Shoshana Zuboff's The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: A Guide to Fighting Back

[@epochphilosophy]

Another big shoutout to Michael @WisecrackEDU for reading the quotes, and another for all my great patrons over at www.patreon.com/epochphilosophy

[@carsonwilcox3827]

As a software engineer who after 5 years of trying is STILL trying to remove google from my life, I endorse this video.

[@epochphilosophy]

We’re in it together my man. I work with Pandas, Excel, and SQL for data related stuff. But want to start learning more and contribute towards some open source projects. I am totally not a software engineer. Any experience doing this or advice?

[@larrym2434]

@@epochphilosophy If you do a duck duck go search on "how to contribute to open source," there are some really good guides for beginners. One of the main hurdles is figuring out git, which is the version control software that many OSS projects use. Ideally, you'll have a knowledgable friend around, but you should be fine since you are running your own infrastructure at home. I would look for non software-engineering tasks on the OSS project of your choice, unless you are fired up to dive deep into software engineering. Hope this helps.

[@chrisjswanson]

Hey guys, I hope this comment doesn't come off as sensationalized or lecturing, because I really care about the state of information access, and am seriously trying my best to help. I've been working with software since the 90s, and spent 5 years running IoT prod ops for google. Not claiming to have any special inside information - just saying, I've been at this a bit. In all honesty, as much as I hate to admit it, I believe the fight for internet privacy was fought and lost in the early 2000s. Groups like Electronic Frontier Foundation, communities of early adopters, and technical experts gave it all we had to prevent the emergence of a capitalistic information race. Sadly, the movement was not strong enough to overcome big money, state intelligence, and corporate lobbying. As it stands today, the problem of information-as-power is more important than ever; but it is very unlikely that we can put the genie back in the bottle. I'm not suggesting we shouldn't make an effort to implement privacy best practices. I'm saying that no amount of this is going to fully remove our digital fingerprint. To be very clear what I mean here: even if we somehow removed every bit of personal information from all digital storage, and never went online, we still couldn't stop the people who we interact with in-person from exposing their own information. In the same way that writing-style analysis has made it possible to identify a person even in an otherwise anonymous context, new language based systems will be able to glean significant insights into us simply by evaluating the impressions we create on others, and correlating patterns. We are well past an age where privacy is about conscious, coherent data; ultra-deep statistical analysis of unconscious influences are equally (if not more) concerning. This may take place within black-box software that cannot be reviewed or legislated, such that few humans involved are even aware of the techniques being deployed. Additionally, we don't need to adopt paranoid thinking to recognize that there is likely an even bigger picture at play. Consider: if we were *only* dealing with a capitalistic race for information, then the major competing language model providers would not have very much incentive to prevent things like manipulation, deception, etc. Yet, not only are these companies ensuring such safety; the costly research is taking place despite strong indications that it reduces the quality of legitimate use cases. I know the companies will tell us that they are being good citizens and that their safety systems are entirely altruistic. In the face of everything else we've seen, however, it is really worth asking ourselves how much we are going to believe this explanation. Perhaps less altruistic motivations do exist, and they are at least partially motivating the heavy investments into managing what types of information their software will allow access to. I wish I had a better answer for you, but the best I can see right now is to diminish the impact of privacy compromise by equalizing the degree of information accessibility. What I mean here is that privacy compromise has some of its most harmful roots in the creation of an information access imbalance. The most abusive dimensions result from some groups or people having a significant advantage in what information they have in relation to someone else. To illustrate; imagine if an identity theft victim had equal knowledge about the perpetrator; suddenly the dynamic is far less exploitable. If we cannot prevent increasingly powerful tools from developing deep understanding of individuals and groups, then the next best thing may be to minimize the degree of "access inequality". Essentially, we should perhaps be thinking about what will lead to a world where everyone can see everything about everyone else; and, very critically, nobody is exempt from this condition. We all live as if the world is watching, because it is the reality. As terrible as that may sound to some, I strongly encourage contemplating the philosophy underpinning my reasoning, and closely evaluating what is the most pragmatic response to present and emerging challenges.

[@syourke3]

The only way to rid yourself of Google is to give up your computer and your phone. Maybe not even then! Big Brother is always watching!

[@carsonwilcox3827]

@@syourke3 While I appreciate the magnitude and complexity of this commitment for most people, this is neither true nor helpful.

[@WisecrackEDU]

Great video!!

[@chujiwu68]

Hey! I thought I recognized Michael's voice! I guess it's official now (if it wasn't already) that you have thrown in your lot with Breadtube down the sinister path. 😉 Thanks, Wisecrack! 👍👏 ❤

[@epochphilosophy]

Love as always❤

[@lowwastehighmelanin]

I'm glad to see a popular channel discussing Zuboff's work. It's one of the most important books of the last decade.

[@Mwm-x3n]

Where is Zoboff? She is great.

[@marc509mtz4]

We need more of these practical guides.

[@Para2normal]

I've had this book on my shelves for several years now and each time I have tried to read it have got bogged down fairly early. Thanks for making this into a watchable format.

[@lowwastehighmelanin]

I read it. I recommend the audiobook tbh

[@ALulzyApprentice]

@@lowwastehighmelanin... thanks for saying there is an audiobook. I will get it.

[@Bojoschannel]

A couple of years ago i was working in a government institution and as part of a dynamic we did with some kids, we brought them to "C5" . This is a program that is in most decent sized cities in México, and in similar fashion to western nations, it's alleged aim is supposedly to combat and prevent crime, we don't have terrorists, but we have cartels right? Aside from answering emergency calls were elements of the police, firefighters, paramedics and the military are present, it consists of surveillance cameras positioned around key areas around the city, but the thing that scared me was what they could do with your phone, with just your number they could track your location, access your camera, speaker and content. They claimed it was done only in cases of emergency, even told us they had saved people stuck in the desert trying to cross the border and the worst part is i can believe that, this technology could save some lives, but... In a country as corrupt as ours, where not only corporations and the state work together, but also cartels, this technology, of which i'm sure we weren't shown all of it, is certainly used for terrible uses, it was even revealed a couple of years ago that the military keeps surveillance over state "suspects", mainly journalists and activists of course. My point is, maybe some, if not most of surveillance isn't as bad as we think, what sure is far from ideal is the private control of it and its opressive use by states, but under democratic control, it could prove a useful tool for a post-capitalist society

[@epochphilosophy]

I’d hope the first thing this video may convey isn’t that surveillance isn’t universally immoral as a category, but the overtly centralized way in which it’s implemented sure as hell is. I’m a fan of technology as a whole and the systems that technically allow surveillance to operate. Which is why I felt compelled to make this video.

[@Bojoschannel]

@@epochphilosophy yeah i'm on the same page regarding technology, but i do feel many people still go by the usual surveillance = bad when delving into this topic.

[@nelitogorostiza16]

Tuve una experiencia similar cuando trabajé para la sedena hace un tiempecito ya, areciese que es todo el mundo contra nosotros. Saludos a la sedena por cierto jajaja.

[@alfredandersson875]

Brother, that is not due to the corruption of your nation. All governments, whether blatantly in bed with capital or not, is doing this to a certain (always large) extent

[@00TheD]

Privacy never existed. But hiding...

[@BasedProletarianJacob420]

Perfect video to come out while im happier than ever being a month clean from social media and have been trying to have stronger real life connections and also being anxious about how much of my data and digital footprint is actually being utilized by who or what ever

[@michaell3105]

hate to tell you this but youtube is social media kinda

[@BasedProletarianJacob420]

@@michaell3105 I know u right tbh 😂

[@lowwastehighmelanin]

Jaron Lanier's "Why you should quit social media" is another great book on this topic; he's one of the people to help create what we call the internet (and it includes cats and jokes, can't go wrong with either of those)

[@lowwastehighmelanin]

@@michaell3105a creator I follow actually is quitting youtube for a month after quitting other platforms and realizing he just moved his addiction over here. Hope it goes well for him.

[@BasedProletarianJacob420]

@@lowwastehighmelanin im going to check it out thank you

[@YSANROCHEOfficialYoutube]

It’s not just that, but some people might experience this for speaking out on certain topics as a form of penalty. We are already in a full blown social credit system, but most people don’t notice it.

[@epochphilosophy]

The Israel and Gaza situation is definitely one such example.

[@YSANROCHEOfficialYoutube]

@@epochphilosophy I was shadow banned for years, starting in 2015 after speaking out on plagiarism by someone connected to the deep state. Only after Covid, my posts for some reason became more visible. It was very traumatic, as during that time, nobody even believed me. So I hope people wake up and do something because today’s possibilities of silencing those with the”wrong opinion” are horrible.

[@ALulzyApprentice]

The video is not long enough. Great job!

[@anarchisttechsupport6644]

Finally, a serious take on the topic.

[@SumBrennus]

I'd like to add: stop using corporate and centralized social media and switch to the Fediverse. For advanced users: you can run an instance of whichever social media you use most.

[@junoestro]

such an amazing video. thank you

[@the_only_Tripp]

I super super super appreciate this video - as a political theory geek who shares IDENTICAL concerns to you (and Zuboff) re contemporary forms of surveillance and its impact on effective political change, I literally have already started recommending Proton to everyone in my life for exactly all of these reasons. Thank you. This is a super helpful video which i think is as close to perfect for a specific set of the population (and I hope still super super relevant for virtually everyone else). Thank you, comrade!

[@epochphilosophy]

Not a problem. Happy this video filled that niche. I think moving to self hosted things and E2E encrypted cloud services will become more and more necessary as time goes on.

[@penelopegreene]

Even if I click off, that doesn't mean I won't finish it then rewatch it again! 😁

[@bodhitree628]

Very useful video, Appreciate your work.

[@HeviyaKurdan]

Thank you👏🏻

[@aishahahmed6933]

Such a well made video ❤

[@TyFrom99]

Based and MrRobotPilled

[@epochphilosophy]

Have yet to see Mr. Robot but it's on the list!

[@Bojoschannel]

​@@epochphilosophywatch it! Would probably give you enough material for a video on its own

[@skyteus]

I was getting Dark vibes from the intro droning synths

[@lvl99paint]

Thanks for this video, I've always known that these big companies "track" you and "collect data" but I don't think I seriously considered the full implications of that until this video. Switching to Proton for email and storage sounds amazing, Google search barely works anyway these days due to all the SEO bait and my gmail account keeps filling up with junk, and I also hate google drive's UX which is godawful. What password managers do you recommend? Are there any good free ones?

[@epochphilosophy]

Of course. I’m appreciative an audience that’s into philosophy and theory is actually cool with me delving into the nerdy tech stuff. So, I personally use Bitwarden (Vaultwarden container) that I host on my personal server. I used ProtonPass for a bit, but it feels very early/feature weak. I like the ability to have my passwords stored on my own hardware and only my own. Aside from that Bitwarden’s interface is really slick and integrates TOTP authentication.

[@JDesrosiers]

For passwords, I use bitwarden, which is free. And you can even host it yourself if you want since it's open source. I pay for it though, because I need the emergency access feature, but otherwise I wouldn't need to.

[@Wown-t]

great video! definitely gave me some new perspective

[@robertjulius2440]

tour de force. Thank you for making a video I wish there was, so I could share it with people. Now there is, and you did a good job. Stellar would be: More chapter marking granularity, as there's a lot to reference and play again in this, especially the last 15 minutes.

[@nurichund]

Thank you so much for the video. It’s crucial nowadays to underline the interconnections between informational corporations and governments, as they unite in order to expand state’s control. Many people disregard what is going on with digitalisation in Russia and Ukraine, for example. Due to the war, in both of these countries a person cannot receive some common services without using the governmental digital systems (or it’s simply 20 times harder to do). In Russia some social media platforms, such as VK or odnoklassniki famously report their users for anti-war or anti-Putin posts. The processes of extreme digitalisation are happening in countries that officially stand for different values. This is really important to keep in mind…

[@hyperrealhank]

I use arch, btw. *tips hat * 😂

[@epochphilosophy]

M’lady.

[@mylesjeffers6148]

Excellent video. I wish there was a service that would help people migrate to all these pro-privacy platforms, because it is a lot to completely uproot your entire digital life. For most people it's too far out of their comfort zone to attempt to make all these switches

[@thewhitefalcon8539]

Centralised services like that are always anti-privacy... and more convenient.

[@Erica-cf1xb]

Very informative video. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with those who have also been compromised. That community of real people thanks you ❤

[@iwouldprefernotto4381]

Great video. Zuboff’s analysis is really important - but also truly appreciated the practical steps we can take to try and push back against what she calls the “extraction imperative”.

[@swhopkinson]

Many thanks. Every time my computer needs replacing - as it does now - I think how I might start moving in this direction and look into options and then decide I;m plugged tinto Windoze at work so what's the point. But this gives me some solid starting points to begin the move.

[@outisoutisoutis]

I looked through the comments to see if anyone else addressed this topic, and I didn't see anything. And I'm not really sure how many people will see this comment but: I switched to Linux mint a few years back. I have no coding ability, and no interest in getting any. I don't run a dual boot system because...I don't know how to set it up and I'm too lazy too, though I should probably get around to figuring that out. Primarily, I just watch movies and youtube, play steam games, and send emails and Linux mint is perfect for that. I'd say it's awesome 99% of the time. Here are some specific challenges I had/have had. Switching my Skyrim files over was a huge hassle and someone else had to do that, but that's specific to the way Skyrim stores it's save files. No other game was an issue. The other issue I had was setting up some language-specific keyboards. I speak a comparatively less-common language (about 75 million people world wide, so not that small!!) in addition to English, and setting up that keyboard was a challenge as most of the how-to guides online were incorrect and I had to play around. Finally, and this issue is still on going, I do have issues with my mic and keyboard when using proprietary/specific programs (like, specific telehealth things, certain immigration dealeos, certain interational interactions with school agencies, etc). It's unlikely most people will have these issues. I say all this to say: linux mint is probably good for 99% of the population. Seriously. If I can do it, you can do it. Hope this comment motivates someone to switch over today.

[@epochphilosophy]

It's definitely crazy how misunderstood something like Linux is. We are still at the point where there will still be a solid learning curve. But nothing exorbitantly worse than switching from Windows to MacOS or vice versa. Also, will add, some of the hardware issues you may have experienced with Linux Mint is due to an older Linux kernel being used. I'm in the camp right now that with the new development of Linux, using more "stable" and older kernels doesn't have the same benefit as it once did. I'm a huge fan of distrobutions like Fedora or Arch. Albeit the latter is not something I would recommend to people just starting out.

[@outisoutisoutis]

@ it's something I always wanted to do, but didn't know how to get started in. Once I knew someone who used it, I was like !!!!halp??? And now that that initial hurdle has been overcome, I don't think I will ever go back. Also, I came here because I am in a bookclub that is reading "Surveillance Capitalism" and I wanted to find some good youtube videos to supplement the book. This is my first video of yours, and I loved it. I immediately subscribed to your channel and shared this video with a lot of people I know. As for the book itself: I am a long time user of Riseup mail service, and attended cyber security talks given by the founders as far back as 2009, so a lot of the information in "Surveillance Capitalism" wasn't new to me personally, but I am really glad to have found such an accessible and comprehensive book to share with interested parties. But your video is the much needed addendum to this book: it's a perfect introduction to cyber security in a practical and accessible way, and can be used as a sort of check list as individuals try to go through the process of redressing security issues in their lives. From one determinist (and philosophical pessimist) to another--thanks for this video. I hope people take it seriously and that it helps change habits and lives.

[@epochphilosophy]

@@outisoutisoutis Oh, man. That is very cool. I definitely appreciate you sharing! I think this video was one of my most philosophy lite on purpose. I also think changing the technological habits of us all is a complete necessity. And becoming more so! Appreciate your comments a ton!

[@Cooliofamily]

Cybersecurity professional here, you nailed it

[@Cooliofamily]

One thing I would ad is that I don’t think anyone understands what ai/ml is about to do to capitalism.

[@PlaCerHooD]

@@Cooliofamily cant I interpret AI/ML just as a form of capitalism cannabilizing itself? not trying to be cheeky, honest question.. because we are well into that stage with other aspects too

[@epochphilosophy]

Appreciate that! Not a professional but super passionate about infosec. Also, big on ML and data science/analytics; yes, ML is going to rake capitalism over the coals. A lot is going to change fast. I could do a whole video on machine learning tbh.

[@j3558]

​@@Cooliofamilycapitalism? no it's crony corporatism

[@cjthebeesknees]

@@epochphilosophy please do, with haste if you believe you could break things down elaborately,

[@poucspat8490]

Great video, did I miss the password manager recommendations? I can't seem to find a free one

[@epochphilosophy]

To my knowledge there isn’t one unless you self-host it! Which would require it to run on existing computer hardware. This is actually what I do with Bitwarden. You wouldn’t have to pay a monthly subscription this way. ProtonPass is another great option. I pay for Proton Premium mail and VPN uses, and also have Proton Pass but I still prefer to self-host Bitwarden.

[@poucspat8490]

@@epochphilosophy thanks!

[@alexanderkontulainen8748]

Great posters BTW!) Thanks for video and greetings from Russia.

[@cvm6854]

Wish you went a little deeper on the downsides of having our data collected. Still a great video tho.

[@Algorithm840]

I’ll make that video

[@LonkinPork]

Anyone else end up here after hearing Arin namedrop Zuboff and this book on Game Grumps?

[@foxtrotyankee8409]

excellent, ty Sir

[@epochphilosophy]

You bet. Stay safe friend.

[@lephtovermeet]

If you have customers it should be required you have customer service lines and you can contact a named human being within 30mins. I wish that were a law.

[@shahbazmansahia9253]

Bruh how are you doing all this after studying history and Data. These are like, micro-sys admin projects lol. Great Job! A lot of this appeals to me as more and more authoritative governments are taking to blocking, monitoring and/or censoring the internet (case in point: Kashmir and the farmer protest in India). Thank you for covering this and going over the tech-stack. I will be looking into these domains more as a result of this. Had no idea that you got hacked and that Google is that bad with security!!! You know more about FOSS than I do (And I did my undergrad AND master's in software engineering!!!!)

[@epochphilosophy]

Thanks for the high praise, man! It’s definitely a lot lol. I will say though, I love things around system administration and development operations. Huge fan of docker and containerization.

[@thewhitefalcon8539]

We are talking micro sysadmin and that's precisely why people don't use them. On the one hand, sys admin is scary. On the other hand, it's only micro, so it's not that bad if you mess up. Taking control of your computers necessarily involves learning about computers, right? And people don't have time for that, so they delegate it to megacorps, and how do megacorps make money? Oh, right.

[@Chefheezy]

As always, brilliant work and writing here. I have recently started researching more and more on getting Google and corporations stealing my data out of my life, and had only considered small changes. Definitely gonna look into some DNS and local network storage now. Cheers as always.

[@epochphilosophy]

Hell ya. Super glad to hear this man. Take a look at Proton, Tutanota or Mullvad as well. A whole host of things we can do to make our digital lives more safe and private with minimal sacrifice.

[@iloveowls8748]

Hey @epochphilosophy - thank you so much for your videos, they've been very informative during the past years of my political and theoretical education. Have you ever read into the literature of anarchism or other libertarian socialism, or thought about doing so? It seems like your channel is mostly based on critical theory (which is necessary) but I definitely think it's important as well to have the constructive and world-building elements presented.

[@epochphilosophy]

I will absolutely do something on Anarchism, likely this year!

[@iloveowls8748]

Amazing!@@epochphilosophy

[@iloveowls8748]

@@epochphilosophy Amazing! There are many ways to go with anarchism, but perhaps laying out anarchist-communism could be interesting for your audience (through writers such as Kropotkin, Malatesta and Berkman) as one alternative to the state and capitalism. Or perhaps the social ecological and communalist thought of Murray Bookchin to grasp at something more new. Just some suggestions :) Btw Zoe Baker's (who runs a youtube channel) new book on the subject is fantastic.

[@avisliberis]

Sicario soundtrack is just a cherry on top.

[@epochphilosophy]

One of the best films ever.

[@KayLee-lw5iv]

Arrested for having a solid grasp on how to secure their own privacy and wrong think. Amazing world we live in

[@TheJayman213]

Idk if there's a way to put this that you'd like to hear but congrats on the sponsorship

[@ALulzyApprentice]

Please make a video on AI and how it will change code security and privacy concerns. Great Viideo!

[@gilbertnuijten]

This is on my wishlist for a long time to do... Something else. Could you do a video in the future about "postmodernism or the cultural logic of late capitalism" I find his insight very interesting but not easy to read

[@Anabsurdsuggestion]

Excellent

[@T_Dot94]

woah michael burns laying down the quotes

[@epochphilosophy]

A cool guy, that man.

[@coalhater392]

Good choice of software if i can add i think that for a vpn another great choice is mullvad, for browsers if you like firefox a browser like librewolf or mullvad browser are decent choices although you need to be wary that these forks are usually 12 to 24 hours late with security updates, if you like chromium a browser like brave is the way to go just turn off all the crypto nonsense. As an os like it was said in the video mint is amazing but if you have a nvidia graphics card i would recommend pop os. Not much was said about tor or the tor network in the video but i guess that using tor is going into the too inconvenient territory.

[@epochphilosophy]

Mullvad is a great company tbh. I actually use Mullvad's DNS over HTTPS server as an upstream DNS on my Pi-hole instance. So, I get all the ad blocking, DNS filtering, with DNS over HTTPS encryption on the upstream end. It's a set up I don't see many do, but it seems to be the best DNS all-in-one solution. It's a bit of a pain to configure, as Pi-hole only allows local IP addresses in it's configuration. So you have to deploy a Cloudflared container/server and then point it to Mullvad's server. Then use the Cloudflare containers IP. (Adguard Home, for example, has DNS over HTTPS support built in.) But, I didn't really mention Tor because it is a very highly specific browser that doesn't replace traditional ones. I wanted to focus a bit more on the software that people likely use, and optimize from there.

[@singebkdrft]

I agree with everything here, but have a minor nitpick. A flagship Samsung phone, which is still under active support, is secure; they meet Common Criteria Evaluation (CCEVS/NIAP). Unfortunately they *do* come with corporate bloat. Running a custom Android ROM is definitely an option, but I'd prefer to build it entirely from scratch on my own (either my hardware or a temporary cloud instance). If reproducible builds are supported, this makes me feel much safer. But that doesn't mean someone who's just getting started shouldn't try-- a pre-built custom ROM is just fine to start out. You have to get into the water to learn how to swim. Truthfully the more I think about this, the more I want to write up a getting started/101 curriculum for maker and hacker spaces. This stuff doesn't need to be inaccessible, and the basic concepts aren't difficult. Source: I've been a Unix/Linux hacker since I was a teen in the 1990s, helped run maker/hacker spaces for years, and am a ham radio nerd. For anyone reading, feel free to ask me any questions on those topics.

[@epochphilosophy]

Yo just getting to this comment. But, good note on the Galaxy software. What's your discord? I've always wanted to learn some hacking fundamentals!

[@singebkdrft]

@epochphilosophy Sure 😊 Same as my username here: singebkdrft

[@donovanryan7247]

What's with the creepy music I'm trying to listen to this before I sleep

[@geoffreynhill2833]

Useful Guide. ( Please turn music off altogether.) 🤔( "Green Fire", IngramSpark, geoff nelson hill ) 🌈🦉

[@agon8035]

I wish I could tattoo this video Both theoretical and practical, the best kind of video... the same way applied philosophy is the best kind of philosophy

[@epochphilosophy]

Thanks so much!

[@dunningdunning4711]

What are the amazon affiliated links - how do they work?

[@epochphilosophy]

Just simple links to Amazon’s storefront. If you come from an affiliated link, whenever you purchase something, a percentage goes to the links owner. It’s a free, pretty simple way to help support creators, and forces Amazon to pay back the little guys. This is why bookmarking the link is helpful. Why I bookmark links from Amazon that are affiliated. I’d rather my money atleast partially go to them.

[@dunningdunning4711]

@@epochphilosophy I wasn't aware this was a thing. I buy a lot of books on Amazon, so I'll start using the affiliated links.

[@jacobp6512]

Think of drill rap how all the artists masks up. All of the CCTV in the U.S and U.K.

[@leonriker4997]

39:45

[@totonow6955]

This epic work on Epoch is epic.

[@dont_hit_trees]

12:50 umm, no. When does your civilization calendar start? 😂

[@a3a2_ogtw]

underrated video, way to tired right now, but will definitely come back to this.

[@ubik5453]

😱Surveillance Capitalism?!?!?!?! Holy shit!!! I gotta delete a lot of stuff...A LOT OF STUFF.😬😬😬

[@anarchisttechsupport6644]

And request your data be deleted off their servers too.

[@Bojoschannel]

Too little, too late

[@PrimeSingers]

TOR is not a search engine

[@bfrancis9898]

We need the internet much less than we think we do. Secure what is needed and live offline. Telephones worked just fine for generations. Those generations built our highways and national parks btw. We, by contrast, are overseeing the destruction of literally everything. Maybe living online is not a good thing?

[@test-cra]

Sorry but you're wrong, there were a few other your videos which impacted my day-to-day life more :)

[@epochphilosophy]

Hey, fair enough. Glad you’re here.

[@hypehypehype]

did I imagine it or was this originally titled 'the fully automated human'?

[@ALulzyApprentice]

Everyone forgets Oracle. Why?

[@logancade342]

I'm never going to buy into the Apple suite.

[@waltdill927]

Maybe this is relevant, maybe not: Anything that becomes a "moral" issue is a real choice, something that makes a difference. "Difference", the "divining of things" seems to be the fundamental meaning of conscious life. A monotheistic god, by the way, is not required. Whenever a "deity" enters the picture, however, the concept of "free will" steps in. This idea of free will is a kind of kindergarten of the human psyche, the conscious universe that is also conscious of "itself". But our world is a world of relativistic relations and realities, political, economic, and scientific choices. Moral choice for us is not a matter of an omnipotent power that offers the choice to be "free"; rather, we are compelled to choose freedom in order to "be" free. The "demand" is within, what we are already. Which is a contradiction. I know: same old existential playing board. Without it, though, the greater unknowns of a physical, uncomprehending cosmos can only supersede us. This video is thoughtful and says a lot. Bottom line: Resist tyranny. Be freedom.

[@edbop]

If you want to understand capitalism you need to understand the credit theory of money.

[@thewhitefalcon8539]

That might help understanding why corporations control us but it doesn't help with the more boots on the ground problem of how to run your own computer stuff.

[@edbop]

@@thewhitefalcon8539 What I mean is if we actually want genuine change we need to stop using bank credit as money and democratize new capital allocation. Basically money needs to be a public good rather a means of wealth extraction and control.

[@stanouincustody]

That's too bad I loved the video but I've been digging on the 8 december case and well it wasnt because they hadd encrypted sfwtare only, they were fighting daesh in irak and were close to YPG. It definitely wasnt deserved but I think it drastically change the narrative

[@dippjonz]

I like your stuff, generally, but you are not a determinist if you think we have a modicum of agency. I agree, we are largely conditioned (in a Skinnerian sense), but the 1% of free choice we do muster can become 5 or 10% if we ironically discipline ourselves

[@epochphilosophy]

Looking at philisophiocal determinism/free-will (or any concept!) by set absolute binaries is pretty lazy philosophy. (No offense whatsoever, I just see this point made around philosophy often and completely disagree.) Things are relational and are in flux, if we can't view categories through these lenses, we're not really doing the job of trying to understand things.

[@kellychristus2496]

I dare say *Oracle* Incorporated is the largest offender of data scraping.

[@epochphilosophy]

Fair contender.

[@Rexini_Kobalt]

why you only have 60k subs will forever be a mystery

[@thewhitefalcon8539]

Could be artificially deboosted due to interference with the oligarchy.

[@ethanwinters1645]

ture dude

[@jordand5555]

Wait youre saying Google, knows my dads google history?

[@joaquincabrerapetrone1452]

Hello algorithm

[@Neo7-777]

Ich p 11:18

[@michaell3105]

I think we're probably done. run away train

[@NerveUnderscore]

My brain hurts. Don't get me wrong tho, I like this videos of info and the majority of things that you said of security I already knew, but it still a lot and it's so f*cked up

[@billycroan2336]

Replace Google photos with immich?

[@charleslegard716]

'God himself' is a threat to privacy 😂

[@gambiit08]

use mullvad!

[@epochphilosophy]

^ Mullvad, alongside Proton, is another great company.

[@AH-zw5xd]

Unfortunately Proton supports and donates to a lot of suspect things. I don't feel comfortable with giving them my money. Tutanota and Mullvad work better for me.

[@epochphilosophy]

@@AH-zw5xdWait, this is news to me. What suspect things are they donating to?

[@AH-zw5xd]

Any time a regime change operation pops up backed by the NED, Proton seems to be there with a new fundraiser. If you search through Proton's blog, you will stumble across them.

[@9000ck]

How about this; go back to writing letters.

[@intellectuallyhungry]

The title of her book is in error. Capitalism is the ownership of one’s own labor. In a Capitalist society, a person is only held to the socioeconomic status of their own willingness to gain skills that are of value to others, & work hard/ honestly/ & with integrity. Provide a service or product that others find valuable, you will be able to live a comfortable upper middle class life (well, as long as you are financially responsible). FB, Google, YT, etc technically offer entertainment/ communication platforms/ web search platforms for $0 by their users, making income by ad revenue & data collection for better ad targeting, in order to hire the programmers/ etc, pay for the servers and facilities, etc. (Google is more of a Leftist Authoritarian Fascist (maybe with a bit of neo-Marxism) surveillance arm of the CIA- as they likely wouldn’t exist w/o the immense financial & early development expertise provided, or wouldn’t be nearly as monopolistic. Then every business they purchase & absorb becomes corrupted with the same intelligence surveillance that Google was founded upon/ by.) Cronyism could also have been utilized. A type of leftist Crony-Fascism, when speaking of Big Tech Corporations & Surveillance, since these companies are heavily controlled by big govmt.

[@saborfrancias]

Surveillance Capitalism = COMUNISM 😂

[@00TheD]

Walk away.

[@SSSFanBoy11]

13:28 “here’s where the horror of this phenomenon comes to life” cue Ad for the new Google Pixel 🥹

[@RonPauldidnothingwrong]

Loved the punch down at the social-econ status of conspiracy theorists, because it was totally necessary and capitalist systems totally dont have collaboration/conspiring baked into them /s.

[@deadsamurai001]

Wtf man you are repeating yourself for 5 minutes

[@karleecandice5287]

Promo_SM 😭