There is a lot to unpack here. I think you misunderstand how the fediverse we’re part of is designed for the dynamic I’m explaining.

First, I never claimed not everyone can afford self-hosting (that does not need to be) in their basement. You might be mixing up someone else’s comment. In many cases its cheaper then joining someone else’s.

Modern modems are already built with similar hardware to what’s needed for self-hosting a small domain. Computers have become so cheap and accessible that it is trivial. For example, a Raspberry Pi can host many things for under $50.

I also discovered yesterday that a public “hackerspace” near me is saving computers from landfills precisely to be given away for free and used for self hosting + sharing the knowledge on how to set it up.

I’m curious where you live that self-hosting is illegal. That’s a law I’d find so repulsive I’d need to break it on principle.

Your ideas about decentralized systems seem contradictory. You say only the rich could host under fediverse, but also believe it’s illegal to self-host?

Dont ask why big centralized services would connect to ours and instead ask what reason we have to connect to centralized systems. I run my own cloud server; it’s cheaper than a subscriptions. People are designing decentralized video hosting systems like PeerTube where everyone hosts their own videos. The proof is all around you here.

The fediverse operates exactly how you say is impossible. The question isn’t why big servers would allow connections, but why I’d connect to centralized domains with so many decentralized alternatives available.

It’s surprising you’re here without knowing this. Maybe it’s a sign decentralization is going mainstream?

You asked a more detailed explanation of how this works.

Here’s how decentralized social media and web 3 actually works, right here and now.

1. Instead of one central server, there are many independent servers (instances) run by different individuals or groups.

2. You create an account on one instance, but can interact with users on any instance.

3. When you post, it’s stored on your home instance. Other instances your followers are on fetch and display your post to them.

4. If you want to follow someone on another instance, your server connects to theirs to get their posts. (The ability to connect = federated)

5. Each instance owner sets their own rules and can choose which other instances to federate with.

6. You can move your account between instances, taking your followers with you. (Wip)

7. Popular fediverse platforms like Mastodon, Lemmy, and PeerTube all work this way, allowing cross-platform interaction.

This system allows for a social media experience similar to centralized platforms, but with more user control and privacy. No single entity owns all the data or controls the entire network.

Here is video from the Free Software Foundation which is a great source if you want to learn more about the hows and why.

https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/user-liberation-watch-and-share-our-new-video

I have nothing against having the option to donate, which has worked for many projects.

The idea you are sketching, it is a possible reality but that is the bad future to me.

There’s a threshold where the number of users makes it impossible for your service to still have any real sense of identity or intend and it ought to be broken up in smaller parts. Some of the larger instances have already passed that threshold in my opinion.

You did mention the solution, “The alternative is possible small scale” The good future is where every family has their own private instance and every business and service has their own public one, interconnected.

Keep things small, manageable, focused and responsible.

I do agree this (fediverse) likely won’t last, not with so many predators waiting to grab a piece. Web3 is not here yet, as much as meta threads want to believe we are it.

The meme does not confuse Sync with Foss apps, it points out that Foss is the rule here rather then an exception and Sync stands out among the others like a sore thumb.

So its a very bad example to how things are run here.

Now a good argument against this meme i have seen is that you shouldn’t compare a Foss app with a non Foss app, oranges vs apples. But personalty i think all software should be Foss by principle (and many seem to agree here), so I am comparing software that is build using an ethical model vs software that is not.

Side note:

This meme is from a year ago:

I am not faulting you for this, your preferente is yours but it strikes me that sync is made for a demographic that would not be as much aware of open source philosophy.

In context of this what your saying makes more sense, I still very much disagree but i see better from what angle your perspective is coming.

If you do want to look around: voyager has blown me Away in how well it was designed. Blazing fast.

I run some of those services that people use. 24/7 I have been doing so for years.

That does costs a lot of time and energy, i ask nothing In return. Well except they they wont be upset with me In person when i end up going dark. ( I’ll make sure to opensource provide it all naturally. )

Right now on lemmy, you are using a free service running on someones computer, there are no ads nor subscriptions to support it. If it would then i would be spinning up my own instance quicker then bender can imagine his own themapark.

The alternative isn’t just possible, but the default way people have gotten things done since prehistoric times. Do things because we want to, share resources, providing for others. Lift everyone else up and you too will rise.

What i see when i observe services that complain about not being able to sustain without some form of financing is a lack of motivation and passion. To me they are a red flag that they are disfunctioneel by nature. I lose completely faith in there ability to provide competence or quality.

Of course i do understand that being unwilling to compromise morality under treat of poverty is an exception rather then rule.

But honestly how people do this shit and Not want to kill themselves in shame is actually weird to me.

How about becoming literally disabled and pushed away from the one area i was deemed proficient in?

• autists with visual sensory overload complications.

Seriously, if the internet is going to be like this, might as well pull the plug.

I have been investing in running my own services and programming my own life essential tools anyway. I will always be computer nerd but one of these years i am just going offline, trow my phone away and glue my mailbox shut.

And yeah this is anger talking but i am so fed up with this “someone must make profits to justify our existence” excuse. That is not how passion works.

How exactly does one “outgrow” “AGI for the benefit of all humanity?

OpenAI Charter https://openai.com/charter

Our primary fiduciary duty is to humanity. We anticipate needing to marshal substantial resources to fulfill our mission, but will always diligently act to minimize conflicts of interest among our employees and stakeholders that could compromise broad benefit.

Autism is that you?

“When we walk down the street, we know what we need to pay attention to—and what we don’t. Robots, on the other hand, treat all the information they receive about their surroundings with equal importance. Driverless cars have to continuously analyze data about things around them whether or not they are relevant. This keeps drivers and pedestrians safe, but it draws on a lot of energy and computing power.”

See my edit.

I am probably remembering this from when the limit was 8MB, which cant be that long ago i only own this monitor for a year.

Firefox: Browser missing required feature. This application needs support for WebSockets, WebRTC, and WebAssembly.

I did some test, i was speaking from memory.

it depends on whats on screen.

Just desktop is 128kb but irl that rarely what i send to people.

Just my game launcher will bump that up to 5MB

But the 100% real experience i have is that is try to show someone a screenshot and i get a message that files are “too powerful” so i have conditioned myself to only show the relevant half of my screen.

So either that 25MB was a lie or i do frequently exceed it?

I did some test, i was speaking from memory so not very accurate.

it depends on whats on screen.

Just desktop is 128kb but irl that rarely what i send to people.

Just my game launcher will bump that up to 5MB

But the 100% real experience i have is that is try to show someone a screenshot and i get a message that file size is to big so i have conditioned myself to only show the relevant half of my screen.

Whatsapp is a product of Meta and files would still pass their proprietary servers. Let alone the metadata they collect. I refuse to use Facebook related products on principle. (Mostly stopped using google and microsoft products also)

Singal can do actual p2p userdevice to userdevice. Only if thats not possible it will use temporary servers for storage. But i am actually against that, id prefer if the file would not send until a p2p connection is established.

On paper the encryption of whatsapp is about as secure as Signal but can we trust Facebook to not implement a backdoor?. There open source llm-ai (llama) is by far the most intelligent model for its size. I plore people to ask what data Meta used to archive that result.

Interesting. Mine is 3840x1600 which should be ever so slightly less pixels.

I have noticed the content does matter, is your background native resolution or mostly one color?

25 MB wasn’t even enough to send a single full res screenshot of my desktop.

Its 2024 and we still lack the basic functionality of file sharing between peers without a corp dictator restricting and snooping.

Not that the functionality does not exist (p2p, literally) but if my grandma cant receive the family pictures its not basic.

EDIT: it is possible i am remembering this from when it was 8MB.

Empty desktop is just a few kb but it was not that hard to open enough stuff to exceed 10MB

Til that i have been sending screenshots of only half my screen for not reason

You mean zero stars because many nights the moon alone provides enough reflection to blind the sky essentially.

I was an adult before i learned that in actual darkness we can see the andromeda system and the beautiful colors of our own galaxy at large with our naked eye.

I used to think pictures like these required super expansive special camaras… and to be fair i was correct in that assessment. But i failed to realize the ultimate light sensor is simply our own eyes.

The sky is beautiful, its sad how hard it is to catch a real glimpse of it in proper light contrast

Oh no worries, i am technical and autistic enough to setup systems that will serve my actual needs, regardless of economic/industry expectations.

Lutrius is great but i prefer Heroic game launcher, it can do the same but does also provides convenient acces to gog, epic and amazon licenses. I am only storing backup copies of games if i actually find it worth it to keep them, and i acquired a lot of mediocre titles over the years.

I also do still do use steam with little hate towards it there own implementation of proton is hard to beat in its reliance. I have yet to find a single game within my steam library that fails to work properly on arch.

Doesn’t stop me from working on my own alternative local game server parallel to it, Mhehehehe

Regardless i still feel like i should just be able to legally download some standalone offline installer from a website for later use. Especially for older games that used to have physical copies. whether or not my system can run that installer as it is, is morally irrelevant.

Amateur astronomers be like. Cant you just sell me a cloudless night sky instead?

The video editoral needs an union.

3-4 images a day is chill. 3-4 videos is insane.

Thats where you say “hey dad do you still need this janky old…”

Then when the new stuf breaks you can come over and be the hero using his old reliable stuff.