Youtube and Reddit are the worst. I am pretty convinced the aggressive blocking is not because of abuse, but because VPNs actually have become a problem for tracking and data mining.
I have the suspicion the IP blocking is somewhat coordinated between Youtube and Reddit, to maximize annoyance and discourage VPN usage, since I frequently find exit server working for either one of them, but not both. Disrupting the ping pong of social media for VPN users, seems like an effective strategy to influence their behavior. And since they are natural monopolies respectively, they hardly risk alienating anyone doing so. Similar to how cookie banners are abused to modify people's sentiment on privacy regulations in favor of data mining. Even many tech people believe annoying cookie banners are the EU's fault, when common practice is either malicious compliance, unwarranted or straight illegal.
That said, it is actually fucking annoying. Then again, just a nuance in the greater enshittification and rapidly growing dissatisfaction with the web overall for me.
>Youtube and Reddit are the worst. I am pretty convinced the aggressive blocking is not because of abuse, but because VPNs actually have become a "problem" for tracking and data mining.
FTFY (added scare quotes)
I don't see blocking tracking and data mining as a problem at all, but rather a very good thing.
How could they not. The word `wealth` or idea of "money" is completely misleading here. It's cancerous accumulation of resources and influence. They are completely detached from consequential reality. The human brain has not evolved to thrive under conditions of total, unconditional material abundance. People struggle to moderate sugar intake, imagine unlimited access to everything. And it's an inherently amoral existence leading to the necessity of unhinged internal models of the world to justify continuation and reward. Their sense of self-efficacy derailed in zero-g. Listen to them talk about fiction... They literally can't tell the price of a banana, how can they possibly get any meaningful story told? All that is left is the aesthetics and mechanical exterior of narration. How can there be love or friendship with normal people grounding you? You could make everyone you ever met during your lifetime a millionaire, while effectively changing nothing for yourself. Nobody can be this rich and not lose touch with common shared reality.
Billionaires are shameful for the collective, they should be shameful to everyone of us. They are fundamentally most unfit for leadership. They are evidence of civilizatory failure, the least we can do is not idolize them.
This isn't some new, or innovative technology. Transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDSC) has been studied for a long time and there even is an active community of enthusiastic DIY experimentalists. tDSC is certainly interesting, but it is also inherently limited, evident by lack of praxis/application. If tDSC is proven effective for treating ADHD symptoms you can relatively easily have the same thing (probably better) as an opensource project, 3D printing and FOSS. Not going this route is kinda sus to me. Pretty sure this was a business looking for an idea, not the other way around. Probably targeted at TikTok diagnoses not eligible for controlled meds and clout-chasing "biohackers", who will gladly preach the good news through affiliate links.
I doubt tDSC will ever beat stimulant medication, which is a cheap, safe and very effective treatment option, for almost a century. Some studies even show MRI evidence for long-term normalization of (young) ADHD brains with stimulant medication. Retarded formulations have a very low abuse potential. The biggest problem with these meds is legislation and stigma. And lately supply chain issues...
Oh, and the advertised thing is most definitely not a "brain-imaging device" lol.
> taking them even if you don't need to isn't going to be harmful
I think, the transporter for calcium is the same used for some other minerals. So, if you're not mindful (about timing), you may be competitively blocking the absorption of e.g. zinc, which is much more precious nutritionally - zinc is very important for immune function and healing, while deficiency is common.
Calcium supplements can cause constipation, which may be not very fun after giving birth... Not to mention the implications of (lack of) quality control in the supplement market, by proxy, for a rapidly developing human being. Which substances are part of the formulation, other than calcium salts? Does the adult portion of copper or X accumulate in a mother's milk?
Not saying, you shouldn't take calcium supplements. But really, any supplement can be harmful, if consumed without need or consideration. (Fun fact: Vitamin A supplementation increases lung cancer risk!)
I just wanted to say, I really appreciate your tangent here. Space travel didn't come to my mind at all and your comment made me feel the tiny things contributing to larger stories, for a moment. Caught me weirdly off-guard.
> It avoids the graft-versus-host issues of using stem cells from another person
Not sure that's the issues here. I think the major risk comes with completely wiping the original immune system, before implanting the new seed cells. Apart from the implications in any means of killing "half the body", people are existentially defenseless against any pathogen around them, for a few weeks.
I think this procedure will never be reasonably safe, for anyone who isn't rolling their last die.
Otherwise you could probably fingerprint ad spots and submit them into a shared database. Like musicbrainz. For dynamic blocking of static content. Acoustic ID is probably enough and it would work with podcasts too!
I hate ads so much, I would totally volunteer to make this my hobby.
You'd probably throw some AI bullshit at this problem, in a race to the bottom. My hope would be for any "content creator" worth watching to be displeased with extremely low effort crap painted all over their production, so they ultimately get the message.
Advertisement simply sucks and is offensive. There is nothing to respect about any of it. People will always find ways around.
I have the suspicion the IP blocking is somewhat coordinated between Youtube and Reddit, to maximize annoyance and discourage VPN usage, since I frequently find exit server working for either one of them, but not both. Disrupting the ping pong of social media for VPN users, seems like an effective strategy to influence their behavior. And since they are natural monopolies respectively, they hardly risk alienating anyone doing so. Similar to how cookie banners are abused to modify people's sentiment on privacy regulations in favor of data mining. Even many tech people believe annoying cookie banners are the EU's fault, when common practice is either malicious compliance, unwarranted or straight illegal.
That said, it is actually fucking annoying. Then again, just a nuance in the greater enshittification and rapidly growing dissatisfaction with the web overall for me.