#bezos
Two unsympathetic people find each other...
#bezos #trump #Amazon #politics #economy #usa #capitalism #future #government
Trump Wins, Cory Doctorow Has Cancer
Cory will be OK, but I'm worried about the USA.
If Trump accomplishes half of what he says he wants to accomplish, we're in big trouble.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/11/06/us-second-trump-term-threat-rights-us-world-0 President Trump vs human rights
https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/05/carcinoma-angels/ from Cory about his cancer
https://text.npr.org/nx-s1-5181315 The Dow Jones jumps over 1,300 points after Trump wins the election
This vindicates all the things I wrote about the Democrats screwing up, but that's small comfort now.
First the Democrats were the party of slavery.
Then they were the party of racial segregation.
Then, for a short time, they were the party of labor rights and black civil rights.
Then Bill Clinton took over, and they became, and still are, the US equivalent of Tony Blair's New Labour Party.
So what should progressives do? Migrate to the Green Party en masse? Start a new Progressive Party? Try to do to the leadership of the Democratic Party what Trump did to the Republicans?
I favor a new Progressive Party that would be built around the few real progressives in Congress. The new party should be a labor party. It should be a populist party, fighting the wealthy elite (Musk, Bezos, the mega-corporations, etc.). It should advocate buying locally produced products over imports. It should advocate more local production, especially of semiconductors and other items essential to economic survival. It should advocate international partnerships and treaties designed to end discrimination against certain ethnic and national groups (e.g., Russia should stop trying to end Ukraine, Israel should stop trying to end Palestine, Turkey should stop trying to end the Kurds, all former colonial empires should stop trying to "assimilate" indigenous people, etc.). It should stop attempts to worsen the on-going climate catastrophe. It should oppose government involvement in anything to do with sexuality and reproduction. It should oppose misogyny. Most of all, it should oppose rewarding greed.
Why did Trump win?
I would say, he appealed to blue collar workers more than the Democrats. Think about what that says about the Democrats.
He also appealed to misogynists who can't stand the idea of a female President. Why weren't we expecting this?
He appealed to all kinds of xenophobes, including racists and Christian Nationalists.
#election #politics #trump #democrats #democratic-party #xenophobia #misogyny #progressives #progressive-party #progressive-politics #ultra-wealthy #musk #bezos #racism #genocide #human-rights #christian-nationalism #conservatism
Ressources - Un défi pour l'humanité
Une BD d'anticipation de Philippe Bihouix et Vincent Perriot
Quel avenir pour notre civilisation ?
A en croire les milliardaires de la Silicon Valley, notre destin passerait inéluctablement par les métavers, l’intelligence artificielle, les robots autonomes et la conquête spatiale, tandis que les énergies renouvelables et les voitures électriques nous permettraient de maintenir notre « niveau de vie » tout en poursuivant la croissance économique et en « sauvant » la planète au passage.
Mais les limites planétaires se rapprochent dangereusement : changement climatique, effondrement de la biodiversité, dégradation et destruction des sols, pollutions globales… Alors peut-on croître indéfiniment ? Et si la contrainte sur les ressources matérielles à disposition, sur la planète et même dans le système solaire, mettait fin à cette course en avant effrénée ? Ressources dresse un état des lieux sans concession, mais ouvre des pistes concrètes vers un avenir durable.
Un dossier complète l’album avec 12 pages d’informations complémentaires, de glossaire et de sources.
"Philippe Bihouix et Vincent Perriot parviennent à transformer un sujet dense et complexe en aventure sans jamais perdre le sérieux du propos." L'Humanité
"Page après page, l'ingénieur et l'auteur de BD reviennent aux origines du "solutionnisme technologique" qui domine encore aujourd'hui les scénarios de fiction comme ceux de la transition écologique." Socialter
" Cette BD destinée au grand public affirme la nécessité d'une décroissance des flux matériels." La Décroissance
Mon avis personnel: du grand art, j'ai adoré ! à mettre dans toutes les mains.
#environnement #écologie #décroissance #humanisme #ressources #effondrement #musk #bezos #limites_planétaires #limites #mars #conquêtedemars #planète #IA #AI #robots #technosolutionnisme #technologies #lowtech #low_tech #climat #réchauffement #consumérisme #gaspillage #voiture_électrique #dystopie #BD #Bihouix #Perriot
Fascism is working even before it is elected
Bezos, Trump, and the Failure of Democracy
#Bezos #Trump #Fascism #FreePress #WashingtonPost #SeriousShit
Thanks to @fergdawgster@diasp.org for directing me to The Bulwark and to this article.
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/bezos-trump-and-the-failure-of-democracy
I cancelled my subscription to WaPo. Fuck you, Bezos. Your paper is now more a propaganda outlet than a news outlet. I'm sorry to see a once trusted news source become another Fox News.
'Smash his toy': Commentator says Bezos 'capitulated' to fascism and urges WaPo boycott
Several of WaPo's writers have expressed their dismay at Bezos's decision, and I regret leaving them, but Bezos himself needs to know that, even though he's three orders of magnitude richer than any being should be allowed to be, this is not OK.
Twitter died because of Musk. So did Tesla. (Driving a Tesla is now a political statement: "I'm a fascist douche.") WaPo is dying because of Bezos. Undoubtedly hundreds our thousands of similar statements could be made about good things billionaires have destroyed. If we bring in the environment, then we're into the trillions or quadrillions of things destroyed.
Billionaires should not exist. Period. No human can wield that much power wisely. And when you factor in that the power shrinks their brains to those of nematodes, the point carries even more force.
FTA: "I'm getting sick of people saying 'cancelling subscriptions hurts the writers not the owners,'" Mystal wrote on X. "If we're being real ... NOTHING hurts billionaires. Being a billionaire literally buys you out of consequences."
Once again: Billionaires should not exist. There are a couple of ways to ensure that they do not exist. The gentlest is to simply take away their money.
But since they're in charge, they will never let that happen. Less gentle methods might convince them to adopt more gentle methods.
Former UK Prime Minister says #Bezos should reconsider 'Washington Post' publisher
August 2, 20241:36 PM ET
By David Folkenflik
..."This week, Scotland Yard confirmed it has opened a preliminary inquiry into Brown’s allegations of obstruction of justice and perjury against that Murdoch media official. His name is Will Lewis; he is now the publisher and chief executive of The Washington Post. A special team of criminal investigators will assess whether a full-fledged investigation is warranted.
...
Brown points to the Washington Post’s slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” and offers a warning to Lewis’ current boss, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Brown asks whether a newspaper publisher who is credibly accused of obstruction of justice can continue.
“I think the Washington Post’s owner has got to look very carefully at whether this is the right message to send out to the readers, of the ethics of The Washington Post,” Brown says. “You’ve got to ask very serious questions about the newspaper itself and what it wants to do in the future.”
...
In the latest instance, lawyers for former Member of Parliament Tom Watson alleged earlier this week that Lewis “fabricated a fake security threat” to explain the mass deletions. Brown tells NPR that Lewis undertook, in his view, “a deliberate plan” to erase evidence and to blame him instead.
In early 2011, Lewis told the company’s chief tech officer he had the “green light” to begin “migration” of its email system. Millions upon millions of emails were destroyed. Many of them could not later be recovered.
...
Bezos selected Lewis to lead the paper out of its financial troubles: the paper lost at least $177 million over the previous two years, and digital subscriptions are down from their peak.
Through spokespeople and representatives, The Washington Post and Bezos have declined to comment on the latest developments surrounding Lewis or his standing at the paper."...
Medienwandel in den USA
Nur noch eine schwache Funzel
Von Nicholas Potter
Die „Washington Post“ war Leuchtturm der Demokratie. Zur Zeit aber ist sie von Leserschwund, einem umstrittenen CEO und anderer Skandale geprägt.
Schwerpunkt: Pressefreiheit
Schwerpunkt: US-Wahl 2024
#taz #tageszeitung #Jeff #Bezos #Washington #Post #Rupert #Murdoch
There are no cats in America!
Remember "Fevel goese to #America" , the song stayed in my mind as watching #propaganda and warmongering posts, videos, TV shows and movies repeat the same thing again and again.
"power USA stands for àfreedom" and war is good, for your #stock portfolio, for your #retirement, for your way of life.
Here are a few of the most obvious ones from Jeff #Bezos #WashingtonPost.
Speaking of movement across the 'social' graph (and billionaire pursuits), wow... "Contrast and Compare" with #ElonMusk
Bezos on giving away his money for the good.
Posted publicly by a _NY Times _ reporter, not on #Twitter but on #Mastodon. Ch-ch-ch-changes.
#philanthropy vs. #narcissism #Musk #TrumpVirus #Bezos #philanthropy #twitteer #media #socialmedia
Rotterdam bridge won't be demolished for Jeff Bezos' yacht: Trouw - DutchNews.nl
haha! Good luck with getting your yach out of this. Maybe cut it in half and reassemble it?
#bezos
#Musk, #Bezos & co wollen nicht zur Allgemeinheit beitragen, es reicht ihnen, zu profitieren. #Trump hat neue, mächtige Unterstützer.
https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/stimme-fuer-die-us-republikaner-was-bezweckt-elon-musk-mit-seinem-politischen-seitenwechsel/28363278.html
if not in God, believe that humans can learn
What is the difference between humans and animals?
As Dutch historian Rutger Bregman points out in his book “Humankind – A Hopeful History” genetic wise – not much (really would not mind if the reader skips all the depressing parts of this book… WARNING! THIS BOOK CONTAINS A LOT OF DEPRESSING ASSUMPTIONS, THAT MIGHT EVEN BE WRONG!).
Imho humans (should be able) to learn faster than other species.
So these are the two things everyone HAS to believe in:
- humans can learn
- humans can be civilized
With those two believes, come two questions:
- Q1: no civilized rule set ever was perfect, who is in charge for improving it? (hopefully not the incompetent & corrupt?)
- Q2: will humans learn fast enough to escape “the great filters” of evolution, aka prevent disasters from happening, with unrestricted CAPITALISM CLEARLY NOT INCENTIVIZING = PREVENTING LEARNING & super (with exceptions) rich & the banks do not feel responsible for the survival of their own species…?
- SHOULD the incentives of EVERY system be placed on maximum survivability of the species = maximum sustainability of lifestyles?
- Would it be UTTER stupidity to NOT do that? (yes)
Bregman & The Neaderthals
Mr Bregman makes COMPLETELY FALSE ASSUMPTIONS, that a bigger brain, would equal to more intelligence.
On average: women have smaller brains, are they less intelligent?
No: ‘”Just like with height, there is a pretty substantial difference between males and females in brain volume, but this doesn’t translate into a difference in cognitive performance,” Nave says.’ (labroots.com)
If that was true, the “sperm wale” (having the biggest brain of all animals), would already have build a swimming pool Mars.
What can not be ruled out, is that the “evilness” of homo sapiens accelerated the extinction of the Neanderthals.
BUT there might also been partnerships between them.
“results of a 2010 project to map the Neanderthal genome showed that 1% to 4% of Middle Eastern and European DNA is Neanderthal DNA” (shortform.com)
“Neanderthals were fairly specialized to hunt large, Ice Age animals.”
“But sometimes being specialized isn’t such a good strategy.”
“When climates changed and some of those animals went extinct, the Neanderthals may have been more vulnerable to starvation.” (si.edu)
Assumption: While homo sapiens (probably) was here and there in conflict with the Neanderthals, imho homo sapiens was not the deciding factor when it comes to extinction of this species.
Same as the mammoth, the neanderthals (probably) fell victim of:
- (too fast) changing climate/environment
- not being able to adapt fast enough
… with ever faster climate change, a dire situation, homo sapiens will have to face too.
But have to say, yes Mr Bregman, homo sapiens “helped” many species to die out. But not all of them.
“The woolly mammoth (M. primigenius) was the last species of the genus.”
“Most populations of the woolly mammoth in North America and Eurasia, as well as all the Columbian mammoths (M. columbi) in North America, died out around the time of the last glacial retreat, as part of a mass extinction of megafauna in northern Eurasia and the Americas.” (Wiki)
During the time of the Dinosaurs, there were no homo sapiens (so this time can’t blame them)
Dinosaurs had no capitalism and clearly did not a good job at
- early detecting asteroids
- early redirecting (pushing away) asteroids
Mankind could do better, but will it do it?
Because what is for sure: if mankind sees a crisis coming, and does nothing, everyone can see that chances of survival for mankind are not great.
Right now the evolution of technology is remarkable, but what has not kept up is the evolution of inter-human civilization in the sense of a civilized living together – sustainably (non-sustainable means: it is going to end).
Society was “programmed” by a fiat-loan-money system – basically giving the banks all the power, corrupt politicians (Clinton) removing important protections that were put in place in the past because of devastating crisis (1929), which is simply asking for trouble.
Who is going to steer this boat? profit?
What profit?
Profit of the 1%?
And then? The end of it all?
Settling on Mars will be a hard thing to do, especially if not a lot more of the 1% invest into
- making earth a better place
- even if Elon & Bezos think they can do it on their own, even with unlimited money, it will be VERY hard for them to make Mars a place where humans can breathe.
- The super rich 1% do not live in a complete vacuum,
- they too depend on a functional society
- a nation with roads without holes …
- a society that is NOT in a civil war like state
- a society, where everyone rich & poor can feel save, (or even better, where there is a strong middle class) that does not rob & kidnap rich people on a daily basis (as it is already happening in countries such as Brazil… where children of the better-off will have to drive in bullet-proof jeeps through various checkpoints to kindergarden… it takes 30min (!!!) just to pass all checkpoints, #what #the #serious #fuck?,
- that said:
- Amazon payed 0€ taxes on 50 Billion of turnover in 2021 in Europe #what the actual #serious #fuck is this if not a fraud?)
- so nobody has learned ANYTHING there…
gov laws like software development?: garbage collection for laws?
ok some rules clearly make no sense (some are from 1936 and definately need a rethinking).
Also Elon is right, when he says, there needs some sort of “garbage” collection of laws, otherwise, law is cluttered with laws that either make no sense or tie down everyone until nobody can do anything (because everything is forbidden).
BUT: the major problem is like with an old software system like MS DOS.
Can it be reformed? (very hard)
Or: (depending if the mess can be reformed, sometimes it might be better to “start from scratch”)
As with in software development: a list of cases needs to be kept, to test, if the new system can handle them all and better.
#money #alternative #systems #altcoopsys #alternatives #OsOfSociety #OperatingSystemsOfSociety #SystemPhilosophy #dinero #dollar #euro #yen #rubel #sustainability #resilience #complementary #complementarycurrency #cooperation #monetaryreform #financialreform #financialsystemreform #financialcrisis #mortagecrisis #debtcrisis #occupywallsreet #finance #moneysystem #financialsystem #economics #ecologicaleconomics #economy #capitalism #kapitalismus #system #mankind #humans #human #survival #earth #mars #elon #musk #bezos #amazon #spacex #philosophy #history #bregman
Originally posted at: https://altcoopsys.org/2022/04/26/believe-if-not-in-god-believe-humans-can-learn-be-civilized-rutger-bregman-the-history-of-mankind-gov-laws-like-software-development-garbage-collection-for-laws/
if not in God, believe that humans can learn
What is the difference between humans and animals?
As Dutch historian Rutger Bregman points out in his book “Humankind – A Hopeful History” genetic wise – not much (really would not mind if the reader skips all the depressing parts of this book).
Imho humans (should be able) to learn faster than other species.
So these are the two things everyone HAS to believe in:
- humans can learn
- humans can be civilized
With those two believes, come two questions:
- Q1: no civilized rule set ever was perfect, who is in charge for improving it? (hopefully not the incompetent & corrupt?)
- Q2: will humans learn fast enough to escape “the great filters” of evolution, aka prevent disasters from happening, with unrestricted CAPITALISM CLEARLY NOT INCENTIVIZING = PREVENTING LEARNING & super (with exceptions) rich & the banks do not feel responsible for the survival of their own species…?
- SHOULD the incentives of EVERY system be placed on maximum survivability of the species = maximum sustainability of lifestyles?
- Would it be UTTER stupidity to NOT do that? (yes)
The dinosaurs had no capitalism and clearly did not a good job at
- early detecting asteroids
- early redirecting (pushing away) asteroids
Mankind could do better, but will it do it?
Because what is for sure: if mankind sees a crisis coming, and does nothing, everyone can see that chances of survival for mankind are not great.
Right now the evolution of technology is remarkable, but what has not kept up is the evolution of inter-human civilization in the sense of a civilized living together – sustainably (non-sustainable means: it is going to end).
Society was “programmed” by a fiat-loan-money system – basically giving the banks all the power, corrupt politicians (Clinton) removing important protections that were put in place in the past because of devastating crisis (1929), which is simply asking for trouble.
Who is going to steer this boat? profit?
What profit?
Profit of the 1%?
And then? The end of it all?
Settling on Mars will be a hard thing to do, especially if not a lot more of the 1% invest into
- making earth a better place
- even if Elon & Bezos think they can do it on their own, even with unlimited money, it will be VERY hard for them to make Mars a place where humans can breathe.
- The super rich 1% do not live in a complete vacuum,
- they too depend on a functional society that is NOT in a civil war like state, that does not rob & kidnap rich people on a daily basis (as it is already happening in countries such as Brazil… where children of the better will have to drive in bullet-proof jeeps through various checkpoints to kindergarde… #what #the #serious #fuck?, a society with functional roads without holes … that said:
- Amazon payed 0€ taxes on 50 Billion of turnover in 2021 in Europe #what the actual #serious #fuck is this if not a fraud?)
- so nobody has learned ANYTHING there…
gov laws like software development?: garbage collection for laws?
ok some rules clearly make no sense (some are from 1936 and definately need a rethinking).
Also Elon is right, when he says, there needs some sort of “garbage” collection of laws, otherwise, law is cluttered with laws that either make no sense or tie down everyone until nobody can do anything (because everything is forbidden).
BUT: the major problem is like with an old software system like MS DOS.
Can it be reformed? (very hard)
Or: (depending if the mess can be reformed, sometimes it might be better to “start from scratch”)
As with in software development: a list of cases needs to be kept, to test, if the new system can handle them all and better.
#money #alternative #systems #altcoopsys #alternatives #OsOfSociety #OperatingSystemsOfSociety #SystemPhilosophy #dinero #dollar #euro #yen #rubel #sustainability #resilience #complementary #complementarycurrency #cooperation #monetaryreform #financialreform #financialsystemreform #financialcrisis #mortagecrisis #debtcrisis #occupywallsreet #finance #moneysystem #financialsystem #economics #ecologicaleconomics #economy #capitalism #kapitalismus #system #mankind #humans #human #survival #earth #mars #elon #musk #bezos #amazon #spacex #philosophy #history
Originally posted at: https://altcoopsys.org/2022/04/26/believe-if-not-in-god-believe-humans-can-learn-be-civilized-rutger-bregman-the-history-of-mankind-gov-laws-like-software-development-garbage-collection-for-laws/
The talk about Russian oligarchs is sounding extra hypocritical right now as oligarch Elon Musk buys the biggest share of Twitter and oligarch Jeff Bezos bans employees from saying words like "freedom" and "ethics" and "union"
https://twitter.com/JoshuaPotash/status/1511363981025456145
#oligarch #musk #bezos
