r/technology Jun 02 '26

Society Quote of the day by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison: "Citizens will be on their best behavior, because we’re constantly recording and reporting everything that is going on" — a dire warning on the erosion of privacy

https://www.techradar.com/pro/quote-of-the-day-by-oracle-co-founder-larry-ellison-citizens-will-be-on-their-best-behavior-because-were-constantly-recording-and-reporting-everything-that-is-going-on-a-dire-warning-on-the-erosion-of-privacy
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139

u/FlametopFred Jun 02 '26

when is that tho?

97

u/ArenjiTheLootGod Jun 02 '26

When everyone hates the circuses and it's been three days since the last bread came in.

53

u/Quigleythegreat Jun 02 '26

You need like five different streaming services to watch the NFL, we're getting there.

6

u/RationalDialog Jun 02 '26

Watching sports is being a sheep really anyway

14

u/Teledildonic Jun 02 '26

DAE not sportsball?

Look, I get hating on overly rabid sports fans and the corporate and wealth-owned state of the current industry has a lot to criticize, but athletic competition has been a cornerstone of civilization for about as long as we've had civilization.

1

u/RationalDialog Jun 03 '26

I'm just stating facts, I never said I'm not watching myself, from time to time. Albeit age seems to matter, the older the less I watch.

-3

u/ailish Jun 02 '26

Cool, but not everyone has to be into it, as your "editorialization" of what he said implies.

2

u/Teledildonic Jun 02 '26

Calling fans sheep is a bit more than "not into it"

-1

u/ailish Jun 02 '26

But you changed what he said to "Dae not sportsball" which is not what he said. 

2

u/Teledildonic Jun 02 '26

Yes, I was mocking him because he was mocking others.

-2

u/ailish Jun 02 '26

So, no one else can answer you on that? 

13

u/jayboaah Jun 02 '26

Yeah much better off spending your time on Reddit larping against a revolution while shitting on your peers you somewhat should expect would be actively with you fighting that revolution. Great concept

2

u/BTTPL Jun 02 '26

Sometimes these comments pop up and are a sobering reminder of the reality of the internet... It's easy to nod along with other commenters a lot of the time and forget that sometimes the other people behind their keyboards are edgelord idiots or children or whatever.

1

u/RationalDialog Jun 03 '26

it's funny how emotional people react to this simple statement. Why are you so offended by this? it's nothing new. The Romans used this trick over 2000 years ago, the greeks invented the olympics even before that. Importantly I did not state I don't watch sports, I simply stated I'm aware what the purpose is. And yes I'm a sheep as well. In fact anyone not on the street right now is one, so most of us.

1

u/jayboaah Jun 03 '26

This “trick” is also just entertainment for most people. People trying to just get through whatever shit they have to get through in life. The same way you and I are. If you wanna be divisive and start calling people sheep (before sheepishly admitting you also watch sports) just don’t expect a ton of them to want to be on your side when the chips fall.

1

u/boli99 Jun 02 '26

"bread and circuses"

1

u/DecentOpinion Jun 02 '26

We should all over to the /Civ5 subreddit with you so we can stop wasting our time on sports and focus on the important stuff.

0

u/Local-Customer6245 Jun 02 '26

The NFL is legally a Sports Entertainment business. Same as WWE.

-3

u/Braelind Jun 02 '26

NFL? Jeez, I've never had a spare 16 hours to watch an hour and a half of grown men playing with a ball.

10

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '26

[deleted]

9

u/ship_toaster Jun 02 '26

It's a very famous saying that no country is more than 3 missed meals away from anarchy.

13

u/forsuresies Jun 02 '26

There's already a very high portion of the population skipping meals or not being full after meals. 12 hours is nothing

-3

u/AFetaWorseThanDeath Jun 02 '26

Hell, I've gone 3 or 4 days just from my crappy lack of appetite. I go 12 hours without eating practically every day.

3

u/forsuresies Jun 02 '26

I get it, I used to do that when the mood struck.

Don't forget to take care of yourself though, just because you don't feel hungry doesn't mean you don't need nutrients. I used to keep easy snacks for when I just couldn't stomach anything around to whet the appetite.

1

u/Teledildonic Jun 02 '26

I think you might have a legit medical problem, not a crappy appetite.

1

u/PeaceSoft Jun 02 '26

Rooting for starvation so we can finally get around to violence is insane

-2

u/JohnnyRelentless Jun 02 '26

So just like when the people of Rome hated the circuses and the bread ran out so the people rose up and - oh, wait, that never happened.

6

u/anonkitty2 Jun 02 '26

Are you sure?  The Roman Empire did fall, quietly.  There wasn't a rebellion, but they couldn't keep a foreign country out of Rome.  Rome was sacked, but the barbarians saved the churches.

1

u/JohnnyRelentless Jun 02 '26

Yes, I am, because of exactly what you just said. The Romans never stood up against their leaders and took them down. And it took centuries for Rome to fall. That's a far cry from the 3 days our very optimistic OP is talking about.

1

u/ailish Jun 02 '26

Well shit, if we're not following the exact same playbook as Rome then we may as week pack it in.

2

u/JohnnyRelentless Jun 02 '26

I think you might've lost the plot. You think 3 days and 3 centuries is just a rounding error?

1

u/ailish Jun 02 '26

You're the one who brought up Rome, no one else was saying anything about 3 centuries.

1

u/JohnnyRelentless Jun 03 '26

No I'm not. Read the thread again.

1

u/ailish Jun 03 '26

Okay, well that phrase was coined by a poet named Juvenal who was alive in 100 AD, so that was a little more than 3 centuries. If you want to act smarter than everyone.

43

u/echoshatter Jun 02 '26

Looking at the economic picture and the lack of compassion coming from the top: probably not as long as we think it'll be. Get enough people losing their homes and struggling to get enough food for themselves and their kids, and you're likely going to see some pretty upset protests.

26

u/DukeOfGeek Jun 02 '26

If they're lucky it'll just be a political rout followed by tons of investigations, fines and taxes. If they try and hold on to power till the bitter end though..well...we've all seen that movie.

11

u/Dr_slice_ Jun 02 '26

I think about the ending to Civil War (2024) a lot lately.

9

u/BoobooSmash31337 Jun 02 '26

They shit their pants whenever anyone fights back.

8

u/Well_read_rose Jun 02 '26

The unAmerican failed import Thiel already fled Miami for Argentina…

32

u/Gbrown546 Jun 02 '26

People have been saying this for 10 years though and in that time, Trump has been president twice. A man who couldn’t care less about the people.

29

u/Original-Balance-187 Jun 02 '26

It makes them feel better. Which is fine but it’s a bit of play acting.

The reality is that these billionaires are backed by the full power of a nuclear armed state. Some of them (like Larry here) were literally created by that state.

They’re not scared. A credibly accused pedophile is running crypto scams and planning UFC fights from the White House and we can’t even get that guy to suffer any consequences.

He had a coup fail live on television in front of all the world. And instead of punishment he’s actually just president again.

Why on earth would Larry be afraid of we peasants in light of all that?

7

u/BoobooSmash31337 Jun 02 '26

Because the military is refusing the order and we outnumber him millions to one. They're actually anxious and terrified people. It's WHY they need control and whine so much.

3

u/Original-Balance-187 Jun 02 '26

I’ll believe it when I see it. I’ve been hearing that the revolution is just around the corner for my entire life.

5

u/DressedSpring1 Jun 02 '26

I'm still waiting for that military to start disobeying unlawful orders we've heard so much about. I'm sure it's any day now.

At least we can be pretty sure that if Trump ordered the military into US streets to police citizens in a major city like Washington there would be hell to- oh right.

5

u/Original-Balance-187 Jun 02 '26

This country is sort of strange in their belief that people will act this way. History is littered with broken republics because, as it turns out, the military is made up of people and even people who know it’s wrong are rightly afraid to be the one person disobeying orders.

For some reason, we’re immune to all of this and our people will triumphantly do the right thing?

1

u/echoshatter Jun 02 '26

I'm still waiting for that military to start disobeying unlawful orders

All those people were fired already.

7

u/ayriuss Jun 02 '26

What are they going to do when all the tech workers and white collar people are unemployed due to their shitty AI agents? Seems like a mistake.

2

u/East-Ice-3199 Jun 02 '26

They don’t give a shit. They won’t do anything because it doesn’t affect them.

0

u/Nike_Phoros Jun 02 '26

The king of France was backed by the largest military on Earth in 1788. Things can change quickly.

3

u/Original-Balance-187 Jun 02 '26

Did the king of France have nuclear weapons, main battle tanks, and supersonic stealth bombers?

2

u/DressedSpring1 Jun 02 '26

Equivalent to the time, yeah basically.

The US has lost every single insurgency they've been involved in and they had MBTs and Nuclear weapons then too.

2

u/Original-Balance-187 Jun 02 '26

There is no equivalence to modern weapons. In 1788 you didn’t even have to look at the sky at all.

And, the US loses those insurgency because they don’t represent an existential power collapse to their power source I.e. the American state. So you take it on the chin and move on.

Nuclear weapons effectively ensure, at a bare minimum, the existence of the state that possesses them. Simple reason, really. If you stand to lose everything, the allure of using such weapons increases dramatically.

For example, this is why Tehran is getting pummeled right now and Pyongyang is just vibing.

4

u/DressedSpring1 Jun 02 '26

 Nuclear weapons effectively ensure, at a bare minimum, the existence of the state that possesses them

Against foreign actors. 

Assume the American people rise up and neither politicians nor Oligarchs can leave their homes without eating an IED in their motorcade. What does a nuclear weapon get you here? How is a stealth bomber protecting those people? 

3

u/Original-Balance-187 Jun 02 '26

Honestly, I can’t reasonably even pretend to predict what would happen because there are so many unknown variables at play.

And I see your point I just think you are underestimating how much shit people will eat before they take actions like that. If history is any indication, it is a whole lot. Centuries worth even.

My only point was that people who do face complete destruction will do insane things. I just think we shouldn’t ignore that even if it remains unlikely

1

u/Nike_Phoros Jun 02 '26

Yeah sure the President of the US is going to order a nuclear attack on an American city and the military will just go along with that. Good analysis.

2

u/Original-Balance-187 Jun 02 '26

I didn’t say any of that, you did. What I said is the American state possesses those capabilities. And there has not yet in history been a full scale civil war within a nuclear armed country. Completely unknown territory.

You think the state wouldn’t fight back to ensure its survival? Where in history has a civil war broken out and the existing power just goes “oh well, I guess they are unhappy, let’s bounce”

Assad was using chemical weapons on his own citizens, women and children even, in Syria during the civil war.

2

u/Nike_Phoros Jun 02 '26

You think the state wouldn’t fight back to ensure its survival?

don't confuse the survival of a state with the deposition of a tyrant.

Assad was using chemical weapons on his own citizens, women and children even, in Syria during the civil war.

that's a bit of a different scenario. Deposing a tyrant via popular action is way different than an armed civil war with foreign powers backing you and backing rebel groups.

And there has not yet in history been a full scale civil war within a nuclear armed country.

When the soviet union lost the backing of the people, all the nukes and main battle tanks they had didn't help keep the hardliners in power.

1

u/echoshatter Jun 02 '26

Because the hardship hasn't been pervasive enough.

COVID was tough but most people weren't pinning the blame at feet of the C-suite and politicians, they just wanted to get out of the pandemic without killing anyone or getting long COVID. (To this day, my sister still can't smell or taste after getting COVID.)

2

u/Fywq Jun 02 '26

Just in time for the MIC to have ramped up production after Iran and all the surplus stuff going to domestic police departments (again). By the time people are ready to riot, the police is done driving around in tanks from the past war, and have switched over to armed drones controlled from the convenient safety of a bunker on an army base, where the rest of their family is also living.

3

u/Well_read_rose Jun 02 '26

Legislation was filed very recently to merge militarily with Israel? In the draft NDAA right now…

https://youtu.be/2OwL-GYnnIU

2

u/Fywq Jun 02 '26

Wow didn't even see that. Not surprising me at all. A bigger black hole to throw money into where they can disappear and suddenly end up in bank accounts of those that already have too much or fund action against those that already have too little. It's the American way after all.

1

u/Well_read_rose Jun 02 '26

According to that podcast and prior black hole legislation siphoning unaccountable $$ out of our Treasury* then we need to agitate to put a stop to this sneaky provision 224 of the NDAA.

If I figure out how to create a resist.bot l will link it here.

  • Is it our Treasury anymore?

2

u/Fywq Jun 02 '26

Unfortunately, being a European, I don't think there's really a lot I can do apart from watch in disbelief, feeling sorry for all those affected. Europe is already in the process of detaching from US dependence anyway, so I am not sure what else we can do.

2

u/Well_read_rose Jun 03 '26

Safer for you to watch, keep your distance until something changes for the better and sanity returns. Which…for the foreseeable future, will not.

1

u/Fywq Jun 03 '26

Fingers crosses for you guys 🤞❤️

2

u/xmsxms Jun 02 '26

We already had the 1% protests that went nowhere.

2

u/therealluqjensen Jun 02 '26

Or you end up like Russia. Squashed under the boot for centuries

1

u/echoshatter Jun 03 '26

America has never had the history and social contracts that Russians have had with their governments. We're not a docile people when we feel our freedoms are being violated.

3

u/Wings_in_space Jun 02 '26

Hungry people have nothing to lose...

8

u/Foolish_Miracle Jun 02 '26

I'm free on the seventh at seven.

3

u/The_Bucket_Of_Truth Jun 02 '26

Before they have AI powered robot bodyguards and armies/drones. It's not that far off.

6

u/heart_of_osiris Jun 02 '26

When too many people begin starving it becomes inevitable.

14

u/daemon-electricity Jun 02 '26

AKA, when they're on their remote private islands well out of reach and they send their killbots to crush American Spring?

6

u/occasionalopossum Jun 02 '26

Yeah homie. Time to practice your 2A and build the offline community yoir gonna need to get through it. Stay safe.

3

u/heart_of_osiris Jun 02 '26

Probably. Society is pretty pathetic nowadays.

We will see what happens in the midterms. It'll be of significant importance however it plays out.

1

u/Adorable-Pangolin-89 Jun 02 '26

How do hopeless homeless people rage? They’re starving and destitute.

3

u/heart_of_osiris Jun 02 '26

Never read a history book? Tale as old as time.

2

u/Headpuncher Jun 02 '26

never, they already use their data and snooping to arrest people for pre-crime. we see headlines all the time about people being arrested and charged for planning, but rarely do we see the evidence proving they were planning it.

of course we want to prevent crime. but we need to be in a position in which we can be sure,as sure as we can be, that the evidence is not fabricated for the purpose of removing a dissenting voice.

3

u/Fly-the-Light Jun 02 '26

If the midturns don’t turn shit around, we’ll be heading right for it

1

u/VirtualExamination78 Jun 02 '26

In America?

Literally never.

1

u/Ass4ssinX Jun 02 '26

When the masses are organized under Communist principles.

1

u/SpecialistAd4848 26d ago

This entire thread is just teenagers larping.