Yeah, people aren’t gonna make that switch in a hurry. What Apple is really competing against is the iPhone they were selling last year. A chunk of their install base is people who upgrade each and every release, and I think there’s gonna be a pretty big contraction.

These leftist would have you believe that woodland critters can’t intuit the chaotic nature of the feminine. It’s… sorry… it’s just such a frightening position, you can understand why I’m a little misty eyed just at the thought.

Unlike shoes or hats, where you might buy less if prices increase, smartphones, especially iPhones, are a different story. iPhones, which currently dominate about half the US smartphone market, have become an integral part of the people’s daily lives. Let’s face it: Many Americans would feel lost without their iPhones, even for a day or just a few hours.

I don’t know about this. A network connection and a means of texting; sure that’s pretty integral. But iPhones themselves… that’s a brand first, and a functional product at distant second. I kinda don’t think it’s more elastic than shoes. Sure, other phones are also gonna be impacted by tariffs, but other phones don’t start with the big price tag that comes alongside a fruit logo.

Keeping to yourself has more benefits than that. Active support always comes with the risk. A far off power throwing its weight into a set of conditions it doesn’t have an on-the-ground, real time understanding off. There’s always unintended consequences. The US has spent the last half-century demonstrating how that sours your global perception. China keeps to itself. China doesn’t presume to know local conditions better than locals do. And hey, if local communists do manage to take power, China is there, ready and willing to do business with them.

I think the lack of vocal calls for communism is more a strategic necessity than anything else. The US and Europe love idly speculating about regime change in China. Any active support on China’s part will get spun as imperialism, and used to justify realizing those dreams of regime change. Do business with whatever institution is recognized as legitimate, keep the communism within your own boarders, and you can more safely entrench yourself within world systems.

I know! From a broad historical perspective, it’s almost bafflingly funny. The US managed to throw together a system of coordinating state and private power in a way that could out-compete any of the older capitalist powers. Then we dismantled solely for ideological reasons. Now our leadership can’t even recognize that dynamo being recreated anywhere else! It’s somehow “cheating” and always moments away from violent collapse.

Yes, they have some capitalist bullshit, but the capitalists don’t own the state. They don’t buy politicians or dictate policy. It’s not too dissimilar from the New Deal. It’s how China is currently leading the world in solar and nuclear – new technologies don’t have to struggle in the shadow of established firms.

good luck there’s a fuck ton of them and I can never remember the name a given one is filed under

huh

try removing the bit in quotes, so it ends at the .png

nah, we switched from the old :word-here: format to ![ ] () specifically becase other instances can see and use 'em.

Great character, but I really don’t think the finale fit. As the show went on, it felt like they didn’t really know what to do with the Bajoran religion, so we just got a half-assed Angels v. Demons lightshow.

Deep Space 9

type yeonmi-park](https://chapo.chat/pictrs/image/c88ba9eb-c207-4282-91e0-a9e403dcf715.png “emoji yeonmi-park”)

with ![ at the front

Liberals saw Joseph Welch ask McCarthy “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?”, and their takeaway was and is Neat, that’s all it takes

Meanwhile, Republicans spent the last 50+ years constructing a party that selects for individuals without a sense of shame.

I think computers themselves are already the under-utilized tool for economic planning and coordination. Perhaps LLMs (or some other sort of trained neural net) have a role in that, though I think the way it spits out answers without being able to go back and follow the steps it took to get there makes it a bit unreliable for economic modeling. Honestly, I’ve seen a pretty compelling case put forward that all we really need is some open-source algebra equations, and a dedicated network for incorporating worker feedback and real time data.

And, I’m… skeptical about the effectiveness of online messaging in general. It’s good for getting ideas out there, but real organizing happens offline, between people. Ideally, we want them to be able to recognize, analyze, and work through contradictions themselves - rather than relying on the computer to hand them answers.

for a country with more cultural exports than practically anything else, some of us really don’t understand what acting is

one the one hand, nobody should be subject to the conditions of a company town

but its reaaaaally hard not laugh as these guys about to get everything they ask for

Republicans are really gonna impale themselves on this petard? Exactly what the Democrats did last term? Insisting that everything is better because the bean-counters say things look good on their side of the spreadsheet?

On a broader level I kinda wonder if, by circumstance or decision or whatever, we’re not gonna have capital-r Recessions as historical moments anymore. Like, conditions will continue to deteriorate - we’ll still have periods where unemployment increases, where people are laid off, prices increase, and the circle of those living in comfortable stability contracts further - but nobody in the news rooms will actually say the “R” word.

I don’t know. Maybe all the bubbles that have been accumulating, the Bitcoin and the AI and the Tesla and the computer chips, maybe they all pop in the next little while. Maybe I’ve just spent too long being tense and waiting for the pin to drop that I’ve become too numb.

bro, what if we just made the Chinese Room bigger? and like had a bigger rulebook?

has anyone figured out how to talk about politics without being annoying? asking for my me