That is quite true. Though there’s another con if everyone moved to FOSS, the governments will then have less control and access to user data. Right now they can just ask Microsoft, Meta and Google and they readily give minute by minute account of a person and hordes of data. Signal, linux distros, etc don’t collect anything in the first place.
Class action against activitypub (or whoever has the final say of whether they're let in or not) if they allow Meta into the fediverse. They are putting all of our data and privacy at risk by doing so.
ActivityPub is from W3C and is an open protocol for anyone to use. No one to target there legally speaking. It’s up to the consumers of the protocol to reject and defederate.
“mutually beneficial” and “parasitic” are mutually exclusive realities. “Mutually beneficial” means “you benefit and I benefit”, while “parasitic” means “I benefit, and you lose out”. It is impossible to be both at the same time.
In the complex web of biological and ecological interactions, there’s an intriguing concept known as parasitic mutualism. This term describes relationships that, at first glance, seem parasitic, but upon closer examination, reveal indirect benefits to the host organism, thus incorporating elements of both parasitism and mutualism.
Consider the relationship between humans and trees as an example. At first glance, it could appear parasitic. Humans often exploit trees for their resources, leading to deforestation, habitat destruction, and significant harm to the tree population. We extract wood for construction, burn wood for heat, and use tree-derived products in countless areas of life, all of which can negatively impact trees.
However, there’s another side to this relationship that bears a striking resemblance to mutualism. Trees provide a multitude of benefits to humans: they produce oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide, offer shade and shelter, provide food and raw materials, and even contribute to our mental wellbeing. Conversely, humans can also provide benefits to trees. We plant and cultivate trees, protect them within parks and reserves, and manage forests for sustainable growth. We care for urban trees, providing water, nutrients, and protection against pests and diseases.
Therefore, while the immediate interaction might seem parasitic, the broader context reveals elements of mutual benefit. This relationship between humans and trees illustrates how the seemingly contradictory notions of parasitism and mutualism can coexist within the intricate complexity of our natural ecosystems. The relationship is not purely one or the other but can transition between these states based on the specific circumstances and perspectives considered.
So, basically, what you’re saying is that sometimes, if you do only a cursory glance, you can see relationships that are parasitic; however, if you do a more in-depth analysis, you find that they’re mutually beneficial.
You know what that means? It means that you were completely fucking wrong when you called that relationship “parasitic”. It means that doing your due diligence ruled your earlier evidence incorrect. It means that what you thought was “parasitic” is actually mutually beneficial. It means that “parasitic” and “mutually beneficial” are two completely different fucking things.
Yes. That is precisely what I’m arguing. They are a contradiction of terms. Mutualism is when both organisms prosper from their relationship. Parasitism is when one organism prospers at the expense of the other. There is zero overlap between those two things. If both organisms are prospering at least a little, that is mutualism. If only one organism is prospering, that is parasitism.
Like, am I taking crazy pills here? Or are you just stupid?
Happy to be labelled stupid. But yeh. Dunno what pills you’re taking.
Your grasp of the basic definitions of parasitism and mutualism is great 👍, but it seems you’re refusing to acknowledge the complexities and nuances of biological relationships.
These are not static, black-and-white definitions. Nature isn’t a simple dichotomy of “mutualism here, parasitism there”. It’s a continuum of interactions that evolve and change with conditions.
Consider the cleaner fish as an example. It’s an illustration of facultative mutualism. The fish provides a service by removing parasites from a host fish—a clear case of mutualism. But what happens when the cleaner fish starts taking bites of the host’s flesh, causing harm? Suddenly, this mutualistic interaction turns parasitic.
If the fish continues cleaning parasites, then it is still mutualistic. If the “host” benefits from the relationship overall, then it is mutualistic. If it doesn’t benefit, and is actively harmed by the relationship, then it is parasitic.
The conversation seems to be veering into a game of semantics rather than addressing the biological complexity at hand.
The point isn’t about rigidly sticking to one label or another based on each individual interaction; it’s about acknowledging that the relationship can fluctuate based on various conditions. Therefore, there’s value in having a label that encapsulates this variability, like ‘facultative mutualism’.
‘Facultative mutualism’ doesn’t deny the presence of mutualistic or parasitic interactions but acknowledges that the relationship isn’t strictly one or the other. It can fluctuate between the two extremes based on different circumstances, and there’s utility in having a term that covers this variability.
You know what? That is fair. You’re right - I was engaging in a purely semantics argument, and I’m sorry about that. It was dumb, and also assholish of me to assume that you didn’t know what the fuck you were talking about and were just pulling things out of thin air. I see the point that it is useful to define relationships on a spectrum with fully parasitic at one end, and fully mutually beneficial at the other.
Fediverse is, well, federated. This means that it's spread across multiple servers that are independently run by their admins, but have agreed to work together and share communities between each other.
For example, lemmy.world is a site operating several communities, as are beehaw.org and lemmy.ml. One of them could choose to monetize, and that wouldn't affect the other sites. If new site pops up that is full of ads and spam, then other sites could decide to block communities from them on their site.
The problem is that a community could be screwed over because their specific instance either runs out of money and goes offline, or gets blacklisted for doing iffy things to make enough money to stay afloat.
Sure their existing content will be backed up on other instances, but the users will then have to create accounts elsewhere and work out which instance will host their new community.
The cost is hardly in the software. It’s for the support and setup. Even if governments switch to Linux, they’d need some sort of support contract in place with a vendor.
And I know from first hand experience that those “not the corporate one” vendors that (often local) governments try to get their stuff from are not able to offer their products or services at comparable quality. Years ago my public university, via some half-baked initiative by the state in an attempt to protect data and employ local talent and whatnot, tried to ditch Dropbox and O365 etc. in favor of some locally made stuff. It was an unmitigated disaster, especially the absolute piece of shit that was supposed to replace Dropbox. On the rare occasions that it did actually work, it simply was nowhere near as useful or convenient or performant as Dropbox. As a result people avoided that shit like the plague and started sharing their files through other, arguably shadier platforms instead. Until they finally rolled the actually usable alternative that’s in service now, the documents were hosted on all sorts of shitty websites with no access control.
AFAIK the Office alternative failed completely and they’re back to where they were, maybe even deeper into 365 actually.
Morning all! Still getting to grips with Lemmy and the various communities around the fediverse, but enjoying it all so far!
Not sure what’s on the docket for the day, most likely a snall bit of tidying up around the flat, but do know I’ve got a sausage cassarole to prep for tea so that should be a good treat to look forward to!
Monero.town has a donation address and while you can prove you are human by linking an existing social media account during signup, you can also do this anonymously by donating a small amount of Monero. So far this model seems sustainable :)
It’s hard to define perfection but Return Of The Obra Dinn has very few flaws IMO. I can only complain about relatively minor UX problems. Everything else is incredible. I still think about the story years later and the music gets stuck in my head to this day. It is such a consummate achievement of game dev and its design achieves maximum results with the limited resources of a solo gamedev.
kbin.life
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