pdfernhout

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31.
by pdfernhout 1y ago
Ground up rock dust can be surprisingly effective to restore soil fertility: https://www.remineralize.org/ In general: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=rock+dust+soil+amendment
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by pdfernhout 1y ago
From the article: ==== History suggests normal AI may introduce many kinds of systemic risks While the risks discussed above have the potential to be catastrophic or existential, there is a long list of AI risks that are below this level bu
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by pdfernhout 1y ago
Related: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_credit "Douglas disagreed with classical economists who recognised only three factors of production: land, labour and capital. While Douglas did not deny the role of t
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by pdfernhout 1y ago
Will be curious what happened. According to whois, their DNS info was updated today: https://www.whois.com/whois/zoom.us
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
To support your point, consider the long list of assumptions underlying "Comparative Advantage", such as at: https://efinancemanagement.com/international-financial-manag... A key assumption being: "Factors of
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
Some tangential thoughts and rambles on this to try to get at the deeper issues, first from Jeff Schmidt about his book "Disciplined Minds" which encourages solidarity of intellectual workers: https://disciplinedminds.t
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
You wrote: "No one wondered how it would disturb the seafloor since so little was known about the deep sea environment back then." The "Sealab 2020" cartoon show had an episode about this in 1972 (so, over 50 years ago):
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
I'll put in my two cents. The issue could be seen as a variation of my sig (and related writings): "The biggest challenge of the 21st century is the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
Much respect for a Pope who said: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=who+am+i+to+judge
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
Not sure how true this is and I guess it is moot at this point (except as far as thinking how to ensure all legal votes are counted in the future): https://www.gregpalast.com/trump-lost-vote-suppression-won/ "Trum
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
You might find this Washington Monthly article interesting as it echoes your point: "Fire the Contractors" https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/01/05/fire-the-contractor... "Voters are right to w
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
Blurb: "You’ve never seen Elon Musk like THIS! An AI-generated video has the tech billionaire transformed into a Ming Dynasty official, delivering an epic speech about "Governmental Efficiency" with Kung Fu flair!" The m
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
A deeper issue is one I mentioned here on how contractors outnumber US government employees by more than 2-1, quoting experts in public administration: "Washington Monthly "Fire the Contractors": paradoxically add government
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
Thanks for the great example. I quoted it in a comment on r/fednews and two other NASA people agreed with it: https://www.reddit.com/r/fednews/comments/1iq66qa/comment/mc...
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
Now being discussed on Reddit Fednews with more examples: https://www.reddit.com/r/fednews/comments/1iq66qa/washington...
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Fire the Contractors: Paradoxically adding government employees reduces costs(washingtonmonthly.com)
45 points by pdfernhout 2y ago|37 comments
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
"Voters are right to want a less bloated and wasteful government. But Elon Musk’s plan will fail because the most inefficient parts lie outside it." "That’s because Trump and his DOGE sidekicks both misunderstand the nature o
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
On that ideal and whether it is still reachable someday, see my 2010 essay: "Recognizing irony is key to transcending militarism" https://pdfernhout.net/recognizing-irony-is-a-key-to-transce... From there: ----- M
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
Thanks for co-writing an insightful paper! Something I put together around 2010 on possibilities for what happens from here: https://pdfernhout.net/beyond-a-jobless-recovery-knol.html "This article explores the issue o
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
Such an arms race probably won't end up anywhere good. Thus my sig: "The biggest challenge of the 21st century is the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity." LLMs are too
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
On the ethics point as a "best bet", consider also the importance of a sense of humor that recognizes irony. As I wrote in 2010: https://pdfernhout.net/recognizing-irony-is-a-key-to-transce... "There is a fun
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
Reminds me that back in 2001 I was suggesting the Squeak (Smalltalk) Foundation's purpose should include supporting collaborative software and the community around it -- beyond supporting just personal development. There were a bunch o
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
Obligatory mention: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory "The Sam Vimes "Boots" theory of socioeconomic unfairness, often called simply the boots theory, is an economic theory that people in povert
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
Your comment reminds me of this part of Bob Black's 1985 essay "The Abolition of Work": https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/bob-black-the-abolit... "I don’t suggest that most work is salvageable
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
The goal goes even further -- to privatize economic gains (e.g. advertising revenues, SaaS revenues) while socializing costs and risks (e.g. increasing social divisiveness by stoking outrage, increasing poor self-image by comparisons with c
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
Some thoughts I put together on all this circa 2010: https://pdfernhout.net/beyond-a-jobless-recovery-knol.html "This article explores the issue of a "Jobless Recovery" mainly from a heterodox economic perspe
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
I hadn't heard before about Harberger's work from 1965, but circa 2004 I was inspired to come up with a similar idea but with a twist after reading someone's Slashdot sig that said something like "If copyrights are prope
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
You might find amusing the RA Lafferty short-story "The Primary Education of the Camiroi" (1966). Summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AXNLUFeplI "A PTA delegation from Earth visit another planet to inve
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
Thanks for your informative post. Related background on why that has happened by Dr. David Goodstein of Caltech from 1994: https://www.its.caltech.edu/~dg/crunch_art.html "The period 1950-1970 was a true gol
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by pdfernhout 2y ago
Maybe "Bullies to Buddies"? https://www.izzykalman.com/ ""We will never win the war against bullying by trying to convince people to stop being bullies. We need to teach people how not to be victims! (Iz

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