because Iran's information control is working - the horrific images and numbers only arrived in the west once the protests were already mostly disbanded. It's not ongoing like e.g. the war in Gaza was, so it can only capture a moment of attention, not a sustained slot.

the problem is that devices are meant to be tools. They do not provide access to services, but you use them to access them. Limiting my devices' ability to do what i ask of them is more like geofencing my shoes, because you might use them to walk to the casino.

Sorry, if I was not clear enough. I explicitly did not want to limit devices - on the contrary. I am all for my device, my ability to use it how I like.

I meant that it is the responsibility of Facebook/Meta/Instagram to ensure that content is age appropriate - given the laws, rules and regulations of the country they are delivering the content to.

I mean, clearly it should be in the responsibility of p*nhub not only to ask "Are you over 18"? If I had this form of freely available porn, clearly I would have clicked it. Or respective subreddits.

Clearly and totally fine for consenting adults. Not so much for my 13 year old self a few decades back.

In my view, the distinction between art and slop is about their intent: Art is a medium of communication, where slop is merely entertainment. So: Video games are art if they have something to say. They capture you, they make you think, they let you try out new personalities for yourself.

On the other hand, video games that are meant to entertain, addict, and extract funds from you might contain lots of genuine art, but overall amount to mere slop.

The distiction is just as true for other media, like movies or images: images are art if they were created to communicate something that can't be directly expressed. They are slop if they are just background noise intended to keep you scrolling. Most media is somewhere in the middle, because artists need to corrupt their vision in order to feed themselves.

this is not the only blocker for European startup success. We need to address each blocker separately.

The EU Inc. makes pan-EU operations simpler for businesses. This decreases internal barriers for trade, so it will lead to growth!

I feel like the mentality problem will follow the market realities. If startup founders become rich, they turn into investors and the startup snowball keeps growing.

idk, without the sovereign tech agency it would be fewer people, or they would have less time to work on the project. You can't expect the German government to completely fill any need for resources in open source software.

We need the Tiktoks of the world to realize their responsibility: users get addicted to the apps in order to numb their feelings of loneliness. So we'd need an intervention within these apps that makes them unbearable for the lonely, combined with a healthier way to engage with loneliness.

Imagine TikTok asking you "you've scrolled for 30 minutes. You might be in a loneliness spiral. Write down the name of someone you would like to be closer to."

TikTok does in fact remind you, quite often, that you've been scrolling for a while, and suggests taking a break. Last year, for most of each day, I would just ignore this and keep scrolling. I'd see it so many times each day. That wouldn't change if they added a suggestion like writing a name down. I'd still ignore it, and I think most people in the same situation would too. But when I was at the store, or walking to the store, that's when someone could have found a way in, and been able to get me to make a connection and open up.

Sure, in the same way gambling companies tell you to "Gamble responsibly" at the end of their advert to get you to gamble more.

Imo short form video with infinite scrolling is straight up poison and it's impossible to resolve without just completely destroying it.

Or hear me out, puts you in video call with someone watching the same short as you. Involuntary friend

Omegle + TikTok sounds like a very bad idea.

There are, of course, multiple causes for loneliness. We can't fix them all with one clear action. Here are the main five, in my view:

First, social media. It's too easy to temporarily forget about your loneliness by staying home and doomscrolling or watching TV.

Second, increased mobility. People move around the whole continent now for work, removing them from their closest and oldest social connections.

Third, God is dead. Churches as community centers are dying out. Young people don't trust them anymore, because they don't believe in God, and because churches had many scandals. Secular community centers are very rare and struggle with funding.

Fourth, work is more stressful now. There used to be more time to socialize, but in our quest for productivity, work became denser with fewer idle times.

Fifth, fewer people want to have kids. Much has been written about this.

Now what can we do at societal scale? First of all, study the phenomenon more closely. Who is lonely? Who isn't? Which interventions work? Which cultural factors are important? At your local scale, you can just call or meet a friend.

> Fourth, work is more stressful now. There used to be more time to socialize, but in our quest for productivity, work became denser with fewer idle times

The we here is not most people.

The quest for higher productivity is not something people really care about.

I immediately went and looked for it too!

I also tried to see any vulnerable sabotage spots that would put my electricity out, but that seems harder.

Seems fine as long as the startup has a lawyer that makes sure the contracts are not too out of the ordinary. If they also just use AI, their blind spots will overlap with you blind spots and I wouldn't trust the process completely.