Toots for leighelse@mastodon.nz account

Written by leighelse{} on 2025-02-02 at 03:48

“And, during my term, I’m looking forward to a kinder, gentler cave, with a thousand points of darkness showing us the way.”

https://www.thefarside.com/2025/02/01/0

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Written by leighelse{} on 2025-02-01 at 20:44

I'm pleased Winston has responded bluntly to Ted Cruz. I'd like to think it could presage distancing Aotearoa New Zealand from the USA in other ways too, although I think it unlikely we will exit security and military arrangements in the near future.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/540622/winston-peters-has-fiery-response-to-us-senator-ted-cruz-about-nz-immigration-requirements-for-israelis

We should be thinking about this, though, and having an ongoing conversation with Australia. The USA is no longer a trustworthy ally.

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Written by leighelse{} on 2025-02-01 at 19:25

This interview with Edward Luttwak is interesting reading.

https://www.statecraft.pub/p/how-to-commit-a-coup

"Luttwak has written 20-odd books on grand strategy, military affairs, and security. A Romanian Jew, he served in the Mossad before moving to the United States, where he staffed Reagan’s transition team and consulted for the Pentagon (and still does)."

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Written by leighelse{} on 2025-02-01 at 18:44

Cornell University research finds that ongoing development and integration of artificial intelligence "could lead to an effectively irreversible loss of human influence over crucial societal systems, precipitating an existential catastrophe through the permanent disempowerment of humanity."

https://arxiv.org/html/2501.16946v2#S8

"Once AI has begun to displace humans, existing feedback mechanisms that encourage human influence and flourishing will begin to break down."

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Written by leighelse{} on 2025-01-30 at 23:13

At least the scaled back design will be expandable.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/540498/watch-dunedin-to-get-scaled-back-hospital-health-minister-simeon-brown-confirms

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Written by leighelse{} on 2025-01-30 at 22:55

In our letterbox this morning, a card linking to vitriol against the Whanganui District Council partnership with local iwi. The video is filled with hate and selective "facts", the comments offer more of the same.

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Written by leighelse{} on 2025-01-30 at 20:27

I see I neglected to include the link.

http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-ai-fad-just-burned-to-waterline.html

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Written by leighelse{} on 2025-01-30 at 18:54

"While everyone was busy reassuring themselves the stock market was still A-OK, the driver of the market--the AI fad--just burned to the waterline. Yes, the current euphoric expectations for AI are a fad, the latest in the endless stream of "gotta have" status signifiers and cultural frenzies."

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Written by leighelse{} on 2025-01-30 at 18:47

A review of Nicholas Carr’s book “Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart”

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-case-for-kicking-the-stone/

'With older media, the friction of the interface provided some space for reflection and hierarchizing significance. What was on the front pages or what led the news bulletins was what we heeded most. Music had to be sought out and didn’t come with an infinite stream of more.'

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Written by leighelse{} on 2025-01-30 at 03:23

http://www.marriedtothesea.com/012925

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Written by leighelse{} on 2025-01-30 at 03:16

Has anyone else received spam email with an invitation to join the Illuminati? Or am I the lucky one?

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Written by leighelse{} on 2025-01-29 at 18:40

Whanganui District Council and local iwi and hapu have drafted a relationship agreement which will see them working together as part of a wider Treaty settlement.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/540303/whanganui-council-signs-off-on-world-first-draft-relationship-agreement-with-hapu

Go to https://www.whanganui.govt.nz/post-treaty-settlement to read a summary of the agreement, and follow the link at the bottom of that page to provide feedback. The feedback survey is open to Whanganui residents, visitors and self-defined "others".

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Written by leighelse{} on 2025-01-28 at 18:36

"It's almost as if the propaganda were bullshit and communism actually works."

https://indi.ca/how-communism-is-obviously-outcompeting-capitalism/

Framing this comparison of China and the USA as "communism vs capitalism" is simplistic, but the arguments and statistics make for interesting reading nonetheless. I wondered whether parts of this article suffered in translation, but then realised that English for Indrajit Samarajiva is probably a second language.

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Written by leighelse{} on 2025-01-28 at 18:07

As it ramps up to a general election, Germany is being battered by false news from Russia, China ... and now Musk's America.

https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/manipulation-from-abroad-german-election-campaign-flooded-with-fake-news-and-videos-a-517e4339-2285-4fac-af05-bbcbff9bf579#ref=rss

This is what Aotearoa New Zealand's social media will look like in the second half of 2026. What can we do?

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Written by leighelse{} on 2025-01-27 at 19:13

Mark Zuckerberg is a coward.

https://www.theindex.media/this-man-is-a-coward/

"Mark Zuckerberg commands one of the most powerful companies on Earth. He controls vast wealth, unimaginable resources, and direct access to billions of human minds. Mark could speak up. He could take a stand. He could use even a fraction of his power to defend the institutions and principles he once claimed to cherish. Instead, he cringes. He capitulates. He collaborates."

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