“Apple” has dozens of varieties that don’t taste all that similar either.

Art is about creating emotion. AI art does create emotions/feelings (hate, anger, nausea, etc).

Buttons and dials are coming back, at least.

Not sure where I read it, but the story goes that loads of manufacturers used touch screen controls “because Tesla” but Tesla didn’t do it because it was cool and fancy, they did it because it’s cheaper. Spinning up entire supply lines to get plastic buttons and switches just wasn’t feasible for them in the startup days.

It’s literally the opposite of premium.

The bargain bins are full of once-great brands that haven’t produced anything in decades, but will let any old cheap factory slap their name on a product for a few bucks.

This is basically the same thing, but with stories instead of hardware.

I can’t vouch for the complete accuracy of the numbers here, but if they’re true, 500 nanotesla is basically identical to standing 1 foot away from a running dishwasher, and less than using an electric can opener or a vacuum cleaner.

Good news, you can stay. A position just opened up at Starbase 80.

Viral marketing for “You Can See Everything” perhaps?

It takes multiple books to cover, so this is the very, very basics:

~12,000 years in our future, Humanity goes to war with “thinking machines.” The war lasted a while, humans finally win, and vowed to never create such machines again. Another ~12,000 years later, Dune takes place.

By this time, the “no AI/computers” is such a deeply ingrained belief, that it has made its way into literally every facet of culture: politics, religion, commerce/transportation, etc. Of course, having fast calculations is also really handy, so humans resort to selective breeding programs and strict social castes that result in human calculators (Mentats) and other specialized professions. Even that’s not good enough to do interstellar travel calculations, so some people are imbued with “spice” (discovered on one planet, Arrakis, the Dune planet).

It’s basically space magic mushrooms. Opens the mind like nothing else. That’s the only way to do interstellar commerce, so it’s the most valuable commodity in the galaxy, and whoever controls the planet gets enormously powerful, and also has a huge target on their back. Meanwhile, a maternal religious sect is running its own breeding program to get to fulfill some “chosen one” prophecy.

The only things a villain needs to do in order to be a badass in Movieland is to walk slowly and look menacing while uttering a memorable catchphrase.

That doesn’t necessarily make them successful at their primary objective, since almost all Movieland villains lose eventually (they tend to leave their Plot Armor at home), but being remembered by the other residents forever is its own version of victory.

Unfortunately I’m not clever enough to have a good catchphrase, so I’m a minor henchman at best.

How do we get people to drop the saying “thought-terminating cliche?” It has an actual meaning, but is more often used by the “debate me” bros who are just lashing out any time someone doesn’t want to engage with bad-faith arguments.

Just a coincidence, same as last year.
And the year before…

Autocomplete 2.0

Or is he just happy to see you?

Now move them both under inXile and let Brian Fargo cook.

If someone posts something truly offensive or illegal, it doesn’t make sense to schedule a meeting next Thursday when a quorum can be gathered to vote on whether or not to remove it.

Rules are rules, and if you don’t trust someone to enforce the rules without having their hand held, they shouldn’t be the enforcer.

Mistakes will be made. Moderation is never entirely perfect. If one person keeps making mistakes, they should be removed.

Mom

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Samaritan_law

The question I get asked by religious people all the time is, without God, what’s to stop me from raping all I want? And my answer is: I do rape all I want. And the amount I want is zero. And I do murder all I want, and the amount I want is zero. The fact that these people think that if they didn’t have this person watching over them that they would go on killing, raping rampages is the most self-damning thing I can imagine. I don’t want to do that. Right now, without any god

https://libquotes.com/penn-jillette

If you don’t pay Sales tax at checkout, you are probably liable for Use tax at the same rate. See California for one example, but check your own to be sure.

You are supposed to report any item you buy and “use” in the state.

Understanding things you don’t personally experience is called empathy, and it also exists, even if people without it don’t understand.