Facialized: US Builds Long Range Facializers that Work in Dark, Biometric Census 2020
https://onezero.medium.com/the-military-is-building-long-range-facial-recognition-that-works-in-the-dark-4f752fa713e6 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22056194 https://papersplease.org/wp/2020/01/02/drivers-license-data-sold-to-businesses-given-to-feds/ https://papersplease.org/wp/2019/12/12/port-of-seattle-to-develop-policies-on-use-of-biometrics-to-identify-travelers/
Re: Assassination Politics - Harpers article
>> https://harpers.org/blog/2019/12/click-here-to-kill-online-murder-markets-dark-web/ > https://www.npr.org/podcasts/478859728/think Trump v Soleimani is crapflooding search references but here are some hits till then... https://lawreview.law.ucdavis.edu/issues/48/4/Articles/48-4_Kwoka.pdf page 62 https://bitcoinschannel.com/jim-bell-on-how-cryptocurrencies-could-make-assassination-market-come-true/ https://www.metafilter.com/133956/he-intends-Assassination-Market-to-destroy-all-governments-everywhere http://volokh.com/2003_07_27_volokh_archive.html#105951090096238276 https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/gy35mx/ethereum-assassination-market-augur https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/11/sonys_drm_rootk.html#c25520 https://cryptome.org/0001/assange-cpunks.htm http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/12/why-i-want-bitcoin-to-die-in-a.html#comment-1836411 http://www.thoughtsaloud.com/2018/07/01/can-a-second-civil-war-be-avoided/ http://www.thoughtsaloud.com/2018/07/08/assassination-politics/ https://en.unionpedia.org/i/Jim_Bell
Blogs: The Cantankerous Buddha
https://www.cantankerousbuddha.com/
Area51: DeLonge UFO Stars Academy GIMBAL
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wxe54z/the-navy-has-secret-classified-video-of-an-infamous-ufo-incident https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/8xw83b/the-navy-says-the-ufos-in-tom-delonges-videos-are-unidentified-aerial-phenomena https://inmilitary.com/beyond-ufos-what-are-navy-pilots-seeing-in-the-skies/ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/us/politics/pentagon-program-ufo-harry-reid.html http://ufos-documenting-the-evidence.blogspot.com/2020/01/office-of-naval-intelligence-oni-admits.html https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a29771548/navy-ufo-witnesses-tell-truth/ https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/the-pentagon-corrects-record-on-secret-ufo-program/ https://www.fighterpilotpodcast.com/episodes/035-ufos/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8CdAj1rveMTjR72_LdDBpQ/videos "people should not be surprised by the revelation that other videos exist and at greater length"
Re: Stop Breaking Proper Fucking Email Threading
Hit fucking 'reply', not fucking 'new message'. Stop breaking proper fucking email threading. It's that shit about 'message-id' 'in-reply-to' 'references' headers... Thread hijacking of subjects is different, And abused to fuck all by people here just the same as every other email netiquette convention people should know. For a bunch of supposed internet steeped crypto techs, whole lot of posters here are plainly retarded when it comes to internet. Lern it.
Re: Youtube banning cryptocurrency channels
> https://news.bitcoin.com/was-youtubes-christmas-crypto-purge-illegal/ Youtube is full of stuff like this... Youtube Copyright cartel protects celeb garbage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKTFG7Wy57k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUHCzv9sy_E Youtube DisTrust and UnSafe Babysitting Team Meets Klu and Mo in BoomBoomRoom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg54oDffNAw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yznTLrc-oDo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn4bnVEG1qs
"If only we had half a Putin" - divesting power - grounding peace - [PEACE]
Peace and politics - they don't usually go together. But you don't usually have a putin at the helm of your state. We could be so lucky in Australia to have half a Putin. Alas we have pocket lining dunderheads, morons and some genuinely sociopathic compromateds. As the Western media scrambles to paint every cough and pause by Putin in the maximum possible nefariousness, at least we can look afield on occasion and get a betterer backstory: Russian political earthquake: Putin sets out plan for Kremlin departure & Medvedev resigns https://www.rt.com/op-ed/478381-russian-government-resignation-mishustin/ ... Today, the president set out the roadmap for his exit from the Kremlin, more-or-less kicking off the build-up to the transition of power. He will step down in 2024, or perhaps even earlier, and he intends to dismantle the “hyper-Presidential” system which allowed him to wield so much control in office. ... Make no mistake, Putin’s goal is to preserve the system which he inherited from Yeltsin, and then tweaked. For all its faults, after a difficult birth it has given Russians the greatest freedom and prosperity they have ever known. Even if much work remains to be done on distributing economic gains more fairly. ... One notable suggestion is that future presidents must have lived in Russia for 25 continuous years before taking office, and have never held a foreign passport or residency permit. This would bar a lot of the Western-leaning Moscow opposition from running. Not to mention a large swathe of Russian liberals, a great many of whom have lived abroad at some point. Interestingly, if this rule had existed in 2000 Vladimir Putin himself wouldn't have been able to become Russia's president. He lived in Germany from 1985-1990 (albeit on state duty). ... Thank you, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
Re: "Certain Unflattering Truths" about the scumbag-infested "data analytics" industry
On Thu, Jan 16, 2020 at 01:39:52PM +1100, Zig the N.g wrote: > On Wed, Jan 15, 2020 at 08:27:00AM -0800, Razer wrote: > ... > > I’ve come to the view this as part of the project of the book itself: to > > leave us unsettled by how its narrator, like all of us, remains somewhat > > in the Valley’s mindset, if not its pocket. This entanglement is a > > feature of the system that works, as she notes, precisely as designed. > > In the end, for all the generosity she extends to those around her, > > Wiener is unsparing with herself: “Certain unflattering truths: I had > > felt unassailable behind the walls of power. Society was shifting, and I > > felt safer inside the empire, inside the machine. It was preferable to > > be on the side that did the watching than the side being watched.” > > Wiener has written an indispensable chronicle of this era in tech, the > > consequences of which we will all reckon with as the next decade > > unfolds. Still, given the Valley’s unmatched ability to avoid any sense > > of guilt as the world around it burns, there is no doubt in my mind that > > while Uncanny Valley will be read widely and voraciously throughout the > > empire, Wiener’s readers—techno-skeptics and technologists alike—will be > > able to recognize themselves without feeling indicted. > > > > But surely someone, somewhere, eventually, will need to feel indicted. > > At some point, we’re going to need the sharp end of the knife." > > https://thebaffler.com/latest/certain-unflattering-truths-schaffer > > > Great book review! Thanks to teh resident neo-Marxist for posting :) > > If only there were a double edged edify/diss ... OK, so that was a totally unnecessary low blow. I retract this slightly mean triviality, it serves no-one and nothing.
Re: Governor Northan of Virginia plans to violate Constitutional rights.
HAHAHAHA! The constitution give you no rights. It delineates trade relations between the states and foreign relations, tariffs, etc. The BILL OF RIGHTS allegedly does, but it, unlike the RICH WHITE PROPERTY OWNING CHRISTIAN MEN'S constitution, is continually weakened, since the day the constitution was signed, and the RICH WHITE PROPERTY OWNING CHRISTIAN MEN'S constitution is continually strengthened. You have no rights you aren't willing to die for Libertard. Get over it. "Fuck the constitution Are we part of the solution or are we part of the pollution? Sittin' by and wonderin' why, Things ain't the way we like to find them to be, to be For you and for me the people over there and the ones in between You can pass the buck or pass the baton But you can't pass the police or the pentagon The I.R.S. or the upper echelon I think it's time to make a move on the contradiction Bomb-Bomb, rock the nation Take over television and radio station Bomb-Bomb the truth shall come Give the corporation some complication!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjTVAZDBUJ0
Re: Assassination Politics - Harpers article
On January 15, 2020 8:34:10 PM UTC, John Newman wrote: >I heard something on NPR in the car, part of their "This is Think" >series, about an article on Harpers about ... Assassination Politics! > >The NPR story referenced Jim Bell and cypherpunks a bunch of times, and >rehashed a bunch of shit that is in the article (which I wasn't >familiar with). It also talked about scammers with fake AP markets. >One of the things that struck me is that it seems most (none) of the >intended victims were *not* being killed for being part of the >government or being cops or anything remotely as Jim has idealized it. >They were people being targeted for the same old stupid reasons idiots >are always killing each other: unrequited love, jealousy, rage, etc. > >Link below: > > >https://harpers.org/blog/2019/12/click-here-to-kill-online-murder-markets-dark-web/ > Seems the correct link for the story is - https://harpers.org/archive/2020/01/click-here-to-kill-dark-web-hitman/ Although it was easily found from the first link I sent ;) >Couldn't find the NPR bit online, I imagine it will show up here in the >next day or so (it seems to be a couple days behind): > >https://www.npr.org/podcasts/478859728/think signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: Youtube banning cryptocurrency channels
On Wed, Jan 15, 2020 at 08:36:20PM +, jim bell wrote: > https://news.bitcoin.com/was-youtubes-christmas-crypto-purge-illegal/ > What Happened? > > On Christmas Eve, Bitcoin.com contributor Graham Smith warned, “At least six > crypto Youtube channels have reported in recent hours that their content is > being removed under the site’s ‘harmful and dangerous’ policy, with one > popular channel claiming Youtube pointed to a ‘sale of regulated goods’.” The > purged channels received no warning, no plausible explanation. Presumably, > the “harmful and dangerous” policy so vaguely referenced by Youtube was an > alleged violation of Section 17(b) of the Securities Act of 1933. The purgening continues. Lots of forenotice. Whatever TFBPTB want, TFBPTB get, under Gov. statute fig leaf - mandated crypto backdoors are next. "If you don't censor, you're a carrier and cannot be held liable for content." "If you censor, you are not a carrier and are liable for all content." The forever bracketted corporate ollyghuarchs are having it both ways and whilst freely liberating themselves from all liability. Are we completely doomed to enslavery? What is even possible in response?
Re: "Certain Unflattering Truths" about the scumbag-infested "data analytics" industry
On Wed, Jan 15, 2020 at 08:27:00AM -0800, Razer wrote: ... > I’ve come to the view this as part of the project of the book itself: to > leave us unsettled by how its narrator, like all of us, remains somewhat > in the Valley’s mindset, if not its pocket. This entanglement is a > feature of the system that works, as she notes, precisely as designed. > In the end, for all the generosity she extends to those around her, > Wiener is unsparing with herself: “Certain unflattering truths: I had > felt unassailable behind the walls of power. Society was shifting, and I > felt safer inside the empire, inside the machine. It was preferable to > be on the side that did the watching than the side being watched.” > Wiener has written an indispensable chronicle of this era in tech, the > consequences of which we will all reckon with as the next decade > unfolds. Still, given the Valley’s unmatched ability to avoid any sense > of guilt as the world around it burns, there is no doubt in my mind that > while Uncanny Valley will be read widely and voraciously throughout the > empire, Wiener’s readers—techno-skeptics and technologists alike—will be > able to recognize themselves without feeling indicted. > > But surely someone, somewhere, eventually, will need to feel indicted. > At some point, we’re going to need the sharp end of the knife." > https://thebaffler.com/latest/certain-unflattering-truths-schaffer Great book review! Thanks to teh resident neo-Marxist for posting :) If only there were a double edged edify/diss ...
Re: Chernobyl mindset
On Wed, Jan 15, 2020 at 09:26:01AM +, Ryan Carboni wrote: > It is a misfortune that the Soviet people didn't immediately rise up > and overthrow their government after the compounded failures and > errors involved with Chernobyl. > > They only rose up and overthrew their government when it wasn't even > capable of conducting a coup. That's, that's... pretty incompetent. At most incompetent on one very narrow axis of analysis, and certainly, even on that axis, not less competent than American Adullts.
Re: NSA: Windows 10 flaw threatens the foundations on which the Internet operates | BetaNews
On Wed, Jan 15, 2020 at 03:26:53AM -0300, Punk-Stasi 2.0 wrote: > On Wed, 15 Jan 2020 01:47:11 + (UTC) > jim bell wrote: > > > https://betanews.com/2020/01/14/nsa-windows-10-flaw/ > > what, windows 10 threatens corporatism, global surveillance, malware, > backdoors and all the rest of foundations of US techno fascism? Sounds > unlikely... It's just pro-NSA self marketing - "oh, we NSA are such gud bois, we helped Windows10, see?"
Re: Governor Northan of Virginia plans to violate Constitutional rights.
On 15/01/2020 22:17, jim bell wrote: https://www.yahoo.com/news/virginia-plans-emergency-gun-ban-135403362.html Virginia plans emergency gun ban at Capitol ahead of protest: AP January 15, 2020, 5:54 AM PST FILE PHOTO: Virginia Governor Northam speaks to an gun control rally in Richmond [...] How can people exercising their constitutional rights EVER be considered an "emergency"? And worse, one which is used to 'justify' violation of exactly those rights? I think this Governor Northam needs to FEAR doing what he's planning to do. If he fears that some people are going to violate others' constitutional rights to assembly and to bear arms, he should prepare his government to arrest those who will be doing that violation, not those excertising those rights. And he should never prohibit people from exercising their right to self-defense and to the defense of others, including using guns to do so. It seems to me that the key question is: Does the Governor's declaration clearly and unambiguously violate any local laws or any terms of the Constitution? If yes, then there are ground to fight him (in court ideally). If no, then he's not actually violating the Constitution. Also, if yes (he is violating local law or the Constitution) then this sort of thing represents a crunch point: How far are people willing to go to uphold their Constitutional rights? What exactly does the Constitution allow them (or even require them) to do?
Re: Assassination Politics - Harpers article
LOL! Supporting what would be censorship, an attack on freedom of speech, merely because someone wrote something that generated negative publicity really is trolling gold. On 15/01/2020 21:25, John Young wrote: Pretty good reason for Jim's messages to disappear. At 03:34 PM 1/15/2020, you wrote: I heard something on NPR in the car, part of their "This is Think" series, about an article on Harpers about ... Assassination Politics! The NPR story referenced Jim Bell and cypherpunks a bunch of times, and rehashed a bunch of shit that is in the article (which I wasn't familiar with). It also talked about scammers with fake AP markets. One of the things that struck me is that it seems most (none) of the intended victims were *not* being killed for being part of the government or being cops or anything remotely as Jim has idealized it. They were people being targeted for the same old stupid reasons idiots are always killing each other: unrequited love, jealousy, rage, etc. Link below: https://harpers.org/blog/2019/12/click-here-to-kill-online-murder-markets-dark-web/ Couldn't find the NPR bit online, I imagine it will show up here in the next day or so (it seems to be a couple days behind): https://www.npr.org/podcasts/478859728/think -- GPG fingerprint: 17FD 615A D20D AFE8 B3E4 C9D2 E324 20BE D47A 78C7 .
Governor Northan of Virginia plans to violate Constitutional rights.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/virginia-plans-emergency-gun-ban-135403362.html Virginia plans emergency gun ban at Capitol ahead of protest: AP January 15, 2020, 5:54 AM PST FILE PHOTO: Virginia Governor Northam speaks to an gun control rally in Richmond (Reuters) - Virginia Governor Ralph Northam on Wednesday plans to declare a temporary emergency banning all guns and weapons from the area around the Capitol in Richmond ahead of a major gun rights demonstration set for Monday, the Associated Press reported. Northam feared a repetition of the violence that broke out in August 2017 amid a white supremacist rally and counterdemonstration in which anti-racist protester Heather Heyer was killed in a car attack, the AP reported, citing two unnamed state officials who were briefed on the plans but not authorized to speak publicly about them. The governor's office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for confirmation. Gun-rights advocates including militia groups and ultraconservative activists are planning a "Lobby Day" rally on Monday, seeking to block gun control legislation backed by Northam, a Democrat, and the Democratic-controlled state legislature in both the General Assembly and Senate. Last week Virginia lawmakers approved a new gun policy prohibiting firearms inside the Capitol and a nearby office building, but did not extend the ban to Capitol Square, the public space outside that includes monuments to prominent Virginians and the Virginia Civil Rights Memorial. The governor saw credible threats of potential violence and extremism after a series of provocative online postings from out-of-state pro-gun and militia groups that plan to attend, one official cited by the AP said. One posting included a photo of an AR-15 and said there were "great sight angles from certain buildings" near Capitol Square, the official said. (Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Scott Malone and Chizu Nomiyama) [end of quote] Jim Bell's comments: How can people exercising their constitutional rights EVER be considered an "emergency"? And worse, one which is used to 'justify' violation of exactly those rights? I think this Governor Northam needs to FEAR doing what he's planning to do. If he fears that some people are going to violate others' constitutional rights to assembly and to bear arms, he should prepare his government to arrest those who will be doing that violation, not those excertising those rights. And he should never prohibit people from exercising their right to self-defense and to the defense of others, including using guns to do so. Jim Bell
Youtube banning cryptocurrency channels
https://news.bitcoin.com/was-youtubes-christmas-crypto-purge-illegal/ [partial quote follows] Was Youtube’s Christmas Crypto Purge Illegal? This article considers the legal implications of Youtube’s notorious purge of crypto channels on Christmas Eve. What legal context induces Youtube and other social media giants to operate as they do? The article does not explore whether it is morally proper to terminate a contract without cause or explanation and to threaten people’s livelihoods; it is not. Nor are political implications, such as Youtube’s liberal bias, discussed. The legal factors context surrounding Google’s Youtube purge are important. Users should know what is happening and why. What Happened? On Christmas Eve, Bitcoin.com contributor Graham Smith warned, “At least six crypto Youtube channels have reported in recent hours that their content is being removed under the site’s ‘harmful and dangerous’ policy, with one popular channel claiming Youtube pointed to a ‘sale of regulated goods’.” The purged channels received no warning, no plausible explanation. Presumably, the “harmful and dangerous” policy so vaguely referenced by Youtube was an alleged violation of Section 17(b) of the Securities Act of 1933. It shall be unlawful for any person … to publish, give publicity to, or circulate any notice, circular, advertisement, newspaper, article, letter, investment service, or communication which, though not purporting to offer a security for sale, describes such security for a consideration received or to be received, directly or indirectly, from an issuer, underwriter, or dealer, without fully disclosing the receipt, whether past or prospective, of such consideration and the amount thereof [italics added]. The original purpose of Section 17(b) was to make it illegal for anyone to promote a stock without disclosing any consideration they may have received from an issuer, underwriter, or dealer in the stock. The Christmas Purge is not the first time Google has removed crypto material. In June 2018, Google followed Facebook’s lead in banning crypto-related advertising. CNBC reported, “Even companies with legitimate cryptocurrency offerings won’t be allowed to serve ads through any of Google’s ad products, which place advertising on its own sites as well as third-party websites.” The legality of crypto and the reputation of the advertiser were irrelevant. Three months later, Google’s outright ban ended, but a new policy was instated. Forbes explained, “regulated cryptocurrency exchanges” could “buy ads in the U.S. and Japan … Ads for initial coin offerings (ICOs), wallets, and trading advice will remain banned … with the updated policy applying to advertisers all over the world, though the ads will only run in the U.S. and Japan.” The stated reason for the ban and restriction was a desire to shut down illegal activities connected to crypto for which Google could have been liable. [end of partial quote]
Re: Assassination Politics - Harpers article
Pretty good reason for Jim's messages to disappear. At 03:34 PM 1/15/2020, you wrote: I heard something on NPR in the car, part of their "This is Think" series, about an article on Harpers about ... Assassination Politics! The NPR story referenced Jim Bell and cypherpunks a bunch of times, and rehashed a bunch of shit that is in the article (which I wasn't familiar with). It also talked about scammers with fake AP markets. One of the things that struck me is that it seems most (none) of the intended victims were *not* being killed for being part of the government or being cops or anything remotely as Jim has idealized it. They were people being targeted for the same old stupid reasons idiots are always killing each other: unrequited love, jealousy, rage, etc. Link below: https://harpers.org/blog/2019/12/click-here-to-kill-online-murder-markets-dark-web/ Couldn't find the NPR bit online, I imagine it will show up here in the next day or so (it seems to be a couple days behind): https://www.npr.org/podcasts/478859728/think -- GPG fingerprint: 17FD 615A D20D AFE8 B3E4 C9D2 E324 20BE D47A 78C7
RE: "Certain Unflattering Truths" about the scumbag-infested "data analytics" industry
-Original Message- From: cypherpunks [mailto:cypherpunks-boun...@lists.cpunks.org] On Behalf Of Razer Sent: Wednesday, 15 January, 2020 11:27 AM To: cypherpunks@lists.cpunks.org Subject: "Certain Unflattering Truths" about the scumbag-infested "data analytics" industry [snip] > ... The strongest ethical concerns in Uncanny Valley are voiced not by Wiener > but by her activist ex-hookup, who seems to delight in mansplaining the moral > quandaries of Wiener’s job to her. [snip] I was reading it until about three-quarters from the end, when I encountered the paragraph with this sentence, at which point I lost interest. Do you really expect anyone to take seriously an article which uses the word "mansplaining" in a non-ironic manner? This is as bad as Zenaan posting stuff from the Daily Stormer...
"Certain Unflattering Truths" about the scumbag-infested "data analytics" industry
They suck you up like military recruiters, while you're desperately fucked by kolleg debt, then suck your mind and one and only soul out while you sux their cox for cash. Uncanny Valley: A Memoir by Anna Wiener. MCD, 288 pages. At the end of October, I left an archetypal tech job at a secretive and controversial big data analytics start-up, with whom I signed an NDA more binding than my marriage vows. Sixteen months prior, the company had divined my profile out of the algorithmic ether of LinkedIn, during a period in my life when the sight of my student loan repayment date would send me into days-long cycles of incapacitating self-pity. This was also, incidentally, a time when I had finally begun to do the kind of writing I found meaningful and interesting. But the work, like my debt repayments, felt slow, hard, and uncertain; it required patience and faith in the long game, two qualities which I’d never needed to cultivate before. I was growing restless; I was getting bored. I felt far from the action. I wanted my life—as Anna Wiener writes in her incisive new memoir Uncanny Valley—to “pick up momentum, go faster.” When the tech world rang the bell, my subconscious—hungry, ambitious, curious—answered. It was the equivalent of setting down a long book to pick up your phone when its screen flashes white, then forgetting about the book entirely. The salary was transformative: after five years of Sisyphean payments which had barely covered interest, my student debt vanished in nine months flat. Every aspect of my life was subsidized by unseen venture capitalists, whose faith in my employer’s eventual profitability resulted in a sugar-daddy generosity: my rent, my errands, my meals, the spin classes I needed when those meals caused me to gain fifteen pounds. On days when the work felt exhausting or demeaning, I’d slip into a meeting room, check my bank balance, and feel a sense of embarrassingly intense relief. On days when I found myself worrying over “ethical grey areas,” the kitchen staff (always women, almost always women of color, almost certainly the company’s most diverse team) would roll through each floor with a three-tier dessert cart, proffering petits fours or miniature Croques Monsieur or honey-drizzled figs: parodic emblems of the Antoinette-ish wealth the Valley’s procession of IPOs seemed to promise. When I left, I left with conviction, a story for another time. In the weeks after, I sat waiting for my dopamine levels to rise back to normal, for my energy to stabilize, for my sense of clarity and purpose to return. Instead, I found myself lethargic and listless, reaching for something I couldn’t name. I didn’t miss the perks, and I didn’t really miss the work itself. I did miss my co-workers, but we still lived in the same city. I inevitably missed the paycheck, but I’d known what I was giving up. What I really missed—what I felt cut off from—was what I thought I had successfully resisted. The startup, like most tech companies, like most technology itself, had done an impeccable job of transplanting its employees’ sense of purpose. Without realizing it, I had outsourced an entire part of my brain. I thought I’d been detached and observant, an anthropologist among true believers, but a small, central part of me had believed too, and that part was now wandering the desert in a torn startup T-shirt, meekly repeating phrases like “Solve the world’s hardest problems” and “Execute the mission,” thirsty for purpose. It was in this frame of mind that I picked up Uncanny Valley. Like many millennials who’d watched tech transform from “a fun way to flirt with your crush after school” to “an unregulated behemoth undermining democracy and perpetuating global inequality,” I had devoured Anna Wiener’s short story by the same title in n+1 more than three years prior, feverishly sending the link to everyone I knew at the time. Later, I’d send it to some of my tech coworkers over the internal company chatroom, usually receiving a meek :thumbs-up: emoji in return. What I really missed—what I felt cut off from—was what I thought I had successfully resisted. Having lived in Silicon Valley for four years—as a student at what Wiener describes, in her arms-length, no-names style as a “private university in Palo Alto”—and having been tech-adjacent (then tech-subsumed, then tech-sponsored) ever since, I longed for writing that could effectively capture the unimaginative hedonism and fundamental sociopathy of the current tech boom: its insistence on alienating us from everything worth having, only to sell it back to us stripped down and restructured according to the values (and, worse, aesthetics) of ahistorical libertarian vampires, whose kink for giving billions of dollars to unqualified frat boys with underdog complexes had resulted in the disruption-beyond-recognition of subtlety and flirtation and dining and travel and journalism and democracy and one of America’s great counter-cultural cities, among
Chernobyl mindset
It is a misfortune that the Soviet people didn't immediately rise up and overthrow their government after the compounded failures and errors involved with Chernobyl. They only rose up and overthrew their government when it wasn't even capable of conducting a coup. That's, that's... pretty incompetent.
Re: Three Corruption Models
There are ultimately three corruption models: 1. The British model, no one notices crime because you specifically not allocate resources to it, and the people involved are either overworked or extraordinarily oblivious. Only the higher-ups are on the take. Birmingham prostitution rings should have been noticed. 2. The third-world model, everyone notices crime, everyone knows who does it, everyone is just on the take or just want to get by. 3. The 1984 model, it is out of harmony and in deference to the collective effort that problems are covered over or minimized. The Catholic Church has adopted this model and the model shows signs of further adoption.
