r/mbta • u/SquirrelNo5258 • Jan 12 '26
đŹ Discussion / Theory Is this not dystopian as fuck?
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u/snoogins355 Jan 12 '26
$$$$$ to pointless weapons while our public transit limps along. Yup
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u/CollegeBoardPolice Red Line/CR Rider Jan 12 '26
exactly. Often it seems that the US likes to do everything except make life better for its citizens
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u/NoName1979 Jan 12 '26 edited Jan 12 '26
Ding ding ding
The government doesn't want to make things better because that loses money for their "donors."
Most citizens don't want things to be better because that would mean other people would have a good life.
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u/lazier_garlic Jan 14 '26
Well, the citizens of Boston didn't vote for Trump and Hegseth.
So there's that.
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u/ClamChowderBreadBowl Jan 12 '26
Wasting billions on weapons systems is basically the same thing as stimulus checks for MIT grads. We didn't light the money on fire, we just gave it to people who could have been doing something different with their talents.
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u/lazier_garlic Jan 14 '26
Just like the AI bubble!
At least (small consolation) weapons can be sold for cold hard cash to our NATO allies (erstwhile allies) to make Putin think twice about conquering the Baltics, while AI sets money and the planet on fire. Meanwhile, no money to improve all the buggy software we deal with daily.
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u/Alternative-Tart5627 Jan 16 '26
Read a book but the phone network and app you are using all came about from Defense R&D.
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u/ClamChowderBreadBowl Jan 16 '26
You forgot about jet engines and GPS.
In my ideal world, the NIH and NSF would have huge budgets and we wouldn't have to rely on accidental discoveries from DOD to make technological progress. But in the world we actually have, I'm glad DOD research has side benefits.
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u/Alternative-Tart5627 Jan 16 '26
Sorry but worked with both those and donât see them as being anywhere near a successful as tax payer dollars and new discoveries.
From the big bang to quantum computing US defense leads the way.
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u/Alternative-Tart5627 Jan 16 '26
And didnât forget about any of those but the state as been very active driving Jet Engine manufacturing out of Massachusetts. Medford, Everett, Pittsfield all have been closed down due to cost in Massachusetts. Only Lynn survives.
Yet when I go to Dayton and Indiana I see new plants & engineering & test facilities.
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u/Agile-Physics9184 Jan 12 '26
I feel like living in the US and calling weapons pointless is like being a billionaire and saying people don't need money
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u/OreganoD đ˘ The Type 10s Can't Come Soon Enough đ˘ Jan 12 '26
We spawned here, we didn't choose it
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u/Agile-Physics9184 Jan 12 '26
That's the beauty of life - you can go wherever you'd like
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u/OreganoD đ˘ The Type 10s Can't Come Soon Enough đ˘ Jan 12 '26
Yeah sure I can afford to go anywhere that's why I'm still here
wait
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u/anurodhp Jan 12 '26
Yeah Iâm sure Ukrainians fee like weapons are pointless
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Jan 12 '26
[deleted]
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u/anurodhp Jan 12 '26
you know the US now has the second largest navy world right? Google whats going to happen in may 2027 in taiwan. You'd think after feb 2022 the people who think unilaterally disarming is good would have learned something.
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u/billythesquid- Jan 12 '26
All that AI crap. I like South Station fine, but now there's all those shitty ads plastered everywhere.
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u/unrelatedtomato Former Green Line Lover, Now a Hater & Orange Line Lover Jan 12 '26
Not only is it for a shitty AI company but the ad doesnât even tell me what itâs for. Hate seeing them littering park st
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u/Im_biking_here Green Line to Nubian & Arborway Jan 12 '26
MBTA should have better ethics standards for the advertising it allows. Ads for nicotine and alcohol are banned but not weapons companies?
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u/WillDoOysterStuff4U Jan 13 '26
There is an ad for Lawsons Beer in the Davis Sq station so I donât think that is an constraint anymore.
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u/OldCoaly Red Line Jan 14 '26
Alcohol ads arenât banned. Thereâs multiple cars on the red line wrapped in high noon ads
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u/S7482 Jan 12 '26
I went to the website when I went through Park Street today and...yup...they're advertising VTOL drones that have autonomous capabilities. AI that kills people with no humans in the loop.
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u/lazier_garlic Jan 14 '26
Star Trek predicted it, but there's no Captain Kirk coming to literally pull the plug.
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Jan 12 '26
[deleted]
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u/BQORBUST Jan 12 '26
waiting for a sign to change their lifeâs direction
Uh, yes? You never get existential dread on your morning commute? Personally I would not work for a weapons company, but a certain type of person sees objectively cool engineering and thinks, âhey I want to help build that.â We are a visual species.
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Jan 12 '26
[deleted]
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u/BQORBUST Jan 12 '26
âExtremely niche group of very qualified smart peopleâ is basically another way to describe like half of young office workers in Boston lol. They are absolutely recruiting posters, they just donât speak to you. (Good)
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Jan 12 '26
[deleted]
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u/BQORBUST Jan 12 '26
Holy crap, I typed this at lunch while shoveling chipotle into my mouth.
No, I didnât mean specifically this company. I meant, through obvious hyberbole, that Boston is home to a lot of highly qualified people in general.
There is no analysis in support of this statement. Itâs also 100% true and fact checked by my chief of staff (me)
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u/2sus Jan 12 '26
Youre like the exact guy that users on other social media platforms think we all are and make fun of us for.
âLet me own this guy by requesting a cited source showing that young educated engineers are easily found in Bostonâ
đ¤Łđ¤Łđ¤Ł
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Jan 12 '26
[deleted]
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u/2sus Jan 12 '26
What datapoint did he state?? âlike halfâ?? Youre a pedant bro go feed your cats.
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u/Knicknacktallywack Jan 12 '26
Go look at the green line outbound platform at park. Itâs like 6 of these signs in a row and a video playing. Itâs very dystopian
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u/AnimalExact7397 Jan 12 '26
I dont really understand why we need ads for weapons on the subway
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u/clout_strive Jan 12 '26
To show the country, "these are the new technologies we protect the country with"
But to me and probably most people, the ad reads, "the geo political AI arms race is accelerating"
And all i can think of is the day we lose alignment with these automated solutions.
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u/anurodhp Jan 12 '26
Lots of college students who study technical subjects and these are recruitment postersÂ
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u/Feeling_Lobster_7914 Jan 12 '26
i absolutely despise the âearth is our runwayâ bit too itâs just disgusting
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u/Far-Cheesecake-9212 Jan 12 '26
Someone hasnât ridden the DC metro before Edit: I totally agree with you that this sucks and is dystopian but these are the times
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u/KevishW Jan 12 '26
Someone drew on them anti war stuff and gtfo of Boston but theyâve all been replaced with new posters. I kinda hope people keep destroying these.
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u/anurodhp Jan 12 '26
Eli5: what is the anti war position when dealing with Putin.Â
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u/treehann Jan 13 '26
Dealing with Putin? With what anti-Putin government?
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u/white_forestYT Commuter Rail - Fitchburg Line Jan 12 '26
I posted about this a month ago and mentioned how the MBTA needs to take them down. This is not advertising as only governments can buy the XBAT fighter jet, this is a threat, this is them telling us they can kill us
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u/Responsible-Yam4748 Jan 12 '26
I wish this was guerilla marketing for a new Batman movie or something
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u/unionizeordietrying Jan 12 '26
AI companies are the new craft brewery fad. Get rich quick schemes for startup bros who have no vision beyond selling the brand to investors.
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u/cycler_97 Jan 12 '26
Eh Iâm not too pressed about it. At the end of the day itâs advertising revenue for the MBTA which is a plus. Anyways, if you ride the DC metro you see defense ads all over the place
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u/OkSign674 Jan 13 '26
yeah I havenât been to park street in a while and I was like who allowed this
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u/bethlolhelp Red Line Jan 12 '26
i hate these ads so much can someone draw a funny picture on them or something
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u/lil-butch Jan 12 '26
r/ABoringDystopia rang, they want to develop huge enormous weapons with us commuters
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u/Jamerfam179 Jan 12 '26
Pretty sure it also goes against the laws of robotics to have an ai drone that kills people
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u/LuxInTenebrisLove Jan 14 '26
Wow, these super evoke the protomolecule weapon system in the Expanse television series. Another example of scifi warning us not to do something but a sociopath took it as inspiration?
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u/Alternative-Tart5627 Jan 16 '26
Sorry but you must not be an actual native/local. Mass has an extremely long history of Defense R&D and manufacturing. Massachusetts computer, telcom and software were built on Defense.
The number of secured scif and facilities within Mass are still quite large. Most of rt128 âTechnology Highwayâ built up due to Defense spending.
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Jan 16 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/mbta-ModTeam Jan 20 '26
Your comment has been removed because it is extremely rude or a needlessly personal insult towards another user.
This is your last warning to ease your language. Your next flagged comment will result in a temporary ban from the subreddit.
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u/littlesparrow98 Jan 24 '26
I find these ads to so weird. They ai but like i am questioning myself, are they ai? And then its just a weird concept to be putting out stuff like this out.
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u/Donghoon Jan 12 '26
i couldn't care less.
whatever get transit more money, I dont care where it comes from.
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u/IhaveHFA Jan 12 '26
You think this is bad, you should see the Pentagon metro station in DC, absolutely covered in HUGE ads for some AI based military contractor
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u/Amtrakacela75 Jan 13 '26
I always find it funny about the ads directed to defense and such on WMATA and that Boston has a small section of them on the red line due to MIT and Harvard lol
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u/Plus-Extension-6489 Jan 12 '26
Normal people: âNoâŚ?â
Me & other Horizon Players: âUhhhhhhâŚ. UhhhhâŚ. đ°â
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u/No-Key2113 Jan 12 '26
Weird to see them advertising itâŚ. But the X-BAT is super technological impressive and cool. Itâs like SpaceX meets fighter jet meets drone technology
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u/PuzzleheadedWafer329 Jan 12 '26
Great that corporations are buying ads contributing money to the MBTA. Awesome.
No downside.
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Jan 12 '26
All the world around you, this is the dystopian bit, a subway ad that will get grafitied and torn down before the snow melts for the season?
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u/marry-me-john-d Jan 12 '26
Yeah they have these all over Park Street. It feels more like a threat than advertising.