It’s not reassuring to me that these companies, bursting at the seams with so much cash that they’re actually are having national economic impact, are flying blind and there’s no institution to help correct course and prevent this hurdling mass from crashing into society and setting it ablaze.

Make no mistake, they’re seeking to exploit the contents of that material for profits that are orders of magnitude larger than what any shady pirated-material reseller would make. The world looks the other way because these companies are “visionary” and “transformational.”

Maybe they are, and maybe they should even have a right to these buried works, but what gives them the right to rip up the rule book and (in all likelihood) suffer no repercussions in an act tantamount to grand theft?

There’s certainly an argument to be had about whether this form of research and training is a moral good and beneficial to society. My first impression is that the companies are too opaque in how they use and retain these files, albeit for some legitimate reasons, but nevertheless the archival achievements are hidden from the public, so all that’s left is profit for the company on the backs of all these other authors.

I’ve seen groups in Asia wearing masks as a gesture of respect for their community. It’s not to say we’ll all fall hopelessly naive to disease if we don’t wear masks, but we would all certainly be happier not getting a debilitating virus at least every year.

FWIW, a lot of the research money has dried up, so I’d be surprised if any longitudinal studies will arise now about disease prevention and masking. Seems like a study tricky to control.

Undoubtedly each human displays a unique case and manifestation of whatever behavior we choose to specify, and that individuality can pull from different “trait” or “behavior” groups on a scale.

It’s only when we start to lump together many cases that we begin to discern between types and patterns, but it’s silly to make a harsh distinction between clusters and then pretend like they are emphatically different from the next. Grouping can have its uses, but we shouldn’t forget each person presents uniquely.

Also, to which tweaks were you referring?

Dumbify is easy enough to set up. It's not always an elegant solution as the list of supported apps is quickly exhausted and required me to make a shortcut. There's a delay and window transitioning from when I tap the link for Anki as Dumbify must first open its app, then go to the shortcut, and then open Anki. Not a huge latency, but noticeable and irksome at times when I want to do a quick search on Firefox. Maybe that's my fault for not trying to deliberately dumb my phone down further to the point where I don't even need a browser. How do we know when we're dumb enough with our phones? What level of distraction is acceptable?

The other major detractor is the fact that instead of seeing my badges on my homescreen, I just flip over one page. Mind you, these are only messenger apps, so that I can at least be reachable by those in my life. I don't have badges enabled on Mail or other apps. I don't have social media accounts, let alone the apps for them, yet my instincts are still to open and flip to the page with the badges. Maybe my behavior will change over time, but I am skeptical it will.

That’s all insofar as anyone or entity actually respects international law. It comes down to states agreeing that it’s in their best interests to cooperate on a matter. As long as the USA and Europe support Israel and don’t bring to bear any leverage to stop this insanity and form an independent state, the ICC can call Palestine whatever it wants to describe the situation.