Michael Nabert
@sustainablesong.bsky.social
Biodiversity, community & kindness are real wealth. Economic growth is a suicide pact. Seeking humour while forever opposing disinformation, hate & ecocide.
You can choose to like being lied to by a government that puts tax cuts for billionaires ahead of services citizens need if you like. Everyone has their kink.
But personally I find it utterly deplorable.
So, I guess, good luck with that partisanship against your own interests?
But personally I find it utterly deplorable.
So, I guess, good luck with that partisanship against your own interests?
November 10, 2025 at 1:29 AM
You can choose to like being lied to by a government that puts tax cuts for billionaires ahead of services citizens need if you like. Everyone has their kink.
But personally I find it utterly deplorable.
So, I guess, good luck with that partisanship against your own interests?
But personally I find it utterly deplorable.
So, I guess, good luck with that partisanship against your own interests?
The amount of effort that an AI saves can actually be smaller than the amount of effort necessary to identify and correct its mistakes, which is a more difficult and complex task than the one that it was introduced to streamline in the first place. 16/
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
The impact of AI errors in a human-in-the-loop process
Automated decision-making is becoming increasingly common in the public sector. As a result, political institutions recommend the presence of humans in these decision-making processes as a safeguard against potentially erroneous or biased ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
November 10, 2025 at 12:57 AM
The amount of effort that an AI saves can actually be smaller than the amount of effort necessary to identify and correct its mistakes, which is a more difficult and complex task than the one that it was introduced to streamline in the first place. 16/
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
A less well-known U Chicago paper finds that AI has “no significant impact on workers’ earnings, recorded hours, or wages,” suggesting that any claim this is about better efficiency is nonsense.
It's about cutting wages to pay for billionaire tax cuts. 15/
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
It's about cutting wages to pay for billionaire tax cuts. 15/
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Large Language Models, Small Labor Market Effects
<div>
We examine the early labor market impacts of AI chatbots by linking large-scale,
</div>
<div>
representative adoption surveys to administrative labor re
papers.ssrn.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:57 AM
A less well-known U Chicago paper finds that AI has “no significant impact on workers’ earnings, recorded hours, or wages,” suggesting that any claim this is about better efficiency is nonsense.
It's about cutting wages to pay for billionaire tax cuts. 15/
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
It's about cutting wages to pay for billionaire tax cuts. 15/
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
A much-discussed MIT paper found that 95% of companies that had tried AI had either nothing to show for it, or experienced a loss. This is not adequate technology to suit Canada's public service needs. 14/
www.technologyreview.com/2019/01/25/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2019/01/25/1...
We analyzed 16,625 papers to figure out where AI is headed next
Our study of 25 years of artificial-intelligence research suggests the era of deep learning may come to an end.
www.technologyreview.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:55 AM
A much-discussed MIT paper found that 95% of companies that had tried AI had either nothing to show for it, or experienced a loss. This is not adequate technology to suit Canada's public service needs. 14/
www.technologyreview.com/2019/01/25/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2019/01/25/1...
It it went hand in hand with creating a UBI, layoffs wouldn’t be nearly so devastating. Instead, the new budget cuts taxes on the very rich and the luxury yachts they want to buy while leaving the most vulnerable citizens to twist in the wind. 13/
sustainablesong.medium.com/precocious-c...
sustainablesong.medium.com/precocious-c...
Precocious child and dad talk about UBI — a comic
This is a playful story about a smart idea.
sustainablesong.medium.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:53 AM
It it went hand in hand with creating a UBI, layoffs wouldn’t be nearly so devastating. Instead, the new budget cuts taxes on the very rich and the luxury yachts they want to buy while leaving the most vulnerable citizens to twist in the wind. 13/
sustainablesong.medium.com/precocious-c...
sustainablesong.medium.com/precocious-c...
Throwing 40,000 out of work is bad news for the economy & for their families. This will disproportionately going to axe women's jobs, minority jobs, indigenous jobs, & jobs for people with disabilities, effectively a Trump-style "anti-DEI" policy. 12/
www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...
www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...
Federal cuts will worsen gender, racial and Indigenous inequality in Canada - CCPA
The federal government generally does a better job at pay equity—ensuring equal pay between men and women, racialized groups, Indigenous peoples, and so on—than the broader labour market. However, the...
www.policyalternatives.ca
November 10, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Throwing 40,000 out of work is bad news for the economy & for their families. This will disproportionately going to axe women's jobs, minority jobs, indigenous jobs, & jobs for people with disabilities, effectively a Trump-style "anti-DEI" policy. 12/
www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...
www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...
Similarly a problem: it turns out that the more advanced AI gets, the *more frequently* it hallucinates, makes things up, & provides false information. Might it be a problem if an AI providing public services tells Canadians wrong information? 11/
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
A.I. Is Getting More Powerful, but Its Hallucinations Are Getting Worse (Gift Article)
A new wave of “reasoning” systems from companies like OpenAI is producing incorrect information more often. Even the companies don’t know why.
r.pebmac.ca
November 10, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Similarly a problem: it turns out that the more advanced AI gets, the *more frequently* it hallucinates, makes things up, & provides false information. Might it be a problem if an AI providing public services tells Canadians wrong information? 11/
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
The economics of the AI boom demonstrate that through complex financial shenanigans, the industry has created what amounts to the biggest economic bubble in history, more than four times bigger than the subprime mortgage bubble that popped in 2008 was. 10/
pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...
pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...
Pluralistic: The real (economic) AI apocalypse is nigh (27 Sep 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
pluralistic.net
November 10, 2025 at 12:46 AM
The economics of the AI boom demonstrate that through complex financial shenanigans, the industry has created what amounts to the biggest economic bubble in history, more than four times bigger than the subprime mortgage bubble that popped in 2008 was. 10/
pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...
pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...
AI pitchmen are great at convincing employers that AI can replace workers, but AI performance fails to live up to the hype. The only jobs successfully replaced by AI are jobs that companies have already given up on doing well. Not how public services should run. 9/
pluralistic.net/2025/08/06/u...
pluralistic.net/2025/08/06/u...
Pluralistic: Which jobs can be replaced with AI? (06 Aug 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
pluralistic.net
November 10, 2025 at 12:45 AM
AI pitchmen are great at convincing employers that AI can replace workers, but AI performance fails to live up to the hype. The only jobs successfully replaced by AI are jobs that companies have already given up on doing well. Not how public services should run. 9/
pluralistic.net/2025/08/06/u...
pluralistic.net/2025/08/06/u...
The intention's to replace workers with AI. The fact that the Minister for Labour was replaced by a Minister for AI is a clue. Canada’s Chief Data Officer has expressly admitted that public service jobs will be replaced by AI. 8/
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
Some public service jobs will be cut as Ottawa adopts AI: chief data officer
OTTAWA — Ottawa
r.pebmac.ca
November 10, 2025 at 12:43 AM
The intention's to replace workers with AI. The fact that the Minister for Labour was replaced by a Minister for AI is a clue. Canada’s Chief Data Officer has expressly admitted that public service jobs will be replaced by AI. 8/
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
There is no way this move will not diminish citizen access to and quality of public services. 7/
cupe.ca/carneys-cuts...
cupe.ca/carneys-cuts...
Carney’s cuts threaten services and jobs that help our communities thrive
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is sounding the alarm after a report in the Globe and Mail revealed that the federal government is planning deep, multi-year cuts to direct program spendi...
cupe.ca
November 10, 2025 at 12:41 AM
There is no way this move will not diminish citizen access to and quality of public services. 7/
cupe.ca/carneys-cuts...
cupe.ca/carneys-cuts...
Previous public service cuts have already degraded the quality of services. If you need to call the Canada Revenue Agency to talk about your tax return, you wait for ages to get correct information only 17% of the time. More cuts will hardly help. 6/
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
'We're going to do better,' CRA secretary of state says in response to scathing AG report | CBC News
In a scathing new report released Tuesday, the auditor general found Canada Revenue Agency contact centres are repeatedly failing to answer calls in a timely manner, and when agents do connect to a cu...
r.pebmac.ca
November 10, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Previous public service cuts have already degraded the quality of services. If you need to call the Canada Revenue Agency to talk about your tax return, you wait for ages to get correct information only 17% of the time. More cuts will hardly help. 6/
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
More important than can we is should we. This truly huge cut will push already burned out public service employees to the brink while trade war will keep making us need those public services even more. 5/
psacunion.ca/cuts-canadas...
psacunion.ca/cuts-canadas...
Cuts to Canada’s public service leading to overwork, burnout, and worsening conditions for workers
<p>The recent results of the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/innovation/public-service-employee-survey/2024-25.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">202...
psacunion.ca
November 10, 2025 at 12:39 AM
More important than can we is should we. This truly huge cut will push already burned out public service employees to the brink while trade war will keep making us need those public services even more. 5/
psacunion.ca/cuts-canadas...
psacunion.ca/cuts-canadas...
Some public service employees report that they have apparently already been told to expect direct layoffs, not “attrition.” 4/
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
Carney’s pledge to trim public service through attrition is ‘misleading’: union
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney's promise to cut the public service through attrition is "misleading" and "reckless," says the head of a federal union. Carney was asked by reporters last week whet...
r.pebmac.ca
November 10, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Some public service employees report that they have apparently already been told to expect direct layoffs, not “attrition.” 4/
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
We are told that diminishing public services will take place only through “attrition.” That’s hard to believe.
Both public service unions and the Parliamentary Budget Office are telling us that mere attrition is unlikely to meet this target. 3/
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
Both public service unions and the Parliamentary Budget Office are telling us that mere attrition is unlikely to meet this target. 3/
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
‘Highly unlikely’ attrition will be enough to reduce public service size: interim PBO
The government’s plan to reduce the size of the public service through attrition is 'highly unlikely' to be enough to meet the fiscal targets it outlined in the election, according to interim parliame...
r.pebmac.ca
November 10, 2025 at 12:34 AM
We are told that diminishing public services will take place only through “attrition.” That’s hard to believe.
Both public service unions and the Parliamentary Budget Office are telling us that mere attrition is unlikely to meet this target. 3/
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
Both public service unions and the Parliamentary Budget Office are telling us that mere attrition is unlikely to meet this target. 3/
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
Public support programs are often framed as a burden to society, an expense that needs to be cut by politicians married to neoliberal economics orthodoxy, rather than as an investment in human capital and the public good.
This helps fuel fascist movements. 2/
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
This helps fuel fascist movements. 2/
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
Welfare cuts have fuelled rise of far right and populism, top UN expert says
Exclusive: Poverty rapporteur says governments must rethink welfare state as essential to fabric of society
r.pebmac.ca
November 10, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Public support programs are often framed as a burden to society, an expense that needs to be cut by politicians married to neoliberal economics orthodoxy, rather than as an investment in human capital and the public good.
This helps fuel fascist movements. 2/
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
This helps fuel fascist movements. 2/
r.pebmac.ca/https://www....
Anything but both is meaningless gaslighting.
"Fiscally conservative & socially liberal" merely means "I know it would look bad to say social programs shouldn't exist, so I pretend to support them in theory while insisting that under no circumstances should they be adequately funded."
"Fiscally conservative & socially liberal" merely means "I know it would look bad to say social programs shouldn't exist, so I pretend to support them in theory while insisting that under no circumstances should they be adequately funded."
November 9, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Anything but both is meaningless gaslighting.
"Fiscally conservative & socially liberal" merely means "I know it would look bad to say social programs shouldn't exist, so I pretend to support them in theory while insisting that under no circumstances should they be adequately funded."
"Fiscally conservative & socially liberal" merely means "I know it would look bad to say social programs shouldn't exist, so I pretend to support them in theory while insisting that under no circumstances should they be adequately funded."
"Assault with a deli weapon"
November 4, 2025 at 9:26 PM
"Assault with a deli weapon"
Considering that the Carney LPC is delivering all of the major policies that the CPC offered, a CPC MP crossing the floor would be incredibly unsurprising. It's just a right wing MP supporting a right wing party and gaining more power merely by changing the dominant colour on their letterhead.
November 4, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Considering that the Carney LPC is delivering all of the major policies that the CPC offered, a CPC MP crossing the floor would be incredibly unsurprising. It's just a right wing MP supporting a right wing party and gaining more power merely by changing the dominant colour on their letterhead.
If it erodes rights,
if it's cruel,
if it causes the most pain to the most vulnerable,
if it hastens our stampede towards collapse,
if it degrades the environment,
if it's even mildly convenient for billionaire sociopaths,
it's like catnip for neoliberal economists.
They can't get enough of it.
if it's cruel,
if it causes the most pain to the most vulnerable,
if it hastens our stampede towards collapse,
if it degrades the environment,
if it's even mildly convenient for billionaire sociopaths,
it's like catnip for neoliberal economists.
They can't get enough of it.
October 29, 2025 at 7:06 PM
If it erodes rights,
if it's cruel,
if it causes the most pain to the most vulnerable,
if it hastens our stampede towards collapse,
if it degrades the environment,
if it's even mildly convenient for billionaire sociopaths,
it's like catnip for neoliberal economists.
They can't get enough of it.
if it's cruel,
if it causes the most pain to the most vulnerable,
if it hastens our stampede towards collapse,
if it degrades the environment,
if it's even mildly convenient for billionaire sociopaths,
it's like catnip for neoliberal economists.
They can't get enough of it.