Some weird, German communist, hello. He/him pronouns and all that. Obsessed with philosophy and history, secondarily obsessed with video games as a cultural medium. Also somewhat able to program.

https://abnormalbeings.space/

https://liberapay.com/Wxnzxn/

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  • 34 Comments
Joined 10 days ago
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Cake day: March 6th, 2025

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  • Genuinely, though, it is hard to gauge at times which actions are:

    • Genuinely malicious plans to increase his and his cronies’ wealth
    • Confused, because Elon or Trump were in a specific mood that particular day
    • Some actor behind the scenes manipulating them by taking advantage of their impulsivity
    • The genuine incompetence of the newly appointed loyalists (or the algorithms/AI they use) within the new deep state
    • Genuinely ideologically motivated stupidity, from Libertarians that drank their own cool-aid within the administration.

    It is genuine chaos. But overall, the effects are pretty disastrous, no matter what exactly causes which actions.





  • Now, as much as I genuinely respect what their scientists have achieved with DeepSeek, especially with limited resources and import restrictions on hardware, and how it is Open Source and all - this will most likely end up enshittifying 90% of what it touches, still, just as “AI” like that does anywhere. “Good” to see those dynamics are the same on both sides of the Pacific (and Atlantic, actually), including overvalued stocks from hype.

    Also, is archive.ph down? I tried .ph and .is and both timed out for me, when I tried to generate an easy-to-share link to the article.
















  • Basically: Resident enfranchisement. It’s weird, when people born in our country and having lived here their whole life can’t vote outside of local elections. My own father, for example, had a Dutch background, and was never allowed to vote in federal elections until his death. (Neither he nor I even spoke/speak a single phrase of Dutch)

    Yes, things have gotten somewhat better and easier with applications for citizenship, but that there are hurdles like that to begin with, is a bit… weird.


  • archive.ph - link without registration wall

    The investments are being placed through opaque structures known as special-purpose vehicles, which have the benefit of concealing the investors’ identities, to avoid the ire of US authorities and companies wary of Chinese capital during a nadir in relations between the two countries.

    Asset managers behind the deals have told investors that the entities are specifically designed to avoid disclosure. The use of special-purpose vehicles in financing is commonplace and there is nothing illegal about the arrangements.

    Still, it raises concerns about the potential for undue influence and conflicts of interest at a time when Musk has unprecedented involvement in US policy, politics and business.

    Funnily enough, to me personally, there are more questions about what this means concerning Chinese politics and conflicts of interests in the future. The country is not without its own tensions, after all.

    The inflow of Chinese capital into Musk’s business empire is primarily profit-driven and has little to do with technology transfer or influencing public policy, according to people involved in the transactions.

    With a sluggish domestic economy, wealthy Chinese are looking abroad for investment opportunities.

    To me, personally, it serves as a reminder that no amount of red flags waved or social-democratic laws saying “wealth is going to serve the interests of the working class” makes a country communist, only material realities can.