Thiel is a Christian weirdo. Sent from my iPhone
> On Oct 31, 2022, at 6:50 AM, glen <[email protected]> wrote: > > Do you get this: > > https://theweek.com/speedreads/972170/peter-thiels-largest-disclosed-political-donation-ever-possible-jd-vance-senate-run > > Doctorow has an interesting take: > > https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/26/boxed-in/ > "The Uihleins are ideologues, but it's a mistake to view their > authoritarianism, antisemitism, racism, and homophobia as the main force of > their ideology. First and foremost is their belief that they deserve to be > rich, and that the rich should be in charge of everyone else." > > I'm not convinced. But it's plausible. What do Musk, Thiel, and the Uihleins > have in common? They *probably* think they're better at something than the > rest of us. What is that something they think they're better at? If you > answer that, then maybe it'll explain why Musk bought Twitter? > >> On 10/31/22 06:42, Marcus Daniels wrote: >> I don’t get it. It seems undisciplined to put his successful companies at >> risk to buy this money loser, while at the same time getting all this bad >> press. >>>> On Oct 31, 2022, at 5:11 AM, glen <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> Yeah, I deleted all my Tweets, unfollowed everyone, and removed all my >>> followers. Musk is an asshole. I know my lack of participation means >>> nothing. But at least I won't be (as) complicit. There are no good >>> billionaires >>> <https://patrioticmillionaires.org/2022/09/21/dont-trust-the-good-billionaires/>. >>> >>> It's interesting how, in some cases, the existence of the most horrible of >>> any species (e.g. Uihlein >>> <https://www.propublica.org/article/uline-uihlein-election-denial>) can >>> make the others seem "good". It's like a murderer saying "At least I'm not >>> a rapist." Or a rapist saying "At least I'm not a pedophile." And a >>> pedophile saying "At least I don't kill 'em." Honor among thieves. >>> >>> As SteveS mentioned earlier, I'm almost diametrically opposed to effective >>> altruism for exactly this reason. The argument is basically: Hustle! Then >>> Dole. I'm willing to change my mind. >>> https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/YgbpxJmEdFhFGpqci/winners-of-the-ea-criticism-and-red-teaming-contest >>> >>> Even when we give Billionaires [ptouie] the benefit of the doubt, forgive >>> them for their rapacious and exploitative methods, and >>> say "At least they're doing Good Things, now", the Hustle! Then Dole >>> lifestyle hones/perfects dystopian Taylorism >>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Winslow_Taylor>. It's only when >>> these old codgers begin to see Death a little more clearly, do they >>> discover some sort of moral frame, while (metaphorically) meditating at the >>> edge of their infinity pool built on the ridgeline of some desert mountain >>> range. And, as we see in Musk, their lifetime of isolation within the >>> outsized scope of their own influence (because, well, money is God, >>> omnipresent, omniscient, etc.), puts them at risk of dimension reducing >>> attractors like most individualist, right-wing causes. E.g. "free speech" >>> (distinct from free speech, with no quotes). >>> >>>> On 10/30/22 11:37, Jochen Fromm wrote: >>>> Until now I have used 3 Twitter accounts for scientific, development and >>>> personal stuff. I have used them more frequently since Google+ was shut >>>> down. One main reason why I do not use Facebook or Instagram is Mark >>>> Zuckerberg. As Grady Booch used to say "Facebook is a profoundly unethical >>>> company, and it starts at the top, with Mark Zuckerberg". >>>> For Twitter it is similar now. I really don't want to support a platform >>>> that belongs to someone who likes to insult others, like Garry Kasparov or >>>> the real Tesla founder Martin Eberhard or many others, just the way Trump >>>> likes to do it. >>>> The note for advertisers was plain marketing. His intention to save the >>>> world? A lie. This town square stuff? Nonsense. He certainly didn't write >>>> this, it was more likely written by Twitter's CCO Sarah Personette and her >>>> team. However, he has created his own hell by buying the platform he is >>>> addicted to. >>>> https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/28/23428132/elon-musk-twitter-acquisition-problems-speech-moderation >>>> I am using Mastodon instead now, which does not belong to an egomanic or >>>> eccentric billionaire. Yes, it is named after an animal which died out at >>>> the end of the Pleistoscene, but the distributed and decentralized >>>> approach is much better than having one big centralized system. My new >>>> Mastodon accounts are here: >>>> fediscience.org/@cas_group >>>> berlin.social/@JochenFromm >>>> ruby.social/@jofr >>>> -J. >>>> -------- Original message -------- >>>> From: Steve Smith <[email protected]> >>>> Date: 10/30/22 6:50 PM (GMT+01:00) >>>> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[email protected]> >>>> Subject: [FRIAM] (not) leaving Twitter >>>> https://mashable.com/article/please-stop-tweeting-leaving-twitter >>>> https://mashable.com/article/i-was-going-to-quit-twitter-but-elon-musk-takeover >>>> I have a *very* limited twitter engagement myself. Same with FB and >>>> *zero* with anything else *but* Instagram where I restrict myself to >>>> viewing and posting and liking the equivalent of "family" snapshots for my >>>> family and closer friends. >>>> I tried *mostly* to ignore the implications of a Musk >>>> privatization-takeover of Twitter during all the on-again off-again period >>>> but/and now as it has become a "done deal" I feel more able to engage in >>>> thinking about that (unable to avoid thinking about that?). I thought I >>>> might de-activate/delete my nearly unused account when I discovered that I >>>> had a renewed interest (morbid fascination) in watching it spin out >>>> (decohere) or not from the front row. I found myself looking for whether >>>> Musk's magic pixie dust would somehow trigger a phase transition (likely >>>> there will be one, but probably not the kind most of us hope for). >>>> Earlier discussions on *this* forum touched on what would make for a >>>> proper *metaverse* (not the one Zuckerberg is trying to create from >>>> whole-cloth). My (very loose) engagement with the Cardano/Catalyst work >>>> and interest in blockchain is motivated by this as well. >>>> Musk's attempts to characterize Twitter as a "town square" feels very >>>> off-base in many ways: >>>> >>>> https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-twitter-is-unlikely-to-become-the-digital-town-square-elon-musk-envisions/ >>>> What do "town squares" look like in "company towns"? And why does most >>>> social media so often feel more like a rolling street-brawl? >>>> I worked *peripherally* on a project at LANL trying to address the >>>> possibilities/implications roughly 30 years ago: >>>> http://library.sciencemadness.org/lanl1_a/lib-www/pubs/00285557.pdf >>>> there were some good insights, but it was all so young and fresh and raw >>>> at the same time... > > > -- > ꙮ Mɥǝu ǝlǝdɥɐuʇs ɟᴉƃɥʇ' ʇɥǝ ƃɹɐss snɟɟǝɹs˙ ꙮ > > -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . 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