How We Volunteered for Digital Slavery

Once upon a time, software was free — not in the “free trial” sense, but actually free.
It lived in the halls of universities, passed between curious minds on floppy disks, shared in the spirit of collaboration and discovery. Hardware was the business; software was the art.

Then came a young man named Bill Gates. Fueled by BASIC and caffeine, he learned to code thanks to that culture of openness — and then, he turned freedom into monopoly. Gates dropped out of Harvard, founded Microsoft, and declared that software would no longer be shared; it would be sold. The age of commercial code had begun.

Microsoft’s first weapon was MS-DOS, a text-based operating system that quietly took over the newborn PC world through IBM’s early machines. Then came Windows, the glossy illusion — a friendly graphical interface that promised empowerment while locking users into Microsoft’s walled garden.

Like a corporate version of The Godfather, Microsoft “made offers” competitors couldn’t refuse. DR-DOS? Made intentionally incompatible. Linux? Targeted in internal memos. Internet Explorer? Forced onto every desktop “for your convenience.” The result: a near-total monopoly achieved not by innovation alone, but by control, coercion, and corporate muscle.

Fast forward to today. Microsoft’s empire no longer needs to hide its power — it runs your computer, your documents, your identity. Telemetry, the friendly name for mass surveillance, quietly records how you use your device. With Windows 11, you can’t even log in without a Microsoft account — the digital equivalent of Big Brother’s stamp of approval. Imagine Orwell’s 1984 rewritten for the 21st century: Winston Smith doesn’t fear the telescreen anymore. He bought it, installed it, and clicked “I agree.” Even students are being tracked through Microsoft Office. Their learning curves analyzed. Their data stored. Their digital lives quantified — all under the illusion of “productivity.”

Steve Ballmer once called Linux “a cancer.” But history, ever fond of irony, flipped the metaphor: Microsoft became the cancer instead — feeding on the open-source world it once despised. Today, Windows happily integrates Linux as a feature, commodifying the very freedom it tried to destroy. Microsoft didn’t defeat open source; it absorbed it. Like the Borg. Like the Matrix. Like capitalism always does.

Meanwhile, the cost of this corporate control extends far beyond money. Windows 11’s unnecessary hardware requirements have already forced millions of functional computers into landfills — a quiet environmental catastrophe disguised as an “upgrade.” The planet pays for your shiny new taskbar.

The illusion of control doesn’t stop at your desktop. As Edward Snowden revealed, Microsoft has shared user data with the NSA — turning your operating system into a global surveillance node. When the International Criminal Court made decisions the U.S. didn’t like, its staff found their Microsoft email access revoked. That’s not science fiction. That’s administrative reality. And it could happen to anyone. We once feared governments might use technology to control us. Instead, we let corporations do it — and we pay a monthly subscription for the privilege.

But not all hope is lost. There’s still the red pill — Linux. It’s not perfect, but it’s free, open, and community-driven. No forced logins, no corporate backdoors, no hidden surveillance. Just software built by people, for people. Switching to Linux isn’t rebellion for rebellion’s sake. It’s a vote — for transparency, for sustainability, for democracy. The blue screen of illusion can still be escaped.

All it takes is the courage to press “uninstall.”

#essay #history #software #digital #slavery #freedom #linux #microsoft #endof10 #windows #win10 #windows10 #surveillance #tracking #nsa #snowden #dystopia #economy #business #capitalism #foss #floss #opensource #gnu #backdoor #politics #humanity #future #humanrights #privacy #matrix #system #environment #climate #earth #bigbrother #bigtech #bigdata #BillGats #Gates

Remember kids: "Passive income" is a term used to describe wealth handed out to people by society, through our economic system, without doing any work.

Many people receiving a "passive income" are intergenerationally wealthy, as opposed to the working class and long-term unemployed people who receive social welfare payments.

Because of this, they're referred to as passive income /earners/ not passive income /recipients/. Conversely, we have social welfare /recipients/ not social welfare /earners/.

As a society, we've decided that Joe Heir and Jane Heiress deserve their wealth, even if they've never done a full day's work in their lives. And there are no income tests for this wealth, so they get these handouts even if they don't need them.

Conversely, we've collectively decided that welfare recipients are bludgers. Welfare payments are also vigorously means tested. The burden of proof is entirely on you to claim and prove you deserve these payments.

The one exception to this social welfare rule is when handouts go to the rich, whether that's in the form of subsidies or tax breaks.

Because there's one law for the rich, and another for the poor.

#capitalism #economy #economics #business

Manager: "And just a reminder to download Megahappyfunproductivityapp if you haven't already done so. It's really important in helping us to stay on top of our deadlines and work together more effectively as a team."

Me: :Downloads the stupid app:

Notification: "Here's your one-time login code."

Notification: "You have a message!"

Notification: "You have a task due later today."

Notification: "Here are some random files from the intranet that might be relevant to your meeting."

Notification: "Rate us on the app store!"

Notification at 8am on Sunday morning because Sharon from accounts wants to let everyone know she's a workaholic with no life: "You have a message!"

Notification: "Here's an AI summary of your upcoming tasks!"

Notification: "Love using Megahappyfunproductivityapp at work? Check out Megahappyfunproductivityapp Personal Edition!"

Notification: "Join our upcoming user conference in Melbourne to hear tips, tricks, case studies, thought leadership, and best practices"

Notification: "Don't miss out! Upgrade to Megahappyfunproductivityapp Premium Edition today and SAVE 15%!* T&Cs apply."

Me: :Deselects everything except critical notifications and message notifications:

Notification: "We've updated our terms of service" (We won't mention it was because our lawyers weren't 100% certain "share your data with third party vendors" would prevent us getting sued for selling your data to ChatGPT. So we're making it explicit, and burying it on page 327 of our terms of service.)

Notification: "Someone is trying to message you on our app!"

Notification: "Here's your one-time login code."

Notification: "Here's your one-time login code."

Notification: "Here's your one-time login code."

Notification: "Rate our customer service."

Notification: "Check out our new AI features!"

Notification: "DON'T FORGET! You still haven't rated our customer service!"

Notification: "We miss you 🥹"

Notification: "Here's your AI task report"

Notification: "Here's some people you might know!"

Me: :Disables notification:

Colleague: "Did you get my urgent message on Megahappyfunproductivityapp?"

Me: "Nope, I turned off notifications."

Colleague: "Okay, can you turn on notifications so you don't miss another important message like that?"

#tech #enshittification #iOS #Android #capitalism #latecapitalism #business

Over 40 years, we were collectively told to give tax cuts to rich people.

And we were told that if we did that, wealth would trickle down and everyone would be better off.

Over 40 years, pretty much everything got cut to fund these tax cuts.

Schools. Hospitals. Public housing. Public transport. Universities. Roads projects. Mental health services. Welfare payments.

People literally went homeless or starved, so rich people could get tax cuts.

Because the wealth would trickle down.

Eventually the eroding of public goods caused social dislocation.

So governments further cut those public goods to fund more police and prisons. To continue giving tax cuts to rich people.

But they said the wealth would trickle down.

Eventually the climate started changing because of the amount of toxic fossil fuel pollution in the atmosphere.

So governments chose to keep the tax cuts rather than fund infrastructure to reduce emissions.

(Many of those billionaires getting tax cuts made their money selling toxic fossil fuels.)

And as the oceans and atmosphere warmed, the bushfires, droughts, hurricanes, cyclones, floods, and droughts got worse.

But they said the wealth would trickle down.

Eventually people were getting pissed off at the dire state of the world.

The rich misdirected that anger at immigrants!

And First Nations!

And trans people!

And neurodivergent people!

Anyone but the billionaires who got the tax cuts.

So governments chose to keep the tax cuts. (For the rich. Everyone else got new tariff taxes.)

But they said the wealth would trickle down.

So did the wealth trickle down?

Well...

A group of billionaires saw this kinda cool tech demo.

It predicted the next pixel of an image, based on the colour patterns of every image on the internet.

It also predicted the next word in a sentence, based on an analysis of every piece of writing on the internet.

The rich decided that this clearly showed that a sentient computer was just around the corner.

The problem was these tech demos needed servers with a lot of GPUs to work.

So the rich took all the money they got from those tax cuts.

And they bought GPUs.

Millions and millions and millions and millions of GPUs.

All the tax cuts? All the underfunded schools? All the draconian welfare cuts? All the public housing shortages? The delays in funding clean energy.

In the end, it didn't trickle down.

And instead of all the public goods it could have bought...

...We'll be left with millions and millions and millions of GPUs in a landfill.

#ChatGPT #Claude #AI #LLM #capitalism #socialism #business #politics #Nvidia

Australia is still a deeply racist country when it comes to Aboriginal people.

This is some of the oldest written communications on Earth.

This rock art was already ~40,000 years old when the Giza pyramids were an ongoing capital works project by the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt.

But because Aboriginal and created it, we treat it as worthless.

I can't stress this enough.

This should be a source of deep and profound shame for every non-Aboriginal Australian.

We, collectively, see irreplaceable 50,000 year old cultural artifacts as having less value than a tank full of petrol.

Because we view Aboriginal history as essentially worthless.

"The oldest petroglyphs in the world are deemed to be those at Murujuga in Western Australia, which are 40,000–50,000 years old. Some petroglyphs are classified as protected monuments and some have been added to the list of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, or such status has been applied for."

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrog…

"The Albanese government agreed to weaken conditions it had proposed to protect world heritage-listed Indigenous rock art from Woodside’s giant North West Shelf gas development after the fossil fuel company argued it could be forced to shut the plant.

"The change is explained in a “statement of reasons” document setting out why the environment minister, Murray Watt, approved an application to extend the operating life of one of the world’s biggest and most polluting gas export developments until 2070.

"The statement shows Watt accepted environment department advice that “multiple lines of scientific and other evidence” suggested industrial emissions were having a “significant adverse impact” on rocks in Murujuga, a cultural landscape in northern Western Australia that is home to more than 1m pieces of rock art, known as petroglyphs.

"The minister also accepted advice that future pollution from the North West Shelf liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing facility could cause “degradation, damage, notable alteration, modification, obscuring or diminishing” of the area’s natural heritage."
...
"Watt provisionally ruled in May that Woodside could continue operating the LNG plant beyond 2030 only if it cut acidic pollution – particularly nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide – so that there were no air emissions “above the detectable limit” that affect rock art.

"But Woodside responded this was “not technically feasible”. It said the conditions were an “effective refusal” of the development that would lead to the “cessation of business as usual operations” at the end of 2030.

#auspol #wapol #ClimateCrisis #ClimateChange #GlobalWarming #Australia #Perth #WesternAustralia #capitalism #business #ausbiz

Why artificial intelligence is not intelligent at all and is only called that for marketing reasons.

Admittedly, today's AI models not only consume a lot of electricity but also deliver results that surprised me, but also absurd errors that are trivialized as hallucinations. One fact that is often overlooked, partly due to good marketing, is that today's AI models are based on calculated probabilities. The AI does not really understand what it is doing, it only calculates probabilities. Admittedly, it often does this very well until a “hallucination” occurs. This means that AI can only reflect human knowledge, human perspective and human bias and racism. Everything is based on human training data and the AI calculates with which probability the human user would like to have which knowledge. Wouldn't you expect much more from real intelligence? I just wonder how people can attribute intelligence to this well-calculating machine? There are people who even fall in love with today's AI models or see them as real artificial life. Fueled by marketing that promises us a real super intelligence in the near future in order to get even more venture capital to maintain the whole hoax, which devours vast sums of money in data centers and electricity. Another more serious problem in my view is that today's AI models are destroying the jobs that we need to continue creating good training material for AIs. Today's AIs can easily replace graphic designers, translators, authors, musicians and poets. As a result, the internet is already flooded with AI-generated content. This will eventually become the new training data, which will further reduce so-called intelligence. How a superintelligence will ever emerge from this is a mystery to me.

#ai #technology #training #internet #user #marketing #economy #money #business #future #humanity #problem #ethics #philosophy #fail #knowledge #science #intelligence

The companies and venture capitalists therefore believe they can make a higher profit with AI than by protecting the location factor earth and thus the future of humanity.

They burn billions that are more harmful to the climate, as AI consumes a lot of energy and water. They are driving climate change in the misleading hope that AI will eventually generate profits. I don't think this absurdity can simply be explained by stupidity.

Please realize that money is being invested and burned here like never before in human history. However, they are not being invested in fighting hunger, stopping illiteracy or the climate crisis, but in the very deceptive hope of making a profit.

I don't believe that Pandora's box can be closed again. But the bug in capitalism is obviously that you can make a profit by ruining the environment. There should be a profit for the common good and environmental protection in order to ensure the survival of humanity.

please read: theregister.com/2025/08/18/gen…

Maybe you can share this with your friends, the companies and politicians and start a discussion about this negative destructive behavior and why nobody is willing to save our planet?

#ai #technology #capitalism #future #humanity #finance #profit #money #earth #climate #energy #water #crisis #politics #education #hunger #humanrights #economy #business #emissions #co2 #intelligence #discussion #problem #news #fail #share #system #matrix #survival #environment #nature

В 1920-х General Motors и Standard Oil нашли решение для моторов — тетраэтилсвинец.

Он сделал бензин мощнее и тише, но был смертельно токсичен. Альтернатива была — этанол. Но его нельзя было запатентовать, поэтому корпорации задушили её и выбрали яд.

Миллиарды заработаны, миллиарды людей отравлены. История того, как патент стал оружием массового загрязнения.

👉 Полную статью читайте на kartel-i-kofe.com/svinec-v-ben…

#nature #news #health #business #people #economics