Tag: skill-estate
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No, it’s not neofeudalism
I’ve made this point before. It’s worth repeating. Everyone is referring to the gig economy as neofeudalism. The personalities are unquestionably feudal, the same insane inbred incestuous imbecilic aristocrats who ruled Europe for 500 years. The system is the exact opposite. Feudalism was based on TWO-WAY OBLIGATIONS. The lord was required to support his serfs…
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Misdirected
Big Entertainment is fading. The tech tyrants who bought it know it’s fading. They’re happy to let it fade. That’s why they bought it. LBO. The Hollywood unions acquired solid contracts from the dying dinosaur, but the contracts don’t mean much. The contracts will help the dinosaur to fade, and the tech tyrants will be…
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Hoel’s insight
Now that the OpenAI soap opera has turned out to be solely a Microsoft soap opera, Erik Hoel writes a rigorous economic discussion of the true potential of AI. He reaches two parallel conclusions: (1) The jobs that AI can replace are low-wage jobs or ‘open-source’ jobs like editing Wikipedia or writing drab repetitive music.…
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Jefferiad
Jeffrey Tucker writes a proper jeremiad. (Jefferiad?) = = = = = START QUOTE: Such “public health” measures were not even within the range of possibility outside the worst dystopian fiction. And yet it all happened in a flash, all with the assurance that The Science demanded it. None of the institutions on which we…
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Trading, not eating
Repeating the old story: There was a speculative mania in sardines. A shortage pushed up prices, and before long there was an enthusiastic trade in tinned sardines. Then one day a buyer decided to open a can and eat a sardine or two. He got food poisoning and complained to the seller. The seller responded:…
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Sohrab carries FDR’s spirit
Sohrab Ahmari, sane and realistic as always, suggests how the Repooflicans could get along with unions. = = = = = START QUOTE: Beginning in the 1970s, pro-business Republicans—and some like-minded Democrats—tore down a New Deal order characterized by a high-wage, manufacturing-oriented economy and high union density. Free trade, deregulation, and de-unionization went hand-in-hand to…
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Not learning
Suckers are still spreading the fake threat that AI will become fully independent and take over the world. They overthink and overwrite, inventing thousands of terms and diagrams and organizational charts and algorithms to “prove” how it can happen. Calling Doc Ockham! It’s physically impossible and IRRELEVANT. The large-scale AI is ALREADY owned by Gates…
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Simmering 2
The simmering metaphor in previous item reminded me of a picture I’ve been wanting to make. Back in 1970 when I got out of prison, my first experience with independent life was in this duplex in Stillwater. My Zenith Trans-Oceanic helped to pull me out of the walls and back into the larger world. I…
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Soap opera continues
Now Satan is back at OpenAI and Microsoft is still the major shareholder. My initial guess, after Satan’s first fake return: So the whole stageplay was orchestrated by Sam to get rid of a board that wasn’t following his orders instantly and perfectly. OpenAI now becomes a standard tech company where the founder is the…
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Anderson and Foy
A Redditor in Europe is complaining that universities are becoming more like secondary schools. Previously the Euro tradition put all the weight on the test. If you aced the final test it didn’t matter whether you attended the lectures. Now they’re requiring attendance at every class. I don’t know if his complaint is valid, but…
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Wincharger addendum
A few months ago I featured Zenith’s Wincharger wind generator systems, part of the farm electrification movement of the New Deal. Noticed this ad in a 1947 broadcast trade journal: The Wincharger factory was already making short towers for the generators. After most farms were hooked up to the grid, Zenith switched to tall towers…
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More on phats
Recently I ran across the peculiar term phats in a union journal and tried to figure it out. Here’s a more specific definition. Phat Man A phat man, found in some offices is a hand compositor who pays to the other compositors a bonus for the privilege of setting the display heads of articles, which,…
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Why the new breed is new
I’ve been watching the new breed of journalists formed by the Sammy trial. These two clips from Carly lead to an observation. Here she’s discussing Sammy’s parents and their failed attempt to manufacture political victories. Carly was finance director for Andrew Yang’s campaign in 2020, so she knows how to run a campaign. When you…
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Vaudeville isn’t dead!
A nice Vaudevillian exchange on Twitter: The AMPTP’s “last best final” proposal would allow them to body scan performers making *more than minimum* in TV and features. Performers would get paid once. But studios would be allowed to profit off their AI likenesses without their approval forever — even after they’re dead. Ever Carradine, granddaughter…
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New translation
JFK’s famous Arsk Not slogan is always portrayed by media and schools as a noble declaration. In fact it was a declaration of independence for monstrous rulers, and specifically a repudiation of FDR. FDR ruled by serving. He created a reciprocal moral obligation by HELPING THE PEOPLE first. He starkly constrained the bankers and monopolists,…
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