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Reposted by Fabien Niñoles

Cult MTL @cultmtl.com · 23h

The deadline to register to vote in the Montreal municipal election is 6 p.m. this Thursday, Oct. 16

To vote in the upcoming Montreal municipal election on November 2, the registration deadline is 6 p.m. this Thursday, Oct. 16.

cultmtl.com

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 15h

Does she know there is no Napoleon's Day even in France and that he died in exile? Napoleon was a megalomaniac tyrant and was recognized as such. Maybe we should do the same for Columbus?

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 16h

"The scene with Donald Trump was one of several that were cut from the movie as none of them were integral to the plot."

Why Trump's 'Home Alone 2' Cameo Was Cut in Canada share.google/1Ioi8fCz0qK5...

Why Trump’s ‘Home Alone 2’ Cameo Was Cut in Canada

Canadian broadcaster CBC has said it edited out Trump’s cameo from 'Home Alone 2: Lost in New York' for a Christmas holiday broadcast five years ago, before he ran for president.

share.google

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 16h

Parental control more lenient?

Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 1d

The ARM stuff is way over my head. I find it fascinating that people like jeeps because they look like horses, but I have a hard time understanding, and even less supporting, such an approach, if there is anything there to understand other than humans can be manipulated and shall we?

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Reposted by Fabien Niñoles

Brian Tyler Cohen @briantylercohen.bsky.social · 1d

Multiple airports are now announcing they will refuse to play Kristi Noem’s government-funded video blaming “Democrats” for the government shutdown.

“We believe the Hatch Act clearly prohibits use of public assets for political purposes and messaging,” one airport said.

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 1d

TL;DR:
- VC have gone from a high-risks to a hype-aware speculative portfolio.
- The market has moved from value creation to mostly user encrustation and content monopolies.
- Two consequences of it are enshittification and bigger and bigger investment bubbles, for an always less healthy economy
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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 1d

And it's not like people don't know it. The participants of the current AI bubble, my company includes, are well aware of it, but it's also hard to not be part of it: the money isn't there for other purposes. You just hope to have enough to get to the next wave once the bubble pops.

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 1d

VC is now a big part of that cycle, and even justified itself through it. Those hyped-VC are removing a lot of investors money from both risky projects and even less risky ones. They encourage the creation of deadly investment bubbles, hence my characterization of them as cancer.

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 1d

Still, that's enough for many to make a quick buck, either through shortage or market consolidation. Those too are also big enablers of even more enshittification, the only way for companies to meet the shareholders demands for high returns.

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 1d

But right now, the VC portfolio is more built on hype, quick exit thru acquisition, and not for the products, but for user base, branding and cutting any competition. Those losing acquisition leads to a quick cut in spending and are a direct recipe for enshittification.

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 1d

To be very clear here: I'm not against VC: there is a place for investment on high-risks/high-return projects. And how to do it to make it profitable is exactly the way it is: invest in many projects, kill them quickly when they don't show clear progress, and hope for the best.

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 1d

In Québec (but not France to my recall), marmottes are also called siffleux (whistlers), and have a tongue twister associated with it: "Si un siffleux sait siffler, je peux siffler moi aussi." It's very similar to the woodchuck chucking wood and makes a funny parallel.

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 1d

Other important distinctions people missed:

- boycott <> censure
- criticism <> hate speech
- free speech <> diffamation
- civil disobedience <> vandalism

And as Liz pointed out, context is important to interpret all of those properly.

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 1d

I think that's why many consider their work on technology to be devoid of any morality. And that's the big sin here. Although I believe that not everything is politics, politics is part of everything.

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 1d

Almost by definition, technology (and almost any human endeavor) is a means of control, of power. One major difference with others endeavors is that it is often neutral: it is an amplifier of the intention rather than a carrier (science and some aspects of philosophy are also of this form).

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 1d

Reading this after almost a year since it was written is... enlightening? If some people don't believe that was the plan, I don't think you can get them to believe anything. It's almost uncanny.

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 1d

Darn, this essay is so full of empty words, it's hard to read. You have to almost reconstruct everything to understand the meaning of it. This guy is really building his "philosophy" on a house of cards, and no wonder he has to resort to dubious interpretation of Manga and memes to build it further.

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 1d

It's been a long time in the current economy that "financial success" has been divorced from "economic success" (i.e. answering the needs). VC is the result of this divorce and ensures its own amplification (almost like a cancer).

Disclaimer: I worked mostly on VC-based projects all my career.

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 1d

It makes for me one of the strongest arguments for anarchy, even if I'm somewhat a "globalist": I believe that the only way for humanity to progress is to overcome the artificial boundaries generated through tribalism. I don't see it as contradictory, but it sure creates tension between both.

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 1d

I think one of the big problems of today's "wealth is power" society is that wealth disconnects you from reality: protecting you from both criticisms and consequences. I will go even further: it's a problem with any concentration of power, without regards to his origin.

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 1d

I agree. I never read his theory as universal, just as one mechanism to generate some of what is today considered sacred in mostly western christian society. Your example of Buddhism is a strong one to affirm this.

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 1d

I think MT can be used effectively to create such things. The best example is the "immigrants is why health care is costing that much." That's really pure MT/Scapegoating. But the "petvorous" stuff? I don't think we are that far into the myth creation (but maybe I'm too optimistic here).

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 1d

Feels more like a PR stunt, making up some lies so abhorrent that will distract people from the facts. It's the strawman fallacy in the time of sound bites and memes. You don't expect people to believe the lies in the end, but you succeed in putting doubt on your target.

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Fabien Niñoles @ninoles.bsky.social · 1d

If it was only Girard. Kubrick, Atwood, Herbert, many creators have seen their work exposing a flaw in society being used as a guide or a fatalist manifest. IMO, denunciation works are the hardest to balance. Too much, people said you're alarmist. Too little, they think it's a good idea.

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