Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? is a really good graphic novel about a kid’s relationship with his dad through the lens of retrofuturism, as it gradually tarnishes, starting with the 1939 World’s Fair.

I’ll probably go to Expo 2025 in Osaka this year, since I’ll happen to be there, but it’ll be hard to maintain any real optimism.

Many algorithms aren’t even doing that in good faith, instead substituting in their low-cost contract cover bands as often as they can.

What could be more human than that?

The moratorium is actually since 2000, but only since 2006 in its current form. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_use_restriction_technology

Thankfully, no country, much less any multinational corporation, would ever dare cross the UN’s nonbinding, unenforceable moratorium. Can you imagine how stern the tone of the statement of condemnation would be, once it was worded such that a reasonable plurality of countries would agree to back it?

😬 https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/04/google-removes-pledge-to-not-use-ai-for-weapons-from-website/

I was mostly being facetious. I haven’t tried it in decades, but I’m pretty happy with Cosmos.

🎤 Tap, tap, is this thing on? Posting again, even though this joke is probably only for me.

Presumably, this is F W DeMorgan’s Law.

KDE: With too much power comes too much responsibility. 😉

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Zero that axis, please.

I didn’t even know they had GPS that long ago.

Bruce Schneier has been saying for something like 25 years that technological advances always favor attackers over defenders.

The NexDock works, too.

WinGet, choco, scoop, &c, they all have strengths and weaknesses, which is why I had to write this: https://github.com/brianary/scripts/blob/main/Update-Everything.ps1

It’s also why I use Linux at home.

Adding seats to the court needs to happen, as well as reapportioning representatives, and giving electoral votes to DC and the territories. We need to find politicians that aren’t afraid to do it.

That’s an important issue, but if Democrats ever see power again, it’ll be important to focus on re-enfranchisement (RCV, instant runoff, or anything fairer than FPTP; NPVIC; national mail voting; mandatory voting), on judicial reform to undo the corruption and incompetence that has been packed there. Without those, keeping any gains will be impossible.

Then, triaging existential threats is critical, which will mean fighting climate change, investing in public transport (trains), and breaking up trusts will have to be pursued simultaneously. Stopping any support for genocide needs to happen as soon as possible.

There will be plenty more structural changes to fix beyond that: Protecting whistleblowers and protesters, improving FOIA, replacing norms with laws (Emoluments Clause enforcement, financial records disclosure, no insider trading for Congressmembers, &c), and all manner of civil rights protections and police reform.

After all that, it’ll be time for the stuff I’ve been hoping for: nationalizing healthcare and Internet access, and copyright reform.

None of this really addresses my question.

If voters bear no responsibility, do you really believe in democracy, or are you thinking about this as an issue to be solved by authority?

The self-righteousness of this discussion is a problem. Politics requires some humility, which we seem to be short of.

Interesting. That’s an angle I’ll have to consider. It seems like democracy with fixed terms and term limits has a similar problem to capitalism: myopia.

Liberal isn’t shorthand for libertarian.