Posts by brent@thecanadian.social
(DIR) Post #Abrpca4QkSrPPXNL72 by brent@thecanadian.social
2023-11-16T14:48:36Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@stefano They don't care because it doesn't cost them anything. They cannot feel—or imagine—the external cost; for them, it does not exist.The root problem is a desire to not care. Corps (and govts) want to satisfy it. It is a product; people will pay dearly (and vote) to be free from having to care.Caring is mental effort: a finite resource. Those who can help people save that effort will always be loved and honoured by them. It is very lucrative.@gerrymcgovern
(DIR) Post #AbrxH8ggA7Ue2HYKWm by brent@thecanadian.social
2023-11-16T14:29:07Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
"Capitalism" is a straw man.Any system of social organization can be taken over and abused by sociopaths and narcissists. Any political system can choose whether or not to value diversity and natural systems.It's time to stop harping on about ideologies without consideration of human psychology and emergent sociological behaviours.
(DIR) Post #Abs018jGXUFJOVpDsW by brent@thecanadian.social
2023-11-16T16:45:06Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@amerika I like this idea ~in principle~. But we have to be clear: are we talking about the theoretical system, or the actual system? The latter is made of laws, and related social systems.There are bad laws in every jurisdiction. The effort wasted on attacking capitalist ideology is better spent analyzing and evaluating laws that don't work, or cause harm.Powerful people (not just "capitalists") analyze and exploit laws to their advantage. Ignorance of law is a serious vulnerability.
(DIR) Post #AcUzjYch6Y5LehnwsS by brent@thecanadian.social
2023-12-05T12:15:25Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@tante This disagreement may boil down to how much you can accept that value is based on something physical and measurable, versus it being purely a matter of perception—even if that perception is distorted or misinformed.For those inclined to the latter, the important thing to remember is the speed at which a perceived object of value can suddenly become worthless. And is speculation a good investment of one’s real time and energy? Clearly not, but delusions are powerful.
(DIR) Post #AdVFlYx0nJcfVhV3Fw by brent@thecanadian.social
2024-01-04T13:07:04Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@Wolven "Magic is real"? In the Arthur C. Clarke sense?
(DIR) Post #AdXUKX6tPutTbybvcm by brent@thecanadian.social
2024-01-04T14:24:36Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
A reality check on nuclear (fission) power.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EsBiC9HjyQ
(DIR) Post #AdXUKYi9SsI8Zp3CL2 by brent@thecanadian.social
2024-01-04T14:48:36Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
This video is a painful reminder that most people's fear of nuclear power is irrational. Because most people's fear of anything is irrational.I use "irration" in the sense of being "emotional" or "intuitive", which is to say, regardless of factual evidence.Irrational fears are based on social cues, cultural beliefs, and what we might call "instinct". Such motives (and at the opposite extreme, irrational comfort) are holdovers from our evolutionary history. But now are maladaptive.
(DIR) Post #AdXUKZezw5MZWKaC3s by brent@thecanadian.social
2024-01-04T14:51:30Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Beneath the problems of irrational fears (and comforts) lie the deeper problem of human (animal) reliance (trust) on one's emotions and intuitive feelings.It is very hard to get the average person to recognize, let alone admit, that emotions are often not trustworthy. We are genetically programmed to avoid pain. Resisting our emotional impulses is painful. So people avoid doing that.People can be taught how their emotions can mislead them. But that leads to autonomy and skepticism of power.
(DIR) Post #AdXUKaQV5TMPteo86S by brent@thecanadian.social
2024-01-04T15:22:28Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Hossenfelder's video includes a link to another video to promote support for Planet Wild.Their video is fantastic.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysSSrUoj00o
(DIR) Post #AdXUKbnE0T8G8QRnA8 by brent@thecanadian.social
2024-01-04T15:27:11Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
I often think that humanity, as a collective phenomenon, would be better served with a shared conscious purpose.I think the best purpose we could have is to protect and expand biodiversity on Earth. Virtually all other progressive efforts—social, technological, artistic, political, economic—could exist under this umbrella mission.It would be an antidote to the many pathological ideologies that assign humans a dominant position over the natural world (or one another).Biodiversity First.
(DIR) Post #Adc7hh3Oo5bAaE93Bo by brent@thecanadian.social
2024-01-07T16:06:03Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Too few people ask themselves, "Why do I believe what I believe?"
(DIR) Post #Adc7hiVnNzuJ6aRF5c by brent@thecanadian.social
2024-01-07T16:25:27Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Our main assumption about reality is: there are things; we experience them, and then we identify them. We accept their existence—we believe in them—based on evidence.Rarely do we consider alternative interpretations of that evidence. Rarely do we question our assumptions about the causes of phenomena. We accept readily available explanations.Rarely do we discover the existence of things for ourselves. Typically, we inherit our beliefs from other people, and the culture we grow up in.
(DIR) Post #Adc7hjsAKJOZKFucb2 by brent@thecanadian.social
2024-01-07T16:31:11Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Two people may have different explanations for a phenomenon they have both experienced. The likelihood is not that one is wrong and the other is right. Both are probably partly right, and partly wrong.But that is not how either of them are likely to cope with disagreement. Rather, they will each assert their flawed belief—denying their opponent's—more strongly, and fight. One may win, or they might reach a stalemate, until a third person integrates their views, fights them, and wins.
(DIR) Post #AhqmAquwiZi5Ar2WcC by brent@thecanadian.social
2024-05-13T13:47:19Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral Perhaps we should be talking more about financialism, less about “capitalism”. Details matter.The people who put up the money are rarely the same ones who run the business. Moreover, they quickly trade out their interests to the public markets and funds.The machine has no human operator anymore. Only various technicians who, however badly, work to keep the parts in order.The dehumanization of productivity is insufficiently examined.
(DIR) Post #AiUAyHTMQEYtM4ZTYe by brent@thecanadian.social
2024-06-01T13:59:22Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@futurebird “Perpetual motion chimera” is exactly right. Both of these nightmares rely on failure to obey the laws of physics, specifically thermodynamics.Intelligence requires information processing. Information processing requires time, space, materials, and energy. In short, it creates entropy. There is a minimal amount of entropy involved, proportional to the processing power. Stories of godlike AI seem to always assume that the machine has trascended the physical constraints of reality.
(DIR) Post #AieUChdcnKh3KHvYIK by brent@thecanadian.social
2024-06-06T13:21:42Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@wjmaggos Threat is probabilistic, not binary. How dangerous is fedi?Danger is a function of power. Power is a function of size and coordination. Coordination arises either from organization, or spontaneously, from innate similarity and alignment of goals.How large is the fedi? How well coordinated? A movement—or culture—needs to be both bigger and more coordinated; to be more powerful and more effective; and to accomplish significant change, like dismantling oppressive structures of power.
(DIR) Post #AipkCkyDWhZA4VzMTQ by brent@thecanadian.social
2024-06-11T23:42:53Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@stux Reasons to get fit and in shape:1. …
(DIR) Post #Aj0DxAroir7vRd7cO0 by brent@thecanadian.social
2024-06-17T01:03:32Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@futurebirdBullshit is an existential threat to civil society. "Free speech" is a giant security hole in the body politic. It has to be more nuanced. A sophisticated society would find a way to encourage sincere discourse, while filtering out noise that destroys it.We cannot function if we cannot communicate.
(DIR) Post #Aj3JaO8MCSwVAQgfpo by brent@thecanadian.social
2024-06-18T12:50:46Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird “we all know”— I don’t wanna burst your bubble… but what is your definition of “magic”? Last I checked, 90% or more people believed in some crazy shit.There’s no easy answer to the question: “What is essential knowledge to live and succeed?” It’s probably more than most people can retain.Most people don’t even know how electricity works. Or where clean water comes from.
(DIR) Post #AnOK6dAUd3QdhjYQd6 by brent@thecanadian.social
2024-10-25T18:36:08Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@RickiTarr we can blame the wealthy and powerful, but their wealth and power rests wholly on a social contract, which the public at large chooses to honour, instead of tearing up and replacing with something better.Their power is conditional. Society sets the conditions. If the public wants new conditions, it is up to them to set them. At any time they can elect a better government to protect their interests. But they choose to bow to corporate Pharaohs.