@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

PaulGrahamRaven

@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es

Science fiction writer turned tech critic turned STS/critical futures academic turned consulting critical foresight practitioner and worldbuilder-for-hire. Resident in (and aspiring citizen of) Malmö, Sweden.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

PaulGrahamRaven, to random
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@mistertim @rra I can't recall if we selected a specific venue for this evening's meet-up...?

PaulGrahamRaven,
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@mistertim @rra Works for me!

PaulGrahamRaven,
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@mistertim @rra I figure if Möllan (the restaurant, rather than the area that bears the same name) isn't too busy, that's a good choice.

Loukas, to random
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When I see Microsoft investing billions in "cloud infrastructure and AI" in Sweden my only question is: what shall we use the empty buildings for when the market for AI crashes? https://www.svt.se/nyheter/inrikes/microsoft-miljardsatsar-pa-ai-i-sverige

PaulGrahamRaven,
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@Loukas Use them to house the glut of batteries being made in Norrbotten for EVs that no one is going to buy.

PaulGrahamRaven,
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@Loukas

video/mp4

Loukas, to random
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Farage hit by yellow waves of milkshake

PaulGrahamRaven,
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@Loukas Very well played, sir.

klingebeil, to random
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"I have yet to see a single Eras Tour merch design in the wilds of downtown NYC—not even as part of an ironic outfit collage in Dimes Square."

https://www.gq.com/story/end-of-merch-essay

PaulGrahamRaven,
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@klingebeil Well, I live nowhere near New York, so on that front I guess I can only trust the objective impartiality and journalistic chops of checks notes... a guy who seems to think that musician merch was invented in the 2010s.

Snark aside, I don't know that I've ever seen any TS merch in the wild, but I just assume I don't hang out in the sorts of places where it gets worn...

PaulGrahamRaven,
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@klingebeil JFC. Every generation assumes they invented the thing which, in truth, they simply cheapened.

(Also, I think we're past the point where calling Kanye "Ye" in your article, like he's your main homeboy, is even ironically acceptable.)

CyberneticForests, to random
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Lev Manovich bringing some “average Twitter user energy” to LinkedIn. I guess Lev is upset people are reading something he didn’t write. Nice to be hitting the stage of my career where Lev feels like he has to call my work boring instead of just ignoring it. :)

PaulGrahamRaven,
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@CyberneticForests

video/mp4

jasonpettus, to random
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Thinking today about how, over the years when coming across strangely spelled words I have a hard time remembering, I memorize the phonetic pronunciation instead. So even though "medieval" is pronounced "mid-evil," I remember it in my head as "med-ee-eh-val;" "oeuvre" as "ooh-ee-uh-vre;" and "chihuahua" as "chee-hooah-hooah."

PaulGrahamRaven,
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@jasonpettus The USian pronunciation of "mediaeval" is a blasphemy, and as such I'm greatly amused that you remember the spelling of the word by, y'know, saying it correctly inside your head

PaulGrahamRaven,
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@jasonpettus (And don't get me started on "aluminum". Most of the other elements merit that missing I, but this one? No way, dude! Don't tread on me, no pronunciation without representation, fucking Limeys &c &c.)

PaulGrahamRaven, to random
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Looking at that story about the "AI" thing that will automatically complete job applications and deciding that, if it provides even so much as a year of respite for the poor bastards obliged to apply for two dozen jobs a month--which both they and the would-be employer know very well they have no chance of getting--simply in order to be eligible for their welfare payments, then perhaps I'm willing to concede that something good has come out of this otherwise wastefully stupid hype-swamp.

PaulGrahamRaven, to random
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If you want a synecdoche for the utter absurdity of human endeavour in the context of systemic climate degradation, then surely it is the guy out in our yard right now who just got a petrol-powered leafblower out of a diesel-fuelled van emblazoned with the promise of "sustainable grounds maintenance solutions".

PaulGrahamRaven, to random
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Reading local news debates over whether or not to ban gangsta rap and fucking hell, Sweden; the mid-90s called and they'd like their facile political talking points back

PaulGrahamRaven, to random
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OK, look, can anyone point me at an entry-level explainer text -- website or book, I don't mind which -- that explains the basic architecture and processes of the EU standard for bookkeeping on the accrual basis?

I have an accountant, I have an online bookskeeping service, but I want to be able to do the day-to-day stuff myself, and I am finding it deeply frustrating to have to work with a system whose fundamentals I just don't understand.

bruces, to random
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*The Ibizan tot has discovered press-on tattoos

PaulGrahamRaven,
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@bruces The Cephalopods are surely the toughest of the Balearic pirate crews, so you picked a good faction

PaulGrahamRaven, to random
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Now getting "try our new AI features!" emails from Notion, which has confirmed my decision to commit to Obsidian was the right move.

mistertim, to random
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Som-hi!

PaulGrahamRaven,
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@mistertim 🚂

samuel, to random Swedish
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The Swedish tech finance company Klarna is a union hating company

All on the Unionen board gone from Klarna – ”cleared” - Arbetsvärlden
https://www.arbetsvarlden.se/all-on-the-unionen-board-gone-from-klarna-cleared/

PaulGrahamRaven,
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@samuel Who would have expected a loan-shark firm to hate unions? 🤔

PaulGrahamRaven, to art
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People have asked me to explain my #art practice but frankly it's already way too advanced and high-brow to be parsed in mere words

#TaylorSwift #kaiju #collage

PaulGrahamRaven, to random
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Fucking Postnord, honestly.

PaulGrahamRaven, to general
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we could, if we chose, put the genie back into the bottle

https://www.velcro-city.co.uk/we-could-if-we-chose-put-the-genie-back-into-the-bottle/

PaulGrahamRaven, to random
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"Both deals also include agreements in which the publications can leverage OpenAI's technology to power new journalism products."

Jeebus, 'new journalism products', FFS. What a time to be alive.

https://www.axios.com/2024/05/29/atlantic-vox-media-openai-licensing-deal

Ah, well. More publications to cull from the RSS reader!

PaulGrahamRaven, to random
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As is often the case, the real magic of yesterday's Existential Comics is in the hover-text

http://existentialcomics.com/comic/553

PaulGrahamRaven, to random
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Emailing old friends and colleagues to remind them of my availability for work, which I mention here by way of reminding you that I am available for work, thereby saving myself the awkward horror of emailing you to say so, and saving you the awkward horror of having to receive the results.

Foresight; horizon scanning; report writing & editing; bespoke worldbuilding with an emphasis on environmental issues. Worried about the future of your firm/institution? Let me help you think it through!

PaulGrahamRaven, to random
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"When I happen to tell someone I don’t use Spotify, on the rare occasion that I am in a conversation, I feel the same sort of smugness I would when I used to tell people I didn’t have a TV back when that was true. (Perhaps this is why I am in so few conversations.)"

Sometimes I just want to give @robhorning a big hug, and then go find somewhere we could sit and be quietly misanthropic together.

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