Notices by Alberto Cottica (alberto_cottica@mastodon.green)

1/3

The mighty @pluralistic put together a remarkable list of survey results, stating that "good ideas are popular". By this, he means that large majorities in many countries support progressive economic policies, up to and including socialism. Large majorities mistrust and loathe capitalism for putting profit over people and planet.

https://pluralistic.net/2025/08/07/the-people-no-2/

R.I.P my UNDP colleague Ramzi Khader, who was killed alongside his wife, six children, and more than 36 members of his extended family in an airstrike by the IDF in Jabalia, Northern Gaza, on the first day of Eid Al-Adha on 6 June 2025.

Over 300 United Nations personnel were killed in Gaza since the beginning of the war, side by side with over 50,000 of the Palestinians they served. What a tragedy. What a waste.

#Palestine

The @EUCommission uses Microsoft applications for the everyday work of most its officials. This is puzzling:

* in conflict with the Union's strategic autonomy objective.
* a wasted opportunity to use procurement strategically, bringing business to European IT companies (even better if open-source based).
* disturbing securiy implications as US authorities have eyes and killswitches on all our executive's IT systems.

1/n

#Europe
#infosec

I am curious as to how the choice of Microsoft as a provider was nevertheless made. So I made a FOIA request, which came back today:

https://www.asktheeu.org/request/security_risks_associated_to_the

The result is inconclusive: DIGIT does not have the information. "the European Commission limits its cloud services to be operated within the EU by general principle" (but then Microsoft is considered Irish 🤦♂️ ), "adheres to binding public procurement rules when contracting cloud providers", etc.

2/n

My hobby: sitting in conversations about the economic and societal impact of #AI and mentally replacing "AI" with "elves". Most people treat "AI" as a black box, and do not think they should try to understand how it works _before_ they start discussing its impacts.

"Elves may deliver an additional economic output of around $13US trillion by 2030."

"Elves are set to be the key source of transformation, disruption and competitive advantage in today’s fast changing economy."

#economics

@rysiek shame, would love to catch up. And with my newfound reluctance to flying, it is unlikely I'll show up in Rejkiavik any time soon...

"The enemy of your enemy ? Still your enemy, @pluralistic dixit. Oh, America, you break m'y heart. https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/113884896027559905

@mario I live in Brussels if that counts.

@tommi apologies for a slow response, Tommi. Why don't you and @mario and I share a coffee at some point? A point of attention: I won't be at FOSDEM, so it would be some coffee shop in town. We could also involve @hpk – similar situation to all of you, but we already know each other a bit. And of course it would be a joy to see @rysiek again, but I am not sure he'll show up in Brussels this year.

This conversation between @pluralistic and @VaroufakisDE starts off talking about a certain tech billionaire, but it soon veers into more interesting territory. It ends up as a masterclass in regulation #economics. Special treats await, towards the end, those of you who care about the #europeanunion and its attempt to be a civilizational model based on human rights and the rule of law (very imperfectly, I know).

https://www.youtube.com/live/I0kvjNh7czM

"Your Iphone isn’t an ad-supported gimme. You paid a thousand fucking dollars for that distraction rectangle in your pocket, and you’re still the product. What’s more, Apple has rigged Ios so that you can’t mod the OS to block its spying.

If you’re not paying for the product, you’re the product, and if you are paying for the product, you’re still the product."

Good stuff happens when @pluralistic joins #SOTW2025

https://people.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/551/Bruce-Sterling-and-Jon-Lebkowsky-page05.html#post106

#surveillanceCapitalism

1/3 (English)

Attention Brussels! Our #cohousing group re-opens for new members. We will be accepting 5 or 6 families who dream of living in a greener, kinder way. Public presentation on 29th Jan. Registrations:

https://thereef.brussels

Haha @pluralistic has a 5 mins video to pitch for the latest Martin Hench book. At 1 minute I was like "yep, I'm definitely sold". At 1'40" I was like "OK ENOUGH ALREADY I'M HITTING THE 'SUPPORT THIS' BUTTON". Marty Hench is a hero for the(se) ages. And the religion angle? I had not seen THAT one coming.

I admire Cory not just for his novels, but also for his ability to build trust in his readers.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/picks-and-shovels-marty-hench-at-the-dawn-of-enshittification

#sciencefiction
#accounting

THREAD 1/n

After a long political economy winter, spring is here. Academic economists are producing not only new approaches (especially around value theory), but powerful economic policy innovations; decision makers, desperate for a way out of the current mess, are sitting up and paying attention. This is an exciting development, because – for once – the critique to economic theory comes with solid practical alternatives, that we could try out right away.

https://medium.com/@undp.innovation/charting-pathways-to-the-transformation-of-economic-systems-dd1091ea8d08

#economics

2/2

Among those paying attention are my colleagues at UNDP. The first order of business is what Thomas Piketty calls "social experimentation", in such a way that new economic thinking becomes relevant to the entire world and not just to rich countries in the Global North. And here I see a potential role for the UNDP Accelerator Labs. Like @pluralistic wrote (in "Walkaway", appropriately): "work needed doing and he could help. What more could he ask for?"

https://medium.com/@undp.innovation/charting-pathways-to-the-transformation-of-economic-systems-dd1091ea8d08

#economics

@nemobis they do not seem very active. Are you in touch?

I would like to make a small donation to an organisation focused on #ClimateAction and based in #Belgium. Any recommendations?

"Making art is not an "economically rational" activity. Neither is attempting to persuade other people to your point of view. These activities are not merely intrinsically satisfying, they are also necessary, at least for many of us."

Amen to that, brother @pluralistic. Let me take the opportunity to thank you for your blog: your writing is cognitive prosthetics not only to you, but to me too. Happy holidays!

https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/21/blockheads-r-us/#vocational-awe

Oh, look: @pluralistic has published a thread where he reflects on predicting the murder of execs of murderous health insurance companies in a country full of assault rifles.

Do yourselves a favour and read his novella "Radicalized", which is about just that.

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/113624672834296987

I was one of the people to write to MEPs and and representatives of member states in the Council, arguiing the the EU's Deforestation was a good idea, and asking them to push back against its watering-down proposed by the usual suspects, EPP and the rights.

They did, but also delayed the regulation from coming into effect by one year: https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/eu-delays-deforestation-ban-but-discards-changes/ar-AA1vjN1q

#ClimateCrisis #biodiversity #europe