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“Have you ever noticed how the corporate media is obsessed with government corruption, but mostly mute on corporate corruption? There’s a reason for that. In modern America, corporate corruption is just the free market in action“ @blair_fix https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2023/05/13/red-team-blues-cory-doctorows-anti-finance-thriller/
“his feeling of pioneering excitement in the days of the early web, one strong enough to fuel him for decades, has finally curdled into shame and disgust.” https://www.wired.com/story/doug-rushkoff-survival-of-the-richest/ ht @dave
This is a fun kind of ego surfing. In ChatGPT's world, I have been so prolific! I have written about evvvvrything!
In our world, of course, I've never written about cathedrals.
The pathetic thing is I felt compelled to Google the made-up article I haven't written. I mean, what if I forgot something? I know the machine bullshits, but my mind is fallible and my memory fails, maybe it is me who does not know my own work?
Chat GPT answers a question with some made-up bullshit: What was Steve Randy Waldman's argument about cathedrals? Steve Randy Waldman, an economist and blogger, used the metaphor of cathedrals in a 20 blog post titled "The Cathedral and the Warehouse". His argument was that certain kinds of institutions, particularly those related to finance and banking, are like cathedrals because they are built to inspire confidence and trust in society. Waldman argued that like cathedrals, financial institutions are complex structures that are designed to create an impression of stability and permanence. This is important because people need to trust that their money is safe when they deposit it in a bank, and that the financial system as a whole is reliable and trustworthy. However, Waldman also argued that these financial "cathedrals" can become corrupt or unstable if they are not properly maintained and regulated. He used the example of the 2008 financial crisis, which he argued was caused in part by the failure of regulators to properly oversee the financial system. Waldman's argument was that we need to recognize the importance of financial institutions as trusted and stable institutions in our society, but also ensure that they are properly regulated and maintained in order to prevent them from becoming sources of instability and corruption.
what the matrix got wrong was that the robots would have to deceive us into our pods, rather than merely engage and seduce us. we’ll climb in enthusiastically while ironizing about being “too online”.
eight billion humans, and any of them could be your friend.
to really delude yourself, you have to reason your way into it.
"My plea is for adherents of the new ideology to openly articulate their principles and give reasons for them, and not to expect nor demand automatic acceptance. And also for opponents of the new ideology to understand what they are opposing and give reasons for their own principles."
from a skeptical-but-not-hostile definition-of and grappling-with "wokeness" by #PhilEbersole. https://philebersole.wordpress.com/2023/05/12/what-is-this-thing-called-woke/ #ViaRSS
“Washington, DC…is designed to be run by the elderly. The seniority system in Congress ties old age to increased power, as young people are told to wait their turn. Incumbency comes with a higher profile and robust donor network. Leadership posts and committee chairs are often filled by people in their 70s and 80s who, by nature of their age and wealth, are disconnected from the problems facing broad swaths of the public.” #PaulMcLeod https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/dianne-feinstein-health-crisis-senate-resign-1234734590/ ht @noahshachtman
“New thinking about how authoritarian rule works” @DanLittle https://undsoc.org/2023/05/13/new-thinking-about-how-authoritarian-rule-works/
I had great fun giving an Intro to #Scala for #Java Programmers last night at the Tampa Java Users Group.
Slides are at https://www.interfluidity.com/uploads/2023/05/tjug-scala-talk-2023-05-11/index.html (html/css) or https://www.interfluidity.com/uploads/2023/05/tjug-scala-talk-2023-05-11-glitchy-render.pdf (pdf).
( There's also — oh no! — video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8KGn8ZOXvc )
I got to meet @AccordionGuy, who did a great writeup here https://www.globalnerdy.com/2023/05/12/scenes-from-last-nights-java-user-group-meetup-featuring-scala/
Thanks to #AmmarYussuf and #SamKasimalla for organizing!
we know so much less than we pretend we do but that’s no excuse to make shit up in order to justify your dickishness. regardless of whether you believe the shit you make up.
a focus on elite credentials and endorsements, while treating diversity as a matter of identity rather than ideology, yields a corporate-friendly monoculture among judicial nominees selected by Democrats. this should change. see @ddayen https://prospect.org/justice/2023-05-09-case-for-judge-tim-wu/
the rich have no monopoly on the truth, but high quality disinformation and platforms to distribute it are goods and services that money can buy.
there are days when the fact the world has turned a very radioactive kind of stupid really gets to me.
"Democracy Is Our Hope For A Better Future" #EdWalker https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/05/09/democracy-is-our-hope-for-a-better-future/ #ViaRSS
imagine five years ago trying to explain that a significant faction would come to believe an American deep state runs high-stakes, elaborate psyops to deceive the public in favor of, um, trans people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N3N1MlvVc4
don't erase the hardest hard drive. https://toot.site/@livingarchitect/110334464358011459
this page doesn’t exist.
you drop by twitter to lurk a little, and it’s not kindergarten, it’s lord of the flies.