Not to be a cynic, but I’m not sure how relevant data from two years ago (survey conducted spring 2024) actually is, given the fast-placed nature of AI development/adoption.

Sold out to whom, though… customers or scalpers?

I mean, hyper-inflation kinda still matters if all the people around you are subject to it…

Argentina may be an unlikely place for a billionaire looking for stability. The country has careened through nearly a century of instability, marred by military coups and spectacular financial collapses epitomized by triple-digit inflation.

My thoughts exactly, NYT.

The timing of this probably didn’t do them any favors, doing away with standardized tests right before the effects of COVID-era “learning” (and then LLMs) began to take hold.

Obligatory “fuck AI,” however I’ve reluctantly found that the AI summaries can be helpful on occasion, such as when deciding if a video with a clickbaity title is actually worth watching, or when I’m on YouTube looking for a solution to a problem (in which case the summary can sometimes get me the content way faster than watching the video). So of all the dumb shit YouTube has done to their platform in recent years, I’d argue the AI summaries fall on the “actually not that bad” end of the spectrum.

It’s a mixed issue; cigarette smoking has externalities like second-hand smoke and cigarette butt litter that make that particular form of nicotine intake especially problematic for society. However I agree that it’s somewhat disingenuous to ignore the overall nicotine consumption issue.

The article doesn’t mention vaping, so is it included or excluded in the definition of “smoking”? Are vapes even a thing in Sweden? I know Snus are a popular alternative there.

I’d like someone to call out for once how most media “for adults” nowadays is, by default, extremely violent and sexually explicit… call it the GoT phenomenon.

To be clear, I’m glad that media is no longer bound by the puritanical and often hypocritical FCC standards, and that subscription cable like HBO and streaming networks like Netflix have freedom of expression. But now everything aimed at adults, it seems, is also rated for adults. Where are the emotionally/intellectually mature stories that are also fun and joyous? That there are adults singing along to KPop DH in theaters as the article mentions shows that there’s clearly an untapped market here (imagine a similarly bright and flashy movie with catchy music but also a decent plot? How popular could that become!). The article also calls out cozy games and other “childish” things… How much of this is because of arrested development vs a desire to engage with entertainment that isn’t a deluge of blood, sex, and misery?

I’m sure some of these people genuinely enjoy their childish media because it’s childish, but many are just trying to engage with something bright, cheery, fun, and not reminiscent of the nightmare that is reality.