Honestly, I think the push to constantly add browser features (and thereby expand the already massive web API) is misguided. This feature, in particular, seems like it should be solved with library, rather than by further bloating the browser.
If I put on my conspiracy hat, it looks like Google is pushing to expand the web API as a means to maintain its lead in the browser market by making it harder for other browsers (i.e. Firefox) to maintain feature parity.
TBH, the first time I read about this, I had to check the date to make sure it wasn't an April Fool's joke I had missed. I'm sure there are some things this would be useful for, but the sheer amount of complexity it would add to web renderers doesn't seem commensurate with how useful it would be.
This kind of stuff just puts even more distance between established engines and smaller projects like Servo.
> the sheer amount of complexity it would add to web renderers doesn't seem commensurate with how useful it would be.
Why? The browser is effectively already rendering HTML in a “canvas”, via tiled rendering etc. This isn’t a whole new rendering path, just a redirection of the existing one.
I have the same theory but for different reasons(commented something similar to a recent css functions thread), in this case though I don't thing you can solve it with a library, the canvas api is very limited, text layouting is very hard especially if you want to support different languages and directions. Let alone rendering a text input, if the use case is games, those usually don't have very complex inputs and that would be ok I think to implement a simpler one. IMO we should just have exposed the Skia text layout api in javascript.
You can't solve this with a library without essentially implementing a separate browser engine in JS (or WASM). Doing this directly in the browser engine is far simpler than that.
> people still do not understand in big 2026 that's it's just a probabilistic database,
We understand that AI responses are generated through probabilistic means. We also understand that human responses are generated through probabilistic means. Neither is inherently more representative of true understanding than the other.
Yeah, the human ones are because we're talking finding a human answer to a human question.
It's possible has been trained to match a human level of assessment (though imo it's still a ways off) but the AI response is never going to be more representative of true understanding than a human response when it comes to a human question expecting a human answer.
It's quite likely that a given AI will have a more representative response than a given human - but we haven't ever tried to pump so many resources into the training of a single human scholar.
That is a statement that may be true but we've spent a whole lot of time thinking about it and there's still significant disagreement at an academic level, though, with our better understanding of quantum mechanics it has been much more difficult to justify the point that we live in a fully deterministic universe, lately.
And if we reject determinism then definitionally there's arbitrary probability somewhere in the heart of our decision making (though probably in a very minor role compared to established biases).
I miss out on all the big and little announcements. Sometimes, a family member will forward information to me about a death or a graduation. I find out about these things when I find out about them, just like we used to before the internet.
I dropped Facebook when I realized that their app was snooping on who I called and who called me.
I usually find out much later, and possibly never. This is how things were before the internet. We didn't know everything going on in everyone's life.
In the case of major events, my brother usually lets me know, for example the death of an aunt. Everyone close to me knows I don't use FB, so if they want me to be aware of something in particular, they can text or call me.
>How does that work? People post on FB or IG, AND THEN phone you / write a letter? doubtful...
why is this doubtful?
i am also disconnected from fb/ig/etc. and that is exactly what happens. family or close friends make a post for something important, and i get a call or text. for smaller stuff i get caught up at some point whenever we next talk on the phone for a regular catch up.
That's what it started out as, for sure. However, is it really "staying in touch" these days or is it simply reacting to and maybe adding a response to whatever status or content was placed in your feed.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not some anti-Facebook snob looking down on everyone else. But I have greatly reduced my use of the platform and only really use it for some groups I'm part of. While I do interact with family and friends, saying I use Facebook to "stay in touch" these days is a bit of a reach in most cases.
Frankly this kind of premature excuse making won't get us anywhere. People say they're concerned about the rise of fascism or oligarchy but when it comes to pushing back, even the smallest bit of inconvenience is too much.
The Montgomery bus boycott lasted 381 days. People walked miles and organized carpools to work for over a year.
Now we can't even imagine making the sacrifice to send our friends and family an SMS, let alone getting them to download Signal when they kinda don't want to.
My comment, "For many people, those shitty services are the only way they stay in touch with friends and family," is an observation, not an "excuse" (in your words). The fact is that most people don't even know someone who understands how bad social media is. Moreover, even if they did, as you suggest, download Signal, and even if they use it with the one person in their life who insists on it, they'll still be using Facebook for everyone else. Ingrained habits are hard to change, especially when they are carefully formulated addictions.
I think a lot of people feel like social media scratches the social itch they are feeling.
I think that is simply an illusion though. I have high social needs, and no amount of social media ever fed them in a healthy way.
Just because you are hungry, doesn't mean you should immediately reach for the bag of chips. It's important to reflect how often you do so, and whether that is getting you where you want to be in life. It's hard but really really important.
A lot of people say they are very lonely despite spending all their time on social media. They then change nothing.
> Twitter interfered with US elections by banning Trump.
You mean when Twitter "permanently" banned Trump in January of 2021, after the 2020 election (which he lost)? Which election do you suppose that interfered with?
Nothing will shut him up. My god.. I wish killing his twitter account could do that.
He lost because he is a POS and people where tired of his blabbering and complaining.
All the future ones. Don't you see? If you're a big enough public figure and announce any ambition for public office, every attempt at holding you accountable for crimes is interference!
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