“There are the crypto people who have seamlessly become AI people, much like how the amateur Twitter epidemiologists suddenly morphed into military experts.”

🔗 Read the whole piece.

🔗 Dana on Carter: “His entire political life lasted just 14 years.”

Talk about how you get defined!

Carter didn’t enter politics until he was 42, running for State Senate. While Governor in 1973 he appeared on the game show “What’s My Life,” saying he was running for President. While the panelists weren’t blindfolded, no one recognized him. His entire political life lasted just 14 years.

Jimmy Carter was a man completely outside his time, and outside his place, from the moment of his birth until his death. He wasn’t a great orator. He wasn’t a wartime leader. Yet no one in 20th century America has proven more important, based on the strength of his example, and his steadfast belief that we can be better than we are.

🔗The Historical Roots of Political Fault-lines in the U.S.A.

Tripped over this last night. It’s from a couple of years ago (but really the whole point of the piece is that differences are deeply rooted - and thus relatively timeless). An interesting piece even of itself., even more so if you read it and draw parallels with other parts of the world.

The boundaries on the map drawn are ‘cultural boundaries’, reflecting what people feel and how they relate to each other in the U.S.A.
Now think about a couple of ideas, (say) …

• The U.S.A. as the Middle East

• State lines equivalent to country borders

The difference is that moving between states in the U.S.A. is a whole lot simpler than between countries in the Middle East.

🔗 Michael Tsai on Choosing and Switching Mastodon Instances

Turns out it might not be that simple - and, given the author, this particular bear has put any thoughts about this on the back burner - and switched off the gas!