Sam A
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whodasam.bsky.social
Sam A
@whodasam.bsky.social
320 followers 1.3K following 410 posts
Data Engineer & AI/ML Product leader.

PolPhil, CogSci, Science nerd; Left Libertarian incrementalist.

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." Bertrand Russell
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Reposted by Sam A
scottsantens.com
A 7-year universal basic income project in Welle, Uganda, released preliminary results in 2023 after the first 2.5 years. In a village of 350 people, everyone (adult + child) is receiving the same amount (€15/mo).

Extreme poverty has decreased from 55% to 10%.

More: 👇

www.rug.nl/feb/research...
The universal basic income project started in August 2020 in the village of Welle, Uganda, in cooperation with the Ugandan NGO AFARD. The village then had 350 inhabitants, more than half of whom lived in extreme poverty. For the past three years, INclusion gave all the inhabitants of Welle - adults and children - 15 euros per month, without conditions. Such a partial basic income is called an unconditional cash transfer (UCT) in discussion of development cooperation and aid. Concrete findings A "baseline measurement" was conducted before the project began, and in December 2022 residents were interviewed again so that it could be assessed what had changed after 2.5 years. The just-released research report was written by Lisa van Dongen, PhD candidate at the Faculty of Economics Some of Van Dongen, Lensink and Mueller’s concrete findings are: extreme poverty has decreased from 55% to 10% food security increased significantly, as did access to clean drinking water elementary school participation increased from 70% to 87% there was 75% less dropout from work and school due to illness many residents built new, more sustainable homes residents also invested in land for agriculture the percentage of households owning cattle increased from 9% to 49% ownership of solar panels increased from 19% to 74% Given all these positive changes, it is not surprising that the residents also told the interviewers that their stress has greatly decreased - such as daily worries about food and medicine - and that they are now more optimistic about their future
December 29, 2024 at 3:06 PM
Reposted by Sam A
hunterw.bsky.social
Think about reading and sharing more reporting - which includes new facts, conversations, and documents- rather than punditry and aggregation. Those do have value but when our media diet is overly balanced on takes rather than reporting, it is not as healthy!
December 29, 2024 at 3:32 PM
Reposted by Sam A
conradhackett.bsky.social
Where people live
8% Full democracy
37% Flawed democracy
18% Hybrid regime
37% Authoritarian regime

According to: Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Democracy Index. The EIU classifies the US as a flawed democracy.
www.visualcapitalist.com/state-of-dem...
A map showing results from the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index for countries around the world.
December 20, 2024 at 10:36 PM
whodasam.bsky.social
But in most cases I've seen media is pretty locked down by the regime.

Corruption charges are used frequently on internal dissenters.

And, distrust can frequently be turned outward on enemies of the State.

Feels like this kind of psyop is more effective in systems that require trust to function.
December 17, 2024 at 4:55 PM
whodasam.bsky.social
Their systems don't require the same level of trust from society, so giving them a taste of their own medicine won't be effective.
December 17, 2024 at 2:10 AM
Reposted by Sam A
tigerlily.northsky.social
Just debating them is what they want. It's their tactic. Sartre knew about fascists-
Quote from Jean-Paul Sartre (black text on white with little thumbnail pic of Sartre)- "Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past. Jean-Paul Sartre"
December 15, 2024 at 11:27 PM
whodasam.bsky.social
Bingo
December 16, 2024 at 1:01 AM
Reposted by Sam A
conradhackett.bsky.social
In 2022, Democrats and Republicans in Congress were further apart ideologically than at any time in the previous 50 years, according to Pew Research Center analysis. Republicans moved further to the right than Democrats had to the left.
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
The polarization in today’s Congress has roots that go back decades
On average, Democrats and Republicans are farther apart ideologically today than at any time in the past 50 years.
www.pewresearch.org
December 13, 2024 at 9:06 PM