Policy in the Future
@policyfuture.bsky.social
Just thinking about what comes next
Guys, if I'm honest, this feels like a pretty big question to be getting around to in 2025.
November 28, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Guys, if I'm honest, this feels like a pretty big question to be getting around to in 2025.
Today in "Our lack of regulation is going to make Gattaca a documentary" holy cow
If you want to read something completely nuts from the unregulated world of direct to consumer genomics, look no further.
And when I say completely nuts, I’m being restrained and polite. Criminal is another word that springs to mind.
And when I say completely nuts, I’m being restrained and polite. Criminal is another word that springs to mind.
"Concerns about the legitimacy and integrity of Nucleus Genomics", by X account @sichuan_mala
totalhealthoptimization.com/2025/11/21/c...
totalhealthoptimization.com/2025/11/21/c...
November 27, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Today in "Our lack of regulation is going to make Gattaca a documentary" holy cow
American elite culture becoming more and more anti-knowledge and anti-education sounds like a contradiction... But then you remember that they just want college to serve as a transmission vehicle for their class privileges.
ruin your thanksgiving by reading new york magazine's take on mathematics
![The Ten Most
Ridiculous-Sounding
Math Classes Currently
Offered at Liberal-Arts
Colleges
By Jessica Pressler, Janelle Zara, and Emily Watkins Rachel Stein andAviva Shen OCT. 19, 2010
Every year, liberal-arts majors anxiously scour their college's course listings looking for classes that will fulfill their math requirement but aren't so, you know, math-y. Here's what they're signed up for this year.
10. Topology: The Nature of Shape and Space: "In geometry we ask: How big is it? How long is it? But in topology we ask: Is it [Sarah Lawrence
9. The Mathematies of Chance: "Most topics are introduced ina case-study fashion, usually by reading an article in a current periodical such as the New York Times. [Bard]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5itm7jsyrdqdxizkb4cufqxl/bafkreieq6gmwmropzlvjkaaxk6d2smd4tv4dy7qar66uoyv6mhs6naa3fu@jpeg)
![8. Mathematics in Many Cultures: "Mathematical ideas are found in many cultures, among both literate and non-literate peoples. This course examines both mathematics and the role it plays in the cultures. Examples chosen from the mathematical ideas of present-day peoples of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas, as well as historic Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Islam and China." [Pomona]
7. The Magic of Numbers: "This course will explore the beauty and mystery of mathematics through a study of the patterns and properties of the natural numbers 1, 2, [and] 3." [Harvard
6. Models of Life: In particular, we will ask such questions as: How do you model the growth of a population of animals? How can you model the growth of a tree? How do sunflowers and seashells grow?" [Kenyon]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5itm7jsyrdqdxizkb4cufqxl/bafkreic3c4ox53ouwr3ij3wsmvetmuknu2u2jai7hlvuigco3ahppeoabi@jpeg)
![5. Mathematical Origamist's Toolkit: "Topics include modular origami and how this models the creation of polyhedra and coloring of graphs, comparison of origami-axiomatic constructions to straight-edge and compass constructions, the combinatorics of possible crease patterns, the mathematics of origami design (circle packing, optimization), matrix models for paperfolding, spherical geometry, Descartes' Theorem, and Gaussian curvature." [Hampshire]
4. Mathematics and Narrative: "Many literary works (Arcadia, Proof, and Uncle Petros and the Goldbach Conjecture) use mathematics as an integral part of their narrative. Movie and television narratives such as Good Will Hunting and Numb3rs are also mathematically based. Nonfiction works about mathematics and mathematical biographies like Chaos, Fermat's Enigma, and A Beautiful Mind provide further examples of the connection between mathematics and narrative." [Vassar]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5itm7jsyrdqdxizkb4cufqxl/bafkreigyk5tqjszw3fodt7ivmszq7mozpta55o7c552oyzpbqyphl26x7m@jpeg)
![3. Borges and Mathematics: "Jorge Luis Borges was one of the most important writers of the 20th century. Many of his short stories and essays were concerned with philosophical, metaphysical, and mathematical questions. The thesis motivating this course is that if we know the mathematies that Borges referred to, then we will read him differently, and we will read him better." [Bennington 2. Mathematics and Science as Art in Contemporary Theatre: "Playwrights such as Tom Stoppard, Rinne Groff, Michael Frayn, and others have effectively explored mathematical and scientific themes for artistic purposes. Through readings and exercises, and by conducting labs and staging scenes, this class will gain some first-hand insight into the complementary ways in which science and art aim to seek out their respective truths." [Middlebury]
1. Meaning, Math, And Motion: "Quoting a charming articulation by Kinsman (a mathematician-turned-oceanographer, in the preface to Wind Waves): "To the beginner, science is a conversation that has been in progress for a very long time. Our collective work is to catch up on the conversation. [Evergreen]
This is why Asia is winning, by the way.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5itm7jsyrdqdxizkb4cufqxl/bafkreihglx3kxej43i22j4vggyoutp2oyomivtmmvgp6uvslqemm4hhpci@jpeg)
November 27, 2025 at 3:56 PM
American elite culture becoming more and more anti-knowledge and anti-education sounds like a contradiction... But then you remember that they just want college to serve as a transmission vehicle for their class privileges.
I think if you steelman left nimby policy preferences, you basically end up with the hukou system, but without the commitment to pay people to build new buildings that makes it even remotely workable in practice. orcasia.org/hukou-system...
November 25, 2025 at 12:29 AM
I think if you steelman left nimby policy preferences, you basically end up with the hukou system, but without the commitment to pay people to build new buildings that makes it even remotely workable in practice. orcasia.org/hukou-system...
WPA-scale building program, but for building un-wired computer labs and test centers. First country to complete them wins the century.
To “my students and to anyone who might listen, I say: Don’t surrender to AI your ability to read, write and think when others once risked their lives and died for the freedom to do so.”
www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
I Set A Trap To Catch My Students Cheating With AI. The Results Were Shocking.
"Students are not just undermining their ability to learn, but to someday lead."
www.huffpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:02 AM
WPA-scale building program, but for building un-wired computer labs and test centers. First country to complete them wins the century.
Reactionaries will fund and distribute AI and mislabeled videos that will prove that their fantasies were 100% true. Actual news articles explaining that these videos are lies will not reach into the epistemic enclosure.
I am fascinated by a question @lastpositivist.bsky.social raised - will the mundane reality of Mamdani's governance cause anyone like this to reconsider their fantasies or the basis of their fantasies? How much do they even believe this crap themselves?
This guy
November 5, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Reactionaries will fund and distribute AI and mislabeled videos that will prove that their fantasies were 100% true. Actual news articles explaining that these videos are lies will not reach into the epistemic enclosure.
I would avoid doomering too hard on voter reform/ID stuff actually: The Republicans have taught themselves a false story here, and *their* older voters would actually have a lot of problems with this issue. It's bad policy, it's dumb, but good GOTV opps can handle it.
Pretty sure “Voter Reform” is a wing of the Ministry of Love.
“Voter reform” is incredibly ominous.
November 5, 2025 at 6:46 PM
I would avoid doomering too hard on voter reform/ID stuff actually: The Republicans have taught themselves a false story here, and *their* older voters would actually have a lot of problems with this issue. It's bad policy, it's dumb, but good GOTV opps can handle it.
Not just China! Young and middle-rank diplomats can mostly get away with it, but those are the Ambassadors & Consul Generals of tomorrow who need to give speeches, negotiate, host dinners, etc. The whole practice of diplomacy won't work right in the future unless the problem is addressed seriously.
this is also a really evolving problem in China analysis that I keep meaning to write up; translation software is tremendously useful, but it's also causing big issues with 20-somethings not learning any of the *context* or *norms* of Chinese writing or recognizing errors.
Noting that the senior diplomats of today are probably as skilled as they ever will be historically, as younger diplomats are relying on auto translation software instead of getting practice on government time. More efficient short-term, but going to create some funny menus in the future.
October 30, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Not just China! Young and middle-rank diplomats can mostly get away with it, but those are the Ambassadors & Consul Generals of tomorrow who need to give speeches, negotiate, host dinners, etc. The whole practice of diplomacy won't work right in the future unless the problem is addressed seriously.
This is almost certainly true, yes: At Embassies across the world native speaking staff are asked to correct "Clear errors" but to not give feedback on actually fixing writing. Someone in Seoul or DC is reading @beijingpalmer.bsky.social's thread, grateful that *someone* sees what they see.
From experience, it’s quite possible that a native English speaker was asked to look at this and then the original translator or another person in a position of power rejected their changes.
October 30, 2025 at 12:48 AM
This is almost certainly true, yes: At Embassies across the world native speaking staff are asked to correct "Clear errors" but to not give feedback on actually fixing writing. Someone in Seoul or DC is reading @beijingpalmer.bsky.social's thread, grateful that *someone* sees what they see.
Noting that the senior diplomats of today are probably as skilled as they ever will be historically, as younger diplomats are relying on auto translation software instead of getting practice on government time. More efficient short-term, but going to create some funny menus in the future.
Just to reinforce the “state use of language skills is about who is in the circle” point, the state menu at this extremely important diplomatic event has clearly been produced by a high-level but non-native speaker of English.
October 30, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Noting that the senior diplomats of today are probably as skilled as they ever will be historically, as younger diplomats are relying on auto translation software instead of getting practice on government time. More efficient short-term, but going to create some funny menus in the future.
The optimistic view is that Canada opening their market to Chinese EVs could cause a massive shock/realignment that could move us through the Malaise era very quickly.
Great and cool how the future of the US auto industry looks like the Malaise era again.
"GM to cut 1200 jobs at Detroit EV plant, hundreds more at Tennessee, Ohio battery sites" www.detroitnews.com/story/busine...
October 29, 2025 at 4:53 PM
The optimistic view is that Canada opening their market to Chinese EVs could cause a massive shock/realignment that could move us through the Malaise era very quickly.
"Sorry, can't lower the consumption tax, we need that money to buy every municipality a giant pickup truck they will never use"
Imagine explaining to Japan’s finance ministry that national security now involves bulk ordering Trump’s favorite pickup.New definition of ‘bilateral relations—two right-wing leaders revving their engines and pretending it’s strategy.
Q: Japan PM Sanae Takaichi is reportedly planning to buy Ford F-150 pickup trucks.
Trump: That's good, they're great trucks. I have that plan, or she has that plan?
Q: She has that plan.
T: That's good, she has good taste, that's a hot truck.
Trump: That's good, they're great trucks. I have that plan, or she has that plan?
Q: She has that plan.
T: That's good, she has good taste, that's a hot truck.
October 26, 2025 at 4:53 PM
"Sorry, can't lower the consumption tax, we need that money to buy every municipality a giant pickup truck they will never use"
Carney has worked consistently to dial down the pressure after each Trump temper tantrum, so no reason to believe that this is a real shift. You'll be able to tell it's real if he announces a BYD factory in Ontario within the next week. It's fake if he doesn't.
Carney: "We can't control the trade policy of the US. We recognize it has fundamentally changed from the policy in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, & it's a situation where US has tariffs against every trading partner... what we we can control is developing new partnerships, including w/econ giants of Asia"
October 24, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Carney has worked consistently to dial down the pressure after each Trump temper tantrum, so no reason to believe that this is a real shift. You'll be able to tell it's real if he announces a BYD factory in Ontario within the next week. It's fake if he doesn't.
Canadians, of course, are insulated against this problem by the Trailer Park Boys.
not just in the news, I think one of the fundamental problems is that there's almost no media in America that depicts them.
I mean, it doesn't help that the actual lower classes are never in the news as individuals, but instead as an amorphous blob that are treated as both the most benighted creatures on earth, or treated to noble savage syndrome so obvious that Tolstoy himself would gag at it.
October 22, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Canadians, of course, are insulated against this problem by the Trailer Park Boys.
A period of Takaichi as Prime Minister would surely be a boon for jp bsky.
I need to Koizumi-isms on Bsky please.
kono taro it is time to join bluesky
October 18, 2025 at 2:17 PM
A period of Takaichi as Prime Minister would surely be a boon for jp bsky.
The Long Un-Parliament
It's official: Speaker Johnson just cancelled all votes in the House next week.
The next scheduled voting day is 10/27; the last time the House was in session was 9/19.
The next scheduled voting day is 10/27; the last time the House was in session was 9/19.
October 17, 2025 at 9:56 PM
The Long Un-Parliament
An urgent need emerging to spin up a government-in-waiting apparatus that is actively prepping the documents needed for Day 1 in 2029: A 5 year statute of limitations doesn't give enough time for investigations to move from scratch, especially while staffing up an admin.
The mechanism through which Trump is paying the troops is the most blatant large Antideficiency Act (ADA) violation in US history. It's also clearly willful. No one has been charged under the ADA before, but violations carry a two-year jail term. The statute of limitations is five years.
October 15, 2025 at 8:24 PM
An urgent need emerging to spin up a government-in-waiting apparatus that is actively prepping the documents needed for Day 1 in 2029: A 5 year statute of limitations doesn't give enough time for investigations to move from scratch, especially while staffing up an admin.
Nobody in Japan wants to *buy* these dumb things, so the national govt has to donate them to localities, who will obviously not be able to maintain them and will scrap them immediately after dutiful photo ops. What a waste of human effort and resources all around.
Japan is reportedly considering the purchase of Ford F-150 pickup trucks for use as government vehicles in an effort to fulfill pledges made during trade negotiations with the United States.
Ford F-150 might be imported by the Japanese government: report
The pickup trucks would be used by local transport ministry offices for construction and road patrols.
ebx.sh
October 13, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Nobody in Japan wants to *buy* these dumb things, so the national govt has to donate them to localities, who will obviously not be able to maintain them and will scrap them immediately after dutiful photo ops. What a waste of human effort and resources all around.
My worry is that companies feel like they need to tighten up/restrict the greyzone that fan works operate under as a side effect of their defense against the AI tools.
Would be a nasty surprise for a younger generation of fan artists who have benefitted from the uneasy truce in recent years.
Would be a nasty surprise for a younger generation of fan artists who have benefitted from the uneasy truce in recent years.
OpenAI is discovering that there are reasons the fan creativity problem in copyright law hasn't been solved yet, despite decades of work.
More later, but a couple of quick points now.
futurism.com/future-socie...
More later, but a couple of quick points now.
futurism.com/future-socie...
OpenAI's Sora 2 Is Generating Video of SpongeBob Cooking Meth, Highlighting Copyright Concerns
In a video that went viral, a clip shows Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants cooking up meth, raising copyright concerns.
futurism.com
October 6, 2025 at 5:40 PM
My worry is that companies feel like they need to tighten up/restrict the greyzone that fan works operate under as a side effect of their defense against the AI tools.
Would be a nasty surprise for a younger generation of fan artists who have benefitted from the uneasy truce in recent years.
Would be a nasty surprise for a younger generation of fan artists who have benefitted from the uneasy truce in recent years.
Reposted by Policy in the Future
Unless Takaichi as LDP leader can show a side of herself that's never been apparent in her career to date, this is going to be a disaster. Lots of very glum faces among the senior LDP faces up on stage right now; they no doubt suspect that the turkeys just voted for Christmas.
October 4, 2025 at 6:00 AM
Unless Takaichi as LDP leader can show a side of herself that's never been apparent in her career to date, this is going to be a disaster. Lots of very glum faces among the senior LDP faces up on stage right now; they no doubt suspect that the turkeys just voted for Christmas.
Another first female national leader from a far-right faction that doesn't get a lot of votes from women! Historians will have a lot to say about this period and the period before when pro-feminist left factions failed to promote women to top spots...
BREAKING: Sanae Takaichi has been elected leader of the LDP, and is set to become Japan’s first female prime minister.
October 4, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Another first female national leader from a far-right faction that doesn't get a lot of votes from women! Historians will have a lot to say about this period and the period before when pro-feminist left factions failed to promote women to top spots...
Good luck to all of the military recruiters heading out to college campuses this morning looking to meet their quotas.
September 30, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Good luck to all of the military recruiters heading out to college campuses this morning looking to meet their quotas.
Remembering that mostly military folks aren't lifers, but return to our communities. Hegseths' vision is to send our families and workplaces a cadre who are traumatized, abusive, lethal, insular, and steeped in impunity.
you know what probably isn't great for military readiness? turning a blind eye to violent hazing, sexual assault and bigotry, while purging leaders on the basis of race and gender.
Hegseth declares an end to 'politically correct' leadership in the US military
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth summoned hundreds of U.S. military officials to an in-person meeting to announce directives for troops that include “gender-neutral” or “male-level” standards for physic...
apnews.com
September 30, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Remembering that mostly military folks aren't lifers, but return to our communities. Hegseths' vision is to send our families and workplaces a cadre who are traumatized, abusive, lethal, insular, and steeped in impunity.
Good resource for any gamers who may decide to never send money to a Saudi/Kushner owned company, here's a list of EA franchises. Remember, the faster EA goes bust, the quicker these properties get sold off to other studios!
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
September 29, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Good resource for any gamers who may decide to never send money to a Saudi/Kushner owned company, here's a list of EA franchises. Remember, the faster EA goes bust, the quicker these properties get sold off to other studios!
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...