iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

And once that's achieved, it's onto how likely you'll get caught, and that's basically the only consideration. Same as it was for the petty shit we all did as kids.

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The only difference between that stuff and more serious crimes, crimes that carry prison sentences or worse, are that the first hurdle, the empathy hurdle if you like, is higher. But everyone has their own reasons for making that choice, if they do. Things that make clearing it easier.

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They could have made it a capital crime, and we'd still probably have laughed it off. It's pirating songs. Who cares?

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Remember how record companies used to sue kids for millions for downloading about five songs? Severe penalties for minor crimes, and we all just shrugged it off. Because what are the chances of it being us next time? We knew we'd probably get away with it, and almost everyone did.

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Then, having cleared that one, we thought, "Will I get away with this?" And the answer, for such minor infractions, is basically that the cops have better things to do and about a million other people are doing it, so what are the odds we'd be the ones who got in shit for it?

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The first hurdle we cleared was, "Is this even really a crime? And should it be?" That's easy enough, especially if you're a teenager with poor impulse control. Nicking street signs or buying some pills off a scuzzy guy in a dark corner of a bar are fairly victimless crimes.

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For example, we've probably all done some pretty minor crimes in our youth. Graffiti, vandalism, underage drinking, drugs, some file-sharing when that was a thing, whatever. Nothing that leaves us with a guilty conscience but stuff that we might theoretically have been punished for.

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But if you've decided you're able to justify the crime to yourself, then it comes down to how likely you are to get away with it.

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Most of us law-abiding people don't act that way out of fear of the penalties. Laws don't (usually) exist for no reason. We don't steal because we know being stolen from sucks.

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No one's like, I'm gonna rob this store and there's a good chance I'll get caught, but fuck it, what's 10 years, eh? The assumed consequence is nothing.

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I first said it to some American arguing in favour of the death penalty, like, 20+ years ago, but it remains true: no one who reaches the point of committing a crime plans to get caught. The calculus is based on the likelihood of it going wrong, because ideally you get away with it.

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Tag yourself I'm the one going OH at their computer.

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I'm still reeling over how your surname is pronounced tbh.

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That's still how it's done in many indigenous societies, particularly in Polynesian cultures! If you see a Maori or a Samoan with a load of traditional tattoos, they probably had them done with bone or shell needles and natural pigments.

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It's so funny watching them run around with their theories based on absolutely fuck all! I'm cackling the whole time.

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Trisarahjtops @trisarahjtops.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Are you meant to root for the Traitors or the Faithfuls, because I really want the Traitors to murder everyone.

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Reposted by Small Robots

I'm in the apartment laundromat doing laundry in my PJs and there's someone here dressed like they're going to a business meeting and it's occurred to me that we've both run out of clothes but in opposite directions

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I'm aware. I'm just talking about how hard it is to imagine it being as hot as that now.

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