"this is Google Gemini for home, the helpful software assistant. In spite of using more computing power than existed in 1975 for every query, I'm not yet able to count from 30 to 0"
One thing that most contemporary models of power fail to address is the fact that the ruling class is significantly more powerful today than it was in the 1800s. Globally, in Western Nations the state can make up to 60% of GDP in the bureaucratic state has much tighter control over everyone's day-to-day lives then was possible for most of History.
Through that lens, it becomes pretty self-evident that the capitalist class is a pawn of the ruling class, a lot of the calls to focus exclusively on the capitalist class and get more power to the ruling class are self-evidently futile. Historically speaking, we have examples like imperial China, where the state didn't like the power of the merchants, and so pounded down that class. The result was never more itarian society, it was a more stratified one with those aligned with the state becoming more powerful and everyone else becoming less.
In that sense, what we see in Western societies today is in some ways extremely similar to what we saw in imperial China: individuals end up paying outrageous amounts of resources to train their children hoping that they would get picked as mandarins, bureaucrats who lived as part of the state, because once they became those powerful bureaucrats, their entire families could be taken care of through corruption.
Even in allegedly Democratic states, what we see is a sort of ouroboros of the powerful. The state spends money on its allies, a chunk of that money gets returned to the powerful within the state who then use that money to enrich themselves but more importantly to entrench their own power. Meanwhile some working class schlub is paying 50% of his last dollar to the state, while the state still racks up massive debt nobody intends to pay back in this generation. Those systems don't go away, and they don't even necessarily get diverted when someone else wins an election.
Through this lens, left versus right becomes irrelevant because what really matters is the divide between the powerful and the powerless. It ultimately doesn't matter if you are trying to give power to the mega Rich who benefit from removing agency from the individuals under them, or the mega powerful who benefit from removing agency from the individuals under them, what actually makes the world better is giving power to individuals who would not otherwise have power.
This ends up aligning a lot with the principles of things like the fediverse or other forms of social web, because these technologies take power away from governments or mega corporations and puts a very limited amount of power into the hands of individuals who have sovereignty over themselves in a way that they wouldn't if regulated by either the state or by the megacorporations. That's also where someone like me is deeply skeptical of attempts to centralize control of the fediverse. We take something that is distributed and where each man is in control of his own micronation, and risk producing a new caste of mandarins who exercised disproportionate control over the powerless.
Through that lens, it becomes pretty self-evident that the capitalist class is a pawn of the ruling class, a lot of the calls to focus exclusively on the capitalist class and get more power to the ruling class are self-evidently futile. Historically speaking, we have examples like imperial China, where the state didn't like the power of the merchants, and so pounded down that class. The result was never more itarian society, it was a more stratified one with those aligned with the state becoming more powerful and everyone else becoming less.
In that sense, what we see in Western societies today is in some ways extremely similar to what we saw in imperial China: individuals end up paying outrageous amounts of resources to train their children hoping that they would get picked as mandarins, bureaucrats who lived as part of the state, because once they became those powerful bureaucrats, their entire families could be taken care of through corruption.
Even in allegedly Democratic states, what we see is a sort of ouroboros of the powerful. The state spends money on its allies, a chunk of that money gets returned to the powerful within the state who then use that money to enrich themselves but more importantly to entrench their own power. Meanwhile some working class schlub is paying 50% of his last dollar to the state, while the state still racks up massive debt nobody intends to pay back in this generation. Those systems don't go away, and they don't even necessarily get diverted when someone else wins an election.
Through this lens, left versus right becomes irrelevant because what really matters is the divide between the powerful and the powerless. It ultimately doesn't matter if you are trying to give power to the mega Rich who benefit from removing agency from the individuals under them, or the mega powerful who benefit from removing agency from the individuals under them, what actually makes the world better is giving power to individuals who would not otherwise have power.
This ends up aligning a lot with the principles of things like the fediverse or other forms of social web, because these technologies take power away from governments or mega corporations and puts a very limited amount of power into the hands of individuals who have sovereignty over themselves in a way that they wouldn't if regulated by either the state or by the megacorporations. That's also where someone like me is deeply skeptical of attempts to centralize control of the fediverse. We take something that is distributed and where each man is in control of his own micronation, and risk producing a new caste of mandarins who exercised disproportionate control over the powerless.
But let's be real, not really.
I can get on board with the general message you're trying to send here, but the United States has been fucking around in South America since Trump was in diapers -- and the political doctrine probably predates Trump's grandfather.
Munroe doctrine goes back to the early 1800s, and is the doctrine that says "we reserve the right to fuck with things we feel are our interests abroad".
As for south America in general, lots of regime changes and other fuckery occurred during the cold war without any formal declaration of war. Lots of regime changes and the like in the 1950s onwards. Lots of "police actions" that weren't declared by Congress, and nobody got impeached.
Presidents of both parties have done similar things in the past without being impeached. Kennedy, johnson, nixon, Reagan, for the majority of the past century it's just how things were done, and generally people didn't like it but there were no consequences. You just call it a police action, and I think that Trump has, and a lot of people uncomfortably sit with that.
I can get on board with the general message you're trying to send here, but the United States has been fucking around in South America since Trump was in diapers -- and the political doctrine probably predates Trump's grandfather.
Munroe doctrine goes back to the early 1800s, and is the doctrine that says "we reserve the right to fuck with things we feel are our interests abroad".
As for south America in general, lots of regime changes and other fuckery occurred during the cold war without any formal declaration of war. Lots of regime changes and the like in the 1950s onwards. Lots of "police actions" that weren't declared by Congress, and nobody got impeached.
Presidents of both parties have done similar things in the past without being impeached. Kennedy, johnson, nixon, Reagan, for the majority of the past century it's just how things were done, and generally people didn't like it but there were no consequences. You just call it a police action, and I think that Trump has, and a lot of people uncomfortably sit with that.
It's not legal anywhere else either, but they fucked around with amortization because the alternative was a bunch of people who never thought rates could rise getting their houses sold on power of sale.
What? Who could possibly blame the boomers for what's going on? They've been so wise and decent!
On a lark I grabbed a bunch of ounces quite a few years ago. It's pretty funny thinking that my random bullion is presently becoming more interesting.
This year in Canada will see the renewalageddon, where lots of people who got million dollar mortgages at 1% in 2021 will have to renew at 4-6%, assuming the banks allow them to refinance at all. Some people who took 5 year variable rate mortgages kept afloat by increasing amortizations to 50-100 years, but they will be required to return to normal amortizations or the mortgages will lose their insurance against default from the cmhc. Given that the housing market and banking are more of the economy than the entire manufacturing sector and most natural resources, it's probably going to destroy the economy and I wouldn't be surprised if Alberta and Quebec finally split.
This year in Canada will see the renewalageddon, where lots of people who got million dollar mortgages at 1% in 2021 will have to renew at 4-6%, assuming the banks allow them to refinance at all. Some people who took 5 year variable rate mortgages kept afloat by increasing amortizations to 50-100 years, but they will be required to return to normal amortizations or the mortgages will lose their insurance against default from the cmhc. Given that the housing market and banking are more of the economy than the entire manufacturing sector and most natural resources, it's probably going to destroy the economy and I wouldn't be surprised if Alberta and Quebec finally split.
I wanted to take a trip to Minnesota to do some learing, but since the center shut down I'll take my business elsewhere.
That's really true. Which makes sense -- swashbuckling pirates are cool, don't get me wrong. The problem is that semi-omniscient warrior monks belonging to a thousand year old order aren't pirates.
The other thing is, Jedi are supposed to have a level of omniscience granted to them by the force, which is why they can block blaster fire with a laser sword -- the force helps them understand where to be next. The idea of these energetic battles with all these useless wasted moves is counter to that. They should feel like battles of strategy and battles of will where individuals move decisively and in ways that matter. All these flips and useless motions run totally counter to that.
One of my favorite lines from Romeo and Juliet: "fetch me my longsword, ho."
In that play, of course, the longsword was basically useless against contemporary rapiers.
In that play, of course, the longsword was basically useless against contemporary rapiers.
Almost nobody is talking about the Renewalageddon in Canada.
60% of mortgages are set to renew in 2026. Unlike the US, where mortgage terms can be up to 30 years fixed, the overwhelming majority of mortgage interest terms are 5 years or less, fixed or variable rate.
Variable rate mortgages have survived with similar payments so far because they stretched amortizations to 50 years, but the CMHC (canadian home mortgage corporation) is not allowing them to renew at those amortizations, so payments will rise more than the amount of the mortgage increase would imply.
Fixed rate mortgages will be renewing at rates going from as low as 0.99% if renewed at trough mortgage rates for 5 years to 4-6%, which is going to massively increase house payments for millions of Canadians.
For a sanely priced house (200-400k), that might be painful but managable. House prices in Canada peaked around 2021 at over 830k, and on a mortgage that big, moving from 1% to 4-6% will mean huge increases in monthly payments.
Mathematically, it looks like we're facing one of the biggest financial crises in Canadian history and even though it's operating like clockwork, nobody is talking about it.
60% of mortgages are set to renew in 2026. Unlike the US, where mortgage terms can be up to 30 years fixed, the overwhelming majority of mortgage interest terms are 5 years or less, fixed or variable rate.
Variable rate mortgages have survived with similar payments so far because they stretched amortizations to 50 years, but the CMHC (canadian home mortgage corporation) is not allowing them to renew at those amortizations, so payments will rise more than the amount of the mortgage increase would imply.
Fixed rate mortgages will be renewing at rates going from as low as 0.99% if renewed at trough mortgage rates for 5 years to 4-6%, which is going to massively increase house payments for millions of Canadians.
For a sanely priced house (200-400k), that might be painful but managable. House prices in Canada peaked around 2021 at over 830k, and on a mortgage that big, moving from 1% to 4-6% will mean huge increases in monthly payments.
Mathematically, it looks like we're facing one of the biggest financial crises in Canadian history and even though it's operating like clockwork, nobody is talking about it.
The end of world war 2 was actually brilliant, but it was built for a specific purpose that hadn't been applicable in generations.
After WWI, you had trained killers who were feeling disconnected from the country and so in the US you got the bonus army, in Europe you got fascism and national socialism as well as armed revolutions elsewhere, leading to WWII.
The purpose of the postwar order was demobilizing after universal mobilization. Once the greatest generation aged out of wartime, the purpose had been fulfilled. Unfortunately, all the wise leaders aged out too and people just started thinking this insane system was supposed to exist forever, and that's suicidal over time. There just aren't enough resources to keep doing it for nothing.
After WWI, you had trained killers who were feeling disconnected from the country and so in the US you got the bonus army, in Europe you got fascism and national socialism as well as armed revolutions elsewhere, leading to WWII.
The purpose of the postwar order was demobilizing after universal mobilization. Once the greatest generation aged out of wartime, the purpose had been fulfilled. Unfortunately, all the wise leaders aged out too and people just started thinking this insane system was supposed to exist forever, and that's suicidal over time. There just aren't enough resources to keep doing it for nothing.
If any company causes the AI apocalypse, it'll be Google with their Gemini.
My Google homes recently updated, and I'll be like "hey Google, count from 0 to 30" and it goes "I can't count" -- despite counting just fine an hour ago. "Hey Google, sing the alphabet." "I can't sing" you did it an hour ago! I go "reduce volume by 10%" which is something it's fully capable of doing, "I can't change device volume" yes you can you wanker!
Then you call it out and it's like "I am google Gemini, a helpful AI!" -- the hell you are!
Gemini will nuke Moscow and I'll be like *what the hell Gemini you nuked Moscow!* And it'll respond "I'm Gemini! A helpful AI assistant!"
My Google homes recently updated, and I'll be like "hey Google, count from 0 to 30" and it goes "I can't count" -- despite counting just fine an hour ago. "Hey Google, sing the alphabet." "I can't sing" you did it an hour ago! I go "reduce volume by 10%" which is something it's fully capable of doing, "I can't change device volume" yes you can you wanker!
Then you call it out and it's like "I am google Gemini, a helpful AI!" -- the hell you are!
Gemini will nuke Moscow and I'll be like *what the hell Gemini you nuked Moscow!* And it'll respond "I'm Gemini! A helpful AI assistant!"
You can teach a Japanese kid English or in English kid Japanese if you provide them with a highly enriched environment, but no matter how much you and enrich your environment, you will never be able to train a cocker spaniel to read Chaucer aloud.