• pigup@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I thought someone did the math and said if all US billionaires were slaughtered and the money divided amongst US population, we’d all get like $400k+.

      • gian @lemmy.grys.it
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        2 days ago

        IF the billionaires are really worth their money.
        Unluckily the billionaires are only theoretically worth their money since it depends on the value of their shares in the companies, shares value that is only supposed.

          • gian @lemmy.grys.it
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            19 hours ago

            $400K in shares is theoretically more than what you have.
            There is no guarantee that this is what you will be paid once you sell the shares.

      • SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        I always wondered if it would’ve been cheaper in Iraq and Afghanistan to just pay everyone to hand over their weapons and leave.

        • mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works
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          2 days ago

          That was literally the case for Vietnam. They already hated the Chinese, we just needed to invest in industry for them and they would have been our allies.

          The only problem was that France didn’t want that. They were too busy throwing a tantrum over losing their colony

          • SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            Hell, we trained Ho Chi Minh in guerilla combat against the Japanese. The US was sympathetic to the independence of the old European colonies after the war. If it wasn’t for the cold war and trying to woo France into NATO we likely would’ve sided with Vietnam.

  • Mulligrubs@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    their efforts aren’t buying the political capital they’d hoped for.

    Trump did get elected by “AI money” and they all celebrated on stage with him, you know.

    Midterms? Yeah, when you are an indisputably shitty President who has broken every campaign promise and is openly deranged, you will likely lose the midterms no matter how much you try to pump Republicans. Diminishing returns.

    Usually the “winning” party only holds power for a couple terms, then, after their incompetence has disgusted yet another generation of voters, they lose, only to be replaced by the other party that will repeat the process.

    bOtH sIdEs, YeS, oH My

    I vote in every election, and you should too. Because it’s funny

  • MortUS@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Futurism articles are just written by AI tbh…

    Low bar journalism and reporting.

    • CapuccinoCoretto@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Musk should consider skipping the middle man and paying citizens directly for their votes. Proportional to his wealth. Like the taxes we used to charge the wealthy.

      • mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        He’s too cheap for that. He’s like the guy who made the carbon-fiber sub and got the bottom-barrel cheapest game controller to run it

  • anticurrent@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    Same billionaires are funding the campaigns of both parties. they keep winning no matter who gets elected.

    It feels surreal to live among the gullible

    Add to that, I have a hunch that a good chunk of people who are the most vocal against AI heavily use AI themselves. like game devs using ai to produce music, and musicians use AI to make posters, and novelists using AI to illustrate their works, many people call for solidarity against AI to save their professions while using AI to replace other professions.

    I am one of the most haters on AI, but I too acknowledge that people are hypocrites on the internet

  • Lovable Sidekick@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Which billionaires aren’t flooding money into politics to influence elections? They were doing it long before all the AI drama.

  • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    By backfiring your mean they have nearly total control then yes. Those losers, it has totally backfired on them and now they are richer and more powerful than ever!

    • reksas@sopuli.xyz
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      2 days ago

      should also campaign for third option so there are options and idiot party could be left to wither. Current situation leads to slow and inevitable fall as stagnation is the very best that can happen.

      Anything that makes republicans weaker is a win for your country.

  • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Expect bipartisan legislation to increase the anonymity of PAC money before the year is over.

    • Avicenna@programming.dev
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      1 day ago

      I wouldn’t be surprised if more than half of democrats would be ok to give republicans more power so that they can squash progressive wing of democrats who are making people realize how useless half of democrat party is.

  • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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    2 days ago

    All Dems have to do is run with Data Center Prohibition as their main issue, and they would win EVERY election, and destroy the MAGA movement. Even Republicans hate Data Centers, and ALL MAGA candidates LOVE them. No MAGA candidate cans say anything against them. Florida MAGA candidates are trying to ease it by claiming that they’ll make sure that citizens won’t pay the costs, but everybody knows they’re lying. That’s about the most opposition they’re putting.

    MAGA is the party of UNLIMITED Data Centers. Just slam that over and over, and NOBODY will vote MAGA.

    • RxBrad@infosec.pub
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      2 days ago

      Both sides are taking data center money, though.

      Here in Michigan, Governor Whitmer (Dem) is all-in on AI, even doing photo ops at (extremely locally unpopular) data center groundbreakings. “Think of all the local jobs” is the supposed upside. (spoiler: there are no local jobs being created)

  • TrackenDaKracken@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    I can only hope this is true. Most voters aren’t paying a bit of attention to where the money comes from.

    They’re using AI. They think it’s wonderful, they’ve barely heard about the controversy around data centers, and think “data centers are where the internet it, yOU lIkE thE inTErNeT, Don’T yoU?”

    The Top 10 AI Uses in 2025 (none of which it does very well):

    • Therapy and companionship
    • Organizing my life
    • Finding purpose
    • Enhanced learning
    • Summarizing content
    • Generating ideas
    • Generating code (for professionals)
    • Improving code (for professionals)
    • Creativity
    • Visual art and design
    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      So, you also cannot discern the difference in traditional DCs and AI DCs? I feel like you know and I’m missing something.

      • Jason2357@lemmy.ca
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        2 days ago

        Scale. Older data centers fit in the “light industrial” zoned parts of town and required some minor grid upgrades to the local electrical distribution.

        Planned data centers require as much power as an entire rural state and are the size of a small town and get buit too fast to wait for any new power generation to be added to the grid.

    • pemptago@lemmy.ml
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      2 days ago

      You’d be surprised. Data centers seem like a big issue. My boomer parents hate data centers, as do a lot of rural voters who have them nearby or proposals nearby. But to your point, I also see a lot of people who are aware of problems around ai/data centers/billionaires still using ai.

    • taiyang@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      My thoughts exactly. I know two folks who are going all in with AI and haven’t even considered any controversy. Feels like they live on another planet. Hell, one of the guys was even showing off his pervert glasses and when I called them pervert glasses he laughed and said he hadn’t heard that before.

      I really hope those folks are in the minority.

      • pemptago@lemmy.ml
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        2 days ago

        Dang. Their online filter bubble must be strong. Likely the kind of person who also doesn’t care about surveillance capitalism because “it’ll recommend good things to buy.”

        • taiyang@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Quite right! When they email me for advice it’s often AI generated, too. I always come across as the insane person telling them not to trust AI (why even ask me for advice if you’re just going to vibe coded your site anyway…)

  • melsaskca@lemmy.ca
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    3 days ago

    I’m sick of all the shiny shoes and the posturing. I need a serious person with substance.

  • inari@piefed.zip
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    3 days ago

    The next step seems obvious: they’ll take a page from the tobacco, gun, and meat industries and instead create fake think tanks or associations to funnel political money semi-anonymously.