Asklemmy

Religions are mostly just popularized conspiracy theories. Believing in God is about as realistic as believing the world is flat.

Monogamy feels like an archaic social convention enforced by unhealthy possessive behaviors and jealousy

Copyright should have stayed the original initial 14 years with possible renewal to 28 years. But like in France back then, also include the original authors (last one alive, if several) lifespan. Hence, a copyright would last either the authors lifespans or 28 years, whichever is longer.

Moreover, the patent system is being abused and does not serve the original goal of "any useful art, manufacture, engine, machine, or device, or any improvement there on not before known or used." It granted the applicant the "sole and exclusive right and liberty of making, constructing, using and vending to others to be used" of his invention.. It needs major changes, including the requirement to have the "invention" be under examination by reputable third-party laboratories (such as Intertek, SGI, Underwriters Laboratories, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Technischer Überwachungsverein, SGS - Société Générale de Surveillance, etc…) before being granted a patent. Nowadays, patents are given almost willy-nilly to anyone no matter how vague or obvious the supposed invention.

Nowadays, patents are being misused in Patent Ambush mechanisms and scenarios, meanwhile Patent Trolls and Hoarders whole existence is are to impede/obstruct legally and impose exorbitant levies/fees onto organization and companies actually innovating and developing useful art/process/devices. Even more incredible, there are Submarine Patents being hidden away to suddenly take hostage existing products and process of various companies by imposing extortionate royalties.

Less than 50% of the opinions in this thread are in any way unpopular.

There. There's my opinion.

US Senators and congressmen are underpaid. Their salaries should be doubled. The president should make at least a $1 million a year, directly paid by taxpayers.

Reason: If I, the taxpayer, pay them, then they have to work for me. The payment makes that service relationship explicit. I pay you, you work for me. And, yes, the current pay is too little, $174,000 - barely comparable to tech workers.

Only taking $1 is an invitation for corruption. (Not claiming it happened, but it is an invitation.)

TikTok and YouTube shorts are brain-rotting garbage, and if you use them regularly you need to stop now. Yes, even if you claim you only watch educational stuff.

Also giving a child under the age of 8 or 9 a personal internet-connected device should be seen on a similar level as neglect if not full-on abuse.

What we're currently calling AI isn't AI but just a language processing system that takes its best guess at a response from it's database of information they pilfered from the internet like a more sophisticated Google.

It can't really think for itself and it's answers can be completely wrong. There's nothing intelligent about it.

Lilo and Stitch is the best Disney movie.

Many, many spoilers below. But, seriously, this movie is 21 years old. Get over yourselves.

Check it: a young girl adopts an illegal alien (killing machine from deep space) and protects him from the U.S. (and galactic) government (Military-Industrial complexes), while keeping her incredibly depressed sister (slices both ways) from giving up completely as they keep their Indigenous Hawaiian family together in their co-opted homeland. One sister works a series of dead-end tourism jobs; the other has anger issues. The hate each other and love each other fiercely, though they are about 12 years apart in age.

Oh, yeah, and their parents are dead.

Meanwhile, the alien is a political refugee and freedom fighter fleeing from his own people who want him dead for —get this— existing. A lab-grown, indestructible terrorist, he seeks asylum on an island — but he can't swim.

He does learn to surf.

The only downside to this film is that Disney produced it. And Elvis.

"Ohana means family. Nobody gets left behind or forgotten."

Teachers should be paid 50% more. If you want good teachers to stay, you have to walk the walk, otherwise you'll get a perpetual cycle of overwhelmed grads being bossed around by rusted-on bottom teer heads.

a "civilization" that involves "money" is simply not civilized.

shut up, you're fucking wrong. it said so in the post.

Onions taste gross and have no tangible benefit to cooking. Fight me.

I was gonna write something political but nah.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon are some of the best Pokemon games, better than most of the (especially newer) main series games. I started with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon so I may be biased though.

If you actually want to do some about climate change, step 1 is to stop having kids.

Inverted controls are just better.

People are crazy when they promote closed-source AI (okay, okay, generative model) projects like ChatGPT, Bard etc.

This is literally one of the most important technologies of the future, and after all the times technology companies screwed them (us) up big time and monopolized the Internet, they go into the same trap again and again.

First they surrendered the free Internet, now they surrender the new frontiers.

Wake up, people. Go HuggingFace, advocate for free AI, and ideally - for a GPL one. We cannot afford for this part of our future to be taken away from us.