On a sofa in the corner of the room, a cat is purring. It seems obvious that the cat is an example of life, whereas the sofa itself is not. But should we trust our intuition? Consider this: Isaac Newton assumed a universal time flowing without external influence, and relative time measured by clocks – just as our perception tells us.
Michael Lachmann
The Dø: Shake Shook Shaken
Why Facebook Libra and a cashless society are bad
Facebook revealed its long-awaited cryptocurrency plans Tuesday, announcing “Project Libra,” a new type of digital money designed for the billions of people using its apps and social network. If the plan is successful, users will soon be able to shop with and send the currency—known as Libra—on Messenger and Instagram, as well as use it with a wide variety of other merchants like Uber, Spotify, and MasterCard. Facebook Announces Project Libra , by Jeff John Roberts
It all comes down to Facebook and friends holding on to your money, making interest on it, while everybody passes their tokens around. Let’s admit it, Libra is just an attempt to replace democracy with corporatism. The companies that run Libra have zero obligation to the users and only need to maximise profits for the shareholders, and if it is a success, it will definitely speed up the movement towards more countries becoming cashless. And a cashless society WILL be bad for several reasons:
Quote of the Day
Those who read the press of their group and listen to the radio of their group are constantly reinforced in their allegiance. They learn more and more that their group is right, that its actions are justified; thus their beliefs are strengthened. At the same time, such propaganda contains elements of criticism and refutation of other groups, which will never be read or heard by a member of another group…Thus we see before our eyes how a world of closed minds establishes itself, a world in which everybody talks to himself, everybody constantly views his own certainty about himself and the wrongs done him by the Others - a world in which nobody listens to anybody else.
Jacques Ellul
A Family Portrait: Brothers, Sisters, Strangers
It was never a secret in my house that I was conceived with the help of an anonymous sperm donor. For a majority of my childhood, I never really thought about him. But when I was around 11, I went through a period of having questions.
Eli Baden-Lasar
Interesting Mastodon accounts to follow
A small (and constantly updated) list of interesting Mastodon accounts.