@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
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

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

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@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.

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@mistertim @rra Works for me!

PaulGrahamRaven, to random
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

"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.

PaulGrahamRaven, to art
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

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

Loukas, to random
@Loukas@mastodon.nu avatar

Farage hit by yellow waves of milkshake

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@Loukas Very well played, sir.

PaulGrahamRaven, to random
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

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
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

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

http://existentialcomics.com/comic/553

mistertim, to random
@mistertim@assemblag.es avatar

Som-hi!

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@mistertim 🚂

Loukas, to random
@Loukas@mastodon.nu avatar

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,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

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

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@Loukas

video/mp4

PaulGrahamRaven, to random
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

Fucking Postnord, honestly.

PaulGrahamRaven, to general
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

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/

CyberneticForests, to random
@CyberneticForests@assemblag.es avatar

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,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@CyberneticForests

video/mp4

PaulGrahamRaven, to random
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

"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!

samuel, to random Swedish
@samuel@social.spejset.org avatar

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,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

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

klingebeil, to random
@klingebeil@newsie.social avatar

"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,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@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.)

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@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...

jasonpettus, to random
@jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud avatar

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,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@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,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@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.)

bruces, to random
@bruces@mastodon.social avatar

*The Ibizan tot has discovered press-on tattoos

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

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

PaulGrahamRaven, to random
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

Quick question for anyone using Stripe to take payments online: are pay-outs sent as domestic transactions, i.e. wired to you from an instance of Stripe based in your own country of operations, or are they wired to you as a payment from overseas?

(Would appreciate some signal-boost on this query, because Stripe's FAQ is super opaque, and it turns out that their email-based customer service systems have been almost entirely turned over to LLMs... )

urlyman, to random
@urlyman@mastodon.social avatar

Portsmouth has reopened another section of its new seafront defences, the bit that goes round Southsea Castle.

The second pic shows a granite groyne which mitigates the long shore drift that Southsea beach is vulnerable to.

Looking perpendicular to the seafront along a granite groyne. In the distance, an enormous container ship heads towards Southampton.

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@urlyman Been a long time since I last cycled up and down that stretch of seafront. Looks like they've made a passing decent job of it.

Loukas, to random
@Loukas@mastodon.nu avatar

The UK Conservatives are set to get only 20% of the vote and 100-150 seats in July.

This would be a defeat of epic and unprecedented proportions.

Their previous worst results were 1906, with 150 seats and 43% of the vote and 1997 with 165 seats and 30% of the vote.

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@Loukas Yeah, something big is changing, for sure. But to folk looking forward to a Tory wipeout, I extend a warning: what comes to to take their place could actually be worse.

(That's no reason not to vote them into oblivion, mind you. More a warning against the inevitable complacency of a huge Labour majority.)

Loukas, to random
@Loukas@mastodon.nu avatar

A Swedish acquaintance of mine has written a zombie submarine novel called "The Hunt for Dead October."

PaulGrahamRaven,
@PaulGrahamRaven@assemblag.es avatar

@Loukas ... OK, I'm kinda jealous of that title. That's some serious pun skills.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • JUstTest
  • ngwrru68w68
  • everett
  • InstantRegret
  • magazineikmin
  • thenastyranch
  • rosin
  • GTA5RPClips
  • Durango
  • Youngstown
  • slotface
  • khanakhh
  • kavyap
  • DreamBathrooms
  • provamag3
  • tacticalgear
  • osvaldo12
  • tester
  • cubers
  • cisconetworking
  • mdbf
  • ethstaker
  • modclub
  • Leos
  • anitta
  • normalnudes
  • megavids
  • lostlight
  • All magazines
    •