a better version today. The problem I see is connectivity. Denial of service is happening to people, so what do you do if you can't find an ISP or they all have terms of service that forbid you from using your computer as a server or a node on this new network?
Built in encryption from the get go? I don't know a lot about encryption, but I do know this, my email is encrypted by default. My ISP doesn't seem to mind. Also I can encrypt the entire contents of the (my) computer itself if I want to. Encrypt the servers?
You're right of course, can't encrypt the IP address.
Well. . . I have read that Facebook (yes, Facebook) has a presence on the dark web so it can be accessed from countries that don't allow it. I have no idea whether this is true, but it would be deliciously ironic if it is.
Anyway, this got me thinking, maybe some tech from the dark web could be borrowed? I know even less about the dark web than I do about encryption.
Nevertheless, my now long aquaintance with computers and the internet have taught me that almost any problem can be solved, gotten around, or escaped.
My knowledge of networks is at the chipped stone tool level, so I don't know anything about this, but maybe someone is looking for a way out of censorship hell.
*sigh* I am reminded of Alien 3 where Ripley says, "You do know how to make fire? Most humans have enjoyed that privilege since the Stone Age." No, we don't need twitter, no we aren't dependent on it. They may want you to think you need it and are dependent on it. So you're going to believe them? LOL! Piss on them. Let me put it another way- You do have a mouth don't you and know how to use it? Most humans have enjoyed that privilege since before the Stone Age.
Way back when, when the internet as we know it was beginning to grow out of its infancy I read a column by John Dvorak that has stayed with me all this time. In this column he had the wonderful audacity to call things like America Online and My Space "the ghettos of the internet" and "the internet for stupid people." Twitter and Facebook have since joined AOL and My Space in the internet ghetto. Also in this column he quoted the then head of the Electronic Frontiers Foundation saying that "veracity and accuracy and truthfulness of information is going to become more and more important and it's the people who understand how to find out these things for themselves who will prosper on the internet."
Those were heady days indeed. 😉 I have never had a Twitter or Facebook account. In the early days when a friend suggested I check out Facebook my literal response was "You have got to be kidding me. It's just ridiculous." Yet somehow I manage to find all the information I need and want. The internet is truly a wonderous thing if you aren't a lazy dimwit who doesn't know how to use it.
How is using Twitter or Facebook any different than sitting on your ass in front of the tv being spoonfed the news that CNN or NBC or any of the others wants you to see? It's not. Why assume that Hunter and\or the 2020 election and\or covid info are the first instances of censoring on Facebook and Twitter?
There is another very real danger with the internet that I see play out on a near daily basis. It's the power of the internet to seduce people into believing that blabbering on Twitter or Facebook or Substack is actually DOING something. It's not. And right or wrong, love them or hate them, believe what you want about them the BLM and the January 6th people understood this.
What I observe is censorship had already succeeded in programming people to self-censor. I participate on a religious forum that leans progressive. The comments reveal an unshakable tribalism.
Recently a contributor argued that economic circumstances and outcomes proved the only viable vote was for Democrats. I responded that evidence showed it might be better to not support either major political party, and I shared the history of recent bipartisan government policies that bailed out corporate cronies, caused inflation and hurt the lower class.
The response to what I wrote was that I was completely wrong. Republicans were evil and Democrats were righteous. With such people truth has no value. What their tribe believes is the truth and that is what guides every thought and decision.
Come on everybody...think of Elon's big love..neurolink....he wants what's left of our brains...I believe he is a frontman for wef...he's having fun at our expense...
Great writing, as usual. In fact you are one of the best writers out there. And I have a feeling it's not what you trained in (for lack of a better word). Matt Taibbi and some of the other reporters are good at their job, doing what journalists should do. Maybe that's why they aren't memorable or moving stylists. Despite Taibbi's obsession with Hunter Thompson, he can't seem to access that state which turns prose into poetry. But this is the fourth of fifth essay of yours I've read that forces me to stop and inhale deeply, because it is somehow absurd for a 57 year old man to be brought to tears by an internet post, and I like to think I'm more dignified than that. But you are good. Your ability to invoke that "god damn fuckin' right!" feeling in your readers is invaluable. Even if this whole project is doomed it's still the only option, the only project worth anything.
Is a private employer allowed to demand I do not hold and express opinions contrary to company policy, in my own time on my own dime, under penalty of termination of employment?
If yes, then my freedom of speech/reach does not exist.
If no, who's going to enforce this right of mine over the power of the company?
If I'm sitting at a café, am I allowed to quietly read a book or paper that the management finds offensive?
If I want to print and publish a book, is the printer allowed to refuse based on content?
I could spend all night thinking up questions like these, where the censor is a private entity.
I think you need to study 19th century history real good, Gato. This isn't a new issue, just new tech.
Well, it sounds thrilling and hopeful, everything you urge.
But find me a roomful--even a small uncomfortable roomful--of people who aren't in one way or another secret or overt authoritarians. It's just they don't want "them guys" telling them what to do. They want to be the ones telling "them guys" what to do.
This is a natural human impulse. Fighting it is hard. Always has been. Every dissident group ever, that ran away from the authoritarians of their times and places to make brave new free worlds, just recreated the patterns.
Yeah--Elon. A guy who makes EVs and is devoted to space exploration and depends for his various nefarious products reliable access to very bad actors was never gonna be a friend of freedom.
Everyone here: how much freedom do you really want people you hate to have?
There's a lot of talk on Substack these days about the sad sorry state of education in the US and how that might be rectified.
I got a plan. Teach kids to be competent at reading, writing and arithmetic. For subject matter work, say, history and civics: present extracts to the class from a quality conservative historian and a quality liberal historian, and have them read, think about and discuss each perspective and what they think is a correct interpretation and an incorrect one, and why. Do that for science too. Give the kids an overview of how "scientific truth" has changed over the centuries and why it will of course continue to do so.
How many people really truly have the stones to let kids examine both or many sides of everything? Or they really just want the kids taught *their* side?
Let me know.
Aha! You want them to THINK! Not just turn into a bunch of happy little blank-fillers!
Alas, that train last left the station in the 1970s, and then the station was taken over by filth and rats and eventually bulldozed. Now nobody even remembers what used to be there... there was a sign once, but it was graffiti'd so bad that even that was ignominiously and unceremoniously removed.
It's hard to find a group of even two where one does not want to tell the other what to do, think, or be. Just attend a PTA or HOA board meeting, if you don't believe it. A bunch of wanna-be tyrants. And they are your friends and neighbors...
The only way Gato's plan works is for it to evolve organically, without a center or a plan or a manager. Such an evolution is inefficient (because it goes down so many blind alleys) but it is more likely to produce an egalitarian result than any sort of managed program. I'd argue that it is already underway but we just can't see it, which is an inevitable consequence of such a beast -- you can't describe it, you can't define it, you would not recognize it if you saw it. But one day it will just seem to be there, and it will almost be as if it were always there. Because in a way, it always was.
It might not surprise you that in my brief volunteer term on a city council (they call this place a city but...) advisory committee, I was the sole representative of the peasants' rebellion and I rebelled so much they were perpetually troubled about my--uh--tone. These types I know over-well.
I do like your last paragraph here. We should always remember what those weeds do to concrete, eventually. Even as a kid, I loved seeing it.
Doesn't surprise me at all. And after you've lived in a place like NYC, the word 'city' takes on a special meaning that no little burg of ten or twenty thousand can hope to match. They can call it 'the City of Newtown' or whatever they want... it is still a crossroad to those whose experience of a city is something more profound.
Detroit after the riots of 1967 went through a 'weed renaissance' as you might call it. At the time (before the riots) Detroit was the 4th most populous and one of the richest cities in the USA. The Motor City -- home of American manufacturing know-how. Whole blocks were deserted, the population cratered and will likely never come back. Nature abhors a vacuum, something will fill it. Ragweed lives almost everywhere.
One may hope that the people who allowed the rotting of excellent well-designed housing stock are roasting forever in God's big tandoor in the sky.
I have a hard time with the word 'allowed' in this context. Events like riots are not planned; they have a life of their own. Even if someone starts them intentionally, like the Antifa 'summer of love' in 2020, how it plays out can rarely be foretold. You can light the fire, but you cannot control the wind.
This is true. Or perhaps partially true. There's a type of person who imagines himself to be a leader but is really just an instigator of chaos. That person does indeed light the match and really gets off on the thrill of the spark. There's always a moment of choice--"which way do I push them?"
And they will never accept responsibility for it, or even feel regret for it.
During the 68 riot in Detroit, the radio played the Doors "Baby won't you light my fire" about every ten minutes. The riot was not just allowed, but promoted.
Poetic, WB.
The network already exists IRL.
I’m surprised at the number of people I meet (both red and blue states) against authoritarian control. They don’t want any part of it.
To see it requires engaging without agenda or cynicism, not always easy to hold at bay.
George Washington was one of the only ones who walked away.
Can we pro free speech and anti porn at same time? I'm sick of accidentally running into porn on Twitter.
If the porn is produced by criminal means (trafficking, child rape and exploitation), sure.
If it's just skeevy disgusting crap produced by freely-able-to-consent adults, we gotta just avert our eyes and move on.
Have you tried Gab? That's basically them in a nutshell.
As a free-speech-ist I do feel like wanting to find some middle ground, where people can create whatever they want (that is legal) yet not have unwanted things shoved in front of you... perhaps the concept of "consent" can be extended to sexual content in general, so that you have to get an informed "ok" first before posting porn to someone? (But drawing the line between 'sexy models' to 'porn' will be hard...)
Is Gab more strict on porn then? If so maybe I should consider transitioning.
Yes, Gab has a very much "no porn, no exceptions" policy, but anything other than that is pretty much "anything you like so long as it is legal, and if people don't like it it's on them to block you".
I think I used Gettr and Gab a little but never too much. I like the general "community" (Lol) I am following on Twitter and too lazy to start over.
Yes, now that you say it we should be able to opt in or out of pornagraphic material as part of our account settings and any user posting porn should have a special setting allowing it. Then, violators get dumped. The pretty girls (porn in clothing) are annoying but much more tolerable to the crazy stuff I have accidentally seen on Twitter. I didn't even know people did those things! Images burned in my brain and forever traumatized!
Matrix.org is open source and freely available. You might find rooms/spaces of desirable people there.
I found my desirable people right here on Substack. Cup just about runneth over.
❤️❤️❤️
Substack is privately owned and is not a protocol. Nor is it peer to peer. But those peer to peer networks are often hard for non-tech people to figure out. For those of us who grew up in IRC, it brings back the halcyon days of text chat without the dumbass ads.
I see this place as a nice big allowed-to-run-wild back yard with lots of tables and lawn chairs. Eventually we all figure out who we want to sit down with and kibitz, and who don't necessarily suit our temperaments. But there's enough room for everyone.
You make an important point. Part of what makes these private platforms vulnerable is that they make their money by selling ad space. So they are always at least somewhat beholden to the "sponsors." Substack doesn't have ads. 😉
But substack activity is dependent on an owner. It would not be hard (for tptb) to turn off the internet to substack and debank the owner.
And Elon bans linking to Substack in tweets.
Oho. Everybody else is here too, and ships are unloading huddled masses
Just visited home page of matrix. I’m 50-50 about how easy it might be to use, I may check it out for real. Thanks for posting!
A consideration that I rarely find in discussions about technology use, is the application of a multi-generational approach. We currently have a wide disparity between younger generation who has never know life without software, laptops, servers, personal devices of one sort or another; and the older generations who used dial-up telephones with party lines, recall the advent of teletype and fax machines, may or may not have adopted personal computers as soon as they were affordable, entered DOS commands to execute functions(thereby risking wiping out company hard drives, as yours truly did early on)...etc.
I am eager to witness a “decentralized information infrastructure”... I can tell you far too many in my world will just be overwhelmed.
I anticipate AI scraping this platform, and shutting down contrary content, maybe it’s already happening. 🤷♀️ Does anyone know if the brains behind this operation put safeguards in place?
Matrix is easy if you stay on its main servers.
Husband has an instance running, not federated with other matrix servers, but getting friends (even tech aware ones) to connect to our server requires that they do some black magic incantation. The wife acceptance factor of the "create account" process is low. 🤣
But it's mostly just chitchat as text. You can upload files, images, etc.
Offspring doesn't know how to use the basic phone app (I assume) because he defaults to secure calls over our server.
How many people really truly have the stones to let kids examine both or many sides of everything?
-----------
This is the only way to be confident in your knowledge.
One of the things I'm most proud of as a mother was telling my kid nobody has the right to tell anyone what to believe. It must be felt from inside.
And my guess is you've never even once considered running for office.
It ain't no joke I'd like to be Empress of the Universe. Remember what I said about finding any non-authoritarian types? I'm as impure as any. The thing is, I recognize my tendencies.
You're missing the point of this piece.
Twitter is supposed to be the place of free speech and your point has little to do with what's now going to happen at twitter as the authoritarians start to find other more subtle ways to censor opinions.
Talking about inherent human nature is a completely different subject.
"You're missing the point of this piece."
Am I?
Here! I'm willing to let you speak your mind about anything you like. Just be aware that incompatible concepts is a thing and I reserve my right to tune you out or, if you are attempting to appeal to my baser instincts, altogether block you.
Authority chains are necessary. Its just the question of which and how large. The gargantuan psychopathic , parasitic and bureaucratic states of Present times aren't it
Found your anthem el gato malo (disregard if you've seen this before):
https://youtu.be/W1N-V4mqV3k
Billy Jonas--What Kind of Cat Are You?
What kind of cat hangs out in your house? HOUSE CAT!
What kind of cat hangs out in the alley? ALLEY CAT!
What kind of cat is a chocolate candy bar? KIT KAT!
What kind of cat are you? What kind of cat are you?
Tell me tell me true, what kind of cat are you?
I'll give you some clues. What kind of cat are you?
What kind of cat has the first name of Tom? TOM CAT!
What kind of cat is really really scared? SCAREDY-CAT!
What kind of cat hangs out at the copy shop? COPYCAT!
What kind of cat is actually a fish? CATFISH!
What kind of cat breaks into places at night? CAT BURGLAR!
What kind of cat hangs out with Bat Man? CAT WOMAN!
What kind of cat has a thousand legs? CATERPILLAR!
What kind of cat is a big expensive car? CADILLAC!
What kind of cat is a great big disaster? CATASTROPHE!
What kind of cat is an even bigger disaster? CATACLYSM!
What kind of cat rhymes with that and is a long religious recitation?
CATECHISM!
What kind of cat is connected to the engine of your car?
CATALYTIC CONVERTER!
What kind of cat facilitates a chemical reaction? CATALYST!
What kind of cat comes in the mail from Sears? CATALOGUE!
What kind of cat is a group of things that are similar? CATEGORY!
What kind of cat is a whole bunch of cows? CATTLE!
What kind of cat throws stuff over the wall of a castle? CATAPULT!
What kind of cat tunnels under the castle? CATACOMB!
What kind of cat floats on two pontoons? CATAMARAN!
What kind of cat takes a picture of the inside of your body? CAT SCAN!
What kind of cat obscures your vision? CATARACT!
What kind of cat is being followed by a moon shadow? CAT STEVENS!
What kind of cat is the capital of Nepal? KATMANDU!
What kind of cat carries your golf clubs? CADDY!
--------------
Regarding free speech and censorship, at the risk of sounding like a broken record:
Give up your free speech at your peril. Once they are able to silence you, the game is over. The loss of all of your other freedoms will follow immediately after. Anyone that advocates to censor you, or to unmask your anonymity is your adversary. Treat them like one - no matter what else they say.
---
Why is it so vital and necessary for the combined monolithic apparatus of government, corporations, and NGOs, to brute force censor everyone while decimating the careers and reputations of the dissenters? Here is why:
The reason the First Amendment is prime directive order 1, is because it is the most important freedom we have for the same reason it is the first target an adversary subverts, disrupts, and destroys during a crime, a war, or a takeover—preventing a target from assembling, communicating, and organizing a response to an assault grants an enormous advantage to the aggressors.
This is and has been occurring all across the globe since the minute this COVID-19 fraud was propagated to every corner of the earth.
The Second Amendment is second because it is the remedy for anyone trying to subvert the First.
I would like to be a caterpillar, but a D-10, much harder to squash.
I’d argue that property rights are up there near the top. Maybe even first, whatever. Well said sir.
While I fully understand why you may think property ownership is more important than free speech--You do not actually have rights that involve land property. If you do not believe me void paying your land taxes for ten years. This may interest you: https://bitchute.com/video/D3SzbLyk0SAV [23 mins]
I agree that we don’t really have property rights. Your points are well taken. My point is simply that property rights are critical.
There is a reason freedom of speech is first. And the right to bear arms second.
Property rights come much lower down, because land is always subject to a government, so those "rights" are really a privilege.
Ok, point taken. I have a response but it’s too involved. I don’t want to attempt it here.
You are not wrong. Property rights would be equal to speech in the enlightenment model. They are not because not having ownership over the land is the ultimate source of slavery the only defense of which is speaking out against such tyranny (speech).
Tell more more, about why this matters to you, please.
Great comment! Thank you, tritorch.
“freedom of speech but not reach” - LMAO. Now that's creative writing that Orwell would be proud of.
It’s an ADL line.
Anyone who thinks Musk is a free speech advocate is hopeful or foolish. Same for Trump. Talk does nothing. And pushing posion jabs kill
I said elon will make it worse. My prediction was that he will force everyone to verify their identity and then with this profile you can say whatever you want. If you dare. But shadowbanning also works...
I hate it too they all.lie.
Dec. 17 tweet, Trump tweeted, “Get those ‘shots’ everyone!”
What is the story behind the picture of the yellow cat being carried away by two uniformed men?
What did the kitty do to warrant that treatment?
he spoke truth to power.
and those who wear the crown have a nasty tendency to speak power to truth in return.
Indeed, to speak violence.
Great piece. Will be interesting to see how substack fares.
"Will be interesting to see how substack fares."
It's only a matter of time.
Yes, probably, oh... fall 2024. Just like Glenn Beck got taken off CNN in 2008, just before Obama's first selection. And from FOX in 2012, before the 2nd. And like Sun News Canada was shut down in 2015 before Trudope's selection... the truth can be inconvenient at times, especially when you are a wanna-be dictator.
"Any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing."
- Conquest's 2nd Law of Politics
https://www.isegoria.net/2008/07/robert-conquests-three-laws-of-politics/
That is an awesome page.
“it really does not matter what intentions one starts with or what high ideals are espoused.”
Perhaps the ultimate example of this abyss-staring inevitability is “Do[n’t] be evil.”
Only a few stand against the dazzling temptations.
While I don’t disagree with much of what you say, these are I think relevant points, admittedly, my opinions:
1) Elon has realized he has bitten off more than he can chew. While I was there the censorship never went away, my posts got buried and remained unseen. He was not able to control it.
2) Yaccarino was a desperate effort to fix the losing profitability battle. Poor judgment yes, but it wasn’t because he liked her WEF ties or whatever censorship she may have been involved in.
3) I see only minor differences here, except here it’s likely all profitability. If I criticize a user, however justifiably and that user is making them money, my criticism shall not be seen.
Basically the premise becomes, you can say what you like unless people notice.
As far as changing the circumstances, yuh, that’ll be as easy as was the American Revolution.
I seem to recall Elon himself musing publicly about what kind of person would be foolish enough to take the CEO job. I think he had to take what he could get.
I remember that too. Funny thing about people. Some think they’re not necessarily responsible for outcomes to things they’ve done or will do. Elon belongs to a second group that recognizes responsibility.
Globalists and the usual corporate types are in the first group.
Then again, maybe he just couldn’t wait to get his life back.
It’s always about the money.
Indeed.
In the first place we can learn quite a bit from our brothers and sisters in totalitarian states like China who developed their language online to evade censorship. And who in times prior to the net used fable and story to speak truth to power. In the second place, frankly, for 30 years I have championed from BBS to the WWW political organizing and free speech used to create a new community. A fascinating What If to be sure, what if the energy and enthusiasm from 1963-1980 had been able to be harnessed online? It hasn't. It won't. An incessant babbling about brutality but no direct actions, simply hands on keyboards reporting on the Home Front Casualties caused by the Civil Defense Community-CDC-will. And nothing changes. Tweedle Dumb holds power until pried from the hands of Democrats. Tweedle Dee will be just as bad. And the beat goes on:
https://youtu.be/OzkYYE6hmjg
i fear that such "coded speech" will fail in the face of AI and self learning large language models. the censorship wars are about to get hopelessly more complex with suppression, subversion, tinsel, gaslighting, thematic burying, and "agree and extend to absurdity" operations to discredit taking place so fast it will be hard to discern what is real.
the only solution here will be a verified reputation economy. everything else is going to become static.
Nostr
I know that you're not a huge fan of bitcoin, but those many of those folks are very serious about privacy and freedom. And they're good at tech. Please take a look at Nostr
Yes. Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
Not to mention the reader has to know the code.
So let us reason together. There exist three choices. The objection of the key is not formidable as it worked in China. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/03/china-social-media-language-government-censorship-covid/
1. No speech
2. Plain speech
3. Coded speech or lingo
A.I. is not really needed though of course deployed. I am sure China uses A.I but as you see speech is more than hammering a nail.
I personally favor plain speech in political discourse and direction action is speech. During the bombing of El Salvador Americans resisting this war did alter billboards to present US planes bombing. There many other examples of speech modifying billboards. We have to resist. Open discourse is best. Speaking the truth to shame the devil's disciples. The devil does not care.
Honest question (I'm not very knowledgeable about computers et c), given Gato's reply:
Co ul dan AI d ec od eth iss ente nce?
You and I can read it (assuming neither of us is extremely dyslexic) with a little effort. A human censor could too.
But could a machine? I h one stlyd on 'tk now.
So if A.I. did not it is a routed to human eyeballs in Torrance, CA at the PLA Knowledge Intercept site where for about 1/3d of 2022 minimum wage cadre can come to California for a job and settle in barracks and then in LA.
It would take some additional programming effort, probably, but a machine could definitely be made to decode that.
Amen, brother.
It pains and tortures my poor old boomer soul to see this. And I am beginning to think maybe they really ARE putting stupid juice in the water.
Lets get this out of the way first: You are carrying in your pocket access to the most powerful information gathering\sharing, communications tool ever known to humanity.
Now time for the history lesson. No Virginia, Al Gore did not invent the internet, the US military did. Inter Net, get it? The whole point was to make an information gathering\storing\sharing\communicating tool, so that if some evil, wild-eyed enemy bombed NYC the same information could be found on computers in Cleveland, Topeka, Farmington, Winslow, etc, and accessed, shared, communicated, etc. Take off your Google glasses! Decentralization is BUILT IN to the internet. On purpose. Hilariously ironically by none other than the good old US GOVERNMENT.
El gato is of course correct, they can censor and police Twitter and Facebook and YouTube. But the internet? Not even in their wildest most unfettered wet dreams. And as one of the other posters has so brilliantly said, anyone who remembers Usenet and knows how it worked, knows this. Ditto IRC (internet relay chat). Ditto a bunch of other "old school" internet stuff. Unpolicable. Uncensorable. Maybe that's why they moved everyone away from this old tech, ya' think? And convinced you Twitter and Facebook etc are so much better, LOL. There is absolutely no need to overcomplicate this. We ALREADY have the technology, have had for a very long time now. Stop being outraged and crying about this and I hate to say it, just say NO to Musk and Zuckerburg. Grow some gonads for pity sake.
The Internet was ruined by normies joining in.
Long before the Web, there was Usenet. The agora was the set of "news groups". They were collections of text email messages posted to the groups. Anyone could start a new group, and anyone could read it. The communication protocol was UUCP (Unix to Unix Copy). Communication was entirely decentralized: A computer would contact one or more other computers (over dial-up modems) periodically and transfer the new messages, and thus the messages were spread. Anyone could add their computers to Usenet. The owner of each computer would decide which outside computers it would share data with, and which groups it would share. Each computer held the entire database of messages - the net was quite small then. In time, the system became bogged down by spam messages.
Some time after the Web was born, Google took over the Usenet groups, put them under centralized control, and renamed them "Google Groups". They may still exist, but I'm not sure.
Something like a modern version of the original Usenet is, I think, what would work.
10,000 likes! 😊 Also very glad to know I'm not the only one here that remembers Usenet.
And of course you're exactly correct, something like Usenet would work just fine and be very Useful. (Sorry, couldn't resist.) 😉🌻
Haha, I met my wife on Usenet :-)
I'm sure we could do a better version today. The problem I see is connectivity. Denial of service is happening to people, so what do you do if you can't find an ISP or they all have terms of service that forbid you from using your computer as a server or a node on this new network?
Hmmmmm. . .
Built in encryption from the get go? I don't know a lot about encryption, but I do know this, my email is encrypted by default. My ISP doesn't seem to mind. Also I can encrypt the entire contents of the (my) computer itself if I want to. Encrypt the servers?
I don't think you can encrypt the IP address. A cooperative VPN would be mandatory, but then the VPN company becomes the target.
You're right of course, can't encrypt the IP address.
Well. . . I have read that Facebook (yes, Facebook) has a presence on the dark web so it can be accessed from countries that don't allow it. I have no idea whether this is true, but it would be deliciously ironic if it is.
Anyway, this got me thinking, maybe some tech from the dark web could be borrowed? I know even less about the dark web than I do about encryption.
Nevertheless, my now long aquaintance with computers and the internet have taught me that almost any problem can be solved, gotten around, or escaped.
Hey, I just found something that could be interesting: https://blueskyweb.xyz/faq
My knowledge of networks is at the chipped stone tool level, so I don't know anything about this, but maybe someone is looking for a way out of censorship hell.
*sigh* I am reminded of Alien 3 where Ripley says, "You do know how to make fire? Most humans have enjoyed that privilege since the Stone Age." No, we don't need twitter, no we aren't dependent on it. They may want you to think you need it and are dependent on it. So you're going to believe them? LOL! Piss on them. Let me put it another way- You do have a mouth don't you and know how to use it? Most humans have enjoyed that privilege since before the Stone Age.
Way back when, when the internet as we know it was beginning to grow out of its infancy I read a column by John Dvorak that has stayed with me all this time. In this column he had the wonderful audacity to call things like America Online and My Space "the ghettos of the internet" and "the internet for stupid people." Twitter and Facebook have since joined AOL and My Space in the internet ghetto. Also in this column he quoted the then head of the Electronic Frontiers Foundation saying that "veracity and accuracy and truthfulness of information is going to become more and more important and it's the people who understand how to find out these things for themselves who will prosper on the internet."
Those were heady days indeed. 😉 I have never had a Twitter or Facebook account. In the early days when a friend suggested I check out Facebook my literal response was "You have got to be kidding me. It's just ridiculous." Yet somehow I manage to find all the information I need and want. The internet is truly a wonderous thing if you aren't a lazy dimwit who doesn't know how to use it.
How is using Twitter or Facebook any different than sitting on your ass in front of the tv being spoonfed the news that CNN or NBC or any of the others wants you to see? It's not. Why assume that Hunter and\or the 2020 election and\or covid info are the first instances of censoring on Facebook and Twitter?
There is another very real danger with the internet that I see play out on a near daily basis. It's the power of the internet to seduce people into believing that blabbering on Twitter or Facebook or Substack is actually DOING something. It's not. And right or wrong, love them or hate them, believe what you want about them the BLM and the January 6th people understood this.
Back to IRL.
What I observe is censorship had already succeeded in programming people to self-censor. I participate on a religious forum that leans progressive. The comments reveal an unshakable tribalism.
Recently a contributor argued that economic circumstances and outcomes proved the only viable vote was for Democrats. I responded that evidence showed it might be better to not support either major political party, and I shared the history of recent bipartisan government policies that bailed out corporate cronies, caused inflation and hurt the lower class.
The response to what I wrote was that I was completely wrong. Republicans were evil and Democrats were righteous. With such people truth has no value. What their tribe believes is the truth and that is what guides every thought and decision.
Come on everybody...think of Elon's big love..neurolink....he wants what's left of our brains...I believe he is a frontman for wef...he's having fun at our expense...
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/aug/11/elon-musk-mark-zuckerberg-cage-fight-italy-government
I hope they both maim and obliterate each other. Good riddance to complicit, democidal PSYCHOPATHS ‼️😡🤬
Great writing, as usual. In fact you are one of the best writers out there. And I have a feeling it's not what you trained in (for lack of a better word). Matt Taibbi and some of the other reporters are good at their job, doing what journalists should do. Maybe that's why they aren't memorable or moving stylists. Despite Taibbi's obsession with Hunter Thompson, he can't seem to access that state which turns prose into poetry. But this is the fourth of fifth essay of yours I've read that forces me to stop and inhale deeply, because it is somehow absurd for a 57 year old man to be brought to tears by an internet post, and I like to think I'm more dignified than that. But you are good. Your ability to invoke that "god damn fuckin' right!" feeling in your readers is invaluable. Even if this whole project is doomed it's still the only option, the only project worth anything.
people always seem to underestimate the therapeutic value of cats.
Is a private employer allowed to demand I do not hold and express opinions contrary to company policy, in my own time on my own dime, under penalty of termination of employment?
If yes, then my freedom of speech/reach does not exist.
If no, who's going to enforce this right of mine over the power of the company?
If I'm sitting at a café, am I allowed to quietly read a book or paper that the management finds offensive?
If I want to print and publish a book, is the printer allowed to refuse based on content?
I could spend all night thinking up questions like these, where the censor is a private entity.
I think you need to study 19th century history real good, Gato. This isn't a new issue, just new tech.