Notices by Alberto Cottica (alberto_cottica@mastodon.green), page 2

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

So, this needs to be said: two weeks ago something happened that made me proud to be Belgian. THREAD!

Here's the story. A friend – I will call her Caroline – got in touch after a silence of several years. We used to work together back in the day, and had become sort-of-friends. We had stayed in touch through a common friend, who, like me, lives in Brussels. Caroline herself, who lived in the US when we worked together, was now back to France.

1/

Full post: http://www.cottica.net/2024/11/15/a-system-working-as-intended-appreciation-for-the-belgian-authorities-in-charge-of-asylum-applications/

#Belgium

@madopal @pluralistic Brexit was a textbook bezzle. For two years, people were like "Welp, I did not know [INSERT OBVIOUS CONSEQUENCE OF LEAVING THE EU] would happen!"

@rysiek nice gig if you can get it, my friend

I don't agree with everything in this article, but "The Long Defeat" is a hell of a framing for fighting the #climateemergency .
https://www.noemamag.com/its-time-to-give-up-hope-for-a-better-climate-get-heroic/

Dear fellow Europeans, I am respectfully asking you to consider signing this European Citizen Initiative to institute a billionaire tax. It was invented by leading French economist Thomas Piketty; I read the whole thing, and it is technically excellent. Hit me if you have questions, but please sign it, it is important.

https://www.tax-the-rich.eu/

It needs 1 million signatures (currently 300K) and seven countries over their threshold (currently three: Denmark, France, Germany).

#economics #tax

This, @EUCommission , would be a fantastic opportunity to ditch Microsoft altogether and embrace some European-maintained open source solution instead for your 40K employees. The EU government depending on non-EU infrastructure is not good for strategic autonomy – and that's on top on digital surveillance by American tech corps being against our data protection laws.

https://www.edps.europa.eu/press-publications/press-news/press-releases/2024/european-commissions-use-microsoft-365-infringes-data-protection-law-eu-institutions-and-bodies_en

Very inspired by the American Climate Corps initiative. It captures the spirit of the #greennewdeal , even in the @pluralistic version in "The Lost Cause". I am jealous of the Americans, a rare occurrence. Joe Biden has really grown into his role; his presidency might be the best one I witnessed in my adult life (I am 58). @EU_Commission , could we have this too?
https://www.acc.gov/
#ClimateCrisis

If you live in the European Union, I would ask, as a personal favour, that you consider signing this petition for a tax on great wealth. It is reasonable; it would have major impact if put into place; it is very feasible (no revision of the Treaties needed). It is the brainchild of French economist Thomas Piketty, a leading scholar of inequality. https://tax-the-rich.eu #economics #ClimateCrisis

@pfefferle @fediblogs.wordpress.com I don't quite understand how the activitypub plugin for WordPress (self-hosted) works. Does the plugin transform my blog into its own instance, with one user per author? If not, should I create an account for my blog? Checked the GitHub Readme, but it seems the point is to obvious that it is not worth mentioning... but not to me!

On the "privacy first" approach to regulating the internet: "every single problem is made worse by surveillance, so ban surveillance". Crystal clear, made in @pluralistic .

Pluralistic: Privacy first (06 Dec 2023) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/06/privacy-first/#but-not-just-privacy

Humble request: do you know of any real life experience of post-capitalist economies, even partial ones? Local currencies? Cooperative models? Community land trusts? Priority given to resilience over efficiency? #solarpunk economies? There are a few usual suspects (Mondragon, Cooperativa Integral Catalana, Transition Network...), but I struggle to find long lists of cases. Boost appreciated @g_kallis @jks @jasonhickel #postcapitalism #economics #degrowth #postgrowth

It turns out the reasons why many cultures, ancient and modern, loathe moneylenders (observation I owe to the late David Graeber) are all still there in the modern #debt collection industry, with a side of algorithmic harassment as described by @pluralistic . I have no love for an #economy that preys on the weakest like that, and look forward to its downfall. https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/12/do-not-pay/#fair-debt-collection-practices-act