I originally had posted a huge wall of text on this topic, but after reading it back, I decided it was too long and not really fitting to be on this page. I have moved it to the forum and I encourage you to read the whole thing, and respond with your opinion, if you have one. Link here. What follows is the the begining paragraphs of what I wrote so you can get an idea of what the post was.

"I remember when I was first getting online in the late 90's I was always told not to share any personal information online. Boy, how things have changed.

It seems like we were all slowly conditioned to think there was no risk in sharing personal information, that doing so would be convenient for us, and allow us access to more services, and protect us from dangerous text and images. While that may be true, that is only one side of the coin.

You see, we used to be worried about identity fraud, or some malicious individual hacking our pc. Don't get me wrong, these are legitimate things to consider, but these are not the issues affecting most of the people using the internet today. What i'm going to attempt to convey, is how we were all manipulated into sacrificing our privacy for essentially nothing, and how governments and big tech corporations work hand-in-glove to reduce our ability to use the internet anonymously, and why.

First, some basic facts:
-If you are not paying with money, you are paying with data (you are the product, your data is sold and they dont even cut you a cheque!)
-Governments do not want to protect your privacy (remember, the USA tried to outlaw encyption for private citizens; Five Eyes; the Patriot Act; mandatory age verification; etc. They want to know what their 'assets' are up to)
-Internet freedom has declined globally for 15 consecuctive years (Freedom of the Net 2025 report)

It's my opinion that all people should be permitted to access and disseminate information anonymously. I place a high value on my right to privacy and this is something I idealistically believe in. I will not trade my liberities for securities. I do not believe it benefits me for my government to know all my activities online. If that means they also do not know my countrymens activities online and i'm in some way at greater risk because of that, I accept that risk. We cannot allow dragnet-style mass surveillance systems to be implemented piece by piece. Once the systems are in place, it's only a matter of time and circumstance until they are overtly misused in the name of "emergency measures", or "security". We are already too close to this point, it's just not overt yet.

Before I get into the weeds of it, let me add some context to my viewpoint.
-I live in Canada, a beautiful and peaceful country. My opinion and my reasoning come from the North American perspective, most western nations will have similar perspectives I think, but i'm speaking as a Canadian when referencing rights and freedoms, though I wish for all people to have these same rights and freedoms
-Our right to privacy and our right to freedom of expression exist to protect us from government overreach. The men who wrote the canadian charter of rights and freedoms did not want future governments to have mass-surveillance capabilities, and this was enacted during the cold war. I realize we have no entitlement to these rights in private places, or on private platforms, but then the governments should not be able to compell private companies to hand over our information without a court ordered warrant, and doing so without a warrant should be illegal.
-I reserve no trust for unknown future governments. That trust will need to be earned. I do not want to allow the creation of an apparatus that can be used to build profiles on private citizens
-Democracy is strongest when people are engaged with it. When the average person checks-out, the big corporations, mega-rich individuals and politicians control the country. When's the last time you wrote a letter to your member of parliament?".....

Read the full post at https://cyberianwasteland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4169

But something is missing.

What am i searching for?

Are we all NPC's?? Are we brainwashed?? Are we drugged and complacent??

I sometimes wonder how we got to this point. Though I know how. It happened slowly, one nickel and dime at a time. So gradually that the majority of us wouldnt even notice. When Youtube started it's messege of "broadcast yourself" was prominently displayed at the top of the page, because thats what it was for, regular people to post and share videos of themselves or things around them. You could even reply (comment) on a video, with your own video (a fair exchange). The feed was based on latest uploads, or you could browse/search by tags. Videos posted were all on a level playing field, and did not need to attempt to game the algorithm into promoting them. Or Facebook, it used to be similar. Your entire feed would be only people you explicitly follow, with most recent posts at the top, all in chronoLOGICAL order. And now? Your feed is full of ads and bullshit, promoted groups, and other things you've never expressed an interest in.

It used to be us choosing to use certain services or websites. Choosing to use certain programs or choosing to watch specific shows. We used to be conciously making the decisions about how we spend our time. We used to have a reason, or an idea what we'd do, when we logged on to the interweb, flicked on the idiot box, or flipped open our cellular devices. This is rarely the case anymore for so many people around me. It seems almost like it's inverted now. Like we'll open an app on our phones and just check what it wants to show us at this moment, scrolling down infinitely or pulling down to refresh the feed until something spikes our dopamine enough to compell us to engage.

I'm not sure if this makes any sense to you, if it's even 'true', or how that could be determined, but i think our phones, computers, tv's, and other 'smart' devices need us much more than we need them. I mean, hear me out. When i refer to these MaRvElS oF tEcHnOlOgY, i'm symbolically referring to our use of them, and the big tech companies behind the devices and apps/services on them. Let me ask this, if we did not have smart phones, if we did not have smart tv's, fridges, or (gay) alexa's, would we be worse off? Do the majority of people predominantly use these things for productive purposes? How much time is spent engaging with these things for 'entertainment purposes' vs for productive purposes? I think the answer is obvious. But if these things did not have us, the companies behind them would not profit, and would have to offer more, for less. They would be less powerful. They wouldnt just assume any and everyone would be willing to give up all their privacy in order to watch some mind-melting bullshit on youtube. They wouldn't just assume they could cram ads into our lives 24/7, they would need to REALLY offer something in return. It's wild when I hear music playing, and the song ends and an ad starts, all from an appliance somebody PAID for! I mean really guys, what are we even doing here lmao. Why is amazon alexa playing music better than a mp3 player or stereo? And dont tell me "BeCaUsE iTs CoNvEnIeNt" just because you can control it with your voice, how lazy are you, you fat fuck? How could you buy something and have it playing ads inside your home? This makes no sense at all, and dont start with me about TV and Radio stations, they get a pass, they invested in expensive physical infrastructure in order to broadcast the shit to us, the streaming apps use the existing internet infrastructure that OTHERS paid for. We're being fleeced.

Next, I have to wonder, what effect is this having on us, and on society as a whole. What happens when a person spends too much time 'chasing the dragon' of dopamine, rather than conciously deciding what media to consume? What happens when people no longer even think about what they may want to watch or engage with, and just wait for something to appeal to them? What changes in the brain? I really think there's something beneficial about being bored, or about letting your mind wander. This is where you're imagination and curiosity really gets to play. This is when you come up with NEW ideas or discover new things, or even just find new appreciation for the things already around you

I see many younger people now almost unable to be bored. Unable to be present. Unable to let their mind wander and come up with their own idea's. So many times i've heard multiple people say essentially the same thing about a current topic, just in slightly different words, and it's obvious they're repeating something they heard someone else say. Repeating someone else's opinion. Repeating a clickbait narrative being pushed around online. I cant help but think we are losing our ability to think for ourselves these days, losing our ability to form our own opinions, and make our own decisions. I've watched people get frustrated when nothing in their feed is 'good enough' (LOL). It's fuckin' wild to me that someone would be upset about that, like, don't you even know what you want? Just search up what you wanna watch lmao. Fuckin cretins.

When I bring this up to people, they seem to be apathetic about it. Most people have the viewpoint that their decisions mean nothing, yet, all our decisions mean something. We vote not mostly in ballots, but we vote mostly in two other ways, which are dollars and attention. These are our realt ballots. These are our apparatuses to influence change. These are our methods to send a messege. Yet we do nothing, because we're comfy. Nothing bad has happened yet, and how would we even stay in touch with our friends without facebook?

And what about society as a whole? Just look at how powerful the big tech companies have became, look at how much wealth and power is consolidated into so few corporations. Look at how little the avg person cares that this is happening. Democracy is only strong when the people are engaged, otherwise the lobbyist groups and rich campaign funding elite control the system. Yet, everyone is complacent. Comfortable with their infinite jest. Can this be good? I doubt it. How long until these tech billionaires are as powerful as our governments? will it happen? One day, will our governments need to debate with the heads of these companies before instituting changes? It might sound far fetched, but just look at Elon Musk and starlink, the US military relies on him allowing their use of his satellites. What if he denied them use, and instead favoured china? Surely the gov't would be at the negotiating table with him in two jiggles of a jackrabbits ass. What about Jeff Bezos? Just look how much of the internet relies on his AWS. Bill Gates? The largest private owner of agricultural land in the United States (that's right, he wants to have a monopoly on our food supply, since apple ate into his OS market!)

The idea of governments influencing the prominant corporations of the day is not new. In the 40's and 50's Disney produced propoganda for the US gov't, and the film adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm ends differently than the book, because the book was too 'commie', portraying communism and capitalism as equally corrupt. They were able to do this because they had purchased the rights to the film from George Orwell's widow. But why? Why does the CIA have a hand in popular media, and do you think this was a one off? No, it's happened many times. If you film a movie and need the use of military equipment, you'd better be prepared to let the alphabet boys vet your script. But that was a long time ago, what about today? Today things are a little different. The corporations of today are much bigger and much more influencial than disney ever was. The corporations of today have so much more of our attention than disney ever did, they have so much more potential to influence our minds. The corporations are so much more valuable to the governments, and the governments are valuable to the corporations. But what are we?

I thought the government was supposed to be 'of the people, for the people'. Why do they sell us out like cheap stocks in a company? Should the gov't not be concerned with the amount of information and power these corporations are amassing at our expense? Youtube, Facebook, Google, etc. Have so much data on you that they have a complex psychological profile on you, and all of us. They can easily use this information to influence our minds and opinions. They can use it to influence elections. This is not debatable, this is fact. This fact is the reason why governments work hand-in-hand with these companies, they want them to be powerful so they can have them at their disposal when needed. And i'm not saying the tech companies want to be used as tools, but it's also in their best interest to 'play ball' with the governments in order to not instigate any sort of reforms or new laws that encroach on their playing field. They need each others favour, but they dont need ours. They only need us to keep scrolling.

Remember, bullshit in = bullshit out, so be deliberate and concious about what you consume. They are pacifying us with the alogorithms and endless feeds, and nobody is protecting you from this. It's up to you to decide what you consume.

...and for god's sake, don't let them make you a cretin!

Ya know, I fkn love music. Music (and humour) has been with me through the best and worst times of my life. Most other things i pickup and put down, but music is always there. Hey, your life's gotta have a soundtrack, right?

Now for most my crazy ride of a life the soundtrack has been strictly hip-hop, but over the last few years I slowly started to expand my musical horizons. Very slowly mind you, but it has been happening. I think it started around 2022 or so when i got handed down my dads old turntable, a Technics SL-D2 that just needed a stylus. Also, around that time i happened to get an MPC in a trade. It wasn't something i was particularly looking for, but being a hip hop head I knew damn well what it was and had respect for the gear. I ended up getting it for like maybe 130 USD worth of some chronic. I was stoked. I dont know why i was, since i had no aspirations of making music and didnt have the faintest idea how to use it, but i guess i just thought it was cool af and wanted to play around on it. I rememeber getting home, setting it up, installing all the content and registering the device, loading some sample packs into it and immediately realizing i had no idea what to do. I made a few simple drum patterns out of the stock sounds and maybe looped a few things and fairly quickly packed it away as life was p busy at the time. But, in the back of my head, I would think about it from time to time, watch a few youtube videos about production, imagine myself able to do shit like that, wtv.

I remember searching up how specific producers I liked sampled, how they put together certain tracks and whatnot, and one in particular I believe led to me starting to branch out more. That specific track was Aruarian Dance by Nujabes, who was a dope-ass producer that's not as well known as i think he should be. Here's a link to a cool non-official video using his song as the music: POV: you're mastering your mindset you can listen to the full song too (but you can also search that yourself you lazy fucks). I dunno, just something about that song grabbed me, and after watching some breakdown videos on the different samples he used, and how he chopped and flipped them, I realized that the some of the producers i most respected must have a very wide range of music they listen too. I believe Nujabes must have really liked certain latin music, based upon some of his sample choices. Nujabes also owned a record stone in Japan, so of course coming across new music would have been quite easy for him. All this led to me starting to explore different genres from different parts of the world.

Fast forward to present time. Now i'm still first and foremost a hip hop head, I doubt that'll ever change, but i've gained an appreciation for different genres of music too. I was going through my records last week and noticed that maybe 1/3 of my (small) collection of albums is not hip hop. My most recent purchase was an Aaliyah record, which is admittedly hip hop adjacent, but something I wouldn't have spent any money on in the 2010's. Something interesting that i've learned about myself is that I can enjoy music of almost any genre, in any language. What I think matters most to me is the vibes or how it makes me feel, and i'm not sure I could really nail it down any more specifically at this time. Some of my most exotic likes right now are Japanese music such as Hako Yamasaki, Maki Asakawa, Tatsuro Yamashita, Kimiko Kasai and POiSON GiRL FRiEND. Now, I dont listen to this stuff all the time, but for each one of those artists I have gained an appreciation and have been enjoying exploring their discographies. Also, with the exception of POiSON GiRL FRiEND, I own at least one record from each of those artists. And believe me, if PGF's Melting Moment EP was cheaper i'd have a fkn copy of it already, that shit is p dope. PGF is also a one-girl show, which really makes her projects impressive.

Life has been wild for me over the last few years, with many struggles and changes both within my personal life and in general with the economy and whatnot. I changed careers, taking a steady job with a regular paycheck. I still do some shit on the side, but not much. I make less money now, but I have more time to spend with the people i care about and more time to do the things i wanna do. Needless to say i've played a fair bit of video games lately... Silent Hill f and the FF7 remake are sick btw. But i also have been thinking about pulling out the mpc and trying to engage in music production as a hobby. Since I love music, and I have been enjoying expanding my musical horizons, it just seems like it would be a good fit to my life. Something I can do without having to spend any additional money. I'm not sure what will happen, I do flake on a lot of shit i plan to do. But either way, i'm having fun right now.

Time to spin some wax... Peace.

The robots that is. You see, like a great many men, i use youtube for not only video-centric content, but also music-centric content.. Like, well, music..

Lately i'd been exploring some new genres of music, mostly electronic type stuff. It jives well with the work i do to eek out a meagre living, helping to supress the painful lethargy brought on by the soul-crushing monotony of the workdays. While cruising the 'tube, letting the algorithm guide me to new and exiciting music selections, i would up discovering some pretty sick channels based around sub-genres such as cybercore; breakcore; synthwave; vapourwave; etc.. A couple channels in particular became my go-to's, with me subscribing to them and listening to them each day. I would even comment from time to time, knowing how that can help creators boost their channel, dropping comments such as "sick mix bro", or "wicked channel, im subbed up!".

After a while (probably when i was about to leave a comment like "another banger of a mix bro, keep up the hard work!") i happened to notice a comment another person had left requesting the artist names for the tracks, it had some replies hidden so i clicked it to reveal them. At the top of the replies was one that shook me, "This is AI generated content, there are no artists". I couldn't believe it. For weeks i'd been listening to, subscribing to, and even commenting on this shit. I almost felt sick over this revelation, they had gotten me. The fkin computers, the robots, had gotten me. I'd been fucking complimenting the AI's artistry, caring about these channels, wanting to comment to help the algorithm for them.. I'd been fooled.

Now, in retrospect there were some things i'd noticed along the way that should have been red-flags.. Like all the music, kinda sounded the same.. I dont know how to describe it, like, ALOT of real artists have a 'sound', a certain signature of sorts. But this was different. I couldn't put my finger on it, even after some reflecting, i can't find the words to describe it, but it just sounded all the same.

Now when i tell most people this, they usually chuckle, and i don't blame them, it is funny. But it's also kinda sad in a way, at least for me, because for me this has shown me that i'm either too old, or the robots are too smart, to be able to tell the difference between whats real and what isn't. How long until even the free image generators can get human anotomy right? How long until the majority of what i come across online is AI generated, and indistuingishable from human generated content. How do YOU know i'm not an AI complaining about AI bullshit?.. (You dont, fuckwad).

I wonder what kinda of turning point we're at right now? We can all look back at the commercialisation of the internet around the late 2000's as a turning point that changed how we used the internet, as well as how the internet intended to use us. The internet went from a place full of INDIVIDUALS expressing themselves through html code, to a place saturated with massive corporations trying to trick us into uploading our hard earned dinero to them. We have already been the product for long time, but i feel like this is going to bring things to a new level, one i cannot yet imagine or conceptualize.

I'll end this rant with one final quote for you to take home: "Fuck The Robots"