fucking bleak
search engines are dead
a new age of bookmarks and webringsBetween this and the Australian PM blocking Social Media for under 16s (because that's definitely a feasible goal and even if it was it's definitely a good idea to pour unfiltered 16 year-olds onto the net cold, or worse, after having taken their net away for a few years like the Eternal September on steroids.) It really seems like a return to the fragmented late 90s web is on the cards.
If you want a vision of horror, imagine Hexbear as one of the most trafficked communities on the internet.
Do you want to know what's even more bleak?
AI-generated images threaten science — here’s how researchers hope to spot them
Started using an extension to blacklist sites from search results; I have about 40 blocked but "AI" slop still slips through the cracks here and there. Real problem is when the results are part of larger sites like Reddit (eugh), Pinterest etc. etc. where I'd rather not block the entire thing
I was trying to find some clip art for a little project I was doing and every single freaking link took me to a stock image site that wanted me to pay for it. Used to be you could find basic stock assets for free, but I couldn't figure out where they were. Ended up paying a couple bucks on etsy for an image pack just to end the frustration.
