@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

alberto_cottica

@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

Post-growth economist, citizen, runner. Network science, complex systems, digital anthropology, collective intelligence. Co-founder of Edgeryders, currently at UNDP Accelerator Labs. Ex minor rockstar. Thoughts my own.

#economics
#degrowth
#postgrowth
#anthropology
#NetworkScience

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quinta, to random Italian
@quinta@mastodon.uno avatar

Al tigí stamane l'intelligenza artificiale contro la contraffazione della mozzarella campana dop

e la bloc-ciéin ?

alberto_cottica,
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

@quinta peak Italy

black_intellect, to random
@black_intellect@mstdn.social avatar

Biden has forgiven billions in student loans. Voters may not have noticed. - https://abcnews.go.com/538/biden-forgiven-billions-student-loans-voters-noticed/story

alberto_cottica,
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

@black_intellect this is surprising. Forgiveness of student debt dramatically improves people's lives, creating more freedom and security, If you don't react to this stuff, what do you react to?

alberto_cottica, to random
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

Little help: can anyone recommend a setup based on a feed reader, that also works well with Mastodon? I could use it to read my masto feed AND some other stuff, like in the bad old days.

alberto_cottica,
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

@viq thank you, will check it out.

alberto_cottica, to random
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

ME: [downloads some software and launches it]

MY (MAC) LAPTOP: This is an application downloaded from the Internet. Are you sure you want to open it?

ME: I am aware that I should have an... installation floppy disk? A DVD, maybe? But just this once, it happened not to be available, so yes, I downloaded the software from the bloody Internet, would you MIND SO MUCH just opening it?


alberto_cottica, to random
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

Climate change looks especially grim as seen from the Global South.

And yet, people pull together, fight back, and adapt. Collective intelligence in the Global South is an amazing resource: abundant (though not free! It needs, and deserves, support), and largely UNTAPPED.

In this report, my co-authors and I try to learn from the courage and ingenuity of Global South communities, and reflect on how to support their work.

https://undpacclabs.com/untapped


pvonhellermannn, to sustainability
@pvonhellermannn@mastodon.green avatar

Was looking at the UN SDGs (sustainable development goals) yesterday and suddenly yet again struck by what a massive, massive con is. I mean, I’ve known this for years - wrote an essay on it in 1998, a paper last year, teach it, etc. But the way these 17 goals are so entrenched everywhere now; the way these boxes are so nice and colourful -

it somehow makes you feel good; that good things are happening, thanks to the UN and all the goverrnments and 1/2

alberto_cottica,
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

@pvonhellermannn let me know when you find one, please?

alberto_cottica,
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

@pvonhellermannn I am reasonably happy with the SDGs, so not qualified. But would be interested in reading one.

FantasticalEconomics, to Economics
@FantasticalEconomics@geekdom.social avatar

Interesting plan to repurpose office buildings: turn them into wedding venues.

With less than 50% of office workers in DC working on site, there is a lot of underused space, something many cities are dragging with.

"We've got beautiful buildings in great locations with spectacular views, but we haven't been maximizing the potential of the asset."

It'll definitely be much lower cost than turning luxury office space into residential, that's for sure.

https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2024/04/04/office-buildings-weddings

alberto_cottica,
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

@FantasticalEconomics how about affordable housing, though.

alberto_cottica, (edited ) to random
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

"an industrial system with reduced material demand is not currently in any group’s direct interest, although it is probably essential to human survival."

As I read more about the I see demand-side policies advocated for, everywhere.

everywhere.

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2016.0361

alberto_cottica, to Economics
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

"While I agree that there are successful cases, my point is that closing and slowing loops are drowned in the still ongoing mainstream developments that generally foster and prefer non-circularity."

Willi Haas, DOI: 10.4324/9781003244196-22

susankayequinn, to climate
@susankayequinn@wandering.shop avatar

YES

"Now is the time for distributed energy, A conversation with Duncan Campbell of Scale Microgrids. In this episode, Duncan Campbell of Scale Microgrid Solutions makes the case that distributed energy resources (DERs) — solar panels, EVs, home batteries, etc. — are, thanks to rising electricity demand and constraints on grid expansion, poised for a tsunami of deployment."

https://www.volts.wtf/p/now-is-the-time-for-distributed-energy

alberto_cottica,
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

@susankayequinn hm. What's stopping the solar panel equivalent of HP making Internet-of-Thinged, DRMed devices that they can remote brick if people do not pour enough electricity into their grid? I am exaggerating some, but personal computing was also meant to be inherently radical and decentralised.

alberto_cottica,
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

@susankayequinn I hope you are right. I live in Belgium, and regularly receive offers from companies that want to install solar panels on my roof ("no expense for you!"), and you can bet THOSE panels have plenty of software sitting on top of the smart meters that check how much juice is going to the grid. So, here is a question: do we know how many "free panels" are out there, vs. how many "corporate-enslaved panels"? Would it gravitate to the same proportion between Linux and Win/Mac?

alberto_cottica,
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

@susankayequinn no argument on the benefits. Just, with old age getting a bit jaded about technologies being presented as "inherently liberating". Personal computing we mentioned, another major one that was heralded as "inherently liberating" was – ugh – the blockchain. So I am trying to not make the same mistakes, even though (or because) that vision is alluring.

alberto_cottica, to Brussels
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

Signal boost! I am part of a group building a in . We are getting ready to purchase a site, and are accepting new members. If you or someone you know is interested, come to a public presentation on April 17: https://www.facebook.com/events/1526505357911161

alberto_cottica, (edited ) to ai
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

A thoughtful look at a popular training dataset for LLMs called LAION-5B reveals some general truths about "AI". Perhaps the main one is that companies are deploying stuff that no one, themselves included, fully understands, and no one is taking responsibility for the inevitable screwups.

Models All The Way Down
https://knowingmachines.org/models-all-the-way#section4

alberto_cottica, to random
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

Rail travel adventures: TGJ 9765 from Paris-Lyon to Geneva has 52 minutes delay on departure, which means I will miss all my connections, and might have to find a hotel room in Milano.

I try to fly as little as possible, and not fly at all within Europe. This takes some effort. On top of the extra time and money, companies are not playing ball. SNCF has not yet repaired the line between France and Italy since the August 2023 landslide, and non-refundable delays on top.

Climatehistories, to VegetableGardening
@Climatehistories@mastodon.social avatar

The EU’s recent retreat from its ambitious environmental goals may benefit far-right groups, however for the rest of us, it’s a disaster.

Key environmental pledges, such as use, green practices, and other environmental reforms, have been abandoned in response to aggressive lobbying and protests by farmers.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/02/eu-green-deal-far-right-environment-agribusiness-extremists#comments

alberto_cottica,
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

@kevinrns @Climatehistories Piketty is trying to get the EU to pass such a law: https://tax-the-rich.eu

alberto_cottica, to ai
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

Scientific papers being written by Large Language Models remind me of the aliens attacking science in Liu Cixin's "Three Bodies Problem". In both cases, the effect is that you are not quite sure how far you can trust the scientific output.

Daojoan, to random
@Daojoan@mastodon.social avatar

"it's important to recognize" = this post was written by chatGPT

alberto_cottica,
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

@xyhhx @verbeeld @Daojoan @lisamelton medical research is super scammy. I am an economist, and yet every day I get invitations to publish in dodgy medical paper mills. This does not happen to me with archeology, astronomy, or even economics.

alberto_cottica, to random
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

“We live in a cul-de-sac and let our young children play out with friends. Then a neighbour shocked us all by accelerating and deliberately driving at us and our children in anger. [...] This neighbour accused us of ‘turning the neighbourhood into a council estate’."

Nothing says Brexit Britain like forbidding children to play on their doorstep because that will depreciate property!

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/15/uk-families-threats-police-warnings-children-playing-in-street

alxd, to scifi
@alxd@writing.exchange avatar

Speaking long #sciFi and #solarpunk #books essays, I find https://www.notthesky.com/posts/essays/the-men-who-sold-the-moon/ very interesting.

It outlines how a lot of the American "Golden Age" sci-fi limits our imagination by focusing on scientism and capitalism.

It then criticizes early Solarpunk (as visualized by the Chobani ad), showcasing how a movement focused on aesthetic only can be easily hijacked by capitalism and used for greenwashing (as we were recently reminded by Figma's CEO).

We need more communal, dirty Solarpunk.

alberto_cottica, (edited )
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

@alxd It is a beautiful essay. Thanks @adapalmer for writing it, and you for sharing it!

alberto_cottica, to climate
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

[Now, there's a thought] Carbon offsetting similar to the selling of indulgences by the Church in he 15th and 16th century: pay money, receive forgiveness, someone gets richer while the world does not get any better (scroll toward the end) https://www.seethroughcarbon.org/articles/the-problem-why-current-carbon-auditing-fails

#ClimateCrisis #CarbonGrifters

alberto_cottica, to climate
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

"Unfortunately, in practice, carbon offsetting is a bust, so compromised that’s it’s best not counted at all. " https://www.seethroughcarbon.org/articles/carbon-auditing-basics/

tpolecat, to random
@tpolecat@mastodon.social avatar

Raise your hand if you ever made a paper snake out of tear-off tractor-feed margins.

alberto_cottica,
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

@tpolecat yep.

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