And why should liberal countries trade with genocidal regimes, so that they don't kill their own people? Is that seriously what you're proposing - appease the bully?
All my childhood I dreamed of a magic computer that could just tell me straightforward answers to non-straightforward questions like the cartoon one in Courage the Cowardly Dog. Today it's a reality; I can ask my computer any wild question and get a coherent, if not completely correct, answer.
You are in for a rude awakening when you realize that those answers tend to be subtly to blatently wrong especially when the questions are tricky and non-obvious. Once that blind initial trust is shattered and you stary to question the accuracy of what AI gives you back, you see the BS everywhere.
Of course due diligence and validation is needed if you intend to use the information for something, but if your aim is just to satisfy your curiosity with questions you don't have anyone else to ask, it's a great medium.
Is it though? Is seeing a wrong answer really better than to be left wondering?
There is enough unintentional half-knowledge (and intentional misinformation) out there. We don't need to make that worse by introducing BS generators just to "satisfy curiosity".
I don't understand why Anna's Archive has such a convoluted donation system. At first glance it looks like it's trying to push a subscription on you, which is ironic considering aversion to subscriptions is exactly what's driving people to AA in the first place. I found no convenient single-link crypto donate button where I could just send some money whenever I want.
> I don't understand why Anna's Archive has such a convoluted donation system.
What? It's one page with a bunch of very clear options.
> At first glance it looks like it's trying to push a subscription on you...
On the one hand, fair. On the other hand, this is prominently displayed on the donation page:
Be aware that while the memberships on this page are “per month”, they are one-time donations (non-recurring). See the Donation FAQ.
Additionally, Q&A #1 on the Donations FAQ page are:
Do memberships automatically renew?
Memberships do not automatically renew. You can join for as long or short as you want.
Even if we're too busy to read, we can think about how they would manage to set up a recurring cryptocurrency payment without possession of one's wallet keys and become enlightened.
> I found no convenient single-link crypto donate button where I could just send some money whenever I want.
From their Donation FAQ:
Can I make a donation without becoming a member?
Sure thing. We accept donations of any amount on this Monero (XMR) address: 88gS7a8aHj5EYhCfYnkhEmYXX3MtR35r3YhWdWXwGLyS4fkXYjkupcif6RY5oj9xkNR8VVmoRXh1kQKQrZBRRc8PHLWMgUR.
Yeah, what OP is bizarrely describing as "push a subscription" with a (completely false) "im 12 and this is deep" insight about Anna Archive becoming the very thing they swore to destroy, can accurately be explained as them trying to ensure you get the benefits entitled by your donation level via your access key (linked to zero personal information).
I donate in 3 or 6 months chunks typically, if I forget, I don't get hassled to resubscribe or anything (nor could they even contact me for any reason), I just lose those bonus download benefits until I do it again. I could also generate a new key each time but it's convenient keeping the same one in my password manager so I like the way they do it now, basically works just like LWN.net.
Asking people publicly tends to challenge their ego and bring up defensiveness. It would fail a lot more than subtle manipulation like this, and instead bring additional confrontation.
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