The better part of a decade, all the resources in the world, and you expect me to be impressed with something that can’t perfectly do an entry level programming project? With that kind of resource usage, I expect a moon landing at the very least.

There is no use case for chat boxes. Uber was losing money, but it was driving people to places. Amazon was losing money, but it was delivering books to people. Chat boxes don’t do shit.

Uber would have failed if their cars just drove in circles. Amazon would have failed if they didn’t deliver anything. There is no real use case for this tech, just like with scam coins or monkey pictures, this is tech searching for a problem to solve.

The most foundational aspect of business is that you gotta do something to get money. What exactly have these chat boxes produced? Shitty porn and incorrect advice. If that’s the best they’ve got after consuming the entirety of human knowledge and guzzling an ocean of freshwater, this shit ain’t going nowhere.

We do this in the US public education system; it’s called Tracking. Although it’s become a little less popular, much of the 20th century had three tracks, Vocational, General, and Academic. We still have the echoes of this system today with stuff like “Auto Academy” or “College Prep” in US highschools that offer students different classes based on what group they are in. Counselors and advisors tell students what kind of track they are suited for based upon test scores and teacher observations and will discourage students from classes they are “unsuited” for.

Maybe you saw this in your own schooling? A group of students who all had the same classes all day because they were in the “Finance Academy” or something? A friend whose advisor told them Pre-cal was a waste of time for them, despite being interested? It is systemic and points kids towards futures they may be unsatisfied with all because the economy could really use more programmers or pharmacists or whatever right now.

I definitely agree that many countries’ approach to education creates mercenary thinking. I’m also saying that the education system presented in this article has that same kind of focus.

The article mentions Amelie who was told at 10 to join one track and as a result, spent the better part of a decade learning stuff she didn’t want to. I don’t doubt that she learned some stuff she found interesting and some stuff that makes for a well rounded person, but she was told to go looking in a certain direction by adults who judged her aptitude for labor at the age of 10.

I’m glad the system caught her and she eventually found a field she is interested in, but I would argue that the classification and systemic narrowing of education did Amelie more harm than good. Those textile and blacksmithing classes that Amelie was exposed to are an awesome opportunity for a student interested in those fields, but that really should be up to the student. They should be free to take those kinds of vocational training classes alongside more traditionally academic classes.

The president ruined a basketball game with his presence and took a nap during it while there’s a goddamn war going on that he is directly involved with. People are right to care that the president is wasting time like this instead of doing his job. This was an attempt to siphon the glory of a major cultural event, so it’s important to fight back against that and ensure it fails. If it won’t pressure him to do his job, it will at least depress his approval ratings.

Like an astronomer defending heliocentrism.

I don’t think the point of schooling should be to get a job. Children should pursue their interests while recieving an education wide enough to accommodate being trained in whatever field they decide to follow. A lawyer should know a little trigonometry. An engineer should know a little philosophy.

A job is just something you do to pay the bills. I don’t see any problem with a barista who followed their interests and got a degree in Mesopotamian Culture. It’s only a waste of time if you view education solely as a means to employment.

In much of the modern capitalist world, education is seen this way, unfortunately. I agree with you that people today are sorted into social classes based solely on how much money they make. It’s how we end up with Business Idiots; people like Elon Musk who are fucking idiots that don’t know how anything works. But since they are really good at making money, they are seen as paragons of society. The construction worker with a degree in Underwater Basket Weaving contributes more to society than any CEO, yet is seen as stupid and worthy of derision for both having a physical labor job and pursuing their interests.

This system seems focused on education as a means for employment rather than education. This kind of focus on the material benefits of education results in a very mercenary view of the world. I think most people would agree that it would be beneficial to live in an educated society where everyone is curious and constantly learning, but this kind of tracking and sorting system seems designed to encourage a mentality where the ends justify the means since your future can be heavily influenced by what track you are placed upon. It would be one thing if students could pick their track and shuffle around as their interests change, but telling a kid, “You must get a math job because you are good at math” removes any agency and motivation for learning. It will turn into, “You must get good at math and get placed on the math track because that’s where all the high paying jobs are.” Education becoming a means to an end instead of the goal of school.

The profits are privatized but the losses are socialized. For a hypersimplification, the stock market tanking will cause banks to give out less money to places like Walmart which will cause Walmart to increase their prices to make up for the money they aren’t getting. The rich and wealthy will barely feel any effects because they can afford those increased prices. The suffering they will experience will be a slightly smaller yacht. Everyone else will experience higher food prices, higher rent, less job opportunities, lower wages, etc. as the wealthy extract all they can out of us in order to recoup the money they feel entitled to.

In order to deal with the incoming bubble pop in a way that doesn’t unfairly impact regular working folks, we would need the government to force the rich and wealthy to eat the results of their gambling addiction.

Sorry, in case it wasn’t clear, I do agree with you. I just didn’t want to write all that out and instead reverted to the very easy statement previously mentioned.

Betting markets bad!

Our current stock market is being propped up by AI investments. When the stock market does well, regular people see no benefit, but when the stock market does poorly, it becomes everyone’s problem.

Lots of retirement funds are tied up in Wall Street, so when the bubble bursts, the immediate effect will be old folks who wanna retire will be unable to. The longer term effect will come from corpos who invested heavily into AI trying salvage some money by firing a bunch of people. The even longer term effects will come from the government bailing out the companies that are “Too Big To Fail”, which will of course necessitate cuts to social programs.

I’m sure you’ve heard of The Magnificent Seven? The seven most profitable stocks which just happen to be tech companies heavily invested in AI are the only companies doing big growth right now. The stock market without those seven is anemic, reflecting how the US has had hardly any growth outside the AI circle jerk. Unfortunately, the USA has been acting like the illusionary AI growth is widespread, so when those checks come back to be cashed, the rest of us will suffer.

With this, Republicans have a much better shot at winning the governor’s seat. Democrats love chasing those marginal victories and are perfectly happy losing to fascism if it prevents winning with progressive policies.

You think we live in a completely rational society that operates off market fundamentals like “supply and demand”? That is like planning a road trip assuming you’ll drive on a frictionless flat plane in a vacuum.

If supply and demand were truly adhered to, Boeing airplanes would be out of business after their doors falling off mid flight became widely knwon. Tesla would be out of business since their cars break when going into a carwash. Several banks would be out of business after gambling on housing speculation.

The idea that we live in a self regulating society that operates off The Invisible Hand is pure fantasy. Capitalism picks winners and losers all the time while making excuses swallowed by rubes like you.

Machine learning is a monkey bashing keys on a typewriter. Improvements will result in a better typewriter, so the monkey will more often hit the good keys instead of the bad ones, but it won’t result in a smarter monkey. It will still be random because probability is inherent to the technology, which means that AI will never be trustworthy. Would you ever trust a calculator that sometimes says 1+1=3? Even if it only did that 1% of the time?

You aren’t wrong about GenAI replacing jobs though, because there are people willing to use faulty, untrustworthy tools. Your manager, people in the C-suite, Business Idiots who have no idea what the the job actually needs to function properly are being tricked into thinking that chat boxes will let them cut operational costs without incurring any significant consequences.

It doesn’t really matter how good or not AI is; the reason jobs are being cut is because Business Idiots with more money than sense fire people based on vibes. This has been a known problem since the 1980’s when Jack Welch destroyed GE through his idiotic “Rank and Yank” strategy. His foolish business practices made a lot of money in the short term, which is why he is lauded as the CEO of the Century, even though those same business practices destroyed one of the greatest American companies in a handful of years.

If the USA taxes Amazon, do you think Amazon will stop doing business in the USA? Do you think Amazon will do less business in the USA? No, of course not, there’s a billion warehouses and distribution centers in the USA, it would be impossible to move.

If the USA taxes Jeff Bezos, do you think Jeff Bezos will go live in Panama? Do you think he will move to Africa? No, of course not, he has all his stuff in the USA that he cannot move, he would never leave.

As long as corporations/billionaires have their stuff in a country, that country can tax their stuff. It’s the other side of the coin Trump is having trouble with. Trump slaps a tarrif on everything to encourage manufactuing in the USA, but corpoations don’t have many manufacturing capabilities in the USA so the end result is lost jobs and raised prices for nothing. There’s no manufacturing stuff in the USA and it would take a decade to make the stuff if they started now.

At a certain level of wealth, all the money is tied up in assets that are difficult to move. Those assets are assessed and used to borrow money to avoid income tax. We can use those same assessments and implement a wealth tax.

The deal should be, “Y’all have had it too good for too long. Pay your fair share immediately and indefintely.”

There’s no need to be glib. Judging by your comments, you do not believe a better future is possible and are resigned to working with whatever the DNC offers you. Your writing seems resentful of anyone trying to make things better as if they are radical dreamers. We’ve seen progressive policies get progressive candidates elected, so I don’t know why you keep implying that America is not ready for these ideas.

Personally, I am not the type of person to lead from the front. I’m a door knocker more than a politician, which is why I’m in the DSA and work with other members to pool our power and get progressive policies passed. There is more than one way to be involved in politics. People like Mamdani or AOC have a wide base of support behind them; they are not changing things alone. Your implication that the only way to be involved in politics is to get elected only serves to discourage people from getting active in politics.

If you are not willing to be an active change to better things, the least you can do is get out of the way.

If the world truly worked this way, then the Trump administration’s disparagment of the new Iranian Ayatollah being gay would work. Nobody gives a fuck if the new Ayatollah is gay because gas prices are ballooning out of control. The Right Wingers are trying everything to pin high gas prices on Iran, but people aren’t eating the shit they are serving. Sure there are a few crazies out there saying, “High gas prices are worth it to defeat the gay communist muslim terrorists”, but those people are a minority who do not need to be catered to.

You should not cater to the worst dregs of our society because they are an inconsequential miniscule outlier. Sure, the transphobe might claim that they hate trans kids getting healthcare, but they’ll still go to the hospital and get treatment when they fall ill, just like those vaccine conspiracy nuts who died of covid in the hospitals. Trying to appease them is stupid, especially when it costs you the majority as it did with Kamala Harris.

The solution is easy. Offer progressive policies. The most transphobic piece of shit still wants healthcare. If offered universal healthcare, their opinion will be along the lines of, “yeah, I don’t like them trans people, but if I can afford to see my doctor then I don’t give a fuck”.

We see progressive policies win over folks all the time. That’s why people like Bernie Sanders can go on Fox, sit in front of a live audience of Fox supporters, and get that entire audience to support him and his platform by offering healthcare or affordable housing or any other progressive policy.

Establishment Dems know this but refuse to support progressive policies because then they’d actually have to do something beyond using the Republicans to scaremonger. If establishment Dems would just listen to their constiuents, we wouldn’t be in this mess. A majority of the blame lies at the feet of the Democratic Party.

Capital flight is a myth. Wealthy people do business in liberal cities because that’s where all the talent is. Liberal cities are where all the talent is because those places use taxes to improve the quality of life. Wealthy businesses do not attract talented workers; talented workers atteact wealthy businesses.

When NY fought against Amazon getting a sweetheart deal to build a warehouse, bootlickers came out of the woodwork to claim it was a great idea. That NY needed to offer Amazon tax breaks and grants because it would create jobs.

Progressives told Amazon to eat shit. Amazon has continued to beg to be allowed to do business in NY. They are negotiating with the current mayor Mamdani because it’s fuckin NYC, of course they wanna do business there.