So while Utah punches above its weight in tech, St. Paul area absolutely dwarfs it in population. Surely they have a robust cybersecurity industry there... https://lecbyo.files.cmp.optimizely.com/download/fa9be256b74111efa0ca8e42e80f1a8f?sfvrsn=a8aa5246_2 Utah, #1 projected tech sector growth in the next decade, of all 50 states. Utah, #8 for tech sector % of entire state economy, of all 50 states. Minnesota? Doesn't crack top 10 for any metrics. Utah may not be the biggest or techiest state, but it is way more so than Minnesota. The National Guard just seems like a desperate move. Again, this is my argument, but you are only seeing desperation as due to incompetence, not due to... actual severity. When they're deployed, they take orders from the the federal military, Not actually true unless the Nat Guard has been given a direct command by the Pentagon. and at peace, monitoring foreign threats seems like a federal thing. ... which is why the FBI were called in, in addition to the Nat Guard being able to report up the military CoC. You call in the National Guard to put down a riot or something where you just need bodies, not for anything niche. I mean, you yourself have explained that the Nat Guard does have a CyberSec ability, and I've explained they also have the ability to potentially summon even greater CyberSec ability. I guess you would be surprised how involved the military is / can be in defending against national security threatening, critical infrastructure comprimising kinds of domestic threats. Remember Stuxnet? Yeah other people can do that to us now, we kinda uncorked the genie bottle on that one. Otherwise, just call a local cybersecurity firm to trace the attack and assess damage. It is not everyone's instinct or best practice to immediately hire a contracted firm to do things that government agencies can, and have a responsibility to do. If this was like, Amazon being comprimised, yeah I can see that being a more likely avenue, though if it was serious, they'd probably call in some or multiple forms of 'the Feds' as well. But this was a breach/compromise of a municipal network... thats a government thing. Not a private sector thing. EDIT: Also, you are acting like either you are unaware of the following, or ... don't think its real? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Data_Center Kind of a really big deal in terms of Utah and the tech sector and the Federal government and... things that were totally illegal before the PATRIOT Act. Exabytes of storage. Exabytes. Utah literally is where the NSA is doing their damndest to make a hardcopy of literally all internet traffic and content. Given how classified this facility is, I wouldn't be surprised if their employees don't exactly show up in standard Utah employment figures.

Ever been there? It's pretty fucking rough. On 3 occasion across 2 nights we had men threaten, follow or chase us. We actually turned down a side street in case I had to clear my weapon away from the packed crowd. Had never before come close to pulling a gun (didn't). This is coming from a white dude that had no issues or worries working unarmed in South Chicago. Don't get me wrong, I fucking love NOLA culture, but it's the most raggedy American city I've ever seen. Meh, Birmingham may be worse, but I ain't stopping in that shithole. Anyway, I'd still invite folks to visit the French Quarter, Marigny (adjacent), and NOLA in general. There is nowhere in America like it, truly unique. Make time to hit a few cemeteries! You will not regret spending a couple of hours meandering around. Also, eat at the little shitty places downtown. Had the best oysters of my life on that last trip, sucking and scraping the shells like a starving man. I'll add for anyone offended that I occasionally carry, having a concealed gun has bonuses most don't talk about or maybe don't know: The ability to end a life really makes you consider what you're doing, where you'll go, +3 to situational awareness. Despite what one may think of gun nuts looking for an excuse, my conceal carry instructor taught us, "No matter how justified you think you are, pulling that gun may put you in a concrete box for life." Faced with the man who followed us around the corner and "chatted" us up, I was clearly confident, and confidence usually runs bullies off without a fight. (I was actually pretty worried.)

Sinking ship.

I read the article. This is what the “debate” is: Experts: This is objectively horrible, and does not replace human interaction, and is probably harmful. Meta: This is awesome and therapeutic. Now give us monies!

This will be a privacy nightmare.

Sunsetting Dawn? Of course

The thing about compelling lies is not that they are new, just that they are easier to expand. The most common effect of compelling lies is their ability to get well-intentioned people to support malign causes and give their money to fraudsters. So, expect that to expand, kind of like it already has been. The big question for me is what the response will be. Will we make lying illegal? Will we become a world of ever more paranoid isolationists, returning to clans, families, households, as the largest social group you can trust? Will most people even have the intelligence to see what is happenning and respond? Or will most people be turned into info-puppets, controlled into behaviours by manipulation of their information diet to an unprecedented degree? I don't know.