Pandemanium

Corps have been complaining for years already that people aren't buying enough. Millenials are killing this industry and that industry because we don't consume enough - "enough" being whatever level they've decided we should consume. They feel entitled to our dollars, whether or not their product or service is any good.

If they were smart, companies would lower prices to be more competitive and incentivize people to buy more. Instead they've doubled down and posted armed guards at the store exits to intimidate the customers they have left. They've slipped data collection into every interaction. It's pretty obvious they're not playing the long game anymore.

That's why you flash your lights on and off at them, to get them to unfreeze before you get too close.

I hate to break it to you but almost every major corporation has a person whose entire job is to translate corporate copy into easy-to-parse, casual, friendly "conversation," because they do want you to think of the brand as your trusted friend. They're trying to manipulate us at every level, every interaction.

When I am amazed by a piece of art, it's because a person was able to conceive of a scene and then use techniques they've learned to bring that scene from their mind into reality. I think, "Wow, how did they decide to blend those colors together in such a way, and why? I wonder how hard it is to get that right? How long might it take me to learn the same technique?"

But when I look at a piece of art made by AI, I think, disappointedly, "Oh, they didn't. Nobody leaned the technique to paint this, there may not be any feeling behind it, or any point at all, other than 'it looks good.'" It's just not impressive.

And I'm pretty sure that most people could learn how to prompt successfully in a matter of days or weeks. Real artists practice their craft for years, learning and perfecting techniques and often developing their own unique style.

That's not where the surprise is coming from. The surprise is that the hospital failed to tell you there might be out-of-network staff that might be involved in your surgery, even though you were careful to choose a hospital that is in-network. So your insurance won't cover the out of network doctors, and you don't have any choice of how many or which other doctors (other than your scheduled surgeon) get involved. Those out of network staff then bill you separately from the whole procedure. That's the surprise.

Ok doc, what do you suggest? I'm 40 and somehow my 80 year old mother has better mobility than I do. I can't even tell you why I have pain, there is no injury. Doctors can't tell me why. I've tried everything short of opioids and back surgery, and I know those aren't going to help either. What the hell do you do when your body just doesn't react normally to exercise, stretching, physical therapy, etc?? It's not that I want to accept that this is my life now, but there don't seem to be any other options. Just be glad this isn't happening to you, I guess.

But then the restaurant would be paying for that service, not making money from it. They probably wouldn't even be aware the data was being sold.

Lol restaurants don't have time for that shit. Who would buy that kind of data from a restaurant anyway? Even if you had more than 200 applicants a month that would probably net you less than $10.

What exactly do you propose the "normies" do? Is there some non-corporation making road-worthy cars? No? Let me guess, you want a family of 5 to bike 2 hours to the nearest school/park/grocery store in the snow on rural roads with no shoulder just to avoid paying a corporation? Take the nonexistent train?

There's still the issue of birds, which do not like these things in their airspace and, depending on the size, will absolutely either attack drones or be maimed by them. Also, helicopters and small planes often fly quite low. We haven't had a great record with autonomous cars, but sure, let's try autonomous flying drones. What could go wrong?

It's insufferable that the answer is always "build your own." Lemmy assumes that every single person on the planet is an engineer with enough free time to design, build, and troubleshoot every device they own.

No one is recycling still-working cars after only 5 years. Unless you're talking about insurance deciding to salvage a vehicle after a wreck, which is a different story. Even those don't always get destroyed, some are parted out and some are probably shipped overseas to get a second life.