Spencer Ackerman's piece in Rolling Stone is worth a read.
anything on reddit gets shit on by 13 year olds who don't know anything besides constant adaption to change.
That comment and this thread reminds me of this line from Cory Doctorow's book Walkaway:
Anything invented before you were eighteen was there all along. Anything invented before you're 30 is exciting and will change the world forever. Anything invented after that is an abomination and should be banned.
The tracking, the crap algorithms—they're bad for user experience and they're bad for society as a whole. But there is good stuff, too. I think that things like RSS (something old that is still amazingly supported but not consciously used enough), ActivityPub, and others can empower us to break free from the bad stuff while embracing the good.
Separate the content from how the content is viewed and we'll change the incentives for (and power held by) for those who have turned it to such garbage.
Exactly. I'm a dual national. The problem here in the UK is Middle England and other fuddy-duddies. They're myopic more than conspiratorial, although immigration is an area where they can sometimes venture into fantasy. The MAGA cult in the US is thoroughly unhinged.
Reminds me of something I heard someone say a few years ago (I can't remember who said it): Build statues of ideas, not people.
About 15-20 years ago, a friend of mine who teaches communication at a university told me of a study that I think of every time I'm in a store and see vague sustainability messaging on a product. The study had two types of milk containers, each with the same milk from the same producer, but one had a standard label and cap, while the other had green-coloured labelling and a meaningless phrase along the lines of "for a better tomorrow". The milk in the green, meaningless labels outsold the other one, even without making any actual claims. I think years of greenwashing BS have made people not trust claims of sustainability or eco-friendliness.
Another issue is hyperbolic discounting. Even if a more sustainable option saves money of the long run, people are generally bad at factoring in future savings.
It can work, but I still think degrowth is bad branding. Rather than focusing on what is done away with (growth as an objective), the focus should be on the fact that the policies would create a more stable, inclusive, and fulfilling economy and society. I'm not sure what term or phrase would work better, but some marketing folks should sit down with a thesaurus and do some focus group testing.
Machine Learning has huge potential. I am more interested in seeing it used to inform decisions and highlight things that may get overlooked than deciding actual allocation.
I was thinking recently that it could be possible to make a portable allotment by making planter boxes like this out of old pallets and they could be "installed" on unused land and then moved if challenged without disturbing the plants too much. Maybe drill two holes at the top on each end and loop rope through for handles to make them easier to carry.
It's one of the things that infuriates me when I hear refusals to address climate change: the "business as usual" way of doing things entails externalising countless costs, meaning comparing costs is an apples-and-oranges endeavour.
Thanks, this looks great! I heard last year that Łódź, Poland was looking to do some interesting things across the city, too.