It is the workers who produce value, yet capital just continues to flow upwards.
This narrative about “working hard for your wealth” seems closer to being a myth that serves only to pit people against one another in order to divide and conquer.
Given the fact that such a society revolves around ownership rather than work, it is clear why it preserves wealth and undermines collective action, like trade unions.
Elon Musk is starting to behave like laws no longer apply to him. France thus starts an inquiry into X for political manipulation, Holocaust denial, deepfake pornography made by Grok, and child abuse material
all serious, verified accusations noted by major media.
Musk's response?
Not cooperation. Not accountability. Just insults, slurs, and a tantrum aimed at the magistrates who summoned him.
Skipping a hearing is one thing. it is quite different to refer to the investigators as "retarded", "fake", and make fun of them with homophobic remarks.
right now it isn’t "free speech"
It's a billionaire who really thinks he's above the law, someone who sees democratic institutions as subordinate to him and legal examination as a personal annoyance.
Perhaps the appropriate answer to charges that your platform has millions of sexual photographs, including tens of thousands that seem to show minors, isn't memes and rage-posting.
Musk keeps presenting every inquiry as a conspiracy aimed at him, but the trend is clear:
He lashes out as though he were above the law every time someone tries to hold him responsible
it’s not genius, it’s not innovation.
it’s delusion of power
We need to begin reflecting on the influence of characters like Elon Musk and the message it sends. This is far from just designing new products, it is actually a type of modern imperialism fueled by limitless capital and power. A few individuals who are able to influence entire economies, media narratives, and governments is not free markets anymore, it is control.
It would be wrong for the people to just sit quietly and accept this. Stop continuing to behave as if you are the servants of systems whose only priority is profit at the expense of human dignity. Stop making it a habit of equating a culture that uses wealth as a measure of authority normal. We have the ability to resist, to insist that people be responsible, and to create a more equitable and human world.
This is not being jealous of people who are doing well, this is a refusal to allow their success to dominate us.
A day between Bondi, Manly and Shelly. one long summer day. Caught this skater with my little compact camera, the way we used to shoot before phones took over.
in a recent interview (a couple of days ago on Yahoo Finance), Elon Musk asserted that retirement savings would become irrelevant with the arrival of artificial intelligence because there simply won't be jobs left for people to do.
This might sound idyllic until you think about who actually owns all the wealth being created by automation and what is meant by such a world of abundance. Where does this money go? Into the pockets of those who possess the machines, individuals like Musk, Bezos, and the global corporations that have been dominating tech.
Humanity wouldn't be free, but merely the modern-day serfs subservient to these individuals and their generosity, having no agency over the resources available to them.
And this scenario may already be happening half way through. The vast majority of people earn money trading time for wage whereas most benefits of technological advances are accumulated by an elite minority. Retirement, savings, and many other economic activities may cease to exist altogether if this scenario happens without any changes.
But we should be concerned not about whether artificial intelligence will eliminate jobs. We should ask ourselves whether mankind will retain any agency in its technological future at all.
I took this photo back in 2010 during a walk along St Kilda, using my little compact camera (a Fujifilm A235). The place had such a calm, nostalgic vibe.
Just sharing a small piece of my old Melbourne experience.
I took this photo back in 2009 when the Haifisch Cocktailbar had a really striking neon sign — two black sharks alongside the word “Cocktaillounge.”
Browsing Google Street view recently, I noticed the sign has been removed. Now only the vertical red “BAR” neon remains. Personally, I think the old design had much more character.
Does anyone here remember the original shark signboard?