Notices by Schroedinger (steveclough@metalhead.club)

@georgetakei He is right in one part - their place in history is settled.

@GossiTheDog SUrely the invisible hand of the market will handle this?

So reading Player Piano and there is a scary reflection of Atlas Shrugged - not in a bad way. But I think it is just a reflection of how the 1950s US industrial world was. It feels very odd, but I am sure it made sense at the time.

It makes them both seem slightly detached from my reality.

@Colman @ChrisMayLA6 I take a different view - that most of the rich have inherited money, or family wealth or at least security. Meaning they can mess up a few times and it is not a big deal.

That is the "luck" they normally have - the ability to have lost a million on unsuccessful deals, and still be able to carry on.

I think the US and the UK are remarkably similar in this.

On a regular - daily - basis, I am reminded of a comment from Rom in ST:DS9

"Ferengi workers don’t want to stop the exploitation. We want to find a way to become the exploiters."

That is the root of the popularity* of Trump. Ferengi society was the worst side of capitalism, of course, and the worst of capitalism is currently running the US.

* I nearly typed poopularity. I then nearly left it.

So, in the course of one month, Trump has had a birthday parade that nobody turned up to (including those taking part); a meaningless bombing of a known hostile country - which will undoubtedly have the opposite impact to what he claims; and his Bil Beautiful Bill has been turned into toilet paper.

What a month. More please. Humiliate the TACO.

This meeting could have been a meeting but not involving me.

The religious right - they worship Trump because he is like their God.

You mustn't call God a fucking shit, because He is so thin skinned he will be offended - like Trump.

He has a plan for the world that might not be good for you, but it will all turn out OK, honest. You don't need to question it or give your assent. Just submit.

He hates all sorts of groups of people. It changes in time. But you have to hate them as well or you are next. There is no reason for it, you just have to keep up with the latest outcast.

Both Trump and their God are vile, evil beings.

@Infrapink @jasongorman @tymwol I think both things apply. One reason that Eliza was so convincing is that it was "mimicking" a psychological therapy session. Where having your ideas repeated back to you is common and a good way of making connection.

It fulfilled peoples expectation of a session. Like faces on toast fulfill peoples expectations. All of the so called "intelligence" is actually in ourselves.

Chat tools can help us work out the answers ourselves sometimes - a well know developers trait. But mostly, it gives us what we expect, and that is good enough for us.

@ChrisMayLA6 I think we are becoming an island ruled by strangers. That the real strangers are those in power, those in charge.

But most people not in power are not strangers - maybe not all friends, but all together.

Oh no, of course politicians are not out of touch:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crkngrv14myo

Apparently, one of Canada's top spokespeople was asked about the US aggression. She said:

"So, you're Donald Trump? That don't impress me much. Not at all, in fact.

Also, from what i have heard, THAT won't keep anything warm in the middle of the night."

She added "You want to come on over and rock this country, then I'm gonna get you good".

@br00t4c Thing is, Musk claims to be a business genius, an expert in running sucessful businesses.

And yet, in DOGE, seems to be showing total naivety in business terms* about his actions. Making the sort of mistakes a startup would make.

I mean, no sensible business would hire someone so incompetent. I guess that iswhy he had to buy his way into a job.

*And this is ignoring the fact that the government is not a business, does not run like a business, and he has no idea about politics which is crucial to a role in government.

I am reading about Cognative Dissonance at the moment. From a psychological perspective.

What strikes me, and I cannot yet express it in simple terms, is that this is very relevant to the Trump election.

What it is saying clearly is that if your actions and your beliefs/ideas do not match, we tend to change our beliefs and ideas, rather than accept that our actions were wrong. And we do this without realising it or thinking about it.

@alice @actuallyautistic I would consider that all diagnosis is self-diagnosis (there isn't a blood test for it). The role of a medical professional is really to ask the right questions and understand the answers.

"Don't know much about geography
Don't know much trigonometry
Don't know much about algebra
Don't know what a slide rule is for"

"Well, Mr Cooke, I am not sure you are entirely suitable for head of Maths. And, in fact, I am starting to wonder why you are in teaching at all."

@cstross @CoolBlenderKitten Ramming - yes. I am also thinking of scrapes. I think a scrape along sandstone will be better?

What do I know? I will shut up.

@cstross @CoolBlenderKitten Ah OK. I stand corrected.

I have been, but only once. It always struck me as looking very solid.

Sandstone is much more forgiving.

@cstross @CoolBlenderKitten Mainly because it is solid when you hit it.

It means if you hit it, the car will come off worse.

@cstross @CoolBlenderKitten In truth (I think), Edinburgh is hostile by virtue of it being solid granite, as much as anything. So it makes sense to not have big, expensive cars, because there will be big expensive scratches.

I think the UK does encourage smaller cars. Although I have seen a rolls drive down a very narrow lane.