Perhaps it's just me, but to me this article feels like belittling the problem by not differentiating between "hated" products and "harmful" products.

Exactly!

Hated product? Oh well. My paycheck still cashes.

Harmful product? Oh shit. Sorry boss. I'm still working on that. It's been confusing, but we almost got it. Annnyyyy day now, boss. Pretty sure we will get it on track next sprint. Or the one after. (Source: I once got well paid to "accidentally" kill at least one truly shit-head idea. It probably cost me a pay raise, but I left soon after for more money, and I'm still proud of that every time I reflect back on it.)

I mean, I would.

Of course, the pool won't have a ladder...

"A wizards staff has a knob at the end."

GNU Sir Terry Pratchett

We accept everyone here*

I expect that's why the internet's been falling apart lately.

I'm sure it is.

It's been interesting to see people not really getting angry about it, yet.

My partner and I used to use location sharing pretty much 100% of the time. We just felt better knowing we could find each other.

But today, we do not, because the trust is shattered.

Google just cannot be trusted with our locations.

Yes. I'm not sure what else has gone on, but NAFTA and the US China Relations Act sweaping all of the manufacturing out of the country could account for the whole change between the two maps.

It might be possible Ferengi also have higher-than-human-average neuroplasticity and simply adapt easier - this might even aid in the on the job theory.

I think you're on to something.

Various Ferengi having a kind of genius foreign to Federation values is a recurring theme in DS9.

Nog, in particular, gets up to some antics that probably require some brilliance. I recall him hacking or circumventing things even early in the series.

Many firms are now slashing their number of new hires.

Yes. This sucks.

The main cause of this is artificial intelligence

Unlikely.

The main cause for a chill in hiring tends to be uncertainty about the future. And we know that folks are feeling high uncertainty about the future, right now. (Gestures broadly at current headlines in general and "Not The Onion", in particular.)

Historically, uncertainty about the future is particularly high when the people have low confidence that existing and new laws will be applied in a predictable manner.

I'll leave exactly what changed on that front as a thought exercise.

AI is interesting, but it is not the primary cause of the chill in hiring new graduates.

The answer is 2.

Cling to known humans who write their own code.

Snake oil salesmen always encourage the public to bet against the experts, with predictable results.

Someday ethically sourced AI can be used responsibly by trustworthy coders.

But the key is choosing to collaborate with trustworthy coders.

I used to always use Minecraft for this. Sure, they can't do everything immediately, but I put the game on peaceful and let them explore at their own pace.

I say "used to" because Luanti (formerly MineTest, an open source Minecraft Clone*) is finished and free.

(Okay, Luanti is a lot more than a Minecraft clone. But for this discussion that's all one needs to know.)

• Have you also experienced this worsening of DuckDuckGo?

Yes.

• Which other more privacy-respecting alternatives do you recommend?

I'm in the same boat. I'll be trying out these answers.