It’s not the same as being in the trenches under fire, but the class war is waged with violence and has casualties and deaths, front lines and such. Seeing it as a war isn’t a choice to live in a military state, you feel it when you are working class trying to live and the rich are doing their best to let you die. The class war does steal your humanity and control you, taking a militant stance against it is meeting the opposition as they are. They use militarized police and all the means of psychological war to fight against the poor.

I’m not saying it’s necessary to subsume your individuality to the will of your leaders and forget autonomy or follow anything with blind obedience, just that what some call authoritarian I have come to see as potentially necessary steps to take when fighting such a ruthless enemy.

China? Genocides? Even the US-funded rubes pushing that narrative have given up. How many Chinese people living in China are you friends with?

I used to be afraid of the “authoritarianism”, but all socialists need to realize the class war is a real war being waged, a war between the people and the most advanced and all-encompassing enemy in history. We must have a serious and disciplined response and it requires organization like that of an army. Is it authoritarian to follow the commands of your captain when you are in battle? Maybe it is, but without this coordination and discipline we will be destroyed.

Maybe in time or with better political education, but if a president suddenly tried to do that anywhere in the near future I would guess it could cause conservative states to cecede like the civil war to defend capitalism, or at least some kind of violent conflict is likely to happen.

I think a president and enough political supporters could turn the US into a socialist or communist state, a president like that could at least make some incremental changes, but with the elections and state functions so controlled by capitalists and bourgeois interests it seems unlikely in the US political climate. I don’t think it’s impossible though and we should use all means possible to help, but issues we face such as climate change and wealth inequality require more substantial changes that aren’t likely to be passed and implemented quickly enough within the current structure to adequately address them in time.

Why would electing a socialist president change anything? The US would still be a fascist imperialist hell state deserving of death. The president doesn’t control everything, capitalists and the military industry would still be waging global wars.

People can say whatever they want but we don’t cater to bootlickers here, they can go fuck themselves. Why should we allow comments from people who want me dead? Their fascist bullshit is allowed basically anywhere else, they can go to reddit.

They support and punish specific politicians and groups but AIPAC isn’t the driver, Zionism is an essential part of the US policy in the MENA region. Israel is essentially a colony of the US and it’s allies. They would be happy to do it less openly like they had been for decades, keeping Palestine subjected but not aggravating onlookers too much, but the right wing in Israel are blood-thirsty genociders.

I don’t think it will make a difference in the grand scheme, I don’t downvote, of all the issues right now I don’t really care about AI very much. But there is a literal material cost to each use of AI and by not using it I am not contributing to that use of energy.

I’m saying we should think of the millions of people who barely survive every fucking day because of inequality and classism.

Yeah, opponents of AI do, it’s making that worse for everyone. Plenty of people can barely make ends meet and supplement that income with writing and art gigs. People that can afford better AI services for applying for jobs and writing resumes have an advantage. Companies that can afford the best AI will have an advantage over lower wealth companies. It’s inevitable but we can at least try not to prop up the services that are furthering this.

Obviously many of us have it better in the US than most of the world, that doesn’t mean we can’t complain if it’s actively getting worse and harder to live. I can’t get enough work, I don’t eat enough and struggle to afford rent, my family was homeless in the past. While it’s better here and I’m not getting bombed like many people are, it doesn’t mean people in the US aren’t struggling too. I am sad at the class warfare aspect of AI more than anything, it is being used by the wealthy to increase their power and wealth further, and in my view by using their services we are aiding their goals, even if minimally.

Well yeah but it’s funny to call me a neckbeard redditor when they’re being an asshole for no reason

I don’t disagree, tech continually makes work more efficient thus eliminating jobs, that’s a natural trend that won’t stop anytime soon. Sometimes the rollout can have avoidable harmful impacts though. Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin, said it was maybe a mistake because with the increased efficiency of cotton harvesting it actually increased slave-labor and the profit for slavers before slavery was abolished.

The solution to the issues arising from it is not banning new tech, but there are only so many things we can do right now to limit the ecological impact, one thing is limiting use of this tech until it can be done with less energy usage. It also right now primarily benefits state-aligned tech companies like OpenAI. I’m not opposed to the development of technology in general.

I don’t think it was a prominent feature when I joined, AI imagery in general wasn’t quite as popular or sophisticated at the time. And even if I disagree with that point, it’s not a deal breaker and db0 is still far better than many other instances.

It’s fine if people like it, it just gives me a gross and uncomfortable feeling when I see it and makes me sad that one of the first careers killed by AI could be illustrators.

Lol you’re the one instigating, you could have said nothing

Well it looks like a majority here agree with my fuckin sucky opinion so that’s cool at least

Good, AI art fucking sucks.

Thanks for mentioning them, my thoughts were apparently not fully engaged yet when I posted, and originally said ‘Socialist Rifle Club’, my brain combined them into one

NRA obviously isn’t going to help us, but your local Socialist Rifle Association would be more amenable to resisting tyranny. If there is no chapter in your area get some like minded friends together and start one.

Edit: How could I forget your local John Brown Gun Club, good number of chapters around the country and they will be comrades.