The Post-Partisan Emporium

Software Ate the World and Now Has Indigestion October 18, 2021 As for all those automated systems we have to navigate--do any of them work so well that those profiting from them actually use them? Of course not. In Marc Andreessen's memorable phrase,  "software is eating the world."  Unfortunately, it now has indigestion.  Software is running into limits that (non-engineer) promoters either deny or downplay. Meanwhile, back in the real world, software has a limited role in filling structural scarcities of physical goods and many services. Consider all those apps which are supposed to be the epitome of automated productivity: if software is so great, then why do the apps need thousands of ghost workers to keep the kludgy mess semi-functional?  Hidden behind the shiny happy facade of automated software wonderland, thousands of poorly paid humans have to do the hard bits that software fails to do or fails to do properly. The Ghost Workers in the Machine :  Compani...

The End of the Dream John Michael Greer There are times when the winds that shape the future blow strong enough to be heard over the jabber of everyday life, and this is one of those times. For a while now I’ve been mulling over a handful of often-repeated comments on this blog, and I find that if I look through them, into the landscape of ideas that structure them, it’s possible to glimpse some of the driving forces behind the history of our era. The comment that set off this most recent period of reflection came a couple of weeks ago. The person who wrote it complained that he’d tried to follow the advice I’ve offered for some time now—“collapse now and avoid the rush”—by trying to organize an intentional community up in the Italian mountains.  His project fell flat when unobody else wanted to join.  Having related this story, he proposed that other readers of this blog join with him to create “a meaningful, synergistic community.” I’m embarrassed to say that I lost my tempe...

Thanks to CoCoLuv9491 for recommending this video... The Mountain of Data Showing How Authoritarian Democrats Have Become Source: Glenn Greenwald

The FDA’s War Against the Truth on Ivermectin David R. Henderson   Charles L. Hooper   On July 28, the  Wall Street Journal  ran our article “ Why Is the FDA Attacking a Safe, Effective Drug? ” In it, we outlined the potential value of the antiparasitic drug ivermectin for Covid-19, and we questioned the FDA’s vigorous attack on ivermectin. Many people praised us and many criticized us. We had clearly covered a sensitive subject. It didn’t help that one of the studies we referenced was retracted the day our article was published. Within hours of learning that fact, we sent a mea culpa to the  Journal’s  editors. They acted quickly, adding a note at the end of the electronic version and publishing our letter. It’s important to address two criticisms of our work. The first is that we exaggerated the FDA’s warning on ivermectin. The second is that Merck’s stance on ivermectin proved that even the company that developed ivermectin thought that it doesn’t work f...

Crisis is the new normal The Left's embrace of globalism has left Britain on life support BY  ARIS ROUSSINOS Has any major political movement been as thoroughly expunged from popular memory as the  anti-globalisation movement ? Two decades ago, the dominant opinion on the Left was that globalisation was a destructive and exploitative innovation of international capitalism to be fought.  In Seattle in 1999 , and  in Genoa in 2001 , thousands of protestors from across the world gathered to protest against the signing of the transnational trade treaties that accelerated the spread of globalisation,  cheered on by the organs of Left opinion . A  BBC article  from 2001 notes that opponents of globalisation believe “it leads to exploitation of the world’s poor, workers, and the environment; “makes it easier for rich companies to act with less accountability: and “that countries’ individual cultures are becoming overpowered by Americanisation.” On the other h...

Maximum Vaccination The vaccines can't control Corona, which is why they won't stop vaccinating. eugyppius Corona is primarily dangerous to the very old and the already sick. Occasionally, it is true, somebody who is younger or not already sick ends up dying. This happens with influenza and other viruses too. While that’s regrettable, Corona is not the leading cause of tragedies like these, and on balance they are too rare to pose an overarching unprecedented global threat to our hospitals, to our public health, to our nursing homes, or to whatever it is we’re supposed to be worried about right now. Given the stratified nature of Corona risk, the majority of the gains to be had from stimulating SARS-2 antibodies are concentrated in around 10-15% of the population. This is true whatever you believe about the vaccines, their safety or their efficacy. If you want to lower hospitalisations and deaths, in other words, the difference between vaccinating 40% of your population and 80%...