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Created
Tue, 26/08/2025 - 12:31
The US government is to take a 15% cut of Nvidia and AMD chip sale profits to China. There are also discussion of taking a 10% stock share in Intel. Meanwhile the Pentagon has taken a hundred million dollar stake in a rare earth miner, and guaranteed minimum prices. As Albert Pinto notes, this isn’t […]
Created
Tue, 26/08/2025 - 06:49
In 1958, with the publication of the twenty-fifth volume of Econometrica, Trygve Haavelmo assessed the role of econometrics in advancing economics. While he praised its ‘repair work’ and ‘clearing-up work,’ he also found reason for despair: We have found certain general principles which would seem to make good sense. Essentially, these principles are based on […]
Created
Tue, 26/08/2025 - 03:00

Like a fool, I used to resist, but no more. In the past, I railed against the rise of AI. I preached small-minded sermons to students who had to sit through my tirades to get a passing grade. I used to curse and mutter at the head of the class, as the commercial for Grammarly played when I tried to show a YouTube clip about permaculture. Now, I search for the Grammarly commercials, show them in their entirety, then try to convert any students who, somehow, remain unconvinced of AI’s absolute utility.

I call such pitiable souls The Lost. Some of them are still writing their own essays, if you can believe that. Some of them even aspire—and I promise you that I’m not making this up—to write an entire book at some point in their life. Thankfully, there is still hope for The Lost, and it comes, now as ever, in the form of embracing salvation, which looks like this:

Created
Mon, 25/08/2025 - 22:00

By age three, your authoritarian should be able to blame juice spills on political enemies, such as a baby sibling or a weird uncle. If he or she (but likely he) can’t, you should begin offering assistance. Tip over his cup of juice and see if he diverts the blame.

By age four, your authoritarian should be starting to demand loyalty from others, such as their stuffed animals.

Your authoritarian should start to create alternative facts by age five. If they haven’t, they might be dumb. Don’t worry, though—a lack of intellect doesn’t preclude them from becoming an authoritarian.

By age six, your authoritarian should have convinced a younger sibling that vegetables are a leftist conspiracy. The conspiracy itself should be easy for them to grasp, as it is true. What you want to look out for is their persuasion skills—are they developing at a normal pace? And if your authoritarian doesn’t have a younger sibling, make one. You don’t want them falling behind.

Created
Mon, 25/08/2025 - 21:17
August 25, 2025 Education for What? By Alfie Kohn To talk about curriculum (what to teach) or pedagogy (how to teach) is to bump up against the question of why to teach. What is the purpose of education? And why do so few people address this topic directly? Something similar can be observed in the field of psychology. A therapist’s ... Read More
Created
Mon, 25/08/2025 - 20:18
I think we can put a peg in this. For years everyone’s being “we’re going fascist.” It’s done. It’s over. The US has gone fascist. Purges of the military, intelligence and law enforcement agencies to install personal loyalists; Troops in the capital, armed, with law enforcement rights, and a promise to do the same in […]
Created
Mon, 25/08/2025 - 17:47
I often get asked about cryptocurrency. And I immediately become bored. The sort of claims that people have made about this phenomenon, which is historically just another speculative asset, are over-the-top to say the least. There are two realities that seem to be ignored. First, we already have mainstream digital money and have had for…
Created
Mon, 25/08/2025 - 17:00
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Created
Mon, 25/08/2025 - 04:27
Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – August 24, 2025 by Tony Wikrent Neoliberalism is not a viable option Richard Murphy, August 22  2025 [Funding the Future] … a fascinating blog post by someone called Blair Fix. He analysed fascism in what seems like an entirely original way, showing that its roots are, in effect, in mediaeval theocracy, […]