I have mixed feelings on this one, tbh

On one hand, that was actually the original name. That changed after WW2 and to be honest I kinda think the name was part of a greater campaign to make it seem as though, somehow, the military actions that followed in the next few decades in the middle east, Asia, Latin America, etc. were actually all just “defending” the US. Which is bullshit.

On the other hand, having perhaps the most insane president this country has ever seen saying that calling it war instead of defense because its more accurate to the current times is quite concerning to say the least.

I find it very promising. As much as I love meat, its pretty undeniable that raising livestock is super inefficient. It takes so much food to raise livestock that, iirc, more farmland in the US is dedicated to growing food for our food than to growing food for us. Lab grown meat doesn’t completely solve this - there are still lost calories in the process to my knowledge - but its way more efficnient. Plus less land usage, less fossil fuel emissions, overall it would be more sustainable.

I see 2 big problems facing it right now:

The first is scale, which is the more significant. We’d need to figure out how to grow meat on a truly massive scale. Definitely doable though, just needs more research.

The second is “realism” or how close it seems to natural meat. Lab grown meat has the advantage over like plant based stuff because it is actually meat. However, ifnits too perfect or uniform, or maybe doesnr have enough fat or variety, it might be seen as unnatural by many (even just subconsciously) and push them away from it.

But yeah, could be awesome.

To some people “seeing through western propaganda” means deciding what to believe by whatever the opposite of western forces want

Hate to break it to you but that’s not thinking for yourself, in fact it takes no more self reflection and thought than it would to just blindly believe it all

his concerns about technology’s potential to enable authoritarian control.

I don’t even know what to say at this point

Or are they so desperate to shoot someone that they just wanna blast some kid and say they feared for their lives?

It is exactly this. These are deeply violent people who are actively seeking any reason to hide behind the excuse of self defense.

Sure, but it still seems to be like a simply stupid move on their part. They’re gonna turn one of the most influential activists of this generation from an outside observer to an eye witness

Ah yes, because as everyone knows the best way to stop determined activists from talking about your human rights abuses is to show them first hand your human rights abuses. I’m sure they’ll just shut up after that.

I know a pilot and he mentioned a similar proposal he saw, he thought that the only reason anyone wanted them was so that they would have one less pilot to pay per flight.

Probably. But that might be under the umbrella of optional usage statistics/reporting that you can opt out of. Since this new tracking would be “necessary” for their “security” feature to work, there’s no chance that it could be avoided.

Could be, but that could also just be done locally. Like your phone checking the apps you have installed and seeing if the same ones are on the play store. Having an install limit for an app - assuming that means that the app can only be installed some total number of times globally (a local install limit wouldn’t make any sense I think) - necessarily implies that when you install an app through an APK, it has to tell Google that you installed that app so it can track how many people have installed it and not approve installation of the app if it’s over whatever the limit is.

Something kind of concerning I just found - there’s an option for “limited distribution” which is “Intended for ‘students, hobbyists, and other personal use.’” One of the differences is the following:

Has “capped number of apps and installs”(specific limits not disclosed)

Doesn’t this imply there’s going to be global tracking of what apps people are installing even through sideloading or APKs? I can’t think of any other way to enforce this. They would have to know how many times people installed an app even when its not through any kind of app store or even from the internet at all.

Huh? In the 2024 colorado election there was a ballot measure to retain excess tax from sports betting and it overwhelmingly passed. Year before there was a similar one for excess tax on tobacco, also passed by a ton. Are you referring to something different?

This is true, I was referring to english wikipedia.

Fyi everyone: you can download the entirety of Wikipedia yourself from kiwix and it’s only about 50gb for the whole thing, 100 with all images.

In theory thats all well and good, but in practice there is no state which I would trust to decide who does and doesn’t get free speech. If the bourgeosie don’t get free speech, then the state can silence anyone they disagree with by labeling them as part of the bourgeoisie. And while I certainly wish we could just take freedom of speech from nazis - because they absolutely do not deserve it, you’re right about that - in that case the state can silence anyone by labeling them a nazi. Which kinda is happening right now because some will try to silence people who are pro-palestinian by labeling them as anti-semetic and then comparing them to nazis. You also see that with people being labeled as terrorists, or gang affiliated, for example. (Same argument applies to due process, and to a greater extent, but thats not super relevant)

Lot of the DNC is too stupid to realize that. They see missing votes from demographics that normally would and assume it means that theyre too left and need to appeal more to centrists.

I know it’s not static, thats why I said I would support reunification if the people of Taiwan did. You, however, are refusing to acknowledge your own biases and hypocrisy on this matter.

If those complexities were significant enough, then the people of Taiwan would support reunification. Like you said yourself earlier, these people aren’t stupid. If it was best for them to be a part of the PRC they would support that, but they overwhelmingly wouldn’t. And, to be clear, this is not even close. Your own source said it was less than 8% of the population wanted reunification. That’s one of the most overwhelmingly unpopular opinions I’ve ever seen in politics.

This conversation started with you arguing that the PRC was so great because the people of the PRC believed it to be. That the PRC should be the way it is because thats what the people want. And now here we are, talking about a people who overwhelmingly think they should not be a part of the PRC, and now suddenly “what the people want” isn’t valid anymore? Why was that valid when it was in favor of the PRC but is invalid when it isn’t? Maybe you’re right that I have a bias and preconceived notions, but you clearly do too.

As I said, if the opinion of the people of Taiwan change to be in favor of reunification then I will also support it, regardless of what western influences want. I understand the situation is complex but consent and self-determination are not.

Again, my stance on Taiwan is simple: because the people of Taiwan do not wish to be part of the PRC, I do not believe they should be. Do you disagree with me?

I couldn’t care less about what the US government has to say on the matter. As I feel I’ve made abundantly clear, I do not believe Taiwan should be a part of the PRC because the people of Taiwan do not wish to be a part of the PRC. Any other factors are fairly insignificant compared to that. Even your pro-PRC article clearly states the statistics - that reunification is extremely unpopular to the people of Taiwan - so I really doubt that is western propaganda or the US narrative.