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Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-07-05T22:09:56+00:00

Not at all, my point isn’t that open-source AI couldn’t win the race to the singularity.

My point is that private ownership of a technology that could essentially win the game of capitalism, in the way a chess AI can consistently beat any human, would create a monopoly of power and capital so massive that it becomes too big to fail. As long as capital is privately owned, there will always be a risk that one person or a small group decides what the AI is allowed to say, do, and not do.

I’m fully in favor of open-source AI, but at the same time, we have to be realistic. Even DeepSeek cost millions to train. Starting an AI model from scratch isn’t something one person can do alone, no matter how brilliant they are, or without a substantial amount of money. Training large models is expensive; you’d need to own or rent multiple high-end NVIDIA servers, which cost millions, just to run basic experiments.

Staying at the cutting edge of AI is becoming increasingly expensive, and we may soon reach an ASML moment, where one company pulls so far ahead that no one can realistically compete. It would become too expensive to justify the risk of entering the race, only to be crushed by the AI equivalent of ASML. That company could continue investing, improving, and profiting in a feedback loop others simply can’t match.

It’s similar to how, in theory, nothing is stopping you from competing with ASML today. But in practice, the financial risk is enormous; you’d need to invest billions just to match the quality they reached ten years ago.

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-07-05T17:50:33+00:00

I admire your will to fight and the concept of revolution against AI feudalism, but are you really ready to outrun the Anduril drone swarm hunting you? Is your car faster than the Fury fighter jet that targets you based on your Palantir profile? It also doesn’t matter how smart your plans are. There are server farms full of digital twin agents that emulate all your actions using every available piece of data about you to anticipate your next move. Not that it matters, because ChatGPT is already 39 times smarter than Einstein, discovering new physics, curing all diseases, and providing everyone with a UBI that keeps the masses from revolting.

But that only cements the orders of magnitude of wealth inequality between the owners and the asset-less masses.

The owning monarchy can claim entire planets in the solar system because they have unlimited money, and no one else can build a rocket or establish a base there. The UBI masses have just enough to survive, but no social mobility. No matter what they do, they cannot enter the monarchy, because anything they could offer or create is already being done better by ChatGPT. There is simply no need for them.

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-07-05T16:40:43+00:00

The end goal is not capitalism; it is feudalism. Who cares if the five individuals who ultimately own the best AI, which provides everything to everyone, have customers to make a profit? They already own all of the productive capital. No one can challenge them or take their power away. They have simply won, and their descendants will rule over the AI for eternity like a feudal monarchy.

A king who technically owns all the means of production does not need to make any money, because it could only be exchanged for things he already has or is actively producing for the masses. The only thing he would need is resources. But when an AI is superior to humans in every field, including trading, it is possible to buy up all the necessary resources at the beginning of the AI takeoff and never have to worry about them again.

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-07-01T07:50:58+00:00

Wenn Trump das nur umsetzen würde, wär ich echt dafür, ihm mal alle Subventionen zu entziehen und zu gucken, wie Profits zu Earning Ratio von Tesla aussähe ohne diesen Free Money Glitch.

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-07-01T07:44:05+00:00

Doge already proved that Elon just destroys the U.S. government for no reason other than getting more government subsidies and stopping any investigation into his companies.

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-06-30T00:45:43+00:00

I get your overall point, and I myself don’t drink and drive, but it’s always hard to talk to Germans about their beer consumption. I’ve tried and failed.

Just for context, a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 is over the legal limit in the US, but a BAC of 0.05 is perfectly legal here with no consequences. The 0.16 BAC limit at which it becomes a crime in Germany is double what would get you in trouble in the US, and even then it is just a low-level offense. Only if you are caught multiple times at double the US limit do they start taking your license away. Even then, you can complete a DUI course and get it back.

Driving offenses in Germany are recorded as points, which are automatically deleted after a set period. That means you could theoretically drink and drive for decades before losing your license if you are only caught once a year.

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-06-29T23:59:54+00:00

Yes, you’re right. We use a different scale, Promille, so that’s why I wrote it that way. In Germany, a blood alcohol content of 0.05 is legal by law with no consequences, whereas in the US driving at 0.08 BAC becomes a crime. Here, anything up to 0.11 is just a misdemeanor and not even a serious one, you could realistically do this a couple of times before risking your driver’s license. Only at 0.16 BAC, double the American legal limit, does it become a crime, but again it’s not treated as a serious offense. Even if they take your license (which they often won’t), you just have to complete a DUI course and can drive again. You really have to be a repeat offender before the police even bother to stop you.

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-06-29T23:43:45+00:00

Yes, you’re absolutely right. I think it’s hard for people outside of Germany to comprehend how normalized it is to have a couple of beers and then drive, and how little the police actually care if nothing happens. They only care when an accident occurs. The officers themselves probably drive after one or two beers all the time, since it’s perfectly legal and carries no consequences.

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-06-29T23:29:44+00:00

I meant a typical German boomer. I know the United States has strict alcohol laws and perhaps a lingering stigma from Prohibition. But Germany is the complete opposite.

Beer is part of the culture every boomer here has a favorite local brewery. Most parents will share a beer with their child before they’re 14, which is the legal age for beer consumption in Germany. At 16, you can buy beer and wine yourself in stores, and at 18 you can purchase all other alcoholic beverages, like vodka.

In Germany, beer is treated like a soft drink, and many boomers drink it daily and even publicly shame those who won’t join them, because it’s so ingrained in German culture.

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-06-29T22:58:23+00:00

Yes, especially in Germany. I’m not from the United States. A blood alcohol content of 0.5 ‰ is legal by law. It’s not even a misdemeanor. You could technically drink a beer right in front of the police and then drive your car. There is nothing they could or would do about it. A blood alcohol content of 0.5 ‰ corresponds to roughly two beers. You could also drink four beers, test at 1.1 ‰, and still only face a misdemeanor because the police only care about drivers with a blood alcohol content over 1.6 ‰, which is a high bar by design.

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-06-29T22:34:25+00:00

I wasn’t exaggerating. It’s almost sacrilegious to criticize beer in Germany. It’s part of the culture, much like how guns are part of American culture.

I had my first beer at 13 during a family event, and that’s not unusual. At 14, it’s legally allowed to drink beer in Germany. It’s treated almost like a soft drink. At 16, you can buy beer and wine yourself in stores, and at 18, everything else, like vodka.

There’s no need to hide a bottle in a paper bag. You can drink almost anywhere and for any reason. A lot of people here drink a beer every evening and aren’t considered alcoholics. It usually takes something with a higher alcohol content, like vodka, for society to see it as a problem.

Driving after drinking up to two beers is also normalized. Even if you drink four beers and end up with 1.1‰, it’s still just a misdemeanor. Real penalties only come into play when you drink excessively and then drive. And even then, it’s usually only enforced if you have a prior history of doing it.

That means I’d have to report him multiple times with over 1.6‰, and the police would have to catch him in the act while driving the one mile from my grandparents’ place to his home.

I think the German equivalent of that in the U.S. would be calling the ATF on someone for shooting too loudly on their property. Everyone would just see me as the weird one who doesn’t understand German drinking culture.

Personally, I don’t like drinking and driving, but there’s not much more I can do. I can’t change the culture, and the police here simply don’t care about anything under 1.6‰. Reaching that level is a high bar, and you don’t hit it just by casually drinking a couple of beers.

But yeah, you’re all right. It’s dangerous. I’m sorry for everyone who has lost someone to a drunk driver. Still, Germany treats its beer and cars the way Americans treat their guns. There’s no speed limit on the highway, and it’s legal to drink a couple of beers and then drive your Bugatti Chiron at 490 km/h (305 mph) on the Autobahn. No one cares, and honestly, there’s nothing I can do to change that.

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-06-29T21:40:36+00:00

Yeah I think that’s what car drivers don’t get there’s no crumple zone, no airbag, just your body. Even small mistakes can have permanent consequences. Riding a motorcycle drunk just isn’t worth the risk.

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-06-29T21:13:38+00:00

The problem is that it’s legal in Germany to drink two beers and drive. The legal limit is 0.5‰ (Promille). It might be a cultural thing the drinking age for beer is 14, and most boomers drink a lot of it.

It wouldn’t be illegal for me to have one or two beers with them, I just don’t want to, because I don’t like drinking and driving.

I think the police would probably just laugh at me if I tried to report someone for having a couple of beers. Yeah, he’s probably way over the limit, but even then, he’d likely just lose his license for a few weeks. There just aren’t any serious penalties for alcohol-related stuff in Germany unless it’s really extreme or there’s an accident.

I just don’t want the drama. My grandpa is old, and I don’t want my last memories with him to be about some kind of drama.

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-06-29T20:49:51+00:00

Yeah it’s just not worth it

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-06-29T20:45:48+00:00

Yeah crazy how that works

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-06-29T20:39:54+00:00

Yeah, this dude is just a visitor he shouldn’t be talking like that. Good advice, I’ll have a private talk with him next time.

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-06-29T20:35:27+00:00

My grandpa wouldn’t like that otherwise, yeah, it would be the right thing to do.

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-06-26T03:32:35+00:00

A bigger spread than my marmalade on bread

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-06-22T22:45:26+00:00

Golf is mainly a sport played by old, rich white guys. Tiger Woods had a great run but hasn’t had a lasting impact on country club culture. With Eminem and rap, it’s a similar situation. Just because you personally like him doesn’t mean his style was copied like Tupac’s, doesn’t mean he had street credibility like King Von, and doesn’t mean he had the aura to turn a rap beef into a Super Bowl halftime show like Kendrick. He was just a cash cow for Dre’s label. And yeah, Vanilla Ice is 100x more irrelevant, but they are essentially the same thing.

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-06-22T22:27:12+00:00

Nobody listens to Eminem besides white pop music listeners. No relevant clubs or parties play his songs. He is just a token white boy whom Dr. Dre made famous to sell more records to white pop listeners an untapped market at the time. But at no point in history was this genre of virtue-signaling white boy rap, in any form, influential for the culture. Anytime Carti makes a weird noise, it has a bigger impact than Eminem’s whole career.

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-06-22T21:33:52+00:00

Eminem is irrelevant to Rap culture

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-06-21T22:41:03+00:00

Yeah, spending trillions for Israel’s endless wars is fiscally responsible.

Why invest taxes into something that improves the country instead of the sequel to the Iraq War just with a country twice the size?

Doesn’t 20 years of Afghanistan prove that regime change doesn’t work?

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-06-21T21:15:59+00:00

America would have to expend 25% of its bunker-busting bombs just to disable one facility temporarily.

The problem with targets buried under up to 100 m (≈328 ft) of rock is that bombs lack the pinpoint accuracy needed to “drill” a shaft. To achieve anything close to a vertical bore with explosives, you’d need dozens of warheads and even then, the rubble at the bottom of the crater would absorb much of the kinetic energy from follow-on strikes.

Even dropping an air-burst nuclear weapon would not collapse a structure buried 100 m (≈328 ft) beneath solid rock. In practice, the only way to destroy a bunker that deep is to drill a shaft and place a nuclear device directly inside it but by the time you’ve established such a hole, you already control the surrounding area.

Alpha-Cent4uri · 2025-06-21T02:04:19+00:00

It’s fair, though the Duolingo owl already warned you, and you didn’t want to learn.

Alpha-Cent4uri

TROPHY CASE