Sacrifice Zones! Gosh, this is what bugged me so much about it all and I couldn’t put my finger on it. AI companies are basically creating sacrifice zones. I was doing some mentorship of a grad student from Chile on these, from a critical theory lens. Here’s a good article explaining what they are and how bad they are.
Layperson who needs to learn more. But if I can use LibreOffice and Linux Mint so can any regular corporate user. Dip their toes in. Start with simple and familiar. Email client. Word processor, etc. If Linux, it has to look and feel like Windows, hence Mint. But my use and application cases are tiny. Let me offer two recommendations. Then a story.
Story time on 2.
When I was a professor, I worked with an institution that advised nonprofits. I would always ask to see their software costs. Not as bad as a corporate account probably, but saying, “How about zero here?” and firing up LibreOffice can help put money into programs and away from overhead. A small homeless shelter with 5 part time employees and one computer. Ditching a MS subscription saved them enough to do something like have better coffee in the morning.
You have no idea how impactful better coffee is for people struggling with houselessness and the people working to help them. True story.
The United States is to EV’s what Blockbuster is to Streaming. I mean this as a former Bolt EV driver up and down the Pacific Northwest. I never had any trouble at all. Loved it. But the US auto industry is eons behind the Chinese, the Koreans, and even the European manufacturers. It’s a joke how bad US auto is in comparison to just BYD,
The US Auto industry fell behind and only survives due to protective tariffs. With the charging capabilities BYD et al. are advancing at a mind boggling pace, there’s no reason at all to look at a US manufacturer for anything serious. The US is going to get left behind and many, many people are going to loose their jobs when the world moves away from their vehicles. That is the legacy of the present administration.
Ah yes. Soviet style oppression causing you to, check notes leave California and obscure your tax residency so you can be an oligarch and hurt people.
The FBI has agents working on crimes against children, sex trafficking, and other heinous acts of exploitation. Thus, the potential for serious collateral damage is real and disturbing.
As @t3rmit3 pointed out, I’m skeptical of the hackers’ motives.
“In the immortal words of the virgin Mary…come again?”
There’s going to be a market for pre-AI, pre IoT stuff. I’m convinced.