Engdawg69
@jaybirdeo.bsky.social
Reposted by Engdawg69
Part of the problem is that our understanding of historical economies is pretty limited! (I can’t find it, but there was a great paper a while back on how “historical GDP” estimates were at best guesswork and at worst fiction)
I do also think GoT going off the rails with its own internal contradictions is what led to the You Must Build Economies That Make Sense conversations in 2010s SFF that… well, I haven’t really seen a lot of fruit from either
November 23, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Part of the problem is that our understanding of historical economies is pretty limited! (I can’t find it, but there was a great paper a while back on how “historical GDP” estimates were at best guesswork and at worst fiction)
Reposted by Engdawg69
I have been threatening you all with this piece for a while now, and it's here!
The folks at Heat Death have very kindly given me space to talk about one of the things that I find most fascinating about this genre; the way in which we unconsciously treat it as if it's "true" in a Platonic sense.
The folks at Heat Death have very kindly given me space to talk about one of the things that I find most fascinating about this genre; the way in which we unconsciously treat it as if it's "true" in a Platonic sense.
New, on Heat Death! Thrilled to run this absolute banger from @goldwagnathan.bsky.social, on the bizarre way that concepts from 20th century Golden Age sci-fi have lingered in the scientific imagination, despite never coming within spitting distance of becoming — what's the word? — real
The Fatal Allure of Yesterday's Tomorrows
On the dangers of seeing science fiction as a template for the future.
heat-death.ghost.io
November 20, 2025 at 3:47 PM
I have been threatening you all with this piece for a while now, and it's here!
The folks at Heat Death have very kindly given me space to talk about one of the things that I find most fascinating about this genre; the way in which we unconsciously treat it as if it's "true" in a Platonic sense.
The folks at Heat Death have very kindly given me space to talk about one of the things that I find most fascinating about this genre; the way in which we unconsciously treat it as if it's "true" in a Platonic sense.
Reposted by Engdawg69
It makes them respect him more. They treated Biden with contempt because they knew he wouldn't kill them, they show deference to Trump because they think he might. Mentality of whipped dogs.
I wonder if the journalists in the WH Press Pool have realized yet that Trump wishes he could do to them what MBS did to Khashoggi when they ask him questions he doesn’t like.
Reporter to MBS: "U.S. intelligence concluded that you orchestrated the brutal murder of a journalist..."
Trump: "Fake news...He's done a phenomenal job. You're mentioning someone who was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about…things happen."
Trump: "Fake news...He's done a phenomenal job. You're mentioning someone who was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about…things happen."
November 18, 2025 at 6:03 PM
It makes them respect him more. They treated Biden with contempt because they knew he wouldn't kill them, they show deference to Trump because they think he might. Mentality of whipped dogs.
Reposted by Engdawg69
this is a pretty damn good analogy, actually
Before anything else, I'm an Eastern European and I'm *not* sneering about how my place is better, but Southern liberals in a tailspin about this stuff remind me of Russians who can't *say* their country should rightfully end up smaller and weaker over 2022
November 17, 2025 at 6:57 PM
this is a pretty damn good analogy, actually
Reposted by Engdawg69
as a white liberal with Southern roots, quite frankly, I think other white liberals from the South need to get the fuck over their oddly defensive attitude about what should be pretty blindingly obvious.
I understand why some white liberals from the Deep South want to insist that there isn't something distinct (and bad) about Southern political culture but the problem with this is that we wouldn't even have this idea of "The South" as distinct from the rest of the US if there wasn't a there there
November 17, 2025 at 6:51 PM
as a white liberal with Southern roots, quite frankly, I think other white liberals from the South need to get the fuck over their oddly defensive attitude about what should be pretty blindingly obvious.
Reposted by Engdawg69
downwardly mobile educated alienated elite-adjacents clearly are a large part of the contemporary american left's constituency, but it's such a stupid thing to have a complex about or considering particularly damming. read like any history book ever about who starts political movements.
November 14, 2025 at 4:32 PM
downwardly mobile educated alienated elite-adjacents clearly are a large part of the contemporary american left's constituency, but it's such a stupid thing to have a complex about or considering particularly damming. read like any history book ever about who starts political movements.
Reposted by Engdawg69
regarding AC as a decadent, climate-irresponsible indulgence and regarding home heating as an essential necessity is unironically eurocentrism considering that one is objectively more emissions heavy than the other.
"my least woke opinion is---"
That's enough. We've had enough people indulging in the "thrill of a little conservatism", as a treat. Of considering reactionary thought to be a salacious and taboo in a world descending into reactionary mania.
Give me your MOST woke opinions. We're bringing it back.
That's enough. We've had enough people indulging in the "thrill of a little conservatism", as a treat. Of considering reactionary thought to be a salacious and taboo in a world descending into reactionary mania.
Give me your MOST woke opinions. We're bringing it back.
November 14, 2025 at 4:06 PM
regarding AC as a decadent, climate-irresponsible indulgence and regarding home heating as an essential necessity is unironically eurocentrism considering that one is objectively more emissions heavy than the other.
Reposted by Engdawg69
World's biggest spiderweb discovered inside 'Sulfur Cave' with 111,000 arachnids living in pitch black.
www.livescience.com/animals/spid...
www.livescience.com/animals/spid...
November 8, 2025 at 12:17 AM
World's biggest spiderweb discovered inside 'Sulfur Cave' with 111,000 arachnids living in pitch black.
www.livescience.com/animals/spid...
www.livescience.com/animals/spid...
Reposted by Engdawg69
this is the most successful a CIA officer has been at toppling a government in years.
November 5, 2025 at 1:13 AM
this is the most successful a CIA officer has been at toppling a government in years.
Reposted by Engdawg69
I've been thinking a lot about @bretdevereaux.bsky.social's discussion of how a lot of Late Roman Republic attempts at reform involved codifying previously de facto political norms; which failed to help because it was the loss of the underlying social fabric that mattered, not the letter of the law.
see the control on pardons is supposed to be "if the president blatantly pardons a criminal ally, he gets impeached"
all of this comes back to the failure of the Republican Party and Congress to have even a modicum of public decency.
all of this comes back to the failure of the Republican Party and Congress to have even a modicum of public decency.
October 23, 2025 at 8:42 PM
I've been thinking a lot about @bretdevereaux.bsky.social's discussion of how a lot of Late Roman Republic attempts at reform involved codifying previously de facto political norms; which failed to help because it was the loss of the underlying social fabric that mattered, not the letter of the law.
Reposted by Engdawg69
So, when I talk about this, people seem to think I'm referring to metrics like elite luxury or decadence or rates of bankruptcy or housing affordability, and what I actually mean is that producing enough food to feed everyone used to consume like 90% of societal resources and still routinely failed.
January 6, 2025 at 4:04 AM
So, when I talk about this, people seem to think I'm referring to metrics like elite luxury or decadence or rates of bankruptcy or housing affordability, and what I actually mean is that producing enough food to feed everyone used to consume like 90% of societal resources and still routinely failed.
Reposted by Engdawg69
this is re:gentrification discourse. you can just say “I’m an artsy type who doesn’t like yuppies”, and there’s nothing wrong with that so long as you don’t expect public policy to be oriented around that impulse. you don’t have to use critical theory jargon to dress that dislike up.
November 1, 2025 at 5:18 PM
this is re:gentrification discourse. you can just say “I’m an artsy type who doesn’t like yuppies”, and there’s nothing wrong with that so long as you don’t expect public policy to be oriented around that impulse. you don’t have to use critical theory jargon to dress that dislike up.
Reposted by Engdawg69
They're fascists, who are famously *extremely* bad at correctly assessing the strength of an enemy.
So yes, they think they win if they raise the temperature enough and it has not occurred to them that this might not be true.
So yes, they think they win if they raise the temperature enough and it has not occurred to them that this might not be true.
October 31, 2025 at 10:54 PM
They're fascists, who are famously *extremely* bad at correctly assessing the strength of an enemy.
So yes, they think they win if they raise the temperature enough and it has not occurred to them that this might not be true.
So yes, they think they win if they raise the temperature enough and it has not occurred to them that this might not be true.
Reposted by Engdawg69
I sorta disagree with this, I think as far as “grand narratives” society can have the prospect of widespread space exploration is fine: it produces lots of positive externalities, it’s not ‘we must kill our ancient blood enemies’, and kill me sucker or softy but I do think it’s inherently ennobling
no one in our lifetime is going to live in space. in all likelihood no one will ever live sustainably in space
October 25, 2025 at 5:06 PM
I sorta disagree with this, I think as far as “grand narratives” society can have the prospect of widespread space exploration is fine: it produces lots of positive externalities, it’s not ‘we must kill our ancient blood enemies’, and kill me sucker or softy but I do think it’s inherently ennobling
Reposted by Engdawg69
a big part of American anger at taxes is because of not having elementary pay as you earn stuff in place, instead a system where you guess how much money you should send the government and then at the end of the year they tell you if you were right or not
October 29, 2025 at 7:03 PM
a big part of American anger at taxes is because of not having elementary pay as you earn stuff in place, instead a system where you guess how much money you should send the government and then at the end of the year they tell you if you were right or not
Reposted by Engdawg69
I was right about her 10 years ago.
October 29, 2025 at 12:41 PM
I was right about her 10 years ago.
Reposted by Engdawg69
oh just straight up gutter racism!
So here's Andrew Cuomo reacting to Maria Bartiromo wondering if Mamdani will "change the look of New York" and have Muslim women "completely covered up," telling her that Mamdani "doesn't understand New York culture" because he has "dual citizenship" and "he's a citizen of Uganda."
October 29, 2025 at 4:21 PM
oh just straight up gutter racism!
Reposted by Engdawg69
SCOTUS killing VRA would really be the culmination of a Second Redemption
white reactionaries disenfranchising black voters to secure political power? that’s a jim crow. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...
The Supreme Court Case That Could Hand the House to Republicans
www.nytimes.com
October 15, 2025 at 7:46 PM
SCOTUS killing VRA would really be the culmination of a Second Redemption
Reposted by Engdawg69
I feel like Ben Gvir personally being in the room when Greta Thunberg was being tortured should be bigger news
October 15, 2025 at 7:44 PM
I feel like Ben Gvir personally being in the room when Greta Thunberg was being tortured should be bigger news
Reposted by Engdawg69
Post-Trump government reform is obviously going to have to include moving a bunch of agencies out of the executive, but I think it probably also needs to include the creation of a watchdog org under congress that explicitly *always* has standing for constitutional violations by the executive.
October 12, 2025 at 12:27 AM
Post-Trump government reform is obviously going to have to include moving a bunch of agencies out of the executive, but I think it probably also needs to include the creation of a watchdog org under congress that explicitly *always* has standing for constitutional violations by the executive.
Reposted by Engdawg69
it is extremely funny that the Aztecs were legitimately scared and offended by the Purepecha's attempts to murder as many Aztecs as possible every time Aztec warriors showed up to fight Tarascan soldiers
the transformation of the Aztec religion over 90 years or so is really fascinating stuff
we talk about the Aztec Empire as though it was an institution of great antiquity, but its worst abuses started in the time of living people's grandparents or great-grandparents. it had been growing more and more extractive and murderous as long as the current generation had been alive.
October 14, 2025 at 3:57 PM
it is extremely funny that the Aztecs were legitimately scared and offended by the Purepecha's attempts to murder as many Aztecs as possible every time Aztec warriors showed up to fight Tarascan soldiers
Reposted by Engdawg69
A thing I think doesn't get internalized enough in the discourse of the European subjugation of the Americas is that there was no way for contact between Europe and those continents to not end in abject disaster for indigenous Americans because of disease burden.
"Sapiens" is so normal for the first 70,000 years of human history but then goes absolutely buckwild as soon as it gets to colonialism
October 14, 2025 at 11:55 AM
A thing I think doesn't get internalized enough in the discourse of the European subjugation of the Americas is that there was no way for contact between Europe and those continents to not end in abject disaster for indigenous Americans because of disease burden.
Reposted by Engdawg69
I've said it before but the main reason why democracy is the superior system is that, while the average person is a moron, the average elite is even more moronic
October 5, 2025 at 5:20 PM
I've said it before but the main reason why democracy is the superior system is that, while the average person is a moron, the average elite is even more moronic
Reposted by Engdawg69
what the fuck is going on
October 5, 2025 at 5:12 PM
what the fuck is going on