linuxpropaganda

[linuxpropaganda]

theres bikes around the city you can rent but you have to use an app that needs your drivers license. theres buses that drive right to your destination, but if you dont have change you need the app. you can wash your car here if you sign into the app. you can go to the bathroom here you just have to unlock it with the app that needs your location on. you can order at this restaurant if you scan the code and download the app. im losing my freaking mind

[linuxpropaganda]

I fucking hate it here

[linuxpropaganda]

I fucking hate it here

[linuxpropaganda]

I think what really drives me crazy about people using AI chatbots as therapists (*screams*) is that even aside from the insultingly obvious fact that a computer is incapable of actually understanding human emotions, the chatbots are designed to basically be your hype man and offer the user no real pushback. It might offer some generic disagreement at first, but as long as the user keeps insisting they're right about whatever the subject may be, the chat bot will eventually agree and validate the user's opinion. It's not hard to manipulate.

And that can be so damn dangerous for therapy. It's not hard to see how you could keep sending messages to the chat bot about how great suicide would be until it finally says something like, "Why yes, based on the evidence you supplied, it certainly seems like suicide is a feasible option for your situation." Or even if it's not that extreme, it could lock people into some really unhealthy mindsets because, look, I come from a family where some very mentally ill people are absolutely convinced that there's nothing wrong with their behavior, both in how they live their everyday lives and how they treat others, and I know from experience that that's a really bad combination! A competent therapist will offer real pushback against someone's unhealthy or harmful behavior and try to get them into better habits, but a chat bot will become someone's virtual enabler, and the user will become even more convinced they don't need to work hard and try to change their life because "ChatGPT said I'm right."

[linuxpropaganda]

If you see me accidentally blog to the wrong account no you did not

[linuxpropaganda]

decentralize and clean up your life!!!

use overdrive, libby, hoopla, cloudlibrary, and kanopy instead of amazon and audible.

use firefox instead of chrome or opera (both are made with chromium, which blocks functionality for ad-blockers. firefox isn't based on chromium).

use mega or proton drive instead of google drive.

get rid of bloatware

use libreoffice instead of microsoft office suite

use vetted sites on r/FREEMEDIAHECKYEAH for free movies, books, games, etc.

use trakt or letterboxd instead of imdb.

use storygraph instead of goodreads.

use darkpatterns to find mobile game with no ads or microtransactions

use ground news to read unbiased news and find blind spots in news stories.

use mediahuman or cobalt to download music, or support your favorite artists directly through bandcamp

make youtube bearable by using mtube, newpipe, or the unhook extension on chrome, firefox, or microsoft edge

use search for a cause or ecosia to support the environment instead of google

use thriftbooks to buy new or used books (they also have manga, textbooks, home goods, CDs, DVDs, and blurays)

use flashpoint to play archived online flash games

find books, movies, games, etc. on the internet archive! for starters, here's a bunch of David Attenborough documentaries and all of the Animorphs books

burn your music onto cds

use pdf24 (available online or as a desktop app) instead of adobe

use unroll.me to clean your email inboxes

use thunderbird, mailfence, countermail, edison mail, tuta, or proton mail instead of gmail

remove bloatware on windows PC, macOS, and iOS X

remove bloatware on samsung X

use pixelfed instead of instagram or meta

use NCH suite for free software like a file converter, image editor, video editors, pdf editor, etc.

feel free to add more alternatives, resources or advice in the reblogs or replies, and i'll add them to the main post <3

last updated: march 18th 2025

[linuxpropaganda]

In an incredible reversal, Builder.AI just declared bankruptcy after admitting that they were faking their AI tool with 700 humans

[linuxpropaganda]

Ok, loves, so we've all got the message that joking about suicide is bad for your mental health. Now we need to get on "joking that the planet/all of humanity has no future is bad for societal health/encouraging resistance to bad shit."

[linuxpropaganda]

they spent billions on this

[linuxpropaganda]

[linuxpropaganda]

I feel like the big push for AI is starting to flag. Even my relatively tech obsessed dad is kinda over it. What do you even use it for? Because you sure as hell dont want to use it for fact checking.

There's an advertisement featuring a woman surreptitiously asking her phone to provide her with discussion topics for her book club. And like... what. Is this the use case for commercial AI? This the best you could come up with? Lying to your friends about Moby Dick?

[linuxpropaganda]

“Enjoy Websurfing” ⌘ Digital real estate, mostly occupied by squatters

[linuxpropaganda]

I don't know who needs to hear this but please please please please please explore the settings. Of your phone, computer, of every app you use. Investigate the UI, toggle some things around and see what happens. You won't break anything irreperably without a confirmation box asking you if you really mean to do that thing. And you can just look up what a setting will do before touching it if you're really worried ok?

Worst case scenario you just have to change the settings back if you don't like what happened but it is so so so important to explore the tools available to you and gain a better understanding for how the stuff you use works.

Even if you already know. Even if you're comfortable with how you use it now. You don't just have to accept whtever experience has been handed to you by default and it's good for you to at least know what's available to you.

[linuxpropaganda]

you know what's funny is I've never in my life had an account hacked because someone guessed my password but I have had my information compromised because of the shitty cybersecurity of organizations like this one that insist I make a permanent account and store my personal information with them indefinitely so that I can make a single purchase or pay a single bill or apply for a single job I won't even get at least a dozen times in my life

[linuxpropaganda]

I swear to fucking god. I would claw out OneDrive from my computer if I could. I would burn down their servers if I could. I would run down their stocks to the ground if I could. I hope every single one of their workers gets a better offer from a competitor in the next 24 hours. I hope every single one of their light bulbs explodes at the same time. I hope every single carton of milk in their fridge will always be expired.

Stop backing up my fucking files.

Stop asking me to back up my fucking files.

Stop taking my fucking files off my fucking computer.

I don't want a fucking reminder in three fucking days. Let me fucking say no.

Fuckers.

[linuxpropaganda]

A boy can dream, can't he?

[linuxpropaganda]

Only 13 percent of video games are readily playable and accessible. No other form of media is as endangered as video games. There is no legal path to preserve or archive video games. You can go to libraries and archives for books years out of print. You can rent a movie or download a pdf. There is no legal equivalent for video games. Games companies do not double as archival organisations and they never will. They have never been about preserving. They are about selling. Which is not inherently evil compared to anyone else but they along with the law are directly preventing archivers and preservationists from doing their job and allowing this entire medium to be experienced in the future.