4 ms·

I'm considering the same thing. I've done the "contact your MP" thing, but it's a waste of time. You just receive a pre-written letter from some minimum wage as

I'm considering the same thing. I've done the "contact your MP" thing, but it's a waste of time. You just receive a pre-written letter from some minimum wage assistant (or maybe just a bot). It's either that or I just consider the internet dead and move on. It's nothing like it was 20 years ago anyway. There are other things to do. Many books to read and places to go. We had something really cool and we were lucky to experience it while it lasted, but it's gone now.

echelon_musk 4mo ago
> consider the internet dead and move on. It's nothing like it was 20 years ago anyway. There are other things to do. Many books to read and places to go. We had something really cool and we were lucky to experience it while it lasted, but it's gone now. I'm pretty much at this stage too. The web/internet was a frontier like the Wild West. But those wild days are gone and are never coming back. Cyberspace has been settled.
- gizajob 4mo ago
  The web is only a minuscule part of cyberspace. Once millions of people have an AI supercomputer running a graphical node at home in 3-10 years time, then cyberspace will finally start IMO. The web will look like a catalogue file in comparison.
  - mplewis 4mo ago
    don't be a crank
    - gizajob 4mo ago
      Useful feedback thanks.
  - farnsworthfusor 4mo ago
    What will it do?
    - andai 4mo ago
      Full range. Full motion! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkpcYv9Qm5w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkpcYv9Qm5w
verzali 4mo ago
Depends on your MP. I have received surprisingly detailed responses to some of my past letters. If they can't be arsed to answer you, then you shouldn't be arsed to vote for them, at least in my opinion.
- benj111 4mo ago
  Yes definitely. I had one MP for 4 years that would personally reply at all hours. I was getting replies at 10pm. I felt the need to tell him off and turn his phone off. But the other 2 I've interacted with were useless.
cedws 4mo ago
It’s hard to feel any enthusiasm for democracy watching things you disagree with being pushed through and having no power to stop it. I signed the petition to reverse the OSA and all we got was a canned response. I’ve come to the conclusion the only thing you can really do is leave when you disagree with the direction of your country, but of course not everyone has the ability to do that.
- nozzlegear 4mo ago
  > It’s hard to feel any enthusiasm for democracy watching things you disagree with being pushed through and having no power to stop it. That often is democracy: what's popular isn't always what's best.
  - lokar 4mo ago
    I find that many comments on this subject here don’t seem to consider that a majority (perhaps a large majority) of citizens in their nation support these policies
    - marcus_holmes 4mo ago
      Because they don't understand the technology or the consequences. When they do, they will change their mind (and probably protest loudly that they never wanted it in the first place). See Brexit for a clear example.
      - lokar 4mo ago
        But the argument I see is that the politicians are acting tyrannically against the desire of the voters.
        marcus_holmes 4mo ago
        some voters. The voters who actually understand the technology and the consequences
TacticalCoder 4mo ago
> We had something really cool and we were lucky to experience it while it lasted, but it's gone now. You can also recreate a smaller network and enjoy it as a silo, disconnected from the Internet, at times. There's no need to be off the grid 24/7 to feel the relief. It's deeply relaxing to pull the (Internet) plug (I do, literally, physically remove one ethernet cable from a switch right underneath my monitor and I've then got several machines happily communicating only on the LAN: no more Internet). Maybe I'm having fun with my latest acquisition: modelling parts to fix stuff left and right around the house by 3D printing them (I bought a 3D printer for that: I had many things I needed to fix and I knew I'd be able to fix them properly by printing adequate parts). No need for the Internet to model, slice and 3D print. Such an activity does feel like the computing of yore: it takes me back to a time when it was me and a 8-bit machine. Creating stuff "by code" (which now take physical form at home, which 11-years old me would have find utterly mindboggling btw). > There are other things to do. Many books to read and places to go. And hobbies. As a kid from the eighties I love cars from the late 80s/very early 90s: not much electronics, not spying on you. Sure they're a bit of gaz guzzlers but then half the fun is fixing stuff on them and the other half is talking about them with other enthusiasts: there's no need to drive 10 000 kilometers a year with those. When you take time to disconnect a bit from the Internet, then I'd say when you're online (like I'm now) it all feels way more tolerable. No need to go full luddite IMO but YMMV.
- bigiain 4mo ago
  > It's deeply relaxing to pull the (Internet) plug (I do, literally, physically remove one ethernet cable from a switch right underneath my monitor and I've then got several machines happily communicating only on the LAN: no more Internet). > Maybe I'm having fun with my latest acquisition: modelling parts to fix stuff left and right around the house by 3D printing them Isn't California proposing to put you in jail for having a 3D printer without an internet connection to tattle on you and killswitch your printer if some unaccountable internet service decides you're printing something "bad"? :sigh:
HDBaseT 4mo ago
>Many books to read and places to go You cannot travel into the US without providing access to your Social Media accounts. Pretty likely you get denied if you say "I don't have social media".
- bargainbin 4mo ago
  Incorrect, I don't have social media and tell them as such, it's never an issue.
  - lokar 4mo ago
    Are they asking? I know they said they would, it I’ve not seen reports of it happening
    - account42 4mo ago
      They have been asking for well over a year at least for ESTA with GitHub being one possible pre-defined social media type in the form.
- Chu4eeno 4mo ago
  Good thing I left my abandoned facebook/twitter/instagram accounts undeleted a decade ago.

echelon_musk 4mo ago

> consider the internet dead and move on. It's nothing like it was 20 years ago anyway. There are other things to do. Many books to read and places to go. We had something really cool and we were lucky to experience it while it lasted, but it's gone now. I'm pretty much at this stage too. The web/internet was a frontier like the Wild West. But those wild days are gone and are never coming back. Cyberspace has been settled.

gizajob 4mo ago
The web is only a minuscule part of cyberspace. Once millions of people have an AI supercomputer running a graphical node at home in 3-10 years time, then cyberspace will finally start IMO. The web will look like a catalogue file in comparison.
- mplewis 4mo ago
  don't be a crank
  - gizajob 4mo ago
    Useful feedback thanks.
- farnsworthfusor 4mo ago
  What will it do?
  - andai 4mo ago
    Full range. Full motion! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkpcYv9Qm5w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkpcYv9Qm5w

verzali 4mo ago

Depends on your MP. I have received surprisingly detailed responses to some of my past letters. If they can't be arsed to answer you, then you shouldn't be arsed to vote for them, at least in my opinion.

benj111 4mo ago
Yes definitely. I had one MP for 4 years that would personally reply at all hours. I was getting replies at 10pm. I felt the need to tell him off and turn his phone off. But the other 2 I've interacted with were useless.

cedws 4mo ago

It’s hard to feel any enthusiasm for democracy watching things you disagree with being pushed through and having no power to stop it. I signed the petition to reverse the OSA and all we got was a canned response. I’ve come to the conclusion the only thing you can really do is leave when you disagree with the direction of your country, but of course not everyone has the ability to do that.

nozzlegear 4mo ago
> It’s hard to feel any enthusiasm for democracy watching things you disagree with being pushed through and having no power to stop it. That often is democracy: what's popular isn't always what's best.
- lokar 4mo ago
  I find that many comments on this subject here don’t seem to consider that a majority (perhaps a large majority) of citizens in their nation support these policies
  - marcus_holmes 4mo ago
    Because they don't understand the technology or the consequences. When they do, they will change their mind (and probably protest loudly that they never wanted it in the first place). See Brexit for a clear example.
    - lokar 4mo ago
      But the argument I see is that the politicians are acting tyrannically against the desire of the voters.
      - marcus_holmes 4mo ago
        some voters. The voters who actually understand the technology and the consequences

TacticalCoder 4mo ago

> We had something really cool and we were lucky to experience it while it lasted, but it's gone now. You can also recreate a smaller network and enjoy it as a silo, disconnected from the Internet, at times. There's no need to be off the grid 24/7 to feel the relief. It's deeply relaxing to pull the (Internet) plug (I do, literally, physically remove one ethernet cable from a switch right underneath my monitor and I've then got several machines happily communicating only on the LAN: no more Internet). Maybe I'm having fun with my latest acquisition: modelling parts to fix stuff left and right around the house by 3D printing them (I bought a 3D printer for that: I had many things I needed to fix and I knew I'd be able to fix them properly by printing adequate parts). No need for the Internet to model, slice and 3D print. Such an activity does feel like the computing of yore: it takes me back to a time when it was me and a 8-bit machine. Creating stuff "by code" (which now take physical form at home, which 11-years old me would have find utterly mindboggling btw). > There are other things to do. Many books to read and places to go. And hobbies. As a kid from the eighties I love cars from the late 80s/very early 90s: not much electronics, not spying on you. Sure they're a bit of gaz guzzlers but then half the fun is fixing stuff on them and the other half is talking about them with other enthusiasts: there's no need to drive 10 000 kilometers a year with those. When you take time to disconnect a bit from the Internet, then I'd say when you're online (like I'm now) it all feels way more tolerable. No need to go full luddite IMO but YMMV.

bigiain 4mo ago
> It's deeply relaxing to pull the (Internet) plug (I do, literally, physically remove one ethernet cable from a switch right underneath my monitor and I've then got several machines happily communicating only on the LAN: no more Internet). > Maybe I'm having fun with my latest acquisition: modelling parts to fix stuff left and right around the house by 3D printing them Isn't California proposing to put you in jail for having a 3D printer without an internet connection to tattle on you and killswitch your printer if some unaccountable internet service decides you're printing something "bad"? :sigh:

HDBaseT 4mo ago

>Many books to read and places to go You cannot travel into the US without providing access to your Social Media accounts. Pretty likely you get denied if you say "I don't have social media".

bargainbin 4mo ago
Incorrect, I don't have social media and tell them as such, it's never an issue.
- lokar 4mo ago
  Are they asking? I know they said they would, it I’ve not seen reports of it happening
  - account42 4mo ago
    They have been asking for well over a year at least for ESTA with GitHub being one possible pre-defined social media type in the form.
Chu4eeno 4mo ago
Good thing I left my abandoned facebook/twitter/instagram accounts undeleted a decade ago.