Perhaps we should finally get rid of the Patriot Act now?

> true hallmark of totalitarianism is when every aspect of civil society is politicized

No? The true hallmarks of totalitarianism are a lack of political competition (usually due to repression) and the state controlling “all aspects of society, including the family, religion, education, business, private property, and social relationships” [1].

Ancient Athens was a famously political society. It was not totalitarian.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism

I agree. We've got a uniparty with two wings that doesn't allow any serious competition. We fight over things that will soon seem trivial in hindsight.

So, basically California is under Totalitarianism.

"It’s sort of pathetic to reflect that we have so few—maybe no—authentic and unmediated experiences that the thing that now really upsets people is an alteration of a simulation of authenticity."

It was worth the read for that paragraph alone :)

The best tech doesn't always win because network effects from wide adoption can be profound.

Not a bad win so far, right? One hand washes the other and both wash the face.

Interesting. Do you have any thoughts to share along the same lines about FrankenPHP?

It's cool that it's part of the PHP foundation, but it's not all that complex.

FrankenPHP has >100 contributors, including 3 very frequent ones, and about 17k lines of Go.

Mago has 11 contributors, with just 1 very frequent one, and about 135k lines of Rust.

Is embodiment a requirement to hold identity and is identity a pre-requisite for intelligence?

IMHO, you're correct on many counts.

What's the Pindar quote again? "War is sweet to those who have no experience of it. But the experienced man trembles exceedingly in his heart at its approach"

Once we have a decentralized trust protocol that has been widely adopted, it will hopefully solve most of these problems. As it stands right now, we can validate control, but not actual ownership. As such, ownership has to be proven via KYC and other centralized methods that rest on state authority. Not a good solution for those who care about privacy and individual freedom!