I read this whole article and found it interesting, thought others might too...
https://pluralistic.net/2025/08/20/billionaireism/#surveillance-infantalism
from 1 part:
"...the ultra-rich (and the states they have suborned) have a fundamental understanding that the more unfair a society is, the less stable it is. The more unstable a state is, the more its ruling class have to expend on private security. No captain of industry wants to arise from his sarcophagus of a morning, only to discover a mob of hoi polloi building a guillotine on his lawn.
As Thomas Piketty argues, there comes a point where it's cheaper to make society more fair – say, by building hospitals and schools – than it is to pay for all the gaiter-wearing gun-thugs you'll need to weed out the guillotine-building projects that spontaneously erupt under conditions of gross unfairness:
https://memex.craphound.com/2014/06/24/thomas-pikettys-capital-in-the-21st-century/
Mass surveillance shifts the guillotine equilibrium in favor of being greedier, by making it cheaper to identify and neutralize incipient guillotine-builders, which means that you can raise the greediness floor without seeing a concomitant rise in your guard labor bill."
From another part of the article:
"...But there's another way in which surveillance abets rampant billionaireism: when companies spy on us, they can change the rules of their services to increase how much we pay them, and decrease how much they pay us. When companies do this to their customers, they call it 'personalized pricing' – but everyone else calls it what it is, surveillance pricing:
When a company charges you more than someone else for the same service (say, Uber jacking up the price of a ride because your phone battery is about to die, or an airline charging you extra because they know you have a funeral to attend), they're effectively re-valuing the dollars in your bank account. The fact that the cab-ride that costs you $20 and costs someone else $15 means that your dollar is only worth $0.75."
https://pluralistic.net/2025/06/24/price-discrimination/#algorithmic-pricing
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 22, @02:15AM (8 children)
"ruling class have to expend on private security."
If you haven't noticed, THEY are now in control of the federal government
so WE are paying for it. You don't think the military is on the streets of
DC for any other reason than making it unsafe to protest the regime.
(Score: 5, Funny) by sgleysti on Friday August 22, @04:47AM (2 children)
Related from The Onion https://theonion.com/fact-checking-trump-on-crime/ [theonion.com]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by janrinok on Friday August 22, @11:07AM (1 child)
To the person who moderated this comment Troll, which part are you referring to? The claim or the part that is clearly marked as 'False'.
What do you think is the reason that the government has put National Guardsmen on the streets of DC? Where is your evidence for your belief?
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 2) by Lester on Saturday August 23, @08:19PM
The raise of crime in Washington DC is not. At least, statistics data say the opposite.
So, if it's an objective fact that crime hasn't risen, what do you think is the reason?. Was government misinformed? What was the source of its information. Tweeter? Sorry, X?
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 22, @05:25AM (1 child)
FTFY.
Sincerely, a European citizen.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 24, @11:56PM
The caliphate is in control of yours.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 22, @08:27AM
Trump's mistake from Trump v1 was waiting until the election result was announced before attempting a coup. Better to fake the election results and then suppress any dissent with the military (like his chum Putin).
(Score: 2) by fliptop on Saturday August 23, @02:38AM
Yeah [nbcwashington.com], it [npr.org] looks [pbs.org] really [axios.com] unsafe [nypost.com] for [cnn.com] all [kcci.com] those [scrippsnews.com] protestors [nytimes.com].
Meanwhile [foxbaltimore.com]...
Ever had a belch so satisfying you have to blow your nose afterward?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 24, @11:59PM
Omg really? Just now because it's the party you don't like? Don't cry, that letter by the names will change in a few more years but somehow the policies won't.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Friday August 22, @02:34AM (6 children)
"My phone battery is about to die. Would you be able to order an Uber for me? I can pay you in cash."
"Sure, why don't I cooperate with my fellow hoi polloi." or "Why do you hate capitalism?"
The first response is why I defend Google in conversations, for the fact that they make 15GB worth of dato for all of their services, including all the work they put into Chrome, free for any organism that can register for an account. And the second response is why I save money by using an Android phone, but own Apple stock.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 22, @02:38AM (1 child)
My reply:
"Fuck off and call a cab"
(Score: 5, Insightful) by jb on Friday August 22, @04:15AM
Better still, hail a cab.
If you call a cab, you are still giving away data that can easily be cross-matched (mobile phone number, pickup location, destination).
On the other hand if you simply hail a passing cab (or go to a cab rank, if there happens to be one nearby) and have the good sense to pay your fare in cash, you are not giving away anything that should be solely your business (pickup location & destination on their own are the cab company's own data as much as they are yours, so long as not linked to any identifiable datum, like a phone or credit card number).
Even better again, just drive yourself (assuming you're not too intoxicated to do so safely), making sure you actually own the car you drive (if it has any facility to "phone home" to the manufacturer then you are not the owner, you are merely the product) and taking care to avoid any automated toll roads.
(Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Friday August 22, @03:31AM (1 child)
Convenience over privacy? Is that the point you want to make? 'Cause otherwise I'm a bit lost on what you mean.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Interesting) by krishnoid on Friday August 22, @04:05AM
More like cooperation -- when people are willing to share (or resell, like eBay), the ultra-rich can't sell one brand-new item to each person/family and become or stay ultra-richer.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by PiMuNu on Friday August 22, @07:36AM (1 child)
> 15GB worth of dato for ... free for any organism that can register for an account.
The cost of the "free" data is your freedom.
Unfortunately, owing to the viral nature of your "free" data, it also costs my freedom.
ps: 16 GB of HDD is worth about 50 cents. Have a nice day.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by krishnoid on Friday August 22, @05:20PM
Not so much the amount of data, as the integrated, universally accessible application suite in that little 3x3 box in the upper-right of Google's desktop web pages. Just the solution to the impossible problem of spam filtering [craphound.com] that makes email usable again is a very strong point.
(Score: 4, Funny) by c0lo on Friday August 22, @03:34AM (3 children)
I can understand it even if I'm not a "captain of industry". I don't even mind the aesthetics of a guillotine, but my lawn is my lawn
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Funny) by Samantha Wright on Friday August 22, @03:40AM (2 children)
wait till you hear about the great lawn conspiracy
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Friday August 22, @03:47AM (1 child)
I'm not sure I like the "sovereign citizen" ideas.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Funny) by Samantha Wright on Friday August 22, @01:29PM
Well good, because manicured lawns originated as a means of imitating the French sovereign [noemamag.com]. Down with lawns!
(Score: 4, Insightful) by darkfeline on Friday August 22, @09:24AM (5 children)
One could start by spelling "optimize" correctly.
Nothing is "unoptimizable". Reality is fundamentally a self-optimizing simulation. Life optimizes itself through evolution. All matter in the universe "optimizes" itself based on the physical laws, and that optimum turns out to include things like black holes and galaxies and stars and planets. And also things like carbon based lifeforms and competition and predation and pain and suffering. And a species that is capable of whining about such things.
Of note, (some amount of) greed is optimal. Societies, species with some greed out-compete those that aren't. And within society, the greedy tend to outcompete the non-greedy.
Boohoo, life isn't fair.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2) by DadaDoofy on Friday August 22, @10:16AM (1 child)
"The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed -- for lack of a better word -- is good.
Greed is right.
Greed works.
Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.
Greed, in all of its forms -- greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of mankind." - Gordon Gekko
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 22, @09:36PM
Which one of you is the Grand Nagus and which is the Grand Proxy?
"Greed is eternal"
"Exploitation begins at home"
"A wise man can hear profit in the wind" (too bad Donald Trump won't let us build any more wind farms to harness all that profit in the wind)
"Once you have their money, you never give it back"
"Never place friendship above profit"
"Nothing is more important than your health, except for your money"
"Treat people in your debt like family; exploit them"
"Employees are the rungs on the ladder of success; don't hesitate to step on them"
"Never be afraid to mislabel a product"
"Shoot first, count profits later"
"A man is only worth the sum of his possessions"
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 22, @11:07AM (2 children)
If there's really a biological equivalent of greed, I'd say it's cancer.
If evolution favors greed so much, then why did humans evolve to feel pleasure from helping their fellow humans? The answer is that cooperation is actually very beneficial for both individuals and for a species to thrive.
On the other hand, cancer often grows until it consumes too much of its host organism's energy, killing it. It doesn't return anything of value, but it consumes increasing amounts of energy until its host dies. And that's greed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 22, @06:33PM (1 child)
It's called "sex". Every single thing we do is to "get the girl".
(Score: 4, Funny) by liar on Friday August 22, @06:42PM
"Everything's either concave or -vex, so whatever you dream will be something with sex."
Piet Pieterszoon Hein
Noli nothis permittere te terere.