mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-06"I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people." ~ Isaac Newton
#python
#introvert
#linux
#iconoclast
#environmentalist
#investor
#cancersurvivor
“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate
the growth of private power to a point where it comes
stronger than their democratic state itself... We know
now that government by organized money is just as
dangerous as government by organized mob. Never before
in all our history have these forces been so united against
one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in
their hate for me - and I welcome their hatred.”
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
In politics the dominant time frame is a term of office, in fashion and culture it’s a season, for corporations it's a quarter, on the internet it's minutes, and on the financial markets mere milliseconds.
“If one is mentally out of breath all the time from dealing with the present, there is no energy left for imagining the future”
That's why researchers, artists, technologists and philosophers think that short-termism is the greatest threat we are facing this century.
“We want capitalism to support democracy. Capitalism has to become more humane. It has to be more regulated. And in democracy, we don’t leave anybody behind”
“When you use strategies designed to manipulate knowledge to create market power, you go way beyond what we should be willing to accept”
“Trumpism will not go in a whimper,” Kurz says. “There may be a big recession or a big depression or some other crisis before we can complete a new reform cycle.”
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/may/18/big-tech-monopolies-democracy-mordecai-kurz
National Survey Finds Just 1 in 3 Americans Would Pass Citizenship Test
Our 2018 survey shows only one in three Americans (36 percent) can actually pass a multiple-choice test consisting of items taken from the U.S. Citizenship Test, which has a passing score of 60.
Among all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Vermonters were the sole group able to pass the multiple-choice test.
https://cands.org/research-national-survey-finds-just-1-in-3-americans-would-pass-citizenship-test/
The best way to increase your tolerance for uncertainty is through exposure, and resisting easy answers, but the internet makes it much easier to avoid that discomfort.
Because the future is unknowable, the real question is how we can learn to cope better with not knowing.
Our brains tend to think about the worst-case scenario, and catastrophise. A lot of our anxiety is driven by worrying about things that haven’t happened yet.
https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/2026/may/17/author-simone-stolzoff