No, just software that is specifically designed for this purpose, so less applications like VLC and more applications like DeaDBeeF (or MPD for multiple devices). I’m just interested in what people use.

Yes, here is some information about the career of the German Chancellor, who is currently using his influence to weaken the ban on combustion engines.

Friedrich Merz (born November 11, 1955, in Brilon), tenth Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany since May 6, 2025, CDU federal chairman since 2022, former business lawyer and long-time top lobbyist, has held leadership positions in a number of companies and business-related interest groups and networks. [1] Until the end of 2021, Merz was vice president of the CDU’s business lobby group, the Economic Council, and a guest member of the presidium of the Small and Medium-Sized Business and Economic Union (MIT). In 2022, the MIT welcomed Merz’s election as CDU chairman and stated that he was the first chairman to be a member of the MIT.[4] Armin Peter, most recently deputy press spokesman for the Economic Council and press spokesman for the then Economic Council Vice President Merz, has been deputy spokesman for the CDU and personal press spokesman for Merz since February 2022.[5] [6] Merz continues to be a member of the following organizations: Founding member of the New York section of the CDU Economic Council,[7] lobby organization Society for the Study of Structural Policy Issues,[8] Ludwig Erhard Foundation network, which brings together lobbyists and top politicians. Merz worked as senior counsel for the law firm Mayer Brown LLP until the end of 2021; prior to that, he was a partner for nine years.[9] During his time at Mayer Brown, he advised clients on corporate law, M&A transactions, compliance, and banking and finance law. According to research by CORRECTIV, he represented BASF as a lawyer on several occasions in 2010 and 2011. [10] He was a member of the board of directors at BASF Antwerp for almost a decade, where he headed the “Paints & Pigments” division of the BASF Group. From 2009 to 2019, Merz was chairman of Atlantik-Brücke [11] and from 2016 to 2020, he was chairman of the supervisory board of the German branch of asset manager BlackRock, for which he mediated relationships with important clients, authorities, and government agencies in Germany. [12] He was active in the Market Economy Foundation as a member of the Political Advisory Board of the Tax Code Commission. [13] In connection with his candidacy for the CDU party chairmanship, Merz ended his role as chairman of the supervisory board of Blackrock at the end of the first quarter of 2020.[14][15] At the 2021 CDU party conference, he lost a digital runoff election to his rival Armin Laschet. At the party conference on January 22, 2022, he was elected chairman of the CDU with 94.62% of the delegates’ votes. [16] On September 23, 2024, Merz was officially nominated as the CDU and CSU’s candidate for chancellor in the next federal election. [17]

[Translated from German | Source with source references]

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That’s nice. I should do that sometime.

One or two on their phones, but I mean the tradition of looking at pictures together and reminiscing about the past. I don’t get the impression that people still do that today.

I don’t think so.

On the one hand, digital images seem more likely to get lost or forgotten sooner or later. This seems likely to me even when they are uploaded to social media platforms—I consider it highly doubtful that these media will archive images over long periods of time.

On the other hand, they don’t seem to have the same significance as physical photos: I’ve never actually had anyone show me pictures on a screen, but I’ve often had people show me photo albums while telling anecdotes from the past.

Either way, I think the way we deal with photos has changed. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Yes, that’s exactly what I mean by ignorance. It only occurred to me later that the term has a much more international meaning in my native language (German): what I meant was not so much a lack of knowledge, but the deliberate ignoring of facts, expert knowledge, or scientific standards out of selfish arrogance. I believe in English this is called willful ignorance - this distinction does not exist in German; for us, ignorance always means that someone deliberately ignores things because they simply do not suit them. And I think that this, or rather the fact that we allow it, is responsible for the precarious situation our world finds itself in today: people could and do know better, but they ignore the facts out of selfishness.

I’m leaving the post up anyway, because “Unwissen” is also a very significant problem, even though I actually meant deliberate ignorance in the sense of what is currently happening so prominently in the US.

Then you obviously have a completely different understanding of ignorance than I do. By that I mean someone who doesn’t want to know anything about a subject, or even someone who deliberately insists on their opinion against their better judgment.

So my understanding of ignorance is what you mean by willful ignorance. However, this may be because the term is defined differently in my native language (German): what you mention first is called “Unwissen” (not knowing) in German.

However, it should be EU policy to force the dissolution of US monopolies on the European market - if only to reduce the risk of blackmail.

Once again, this regime is taking its cue directly from the Nazis.

Agreed

No, what I’m saying is that the people that draw the marvle comics, animate them or write the plot won’t make a living from that anymore for much longer. It’s really as simple as that. Why? Because they make their living creative work, which is great.

But they already earn their living more from autographs at conventions than from the payment for their outstanding work. That too will soon be a thing of the past, because Marvel will not be renewing their contracts - leaving these talented people out on the street because they can no longer sign autographs if they are neither authors nor illustrators, nor animators or whater.

That’s true, but culture has also been a business for a long time. What you see and hear is the result of this, because there are media that reinforce your awareness of your senses. If you think that you would remain unaffected by this, you don’t understand my point.

Is dictated make-believe still culture? I don’t think so, but that’s what it boils down to.

Honestly, I can’t understand how you can’t see that, because it’s been the case all over the world for a very long time. Take a look at the so-called social media applications. Do you seriously believe that what people see there has anything to do with who they really are? With their every day lives? What they understand as culture based on their experience there?

Yes, of course, the real world still exists, but do you really think it’s independent of what people see online?

What does that add to the statement in the post? There are hundreds of thousands of such examples.

It doesn’t change the statement: writers, artists, and all other creative professions are now in a much worse position than they have been ever before - and yes, disproportionate pay for even extraordinary achievements has always been been the case historically for these very important people. But with LLMs we have reached the point where it’s not even enough for a dream scenario. There is no business model for this anymore.

There is no longer any money to be made because consumers do not pay for quality, but for mass and free content. The best example of this is the decline of journalism, which had always been financed mainly by advertising - this has not worked for twenty years because Google and social media platforms have completely taken over this business, which is why there is no longer any serious journalism today. It can no longer be financed because consumers cannot cover the costs, even if they wanted to, which is the case at all.

The question is what the future will look like when culture is created by machines. This is already very evident today with all the social media bots and the logic that directs the attention of the remaining human users. The result is already quite dystopian, don’t you think?

Yes, that’s true, but until now, people could still make a decent living from scraps. That is no longer the case.

Then I can turn it into a business. With LLMs, that’s hardly a problem anymore. Don’t worry: I’ll do it alongside my job - just a hobby that brings in some nice extra income.

I am neither a musician nor a particularly good writer, but I am somewhat good with LLMs. Thank you very much for your encouragement. That removes all my ethical doubts about closing this chapter. If it has always been this way, then I don’t need to worry about it anymore.