People like to commit, though. They want to commit. They want to make an account and be done. The ability for established users and communities to move around is a great feature that makes Lemmy superior to other sites, but it really needs to work on making new users feel comfortable enough to stay put when they’re first figuring things out, because if a new user decides to leave, they’re probably not switching instances, they’re switching platforms.

Which is why the people who decide what they think steer them toward worries about the nuclear family and abortion.

Does Look Mum No Computer count?

That’s exactly it. Determinism is the idea that all the various forces of the universe impact things in such a way that, however things play out, it’s how they were always going to.

Imagine a time in your life when you made an impactful decision, and imagine you can go back in time to that moment. However, when you do everything is the same - you’re thinking the same thoughts, feeling the same feelings. You’ve had all the same experiences, and are in the same frame of mind. Every single atom in the entire universe is exactly the same as it was in that moment. Would you ever actually make a different decision from what you had in that moment?

Determinism says no - if you had the capability to know the exact state of the universe in a single moment, you’d be able to tell what the next moment’s state would be, and on and on to the end of the universe, since it’s all nothing more than a single incredibly complicated chain reaction.

While I’m not exactly a fan of AI, it does make sense that the first things we’re able to replicate with AI, however terribly, are intellectual things like art and writing. While AI might be able to understand how to wash dishes, it would need a way of interacting with the physical dishes to do so, which goes beyond something a computer program can do while confined to a computer.

I wouldn’t be surprised if future dishwashers and washing machines end up having little cameras and sensors so that AI can determine how best to wash them, but if anything that feature would be implemented more for collecting your private information than for any real washing benefit. Plus you’d still have to load and unload the machines - if we wanted AI to handle everything, we’d need robots, which would be waaaay more expensive, and likely something only the richest would be able to afford anyway.

You know the sound right when it starts to rain?

There’s a tap on the roof or the window, then a few more, and you think “Oh, is that…?” and, sure enough, the taps continue, getting more and more frequent until they blend together into the soothing patter of rainfall. Now imagine that, but instead of light taps, it’s a dull “phomp.”

I imagine someone in an alternate universe hearing that first phomp, and running to grab a cup of tea before sitting by the window to watch the manfall.

If it comes down to it, I’ll split the cost with you. If we can’t get socialized medicine the way it’s meant to be, we’ll make it ourselves!