At first it’s funny. Then it’s cringe. Then it’s funny again. And then it’s absolutely horrifying when you realise this is what some people are actually doing with these chatbots. And I’ve seen people that make fun of those that fall into AI induced psychosis and I find that pretty sad, honestly. As someone that has gone through problems with depression, loneliness, and delusional thoughts in my past I am so thankful that these chatbots did not exist back than. You don’t have to be stupid to fall into this, you just have to be vulnerable. This type of shit can cause permanent damage to someone’s mind and these companies simply do not give a shit about us.

Don’t worry guys, they’re only putting these AI cameras in literally every city and doing it in shady ways without anyone knowing. And false flags like this happen very frequently.

https://youtu.be/mQxQpzNSNZU

This is purely anecdotal, but I have been running into a lot of DNS issues over the past couple months where I work. 3 of the computers and even one of the laptops for remote work were having DNS issues that needed to be fixed. One even needed Windows reinstalled after fixing the DNS issue (Which was probably unrelated, but worth mentioning)

I’m honestly starting to think that the internet in general might be imploding. Not sure why, but replacing so many developers and programmers with AI might be responsible. Who knows, but it’s definitely very strange.

I’ve never been able to enjoy any other stealth game because of Thief 1 + 2. I played them back in the early 2000s and they were the very first stealth games I ever played. I think because they are the grandfather of stealth games and are, in my opinion, the peak of stealth games, I ended up setting my expectations too high for other games and always left them slightly or even massively disappointed. Even the shitty parts of Thief 1 where it feels barely even like a stealth game are still better than games that call themselves stealth games like Assassin’s Creed.

In modern stealth games it doesn’t really punish you for being clumsy or getting caught. In most of those circumstances it just turns into an action game. Even some of the good stealth games like Dishonered very rarely punish you. In Thief if you get caught 7 out of 10 times you are just screwed. Garrett isn’t a strong and well trained fighter like you are in most games, he’s just a Thief and that’s what he’s best at. Combat is never the smart or reliable option. And in harder difficulties you straight up fail the mission if you kill anyone.

Another thing that sets Thief apart is that it treats you like a regular dude and not some badass super human that always has all the info you need for a mission. Sometimes you get incomplete maps that you have to take notes on yourself. Sometimes you don’t even get a map that is reliable and you have to use it based on vibes. Sometimes you get thrown into a mission completely unprepared and go up against enemies and situations that are extremely difficult. Sometimes you get missions that are super straight forward and easy if you know how to be a thief.

All in all, these games are definitely peak stealth games. The first one is waaay more painful and some of the missions are just awful. But the good ones stand out and you definitely feel relieved when you get to them. The second game is 10x better than the first and has a lot less bullshit and a lot more stealth. Plus you get all kinds of cooler stuff because of lore reasons and it just makes it so much more enjoyable. I highly recommend to anyone that truly likes stealth games to play them if you haven’t. Thief 1 is a decent 8/10 for me and Thief 2 is an easy 10/10, especially for the stealth genre.

You’d be surprised how many people actually need that. My boss is one of them and I constantly have to explain to him why shit like this is bad for us. We’re currently in the process of upgrading all our PCs to Windows 11 and I’m trying to convince him to let me install Linux on all the computers that don’t meet the hardware requirements. Fortunately we use an older version of Microsoft Office that doesn’t come with all the bullshit, but there will eventually be a day where we will have to “upgrade” that too. And because of this, I’m also trying to convince him to switch to something like LibreOffice.

Uploading all of our shit to OneDrive is not only a bad idea because we have our own secure servers in house, but it’s also a bad idea because we deal with a lot of files that could get us sued if it was leaked online. We don’t even let our servers connect to the internet for that very purpose. And it’s not a matter of if, but when windows starts uploading all of our shit to OneDrive it will be a complete disaster. And I’m sure there are a lot of guys doing IT at various other companies all trying to explain to their boss the same thing I am while they ignore the issue.

Oh no it’s that thing everyone would say would happen!

You are so naive it’s almost impressive.

Alright, then show me your text messages and location data over the past year. If you have nothing to hide then it should be no big deal, right?

No, they’re using the internet in general. Discord is just a platform that they can talk on and it’s fairly easy to use. It’s not like Discord advertises these servers and gets people to join them. What’s really happening is that these people are either seeking out these servers or are being sent invites from people already inside.

My point is that Discord is not the issue. If they crack down on Discord they will just find somewhere else to go. You’d have to control the entire internet in a similar way to Russia or China in order to actually stop it this way. It’s a societal issue that they are trying to solve by censorship instead of actually fixing the underlying issues that push people to extremism. I’m sure the majority of these issues would be solved by a system that actually prioritized mental health and getting people the help they need instead of one that pushes these people out of society because they are “insane.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if a significant portion of that 29% that say it’s good for productivity are managers or business owners.

Imagine treating your friends like garbage and then being surprised when they don’t wanna hang out anymore. My country literally threatened to invade both of our closest neighbors and friends and are now shocked that they hate us. Americans are the neighbor that constantly blasts music with their windows open and steals everyone’s shit and then bitches when they don’t get invited to neighborhood parties. The man-child of the Americas.

That’s been their goal this entire time. We can call Americans stupid all day long but the fact of the matter is that there have been people at work pushing people this way all over the world since before a lot of us were even born. I remember when I was a kid in the early 2000s there were already kids in my class that were getting exemptions to vaccines before they were even using autism as an excuse to not get them.

Have you ever talked to people that were in a cult before or seen interviews? You’d be surprised how far things can go before they start to wake up to what’s really going on, especially those that were indoctrinated from a young age. You’re asking people to change their entire outlook on reality along with their beliefs and opinions and then call them stupid without getting it on the first try. No matter who’s right or wrong, If someone was trying to do that to you would you not get immediately pissed off and try to avoid them as much as possible?

In moments like this we really have to distinguish the difference between ignorance and stupidity. There are a lot of people that voted for Trump because they are legitimately stupid and believe everything he says without question. But there is another group that, for one reason or another, fell for the grift a second time out of ignorance and genuinely believed he would “drain the swamp.” I understand the immediate desire to say things like “you get what you voted for,” but that aggressive stance is exactly why so many people flocked to Trump in the first place. Calling them stupid and making fun of them is exactly why they flocked to the side that made them feel “special.” Because just like every cult, they convince the ignorant, angry, and confused people to join them by making them feel vilified and righteous.

I’m not saying don’t be angry with them. Your anger is justified and it is cathartic to say “I told you so,” but we should direct our anger towards the cult leader not the victims of the cult. A lot of these people were just angry at all the same things we are angry about. Trump used it as an opportunity to scoop them up into his cause and promise them the world to just take advantage of them (he is a rapist, afterall). I’m sure almost everyone that joins a cult has said at some point they’d never be dumb enough to join a cult.

Ouch… I’m up to 800 games on steam and have probably only played half and only beaten 20% of those.

Well then I might as well get an iPhone. Not like there’s much of a difference at this point.

As someone that has been gaming since I was in elementary school and well into my late 20s, I feel like it’s a lot simpler than that. It’s the same reason why people do anything in excess when times are tough. Addiction is addiction. Besides the physical aspects of addiction or actual hard drugs like heroine, most can be boiled down to the same conclusion. “The world is shit and [blank] makes me feel better.” The problem occurs, like with most addictions, when it’s the only thing you care about anymore. Wanna hang out with friends? Nah, I’d rather do [blank]. Wanna do [blank] with friends? Why? I can do [blank] at home.

I’ll say one thing, though. At least in Minecraft I can have a house.

In my opinion, don’t blame the young voters for their choice. At least not entirely. They’ve been getting spoon fed propaganda by the internet, their parents, and the news their entire lives. Blame the parents that made everything their kids were doing a political issue from the moment they were conceived. Blame the platforms that have been incentivizing hate on their platforms for money. Blame the corporations that have been actively brainwashing people since the era of social media began. Blame the news for never telling the truth and making everything a spectacle.

Google getting rid of all the things that made people want an android phone over an iPhone.

Not only that, but if there’s one thing I know about growing up in the 2000s it’s that kids will always find a way and this will only make them go onto shadier parts of the internet where they actually will run into more dangerous material. The internet is a big place when you don’t stick to these specific platforms. If you actually wanted to keep them safe you’d want them on the platforms and sites you can keep track of and not make it more difficult to use them. This is a can of worms they won’t easily be able to close again once they open it.