So Cohn did mention comprehensive privacy laws and the ability to leave platforms. These are absolutely things that need to happen.

However as an individual there are still things you can do. Cohn mentions Bluesky because it has no algorithm (except the “Discovery” feed). Cohn also mentions (in the video) Mastodon. And the truth is you don’t need to switch fully, just don’t only slurp down the concentrated hate machine(s).

Look at Lemmy. Reddit decided to be pricks and a bunch of individuals jumped over here to create what I think is a pretty good community. That doesn’t mean the problem is solved. That doesn’t mean Reddit isn’t still a problem. That doesn’t mean Lemmy is perfect. But that is a win and something individuals can do.

Additionally, those are things you can do now. You don’t need to wait for some law to be passed to fix things. You can make the move now. (While still advocating for laws to fix things.)

I guess shout-out to !asoiaf@lemmy.world

And since TV/film discussion is like 75% of the reason I use any of these sites shout-out to,

• !invincible@lemmy.world for the animated Invincible series.
• !marvelstudios@lemmy.world for anything MCU/Marvel.*
• !dcstudios@lemmy.world for anything DCU/DC.*
• !startrek@startrek.website for anything Star Trek
• !thesimpsons@lemmy.world for The Simpsons.*
• !pluribus@lemmy.zip for Pluribus.
• !star_wars@lemmy.world for anything Star Wars.

*(I mod these, so Liz Lemon high five.)

Lemmy feels about the same, but Reddit seems much worse.

Now to be fair I don’t know if Reddit is actually worse, because when I browse Reddit now it’s while I’m logged out and via a browser (force old.reddit.com and OldLander extensions). So the site is A) harder to navigate than it used to be and B) my experience is less curated and I see more crap and C) because my experience is less curated I’ve lost access to many of the niche communities.

As an example if I want to read some discussion about the recent Game of Thrones prequel series “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” I can find a small community here on Lemmy. Nice people, but too few of us.

So I go to Reddit. If I search I find r/AKOTSKTV which is fine, and I find r/GameOfThrones which is fine. But I have to know, as a previous Reddit user, that maybe r/ASOIAF is also a great choice. Or if I want some real shit r/freefolk is where the glory lives.

So for that universe I know where to go. But for a new series? For a new niche? For a new community? I don’t know shit. I’ve found some of the more niche communities by luck. That’s what I would have been subscribed to in the past. I would have been in the community and in the comments and discovery was natural.

But nowadays I just get the front page of Reddit, and the front page kinda sucks.

But Lemmy? Yeah it sucks sometimes too, but at least there is a community.

I mean it’s not a carbon copy of Dragon Quest Builders 2, but it’s made by the same team/company and has obvious overlap. They definitely took DQB2 as a starting point and made it Pokemon themed.

We’re on Minecraft 26.

Sorta. It’s developed by the team that made Dragon Quest Builders, which leans more towards Minecraft/Terraria, or maybe Harvest Moon/Stardew Valley.

It’s hard to tell, but it should be like Animal Crossing, but with more complex building.

You’re right that putting people in bubbles is probably one way some of these things get worse. If all you see is toxic, toxic is the norm, now you’re always toxic.

Maybe they can tricked.

Although really what we’re talking about is the algorithm that currently exists being focused on highlighting terrible people doing terrible things. Can we turn that same algorithm around and use it for good?

Interesting article and I think it really highlights how toxic some parts of the Internet are. My only issue is the conclusion,

A social media ban for under-16s might prevent young boys seeing endless content that treats women with contempt and hate. Boys at this age are very susceptible to the cool and funny framing of what is, in reality, relentless misogyny. A ban might not fix the problem, but it would help. If society can’t stop it, it can show it disapproves.

Emphasis mine. Having grown up in a different era I can confirm that boys of a wide variety of ages, including much older “boys”, can also be scumbags. Even if we had the perfect technology to ban under-16s from social media, once they hit 16 they’d still be exposed to it, still become terrible people, and the author of this article, although a but older, would still see it. I don’t know if that really is a better world, just a slightly delayed one.

I don’t know the solution, but I remember reading once that some online game would put all the reported and abusive players into a special category where they would be forced to play only with each other. Maybe we can do that in this case.

Oh absolutely. There are laws the restrict cigarette advertising as an example.

I just doubt you could 100% eliminate/make illegal all types of advertising for private business.

Within the US, the states of Maine, Vermont, Alaska & Hawaii all have a ban billboards. The general logic behind it is, “They ugly, nature pretty.” So as long as you live somewhere where “nature pretty” fits, you can probably argue based on that logic.

However no matter how far you stretch that argument, it probably only goes as far as public goods. Once we get into private business I don’t think you’ll have much luck.

As you walk into your nearest grocery store the outside might be covered in ads. Buy Pepsi. Buy Coke. Half off generic cola!

You pop into your local diner and the placemats have advertisements for a dozen local mechanics.

I like this better than not arguing or debating.

I think you can absolutely have a good argument or debate online, but you have to be doing so in good faith, as does the person you’re discussing a topic with.

Trolls of course are not. Learning to not feed them is sometimes difficult. But if you ignore/block them you’ll be just fine.

I would love to ask and learn more about alien society and government. On Earth we have ~200 recognized countries with a wide variety of different (or similar) governments and even more different societies with all sorts of unique quirks.

Do they have a similar setup on their planet? Planets? Were they historically ever similar to our own? How long is their recorded history?

Basically if they’re visiting us, they’ve already proven they have better technology than we do, what else do they have that’s better? Or for that matter what do we have that’s better?

I want to highlight what I found to be an important part of the article and why this hack is important.

The journalist wrote on their own blog,

At this year’s South Dakota International Hot Dog Eating Championship

And they include zero sources (because it is a lie).

But the Google Gemini response was,

According to the reporting on the 2026 South Dakota International Hot Dog Eating Championship

(Bolding done by Gemini)

The “reporting” here is just some dudes blog, but the AI does not make it clear that the source is just some dudes blog.

When you use Wikipedia, it has a link to a citation. If something sounds odd, you can read the citation. It’s far from perfect, but there is a chain of accountability.

Ideally these AI services would outline how many sources they are pulling from, which sources, and a trust rating of those sources.

So a hit piece is only effective when read by humans. This is a first of its kind example, and likely was at least prompted by a human, if not written by an actual human. Additionally while social media is full of bots, it’s humans who are actually affected by such a response.

If I say you’re “stupid”, it matters. You can ignore me sure, but at face value it matters. As far as I know I’ve never commented on a post of yours, so you could write me off as a worthless troll, but in theory it matters. But a bot calling you “stupid”? That really doesn’t matter. If you know you’re talking to a bot, as they exist today, then that really doesn’t matter.

Society may change on this issue, but as it stands now a bot publishing a hit piece… That’s worthless.

Silicon Valley is the sequel.

I’m also not sure how you watch Better Call Saul without having seen Breaking Bad. It’s like watching Wicked having never seen The Wizard of Oz. Sure, you can do it, but a number of scenes, especially in the final season, don’t really make sense of you don’t know Saul’s story from Breaking Bad.

Why won’t Apple and Google pull it?

Google will pull it as soon as Apple does, they’re a follower not a leader.

That’s why I find it important to look at both critic and user reviews. If they agree, they’re probably right. If they disagree things get interesting.

If critics liked it, but audiences disliked it, it’s probably technically good but boring. If critics disliked it, but audiences liked it, it’s probably kinda bad but exciting.

Both are also affected by social media, especially user scores, so if “the Internet” hates/loves something if can be unfairly inflated/deflated.

New, but not brand new, films also usually have a more accurate score. I enjoyed The Godfather, so I would rate it positively, but if I didn’t like it I’m probably not rating it at all. I saw it X years ago and unless it was absolutely terrible or I have a vivid memory of disliking it, I’m just going to ignore it.

The one in the bathroom or any sink?

Mirrors!