This is where I got my understanding of events from:
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/03/facebooks-cambridge-analytica-scandal-explained/

But yeah, I hope CA get crucified for their role in this.

I could well be wrong about this, but my understanding is that the data wasn't really stolen, it was freely shared by Facebook. I also don't think there is any evidence that suggests that CA used their psychoanalytic stuff on the Trump campaign specifically. It sounds like they are targeting voters more on purely their geographical location than any in depth analysis of their social media profile. It seems doubtful to me that CA were the only ones at this game though...

I do think Facebook absolutely shares some blame - They hand over their users data and make app creators etc pinky-swear that they will use it responsibly and delete it once they are done...and then they do absolutely nothing to ensure that agreement is honoured. They either willfully ignored it because they knew the data was likely to be misused, or they were naive to the point of complete incompetence. I really can't see an option C.

That was fantastic.

A little bit of Overwatch, which is pretty PG, and Mirror's Edge, which does allow you to kill people but it isn't core to the game. I haven't played The Last of Us, but aren't there still human enemies, not just the infected? I agree it's a fairly tame list though.

Clearly Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy is the only game that should have been in Trump's montage. If that doesn't incite you to violence it will probably destroy any self esteem you might have instead. Ban this sick filth please.

To be fair, correlation of gun ownership to gun violence isn't exactly clear cut either. No country has quite as many guns per capita as America, but there are countries with relatively high gun ownership that don't have the same problem with gun violence. Clearly it's a complex issue...

but maybe media is to blame somewhat. The news media. I wonder if the reporting was minimised - i.e. no images of the killer, no details about the killer, just reporting of the incident, the victims etc and then, as callous as this perhaps sounds, on to the next story. The families of the victims aren't helped by the frenzy or speculation and I really think it only encourages the next would-be murderer. It gives an opportunity to have a discussion about gun control (except it comes across as opportunistic...) but America's gun violence problem is larger than mass shootings. To me, it's as much about the stickups that go wrong, the fact every police officer can make a poor decision and end up killing somebody, its about lil timmy accidentally shooting his best friend, its about suicides... not just about tragedies that dominate the news. Oh, and games have fuck all to do with any of it

I like how they ripped things straight from people's youtube channels.

Also, they do understand that the rest of the world has access to these games right? Kind of shits on any correlation they want to make there, doesn't it?

aka, why to ignore headlines that have question marks in them. Poor journalism enables these trolls imo.

At least they didn't make a pass at one another...

Yeah, I can totally understand that. Certainly the plot didn't require it and normally I could do without some romantic subplot... but as you say, I think it was deliciously symbolic and complimented the themes of the movie really well. Apart from arguing over whether Deckard is in fact a replicant or not, the topic of debate among friends was the nature of K and Joi's relationship. I mean, for this scene...the real person is faking an intimate relationship, and the fake person...well its not really clear if she is faking it or not. It's simultaneously real and it isn't. I thought it was excellent.

Hmm. I think Trump's healthcare and economic policies have consequences in human lives. War is not the only injustice.

Idk. Context is important, but then... life is meaningless and ephemeral - soon there will be nothing. It seems there is always a bigger picture to reach for to diminish somebody's argument.

I don't disagree with what Bush said about the state of politics now. If it was an anonymous comment I'd still agree with it, but it would less interesting. Perhaps it is fair to "whataboutbush" because so much emphasis was on the "who" of the comment rather than the "what". I think to the left we hope our acceptance of his comment is evidence to our impartiality. "look", we say, "we even agree with BUSH on this! Objectivity!". It seems to me to entirely be a concession to the opposition...but I can understand those who cannot abide any concession.

Yes. Lets confront the issue of mental health. The unhinged shouldn't be allowed access to any weapons, be they pistols, rifles....atomic bombs...

Quite possibly.

Interestingly the people I went to see it with thought the film would have been better without Joi... personally I would have missed it, if not for anything else then for this scene alone.

Niiiiiice

Ok, next I want to see Minecraft recreated on Excel on a computer which is itself a virtual machine simulated in Minecraft. I heard u like to go deeper etc.

ps. remember that flight sim easter-egg that older version of Excel had?

You're not wrong...soooo ban them all? Wow, never thought we'd agree.