If you lived in a world where smoking was returning in full force—through unethical, manipulative, and probably illegal tactics tobacco use was returning to 1960s levels—would you work within the tobacco industry to make it less bad? "Nicotine is an excellent ADHD drug so it can help accessibility!"
Because this is exactly what people in the tech industry are starting to sound like.
It's one trillion dollars ... why aren't we to expect the industry members will do whatever it takes, over whatever laws of land or morals they may still have.
@baldur Funny that you ask, couple of days ago someone was basically stating something along the lines of "oh I see you are inept, since you are using LLM" and some people were trying to guilt-trip him because of "ableism", since people with disabilities are dependant on LLMs for some reason. What the fuck?
@DJGummikuh Yeah, that’s a standard tactic of the pro-LLM crowd these days.
The whole "I'm calling you a hypocrite because every other objection I want to make shows how horrible my morals objectively are." debate tactic has been leaking out of SA/chan/stormfront boards for a while now.
If I lived in a world where tech oligarchs were deliberately destroying the planet to push their technocracy on everyone... I'd take my inspiration from the French circa 1789
@Anomnomnomaly
Time to service, oil and polish guillotines then...
@baldur
@baldur tech is still one of the few professions that allows for class mobility. I think people are seeing the future of sharing less resources with more people, and thinking "whatever, I'll get mine first"
@budududuroiu Pretty much every single person I’ve seen argue this is my age or thereabouts. They’re in their forties and are already basically financially secure
The people who actually are in financial need usually just say that they need to pay the bills and don’t see another way at the moment, which I actually respect. People gotta eat
@baldur Yeah, I've seen those bs excuses for the #PervGlasses / #Glassholes & #SocialMediaBans when #AccessibleArchitecture & proper #Moderation are far better at these…
@baldur No, I'd vomit everywhere.
Aug 12, 2026, 11:18 AM@baldur I have bad news for you about nicotine.
@baldur i like that but it’s more like the nazis saying your extermination will actually somehow be good for you
@baldur Nervous people have better other things to use instead of smoking .. lived with a mother who smoked way too much and it killed her when she reached pension age and a sister younger than myself both from cancer her body was full of it mother's started in lung then to brain with 14 tumors
Both only lived a few months ...
Unbelievable indeed…
Aug 12, 2026, 12:40 PM@baldur Elijah Wood's cameo in I'm a Virgo: https://youtu.be/3uGHXMjImcc
"The death penalty is a horrific thing and I want to do something about it. It'll be a while until it's abolished all over. So, I'm studying to be an executioner. If I can, as an executioner, change things up a little bit, making their deaths a little less painful..."
@baldur
Um, that's why Vaping was invented, all the nicotine, no tar, no particulates. Less bad (but not really; inhaled ethylene glycol and crushed lithium batteries on every sidewalk aren't good).
@baldur It seems more like a world where concern about computer tech adoption is back to 1960's levels again.
I don't think you need the smoking analogy, it's just computers.
The computers are the danger and the addiction is often worse than smoking.
@baldur I think the analogy is fair to a point. There’s a difference between acknowledging that a technology can have legitimate uses and using those benefits to justify an industry or system whose broader incentives may be harmful. Saying “nicotine can help people with ADHD” doesn’t erase the harm caused by deliberately expanding nicotine addiction. In the same way, pointing out the benefits of tech or AI shouldn’t become an excuse to ignore the ways the industry can manipulate people
Aug 12, 2026, 3:58 PM@baldur I don't want to, unfortunately i have a mortgage to pay and in my defence the industry pivoted to cancer sticks after I'd reached a senior position (too senior to easier switch career, not senior enough to change course)
@baldur
I don't know if you're talking about ai dependence or the very real problem of tech companies pushing dip/snoose on their employees
Aug 12, 2026, 5:09 PM@baldur "I can only relax with a cig in my hand. 🚬 Stop disciminate me. 🚬 I neeeeeedddd nikotineeeee. 🚬" - Some smokers probably.
@baldur …well…smoking is making a strong comeback…an insanely strong one. Via weed (there are dispensaries all over) and vaping (where they wildly outnumber liquor stores). Add in all the edibles/smokeless…and cigars moving upscale…
Smoking never left…tobacco left. Like with tech it just switched vice. Gambling went tech too. Sex. None of those people went anywhere. They just adjusted. Exactly like the Techbros…
@baldur this is what I've been thinking about my own industry (marketing). It will take a while to get into the new career I'm aiming for, but working on it!
@baldur I’m member of Pro-Rauchfrei e.V. which fights smoking even to this day