hotspur

I mean the guys already making this joke himself right? So you’re just laughing along with him. Unless you made the T-shirt text for the meme, and even still, he’d probably chuckle at it if that were the case.

Customers aren’t engaging in the market enough for your tastes? Make them the market!

Yeah was worried this was the case. Seems insane though that they can make that decision and then force the family to take liability for the cost. Hopefully they will have some sort of recourse—I don’t know exactly but I’m pretty sure long term life support ain’t cheap.

That’s so fucked

So this is horrible and stupid. But also, who pays for this? Does the family get forced to eat millions in ICU bills? Does the hospital just eat it? Does it get covered by Medicare, which they’re actively trying to erase?

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Yeah this was my reaction a while back when I saw their promos about how they want to de-extinct wooly mammoths and dodos. Like ok neat, but where are the mammoths supposed to slot in, a rapidly warming arctic that will more likely have palm trees than ice by the end of the century?

I mean I’m being a little obtuse here on purpose—these species choices are obviously guided by marketing potential. No one will pay attention if they resurrect some niche mouse that went extinct a couple years ago, so they’re picking stuff that looms large in pop consciousness.

But in the end, it’s a private company, and I very much doubt their whole goal is to make money off of conservation societies and zoos to make extinct animals—far more likely it’s to refine and recreate new genetic editing procedures which will then get ported into making purpose-built animals for industry (think the sheep who’s milk has certain valuable enzymes or chemicals built in) or like human biotech (so, like, GATTACA).

The “founder” gives off strong Palmer Luckey vibes. (This is based on visual aesthetic and his general demeanor vibes only, he could be a saint, I have no idea)

Thanks again, you’ve managed to improve my education twice today!

That is very helpful. Now I want to know silly stuff like, what happens if you fly through the beam, and could you in theory reaim the array towards a completely different receiver plant, and be able to shift power around as needed (albeit very slowly)

I was hoping the article would explain how they planned to transmit the energy in a useful way. It says beaming back my microwave, but I have no idea how that works or if it has a good scale potential. Guessing they’re targeted at some surface that vibrates or heats up and that geberates the power on the terrestrial side of the equation?

Yeah seems totally plausible to me, I got to see elephants in the wild a few years back, and it left me with no doubt that they were extremely intelligent. Looking into their eyes felt like locking eyes with a fellow human, you just felt there was thinking sentient creature in there. And their behavior in certain situations is very relatable, saw a mother route her calves around a too-aggressive camera tourist car, and once she was sure the babies were safe on the other side, she came back and did what I could only believe was a huge “F YOU” trumpet at the offending car to let them know they were out of line, turned around and went back after the kids.

Yeah these examples are somehow more profound to me than elephants recognizing the moon as a thing.

Very true

Based on my research (watching Justified on FX) they’d sidle up to the executive, say a few pithy lines and draw down on and kill him when he goes for his gun or pen, walk away putting their Stetson back on, then get chewed out by their bosses.

Yeah honestly after the first couple I was like, crap I’ve been missing out. You can tell they’re legit because the website looks like forum websites I used to frequent in the early 00s (sounds like a dig, but I swear it’s not, the modern web is damn awful to read most of the time).

I have been finding myself suddenly saving techdirt articles for my reading list day after day, and I guess now I know why. Not to say I wasn’t interested before, but they’ve been providing analysis and commentary lately that has just hit different/ has been scratching a particular itch. Please, keep that train rolling.

American culture, partly because of bullshit mythos and partly because of religious like devotion to oligarchic capitalism, selects for low-empathy sociopaths and individual atomization/isolation. My favorite low end example is to observe my fellow citizens driving when I go to the suburbs: you are in their personal story, and you are in their way. City living doesn’t fix all that, but having to live in close proximity to neighbors and get used to compromise helps push a slightly more communal vibe.

But basically the entire culture is built around a get-yours-first mentality? And more recently an influencer-inflected sort of hyper-real understanding of one’s value and potential. We’re like a national exemplar for the dunning-Kruger effect, or like kids who cheat at online video games swaggering around proud of their “achievements”.

Seems like we’re in the finding out phase after fucking around though.

I agree with your assessment: I find it both fascinating (who would have thought each new thing was actually possible, what insane bad idea will be launched today?) and horrifying.

Still working out the coping aspect, as what’s going on directly affects me and some of my family, but mostly switch between paying very close attention and trying to game out what the agenda is, and then taking a day to not pay attention and live in calm denial.

To everyone pointing out that he won’t be charged, OP’s question was can he be charged. Yes we get that it’s unlikely given the current configuration of us gov’t, but do his actions meet the basic requirements? Yes, absolutely.

That said, most billionaires probably meet the definition.