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j2bryson

@[email protected]

I'm an academic, proud to work in a policy school, but still somewhat longing to be a natural scientists and/or programmer again. Or maybe some kind of artist. This account is a more personal than professional; a more professional one is bridged here https://mastodon.social/@[email protected] Blogpost on my social media policy, linking yet more accounts: https://joanna-bryson.blogspot.com/2024/10/guidance-to-my-social-media.html Increasingly returning to reading physical books.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. View on remote instance

@gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green avatar gerrymcgovern , to random

"Human activity has grown to challenge planetary limits, yet the official solution to any problem that arises is to grow more. Like fish unable to live anywhere but in water, our leaders find it hard to imagine any way of life outside the Growth paradigm. Production and consumption, income and expenditure define our lives."

https://www.juancole.com/2026/03/paradigm-instead-growth.html

j2bryson ,
@j2bryson@mastodon.social avatar

@Dialectician @gerrymcgovern not sure the original intent, but more or less agree – we are already inflecting on population, but how gracefully we get through this period depends on everyone's actions. What we do matters.

@randahl@mastodon.social avatar randahl , to random

American tax payers will now pay for a hospital ship which will be sent to Greenland, Trump claims on Truth Social.

Let me rephrase that: The US, which does not offer free healthcare to its own people, wants it's own people to offer free healthcare… to Greenland… which already has free healthcare.

Maybe it is time for another brain scan for the US president.

j2bryson ,
@j2bryson@mastodon.social avatar

@randahl Except there isn't one available. Yeah, maybe the issue was Denmark evacuated the sub with their helicopter, but the American submariner was actally taken to the Greenland hospital, not to Denmark. All two hospital ships the US has are being fixed right now. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/02/22/trump-greenland-hospital-ship/

@lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar lowqualityfacts , to random

Today's Low Quality Ad is for this "Be the light you want to see in the world" sticker. I am staying at a hotel tonight, so I would like to be any light other than a black light.
https://collabs.shop/3xx3te

A sticker of a dumpster with an unamused face that is on fire. It says "be the light you want to see in the world.
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j2bryson ,
@j2bryson@mastodon.social avatar
@gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green avatar gerrymcgovern , to random

AI cannot be a moral agent with an understanding of difference between right and wrong and is held accountable for its actions, he said.

“AI can produce the same decisions and recommendations that humans would produce,” he said, “but the causal history of those decisions differs in important ways.” Unlike humans, AI lacks free will and cannot be held morally responsible. If an AI system causes harm, the blame lies with its developers or users, not the technology itself.

https://stories.tamu.edu/news/2025/10/27/can-artificial-intelligence-have-morality-philosophy-weighs-in/

j2bryson ,
@j2bryson@mastodon.social avatar

@gerrymcgovern IDK what free will is, but you can’t hold digital artefacts to account, nor should you rather focus the incentives on those who produce and profit from them, but anyway digital is directly revisable, responsibility is the wrong metaphor.

@gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green avatar gerrymcgovern , to random

Bitcoin is pure, pure evil

Bitcoin’s energy use per dollar generated now exceeds that of mining copper or gold

Bitcoin mining significantly increases PM2.5 pollution, the tiny airborne particles linked to respiratory and heart disease.

Each bitcoin mining rig has a short shelf life of about 1.3 years. Once outdated, they’re dumped

Bitcoin mining needs massive water cooling systems

https://gulfnews.com/your-money/cryptocurrency/cryptos-dirty-secret-how-mining-it-is-hurting-the-planet-and-farms-1.500299583

j2bryson ,
@j2bryson@mastodon.social avatar

@JessTheUnstill @gerrymcgovern @chikl I read that crypto energy is 2x AI, and HD streaming is 5x crypto

@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar ChrisMayLA6 , (edited ) to random

So the Bank of England constantly worry about 'inflationary pressure' coming from the labour market, so no doubt they will be celebrating the pay cuts that will be reducing DPD's driver earnings by around £25 per day.... As always this is a profitable company seeing its workers as a cost that needs to be reduced not as the key resource that allows their firm to work.

Its just one more example of how the gig economy & low-paid work are stifling the country!

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/oct/07/dpd-rate-cut-couriers-substantial-earnings-loss

j2bryson ,
@j2bryson@mastodon.social avatar

@ChrisMayLA6 It drives me crazy when no one tells me about typos in blogs or toots. It also drives me crazy that most people I know are on a platform with no edits.

@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar ChrisMayLA6 , (edited ) to random

So the Bank of England constantly worry about 'inflationary pressure' coming from the labour market, so no doubt they will be celebrating the pay cuts that will be reducing DPD's driver earnings by around £25 per day.... As always this is a profitable company seeing its workers as a cost that needs to be reduced not as the key resource that allows their firm to work.

Its just one more example of how the gig economy & low-paid work are stifling the country!

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/oct/07/dpd-rate-cut-couriers-substantial-earnings-loss

j2bryson ,
@j2bryson@mastodon.social avatar

@ChrisMayLA6 you know anyone can edit on mastodon :)

@atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org avatar atomicpoet , (edited ) to movies

Just cracked open this still-sealed VHS of The Mask of Zorro.

Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, and a breakout Catherine Zeta-Jones—back when swashbuckling still had studio money behind it. This is a classic baton-passing tale: the aging hero trains his replacement, swordplay and revenge ensue, all wrapped in that smoky, romantic 90s lighting.

There’s a certain grandeur to 90s blockbusters that feels extinct now. Not just scale—but ambition. Like every frame was trying to earn a spot in movie history. Today’s films still shoot for the stars, but with different coordinates. Different vocabulary.

Still a fun ride. And honestly, every trip to the thrift store feels like Blockbuster time travel.

movies@piefed.social icon movies

Unsealed VHS copy of The Mask of Zorro featuring a bold red-and-black silhouette of Zorro mid-stride, slashing a fiery “Z” across the cover. Actor names “Antonio Banderas” and “Anthony Hopkins” appear at the top, with a barcode sticker reading “SV324681 – MZK OF ZORRO” on the upper right. The shrink wrap is intact but slightly peeled back near the bottom corner, revealing a hint of the black clamshell underneath.
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j2bryson ,
@j2bryson@mastodon.social avatar

@atomicpoet movies@piefed.social icon movies how is it still sealed if you cracked it open?

@gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green avatar gerrymcgovern , to random

The Green Transition was always a lie. There has never been an energy transition. There never will be.

Coal is surging. 2024 was a record year. China again leads the way. Indonesia, too, has nearly quadrupled production. Both these countries are leading producers of fake renewables.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2025/07/25/coal-isnt-dead-yet-global-trends-defy-climate-pledges/

Nuclear is back!
https://www.wkms.org/energy/2025-07-25/billionaire-peter-thiel-backing-first-privately-developed-us-uranium-enrichment-facility-in-paducah

U.S. Oil and Gas Production Continues to Shatter Records
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/US-Oil-and-Gas-Production-Continues-to-Shatter-Records.html

Who are we kidding?

Our children.

j2bryson ,
@j2bryson@mastodon.social avatar

@DetersHenning @gerrymcgovern But given we're contesting @ourworldindata here's another source (cf Piketty of course) video this is taken from is here https://www.ifw-kiel.de/institute/events/conferences/3rd-kiel-cepr-conference-on-geoeconomics/ see also https://www.visualcapitalist.com/u-s-share-of-global-economy-over-time/ but that's just one country, Rey shows a ton of countries becoming bigger traders. But by all means, the problem of ELITE inequality is stupendous and causing all kinds of harms – again, see Piketty or https://joanna-bryson.blogspot.com/2016/06/robots-are-owned-owners-are-taxed.html or my more recent blogpost tagged "inequality" 2/2

@gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green avatar gerrymcgovern , to random

The Green Transition was always a lie. There has never been an energy transition. There never will be.

Coal is surging. 2024 was a record year. China again leads the way. Indonesia, too, has nearly quadrupled production. Both these countries are leading producers of fake renewables.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2025/07/25/coal-isnt-dead-yet-global-trends-defy-climate-pledges/

Nuclear is back!
https://www.wkms.org/energy/2025-07-25/billionaire-peter-thiel-backing-first-privately-developed-us-uranium-enrichment-facility-in-paducah

U.S. Oil and Gas Production Continues to Shatter Records
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/US-Oil-and-Gas-Production-Continues-to-Shatter-Records.html

Who are we kidding?

Our children.

j2bryson ,
@j2bryson@mastodon.social avatar

@DetersHenning @gerrymcgovern I find @ourworldindata pretty good on inequality overall – I'd dispute that it's increasing between countries in fact perhaps even the present, declining US share of global GDP is being propped up by a bubble overestimating the value of genAI cf https://bsky.app/profile/j2bryson.bsky.social/post/3lijaiasdrk22 For example this on extreme poverty https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/was-the-global-decline-of-extreme-poverty-only-due-to-china or this amazing graphic https://ourworldindata.org/cdn-cgi/imagedelivery/qLq-8BTgXU8yG0N6HnOy8g/fb0d7e90-a3d9-4570-0b42-0ecf22602000/w=3000 from here https://ourworldindata.org/extreme-history-methods 1/2

@gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green avatar gerrymcgovern , to random

The Green Transition was always a lie. There has never been an energy transition. There never will be.

Coal is surging. 2024 was a record year. China again leads the way. Indonesia, too, has nearly quadrupled production. Both these countries are leading producers of fake renewables.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2025/07/25/coal-isnt-dead-yet-global-trends-defy-climate-pledges/

Nuclear is back!
https://www.wkms.org/energy/2025-07-25/billionaire-peter-thiel-backing-first-privately-developed-us-uranium-enrichment-facility-in-paducah

U.S. Oil and Gas Production Continues to Shatter Records
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/US-Oil-and-Gas-Production-Continues-to-Shatter-Records.html

Who are we kidding?

Our children.

j2bryson ,
@j2bryson@mastodon.social avatar

@DetersHenning @gerrymcgovern @ourworldindata I think you might be right. Part of our problem is that we’re succeeding in the liberal ideal — all lives increasingly matter, and there is spectacular economic growth in places like Indonesia.

@gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green avatar gerrymcgovern , to random

The Green Transition was always a lie. There has never been an energy transition. There never will be.

Coal is surging. 2024 was a record year. China again leads the way. Indonesia, too, has nearly quadrupled production. Both these countries are leading producers of fake renewables.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2025/07/25/coal-isnt-dead-yet-global-trends-defy-climate-pledges/

Nuclear is back!
https://www.wkms.org/energy/2025-07-25/billionaire-peter-thiel-backing-first-privately-developed-us-uranium-enrichment-facility-in-paducah

U.S. Oil and Gas Production Continues to Shatter Records
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/US-Oil-and-Gas-Production-Continues-to-Shatter-Records.html

Who are we kidding?

Our children.

j2bryson ,
@j2bryson@mastodon.social avatar
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar arstechnica , to random

Remembering Descent, the once-popular, fully 3D 6DOF shooter
Descent is a big part of gaming history, but not many people talk about it.
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/07/remembering-descent-the-once-popular-fully-3d-6dof-shooter/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

j2bryson ,
@j2bryson@mastodon.social avatar

@arstechnica @jonathankoren wasn’t it on linux somehow? I played it a bit but was totally cut off from its canon.

@j2bryson@mastodon.social avatar j2bryson , to random
j2bryson OP ,
@j2bryson@mastodon.social avatar

can't believe that's not the top story, but denying congress intelligence is a big deal, as is moving HUD out of DC (and displacing NSF)

02:23 Thu 26 Jun The Washington Post White House to limit intelligence sharing, skip Gabbard at Senate Iran briefing The move sets the stage for a contentious classified briefing before senators Thursday. 40 minutes ago Trump embraces NATO security alliance after years of attacks How much do NATO countries spend on defense and how that has changed? DOJ sues 15 federal judges in Maryland over deportation order Court watchers said they could not recall another instance in which the Justice Department, which usually represents members of the judicial branch in court, sued the entire roster of judges in a district. RFK Jr's vaccine panel to review how and when kids receive immunizations Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, right, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are among the officials who will brief lawmakers. (Getty Images) (Matt McClain/The Post) HUD to move from D.C. to Virginia, displacing National Science Foundation staff® With its relocation to nearby Alexandria, the Department of Housing and Urban Development will be the first major federal agency to relocate its headquarters outside of Washington, D.C. Hin'e handauartare in Wachinotan (Amanda Vicard //Tha
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    @ErikJonker@mastodon.social avatar ErikJonker , to geopolitics group

    In Europe we should keep our eyes on the ball, that is Ukraine, not Gaza or Iran. Our most primary and direct interests (security ,economy) are connected with the fight between Russia and Ukraine. Not saying those other theatres are not relevant but just less important.
    geopolitics@a.gup.pe icon geopolitics group

    j2bryson ,
    @j2bryson@mastodon.social avatar

    @ErikJonker geopolitics@a.gup.pe icon geopolitics group Yes of course, but my comment still stands. I strongly agree that the whole world should focus most strongly on their most geographically immediate threats, where they have the most chance of comprehension and influence. But that in no way alters the fact we all may be more successful if we all cooperate on economic and digital service sanctions, arrest warrants, etc.