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#unpredictable

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"It feels as if the whole world has been transformed into images of the world and has thus been drawn into the human realm, which now encompasses everything. There is no place, no thing, no person or phenomenon that I cannot obtain as image or #information. One might think this adds substance to the world, since one knows more about it, not less, but the opposite is true: it empties the world; it becomes thinner. That’s because knowledge of the world and the experience of the world are two fundamentally different things. While knowledge has no particular time or place and can be transmitted, experience is tied to a specific time and place and can never be repeated. For the same reason, it also can’t be predicted. Exactly those two dimensions—the #unrepeatable and the #unpredictable—are what #technology abolishes."

harpers.org/archive/2025/06/th

Harper's MagazineThe Reenchanted World, by Karl Ove Knausgaard, Translated by Olivia Lasky, Damion SearlsOn finding mystery in the digital age
Continued thread

The #FBI has shut down its #ForeignInfluence task force. #CISA has ended its efforts to expose #disinformation. And this week the #State Dept put employees who tracked global disinformation on leave, shutting down the effort that had publicized the spread of #Chinese & #Russian #propaganda.

Almost 3 months into #Trump’s 2nd term, the guardrails intended to prevent #NationalSecurity missteps have come down as the new team races to anticipate & amplify the wishes of an #unpredictable president.

Except THIS is not how any of this works!....

#Trump literally lashing out against friends and neighbours will only backfire hard, and I expect @EUCommission and @europarl_en to enact #PrizeFreezes for #US #products & #services whilst forcing #Retaliatory #Tariffs on all US #products and espechally #services, demanding 100%+ in all #fees, and #revenue of #GAFAMs' services and products to the point that they'll effectively cancel half their revenue that flows back.

  • Plus forcing all products and services to be processed and sold via a #EU-based #corporation and adding a 30% "#AlienTax" as the #USA already does for i.e. #App #developers that ain't from the US even if they never sold a single license to a US customer.

Not to mention cancelling any #DataProtection agreements that only stalled the foreseeable court decision that #CloudAct is incompatible with #GDPR, thus banning #Office365 / #Microsoft365, #iCloud et. al. from the EU!

Given #Trump can't be assed to even fake any #loyality or #allied status even for the cameras, this is a #ForeseeableConsequence.

Unless we want to end up #downgraded into the state of a US-occupied overseas possession without statehood, like #Guam, #PuertoRico or #AVI...

Programs don't kill people, computers do

The world outside our computers is unpredictable and interacting with it can make programs unreliable. However, programs must interact with the wider world to do anything useful.
– from Peter Saxton

💻 crowdhailer.me/2025-02-06/prog

crowdhailer.mePrograms don't kill people, computers doThis post outlines the evolution of the EYG editor. The major changes over time, design thoughts and some implementation notes.
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These days, Demarais said, big #corporations may do their best to stay under the radar & wait out #Trump’s term. Opening a major production facility takes billions of dollars & a lot of time.

And #business leaders may be wary of investing in the #UnitedStates when #policy is so #unpredictable. Last week, for instance, Trump unexpectedly raised the possibility of doubling #taxes on foreign nationals & companies.

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…This week’s pause is fueled at least partly by uncertainty over the way #Trump could enact new policies, such as a return to an #aggressive & #unpredictable global #trade overhaul w/ #threats to impose significant #tariffs on US trading partners. Though it’s unclear exactly how those policies will affect the #economy, some #Fed ofcls have already begun to factor these policies into their economic projections.