Diseased. This is why we can’t allow a little instrumental lying, as a treat. We’ll never fix it now

Progressives, two days ago: “Watch how fast the right pivots to arguing he was an ideologically incoherent loner with no discernible political motive!”

Progressives, today, pivoting instantly: “He was clearly an ideologically incoherent loner with no discernible political motive”

Liberalism cannot survive in a hallucinatory information environment where everything is true all at once. We’ll pay for any short-term benefit with our own destruction

Glorifying violence or harm violates Bluesky’s Community Guidelines. We review reports and take action on content that celebrates harm against anyone. Violence has no place in healthy public discourse, and we’re committed to fostering healthy, open conversations

A moving piece by @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk - on why the rewards of virtue are often 'ignominy and anonymity', but we should do what is right regardless.

www.joxleywrites.jmoxley.co.uk/p/the-ballad...

hey I know that guy

Major test case for new geothermal technology launches in small German town: apnews.com/article/ener... AP highlights Eavor's first of a kind closed loop geothermal heat & power project in Geretstried in the scenic Bavarian countryside south of Munich, which will go online this year. 🔌💡

This has been my most ambitious piece of writing so far. It's long. And I will be working on a much shorter version for a wider audience. But I also don't want to lose sight of the deep truths lurking around us. So, here is The Plot Against America. www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/the-plot-a...

Some thoughts this morning--a thread...

Critics of Donald Trump—particularly those on the left—often see themselves as defending democracy by highlighting the harm he’s caused (and continues to cause) to its institutions and norms.

Just leaving this hear for no particular reason. www.psypost.org/postmodern-b...

Uncertainly is poison for business, investment and America's economy. And Trump is basically chaos embodied. He's unpredictable, vindictive, and unconstrained by norms or even laws. That may be the key reminder from the last 36 hours & the thing I've been dreading the most about the next four years

China appears set to become the world's first clean tech hegemon, their global influence & domestic economy secured through a network of minerals, batteries, EVs, solar, wind & nuclear production & exports. Meanwhile, the US under Trump tries to hang on to its role as 20th century petro-hegemon. 🔌💡

The constitution forbids leveraging public office to make money because doing so degrades public trust in the office, opens you being manipulated by foreign actors who understand your motives, and it fundamentally violates the very idea of government as an entity of service to others.

The first harbingers of the nature of propaganda in the AI era.

The AI assistant of a popular tablet got quietly replaced by a creepy Chinese state-censored model by ByteDance.

This will soon get a lot more subtle and sophisticated.

So now that he’s right-wing coded we’re against murder again?

Something can have value, despite having no intrinsic value, by having extrinsic value. Bitcoin is like this. It is not valuable in itself, or because it kicks off free cash flow, or because it can be consumed directly. It's valuable because it's useful as resistance money.

One of the reasons I am fascinated by both free speech and bitcoin/crypto politics is that the left is now very much in need of both.

For the most intellectually-engaging approach on the bitcoin side, I must suggest this book by @resistance.money, @rettlerb.bsky.social and Warmke; a.co/d/0wabImm

As bitcoin hits new highs, many will rightly wonder: what is it for, and is it actually good for the world?

'Resistance Money' addresses these question and provides a systematic, academic evaluation of bitcoin and its effects. The first chapter is free.

I don't think people are taking seriously just how dangerous the epistemic crisis we're living through right now is. It's almost certain we are careening towards democratic collapse if these trends don't recede.