Hmm. Before the end of the 19th century you’re going to run into non-standardised/completely bespoke parts problems. How are you on a lathe, or doing blacksmith work? Hot riveting was a separate trade which you wouldn’t have to do, at least.

I’m kinda obsessed with what I call technological bootstrapping, and so I have useful book knowledge about every step along the way. Doing it in practice is another thing, though; the locals are going to run circles around me unless I can invent stuff. (And even that rule aside, not starving or being “disturbed” while I work on whatever project is a thing)

So, I think I have to echo the “it’s not going great in 2025” answer.

It’s a different time, probably normal civilian chips to hitch onto the massive industry that now exists. Kind of like how I’d guess the F-14 airframe was made of normal metal instead of something new they invented.

The radar and EWAR-related hardware, on the other hand, might not just be off the shelf.

Yeah, but they were talking about building out WhatsApp third party compatibility on top of it.

There already was Element One, which bridged to a bunch of things for a small subscription fee, although it had to break E2EE to do so. I’m just finding a lot of broken links now, though.

If it’s the part I’m guessing it is, it was an accidentally successful interview, too, haha.

Eh, depends what you mean by isolated. I’ve had weird incidents with otherwise fine people. And I’ve definitely ended up doing things that were hard to explain for whatever reason. I’m guessing the brother is generally problematic, though, because that was multiple consecutive decisions driven by thinly-masked cruelty.

I’m not sure what you mean. Try again in a week or two?

I did detect that this was about the whole “LLMs ruin everything” jerk. The thing is, they’re new, and misinfo has been around in other forms for a long time. It doesn’t negate the things you do now - like talking to me, despite the fact we’re probably in different countries - that would have been very hard in the 20th century, and impossible much before then. Relevant XKCD.

Okay, to be a bit glib, why don’t you ask someone in real life? After all, it’s all disinformation on here.

Sure, the information age comes with problems, but do consider what the world was like before. There were a lot of things people just didn’t know and couldn’t ever look up or ask about - unless they were motivated enough to dig through a library.

Wow, I’m surprised they got it up that high in a practical application.

They let OpenWhisper do the underlying protocol, so it’s solid. Beats the shit out of a plain text message anyway, and people IRL might actually have it.

Wasn’t Element going to integrate into it as well?

First few ideas: Talk about how I’m not really big on the whole “working hard” thing, immediately bring up and start ranting about weird political ideas, “I’m worth X, take it or leave it”

Lol, what is that from?

There are people who can do this, I’ve known some. It’s probably genetic, and some people vary in the other direction.

Wat?

Or maybe that was his plan, but he chickened out once it got too real? You’d expect it would still change things if he was at all homophobic, though. As it is, he acted like it didn’t happen until he thought he was being lied to and decided to pull it back out.

Yes, therapists actually seem to love it when you tell them about your feelings about therapy.

(But then again, I can’t help but notice that I was socially conditioned to expect shame, punishment, and destructive guidance if I ask for help.)

This.

They’re always gentle in my experience, even when they’re trying to get you to question something you’ve assumed. Maybe they will say you should give people more of a chance, once they get to know your situation. But, if you just say no, worst case scenario they won’t have any other ideas. And I can’t imagine they’d tell you to deliberately hang around a narcissist.

Alternately, a lot of the most useful things they told me are things I hadn’t even considered, so maybe you’ll be surprised.

My folks found me looking at “objectionable” porn too. They didn’t get weird about it. The old man just talked with me about sexuality and privacy and of course God as well.

See, religious disagreements aside that sounds like a completely healthy approach. I’m guessing that’s better than most parents manage, regardless of beliefs.

Yeah, you don’t need the supernatural to fill that particular niche. IIRC people have done questionable things in the name of anarchism as well.

Even in conservative households, that’s weird. If your dad had blown up right there about the sinful things happining in the room, I’d get it more. What he actually did was inexplicable. And the older brother thing is just awful.

Since it was two incidents total, I won’t go straight for hell, though. Like maybe it was but I’d need more information.