If that really were true the current EU commission president would be a convicted criminal too. I guess it’s a breath of fresh air at least.

America is a full blown Oligarchy now. A congress or the law are just a nice facade.

AI is mainly a tool for the powerful to oppress the lesser blessed. I mean cutting actual professionals out of the process to let CEOs wildest dreams go unchecked has devastating consequences already if rumors are to believed that some kids using ChatGPT cooked up those massive tariffs that have already erased trillions.

This won’t be the last horrible catastrophes they’re involved in that we’ll hear about. Frankly, a chinese contractor is already a really bad sign for corruption and the best thing you can do is to avoid anything they’re involved in.

Vassal states gotta vassal.

Part of it is the US turning far right. Everyone here uses american apps and social media. When those platforms turn far right, so do more people around the world. China’s TikTok is doing the exact same. We need domestic services quick or the entire world will turn into a fascist hellhole.

„Be evil, break people“ is the current motto of silicon valley.

Moronic. The AfD want to leave the EU and have been exposed to be Putin lapdogs multiple times. We‘re seeing what this course of action is doing in the US right now and people still want that for Germany. I‘m living in a nation of masochists. Stupid masochists who think that as long as others suffer too, it will be worth the immeasurable suffering.

The United States of America. A nation ruled by word salad.

Germany thinks it can right a wrong with another wrong here. That’s what’s happening.

i can’t imagine criticizing a country for building too much high efficiency mass transit in advance

I mean the Nazis did that in preparation for their Blitzkrieg and the Holocaust so there are real examples why building seemingly overengineered and overly excessive infrastructure can be problematic. And besides a demonstration of power, I think some of those railways are exactly that. To transport troops or masses of prisoners quickly and efficiently. God knows they have enough of those.

Book Fair 2022: Slavoj Žižek received harsh criticism and was even being boo’d on stage by the mayor of Frankfurt for saying exactly that, even after he literally condemed Hamas. An Antisemitism representive then suggested what Žižek did was essentially hate speech.

April 2024: Germany imposed an entry ban on Greek’s former financial minister Varoufakis for criticising Israel, labeling it, you guessed it, antisemitist hate speech.

There is more but those are two at the top of my head which you can google yourself if you can’t read German or don’t want to translate it. It is not an exaggeration to say humanizing the ‘wrong’ humans can get you in trouble in Germany and that’s really depressing.

I‘m afraid they‘re aiming to erase privacy instead, but I have hope I might be wrong.

Partially yes absolutely. Some regions with more and more dams have recently experienced devastating floods, suggesting they‘ve tempered with nature a little too much. And yes, some of those new highspeed rails are barely ever used and mainly serve a symbolic purpose, namely connecting outer regions to the central power in Beijing in some way or form. Nearly nobody uses those and the best case scenario for them would be a war so they can transport masses of troops quickly.

And believe me this would make national news in Germany if they did. The depressing reality is that if you do as little as publicly suggesting Palestinians are human, you can get yourself in s lot of trouble in Germany. Authorities will claim you‘re an anti semite nazi who spreads hate speech for it. They are euphoric about the genocide while claiming it doesn‘t take place.

While most April fools steal your time and leave you head scratching, this one can potentially give you a lot of time back. I like it.

I somewhat respect that form of protest, actually. Some users fuming over this is probably the point the admins are trying to make. They created a sort of „and then they came for me…“ situation.

Politicians, parties and even countries should be penalized for repeatedly bringing it up just to be shut down. It‘s a waste of time and waste of money. Things like that shouldn‘t be voted on for at least another 4 years once shut down. And no, just changing the wording doesn‘t make a proposal unique. A big brother law is still a big brother law.

Well you see. Mega projects in authoritarian countries rarely solve actual problem or serve a purpose. They‘re just there to make good headlines and be forgotten because the next mega project or innovation just made the news!

It‘s almost as if other nations prefer you to be tolerant and welcoming towards them. You know, the very basics of diplomacy.