If a “fine” is less than the profit from the infraction, it’s not a fine, it’s a business expense.
If a “fine” isn’t a fixed percentage of assets, it’s not a fine, it’s a poor tax.
If a “fine” only serves to enrich the government, not to make those harmed by the infraction whole, it’s not a fine, it’s a revenue stream.
If a “fine” is adjudicated by people who profit from the business being fined, it’s not a fine, it’s a stock buyback.
– Intertial Invites på Mastodon (link til indlæg)
The phone has become our most intimate device. We carry it on our bodies at nearly all times, and we reveal our most private secrets either on it, or in earshot of its microphone and in sight of its camera.
– Camille François, Thomas Rid: At Signal, A Revolution in Messaging (lawfaremedia.com)
Edelt er mennesket,
jorden er rik!
Finnes her nød og sult,
skyldes det svik.
Knus det! I livets navn
skal urett falle.
Solskinn og brød og ånd
eies av alle.
– Nordal Grieg: Kringsatt av Fiender
Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
– Frank Herbert: Dune
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that, in my opinion, *computing* itself is only tenuously about computers, and the sooner everyone gets on board with that – the sooner tech enthusiasts stop behaving like they have all the questions as well as all the answers to the world’s problems, and the sooner the rest of us stop playing the Emperor’s New Clothes in awe of their opaque bullshit – the safer we’ll all be.
– Jenny Andrew på Mastodon – link til indlæg
Je ne suis pas plus moderne qu’ancien, pas plus Français que Chinois, et l’idée de la patrie c’est-à-dire l’obligation où l’on est de vivre sur un coin de terre marqué en rouge ou en bleu sur la carte et de détester les autres coins en vert ou en noir m’a paru toujours étroite, bornée et d’une stupidité féroce.
– Gustave Flaubert, Brev til Louise Colet 26. august 1846
It is a strange world we live in now, wherein the output of a computer perfectly following its programming can be said to be “hallucinating” simply because its output does not match user expectations or wishes.
– Per Axbom: ChatGPT and Mad Hatter
The first half of life is Tetris; the second half is Jenga.
– Mark Leidner (link)