the German government's plan over the next decade to spend 3.5% of its GDP on defense — a percentage equal to that of the United States
Jesus they really are planning to replace any ounce of imperialism the US accidentally gives up.
It's pretty common for shop signs, but is limited to 'small local hardware shop' rather than any hardware shop. I've seen it across south England up to north Scotland, so it's definitely not a 'local local' thing.
Conchiglie? Fusilli? Ravioli?!
Well, it's at least in the tens of millions. Source: I live on an island wiv'em
That'd certainly help massively, I suppose I just bundle that measure up in my idea of moving away from capitalism. I agree there's more to be addressed than just social media (though that's a large part), but it's hard to predict precisely what the internet would become after that measure alone.
I would guess it could take a long time of trial, error, and research into how to best incorporate the internet into our lives without compromising actual quality of life.
You're not wrong - The internet is, in some aspects, an inherently atomising and isolating thing, that is also addicting. I do think the pre-corporate internet was a significantly healthier (though also significantly flawed) ecosystem. And I do think the world sans capitalism would return to significantly more local and 'friendly' services, stalls, and public areas that would largely improve the problem.
That being said, further help, initiatives and incentives probably would still need to exist to coax people out of addictive self-isolation. I personally have no idea what that would look like - I can only wish I had meaningful experience and knowledge of how to coalesce people into fun joint activities - but it's an important question that should be answered.
I'd have to agree. The internet combined with the capitalist model, anyway. Bourgeois control and mindless pursuit of profit, regardless of the not-directly-monetary benefits of previous methods, was an essential element.
It seems obvious to me that when people idolise the 90s and before, they're mostly talking about the fact that there were still significant areas of life that had avoided complete atomisation. I don't think many people are really arguing the law was better, or that peoples' material conditions were super amazing, just mainly that it was actually slightly achievable to go out and TALK to people.
It at least feels, to significant numbers of people, that atomisation has significantly increased in the couple decades since 2005. And for all the horrible things you can rightly point out about the 90s, being able to actually have a fucking friendly conversation or a friend or two, basically on demand, certainly made it a lot better for people.
I remember as a kid we would regularly go to the town square, have a friendly chat with the baker, have a friendly chat with the greengrocer, friendly chat at the corner shop, get some advice from the ironmonger, talk to some weirdo while we waited for a bus, regularly asked people for directions, etc. All in a single morning. Because going out of town to shop was much rarer, we were known locally as a poor family, so half the shops gave us an unofficial discount and a smile. And all that didn't happen because I was a kid, it happened then because the bakery is now a chain where you can only order on a computer screen, because the greengrocer and ironmonger shut down, because the corner shop is now a supermarket and the staff change every week and they give 0 shits because they only pay minimum age, because there is no bus where we're going now (and talking on the bus is seen as weird now), because nobody is supposed to need to ask for directions anymore. These are all things that have changed just since the early 2000s, and whether they realise it or not, this is what made the 'vibe' that people miss.
The 90s could've been hell on Earth, but if you got to experience it with some fucking company, then people will be nostalgic for it, and I don't think that's necessarily wrong.
"defederating pre-emptively as a last resort" remains one of the funniest sentiments ever seriously shared on Lemmy.
I don't know how meaningful the question really is, and fuck YouGov, but still thought the data were interesting and vaguely positive.
Or
Frogshallah lives on as my headcanon
An absolute many are neo-fascist libs, but some, I assume, are good people. 
https://lemmy.world/post/18545268
I thought it was nice to see a couple good takes out in the wild for a change (an anti-dunk tank?). Not all of the comments are perfect, but many are fighting the libs on the posting lines. 
@Rookwood
The reason capitalism leads to fascism is that inevitably capitalism will lead to untenable inequality. Injustice will be too great to ignore between the rich and the rest. This will lead to populism.
There are two forms of populism. One will seek to rectify the imbalances caused by capitalism. The other will seek to divert blame to minorities. If there were less . then our society would not be in decay. One is much more useful to the Capitalist and so it will ultimately prevail. The capitalist will devote all resources to crushing the leftist populism up to and including directly funding fascism.
160 upvotes • 12 downvotes
Dharma Curious
Some of the comments in this thread really tell you why it takes a novel laureate to say this. Some of y’all do not have a basic understanding of history, economic systems, or what the term reactionary actually means.
The correct response to “neo liberal capitalism has contributed to the rise of fascism” should be “no shit, Sherlock”
It’s truly sad that that isn’t 100% of the comments here.
Scratch a liberal and a fascist bleed, y’all. That doesn’t mean all liberals are fascist, that means that fascism is an outgrowth of liberalism.
And just in case y’all also don’t know what that means, “liberalism” in that context isn’t “Obama liberal, Bush conservative,” it means the political ideology of liberalism, of which both Bush and Obama were proponents of.
ETA: I’m not engaging anymore… it’s not my job to teach y’all the difference between an economic system and authoritarian states. Also, your magic has no power here, I am an anarchist, not a stalinist. Please educate yourselves. If for no other reason, do it to make it easier to pwn the tankies or whatever the fuck
101 upvotes • 19 downvotes
i hate it when I hear people making the claim that it is capitalism that has helped so many people in the world with better quality of life and more opportunities and better outcomes, etc.
Capitalism is a fucking disease that we need to rid ourselves of, it is worse than Ebola the way it infects our minds with the dumbest shit.
You know what has made lives better for billions of people? The washing machine and the cotton gin and fucking electricity.
Capitalism has fought against progress every step of the way.
74 upvotes • 9 downvotes
@njm1314
Well of course it has, fascism is the end result of capitalism. Some would say it’s natural conclusion.
63 upvotes • 13 downvotes
BlackLaZoR
fascism is the end result of capitalism
I wonder what sort of echo chamber you must live in, in order to believe this
20 upvotes • 67 downvotes
This is just a short, easy-to-read paper I keep in my bookmarks and go back to occasionally. It explores, qualitatively, the various outcomes that contact with alien intelligence might have. I think it's a really cool 25-page exploration of possibilities that are fun to think about. Some choice quotes:
ETI (extraterrestrial intelligence) might attack us not out of selfishness but instead out of a universalist desire to make the galaxy a better place.
perhaps ETI make contact with Earth to welcome us into the Galactic Club but only after we complete a set of required bureaucratic tasks
They may be interested in incorporating us into their civilization so they can sell us their products, keep us as pets, or have us mine raw materials for them.
if ETI place intrinsic value on lives, then perhaps they could bring about more lives by destroying us and using our resources more efficiently for other lives
My favourite section is the "unintentional harm" outcomes, which suggests the possibility that they just might squish us by accident.
One non-biological physical hazard that we could face from direct contact with ETI is unintentional mechanical harm. For example, ETI might accidentally crush us while attempting an unrelated maneuver.
Can't for the life of me find where I first heard of this, but I just wanted to share it for being fun and fairly silly yet still officially worked on by NASA.
Because it's bad. It's a bad place with honestly bad posts.
That's all.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/feb/05/queue-new-nhs-dental-practice-bristol-st-pauls
"99% of dentists across the south-west aren’t accepting any new adult patients."
Getting anything but emergency healthcare in the UK is nigh impossible for much of the country now, I've been on the waiting lists of all my local dentists for over 18 months.
This'll get spread around as heavily as that misleading bread line photo from the USSR, right?
You mean mass, indiscriminate air strikes aren't a good way to save hostages and actually just result in dead people???
I like to imagine that a car-sharing club is still somehow the solution to posting on reddit.