Israel was created by ethnically cleansing Palestinians during the Nakba. That's not a democracy, ethnically cleansed Palestinians aren't even allowed to live on their land, let alone vote. That's not including all of the Palestinians that have been straight up murdered.
In addition Israel is an apartheid state with many undemocratic features:
> ethnically cleansed Palestinians aren't even allowed to live on their land, let alone vote
America was a democracy while we were exterminating our native population. Democracy is a system of government. Voters can democratically vote for terrible things.
Israeli Arabs are allowed to vote.
> Israel is an apartheid state
This is a valid argument, though still stretched–America didn't cease to be a democracy while we occupied Germany and Japan.
Murdered people can't vote. People forced off their land and over an artificially created border can't vote. Israel is no democracy.
> America was a democracy while we were exterminating our native population.
I would argue that it was not for the very same reasons (and of course there were many other classes not allowed to vote at the time). Killing someone robs them of their right to vote.
> Murdered people can't vote. People forced off their land and over an artificially created border can't vote
Sure. But this also describes a lot of well-accepted democracies' histories.
Perhaps you're thinking of a liberal democracy?
> would argue that it was not
Sure, according to a personal definition that countries cease to be democracies any time they go to war (or more narrowly, commit war crimes), Israel is not a democracy...
> there were many other classes not allowed to vote at the time
Most democracies also prohibit children and non-citizens from voting. The term you may be looking for is full democracy. And I think most people and experts agree Israel is not a full democracy [1].
> Most democracies also prohibit children and non-citizens from voting
In the case of Israel these 'non-citizens' are under brutal military occupation where each day Israel steals more and more of their land. There's no 'home country' they could return to because Israel is occupying it. They're not illegal immigrants. They ARE home and yet being treated by Israel like invaders.
> They ARE home and yet being treated by Israel like invaders
Which is illiberal and flawed. It doesn't mean Israeli citizens don't democratically choose their leaders.
Note that this cuts both ways. If Israel isn't a democracy, the Israeli people have no moral culpability in their state's actions because we have no way of knowing if they actually support it.
> There's no 'home country' they could return to because Israel is occupying it
Agree this is tragic. But again, historically not unique. Displaced people have existed across the history of democracy.
Something being wrong doesn't automatically make it all kinds of wrong. Israel illegally occupying the West Bank and Gaza and having unresolved reparations around the Nakba doesn't have much relevance to whether it's a democracy. Just whether it's a liberal or full one. (Among all of the other issues.)
Democracy doesn't mean voters can't choose to be awful.
> Most democracies also prohibit non-citizens from voting.
I mean we're talking about all Black people, Indigenous people and women! I think arguing semantics isn't helpful.
Israel is an illegitimate state practicing crimes against humanity. That some of the colonizers can vote isn't really relevant. I actually think this can help us reflect on the true nature of the US as well and push for things like land back to Indigenous people and reparations for Black people.
> we're talking about all Black people, Indigenous people and women
Yes. Athens was similar–a minority of the population could vote. It was a deeply flawed democracy, but a democracy nonetheless.
> That some of the colonizers can vote isn't really relevant
Literally America! Also all of Europe depending on when you draw the line. Also all of the Middle East for the same reason. (Also most extant Native American tribes.) Hell, even in Palestine we can only say more than 50% of the population traces from Bronze-Age heritage.
By your definition, democracy does not exist and cannot exist in most parts of the world.
> this can help us reflect on the true nature of the US
It really can't if we're redefining precedented terms. America, like Israel, is a flawed democracy.
By the way, the word "Nakba" is linguistically related to the Shoah, a.k.a. The Holocaust. If they admitted the Nakba happened they'd be admitting they did a Holocaust, so they don't admit that.
Specifically Unit 8200, which really has no counterpart elsewhere in the world given Israel's mandatory universal conscription. Imagine if you could systematically screen every young adult in a country, identify those with the strongest math/quantitative skills or promising deep tech skills and divert them into one single security special ops org for several years. You'd get the concentration of skill that Unit 8200 has been producing.
North Korea does this too, actually (and like Israel, for both genders). It's probably one of the significant reasons why NK has such a comparatively effective offensive cybersecurity group, despite how unlikely that would seem given their overall industrial capacity.
NK likely also gets a bit of a boost because of the extended length of mandatory service. Males on technical teams have to serve for 13 years.
Russia has historically not had mandatory universal conscription.
Arch is great, but stick with stock or go for CachyOS, which prioritizes modern compiler optimizations and speed. Omarchy is DHH's vibecoded slop and I'd stay all clear of it.
My question is what do you connect this TO that doesn't spy. I get you can use a Smart TV and switch to HDMI input but there's no guarantee the TV is not spying on you in some way, if not today then tomorrow these things will come with eSIM support to upload ACR data even when 'disconnected' or connect to your smartphone over some ad tech protocol to do the same.
Today, just don't connect your smart TV to a network, and you should be fine. (Assuming there's no open/passwordless WiFi networks nearby.)
If/when devices start shipping with cellular modems and eSIMs... honestly not sure. Faraday cage? Physically remove the modem? (If that doesn't prevent the device from booting.)
I think the point is if there's some law in a given country i.e. banning model exports etc. it doesn't matter how many competitors within a single country there are.
> Does AI have the effect of tutors or textbooks, or something else?
With tutors or textbooks the explicit goal is to transfer their knowledge to you. With AI agents the goal is presumably to get things done and if you are happy with the results without wanting to understand how the thing you instructed the agent to do works, there's no knowledge transfer there.
I think the goal comes from the user. Some users want to solve a problem, some users may want to learn something. I'm not sure that having AI widely available really changes the ratio of the two, but I think I see AI availability as a factor that could accelerate the learning curve of the ones that have a goal of learning.
I think that's fair. On the other hand whereas previously when you wanted to i.e. write software you HAD to learn something, now you don't. It could be that those who want to know will still want to know but it may also be that the knowledge becomes less desirable since it's not as valued any more.
At one point in computer history, you had to know how to create and submit a punchcard to run a program. In the age of AI, I think we're going to be sifting through what software knowledge is still relevant and what is punchcard operation for quite a while.
To contribute my n=1, I consider that when using LLMs I do have a huge pull towards "just let the AI cook", and often it really approaches problems better than I ever could. I try to keep the Rust's LLM policy in mind, let it review, search and suggest but not create, and hopefully that way I can keep my brain function. That was (until now?) one of the few things that couldn't be taken away from you easily.
> The Chinese government literally pushed companies to develop app for HarmonyOS [0].
Like the U.S. government is not pushing and investing its own companies, providing incentives, funding etc. etc. It's what sovereign governments are supposed to do.
> Have fun finding out what happens if you don't.
What is that even supposed to mean? You're going to a camp if you don't have a HarmonyOS app? That is just something that propagandists append to every post about China as if it means something. Get better propaganda, this is old and tired. I can stay random shit like the US is about to livestream an execution by a firing squad too, see?
> Like the U.S. government is not pushing and investing its own companies, providing incentives, funding etc. etc. It's what sovereign governments are supposed to do.
What's your point? My comment is not in contradiction to that.
> That is just something that propagandists append
You can do name calling all day long but that's not meaningful and will get you banned.
I strongly suggest that you reply with content with more substance in it, or just not reply at all.
reply