Notices by Sabine Harnau (uanrah@pkm.social)

@tobi82 @gerrymcgovern @Chee_Koala

I worry about, and I fear, a world without simple pleasures like eating out, travelling, or sharing life with a dog.

And I believe we need different questions.

Not “Do we need gastronomy?” But “What kind of gastronomy do we need?”

Same with AI: What kind of AI do we need?

The solution is rarely a binary yes/no answer and usually a scale, a triad or a range of possibilities.

@tobi82 @gerrymcgovern @Chee_Koala

I’ve moved countries 4 times, so my story is very different than your grandparents’.

But, to your point of view”Who will decide?”

In pluralistic societies, I hope everyone will be free to decide for themselves, first and foremost. We have scientific evidence to show what works — such as Project Drawdown.

Regulation is dearly needed too, based on science (not lobbyism). Money and panic give poor advice.

@jackofalltrades @tobi82 @gerrymcgovern @Chee_Koala

Yes, I do not deny that tension.

Theories of change address the complexity of freedom vs. the common good. Some people (“laggards”) won’t change unless they’re forced to. But we can make considerable progress without them.

All I’m saying is that regulation must be democratically legitimised.

P.S. What’s with the travel bashing? Not all travel is air travel.

@jackofalltrades @tobi82 @gerrymcgovern @Chee_Koala

Thanks for sharing this study. There are others of this kind, and the results vary based on the actions proposed. I think it’s important to take all of them with a grain of salt:

- People are notoriously bad at predicting their own behaviour. That’s why UX research never relies on questions of what people would do.

TBC in thread
(1)

@jackofalltrades @tobi82 @gerrymcgovern @Chee_Koala

- People are social creatures. If they see the majority of their colleagues or neighbours drive electric cars or bicycles, they’re more prepared to do so too than they’d admit if asked in isolation.

- The actions proposed by the study are problematic. Some are too extreme:

TBC in thread
(2)

@jackofalltrades @tobi82 @gerrymcgovern @Chee_Koala

Neither strict family planning nor veganism are required in European countries. See https://drawdown.org/solutions/family-planning-and-education and https://drawdown.org/solutions/plant-rich-diets as well as the EAT LANCET study.

Other actions are problematic because of a lack in infrastructure for electric vehicles and public transport. People won’t change till they can.

One more!

(3)

@jackofalltrades @tobi82 @gerrymcgovern @Chee_Koala

Germany in particular has trouble shifting to electric cars because of heavy lobbying and FUD propaganda by legacy manufacturers. Just look at @SheDrivesMobility for more info on that.

I can imagine similar issues in EU car manufacturing countries such as Italy or France.

So, asking people what they would do is not the best way to predict change.

(Final post in thread)