Must be binary…

Before the cruel events on October 7th and the insane devastation that followed, I didn’t realize how deeply messed up the western idea of foreign policy in the Middle East really is. Before October 7th, I knew about colonialism, I knew about the war on terror and its devastating consequences for countries in that region. I knew about things like the insane death toll in the Mediterranean Sea, where innocent people in need are just getting systematically crushed by the EU’s border apparatus and the right-wing idea of “securing borders” and “not letting the bad ones in”. I knew about it and understood it as inhumane right-wing or neoliberal ideas that align with the interests of those who can really profit from it. The oil industry, weapons manufacturers, etc… and the politicians who are in their pockets or benefit from spreading fear and hate.

For me, these topics were always something that the progressive left and even many liberal or apolitical people can understand as senseless cruelty. Seeing the news coverage after October 7th and diving deeper into the details of that conflict, I was absolutely dumbfounded, that even some of the progressive news-outlets I follow are avoiding talking about Israels war crimes while repeating the propaganda of Zionist organizations or the Israeli state. My country has defended Israels actions in the international court, and there are quite a few people agreeing with that decision. Quite a few people that I would otherwise consider reasonable and knowledgeable. I have read newspapers that hold themselves to “high journalistic standards” who call peaceful student groups antisemitic and Nazi-aligned. Groups that were advocating for humanity, a ceasefire and a one-state-solution, and have now shut down any kind of public protest because of the hate that came their way.

Not far from where I live, there was a concentration camp and less than a hundred years ago my country had a fascist tyrant as its leader and plenty of accomplices who helped him with his ethnic cleansing campaign. We are not that far removed from this fascism, from treating people with other ethnic backgrounds like something you can just exploit to drown out in the Mediterranean Sea. From supporting the idea of a pure religious ethnostate having the right to slaughter “uncivilized” people that are in the way. From being ignorant enough to whitewash those who fought against apartheid while jailing those who are opposing it now.

Another thing you might want to consider is the repairability. If you want to swap the battery years down the line, this can become a really important metric as well. iFixit is your friend here: you can just look up a device and check what the repairability score is.

is the GCam app noticeably better than a stock camera app? What sorts of things would it do better?

As I mentioned in my first comment: “Sometimes, the picture quality is decent, but often times it’s lacking” when it comes to the ROM camera app. How well a camera does, depends on the app (which is supplied by the ROM) and the driver (usually supplied by the manufacturer). The quality can, therefore, vary from device to device. A few years ago I would’ve definitely said that GCam is a step above ROM camera apps, but in more and more cases, those have become almost comparable in quality. One aspect where GCam still actually makes a difference is long exposure modes (low light and night photography) as well as offering special modes like panorama or photo-sphere.

The last I checked, the Pixels had excellent sensors but had some camera software issues that I believe were eventually resolved. I’m hoping that isn’t an issue if I’m just using a basic OS.

From my experience, older oneplus devices (e.g. oneplus 7/oneplus 7 pro) and pixel devices (pixel 5 and upwards) have excellent community support, so you should be golden.

For me, the key aspects for selecting the right hardware are the camera and the comunity support. All the other capabillities you listed are available on any phone that has a relatively recent ROM available.

Let’s start with the camera quality: If you want to use your phone without GSF or microG, you could use the camera app that comes with the ROM you flashed. Sometimes, the picture quallity is decent, but often times its lacking. Instead, I would recommend using a modded GCam App together with fake GSF. This way, you can use googles powerful camera app without sacrificing your privacy. So when I’m looking for hardware, I always check, if there is a modded GCam version available.

Aside from that, I would check if there are recent stable versions of the ROM I want, available for the hardware. The last thing I would check is, how active and how big the modding community for that device is. If you can’t find a lot of support on XDA, it’s probably not the best hardware choice to begin with.

When it comes to software, there are a lot of privacy-friendly replacements to choose from, but here is my setup:

• Syncing Contacts and Todos: selfhosted baikal + DavX5 + Simple Contacts + Tasks
• Syncing Photos: selfhosted NextCloud AIO + nextcloud app
• Syncing Notes: selfhosted webdav + Joplin
• Find My Phone functionality: FindMyDevice
• Maps: OrganicMaps
• Speach to text: FUTO Voice
• Synced Music: Selfhosted JellyFin + FinAmp
• browser bookmark sync: selfhosted webdav + floccus

EDIT: GCam and FUTO are not Open Source, but they are free and don’t collect or require any user data

I’ll add “Will Save The Galaxy For Food” to my list, thanks! I’ve actually read Angry Planet a while ago and enjoyed it. A story that is really cozy and easy to read, that helped me through difficult times. In case you haven’t read the Murderbot Diaries, I’d highly recommend those. Despite the name, it’s also very nice to read.

I haven’t tried those, thanks for the suggestion!

I haven’t read anything from Iain M Banks so far but multiple people suggested him here so I’m adding those books to my list now. Thanks!

Thanks for the suggestions! I added them to the list.

This looks a lot like hard scifi and cyberpunk to me and I’m not sure if they fit the “exploring new worlds and places” part I was looking for. When I eventually come back to those genres, I’ll have a great list of recommendations though. Thanks!

I’ve read the first and parts of the second book and I think it has one of the best antagonistic characters. I didn’t put it on this list because I was looking more for stories, that explore new worlds and places. Its definitely on the list of books I want to finish at some point. Idk what it is, but it needs to be the right time and place for me to be able to appreciate books like those.

I haven’t heard of any of those books and especially Permutation City sounds interresting to me, thanks!

I haven’t read the robot series yet but I’ll definitely add it to my list now. Also, please don’t feel discurraged to post your perspective here. Even if I’ve already read the books, there might be others who’ll find it helpful!

I have to admit that I’ve never really gotten into other books by Frank Herbert. I’ve tried Messiah and a few of his short stories but nothing came close to Dune. I haven’t tried the ‘WorShip’ trilogy yet (which is the same as The Pandora Sequence I’m guessing?.. I can’t find anything with that name tbh)

Thanks for mentioning it. I definitely should’ve added it to my post, since I enjoyed that story so much. Also, just in case you haven’t seen the Apple TV adaptation of it… don’t… They completely botched that one imo.

Currently, I’m looking for longer stories, but I’ll definitely come back to your suggestions at some point. Thanks!

I haven’t read Redemption Space and the White Space books yet. I’ll definitely add those to my list now, thanks!

Thanks! Added it to my list.

Thanks! All of these stories sound interesting. Red Rising has actually been on my bucket list for a while now, but I’ve been hesitant to try it because the summary sounded like the “stumbling from one flawed decision to the next” thing I was mentioning earlier. Having another person suggest it here, makes me want to try it now.

Thank you for the suggestion! I’ve actually read that one and It’s my favorite story from Brandon Sanderson. I loved the characters and the fantasy setting! But yeah… it doesn’t really fit the sci-fi/futuristic world that I was looking for here.