[HN Gopher] Kagi for Kids
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Kagi for Kids
        
       Author : ryanjamurphy
       Score  : 134 points
       Date   : 2025-03-31 18:47 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (help.kagi.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (help.kagi.com)
        
       | skyyler wrote:
       | Is it easy to disable the Quick Answer "feature"?
        
         | Kuinox wrote:
         | It show up when you put a "?" at the end of your query.
        
         | falcor84 wrote:
         | I couldn't find that either. But did find myself laughing at
         | the "always check this with an adult" disclaimer on the quick
         | answers. It's nice to imagine an alternate world where being an
         | adult is sufficient for proper critical thinking.
        
         | jdknezek wrote:
         | The first image in this section shows it is a switch at the
         | bottom of the Parental Controls settings:
         | https://staticmedia.kagi.com/family/parental.png
        
       | viraptor wrote:
       | > to ensure children are not exposed to harmful content.
       | 
       | Strong claim. I like the idea, but wish they were more realistic
       | about what they can provide. If you ever get a Reddit result
       | you're likely one click away from harmful content.
       | 
       | That said, I like the lenses applied in this case. It may be the
       | best we can get today in terms of search filtering.
        
         | al_borland wrote:
         | Kagi lets you block results for various sites you don't like,
         | if sites like Reddit are of concern.
        
           | viraptor wrote:
           | I get it, but that wasn't the point. There's lots of sites
           | which will have your result and harmful content right next to
           | each other. Reddit is known for being a collection of very
           | unrelated subreddits, but you won't know every site like
           | that. Kagi writes "ensures", but they can't really ensure
           | anything here. They'll have the best guess of the first click
           | being safe and even that is often problematic (what kind of
           | safe?, for what age?).
        
       | jasonpeacock wrote:
       | > Story behind the Poop Avatar
       | 
       | I love it
        
       | ilrwbwrkhv wrote:
       | Ok this is excellent. If I can trust Kagi for kids, I would pay
       | through the nose for this.
       | 
       | The internet is wildly useful but it's just filled with so much
       | trash and thanks to google going horribly terribly south, search
       | doesn't work anymore.
       | 
       | Which means kids are no longer able to actually have the joy of
       | surfing the web and finding very interesting things to read.
       | 
       | So the main question that I have is, is there a guarantee that
       | bad sites will not show up here?
        
         | ziddoap wrote:
         | > _So the main question that I have is, is there a guarantee
         | that bad sites will not show up here?_
         | 
         | Given that everyone has different definitions of "bad" and that
         | someone malicious can put bad stuff on "good" sites, no.
        
           | doublerabbit wrote:
           | > Given that everyone has different definitions of "bad" and
           | that someone malicious can put bad stuff on "good" sites, no.
           | 
           | Kagi allowing you to assign what is good and bad makes your
           | argument void.
           | 
           | > So the main question that I have is, is there a guarantee
           | that bad sites will not show up here?
           | 
           | You shouldn't rely on the company alone. While it may be what
           | Kagi is aiming for but they can only do so much.
           | 
           | If you're concerned for your kids you too should always
           | double check if the content is good/bad regularly.
        
             | ziddoap wrote:
             | > _" That's what Kagi is aiming for but they can only do so
             | much."_
             | 
             | Not sure why my argument is void, but you restating my
             | exact point with different words is valid?
        
               | doublerabbit wrote:
               | Are you expecting a company to manage it completely
               | without human intervention, yourself without verifying
               | the results?
               | 
               | If so, you then got to expect what Kagi decides what is
               | bad and what is good and accept that's it.
               | 
               | It could be bias it could be not. I like to think they
               | know but I personally would never put all my eggs in one
               | basket.
        
               | ziddoap wrote:
               | > _Are you expecting a company to manage it completely
               | without human intervention, yourself without verifying
               | the results?_
               | 
               | What?
               | 
               | Parent commenter asked if it was guaranteed to block the
               | bad stuff. I answered no. That's the entire conversation
               | summarized.
               | 
               | Then you came in, said I was wrong, and then answered the
               | question with "no", just like I did.
               | 
               | I didn't say anything about my expectations, or what I
               | would do, or how I do it.
        
               | doublerabbit wrote:
               | Maybe I am misunderstanding? What is the bad stuff, you
               | want blocked?
               | 
               | OP comment comes off as "I want Kagi to do it for me and
               | to be how I want it" when Kagi doesn't know what you want
               | blocked. How can it? If Kagi is to support blocking why
               | wouldn't they?
               | 
               | I am saying what Kagi wants to block may not be the bad
               | stuff you want blocked and so you should then verify the
               | content of what is blocked.
        
               | ziddoap wrote:
               | > _Maybe I am misunderstanding._
               | 
               | I think you are...
               | 
               | The only thing I've said in this comment chain is that
               | Kagi cannot guarantee that bad stuff won't show up. Which
               | you seem to agree with (despite saying my argument is
               | void, for some reason, before agreeing with it).
               | 
               | The rest has been you having a conversation with... I'm
               | not sure who. Because you're asking a bunch of questions
               | as if _I_ am using this feature. I am not using this
               | feature. Literally the only point I am making is that
               | Kagi cannot guarantee that bad things wont show up.
        
               | doublerabbit wrote:
               | And no one can guarantee you won't end up dead tomorrow
               | morning.
               | 
               | Your argument is moot in that sense. Just because it's
               | good today doesn't mean it won't be bad tomorrow. If Kagi
               | is putting best efforts to guarantee that today it's safe
               | that's better than nothing, no? And which to me is kore
               | worthy than not.
        
       | Roritharr wrote:
       | What Kagi or anyone could work on, is an actually working version
       | of YouTube Kids.
       | 
       | I literally Pi-Hole Blocked all of YouTube after my son started
       | reading the Bible after a Minecraft Influencer started preaching
       | throughout most of his videos to the point my son became a bit
       | too much interested in the topic.
       | 
       | Not that I'm a rabid atheist or would deny my child such a thing,
       | but if THAT can enter my 8yr olds brain via his short allowed
       | time where he can browse by himself, i'm worried what else is
       | coming his way through it.
       | 
       | I'd love to give him access to valuable videos between rules I
       | describe by natural language and can test myself, but nothing
       | like this exists.
        
         | mvieira38 wrote:
         | May I ask how are you dealing with the hole Youtube left in his
         | life? I grew up on the internet, but seeing the effects it had
         | on me and the world I don't want the same for my kids. The
         | problem is I don't even know what to do in my own free time if
         | not browsing Youtube or playing games, imagine a kid.
        
           | skydhash wrote:
           | My advice would be hobbies. Learning and practicing stuff can
           | take a lot of your free time if you're passionate about it,
           | meaning you give it your full attention.
        
             | mvieira38 wrote:
             | Maybe I'm weird, but hobbies just feel like work anyways,
             | except maybe reading. Learning Japanese just doesn't have
             | the same feedback loop as grinding Dota or something...
             | Alas, how would I tackle this issue with a kid? Maybe just
             | throw a bunch of activities at him and see what sticks as a
             | hobby?
        
               | 7thaccount wrote:
               | Yeah that works. I've done piano, jujitsu, hockey, and
               | half a dozen other things with my kid. If they ask to do
               | something I let them, but make them do a commitment. If
               | they hate it, they can stop when the season is over and
               | try something else. The tricky part is to balance
               | ensuring they learn not to quit just because something is
               | hard, with not making them do something for too long that
               | they've just figured out is not for them. Piano and
               | gymnastics were a big no, while they fell in love with
               | the right jujitsu gym.
               | 
               | Not everything has to be competitive or official either.
               | Like you can just go to the community pool during the
               | summer without joining a swim team. I think some parents
               | forget this, but this was normal for previous
               | generations.
               | 
               | So my kid has a few extra curricular activities and then
               | I also do plenty of activities with them at the house
               | like play chess or card games or whatever. They're also
               | watching some of my old favorite sci-fi shows with me.
               | Nearly all of YouTube kids is steaming garbage designed
               | to turn your kid into a mindless consumer. Netflix kids
               | is pretty good though. There are a lot of shows that have
               | character progression and multi season plot arcs that
               | cover complex subjects. Avatar the Last Airbender is an
               | example of a show I was comfortable with my 7 year old
               | watching without worrying about brain rot. Mind you, I
               | think all screen time needs a limit.
        
               | Barrin92 wrote:
               | > Alas, how would I tackle this issue with a kid?
               | 
               | by teaching them that work is good and necessary. There's
               | a book by Neil Postman _Amusing Ourselves to Death_ , the
               | central idea of which is that "form excludes content".
               | The problem with Youtube, or in his time TV, isn't just
               | the content, it's that _all_ content by the nature of the
               | medium must be entertaining. If it isn 't entertaining,
               | it isn't content.
               | 
               | Hobbies feel like work because they are like work,
               | because most things worth doing have a component of work
               | to them. Rather than just trying to see what sticks, the
               | best thing you can teach kids these days is that they
               | should stick to the thing and that expecting "fun" at all
               | times is a bad expectation to have.
        
               | skydhash wrote:
               | Also there's a period when you're going to feel terrible
               | if you're focusing too much on the result, when you know
               | enough to judge the quality, but not practiced enough to
               | do it well. That's when positive feedback is important,
               | either by reducing expectations (just doing it for fun),
               | focusing on relative progress instead of absolute
               | qualifications, and mental care. A social element works
               | wonder for these.
        
               | Baeocystin wrote:
               | Let him be bored, and provide the tools so that he learns
               | how to make his own fun.
        
         | skydhash wrote:
         | Why not curate a video repository? I think novelty is actually
         | overrated and even harmful for kid. Deeper exploration on
         | familiar subject may be beneficial as that would let his/her
         | imagination to take on the job of inventing new things.
        
           | mvieira38 wrote:
           | This seems like a cool idea. Maybe using something like a
           | Peertube instance to join like-minded parents would end up
           | working out for scaling
        
           | kridsdale1 wrote:
           | I did this. I set up a plex server in my home that connects
           | to a NAS which has the full runs of every PBS style kids show
           | that I could find and found good reviews of. Along with
           | classic movies.
           | 
           | Just trying to recreate the media conditions of my youth,
           | with modern content as well as long as it's "pure".
           | 
           | I'm also putting me-vetted YouTube content like Kurzgesagt on
           | it.
        
             | Minor49er wrote:
             | You might want to vet your video collection more closely.
             | Kurzgesagt got into hot water a few years ago after it came
             | out that they were being sponsored by large corporations to
             | push messaging that used those sponsors' publications as
             | primary sources. They're not as unpartial and objective as
             | they lead people to believe
        
               | vinni2 wrote:
               | Care to share the source?
        
               | tiagod wrote:
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurzgesagt#Sources_of_fundi
               | ng
        
               | vel0city wrote:
               | https://www.reddit.com/r/kurzgesagt/comments/10jlyyk/kurz
               | ges...
        
               | albumen wrote:
               | They're not as partial and biased as people like to
               | believe.
               | 
               | When you read kurzgesagt's reasoned response, and you
               | consider the motivations of the primary accuser, it's a
               | lot less dramatic than you make it sound. Nobody's
               | perfect; and sometimes organisations' messaging align
               | without it being bought. They are not primarily funded by
               | billionaires, they have editorial independence enforced
               | by contract, and have a lot to lose if that's not the
               | case. Of course, make up your own mind (as kurzgesagt
               | would like you to do); but I'll still be watching their
               | work. If in doubt, check with other sources afterwards!
               | (Like you should anyway).
        
               | falcor84 wrote:
               | Trying to look into this now, and can't seem to find the
               | issue. Is the complaint that they used Our World in Data
               | [0] while they got money from the Gates Foundation? If
               | so, I don't understand what the problem is; it seems to
               | me as objective a source as can be. Or is there something
               | more shady there that I haven't found?
               | 
               | [0] https://ourworldindata.org/
        
             | voisin wrote:
             | Another great resource for vetting content for kids by age
             | is Common Sense Media.
        
           | bombcar wrote:
           | Jellyfin + ytdlp + playlists = pretty good, in general. and
           | avoids ads; the ads are worse than almost anything else you
           | can find.
        
             | philips wrote:
             | Do you have any automation on ytdlp and Jellyfin?
             | 
             | I built this with Jellyfin and Home Assistant for my kids:
             | https://github.com/philips/homeassistant-nfc-chromecast
        
         | MostlyStable wrote:
         | I had a lot of frustrations with the Youtube Kids app until I
         | realized that if, when setting it up, rather than choosing the
         | appropriate age range, you picked the "custom" (or whatever it
         | was, it was annoyingly hidden all the way to the right, so you
         | can't even see it at first), you are able to white list
         | channels and videos, rather than just blacklist. Why this
         | feature is hidden behind a different age selector rather than
         | being part of any of the age settings I do not understand, but
         | it's a lot better, and it could prevent the issue you describe,
         | although admittedly it does require more work on the parents
         | part to find and approve appropriate content. This is easier
         | for younger kids at least.
        
           | aNapierkowski wrote:
           | wait is this real? this is a thing ive been wanting, some
           | channels that are fine are not in ytkids and some of the
           | stuff in ytkids is just junk if we could curate a whitelist
           | that would be perfect
        
             | MostlyStable wrote:
             | I think you can only whitelist channels that are approved
             | kids channels, not from the full youtube library, but it
             | does allow you to avoid the ocean of crap and pick just the
             | good stuff.
        
             | bluGill wrote:
             | Perfect only if you have a small list that is allowed...
        
             | philips wrote:
             | Yes, it is real, but a bit tricky to setup with caveats:
             | https://abparenting.substack.com/p/effective-youtube-kids
        
           | philips wrote:
           | I wrote a blog post about that if it helps others. It is a
           | real game changer:
           | https://abparenting.substack.com/p/effective-youtube-kids
        
           | voisin wrote:
           | Is there a list somewhere to start a whitelist from?
        
         | jkkramer wrote:
         | As a fellow parent and hater of YouTube Kids, I've thought
         | about building a replacement.
         | 
         | What holds me back is knowing that -- if this was an iPad app,
         | for example -- I'd be at the mercy of both Google AND Apple.
         | It's a minefield of sensitive topics:
         | 
         | - Kids & privacy
         | 
         | - Content moderation
         | 
         | - Intellectual property
         | 
         | - Third-party UGC
         | 
         | Way too risky.
        
           | petepete wrote:
           | This is why iPlayer is worth its weight in gold in the UK.
        
         | jmathai wrote:
         | I found that most of the content on YouTube kids existed as a
         | means to advertise products. I don't necessarily care to
         | understand the economics of it because it just doesn't provide
         | enough value to bother.
         | 
         | What I do understand is that I don't want my kids being tricked
         | into watching ads because something about watching adults open
         | toys is entertaining.
        
           | newsclues wrote:
           | Kids have many people they can ask for gifts from.
        
         | piokoch wrote:
         | I would never expect that I will live in times, in which people
         | are afraid that kids read the Bible...
        
           | daemoens wrote:
           | Read the rest of his comment
           | 
           | > Not that I'm a rabid atheist or would deny my child such a
           | thing, but if THAT can enter my 8yr olds brain via his short
           | allowed time where he can browse by himself, i'm worried what
           | else is coming his way through it.
        
             | dingnuts wrote:
             | it's completely unsurprising that a child raised with no
             | spiritual grounding would be interested in a book that
             | teaches how to live and attempts to answer the questions
             | that rationalists and atheists have nothing satisfying to
             | say about.
             | 
             | How does one live a good life? Every religion tries to
             | answer that question. Has the GP sufficiently replaced
             | religion with something else to help their child answer
             | that question?
             | 
             | One life is too short and too permanent to figure it out
             | from trial and error so we have an instinct for myth to
             | help guide us. That's why religion evolved.
             | 
             | You can help your child navigate that problem and separate
             | doctrine from the helpful parts, or try to shelter them
             | from scary ideas. Good luck with the latter strategy,
             | especially if you want them to have a relationship with you
             | as adults.
        
               | Capricorn2481 wrote:
               | You would have to be completely indoctrinated to think an
               | 8 year old is going to read the bible and see it as a way
               | to live life, and not a confusing blood and sex fest. The
               | only reason you think of it in such sheltered terms is
               | your guardians said "Ignore the parts about donkey dicks,
               | this is a guide to spirituality, we are told."
               | 
               | > Good luck with the latter strategy, especially if you
               | want them to have a relationship with you as adults.
               | 
               | Again, you seem to live a sheltered life that you think
               | people who don't read the bible are somehow broken people
               | from broken families who are afraid of "scary ideas." I
               | imagine if your child was reading the Quran you would not
               | react this way.
               | 
               | Our families are fine. Focus on your own.
        
               | janwillemb wrote:
               | I'm religious myself. What you are describing is not
               | taught by the bible as it is in its pure form, but is a
               | selection of specific parts of it by the tradition that
               | you are part of. A different, lesser known selection was
               | posted in another comment, about rape and murder. You
               | could also select very boring parts about family lists.
               | Or meticulously detailed instructions about the beard of
               | the priest. It is not wrong to try and live a good life,
               | but that is part of a tradition, not purely based on the
               | bible.
        
               | krapp wrote:
               | This may come as a shock to you, but morality and ethics
               | do not presuppose religion. The rationalists and atheists
               | don't have to replace religion with anything, they just
               | don't need to invoke fear of the wrath of an imaginary
               | sky father to justify being a good person.
        
               | totallynothoney wrote:
               | The secularists don't have satisfying answers to the
               | questions about life? What's next? Without god everyone
               | would rape and pillage?
        
               | Barrin92 wrote:
               | I'm sorry to tell you this but an _eight year old_ isn 't
               | reading the bible because they had a philosophical
               | meaning crisis and their journey into secular philosophy
               | was unsatisfying, they read the bible because the
               | minecraft influencer told them so, because they would do
               | literally anything the influencer told them, hence the
               | name, and probably why you should keep eight year olds
               | away from them.
        
           | Retr0id wrote:
           | The bible has some rather child-unfriendly content, in parts.
        
           | cwkoss wrote:
           | No single book has incited more violence throughout history
        
             | themaninthedark wrote:
             | I don't know, there are books by an Austrian and a German
             | both of which have sparked a large number of deaths.
             | 
             | More to the point though; when the violence is occurring
             | the author's work is used as a justification. If not their
             | work, someone else's would do.
        
               | Capricorn2481 wrote:
               | > when the violence is occurring the author's work is
               | used as a justification. If not their work, someone
               | else's would do
               | 
               | This statement falls on its face with any examination.
               | You're implying the Bible is on the same level as, say,
               | Catcher in the Rye. As in, a book that was used as an
               | excuse to kill by an already deranged outlier.
               | 
               | The Bible was explicit law in the history of many
               | countries. Non-practitioners were considered second class
               | citizens. Entire economies were thrown into crusades to
               | rape and pillage people specifically in the name of
               | Christ. Generations of children were indoctrinated into
               | believing this was okay. It's not remotely accurate to
               | say "well if it wasn't this, it would be something else."
               | This is a system, not an accident.
               | 
               | I have conversations to this day with relatives that the
               | crusades were completely okay because it was in the name
               | of God. This is not ancient history, this is what
               | religion does. It's just uncomfortable to say out loud
               | because then we'd be admitting that Christians are,
               | mostly, okay with dehumanizing everyone else.
        
             | tombert wrote:
             | I've gone back and forth dozens of times about how much
             | religion is responsible for the awful stuff in history vs.
             | just a bunch of selfish and/or very stupid people using it
             | to justify what they wanted to do anyway.
             | 
             | It's easy to say "Deuteronomy says to murder all non
             | believers!" and then point to an example of a Christian
             | killing a Muslim (or something) and assume that that was
             | their motivation, and maybe it was, but also maybe it was
             | just a homicidal maniac who gravitated to this book
             | specifically because they could use it to justify what they
             | were going to do anyway.
             | 
             | It's really tough to say, and I'm not going to pretend I
             | know the answer.
             | 
             | Suicide bombers (e.g. the 9/11 terrorists) might be an
             | example in your favor though. You're probably not driving
             | airplanes into buildings if you don't really believe in
             | what you're doing.
             | 
             | I don't know. As I said, I've gone back and forth.
        
           | tombert wrote:
           | There are parts of the Bible where a prostitute is mutilated,
           | butchered, and shipped to her rapists [1], parts where a
           | woman fantasizes about men with donkey dicks and horse cum
           | [2], parts where a father is seduced by and impregnates his
           | daughters [3], children being murdered for making fun of a
           | bald guy [4], and many, _many_ more things that I don 't
           | think would be appropriate for a small child.
           | 
           | It's fine if you believe this stuff, and maybe these are
           | layered with beautiful metaphors and it's beautiful when you
           | know the subtext, but I don't think it would be appropriate
           | to read a lot of this to a young child. Maybe you don't
           | agree, but I think it can hardly be _surprising_ that people
           | wouldn 't want their kids to read it until they are at least
           | a little older.
           | 
           | [1] Judges 19
           | 
           | [2] Ezekiel 23:20
           | 
           | [3] Genesis 19:30-38
           | 
           | [4] 2 Kings 2:23-25.
        
             | carlosjobim wrote:
             | A lot of the Bible is tales of what incredibly evil people
             | do, not an endorsement of those actions. A lot of the tales
             | is also sins and mistakes normal people make, because they
             | aren't saints. You need to have a certain level of maturity
             | to be able to read and understand the Bible and other
             | ancient books. If you don't have that, it's like believing
             | that the TV news is endorsing serial killers, wars, and
             | natural disasters, because they are reporting on them. You
             | can find the truth of human evil told repeatedly in the
             | Bible, it's not a fairy tale, so you should forget about
             | that perspective.
             | 
             | The Bible is absolutely not suitable for children, except
             | for choice parts. Those people who thought it was a good
             | idea to teach the Bible to small children did a great
             | disservice to those people and to religion. It's a hard
             | core book for adolescents and above.
        
               | tombert wrote:
               | > A lot of the Bible is tales of what incredibly evil
               | people do, not an endorsement of those actions.
               | 
               | Mostly agree, though not completely. There are actions
               | that are kind of deemed "moral" that I don't think are
               | good, e.g. Abraham being super willing to murder his son
               | to make God happy. Or Moses killing all the first-born
               | children of Egypt with the Angel of Death. That's pretty
               | evil, and Abraham and Moses are kind of the "heroes" of
               | those stories.
               | 
               | I agree that there is wisdom to be found in there, and
               | that it requires a level of maturity and literary
               | understanding to parse that sometimes. It's a book
               | written over the course of several hundred (thousands?)
               | of years with hundreds of stories, it's not weird to
               | think that there would be some good stuff in there.
               | 
               | > The Bible is absolutely not suitable for children,
               | except for choice parts.
               | 
               | Yeah, I agree with that. The "do unto others" stuff is
               | perfectly fine to teach to small children, and even stuff
               | with slightly more nebulous but ultimately clever themes
               | like the Prodigal Son are fine. I think I'd save the
               | stuff about murdering and mutilating concubines until
               | you're comfortable with them watching R-rated movies.
               | 
               | That's not a dig in itself, though. My favorite movie of
               | all time is Ghost in the Shell (1995). It's got lots of
               | wisdom and cleverness and to me it's nearly perfect, but
               | if I had kids I don't think I'd let them watch it until
               | they were 13 or 14, even though I don't think that the
               | themes in it are harmful or endorsing bad behavior.
        
               | thaumasiotes wrote:
               | > I think I'd save the stuff about murdering and
               | mutilating concubines until you're comfortable with them
               | watching R-rated movies.
               | 
               | Really? Do you feel the same way about Bluebeard?
               | Cinderella? This isn't a rare motif in children's
               | stories.
        
               | tombert wrote:
               | I'm not sure I know what Bluebeard is, so I can't comment
               | on that.
               | 
               | The original somewhat gory Cinderella stories? I might
               | wait until they're a bit older.
               | 
               | I don't have kids, so this is all hypothetical, of
               | course.
        
               | tmtvl wrote:
               | Bluebeard is a fairy tale about a lass who marries a guy
               | called Bluebeard and he gives her the keys to his house
               | and tells her not to go into one specific room and that
               | room contains the bodies of his former wives.
               | 
               | I might be misremembering it somewhat, but I believe
               | that's the gist.
        
               | carlosjobim wrote:
               | > Abraham being super willing to murder his son to make
               | God happy.
               | 
               | Sacrificing your own children is a human behaviour so
               | common through history and with different cultures, that
               | it's basically a biological instinct. Even today parents
               | send their sons to die in industrialized war to prove
               | their faith for the government, as well as sacrifice
               | their children in ways that are less explicit than that -
               | always to prove their faith and loyalty to the entity
               | they worship religiously, whether that's a man worshipped
               | as a god, or a disembodied concept that they worship,
               | such as "the state".
               | 
               | The story of Abraham is a way to break that spell. The
               | primitive human instinct is to worship by giving gifts,
               | and then naturally giving the greatest gift you can give
               | to prove your faith, which is your child. I interpret the
               | story of Abraham as a clever way to break one of the most
               | evil and persistent traditions of humanity, which is
               | child sacrifice. And the story is much more efficient
               | than simply saying "You shouldn't sacrifice your own
               | children".
               | 
               | Put yourself in his shoes (there have probably been
               | thousands of Abrahams through time). If he says "I'm not
               | going to sacrifice my child", the tribespeople will say
               | that his God is weak because Abraham dares to give less
               | of a sacrifice than the best, or that Abraham puts his
               | own desires in front of what's good for the tribe
               | (pleasing God or any god). If God told him to sacrifice
               | his son and God later changed his mind, that's another
               | thing.
               | 
               | The story puts an effective limit on the level of
               | worship. Sacrifice animals sure, but don't sacrifice your
               | own children.
               | 
               | Human sacrifice and ritual cannibalistic wars of genocide
               | is the natural condition of humans as a species. That is
               | the simple answer to why humans existed for hundreds of
               | thousands of years without making any progress before
               | something strange happened and we became enlightened.
               | 
               | Seeing as the Bible is a collection of stories that where
               | told for thousands of years before being written down, I
               | would think that there are entire generations and
               | cultures who have live by those stories and commands for
               | longer than the Bible has existed in any form. Pre-
               | civilization tribes that we know nothing about. The Bible
               | is our deepest probe into deep time, and absolutely
               | fascinating.
        
               | Capricorn2481 wrote:
               | > The story of Abraham is a way to break that spell
               | 
               | That's an extremely generous interpretation. You say the
               | story is about breaking the cycle of pernicious child
               | sacrifice. But there's nothing in the story that supports
               | that view, you just said it because it's the most
               | palatable interpretation of a straightforward story: Obey
               | God, and he may give you mercy (not having to kill your
               | kid). And you conveniently ignore Moses killing all the
               | first-borns.
               | 
               | > Human sacrifice and ritual cannibalistic wars of
               | genocide is the natural condition of humans as a species
               | 
               | There is no "ritual" wars without religion. Religion is
               | what is natural to humanity, as it develops in every
               | culture without fail. Whether you worship Jesus or the
               | Sun, the belief in an afterlife if you follow the rules
               | the last generation handled to you is what leads to
               | terrible deeds, because you can justify anything.
               | 
               | > The story puts an effective limit on the level of
               | worship
               | 
               | No, it doesn't. Many innocent people are sacrificed or
               | ordered to be killed throughout the verses. Jephthah
               | sacrifices his daughter. Saul is asked to kill women and
               | children.
               | 
               | > Seeing as the Bible is a collection of stories that
               | where told for thousands of years before being written
               | down
               | 
               | If by told for a thousand years before being written
               | down, you mean edited, distorted, and mistranslated to
               | the convenience of whoever was in power at the time, yes.
        
           | V__ wrote:
           | Have you read the bible? Lots of stories are absolutely not
           | child appropriate.
        
           | Capricorn2481 wrote:
           | Yes such a shame we can't scare children with violent ghost
           | stories anymore so they don't become gay.
        
           | themaninthedark wrote:
           | It was not that the kid was reading the bible that scared the
           | parent but that they took a sudden deep(obsessive?) interest
           | in something after only being exposed to it on Youtube.
           | 
           | I have kids and I too would be concerned if they suddenly
           | took interest in a topic. Not that long ago two twelve year
           | old girls murdered their friend because "Slenderman".
           | 
           | Religious topics can lead to radicalization and/or cults.
        
             | tombert wrote:
             | Purely in the interest of pedantry: I think it was
             | attempted murder, I think the girl lived:
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slender_Man_stabbing
             | 
             | Not that it changes your point at all, which I think I
             | completely agree with.
        
             | graemep wrote:
             | An interest in something that has ha a huge and pervasive
             | influence. Even if you are an atheist who would never reed
             | it, if you are from a historicist Christian culture it has
             | shaped your worldview.This is very well argued in Dominion
             | by Tom Holland.
        
               | tombert wrote:
               | I'm an atheist who has read large parts of the Bible, not
               | even to understand history, but to simply try to
               | understand the (ostensible) motivations of current
               | leaders and constituents in politics today.
               | 
               | I haven't read all of it, a lot of the Bible is a pretty
               | dry read, but I have read most of it, and it has been at
               | least a little illuminating to see what people will use
               | for justification of stuff.
        
           | Modified3019 wrote:
           | We live in times where the bible is considered a serious
           | yardstick for morality, rather than the fucked up Bronze Age
           | mythology that it is.
           | 
           | Considering it's god is a raging and abusive narcissist[0],
           | and how often the religion is used as a tool to justify
           | hatred, physical and psychological abuse, I would be just as
           | concerned at someone actively trying to proselytize. Religion
           | is entirely unnecessary for a moral upbringing.
           | 
           | I would likewise be just as concerned if 4chan's /pol/
           | started to target my kids with their propaganda. There's a
           | strong difference between intellectual good faith exploration
           | of politics and world events, and harmful radical
           | indoctrination intent on controlling their actions and
           | reactions.
           | 
           | As another poster said, at best it's a good opportunity to
           | sit down with your kids, and show them the tricks and traps
           | being used against them, but they are too inexperienced to be
           | let alone to be preyed upon with impunity.
           | 
           | [0] A wonderful resource outlining the parallels, which
           | helped me escape from the abuse I grew up with:
           | https://www.youtube.com/@TheraminTrees/videos
        
           | totallynothoney wrote:
           | Well, one might quite reasonably think a Minecraft youtuber
           | isn't the best person to teach their child about the Bible,
           | even if someone is Christian. Even considering that, how
           | appropriate a religious text totally depends on the parents.
           | I think GP would be questioned less if it was Qur'an quotes
           | on Minecraft videos and he subsequently blocked Youtube.
        
             | bombcar wrote:
             | Minecraft Bible is _modernism!_
             | 
             | Classical traditionalists, of course, use LEGO Bible.
             | 
             | https://thebrickbible.com/legacy/
        
         | bsima wrote:
         | maybe you guys should read the bible together?
        
           | d3752934 wrote:
           | I'm going to go out on a limb and say that isn't going to be
           | happening for this particular individual.
        
           | Carrok wrote:
           | If you think an 8 year old should read the bible, it makes me
           | think you haven't actually read the whole thing. Some pretty
           | atrocious stuff in there.
        
         | phobotics wrote:
         | I think DudePerfect have an app that is essentially this.
         | Heavily curated kid friendly content. It might only be paid
         | though.
        
           | jordanmorgan10 wrote:
           | Yup - our kids use it and it's the only "YouTube" kinda thing
           | that's worked for our family.
        
             | mattmanser wrote:
             | I had a look, and it seemed to be just their content? I
             | thought the GP meant an app with a range of content.
        
         | calvinmorrison wrote:
         | Church-goer son-of-a-pastor die-hard-reformed christian here in
         | agreement...
         | 
         | sorry there are too many whackos out there. I'd feel more
         | comfortable with my kids learning from Catholic Priests than
         | some random youtuber. In fact, my kids are probably going to go
         | to catholic school.
         | 
         | The reason why we have denominations in part is to maintain the
         | education of the clergy and keep dogma, or theology, in check.
         | 
         | (even if we disagree at times, at least most of the organized
         | christian church can agree on the basic creeds - something that
         | youtube seems hell bent on for clicks is getting you into
         | nontrinitarian and whacky stuff!)
        
         | philips wrote:
         | What is wrong with YouTube Kids? I think it works fairly well
         | and use it in my own home:
         | https://abparenting.substack.com/p/effective-youtube-kids
        
         | stankot wrote:
         | I stumbled on this some time ago and saved it for when my kid
         | grows up enough. It is a collection of a few thousands kid
         | friendly videos. I think their curation is pretty good, but
         | check it out for yourself.
         | 
         | https://thekidshouldseethis.com/
        
         | pyuser583 wrote:
         | What did these videos say? I'd like to let the leaders of our
         | church know, so they can add it to the sermons.
        
       | facile3232 wrote:
       | Content for kids strikes me as something you'd curate around an
       | experience and value system you sell to parents. I can't imagine
       | anything else would work very well.
       | 
       | Granted, this doesn't mean we shouldn't try to build filters. I'm
       | just rather pessimistic about a hands-off experience with such
       | software.
        
         | jmathai wrote:
         | I think curation is the key. I sort of trust Disney to curate
         | content for my kids. I definitely do not trust Youtube to do
         | it.
         | 
         | I don't want my kids to be able to "discover" content. Why is
         | that always the feature? Rhetorical question....I know the
         | answer, engagement and stickiness. I just don't like the
         | answer.
        
       | mvieira38 wrote:
       | Lmao the longest section of this is about the Poop Avatar
        
         | Minor49er wrote:
         | Speaks volumes about how they see their clientele
        
       | an_aparallel wrote:
       | Lol...i see why kids are shunning "online"... The internet was
       | exciting as a kid (for me) back in the nineties specifically
       | because it was the wild west: unique takes, mp3s, software
       | torrents, private p2p chats with strangers around the world,
       | porn, and most importantly...something my parents had no clue
       | about.
       | 
       | In 2025, id definately prefer kicking dirt as a kid.
        
         | decimalenough wrote:
         | As a parent of kids in 2025, there are approximately zero kids
         | out there who share your view.
         | 
         | However, they're all subscribed to SkibidiDirtKickerz on
         | Tiktok, YouTube and Snapchat. Don't forget to smash that like
         | button!
        
       | koakuma-chan wrote:
       | As a person of the age of majority, I would always choose the
       | poop avatar over something as basic as ball or duck.
        
       | dcchambers wrote:
       | Disclaimer: I am a happy paid Kagi subscriber and absolutely am
       | an advocate of their product. I really hope the company makes it
       | work financially because we NEED something like it.
       | 
       | I have two young kids of my own (4, almost 2) and have so far
       | been able to avoid the issues of letting them free roam on the
       | net, but it's obviously something that's coming. This was not
       | something I ever paid attention to in my youth but now as a
       | parent the open internet completely terrifies me. And I say that
       | as a core millennial that basically grew up with the internet.
       | 
       | The current status quo of "kids friendly" content (eg YouTube
       | Kids) is mostly awful. I would still never let my young kids
       | browse something like that without supervision.
       | 
       | I am appreciative that Kagi knows this is an issue and is
       | investing into the area.
        
         | pants2 wrote:
         | Feels like in my youth the biggest risk was stumbling on some
         | freaky gore/porn that scarred you, but somehow that doesn't
         | seem as bad as the risk of getting hooked on dopamine-optimized
         | brainrot, alt-right propaganda, or micro transaction focused
         | games.
        
           | Snacklive wrote:
           | This. I was a kid with too much free time and exposed to the
           | internet with some but not enough supervision.
           | 
           | I stumbled with some f up stuff that i still remember to this
           | day. But somehow I'm grateful that it wasn't the current
           | brainrot
        
           | dcchambers wrote:
           | Yep, that's exactly my fear. The brain rot zombification of
           | our society. How do I stop my kids from getting suckered into
           | an endless scrolling doom loop?
        
       | jmathai wrote:
       | Kagi seems like a cool company - I'm not a customer yet. I'd like
       | there to be technology companies I can trust - perhaps like Kagi.
       | 
       | I have been really happy with NextDNS though. My kids, not so
       | much. But hey ... that's parenting.
        
         | drcongo wrote:
         | Kagi and NextDNS are the two subscriptions I have that I
         | couldn't live without, you should give Kagi a go.
        
       | ryoshu wrote:
       | I read this as "Kaggle for Kids" which also seems like a lovely
       | idea.
        
         | airstrike wrote:
         | Seconded
        
       | yzydserd wrote:
       | > Family Plan ... We strive to provide a search engine that
       | prioritizes the well-being of your loved ones, particularly the
       | most vulnerable ones like children, by offering an ad-free and
       | safe browsing experience. We offer two different group plans
       | based on your specific needs.
       | 
       | I read it a few times and saw only one plan. What's the second
       | one? If it's the Team plan, that seems like poor copy.
       | 
       | (Kagi Ultimate subscriber here)
        
         | saintfire wrote:
         | Duo, perhaps?
         | 
         | I'm not exactly certain but under the family tab there are two
         | options: Duo and Family
        
       | philips wrote:
       | I love Kagi and I think the basic ideas here are a step in the
       | right direction. I would really like to see the curation be
       | social so I can share and collaborate with friends and my kids
       | school. As it is I help my kid use an EOL Chromebook to find
       | Origami designs but it is always side-by-side and I have tight
       | NextDNS controls to keep weird weird ads away from my kids.
       | 
       | On this topic I have been drafting and collecting thoughts on
       | internet and digital media curation the last few nights. Here is
       | what I have so far:
       | 
       | Thesis: The role of children's teachers and caretakers in
       | curating an environment for children to learn and grow is more
       | important than ever with the overwhelming variety of books,
       | videos, shows, etc all of varying quality and alignment with
       | caretaker and child interests. However, curation in the digital
       | age is also more difficult than ever. The web is a collection of
       | walled gardens which give parents limited and inconsistent
       | controls over what the child will see once inside the walled
       | garden. And, adding controls on-top of a walled garden is
       | impossible or only possible by very computer savvy users (e.g.
       | YouTube frontends).
       | 
       | What are ways care takers can practically and easily curate
       | today?
       | 
       | Examples
       | 
       | - YouTube Kids: https://abparenting.substack.com/p/effective-
       | youtube-kids
       | 
       | - Jellyfin or Calibre for ebooks
       | 
       | - Open WebUI with a custom system prompt for kids
       | 
       | Counter Examples
       | 
       | - Netflix, Disney, Amazon, etc: difficult to non-existent
       | curation controls - all or nothing
       | 
       | - Kindle Kids: there are controls but for Library books the
       | process is 12+ clicks between the Libby and Kindle app:
       | https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/devices/can-you-share-kindl...
       | 
       | "Our young students are just beginning to develop their powers of
       | discernment. By curating a good library collection, we can help
       | them learn to weigh the merits of a few authoritative works on a
       | subject rather than plowing through hundreds of internet sources
       | of uneven quality. And while a computer search is undeniably
       | efficient, we firmly believe that browsing a shelf of books is
       | more rewarding and more educational. It deepens students'
       | understanding of organizational principles, brings them
       | unexpected discoveries, and rewards patient exploration rather
       | than offering instant gratification"
        
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