File this one under the #comingLaborApocalypse. Really, I can't think of a job that is safe, but these are soon toast. Consider supporting basic income #ubi before it's too late.
Ok ok, so I started #reading E. M. Forster's #TheMachineStops and it is a #ScienceFiction short story, and it pretty much predicts a lot of stuff in today's society it is actually scary :blobcatnotlikethis:
There is a whole lot of #business#AI#IT and #chatgpt idiocy to unpack in this article, not the least is the self satirizing tone of the clueless author, despite the hopeful clickbait headline. If this is what companies are really thinking, it's the #cominglaborapocalypse around the corner. Either that or there will be no people who know how the computers or software works.
Red states like Ky are planning to eliminate income taxes to move to an entirely sales tax system. They plan to tax all goods & services, so presumably your doctor, home care, your bookkeeper, and your contract labor will all have to charge you sales tax on top of their regular co-pays & fees.
Of course, that means the brunt of all taxes will be paid by the low wage working poor, and the rich will not be affected - nor pay any tax on their income. Small biz is screwed.
Of course, this being the GOP in Kentucky, they will no doubt slap sales taxes on Food & Medicine, too, just to make sure they hurt the poor as much as possible.
B/c that's what right wing christians do - hurt the poor, disabled, elderly by depriving them of food, med care, affordable housing, and then criminalizing homelessness for good measure. In the name of their evil god.
Gdybym napisał to opowiadanie przed 2020, to - o ile w ogóle wpadłbym na taki pomysł - byłaby to groteskowa dystopia. Ale ponieważ pisałem je w "owym roku", jest tylko lekko - naprawdę lekko! - podkręconym odbiciem rzeczywistości.
It is estimated that during the Roman Empire 20% to 30% of Italy's population were slaves. For the empire as a whole that share was between 10% and 15%.
In these times, even modest Roman households might expect to own two or three slaves.
Quand un #JdR sort chez #Dystopia je n'hésite pas une seconde. Je ne suis pas encore très familier de la proposition de #Marchebranche de @Thomas_Munier, mais je suis sûr que cette proposition m'ouvrira de nouveaux horizons et sera réalisée avec un soin méticuleux.
I've finished: The Sky is Your's by Chandler Klang Smith.
My first attempt to read The Sky is Yours ended with me throwing it in the Audible App's archive. It starts with a rich brat crashing on a garbage island and immediately taking advantage of a naïve girl. I wanted nothing to do with it.
I forgot about it and when I encountered the title again, I gave it a listen. When you continue reading, you understand that his is a satire about late stage capitalism and no one likes the rich brat.
As we follow the three main characters, the afore mentioned rich brat, a naïve girl raised alone by an insane mother with anti-technology beliefs and my favorite, Swani a rich well educated and over achieving girl. We learn more and more about the corrupt world they are inheriting.
This is a mix of stupidity, and smarts. Some parts are dumb on purpose and some are dumb for comedic effect. Some parts are smart and some downright poetic. Each of our protagonists will find a mentor that will help them grow, but they are not being cuddled and their paths are winding. Again, I was impressed with Swany's journey.
Swany is also overweight, I'm not saying it's never referred to as unattractive, but men are attracted to her both physically and intellectually.
The ending detracted a bit from my rating, as we step back from the interesting characters and take a more distant view of the aftermath.
Scarfolk is a town in North West England that did not progress beyond 1979. Instead, the entire decade of the 1970s loops ad infinitum. Here in Scarfolk, pagan rituals blend seamlessly with science; hauntology is a compulsory subject at school, and everyone must be in bed by 8pm because they are perpetually running a slight...
Subposting from another conversation a little... while teaching #Psychology in #ScienceFiction course the students and I once figured out that there are some easy ways to create a #dystopia . The ones I can remember right now:
A reasonable-sounding rule or law is administered in technically consistent but problematic way (often by a bad actor or someone/something with no consideration for kindness, harm, etc.).
Something that cannot or should not be experimentally manipulated... is.
#2 is my fave, because I can do a bad imitation of the Standard Deep Voiced Movie Announcer Guy and say things like
"In the future, where gender is assigned by a computer..."
or
"Imagine a world where sexual orientation, mathematical ability, and food preferences are decided by a government genetic lab..."
This movie (and the year it was released) is now forty years old. That's older than than the gap between when the book was written and the year it was based upon! Are we more of a #Dystopia society now than what Orwell envisioned? I don't know about that, but our current music sure isn't as cold and #SynthPop heavy as heard here. #ElectronicMusic#NewWave
The true story of a fake dystopian town Scarfolk (scarfolk.blogspot.com)
Scarfolk is a town in North West England that did not progress beyond 1979. Instead, the entire decade of the 1970s loops ad infinitum. Here in Scarfolk, pagan rituals blend seamlessly with science; hauntology is a compulsory subject at school, and everyone must be in bed by 8pm because they are perpetually running a slight...