In one of the pictures they show "barley coffee". During the communism, in some countries of Eastern Europe you could only find in the stores this type of coffee, as the real one required hard currency to import.
This was the problem of another East European country, right post 1989, who elected what they called "a government of technocrats". Soon thereafter those newly elected learned/already knew how to steal, even better than their communist predecessors, while figuring out that they had to keep an appearance of democracy. It's been almost 40 years, and things are still broken. But "democratic".
English version only. Tried a few towns in Europe, and it's missing a lot of what the local language Wikipedia offers, so it's useful, in large part, probably for the anglophone world only.
Enshitification at its best. I've used Airbnb almost since inception, but the degradation of offering quality has been so noticeable that I totally quit using this two years ago. Last time the host did not only ask me to do all house chores, and still charge a cleaning fee, but wasn't going to provide bed sheets without an extra fee (W(ho)TF thinks I'm renting and possibly coming with my own sheets), but didn't have the room officially ready until 5pm, and had me out at 10am. F*k this "industry"
Funny how age shows up in some cases. For me the first thing that came to mind, when starting to read the article, was Ranulph Glanville's 1978: "What is memory that it can remember what it is?" (Progress in cybernetics and systems research - vol 4)
Not sure if this was a joke or a timeline glitch, but the year was 1976 and the volume was 7 ;)
> Glanville, R. (1976). What is memory, that it can remember what it is? In R. Trappl et al. (Eds.), Recent Progress in Cybernetics & Systems Research, Volume 7 (Proceedings 3rd European Meeting on Cybernetics and Systems Research). Washington, DC: Hemisphere Press.
INSIDE EVERY WHITE BOX THERE ARE TWO BLACK BOXES TRYING TO GET OUT’
by Ranulph Glanville Portsmouth Polytechnic, England
The nature of the blackness of a black box (when an observer does not know what is going on inside the black box) and its whiteness (when an observer believes that he knows what is going on inside the black box) is considered and is applied to a description that is built by an observer of that black box. It is shown that while whiteness may be believed to have been reached within a system, such a system, nevertheless, remains black on the outside. This understanding is considered because it sheds light not only on black boxes and knowledge, but also on certain very basic cybernetic and broad psychological concepts.
KEYWORDS:conceptual system, individual, behavior, black box, white box, cybernetics, feedback, input, output, Object, self-reproduction.
the reference is:
Glanville, R. What is memory that it can remember
what it is? In R. Trappl, (Ed.), Progress in
and systems research (vol. 4).
Washington, D.C.: Hemisphere, 1978.(c)
[7] R. Glanville "What is Memory, that it can remember wheat it is?" in R. Trappl
(ed.) "Progress in Cybernetics and Systems Research Vol 4", Washington DC, Hemisphere, 1978
Sure there is, many countries have successfully thrown off personalist authoritarian regimes and transitioned to being inclusive democracies with a strong rule of law. The problem is that Americans are very far from realizing that they have a problem, the magnitude of their problem, and the time and effort it'll take to fix this problem. It's a generational project that starts with throwing most of the current cabinet in jail, however this view is very far from the mainstream and things will keep getting worse before more people come to the same conclusion.
For real? You still have feudal titles and a monarch. In your land some humans are literally created as more human than others. Your government literally asks the monarch for permission to do democracy. But you'll lecture Americans on throwing off the strong man.
Totes for reals, yes, because I understand the difference between de jure and de facto.
The failure mode you're observing in the US is that one partisan hack can write a memo in the correct linguistic style, submit it to a council with a majority of other partisan hacks, and like magic anything can become legal or illegal, because everything was done in the correct linguistic style. Actual practice does not matter. There are lots of examples of this over the last two years, perhaps the case against the 14th amendment is a good starting point to see how this works.
> There are lots of examples of this over the last two years
And an equal number in your country. Do not lecture Americans on freedom and virtue. Your country has its share of shortcomings, your economy structured to a higher degree to benefit a class of oligarchs. Your politicians are liars and thieves like any other. Wait your turn.
We have an Executive, Legisla...handful of outdated pants shitters, and SCOTUS
Oh and 10s of millions of <50 year old adults that outnumber the >50 cohort. Yet they're too afraid of an frail olds doddering off into their own inner world live on TV.
Thing is rest of the world been saying this about the US for decades but censored TV full of imagery like one might see painted over buildings in countries run by Dear Leaders; Americans are effectively socially the same low effort smooth brains as those in terror nations they bemoan.
I'm not a fan of term limits for many reasons, but the Democratic Party's strict adherence to decorum and ceremony are a part of why we're in the mess we are. They care more about decorum and process than actually helping people and stopping the rise of fascism in our country. I'm confident the next Democratic administration will try to "return to normal" and "reach across the aisle" just like every time they get power to the detriment of their voters.
Part of this is that some people whine about reaching across party lines and working together when they start losing. Biden's responsibility to keep the country together and pander to far right, when shoe is othe foot it is about owning the libs.
Tell us you aren't paying attention without telling us you are not paying attention.
Wtf are you even on about?
But we don't have balance.
The typical age in Senate is "older than dirt" and it's not much better in the House.
That imbalance is fostering de-stabilization; maybe not for you cause you filled your bag or have generational wealth? Cause everyone I know has seen their wages go down 30-40% and grocery bill go up 50-60%
Yes? Supreme courts pretty off rn but there are still a number of wins happening in lower courts. The party of law (team red) is making a mockery of itself that I won’t forget in my lifetime.
That would only work if we agreed on what a replacement regime would look like. Faith in our regime is low, but the 'revolutionary' replacements are the DSA on one side, who mean well but are unbelievably naive[0] and on the other... Idk ancap wignats or something? Before the people equipped to put that amendment to use do so, I think there needs to be some sort of idea of what they're fighting for. There's a lot of stuff about how we gotta fight for democracy, but it's democracy itself that got us here.
One might point out the yale study that shows we don't have democracy, but if that's true, idk how one would implement a democracy that doesn't get co-opted the way ours has. Most of the ideas I see are not actually democratic. There's a lotof "well, democracy would work if only people / ideas that agree with my correct political views should be allowed to power" which isn't democracy, it's authoritarianism. Plato established a long time ago that benevolent authoritarianism is preferable to democracy, but the problem is humans aren't really good at implementing it. When authoritarians of any ilk get power, they tend to step on someone, no matter how good their intentions are.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RWsHLvBntg
In this interview Megan Romer, who is basically party leadership, explains 'Authority in the DSA is when we vote at the convention every two years'. The lack of structure is extremely ripe for bad actors.
Look I don't want to be pedantic, but this problem is exactly why the 2nd constitution of the United states framed up a representative democracy with strong federal government. It's a middle ground between a mob and a strong man. Close enough to the people to course-correct in perilous times (good track record for that, graven circumstances the likes of which we've no living memory) and far enough removed from the masses to guide us as a peer among nations. This only fails if the traditional Republic's "Rule of Law" is eroded to the point that the law becomes irrelevant.
DSA is the Coachman in pinocchio who promises a new life on Pleasure Island. Eventually the bill comes due.
No, and “all of this” is essentially the entire history of the United States. We’ve built a society on genocide, land theft, slavery and imperialist slaughter across the globe. What we are seeing now is the reflection of our true selves.
I think the answer starts with the US breaking apart into many smaller countries and the natural decolonization happening via demographic trends.
It's incredible how well talking points on wedge issues get consumed, accepted, and amplified by both bots and people. And even though AI can now detect this in seconds, the problem seems worse nowadays, not better.
(Source: we help power tools used by the big boys to analyze posts like this & their underlying narrative campaigns)
None? Why would anyone make decisions based on fiction? Trump people voted for Trump and complain about trans boogeymen constantly. It’s who they are: fearful of fictional situations.
Why do you say that - are you referencing something specific or just a point about his framing of existence? I just finished "a short history of decay"
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