Sure: now that they know Elon is going to force through or dismantle any approvals still needed to drive with unproven tech, they may as well not miss the boat.

For people who have been trained to eat junk food news, the headline is all they have the attention and critical thinking skills for.

The Luddite - An anticapitalist Tech blog helped me understand why these seemingly contradictory worldviews don’t necessarily have to be–its a matter of what and for whom technology has been put to use.

As an example, Louis Pasteur gave away his patent for the good of medicine. It sounds almost impossible to believe against the modern backdrop of pharmaceutical companies that don’t even want to develop cures, they want “subscription” customers.

People have been trained now that since no one watches out for them they have to take their pound of flesh however it can be gotten–this is what stands out to people when they talk about societal decay, selfishness and anomie but it can be difficult to put ones finger on without understanding the workings of the machine.

“guys, I thought when we removed checks and balances and due process and accountability and made power and wealth for personal benefit at all cost our golden idol that…well that only applies to the poors right? I mean there is no timeline in which that would ever be used against me unfairly right? I understood it that I am only allowed to benefit from this sort of arrangement. Right ? Guys?”

It’s difficult for hubris and naivety to coexist but he’s managed to pull it off with this panicked effort. Seriously the Wiley Coyote moment as he looks down and feels the first tug of gravity.

Falling Down was in my head this week. The number of people in the US that are close to it is so high, it’s barely fringe. Ironically Trump might just trigger a revolution when he tries to clamp down.

Return On Assets? Roids or Adrenaline?

Mortal Kombat

“you thought you was Kobe.”

“you wouldn’t put a dump truck full of movies on a snowy road without chains on the tires would you?”

Start a limo service in Vegas with a fleet for the novelty.

You’d better be well paid, whatever you do. Like politics, all the wrong people go into Excel.

Just read the same article about CA last week; too much solar to be used so the excess solar generated, get this, was sold-often at a loss–to Arizona(the fact AZ can’t make it’s own sufficient solar shows the willful neglect, economic and political nature of energy!) and it lowered AZ bills but not CA. We’re back to energy traders and Enron price manipulations in the US after 20 years.

Batteries will fix much of it but until the grid has proper storage consumers getting fucked by businesses per usual.

It must be something like(only worse) what math teachers felt when the pocket calculator became cheap and easily available. It doesn’t mean you can do math but people conflate the two.

In the US and I read mountains of business and economic news,much of most of it assumes the reader supports and agrees with the underlying premises of cronie capitalism. It’s a really helpful way to understand how businesses operate, think and where economy and society will be driven.

an argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of anything the other person says.

Prosecution calls first witness; my teenage neighbor nemesis, his 28.8k baud modem, and Warcraft2

And why economists and sociologists are important to have in the room when marketing and sales heads throw stupid fucking ideas on the table.

“Our nascent AI technology…”

“…Monthly fee to ensure no enshittification…”

“…our mobile app does require GPS permissions to maximize…”

Coke just released an AI generated “holiday” commercial. The simulacrum slices off another level of reality for humans.

The government has been conditioned to give away control so much due to decades of corporate lobbying, spectacular they make a jump probably for social reasons without understanding the technological and economic underlying drivers. I’m sure a $500/HR big 4 consultant will provide them a slide on it in 20 years.