Ecosocialist from Scotland. I write blogs about things I read, watch or play, because writing is fun.
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2026-07-17T05:41:38Z Event JSON
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Last Notes npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic This is one of the best distillations of why neoclassical economics is a con. Obviously if you have the time, read your Marx etc. But if you don't, bookmark this as your go-to explainer for why the folks from the Adam Smith Institute or the Heritage Foundation are absolutely full of shit. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…rxg6 I distinctly remember the Brexiteers claiming they would willingly sacrifice economic performance for "sovereignty". We can now conclude they were not sincere, didn't really think that would happen regardless, and now that it has happened they seek to impose the consequences on other people. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…52nc yes. This is really an excellent time for all kinds of board games, but it can lead to choice paralysis! npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…52nc Wingspan maybe in that case. It's about building the best bird reserve, so quite gentle, and almost no opportunities to screw one another over. Settlers of Catan is a classic, but more competitive. There's also The Good Life, which is sort of Monopoly by way of a farm, but it's less backstabby. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…52nc are you looking for something competitive, cooperative, or something in the middle? npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic I was reminded of this superb piece by @nprofile…ugpy when i was doing the groceries this morning and a flustered shop attendant had to deal with three malfunctioning self-checkout machines, while three weary customers were exchanging glances. Including the mum with small child whose machine glitched after every item, and who clearly did not need that level of friction in her life right now. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…0hde 100% this. It's so frustrating to look at the insane amounts of money that have gone into AI and think of all the other causes (climate mitigation, Ebola vaccines, nuclear fusion, poverty eradication, etc) we could've spent it on, instead of a word guessing machine. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…xnyu fair, and that project did make me think of you. But I don't know how widely known the library is, so maybe the organisers didn't know they could use it. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…xnyu I'm reminded of the solarpunk posters I saw in Tyrol a few weeks back. They were AI generated, true. But their purpose was to help ordinary people translate a positive vision for energy autonomy into an image. The counterfactual is that the images did not exist, and that project would not have the same level of engagement. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…xnyu parking for a moment whether any LLM use is inherently problematic (not saying it is, but people have different views), I think you need not be overly concerned. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic They know the facts are against them, and so the facts need to be made to go away. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…ugpy clearly I should read Hwang's book (it's on a very, very long list), but this does beg the question why companies keep paying for a product that's 99% ineffective. In the end, it's their money keeping this internal surveillance machine alive. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…x9tq and that wealth sucked out of society explains why we "cannot afford" the trappings of a good society. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic I've found this a very useful guide to start weaning myself off US Big Tech, though I've ended up making some comprises. I use @nprofile…frjj for search, because I like getting completely ad-free search that doesn't track me as uses its own index, and @nprofile…wy7n for blogging because they don't force me to track my readers and support a healthy internet. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic Every now and then it reoccurs to me how wild it is that you can't access the average web page anymore without a thousand parasitical companies trying to mine your data, and we all act as if that's normal. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…x9tq one might even call this "industrial strategy", but despite several departments bearing that name having existed, we seem profoundly short of anything resembling such a thing. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…x9tq oh absolutely. But personally I'd prefer more objective rationale for government policy. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…x9tq the last part is the point, isn't it. We either decide that we're into free markets and import our steel because making it in the UK is simply too expensive, or the government makes it at a loss at home, and presumably pressures domestic users into buying it. But if there is a national interest of sorts, we ought to be willing to pay for it. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic Cory asks the pertinent question here. If companies can be persons, why not rivers, mountains and wetlands? npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…la7y I'm not even sure that's true anymore. At this point, I'd believe they'd do it just to be contrarian. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic My profile tells me it's just over a year since I joined Mastodon, so a bit late for an #introduction but I hear it is a good way to get started on here. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…x9tq it's yet more evidence that we don't have a proper press in this country. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…x9tq I haven't seen the research of course. I was simply thinking that if I now changed careers to plumbing or power system management, I'd be underqualified. Put me in a simple compliance role or stacking shelves, I'd be overqualified. So it's all about context, rather than the person. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…x9tq I do wonder if "misqualified" is a more helpful lens. Underqualified implies a certain "you're too dumb for this job". Misqualified more indicates a mismatch between the skills we need and the skills we train. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…x9tq do we know who Democracy Volunteers are? I'd not heard of them before this election. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…x9tq I'm interested in energy here. I don't think we're 50% worse at moving electrons around. Is that a consequence of how productivity is calculated combined with recent volatility in energy prices? npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic This excellent blog by @nprofile…ugpy chimes with my observation that, at least in the UK, public provision always feels like it's purposefully unpleasant and ugly, to hammer home that government is bad, and so are you for relying for it. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…x9tq maybe we can convince them to name it the Department for Prosperity, as that a) avoids the inbuilt assumption that growth is good and b) emphasis the actual point of growth. It being a means to an end and all that. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…ugpy the cruelty is of course the point. npub1f6jkn4j7x2atq8r368wzut7mmyhkghuvj0jvwrc50u8qrx9zfj8qyfml8k The Casual Critic @nprofile…p9sx @nprofile…998y it's one of the reasons why my money is sitting with credit unions and building societies instead. For what difference it makes.
