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That ain't it.

The thing everyone needs to ask before advocating for something "government enforced" is "what would happen if this was in the hands of a hostile government?"

And then remember that (a) just because it's not hostile to you today, doesn't mean it won't be tomorrow, and (b) one man's "hostile" is another man's "utopia."

I feel this. I asked a developer today a question about how our product is programmed to handle something, and he just sent me a summary from the internal AI assistant they've started using.

He used to provide really good, thoughtful answers, but now it's just copy/paste from the AI.

So your plate is really the proof that you've paid a bit for the infrastructure to drive on.

It's like having a wrist band to an event. You're not required to attend the event, but if you do attend it, you're required to wear the wrist band.

In some parts of the world that's a death sentence for the target. In other parts, it's one for the agent.

That said, they should have migrated it years ago.

Huh.

I wonder if they're the same people who complain that they don't have enough money to live.

Except at Waffle House.

In the 1960's there was a young man graduated from the University of Michigan. Did some brilliant work in mathematics. Specifically bounded harmonic functions. Then he went on to Berkeley, was assistant professor, showed amazing potential, then he moved to Montana and he blew the competition away.

Then the productive members of society move out.

Disagree. When the tax-paying public doesn't feel safe around the people living on the sidewalk, they move and take their tax money with them. That means less money for services, roads, education... everything taxes pay for.

That's the cost.

That's a good one. I'm partial to David Frieberger's "mobility blobs".

Oh good, for a moment I didn't think reeducation camps were in our future.

> Architecture will be freed from ugliness

Uh, friend, I have some bad news...

There's no room for mistakes or even differences of opinions, and it's tearing us apart.

Part of it, I think, comes from the anonymous nature of online communications, and little to no ramifications to bad behavior. It's the end result of "I can do whatever I want, the established rules and societal norms don't apply anymore."

Also, I'd be surprised if all those Chinese devices have actually earned that CE mark.