[new draft post] A simple theory of the stock market https://drafts.interfluidity.com/2024/03/20/a-simple-theory-of-the-stock-market/index.html
On philanthropy by sortition (or the stratified selection it often misguidedly devolves to). #YoramGat https://equalitybylot.com/2024/03/20/heiress-is-letting-50-strangers-give-her-e25-million-fortune-away/
@MisuseCase i disagree with Yglesias a lot, find him infuriating, often manipulative and disingenuous.
i’m not sure where really to go with problematic as a category, though. it’s too ambiguous a signifier, which on the one hand i think is part of why it is popular, but on the other hand leaves me a bit cold.
although i have certainly used it at times anyway!
@MisuseCase that’s pretty much Yglesias’ view, he’s a process-towards-a-two-state-solutionist.
@walli you’d want to propose there just to be contrary.
does anyone maintain a list of neotwitter’s many censorship scandals and fascist-far-right favoring double-standards in moderation? https://kolektiva.social/@strandedia/112128209725895517
“The specific thing that has transfixed a global audience of idealistic young people is the concrete suffering of Palestinian civilians. That’s something that could be resolved far short of dissolving the State of Israel.” #MattYglesias https://www.slowboring.com/p/what-israel-does-matters
@barrkel pretty rarely! but this was in Columbia, and I did need some cash.
a dog, cocking its head curiously, from a balcony in a narrow alley next to a spiral staircase.
it's been weeks since i've observed any kind of a sign.
i can't decide whether that's a good or a bad sign.
So much has been enshittified.
I keep finding myself getting screwed by having formed expectations in civilized times, expectations that are now just wrong. 1/
* brokerages used to sweep cash balances into money markets and pay reasonable interest rates. in the new post-ZIRP era, i found my brokerages are just paying less than 1% on cash and pocketing the difference. 2/
* my bank used to charge a fixed fee of $10 for international atm uses. i'd amortize the cost by making large withdrawals. now my same bank charges $5 fixed plus 3%. you can't amortize away a 3% fee no matter how much you withdraw. /fin
in the photograph they are smiling at you, but in reality they neither know or care who you are.
Just a moment.
Your estimated wait time is less than 1 hour.
[tech notebook] c3p0 and loom https://tech.interfluidity.com/2024/03/18/c3p0-and-loom/index.html
@BenRossTransit it is. but it leaves unknown and unknowable how many people ultimately will be killed should the conflict suffer a thaw. too often the freeze is mistaken for the peace and time is let pass without urgent. every “frozen” conflict remains urgent, dangerous, Vesuvius beside our collective Pompeii.
a frozen conflict is not a peace.
@phillmv what’s intuitive vs what’s hard to explain is very socially determined. methodological individualism is, factually, bullshit, except in a weak sense. yet wealthy professionals take (wrongly) for granted that social outcomes are best understood as an aggregation of individual talents, with more talent yielding better outcomes (without much examining what “better” might mean under their own inadequate framework that emphasizes personal incentives). 1/
@phillmv it’s actually both intuitive and obvious that outcome quality is mostly a function of institution quality, and institution quality does not reduce only to domain-specific skills or talents of individuals who constitute institutions. domain-specific skill is necessary but not sufficient, and it’s far from obvious how frequently domain-specific skill is the scarce factor with respect to institution quality. 2/
@phillmv people who perceive themselves as deserving a good situation by virtue of individual merit tend not to love this sort of analysis. but i think it’s less because there’s anything inherently unintuitive about it, and more because of Upton Sinclair’s observation about it being hard to get people to understand what their salaries depend upon not understanding. /fin
@SteveRoth freud used to hint that money is shit and money is good therefore enshittification is good!
why is it that people concerned about “lowering standards” in, for example, medicine, because “people will die”, seem so unconcerned with things like private equity rollups that starve hospitals and medical clinics of resources, which very definitely cause people to die every day, here and now 1/
everything involves tradeoffs. most critiques are narrowly correct. there are real downsides to every intervention. there are upsides too, that’s why the intervention is proposed. what you choose to criticize versus not to criticize reveals a great deal about your values. /fin
“Scam compounds staffed with trafficked and enslaved manpower have become common in Southeast Asia.” #LauraDobberstein https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/18/phillipines_cyberslavery_gang_busted/ ht @John