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Darnell Clayton :verified:

@jq @Gargron What is surreal is how discussions on #Twitter / #X are mirrored in real life.

Currently, there is one powerful group who refuses to leave Twitter: politicians. Not just in America, but worldwide.

Sadly, many world leaders seem hesitant about leaving Twitter as they desire Tesla plants in their own countries (& want to avoid upsetting Elon).

18 comments
ja2ui0

@darnell @Gargron And isn't that completely fucked up? Do they need to spray paint the flags red?

Elon should be allowed to hold a social media platform just like anyone else. But when governments feel beholden to his whims for that or any other reason, it's time for trade regulators to start pumping the brakes.

DELETED

@darnell @jq @Gargron politicians tend to be surrounded by political "minders" and consultants advising them on their social media strategy.

These consultants have bet their cred and expertise on Twitter and are loathe to throw that all away.

ja2ui0

@danjac @darnell @Gargron

*flips down the welding mask and slowly reaches for the Bernzomatic*

Darnell Clayton :verified:

@danjac @jq @Gargron I just witnessed the leaders of #Israel ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ & #Turkey ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท (governments who do not like each other) both request that #ElonMusk build #Tesla plants in their respective nations.

The United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ needs Musk for #SpaceX & #Urkraine ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ still relies on #Starlink (I believe the civilian population needs it more than the military).

X will probably be the political epicenter for the next few years (I believe other groups will abandon X, though).

ja2ui0

@darnell @danjac @Gargron I don't really care about Tesla, I hear their cars are garbage. But I'm aware of several competing manufacturers and Tesla defined the standard for US charging stations. That's progress.

We're headed in the right direction with electric, but I'm not buying anything Elon is selling.

As far as Starlink, we should have employed NASA for that exercise and not allowed Musk to put thousands of satellites in LEO under his control. That was a stupid, stupid mistake.

DELETED

@jq @darnell @Gargron the Starlink affair is because of prevailing ideology of the past decades to cede more and more government functions to the private sector.

ja2ui0

@danjac @darnell @Gargron Understood, but that doesn't make the idea less stupid.

If governments have one job, it's to protect and, to a limited degree provide for, their populations. Internet is as important to modern society as water and electricity. It's a utility and the government should guarantee access to it.

In my opinion.

Yes, we fall short on health care and regulations on basic utilities, but we had a real "walk home" opportunity and we whiffed it. Maybe on purpose. Still stupid.

Darnell Clayton :verified:

@danjac @jq @Gargron The US government is not very innovative & has always relied on the private sector for innovative technology (this applies to both NASA & the US military).

There were several rivals to SpaceX but they were lazy & arrogant (Boeing, Lockheed Martin & Blue Origin).

Same for Tesla too as Elonโ€™s rivals are having production issues & threats of strikes from unions.

ja2ui0

@darnell @danjac @Gargron It's too bad about these character limits.

We can save my distaste for capitalism for a different time.

The US government has programs for funding things it thinks it needs. They fund contractors to build bridges, schools, etc all the time. They don't have to be innovative and they can rely on the private sector. We just need to be more strategic on who owns the infrastructure and bills for it after it's built.

Starlink should not be controlled by Elon Musk.

DELETED

@jq @darnell @Gargron yes, when Boeing builds an airplane for the USAF, it doesn't get a say in where that plane gets used.

ja2ui0 replied to DELETED

@danjac @darnell @Gargron BINGO.

If Starlink built a satellite Internet provider for the US, or better yet The World, and Elon couldn't withhold service from Ukraine, wouldn't that be nice?

ja2ui0

@darnell @danjac @Gargron just so we're clear, Starlink shouldn't be controlled by the US either. Unfortunately we're not quite living in a Gene Roddenberry society yet so "the world" can't really own anything.

We should work on that.

Darnell Clayton :verified: replied to ja2ui0

@jq @danjac @Gargron How much control over a product depends on the contract set up when an entity buys the product.

Apple, Tesla, & Starlink (via SpaceX) retain great control after a client purchases their product.

Governments signing those contracts are begrudgingly obliged to follow them or risk losing access to those products & services.

It's a classic power move.

DELETED replied to Darnell Clayton :verified:

@darnell @jq @Gargron right, this is the difference and what I mean by ceding control to the private sector.

It's one thing to hire contractors to build a school. It's quite another to have privately-run (but publicly-funded) schools.

ja2ui0 replied to DELETED

@danjac @darnell @Gargron It's possible I inadvertently derailed that line of conversation so I'll put it back right now.

I'm interested in governments building schools. I'm not interested in governments sanctioning, and supporting, superstition as education.

We can fund the building and we can set completely independent educational standards. Funding a building is not a tacit or explicit endorsement of what goes on inside. That's separate.

ja2ui0 replied to Darnell Clayton :verified:

@darnell @danjac @Gargron That why I'm suggesting that we need a world group, or at least a coalition of national governments, who protect (that is their job) against those private abuses.

You used Apple as an example, so not to pick on them, but let's go with it. If Apple wants to retain control, backdoors, etc, the controlling entity has a kill switch. Fuck with us, we'll just push the big red button. And we won't let you have so much control that doing so would be catastrophic. Just inconvenient.

ja2ui0 replied to ja2ui0

@darnell @danjac @Gargron since you brought me back, Dan, I get a chance to clarify and will take advantage of that.

The whole world order seems to be companies and government fighting against each other. The closest we ever got to cohesion in recent history was coronavirus.

Just imagine.

How great could we be as a human society if we didn't rely on threats to react, and instead behaved like an, I dunno, probably crazy, GLOBAL HUMANITY.

Completely doable. Capitalism and religion prevents it.

ja2ui0

@darnell @danjac @Gargron If you're savvy, and I have no reason to think you're not, consider what kind of MITM / DNS poisoning Elon could do right now with Starlink.

He might have no motivation to do so, but the fact that he has that level of control over so many peoples' Internet experience is nauseating. And we were all like, sure, put a shitload of barely vetted pot metal in our atmosphere and sure, you can control it however you want.

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