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Kyle Montanio

@FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
mastodon 4.7.2
  • Open on mas.to

I'm an environmental economist who researches econ pedagogy to make learning economics marginally less dismal.

My pipe-dream is to write a fantasy novel/economics textbook, which is getting closer to reality every day.

#economics #TeachEcon #sustainability #DoughnutEconomics #degrowth #AmWriting

Profile pic is me grinning in front of a whiteboard with econ gibberish on it

Background is my dog, Freya, who is very nervous because Luna, my cat, is demanding the chair Freys is sitting in.

2169 Followers
1619 Following
33 Posts
Joined May 18, 2025
My Passion:
Making econ marginally less dismal one post at a time. I teach economics at the UC Denver and am an all around nerd. My goal is to combine my passion for all things fantasy/sci-fi and love of economics to lower the cost of learning econ.
Writing:
Circular Reasoning: A near-future sci-fi short story about AI and the circular economy related. - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IGVtd_SQznd2fJkI5JgwBQPdO8mMnMgW66yNZJlfQsI/edit?usp=sharing
Open post
Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 3w ago
Boosted by @trending@homestead.social
A handful of bros in Silicon Valley and Wall Street have wagered much of the global economy on being able to hyperscale stochastic parrots into AGI super beings. Many in the know have long known that is a losing bet as LLMs are mathematically guaranteed to produce plausible sounding errors (too often called "hallucinations"). Sucking up increasing amounts of water and energy to train on more stolen information only results in marginal improvements. All this talk of 'needing to slow down the super scary AI' is just a tacit admission from the AI CEOs that they are running out of venture capitalist marks to con and are looking for a government bailout - it's only fair to be compensated if they are tapping the breaks to save humanity, after all. These AI companies have no path to profitability (unless LLM to AGI transition is, in fact, possible and around the corner, to which it's not), but can find a 'nice' home within increasingly fascist surveillance states. #LLM #AI #AIDoomerism
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 5mo ago
Boosted by @Gargron@mastodon.social
Fuck Palantir. Fuck their manifesto. Fuck that we have fallen so far they feel comfortable saying the evil part out loud.
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 4mo ago

#ICE is losing, dramatically, in the courts. They have lost over 10,000 cases of the 11,000ish cases brought before judges.

Of course, losing in court does not take away the pain, the suffering, nor the fear caused by these illegal detentions. But it is good to see (most) judges doing what they can to rein in this evil.

#FuckICE #USPol

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/13/mandatory-detention-ice-cases-rulings-database-00913988?_sp_pass_consent=true

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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 3mo ago
Some pleasant news for you: physical bookstores are staging a comeback! "Independent booksellers are also enjoying a renaissance. The number of U.S. bookstore companies rose 70% from 2,010 in 2021 to 3,416 in 2025, according to the American Booksellers Association. 73% of booksellers recorded a sales increase in 2025, with more than 47% saying sales rose at least 6%." 📖📚📖
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 3mo ago

All but 5 US states are already experiencing drought this summer. Not sure the water-intensive data centers are the thing to be doing in these conditions.

https://futurism.com/science-energy/drought-us-states-five-nebraska-lincoln

futurism.com
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 3mo ago

In the first case targeting #antifa, we are seeing chillingly- long sentences.

50 fucking years in prison for shooting off fireworks (which they are classifying as explosives), wearing black, and being associated with someone who shot an ICE agent.

This is while we have #ICE murdering folk in broad daylight without a hint of consequence.

"A group of Texas protesters convicted of terrorism charges received unusually harsh sentences of at least 50 years in prison on Tuesday in a closely watched case that was widely seen as a test case of the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on dissent."

Welcome to the next-level of fascist repression.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/23/prairieland-ice-protesters-texas-sentenced

#USPol

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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 5mo ago

Has anything good ever come from "a crowd of mostly middle-aged men in suits"? Fuck crowds of mostly middle-aged men in suits.

"At a conference hosted by the prominent science-denying thinktank the Heartland Institute last week, a crowd of mostly middle-aged men in suits claimed the world is finally waking up to the idea that the climate crisis does not exist."

#ClimateChange

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/14/dc-conference-climate-deniers-trump-epa-chief

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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 3mo ago

Turns out, the company who completed the last renovation of the Reflecting Pool were offered the contract this time around but turned it down because it was "unfeasible" to paint it blue and complete it by the July 4 deadline.

But who cares what these "experts" think and find some grifter willing to throw on some blue truck-bed liner and call it a day. What could go wrong?

(Antifa, apparently.)

https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/25/politics/reflecting-pool-firm-renovation-unfeasible

#USPol

cnn.com
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 5mo ago
Replying to
@D_J_Nathanson It's their book from last year: The Technological Republic, but they posted the main points again yesterday to distil the evil down https://goodreads.com/book/show/213943304#CommunityReviews https://twitter-thread.com/t/2045574398573453312
goodreads.com
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 3mo ago

#AI companies are built on, largely stolen, collective knowledge; one of them "wants" to "democratize" the, largely hypothetical, benefits by oh so generously giving 5% to the American people.

"As OpenAI prepares to go public, the AI giant wants to give the American public an ownership slice of up to 5% to help democratize the benefits and riches of the humanity-rattling technology."

Kindly fuck off, Sam.

https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-am-224a6ae7-a38e-49ca-b762-2159ff5efde4.html

mas.to

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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 5mo ago
Replying to
@D_J_Nathanson Yeah. Yeah, that's a valid reaction to reading it. It's such awful shit that reads *exactly* like the justifications for slavery and the Holocaust that I still barely fathom how people could have believed it once. And here it is again. Fuck. @HighlandLawyer
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 7mo ago

All the reports I've seen on #Iran seen to have missed something that makes these strikes historic. The US and Israel starting conflicts in the region is far from new, but this is the first war ever started by a recipient of the FIFA Peace Prize.

It's almost as of this award means nothing these days.

#Politics

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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 3mo ago

"An anti-establishment avalanche blanketed Colorado on Tuesday night."

Good work Colorado.

"[T]he candidates who cast themselves as fighters against the old-line Democratic establishment soared to victory — the clearest proof yet that the base’s fury at their leaders extends far beyond the five boroughs, following insurgents’ major victories in New York City last week."

#USPol

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/01/colorado-primaries-democrats-fighters-trump-00983521

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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 4mo ago

I had no idea that most canned beverages include a plastic condom-like liner. Cool cool cool.

https://youtu.be/7r7_SFdSdE4?si=j10_5WG5H7tkX9xF

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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 6mo ago

A win for bees is a win for the world.

"Scientist have developed a breakthrough “superfood” for honeybees by engineering yeast to produce the essential nutrients normally found in pollen. In controlled trials, colonies fed this specially designed diet produced up to 15 times more young, showing a dramatic boost in reproduction and overall health."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260327000518.htm

Scientists uncovered the nutrients bees were missing — Colonies surged 15-fold
ScienceDaily

Scientists uncovered the nutrients bees were missing — Colonies surged 15-fold

Scientists have developed a breakthrough “superfood” for honeybees by engineering yeast to produce the essential nutrients normally found in pollen. In controlled trials, colonies fed this specially designed diet produced up to 15 times more young, showing a dramatic boost in reproduction and overall health. As climate change and modern agriculture reduce the availability of natural pollen, this innovation could offer a practical way to support struggling bee populations.

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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 4mo ago

"Scientists say house cats could help unlock new cancer treatments for humans"

I haven't read the article, but I'm assuming they just choose not to, preferring to research efficiency improvement for their servants than longevity advances.

Billionaires use the same logic, but are far less cute when doing so.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/05/260523103943.htm

sciencedaily.com
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 3mo ago
Replying to
@evoterra@podvibes.co Agreed. I would hope it sinks in to the power broakers at the DNC and the like too, but that may be asking for (way) too much. @markwyner@mas.to
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 3mo ago
Replying to
@GhostOnTheHalfShell@masto.ai The chatbot I offload all my thinking to told me it was so. /s
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 6mo ago

The Art of the Deal in action: back down on threat of war crimes (on possibly a nuclear scale) at last minute followed by "ally" immediately increasing hostilities on another front.

Result: Strait of Hormuz was open for about 12 hours. (I'm genuinely curious to know if any oil and fertilizer even made it through during this minuscule window.)

#AreWeGreatYet #Politics

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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 4mo ago

"Median pay for CEOs rose nearly 6% in 2025, but some compensation packages were eye-popping"

It's good to know this economy is working for some people at least...?

https://apnews.com/article/ceo-compensation-stock-awards-workers-pay-ratio-67449e8a07011e5390d704c665533f94

apnews.com
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 5mo ago

Not sure if she's the hero we need or deserve, but this story made me smile (apart from the six month prison sentence).

She’s opening the bees!’ US beekeeper jailed for trying to save friend from eviction

"Rebecca Woods insisted she only released her truckload of hives to allow the bees to enjoy the “lovely, flowering landscape” near the home of an elderly friend and cancer patient."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/28/massachusetts-beekeeper-jailed-eviction

theguardian.com
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 6mo ago

Is Texas planning on invading New Mexico? Probably not, but the Texas house speaker is forming a committee to look into it.

Good times. Good times.

Even if this is just bluster, I hope it helps more folk realize how damned close we are to another US civil war (some argue we are already in the early stages of), which is a very real issue worth grappling with.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/30/texas-study-annexing-new-mexico

#USPol

theguardian.com
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 4mo ago
Replying to
@HakeemG@mastodon.social Absolutely. It is a good thing, and I'm happy to see it. I just don't want to brush off the real harm being caused that don't go away just because courts, rightfully, find the arrests illegal.
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 5mo ago
Replying to
@markwyner@mas.to ❤️ Hi @Boere_Punk@musicworld.social, welcome to the fediverse!
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 5mo ago
Replying to
@mistergibson I love me some Kate Raworth! She put together a versatile model that can help set priorities for a society while centering Earth's biophysical limitations. There are certainly some downsides to the Doughnut Economics model - largely centered with being complex or viewed as unrealistic - but I don't know of a better macro-model to use as a guideposts for managing an economy.
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 5mo ago
Replying to
@Chrisgodwin Yeah, that's a really good point. But the move from fantastical metaphor to hard reality is still jarring.
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 4mo ago
Replying to
@salixsericea@mastodon.social Yeah I'm going to definitely be reducing my can use. I used to be much better, but I've gotten into the habit of grabbing caffeine in a can since having a kid. This is just the visual image I need to kick the habitat I've been wanting to break.
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 4mo ago
Replying to
@spocko@mastodon.online Well fucking said.
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 4mo ago
Replying to
@Beachbum@mastodon.sdf.org I wonder if this will be the time that we follow through on punishing those trying to destroy the country to benefit themselves... We didn't at the end of the Civil War. We didn't in the Business Plot. We didn't with Nixon. We didn't with Trump 1.0. I hope this is the time we break that trend and instill some kind of accountability for such things.
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 5mo ago
Replying to
@SrRochardBunson 🐝😂
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 6mo ago

RE: @randahl@mastodon.social

Fingers crossed we can get all these things without Trump 3.0.

Let's face it, the US has proven itself untrustworthy regardless of who is at the helm next. I'm certainly hoping it is the EU that steps up to fill the power vacuum being left by the US-led implosion of the global world order we've had.

mastodon.social
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 5mo ago
Replying to
@mk30 Hmmm, not that I know of but there definitely should be!
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Kyle Montanio @FantasticalEconomics@mas.to
· 5mo ago
Replying to
@sinabhfuil Sadly not. This isn't a story of his folk winning, but I appreciate the efforts made.
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