We’re often asked whether we’re optimistic or pessimistic about technologies. That’s the wrong question. If any of this matters, we need to stop seeing technology like the weather, to be merely forecasted, and instead see it like politics, to be collectively shaped.
What’s a technology that you think is overhyped? I’m going to give a sideways answer to this, which is that the venture capital business model needs to be understood as requiring hype. You can go back to the Netscape IPO, and that was the proof point that made venture capital the financial lifeblood of the tech industry. Venture capital looks at valuations and growth, not necessarily at profit or revenue. So you don’t actually have to invest in technology that works, or that even makes a profit, you simply have to have a narrative that is compelling enough to float those valuations. So you see this repetitive and exhausting hype cycle as a feature in this industry. A couple of years ago, you would have been asking me about the metaverse, then last year, you would have asked me about Web3 and crypto, and for each of these inflection points there’s an Andreessen Horowitz manifesto. It’s not simply that one piece of technology is overhyped, it’s that hype is a necessary ingredient of the current business ecosystem of the tech industry. We should examine how often the financial incentive for hype is rewarded without any real social returns, without any meaningful progress in technology, without these tools and services and worlds ever actually manifesting. That’s key to understanding the growing chasm between the narrative of techno-optimists and the reality of our tech-encumbered world.
Stand by this: www.politico.com/newsletters/...
The cover of THE BUTCHER OF THE FOREST by Premee Mohamed on a dark green background with floral motifs. In golden plaques, we see: LitHub, BookRiot, Washington Post, Polygon, and NPR Best Books of 2024; Amazon Editors' Choice Science Fiction & Fantasy; Aurora, Ignyte, Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy, and Hugo finalist. A small plaque also suggests you just buy the stupid book, everybody seems to be enjoying it, you can see for yourself right here, seriously. This is the LAST DAMN UPDATE I swear to God.
Okay I am NOT updating this graphic any more (go buy THE BUTCHER OF THE FOREST so I can feed my cats tho)
us.macmillan.com/books/978125...
a major issue with video games is that they produce a bunch of people who consider themselves brain geniuses for solving problems that were designed to be solvable. as a remedy, we should be making more games that are actively and irreconcilably hostile to the player. thank you
This, from Timothy Snyder, is definitive, on Greenland open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p...
Merry christmas Matt - hope all is well 🎄
Pippi Longstocking - in a heartbeat
Do I want economic growth? Not for its own sake, no. I do want people to have decent, fulfilling jobs, and a good, secure, standard of living, and if economic growth is necessary for that, fair enough, but let us not confuse the means and the end. (End of today's homily.)
As a Dane, I will say Well Done! (… I assume those are Æbleskiver).
“Margrethe had the courage to stand her ground, even under pressure from powerful figures. Now, governments around the world have followed her lead and taken steps to rein in these companies. Time has largely proved her right.” www.ft.com/content/f77d...
buff.ly/4dHXtmS Challenging the neutrality myth in #climatescience and #activism: the always-excellent @katharinehayhoe.com et al on the need for scientists to speak out about their results and how they affect society. Science is never neutral.
Introduce yourself with your top 5 #TTRPG picks!
- MERP
- Rolemaster
- Twilight 2000
- Kult
- Dungeons and Dragons
Communicating scientific agreement on climate increases perceived consensus and belief in human-caused climate change across the globe, including amongst skeptics and those with lower trust in climate science.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Optimist: The cup is half full
Pessimist: The cup is half empty
The Nordic law of Jante: What makes you so special you think you are entitled to have an opinion on the content of the cup.
Too little, too late: The Baku Agreement fails on several accounts. The results are at best the avoidance of a diplomatic disaster. Statements on the outcome of #COP29 by PIK directors Johan Rockström and Ottmar Edenhofer: www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/late...
The victory march of democracy has ended
What can we as researchers do?
In the Scandinavian countries, a particular tool is available: Democracy & Power Studies.
The Danish government appointed me as director of such a study. We started our work this year.
A 🧵 on what we do & how we do it
1/8
Wondering how to use Bluesky feeds, blocklists, and filters? Are you worried that Bluesky will inevitably turn evil? Are you wondering what the Alf thing is about, but are too afraid to ask?
I try to answer your questions here:
little-flying-robots.ghost.io/the-great-bl...
Front page of graphic novel called Squire
Wasn’t on my radar - but a thoughtful gift led to wonderful hours in this fantastic story and universe - thanks @saraalfageeh.bsky.social and @nadiashammas.bsky.social
God tråd om unge, sociale medier og trivsel fra England - hvor en eller anden form for forbud for unge under 16 bliver diskuteret…
Elephants in the snow in Copenhagen
Morning run in Copenhagen. Elephants say hi.
Glæder os til at høre jer!
I think that even in Denmark most people younger than my generation will not even know who they are…
Cory Doctorow mener desværre, selvom han er fan, at Bluesky bliver ramt af ‘enshittification’ (hans ord), når der bliver pres på det finansielle: doctorow.medium.com/https-plural...
Selv været ombord siden forår 2023 - og synes det mere og mere har potentialet til at blive et stærkt community.
What do you know! - diversity in company leadership is actually beneficial for the company….
A British pensioner whose bland sandwiches gained him unexpected fame in China has died. Keith Brown, a retired engineer known on Chinese social media as "Old Dry Keith", became a hit when his Chinese wife Zhang Jian began to post videos of him assembling the ham and cheese sandwiches he liked to eat. Chinese observers were grimly fascinated by his dry, boring sandwiches, and his gentle, stoic manner - and he built up a cult following. "We go from questioning the dry old man, to understanding the dry old man, to becoming the dry old man," observed one cultural commentator. "The old man is us, and his dry lunch is our dry life."
When your music made it to Denmark in the late eighties you changed the world view for me and my friends. Thank you!
“…. it just seemed to appear out of nowhere?”
The 2024 Global Carbon Budget was just released! Unfortunately despite hopes emissions might peak, both fossil CO2 and total CO2 emissions reached new record highs. I cover details w/ Pierre Friedlingstein (@PFriedling) at Carbon Brief: www.carbonbrief.org/...
🚨Beyond excited to share our new paper in Nature Climate Change on perceptions of *carbon footprint inequality*🙌
Across four countries 🇩🇰🇮🇳🇳🇬🇺🇸, we find widespread underestimation of within-country carbon footprint inequality, including among the wealthy.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Photo of Shadow over Innsmouth comic
Father’s day in Denmark - and behold what the father’s day fairies flew in with 😁
- @zackdavisson.com
