grafmax

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91.
by grafmax 1y ago
Strange that this is framed as a national sovereignty issue not an issue of UK government’s overwrought free speech repression and its utilization of corporate bullying to that end. This is exactly the thing we don’t want democratic govern
92.
by grafmax 1y ago
I think as people get further squeezed there is only one way to go and that is mass strikes. It’s likely things have to get worse before people are forced into the only realistic option.
93.
by grafmax 1y ago
Unfortunately you can’t opt out. The surveillance network blankets virtually everyone - friends, family, all of society.
94.
by grafmax 1y ago
Yikes. Talk about imperial boomerang.
95.
by grafmax 1y ago
It’s almost like one criminal organization stealing from another.
96.
by grafmax 1y ago
I think Silicon Valley is losing its edge (as evidenced by the widespread enshittification) so it needs to combine with the government to support its rent extraction (available to it as it has amassed so much money).
97.
by grafmax 1y ago
AI is supposed to be the US big economic bet. And the US flagship product is already declining into sexting. I mean, I wasn’t surprised when I saw the so-called “companions” tab in Grok . > it's so sad to hear users say, 'Ple
98.
by grafmax 1y ago
The wealthy wouldn’t spend their riches on propaganda if it weren’t effective. Trumpism appeals to primal emotions around family, religion, pride, safety, belonging. Social media is tribalism and echo chambers. The “other side” appears ‘in
99.
by grafmax 1y ago
Environmental regulations are the real reason we have climate change, not polluting for profit. Brilliant!
100.
by grafmax 1y ago
We would benefit from more civic engagement, but let’s not mischaracterize the situation. Those with more money really do have more power, which they use to buy more influence directly through legalized bribery or indirectly through media
101.
by grafmax 1y ago
Roughly one third of eligible voters voted for Trump, one third for Harris, and one third abstained, presumably because they felt neither candidate represented them. In a government where money buys power that’s not a totally unreasonable t
102.
by grafmax 1y ago
It’s a rent extraction economy not an industrial one.
103.
by grafmax 1y ago
Exploiting a foreign country’s own resources such that the profits are sent to foreign owners to the point of impoverishment instead of letting that country profit from those resources by socializing the profits to its people - surely that
104.
by grafmax 1y ago
We’re dictatorships by the rich. The US doesn’t even care about the semblance of democracy any more. There is no moral basis to such appeals. Consider Saudi Arabia. It’s geopolitical. And on that front, the rivalry with China is activel
105.
by grafmax 1y ago
That’s a stretch. The billionaires weren’t democratically elected to anything, not even by our system where money buys influence and propaganda. No, they’re just rich.
106.
by grafmax 1y ago
Those who hold the money hold the power. Is rule by billionaires really democratic? Have you seen how easily they are wiping their asses with our democracy now that it’s convenient?
107.
by grafmax 1y ago
I like this idea. The problem isn’t free speech it’s the money which gives monied interests vastly disproportionate weight.
108.
by grafmax 1y ago
It’s a tried and true method of Silicon Valley VCs. Produce something as a loss leader. Build a moat. Then extract rent. Not only can you stop having to produce anything of value, you can even degrade your product and people won’t be able
109.
by grafmax 1y ago
Yes, basically rent extraction over various forms of cloud capital. The widening societal wealth gap means owners can simply charge workers for access to what they own, without having to produce very much. Perfect in the short term if you a
110.
by grafmax 1y ago
Let’s say any of these would take off. Let’s put aside the US’ inferior energy picture, industrial base, or key natural resource access that would block the US from making some of these a reality. What are these new techs going to be used
111.
by grafmax 1y ago
I just don’t think the AI supremacy scenario is realistic. I think it ignores our current context and postulates a clean break, almost a kind of magical thinking to be frank. AI is likely to intensify current trends not suddenly subvert and
112.
by grafmax 1y ago
Im not convinced the geopolitical rivalry between US and China is a given. To a large degree it’s been manufactured - Friday’s antics a case in point. The US indeed seems destined to fall behind due to decades of economic mismanagement unde
113.
by grafmax 1y ago
Feeding people to the lions in the hope that you can satisfy them is not the right call, morally or strategically. The list of targets has already expanded to include racial minorities, and it’s continuing to grow.
114.
by grafmax 1y ago
For example guevedoces assigned female at birth but who develop external male genitalia during puberty: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5%CE%B1-Reductase_2_deficiency
115.
by grafmax 1y ago
It seems we expect the government to step in and fix this. But it’s not a neutral party. Even before Trump collusion between moneyed interests and politicians was high. Those who hold the money hold the power. And those with the money have
116.
by grafmax 1y ago
I think you have a lot of faith in democratic processes at this point, despite widespread evidence such as this very article that they are being clearly undermined.
117.
by grafmax 1y ago
> It also seems likely that if the 30-Year Fixed went away, only the truly wealthy would be able to buy homes … to rent to the rest of us of course. It’s kind of already been happening. Rising LTVs. A rising percentage of renters. All th
118.
by grafmax 1y ago
Both the Pax Romana and Pax Mongolica saw their share of violence - plausibly comparable to 19th century Europe, or the Han and Tang dynasties, which which were not unipolar. We just don’t have good numbers for any of these cases. The long-
119.
by grafmax 1y ago
> more like peacekeeping operations Peacekeeping is like the UN sending troops in to monitor a ceasefire. These were wars. 35,000+ civilian deaths in Afghanistan. Overthrowing Gaddafi. Tens of thousands of airstrikes against ISIS in Ira
120.
by grafmax 1y ago
That’s an issue of the front-end not the backend. The backend is where an open protocol is needed to break the parasitism of the social media companies. Whether users deal with spam depends on the moderation policies applied by this or that

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