Think about all the laws that aren't even attempted because they would be struck down. Or all the laws floated, but which don't pass because they'd be struck down. Or the laws modified so they won't be struck down.
I'm with you though - I think a lot of the constitution protections in the US have been watered down over the decades.
I'm not a web UI guy either, and I am so, so happy to let an AI create a nice looking one for me. I did so just today, and man it was fast and good. I'll check it for accuracy someday...
When it launched we all talked about the serving/inference costs being massive. In hindsight if they had a paywall, it might not have self-imploded so fast, might have stayed aspirational, and they might have a profitable business today. Interesting case study.
I do not feel that the EU is less likely to surveille me than anywhere else. The laws seem mostly geared toward protecting me from corporations - but those aren't the ones I mostly worry about.
The EU seems to be mandating surveillance by the government, which is a higher-order concern for me.
"spend our money in our own economy" - a common fallacy about economies. Spending money is how you take/consume resources from an economy.
If you spend money in Canada, then you are taking stuff from Canadians. If you spend your money in the US, then you are taking stuff from Americans.
You might wonder what happens at the limit - why don't Canadians just spend all their money in the US and take all America's stuff (just a thought experiment)? Because currencies adjust. Canadians would need US Dollars to buy stuff in the US, and as more and more Canadians try to do that, the exchange rate would change to devalue the Canadian Dollar against the US Dollar, effectively making things more and more expensive for Canadians until they are forced to get their stuff elsewhere.
When you spend Canadian dollars at a business owned by a Canadian, you're sending that owner and the Canadian government your money, in exchange for their goods or services, normally at a surplus of value for them. You are 'helping' them; you are 'investing' in the Canadian economy. You are justifying the existence of their business and the jobs of the people who work there.
Especially insofar as you're making this choice versus American options, you are putting money into the hands of Canadians rather than Americans. This is the underlying concept behind boycotts and voting with your dollars or feet.
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