I then made my first email client, then an RFC later, and after browsing the web through telnet for a while, made my first web server!
This was also copied into other X window control styles. Even today, a Motif replicates the Windows 1.0-3.11 top-left menu+close button.
It doesn't matter what's written in their silly EULAs which nobody reads. I couldn't care less if it ruins the games or costs them billions in profits. You are morally justified in defeating their silly anticheat nonsense in order to enjoy games on your terms without them pwning your computer. You are only morally wrong if you actually cheat.
And it's not at all some "strange hill to die on". This is a fundamental computing freedom issue. It's about who owns the keys to the machine. It's the exact same issue Android users face when they install GrapheneOS only to discover their bank doesn't support it just because it's not owned by Google. In my opinion this should be literally illegal.
More on topic, I agree that you should be allowed to do with your computer what you want. That includes defeating their anti-cheat measures. Your computer, your rules. In return, they can refuse to support you or ban them from their servers. Their stuff, their rules.
But this idea that you are entitled to tell them they have to provide you with a version that does not have their anti-cheat measures, that is pretty far out there. That is where most people will stop following your reasoning.
YMMV.
> no one is making you install anti-cheat software
You don't see the irony here? You don't see the trillion dollar corporations dangling "joy" in front of us and conditioning access to it on acceptance of their bullshit non-negotiable take it or leave it contracts where "we own your computer now" is a clause?
The powerful choice is to reject the silly binary choice they offer you and take a third option. Refuse their deal and refuse your so called "joyless" existence.
Enjoy your games while also keeping control of your computer. If they try to usurp control of your computer, stop them from doing so. Only malware would try that, treat them accordingly. If you must associate with cheaters and pirates in order to acquire the necessary technology and know-how, then so be it.
It's the same thing with DRM, it's the same thing with ads, it's the same thing with pretty much everything. They give you some bullshit choices, but you can take a third option because you own the machine. That's the power they would take away from you.
What a strange hill to want to die on.
I think this needs to be said again.
Also, not only do we not know if AGI is possible, but generally speaking, it doesn't bring much value if it is.
At that point we're talking about up-ending 10,000 years of human society and economics, assuming that the AGI doesn't decide humans are too dangerous to keep around and have the ability to wipe us out.
If I'm a worker or business owner, I don't need AGI. I need something that gets x task done with a y increase in efficiency. Most models today can do that provided the right training for the person using the model.
The SV obsession with AGI is more of a self-important Frankenstein-meets-Pascal's Wager proposition than it is a value proposition. It needs to end.
It might be hard, it might be difficult, but it is definitely possible. Us humans are the evidence for that.
a) Nothing about letting AI do grunt work for you is "not being a craftsman". b) Things are subcontracted all the time. We don't usually disrespect people for that.
Some tools are table saws, and some tools are subcontracting work out to lowest cost bidders to do a crap job. Which of the two is AI?
It's not that they can't be used productively. It's that they probably do more harm than good on balance. And I think async mania is getting there. It was a revelation when node showed it to us 15 years ago. But it's evolved in bad directions, IMHO.
I'm just joshing - it's very cool!