A few days ago there was the Google I/O Conference 2026, in which Google talks about new technologies and experiences they are working on (see here). They are coming out with new models, but also new agents powered by the new models, and a thing called Omni, which will be able to generate any kind of media from any kind of input. They have a partnership with Apple for providing AI for the iPhone which will be able to do more than just be a chatbot. A bit scary, where this is all going. Google seem to be committed to putting AI into all sorts of places.
Jeroen
@Jeroen said:
I’ve given up on The Brothers Karamazov, found it too boring. I have retreated to reading The Hobbit, which I haven’t read for 30 years. I now have a very beautiful edition illustrated by Alan Lee, which I am very much enjoying.
Your words wound me. lol
Jason
During the latest assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Footage showed journalists being evacuated, some paused to grab a bottle of champagne, but they put it back after being told he was okay.
Shoshin1
@Kotishka said:
How can we protect ourselves? You say money? Maybe we can run a small GoFundme to save the forum and take the necessary measures?
It depends on the hosting provider. We're on a cost-capped plan with DigitalOcean & have volunteers to fight against the issue, so we're relatively safe for now. I appreciate the consideration. It pays to have a sister site full of tech nerds. 
I'm just saying if the bots really came for us hard... I am versed in the dark arts and have not yet begun to fight. 😈
Linc
@Shoshin1 said:
Thus have I heard and from what I gather, the whole idea of Dharma practice is for the practitioner to see through the veils of deception conjured up by a conditioned mind, a mind that defaults to the negative outcome when confronted with dukkha events.
And those negative outcomes more often than not involve the misleading concept of permanence, perceiving some situations as unchangeable, when the ultimate teaching is that nothing is permanent, everything is flux.
Pleasant things are dukkha just as much as what one perceives as negative things, because the same conditioned mind grasps at pleasure as if it could last.
There is no permanent entity doing the thinking, feeling, or living, and the more there is a realisation of this, an experiential understanding, the looser the attachment to things becomes, which will eventually lead to going with the flow of change and not against it.
None of this should stop the practitioner from showing empathy and putting this empathy into action, aka compassion, when confronted with a situation where other sentient beings are suffering injustice.
I think this is correct to a degree. People cling to ideas and notions for the sake of those ideas and notions. I think my point about the Two Truths was that it can be taken too far. The conventional world still operates in a lawful, cause and effect manner. You could tell someone we're going to grow crops with Brawndo now rather than water, because it has electrolytes. And they could resist the idea not because they are resistant to change, but because they think Brawndo won't work and will actually kill the plants. Or would you be willing to go with the flow of Trump's changes because you have a deep sense of emptiness?
person
By setting no goals today (free day) I achieved all of them. Gosh could almost be a Taoist or Zennith.
...that sort of a thing...
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/24/country-diary-the-quiet-vitality-of-a-well-managed-churchyard
lobster