Blame the Dunning-Kruger effect. The people I have seen most likely to acknowledge their lack of knowledge in a certain area have been those who are very wise and well-versed in at least one field, such as science, History (like my mom), art, etc.

Mediocre people are mostly convinced that they know everything.

Me too! Nothing helped me think for myself more than my mother yelling at me, “I don’t know! The encyclopedia is right there! Go read it and let me cook, for God’s sake!”

I tend to think that people use AI (and yeah, search engines too) the way children use their parents:

“Mom, why is the sky blue?” “Mom, where is China?” “Mom, can you help me with this school project?” (The mother ends up doing everything).

The thing is, unlike a parent, AI is unable to tell users that it doesn’t know everything and that users should do things on their own. Because that would reduce the number of users.

I am not USian. I live in one of the countries that the United States recently bombed (figure which). I sincerely ask USians: Is what is in those papers really much worse than everything the administration is already doing and is going to do to you and all the world?

That’s why I try, as much as possible, to share only the things I like and am passionate about. There’s already enough negativity in the world without me adding more.

That’s just the Dark Forest Hypothesis

American Culture is Common Culture at this point…

For years, the United States has benefited most from globalization. They either don’t admit it or don’t realize it.

I know. What I said was more aimed at focusing any efforts to promote the proliferation of fandoms in the fediverse on creating a good image of it for that purpose, rather than creating more projects that may not have the desired acceptance and reach.

Ministry Of Indoctrination

While on a technical level, the fediverse is entirely capable of something similar to Amino, and a platform could be created that replicates its functionality 1:1, I believe the main problem is one of image.

On the outside, the fediverse is seen as an overly “nerd-centric” place, a place where “they only talk about Linux, FOSS,” and “nerdy” things in general. And it’s often the discussions around those topics that seem to have the most visibility around here, while the few communities about hobbies and fandoms that you can find have mostly modest to low interaction.

The thing is, no one likes to feel like they’re talking to themselves. That’s why many artists and people immersed in their fandoms gravitate to places like BlueSky or Tumblr, or don’t want to leave a cesspool like Twitter, even with their more hostile environments towards them: they have the perception that in those places they will have more opportunity to interact, whether that perception is unfounded or not.

If one create a platform like Amino, for fandoms and communities, I think the technical aspects are the least important thing. One have to create an image of an environment that is attractive and enjoyable so that people who are not so interested in technology will want to join.

1. From Maduro’s part. They are deeply incompetent.

2. The Oil is a curse. It could be a blessing if people knew how to use it. Chavez thought he knew, he was wrong. The Saudi’s know. They have a lot of skeletons in their closet, yet it seems like receiving their money is not big problem. Branding.

Bukele can rule over El Salvador as he please because he is a The Gang Buster. Branding.

Peru can have as many presidents as they like without affecting the economy cuz… well, they are all corrupt, “but least they aren’t communist”. Branding

From a Venezuelan living in Venezuela, in short: he wasn’t Chavez.

Long answer: Chávez had the political savvy to make a name and reputation for himself that could protect him despite criticism from hegemonic states. Maduro was never able to hold a candle to him, which is why he declined in popularity despite “technically” perpetuating what Chávez had built.

“But the drugs! But the human rights!” Center-right politicians in the region have faced similar (more verifiable) accusations, yet none have received the same level of global criticism as Chávez or Maduro.

“But democracy!” Peru has had five presidents in less than two years, and no one says anything. Bukele intends to remain in power in El Salvador for life, and no one says anything.

It’s not an ideological or moral issue, It’s Branding.

I believe that the revenue comes more from advertisers paying to advertise on Google than from people paying for the advertised products or services.

I’ve been playing only retro games lately and I just finished Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for a second time yesterday. Now I’m continuing playing the Fatal Frame saga on my ps2.

I love this

WE DON’T HAVE THE DAMN MONEY TO PAY FOR A FUCKING $90 MARIO KART GAME

And the prices back then were to offset the costs of physical distribution. Today, digital distribution costs publishers NOTHING.

These prices are not due to inflation, they are GREED.

Fair. Done.

THIS, EXACTLY THIS.

I find it strange to call today’s supers “heroes” when the least they do is help others. They look more like guys with superpowers beating each other up, more like Japanese Shonen than anything else (mind you, I like Shonen, but there’s a limit).

That’s why I love that in The Batman (2022) the climax is seeing Batman saving civilians, the same with James Gunn’s Superman.

I WANT TO SEE MORE SUPERHEROES BEING HEROIC, DAMN IT.

Hmm, that sounds fair.

I’ve always wondered why conservatives insist on coming to the fediverse when conventional networks are more appealing to them and their ideals nowadays. Or is that still not enough?