@brent@thecanadian.social
@brent@thecanadian.social avatar

brent

@brent@thecanadian.social

Pseudonymous social pathologist. Science acolyte. Technological heretic. Linguistic hedge wizard. Erratic graphomaniac. Favours cooperation over conflict, competition, or (especially) coercion.

The nature of reality is complex, and incomprehensible. But we can do better. We should prioritize facts and rationality over speculation and bias.

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

brent, to random
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I am disheartened whenever I remember that a portion every transaction, everywhere in the world, goes to some oligarch intent on dismantling the public interest, so they can buy and rent out the parts.

brent,
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We rely on monopolies and cartels for almost everything, from food and water to entertainment and education. Health care, transportation, communication, logistics, retail, data processing, clothing—it’s all controlled by an oligopoly. We rely on it. We work for it.

We pay it more than it pays us. And when it is done with us, it will stop paying us, and its robot mercenaries will drive the rest of us into the rising seas. Including many of the tenuously wealthy, who assume they will be fine.

brent, to random
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There is a lot of "teenage rebellion" energy underneath all the reactionary politics.

Most forms of denialism, including rejection of pandemic health protocols, climate change, urbanism, good government.

It seems like a desperate need to defy authority, and demonstrate autonomy, on principle, no matter how destructive, to self and others.

It's juvenile belligerence. And similarly proud of it.

Saying so only aggravates their behaviour. How does one reason with children?

brent, to random
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Capitalism: the word and the thing.

https://press.princeton.edu/ideas/capitalism-the-word-and-the-thing

brent, to random
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I support kindness. I abhor cruelty.

But that doesn't mean I won't criticize a bad idea, or bad writing. if authors insist on taking criticism personally, they need to learn how to differentiate between ideas and selfhood.

It is not a good idea to fall in love with specific ideas. All ideas are flawed and eventually fail. Every description of an idea is inevitably flawed as well. Lazy toss-off descriptions of ideas are always awful. But that's most of what you find on social media.

brent,
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Of course there are exceptions. "Brevity is the soul of wit." But there are few Shakespeares. More's the pity.

brent, to random
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This is encouraging, maybe.

https://www.joelightfoot.org/post/the-liminal-web-mapping-an-emergent-subculture-of-sensemakers-meta-theorists-systems-poets

brent,
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@mike I'm afraid I only just found that in a discussion in another forum. I had not encountered the author before.

brent, to random
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When some posts a thread, and you want to comment, should you comment on the first post, or the last post?

Fight!

senanthic, to random

i don't want smart appliances, smart cars, smart anything. I want items that are durable and can be repaired for a long time, products with lots of OPTIONS I can choose for accessibility, and products that don't dump features for shareholder greed. products that can be used by novices and products which can also be hacked by experts. modular, scalable, repairable, adjustable, human products.

brent,
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@senanthic The problem is that you will probably have to pay between 2x and 10x to get those characteristics. And makers couldn't survive on the tiny market.

The entire mass-market production chain, from investment to purchase, wants cheap and disposable. It's the perfect drug.

Appreciation of lasting quality and reliability is niche. Most buyers don't even have the free cash flow (or the credit-worthiness) to allow them to buy high quality and long-lasting durable goods.

brent,
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@peterrenshaw

What are old things before they are old? New things.

@senanthic

mike, to random
@mike@thecanadian.social avatar

Cautionary tale: We did give out our bank acct number to some of our clients for EFT payment. Fun fact they can use just your acct and transit info to put through a debit transaction and it's up to you to dispute and reverse it. Seems like a huge security hole but what do I know. Moral of the story don't accept EFT and don't share your bank acct number even with trusted sources.

brent,
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@mike In the old days, everyone gave everyone their bank account number: it's on every cheque.

Today, everyone gives their employer their bank account info, for direct deposits. And it still requires a form giving permission.

It should certainly require more than the numbers to make a withdrawal. Maybe you need to report those jokers. That's fraud!

brent, to random
@brent@thecanadian.social avatar

You know what's not fun. Basically everything by Zack Snyder, but especially the first twenty minutes of Rebel Moon. I can't speak to the rest, because it was at that point that I turned it off in disgust.

Miserable drivel. I feel great pity for the cast, for having to speak that atrocious dialogue, and wear those ridiculous costumes. Whatever their financial compensation, the experience will surely haunt them forever.

brent, to random
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I don't like wishing for things. But it would be honest to admit that I do wish for things, though I usually keep it secret, even from myself.

brent,
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I wish that I were more academic. I wish that academic subjects were more fun. I wish that I wasn't so dependent on fun for motivation. I wish that I could simply accept that I like fun. I wish pursuing what I find fun was more likely to lead to success and higher social status. I wish I cared less about social status. I wish that life was not a perpetual misery of paradoxes and unresolveable psychological conflicts.

brent,
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I wish that I hadn't become so bored of things that I used to find fun.

What do you do when things aren't fun anymore? You have to search for new sources of fun. Or find a different form of satisfaction.

brent, to random
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Mastodon really dislikes my iPad, in either Safari or DuckDuckGo. No problems on desktop, though.

brent,
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@mike You may be surprised to learn that DDG has an app on iOS that I think is a wrapper for SafariKit or whatever the framework is now called. And they might even have a Mac version now.

brent,
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@mike I have a weird phobia of native apps for social media. Of course it's due to corporate incumbents, and thus I'm being irrational wrt Mastodon. I'll look into it (eventually).

brent,
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@mike there are heaps of Mastodon client apps now, but I don't see either of those on the Apple App Store.

I think Ivory is the popular kid on iOS.

brent,
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@mike OK, gotcha, I misread "web app" as just "app".

StillIRise1963, to random
@StillIRise1963@mastodon.world avatar

Infinite growth is a concept that should be applied to one's mind, not a business.

brent,
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@FantasticalEconomics

I think there is some artistic license in the use of the word "infinite". Literally infinite mental development would require literally infinite brain size. Unless you believe in an immortal soul in a spirit realm, unconstrained by the laws of physics. (Superstition is bad.)

Another, less contentious word, is "unbounded", which can apply to finite things like brains. Sorry if the laws of nature seem constraining! Can't escape reality.

@paulthenerd @StillIRise1963

brent,
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@StillIRise1963

That's so enlightened of you!
@FantasticalEconomics @paulthenerd

brent, to random
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I am a strong believer in progressive taxation.

Yet, I understand that some people dislike the policy of taking away from one person to give to another. No matter how unfair the allocation was to start with. It can seem abusive.

Who has better ideas for how to fairly reverse the trend of wealth concentration? Without frying Earth? Is it possible?

It's provocative to consider how inflation affects the wealthy versus those in debt.

But ultimately:

land + energy + know-how = wealth

brent,
@brent@thecanadian.social avatar

@mike A wealth cap would be harder than taxes, and inspire even more effort to hiding it. Many rich people have a financial net worth much higher than they report.

I suspect that banning buybacks would also lead to financial engineering workarounds. There are unlimited people willing to serve the interests of money, because of the cultural imperative to acquire it.

brent,
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@mike On the surface, I always felt buybacks seemed like a natural inverse of issuing stock. I can see how dividends combined with inverse stock splits would have a similar result, while being easier to tax the individual shareholder.

I have been wondering, though, if the problem is that we don't tax corps enough, while over-relying on taxing individuals. I think we should also have stricter rules on corps moving money offshore. It's anti-free market, but we should tax the market.

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