State of the World 2024

[zqwerty]

I look forward to this time of year because of this forum which is held every year on The Well:

https://people.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue...age01.html

You may like to increase the text size, which in Firefox is View/Zoom/Ctrl + + and to decrease again Ctrl + -

[zqwerty]

Just read the first 64 posts and it's well worth while, here's a sample:

inkwell.vue.540 : Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowsky: State of the World 2024
permalink #59 of 64: Emily Gertz (emilyg) Wed 3 Jan 24 08:35

<snip>

The past four years have encompassed (global level) the pandemic and
the Trump administration, and understanding fairly well just how
unstable Putin has made what passes for global peace and rule of
law, and understanding very well the depths of the climate crisis
and that way too little is being done while fossil fuel companies
continue to prosper and lie; and the horror of being (as an American
Jew) implicated in and endangered by the Netanyahu government's
decisions and actions.

Personally, they've also encompassed being diagnosed with and in
treatment for metastatic recurrent cancer, my life partner's
traumatic death, and the sharp health declines and deaths of my
elderly father and his second wife.

My grandparents emigrated from "the Ukraine" between 1900 and 1924
or so. My father fought in Europe in WWII, in Patton's 3rd Army. I'm
far from personally endangered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but
personally I don't feel too distant from its implications. Rising
anti-Semitism in the US has yet to affect my daily life, but I now
think twice about wearing a Star of David necklace in public. Hamas
murdered my neighbor's cousin and the cousin's infant son on October
7. Not to overstate things - I barely know this particular neighbor
- but that's close to home in a very literal way.


Perhaps what I have is a New York City sensibility. Like many people
who live here, I try to enjoy the positive things that happen here
from day to day, like strangers making jokes together while they
wait for the light to turn, or helping someone carry their grocery
cart up the subway staircase, or my highly flawed state government
nonetheless being a bulwark for women's bodily autonomy and climate
action, or the fact that cancer treatment is working spectacularly
well so far; without blinding myself to the migrant children selling
candy on the subway in the middle of the day, or the growing number
of people sleeping on the streets, or the racism and militarization
of the NYPD and its unsurprising violent outcomes, or the Arab
teenagers pulling down posters of the Israeli hostages on the Upper
West Side while old Jews yell at them for it.

[Lilith7]

That's an interesting piece. Weirdly, I came across this this morning in a similar vein though from far earlier.

It always seems to happen that, when there's a very large gap between rich & poor, far right idiocy emerges in all its ugliness. But this time. the nutters who 'don't believe science' take the biscuit for sheer stupidity.


https://www.themarginalian.org/2016/12/3...qtzjF9pp0Y
He was pretty much right on the money about their immediate future.

[zqwerty]

Here's a good posting:

inkwell.vue.540 : Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowsky: State of the World 2024
permalink #251 of 260: Why so glum, chum? (jonl) Sat 13 Jan 24 08:29


"In the USA, far-right autocrats apparently supported by external
oligarchs have taken more power than we imagined they could, led by
a charismatic demagogue and working from a cultivated set of
cultural grievances, using sophisticated psyops especially
well-enabled by unregulated social media platforms that were ripe
for manipulation. They've managed to take control of a political
party and elect enough obstructionists to throw the legislative
branch of government into chaos. They've taken advantage of years of
groundwork by conservatives who previously controlled the Republican
party, and they've also leveraged the popularity of right-wing
tabloid news organizations that have gained popularity over the last
couple of decades as cable news channels have become effective
sources of political propaganda. They're related to a global
autocratic movement that has recently lit the fuse on a couple of
major wars as part of a more general global chaos movement to topple
democratic governments wherever they still stand. It's a dark time.
The USA will have an election on 2024 that could be the end of its
long commitment to a democratic intention. This could mean the rise
of global autocracy, a radical change in the way we live and do
business. Democracy, per Churchill "the worst form of government,
except for all the others," will fall to those more-worst forms.
Many who support this potential transition are simply ignorant of
the implications. One of those implications is that we will see an
increase in the carbon burn that will ultimately make this planet
uninhabitable by humans. Extinction will be the likely outcome.

Having said all that, I think I'll wander into the other room and
watch television for a while."

[Lilith7]

Here's a good posting:

inkwell.vue.540 : Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowsky: State of the World 2024
permalink #251 of 260: Why so glum, chum? (jonl) Sat 13 Jan 24 08:29

   
"In the USA, far-right autocrats apparently supported by external
oligarchs have taken more power than we imagined they could, led by
a charismatic demagogue and working from a cultivated set of
cultural grievances, using sophisticated psyops especially
well-enabled by unregulated social media platforms that were ripe
for manipulation. They've managed to take control of a political
party and elect enough obstructionists to throw the legislative
branch of government into chaos. They've taken advantage of years of
groundwork by conservatives who previously controlled the Republican
party, and they've also leveraged the popularity of right-wing
tabloid news organizations that have gained popularity over the last
couple of decades as cable news channels have become effective
sources of political propaganda. They're related to a global
autocratic movement that has recently lit the fuse on a couple of
major wars as part of a more general global chaos movement to topple
democratic governments wherever they still stand. It's a dark time.
The USA will have an election on 2024 that could be the end of its
long commitment to a democratic intention. This could mean the rise
of global autocracy, a radical change in the way we live and do
business. Democracy, per Churchill "the worst form of government,
except for all the others," will fall to those more-worst forms.
Many who support this potential transition are simply ignorant of
the implications. One of those implications is that we will see an
increase in the carbon burn that will ultimately make this planet
uninhabitable by humans. Extinction will be the likely outcome.

Having said all that, I think I'll wander into the other room and
watch television for a while."

I wish they were wrong....

[nzoomed]

Sadly 2024 is shaping up to face global conflict and wars.
Israel, Yemen, Ukraine and Taiwan are the places to watch.
Also concerning are the threats russia has made to Sweden for joining NATO.

[harm_less]

Sadly 2024 is shaping up to face global conflict and wars.
Israel, Yemen, Ukraine and Taiwan are the places to watch.
Also concerning are the threats russia has made to Sweden for joining NATO.

Definitely Taiwan. They have massive control of microprocessor/computer chip production and China would very much not like that power being held over them. If China decide to take control by force expect some significant disruption in the tech industries (i.e. computers, phones, cars, appliances, transportation, etc).

[Lilith7]

I wish there was sonething we could put in the water supply to bring about reasonable behaviour & peace - imagine, world wide peace.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I am watching David Attenborough's Frozen Planet 2...

It puts human stupidities into perspective.

[nzoomed]

Sadly 2024 is shaping up to face global conflict and wars.
Israel, Yemen, Ukraine and Taiwan are the places to watch.
Also concerning are the threats russia has made to Sweden for joining NATO.

Definitely Taiwan. They have massive control of microprocessor/computer chip production and China would very much not like that power being held over them. If China decide to take control by force expect some significant disruption in the tech industries (i.e. computers, phones, cars, appliances, transportation, etc).

One reason TSMC have built a factory in the US.
Should a war break out, I bet that they will blow the whole place up before China gets to it.

[harm_less]

Definitely Taiwan. They have massive control of microprocessor/computer chip production and China would very much not like that power being held over them. If China decide to take control by force expect some significant disruption in the tech industries (i.e. computers, phones, cars, appliances, transportation, etc).

One reason TSMC have built a factory in the US.
Should a war break out, I bet that they will blow the whole place up before China gets to it.

Right. The value is in the know how far more so than the production facilities otherwise China and many other countries would already be manufacturing 'chips' themselves. Ed Conway's book Material World goes into the detail of this in the 'sand' (silica) section. An intriguing read if you're interested in how much our civilisations and everyday life is influenced by a limited group of minerals.