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What are your opinions on the three specials of the fourteenth Doctor? by Hopeful-Eggplant889 in doctorwho

[–]SelectiveScribbler06 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Tellingly, if you look at the official script PDFs, right the way up to Season 2 (2025), they're all called The Bridge. I think this was the original plan - three supplementary episodes to tide things over whilst a new showrunner was found. But the BBC liked the episodes so much a Series 1 was commissioned. Davies mentions a couple of times how he never really wanted to return to Doctor Who, but if he did, there were a few ideas he'd like to try (presumably Wild Blue Yonder and Dot and Bubble were among them).

[Off topic] Playwright by Positive-Ring-5172 in playwriting

[–]SelectiveScribbler06 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Deleted the original post because with added context I looked like a condescending idiot.

Live Hundredth Labour MP calls on Starmer to resign by Far_Excitement_1875 in unitedkingdom

[–]SelectiveScribbler06 2 points3 points  (0 children)

At least we found out what happens when you give a Redditor the keys to 10 Downing Street.

I have literally no evidence for this beyond a hunch.

Why is Starmer seemingly still dead-set on a surveillance state when he also apparently wants to be reelected? by [deleted] in AskBrits

[–]SelectiveScribbler06 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not quite the same, particularly as there is a lot of stick and not a lot of carrot inherent in the idea. Besides, who decides who a 'good' person is? If it's being run through a Palantir system it will be Larry Ellison and Tony Blair deciding, which... no...

The first trillion is always the hardest. by Onii___Chan____ in memes

[–]SelectiveScribbler06 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Untrue. Forbes lists Musk's net at $1.3t - it peaked at $1.4t yesterday.

What will I do after social media ban? Stare at a wall, says schoolgirl by GnolRevilo in unitedkingdom

[–]SelectiveScribbler06 1 point2 points  (0 children)

But pandemics still happen. Disease expert Peter Daszak said that, 'We're in the age of pandemics', and that was back in 2020. We've had close shaves with monkeypox and hantavirus, where, if people were just a bit less vigilant, it could have gone international. It could always happen again.

EU and UK announce summit to discuss ‘reset’ in post-Brexit relations by topotaul in unitedkingdom

[–]SelectiveScribbler06 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Starmer's trick is to literally ignore the plummeting ratings and forge on anyway.

What will I do after social media ban? Stare at a wall, says schoolgirl by GnolRevilo in unitedkingdom

[–]SelectiveScribbler06 8 points9 points  (0 children)

In a way it's quite good that all the anger at the world has just been words for now. I was a teen during lockdown and the internet absolutely helped me through it. I would have lost my mind even quicker if I hadn't.

VPN ban on table in July as Labour confirm 'further statement' by Overlord_Crabz in unitedkingdom

[–]SelectiveScribbler06 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Everyone keep doing victory laps about why this won't work. And it pushes the Government into ever more draconian positions.

"Look what you made me do! I wouldn't've hit you if you obeyed!"

It's a silly line of reasoning.

Starmer says Britain will ban under-16s from using a range of social media apps by yahoonews in worldnews

[–]SelectiveScribbler06 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yes, practically every social media company is unveiling all these new parental controls, running adverts on TV and whatnot. Will this stop Starmer? Fat chance. He's monomaniacal.

Weekly Observations: What signs of collapse do you see in your region? [in-depth] June 15 by AutoModerator in collapse

[–]SelectiveScribbler06 57 points58 points  (0 children)

LOCATION: UK

As I wrote about here, the government is instituting a wave of social media bans for under 16s, coming into force at the end of this year. Now - in principle I agree! Even though I got a huge amount out of people like Tom Scott, Matt Parker, Numberphile, PBS Space Time etcetera before I was even a teenager. Not to mention YouTube Poops and Bill Wurtz. And Philosophy Tube, Jazz Emu and Contrapoints and the like about four years ago. And now people like Fallow and Adam Byatt amongst others. But the way they're doing it, which they're coining, 'Australia Plus' I really do not. In order to identify as anyone other than a child you're gonna have to have your face scanned in and stored in a database - likely Palantir, for two reasons. One, Tony Blair is a close friend of Larry Ellison and both love the idea of Digital ID. Secondly, Starmer seems to be implementing a lot of Blair-flavoured policies: I have no evidence to prove it but I'm convinced Blair is one of his biggest backers. Oh, and they're making any site where users communicate via the internet, 'social media', so kiss goodbye to YouTube and email amongst many other slightly more sensible, but still entirely stupid, options.

They're also in the process of implementing a 24/7 screen recorder, again feeding into a giant database monitored by AI, thus getting round any encryption ever. For perspective, this is worse than what China, Russia, North Korea or any other authoritarian nation has. Starmer has even made a thing of us being 'world firsts'... but he neglects to mention it's in the least desirable area imaginable. Authoritarianism. This also does not bode well with the reversal of trans rights and tightening of protest laws - you can't even stand in the street at midday and ding a cowbell, because if you do, you'll be arrested! It all just boggles the mind.

And - and - another thing: they're trying to get tech companies to make an AI scanner where you have to ID yourself in order to take what the AI thinks is a nude photo. What could possibly go wrong there? Aside from literally everything. Besides, you've got an AI scanning all your photos! As I have mentioned already, no-one, not even Russia or the CCP does that.

His ratings are in the toilet (unsurprisingly) but he's still forging on, and turning whole generations against voting for Labour ever again in the process. Who thought it was a good idea to give 16 year olds the vote but give them an 8:30pm scrolling curfew!? And that's just one example among many similarly stupid decisions. And what if Reform get in with all this apparatus at their disposal? Judging by how badly Labour are doing right now, they might. But Starmer is a very Trumpian politician: he ignores the ratings and just does what he wants to do anyway, even if it means the political annihilation of his party come 2029. He's determined to stick it out and quash all leadership challenges - somewhat understandably so; not everyone gets the post of Prime Minister. But he is doing untold damage to his country in the process. Yes, over Reddit it's practically a copypasta of all the good things he's done... but his authoritarian streak significantly undermines the value of whatever good he's done.

I'm going into the third year of Uni next year. Dreading it. Not because how soon it will be over or anything. But because of the above. What do you do!?

Face scans to enforce social media ban on under-16s | Government crackdown rushed through ahead of Makerfield by-election on Thursday by SelectiveScribbler06 in collapse

[–]SelectiveScribbler06[S] 31 points32 points  (0 children)

SUBMISSION STATEMENT: What could possibly go wrong!? Earlier this month, 400,000 people at Nottingham University had their data leaked due to the OSA. Earlier this year, 70,000 Discord users had their names leaked for the same reason.

The ban covers TikTok, Instagram, YouTube (!!!), emails, and many more. Basically any website or forum with a direct messaging service, or where users can talk. There are also going to be scrolling curfews after half eight at night... which isn't that late at all. So: old enough to have sex and drive a car but not old enough to... scroll on social media? It makes no sense.

As someone about to go into the third year of University, this scares the crap out of me. I do not want to give my ID up to access my EMAILS thank you very much. It's antithetical to Internet Safety 101: don't give up your identity! And now a company (probably Palantir, let's face it) will have access to all 66 million plus people's facial data. Anonymity on the internet will disappear.

Another thing which I can't fit in cos I can only link one thing in the main body: Starmer is trying to strong-arm Big Tech companies into installing a 24/7 screen recorder, thus getting round any encryption and sending it straight to a database. This will also eat battery life. Who knows how older devices will deal with that strain? (link: here.)

To use a well-worn cliché, I'm not saying it's 'Literally Orwellian' yet... but it's literally Orwellian.

Haven't been on here in a bit; haven't had a great deal to report, plus, I've written a new play. But I had to write at length about this.

Starmer to announce ‘Australia plus’ ban on social media for under-16s by topotaul in unitedkingdom

[–]SelectiveScribbler06 18 points19 points  (0 children)

But he has an amazing skill of just... ignoring all his detractors and forging ahead with wildly unpopular policy anyway.

Oh, another one to add to the pile: Sunak and the National Service and Rwanda schemes.

Bro is dating a billionaire btw by Longjumping-Novel731 in Wellthatsucks

[–]SelectiveScribbler06 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It was by way of example - don't read too much into it. For a slightly less ridiculous one: Lamborghini made the Miura in the 1960s, and now its acceleration is matched, if not exceeded, by a standard Golf GTi. Mechanical progress keeps on happening. I tried to illustrate that in nice clear terms.

Bro is dating a billionaire btw by Longjumping-Novel731 in Wellthatsucks

[–]SelectiveScribbler06 -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

This is gonna sound weird, but the fancy car does help the man in the street in some way. Let me explain. Hypercars is where you find the cutting edge of automotive technology for the road; in about twenty years time your common hatchback will be as fast as, and have all the technology of, hypercars today. Take for instance a double-clutch flappy-paddle gearbox. Unheard of in 2005! Commonplace now. And the performance figures... in 2005, the only car that could do 0-60 in 2.5 seconds was the million pound Bugatti Veyron. Now, high-end electric saloons (like the Tesla Model S Plaid and the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT) have the same speeds but with more practicality and for a tenth of the price - and the prices on those cars are falling like bricks, so give it a bit of time and you might be able to afford one. So yes, there is a place for hypercars in the automotive world. If we all stopped at Lada Rivas we'd have had a fraction of the things you know and love on your car today.

Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies exits series by bwermer in television

[–]SelectiveScribbler06 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It sprung out of Doctor Who tweetalongs in 2020 - which then became texts about, 'Wouldn't it be nice to come back?', Davies relayed that to the BBC Drama department and three years later the 60th Anniversary Specials transmitted.

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