> the things people are willing to do in order to fit into a group
Given our evolutionary history as social animals, this is expected. The genes (and memes, in the Dawkinsian sense of the word) for alienating oneself from the tribe and going solo were less successful than the those for remaining in the tribe. We can reasonably expect such adaptations to include sucking up to alphas to avoid being banished from the tribe, being distressed when outside a group, and feeling good when in a group.
Russian here, a former Android and iPhone user. I had to switch to Graphene OS in full paranoid more due to our worsening situation regarding VPNs and phone searches.
After about a month of using Graphene OS, I'm not looking back – it's great. I'm not recommending it as a 100% solution for everyone, but it's definitely a very solid practical step towards keeping the phone yours:
1. Your phone will be able to operate as a basic phone (calls, SMS, web, photos / videos, location, Bluetooth, eSIM) without a Google account.
2. You will always be able to install an APK. This helps you install apps that are banned from Google Play Store in your country.
3. There's a duress PIN that lets you wipe the phone completely from any 'Enter PIN' screen. (I tried it, it's a bit messy, but it does wipe the phone and in the end you return to a blank Graphene OS installation – no need to reinstall.)
4. There's a setting that lets you disable any USB port functionality other than charging.
5. The permission system is amazing. If you are forced to install a state-mandated spy app (like the Max messenger in Russia), you can put it into a "permission jail" where the app assumes that it has access to the requested data but actually receives what you explicitly give it. For example, you can select individual photos and contacts to make available to the app – while the app will think that it has access to all contacts and photos. Bonus: the new Internet permission, which lets apps think that they are connected to the Internet while they are actually blocked from it.
6. You can have a separate profile for data and apps you don't want to expose. (There's also a Private Space for that, it's very convenient but it exposes installed apps via app search from the main space.)
7. There's an End Session function for a logged-in profile that stops it from running, wipes it from memory, and puts the data at rest.
8. You can have a separate VPN in each profile. This should help against situations where your local equivalent of Roskomnadzor sniffs out your VPN connection settings via state-mandated changes in apps operating in your jurisdiction, and bans that particular VPN later. Just make sure you install all spy apps under a profile with a disposable VPN that you aren't afraid to lose.
9. Each profile (and the Private Space too, because technically it is a special kind of Profile) can have a separate Google account. For example, one profile can have a Russian Google account (for banking and state apps), while another profile can have an Armeninan Google account (for things that are banned in Russia, like Spotify and Kindle.) However, to arrange this, you have to physically be in the desired country – Google doesn't let you change the account country without being there.
To sum up – if you are concerned about this situation, buy Pixel 10 (excellent hardware btw.), install Graphene OS (very easy, their web installer is great), and try using it for a while.
> I have yet to see a use case that doesn’t amount to buying drugs or defrauding rubes
Russian here. My forgotten Bitcoin stash saved my ass multiple times by providing a way to transfer money to a friend abroad who then paid for my western expenses (hosting, VPNs etc.) using his Visa / MC cards.
Also, a lot of programmers who emigrated from Russia to countries such as Georgia in 2022 were using USDT as a way to receive their salaries.
I was a paid Kagi subscriber. I unsubscribed due to my temporary financial difficulties, but I'm resubscribing as soon as I'm able to afford expenses like this. I'm VERY happy with them.
> The war against Ukraine has overwhelming support among the population
I may be an outlier, and this is obviously an anecdote, but in my entire social circle there are literally two people supporting the war. One is a hardcore Z fanatic living with his parents at almost 50, and the second one is an alcoholic (formerly a talented architect).
> However, after the war started, I lost all interest in reading anything Russian. I know it's irrational, but these lost their luster instantly.
Russian here, living in Russia. Not surprised about this at all. Actually, I predicted that this would happen. By starting the war, Putin has wiped out multiple perceived notions about Russia (the myth of the defender nation, the second-strongest army, and the "Tolstoyesvsky"-centered culture among them).
Paraphrasing Anton Chigurh: "If your culture brought you to this, of what use was the culture?"
Russian here. Just to give you an idea of how aware of VPNs the general public is: I have a friend, she's 30 and she's never been tech-savvy or nerdy. A typical stay-at-home single mom focused on raising her kid. Today she asked me if I know of any good routers with built-in VPN support, and we had a chat about VPN protocols.
My last two episodes of such "superfocus" happened because the workloads I've been working on were essentially dopamine loops, not unlike playing Diablo or even a slot machine.
The first task was game sound design, and the second one was game marketing. Both tasks seemed impenetrable because I had no experience with either. Yet I managed to create the entire soundscape and SFX for the game in about a month, and, with the second workload, broke into game marketing and started getting some positive response.
Here's how it worked: both impenetrable problems turned out to be breakable into small chunks that were 1) easy enough for a beginner, and 2) came with immediately pleasing rewards on an intermittent schedule. For example, a sound that plays in a previously silent game, or 20 upvotes on a Reddit marketing post are immediately rewarding, but you cannot predict that the next post will be lucky, or that you will find a perfect sound effect on Audiojungle.
Both workloads turned into hugely addictive dopamine loops -- marketing felt similar to Diablo or a slot machine, and looking for sounds on Audiojungle felt like browsing porn. Due to that addictiveness I was able to work for 12-14 hours per day.
The absence of distractions is also helpful: the flow state was at its best at night when my family was sleeping.
A stochastic parrot, a blurry jpeg of the web is able to provide sound, actionable, verifiable advice on topics such as modeling in Blender or managing a Linux server -- despite not being generally intelligent.
Just plain convenience and my laziness. Also, I'm not concerned about being prosecuted for the use of VPN (well, at least for now), I just want my Internet to work.
Some good news amidst this doom and gloom: I just installed AmneziaVPN (https://amnezia.org) on my VPS and it works great so far -- and pretty fast as well.
Given our evolutionary history as social animals, this is expected. The genes (and memes, in the Dawkinsian sense of the word) for alienating oneself from the tribe and going solo were less successful than the those for remaining in the tribe. We can reasonably expect such adaptations to include sucking up to alphas to avoid being banished from the tribe, being distressed when outside a group, and feeling good when in a group.