That’s what was said. LLMs have been reinforced to respond exactly how they do. In other words, that “smarmy asshole” attitude, you describe was a deliberate choice. Why? Maybe that’s what the creators wanted, or maybe that’s what focus groups liked most.

Okay, but I don’t think the scenario you are describing is particularly relevant to the comic. This looks like a white collar job application, not a blood diamond mine or sweatshop.

So back to the point at hand. The question is, why do you want to work here? It’s a super relevant question. If all that was important to you is money, you’d go work on an oil rig. But most people don’t do that. Thousands of intangible factors someone might choose a workplace besides just for cash. Work/life balance. Personal interest. Comfortable work environment. Relevant experience. Proximity to home. Perks…

The point of the question or interviews in general is to stand out from other applicants. The answer “I need cash” doesn’t make you stand out.

They did answer your question. Same way in a “capitalist” society: those who take more responsibility or risk earn more benefit. More/better food, more rank, more commission, more salary, better housing, better medical care, etc.

There are plenty of examples of this happening and also not happening under both capitalism and communism. Is there a trend? That’s a very long debate.

What crystal ball told you this was temporary? Every day for the past few years the consumer market moves further and further into serving only the wealthy. The people in power don’t care about selling RAM or other scraps to peasants.

but suddenly there is very little that connects both continents.

I think the Nazis would disagree with you.

Communism, brown skin, religions other than Christianity are still public enemy number one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_exports_of_Canada

Such an LLM would have the “knowledge” of almost every

Most human knowledge is not written down. Your premise is flawed to the core.

Broadly speaking this is probably true. In a smaller context, though, there are tons of counter examples. The internet for example, from just 10 years ago, was unquestionably better. AI slop, bots, enshitification, social media and browser monoculture…

The anti science trend of MAGA over the last few years…

Etc. Regression does happen, and we should not take things for granted.

Why stop at appliances? By that logic, humans are nothing more than self-propelled heaters. The whole universe is nothing but shifting pockets of heat like the ripples of a pond bouncing back and forth until they all disappear.

Such nihilism.

The plastic (including polyester fabrics) in your car was most likely derived from petroleum. The car parts were most likely shipped around during manufacturing using combustion engine vehicles. The energy to cast those car parts, probably some of it comes from non renewables. The labour to build the car almost surely comes from other people who consume gas (for example to drive to the EV factory)

That “100%” renewable energy? The installation and maintenance of it was/is almost certainly done with large industrial equipment and vehicles burning fossil fuels. (Similar issue with production of parts).

Look, I’m not saying you aren’t making positive choices by choosing renewable options. What I am saying is, while they are more renewable, they aren’t truly 100% renewable when you factor everything involved in it. Fossil fuels are so pervasive in society, it’s virtually impossible to both function in a modern society and not contribute to the consumption of fossil fuels.

IMO, setting it up at home is not the bar for decentralization. I don’t think it’s even practical to run your own self-hosted fediverse server.

I think we can get just about all the same benefits of decentralization at the scale of the city.

This is all kinda moot. There will be no companies to run when the economy crashes because there is no one to buy goods (or even to pay taxes to support government spending). It’s a giant house of cards.

I don’t think you understand what being squeezed is like. There is no fighting back when you have no options.

Is the objective to “reclaim control over your technology”, or is it to be a single purpose device? I can think of a lot of single purpose devices loaded with subscriptions and telemetry, and just as many general purpose computing platforms without that crap that let you be in control.

Well yes, this was the original intent of crypto. Putting payment in the hands of the people. It’s only been made terrible by tech bros and greed the same way the Internet has.

OP, you are in for a seriously rough time if you think containing micro plastics is as simple as removing lead from gasoline and paint.

Assuming a constant rate of change of anything involving people over a period of ten years is straight up nonsense.

It’s not just Bikinis. It’s all swim wear, saunas in Europe, baths in Japan. It’s just socially acceptable and expected in the right context, and that expectation plays a huge role in comfort. The context seems to flip a switch in people’s brain.

People want news. It’s a need as primitive as gossip. In fact, gossip is probably the answer to your question. But gossip is neither fast nor reliable, so people will inevitably invent news organizations to satisfy the need, as much as we have invented agriculture to satisfy our need to eat.

Perhaps when you say “news organizations” you intend a much more narrow definition, like maybe a “privately owned news organization”? That’s a dramatically different question though.

Imagine living in a society where we collectively decide some people just get all the privilege to themselves, and the rest of us can just roll around in the mud, and everyone is ok and happy with that.