Not even Peter Thiel could make seasteading work.
― Slorg is not on the Slerf Team, you idiot, you moron (Boring, Maryland), Monday, 8 April 2024 18:24 (three weeks ago) link
from the neom wikipedia page:
"Salman's vision for the city incorporates some technologies that do not currently exist, such as flying cars, robot maids, dinosaur robots, and a giant artificial moon."
People are being displaced and murdered for this.
― silverfish, Monday, 8 April 2024 18:24 (three weeks ago) link
story of the internal politics behind the decline of google search
In the March 2019 core update to search, which happened about a week before the end of the code yellow, was expected to be “one of the largest updates to search in a very long time. Yet when it launched, many found that the update mostly rolled back changes, and traffic was increasing to sites that had previously been suppressed by Google Search’s “Penguin” update from 2012 that specifically targeted spammy search results, as well as those hit by an update from an August 1, 2018, a few months after Gomes became Head of Search.
https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-men-who-killed-google/
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 23 April 2024 17:54 (one week ago) link
Making sure this doesn't just stay on the Perlstein thread:
https://prospect.org/power/2024-04-24-my-dinner-with-andreessen/
I KNEW FROM THE NEW YORKER THAT ANDREESSEN had grown up in an impoverished agricultural small town in Wisconsin, and despised it. But I certainly was not prepared for his vituperation on the subject. He made it clear that people who chose not to leave such places deserved whatever impoverishment, cultural and political neglect, and alienation they suffered.It’s a libertarian commonplace, a version of their pinched vision of why the market and only the market is the truly legitimate response to oppressive conditions on the job: If you don’t like it, you can leave. If you don’t, what you suffer is your own fault.I brought up the ordinary comforts of kinship, friendship, craft, memory, legend, lore, skills passed down across generations, and other benefits that small towns provide: things that make human beings human beings. I pointed out that there must be something in the kind of places he grew up in worth preserving. I dared venture that it is always worth mourning when a venerable human community passes from the Earth; that maybe people are more than just figures finding their proper price on the balance sheet of life …And that’s when the man in the castle with the seven fireplaces said it.“I’m glad there’s OxyContin and video games to keep those people quiet.”I’m taking the liberty of putting it in quotation marks, though I can’t be sure those were his exact words. Marc, if you’re reading, feel free to get in touch and refresh my memory. Maybe he said “quiescent,” or “docile,” or maybe “powerless.” Something, certainly, along those lines.He was joking, sort of; but he was serious—definitely. “Kidding on the square,” jokes like those are called. All that talk about human potential and morality, and this man afire to reorder life as we know it jokingly welcomes chemical enslavement of those he grew up with, for the sin of not being as clever and ambitious as he.
It’s a libertarian commonplace, a version of their pinched vision of why the market and only the market is the truly legitimate response to oppressive conditions on the job: If you don’t like it, you can leave. If you don’t, what you suffer is your own fault.
I brought up the ordinary comforts of kinship, friendship, craft, memory, legend, lore, skills passed down across generations, and other benefits that small towns provide: things that make human beings human beings. I pointed out that there must be something in the kind of places he grew up in worth preserving. I dared venture that it is always worth mourning when a venerable human community passes from the Earth; that maybe people are more than just figures finding their proper price on the balance sheet of life …
And that’s when the man in the castle with the seven fireplaces said it.
“I’m glad there’s OxyContin and video games to keep those people quiet.”
I’m taking the liberty of putting it in quotation marks, though I can’t be sure those were his exact words. Marc, if you’re reading, feel free to get in touch and refresh my memory. Maybe he said “quiescent,” or “docile,” or maybe “powerless.” Something, certainly, along those lines.
He was joking, sort of; but he was serious—definitely. “Kidding on the square,” jokes like those are called. All that talk about human potential and morality, and this man afire to reorder life as we know it jokingly welcomes chemical enslavement of those he grew up with, for the sin of not being as clever and ambitious as he.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 24 April 2024 17:26 (six days ago) link
“Just get into tech! Learn to code!” has always seemed like “If you don’t do this you barely deserve to serve me a coffee you despicable peasant.”
― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Wednesday, 24 April 2024 21:06 (six days ago) link
"go out and steal some bootstraps"
― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Wednesday, 24 April 2024 21:24 (six days ago) link
That's about an hour and 15 min from where I live, it's definitely rural. Idk, I grew up in rural WI too before high school. I don't really begrudge someone being mad about it if they had a tough time, it can be real rough out there.
(obv not defending this dude otherwise, I don't know anything about him and given that he's a billionaire he has a high chance of being a terrible person)
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Wednesday, 24 April 2024 21:29 (six days ago) link
"unaddressed middle school trauma that turns someone into a terrible person" is prob a defining characteristic of many billionaires tbh
― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Wednesday, 24 April 2024 21:37 (six days ago) link
it just turned me into an angry, poor radical leftist.
― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Wednesday, 24 April 2024 21:45 (six days ago) link
<3 a testament to your innate goodness
― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Wednesday, 24 April 2024 21:49 (six days ago) link
(not that goodness pays the bills, I hear that part)
cant help but think that in some cultures marc andreessen wouldve been buried in a bog
― lag∞n, Wednesday, 24 April 2024 21:51 (six days ago) link
in bog we trust
― polyamerie "it's more than this 1 thing" (m bison), Wednesday, 24 April 2024 23:20 (six days ago) link
Dude co-founded Netscape! well that's not nothing
― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 24 April 2024 23:29 (six days ago) link
bogscape
― lag∞n, Thursday, 25 April 2024 02:09 (five days ago) link
thinking about andreesen makes me too angry to post about the reasons he makes me angry
― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Thursday, 25 April 2024 14:56 (five days ago) link
cmon lets hear it then
― lag∞n, Thursday, 25 April 2024 15:11 (five days ago) link
egg man bad
― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Thursday, 25 April 2024 15:32 (five days ago) link
It doesn’t take middle school trauma or cultural deprivation or limitation, or an incorrect assumption of superior intelligence to end up a total libertarian asshole. Plenty endure both and are not greedy antisocial economic predators and vampires.
― schrodingers cat was always cool (Hunt3r), Thursday, 25 April 2024 15:45 (five days ago) link
All, both, whatever
― schrodingers cat was always cool (Hunt3r), Thursday, 25 April 2024 15:46 (five days ago) link
Worthwhile pod:
https://www.techwontsave.us/episode/218_the_religious_foundations_of_transhumanism_w_meghan_ogieblyn
Paris Marx is joined by Meghan O’Gieblyn to discuss parallels between transhumanism and Christian narratives of resurrection, despite the fact many transhumanists identify as staunch atheists.GuestMeghan O’Gieblyn is an advice columnist at Wired and the author of God, Human, Animal, Machine.
Guest
Meghan O’Gieblyn is an advice columnist at Wired and the author of God, Human, Animal, Machine.
― Glower, Disruption & Pies (kingfish), Thursday, 25 April 2024 16:12 (five days ago) link
The Tech Baron Seeking to “Ethnically Cleanse” San Francisco
“What I’m really calling for is something like tech Zionism,” he said, after comparing his movement to those started by the biblical Abraham, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith (founder of Mormonism), Theodor Herzl (“spiritual father” of the state of Israel), and Lee Kuan Yew (former authoritarian ruler of Singapore). Balaji then revealed his shocking ideas for a tech-governed city where citizens loyal to tech companies would form a new political tribe clad in gray t-shirts. “And if you see another Gray on the street…you do the nod,” he said, during a four-hour talk on the Moment of Zen podcast. “You’re a fellow Gray.”“A huge win would be a Gray Pride Parade with 50,000 Grays,” said Srinivasan. “That would start to say: ‘Whose streets? Our streets!’ You have the AI Flying Spaghetti Monster. You have the Bitcoin parade. You have the drones flying overhead in formation ... You have bubbling genetic experiments on beakers … You have the police at the Gray Pride Parade. They’re flying the Anduril drones…”Everyone would be welcome at the Gray Pride march—everyone, that is, except the Blues. Srinivasan defines the Blue political tribe as the liberal voters he implies are responsible for the city’s problems. Blues will be banned from the Gray-controlled zones, said Balaji, unlike Republicans (“Reds”).“Reds should be welcomed there, and people should wear their tribal colors,” said Srinivasan, who compared his color-coded apartheid system to the Bloods vs. Crips gang rivalry. “No Blues should be welcomed there.”While the Blues would be excluded, they would not be forgotten. Srinivasan imagines public screenings of anti-Blue propaganda films: “In addition to celebrating Gray and celebrating Red, you should have movies shown about Blue abuses … There should be lots of stories about what Blues are doing that is bad.”Balaji goes on—and on. The Grays will rename city streets after tech figures and erect public monuments to memorialize the alleged horrors of progressive Democratic governance. Corporate logos and signs will fill the skyline to signify Gray dominance of the city. “Ethnically cleanse,” he said at one point, summing up his idea for a city purged of Blues (this, he says, will prevent Blues from ethnically cleansing the Grays first). The idea, he said, is to do to San Francisco what Musk did to Twitter.
“A huge win would be a Gray Pride Parade with 50,000 Grays,” said Srinivasan. “That would start to say: ‘Whose streets? Our streets!’ You have the AI Flying Spaghetti Monster. You have the Bitcoin parade. You have the drones flying overhead in formation ... You have bubbling genetic experiments on beakers … You have the police at the Gray Pride Parade. They’re flying the Anduril drones…”
Everyone would be welcome at the Gray Pride march—everyone, that is, except the Blues. Srinivasan defines the Blue political tribe as the liberal voters he implies are responsible for the city’s problems. Blues will be banned from the Gray-controlled zones, said Balaji, unlike Republicans (“Reds”).
“Reds should be welcomed there, and people should wear their tribal colors,” said Srinivasan, who compared his color-coded apartheid system to the Bloods vs. Crips gang rivalry. “No Blues should be welcomed there.”
While the Blues would be excluded, they would not be forgotten. Srinivasan imagines public screenings of anti-Blue propaganda films: “In addition to celebrating Gray and celebrating Red, you should have movies shown about Blue abuses … There should be lots of stories about what Blues are doing that is bad.”
Balaji goes on—and on. The Grays will rename city streets after tech figures and erect public monuments to memorialize the alleged horrors of progressive Democratic governance. Corporate logos and signs will fill the skyline to signify Gray dominance of the city. “Ethnically cleanse,” he said at one point, summing up his idea for a city purged of Blues (this, he says, will prevent Blues from ethnically cleansing the Grays first). The idea, he said, is to do to San Francisco what Musk did to Twitter.
― mookieproof, Saturday, 27 April 2024 03:36 (three days ago) link
Just trying to bring this tweet to life
Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary taleTech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus— Alex Blechman (@AlexBlechman) November 8, 2021
― papal hotwife (milo z), Saturday, 27 April 2024 04:13 (three days ago) link
Tbf even other tech barons hate balaji.
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Saturday, 27 April 2024 12:33 (three days ago) link
he has an amazing brain that should be removed from his skull for study
― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Saturday, 27 April 2024 15:15 (three days ago) link
when they’re done they could put it in Andreesen. he’s probably got some spare room in there
― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Saturday, 27 April 2024 15:16 (three days ago) link
Paris Marx is joined by Meghan O’Gieblyn to discuss parallels between transhumanism and Christian narratives of resurrection, despite the fact many transhumanists identify as staunch atheists.
Oh hey, that's my friend. Everyone should read her book.
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Saturday, 27 April 2024 15:28 (three days ago) link
xp -- he's going to become the double-yolker
― mark s, Saturday, 27 April 2024 15:31 (three days ago) link
that’s right
― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Saturday, 27 April 2024 18:03 (three days ago) link
very perfect for a tech guy to pick gray for his authoritarian color, dont want to get people too riled up over your movement with an actual color
― lag∞n, Saturday, 27 April 2024 19:50 (three days ago) link
They are both laughable and scary in equal doses.
― The Artist formerly known as Earlnash, Saturday, 27 April 2024 20:09 (three days ago) link
the original greyshirts (be prepared to be dismally unsurprised): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Gentile_National_Socialist_Movement
― mark s, Saturday, 27 April 2024 20:11 (three days ago) link
These folks loved grey everything too: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocracy_movement
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 29 April 2024 06:38 (yesterday) link
And in The President Vanishes (1934), an organization known as "The Grey Shirts" is part of a conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. president.
― Infanta Terrible (j.lu), Monday, 29 April 2024 12:40 (yesterday) link
Technocracy_movement
> it would be enough that every citizen worked a cycle of four consecutive days, four hours a day, followed by three days off. By "tiling" the days and working hours of seven groups, industry and services could be operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
4 day weeks, 4 hour days...
― koogs, Monday, 29 April 2024 15:53 (yesterday) link