2026-05-21

• Note for [[Setting up a new box]]:
  • use git-restore-mtime on cloned org-roam repos, to get ordering by date in the completion buffer

• Joined the [[Agora]]. [[Spacious nexus]] is now visible on @bunnynabbit.

• Upgraded [[SilverBullet]] to 2.8.0.
  • Checking out its new built-in Journal library.

• [[worked]]
• [[Social.coop]]:
  • Then met with [[Matt Noyes]] to discuss [[social.coop]]!
    • [[cooperative todo lists]]
    • [[memoirs of prison]] by [[Nelson Pereira dos Santos]]
    • [[safety maximizing]] vs [[freedom maximizing]]
      • [[safety maximizing]] -> [[intentional relationships]]
      • should we kick off some proposals? which ones?
    • three respects:
      • the relationships
      • the people who try to improve the system/work on it
      • the notion of consent and preference maximizing

2026-05-18

• [[Reform UK and digital technologies]]

• [[Zettled]]:

  • [[Reform UK uses TikTok as a core component of its communication strategy]]
  • [[Reform use targeted digital campaigns to deliver messages that speak directly to the priorities of local communities]]

• [[Listened]]:

  • [[Future Histories International: Jan Overwijk on Cybernetic Capitalism and Critical Systems Theory]]
    • Quite a mind expanding listen. I think I’m starting to grasp it, and it’s more just getting used to new terminology than a particularly complicated concept, I think.
    • Closed and open sounds like it could have interesting parallel to horizontal and vertical in organisational ecology.
    • It’s unclear to me how anything in this theory applies to actually changing the world, but it’s either that it’s a case of better understanding the enemy in order to then figure out how to overthrow it, or simply that I haven’t clocked it yet.
    • Ah fair enough at the end that question comes up and he says he has focused on description rather than alternative. Jan Groos points to some possible leftist similarities.

• [[Data brokers]]. Vacuuming up your data, then asking you to opt out of them using it.

• I seem to be having the usual post fresh install snappiness, which is nice. Like I say everytime, I should do it more often…

  • I’ve gotten back up and running pretty quickly.
  • The main thing I need to improve on is how I have slightly different config between my personal and work configs for Emacs, and I haven’t yet got a decent way of checking those changes in.

2026-05-17

• [[Listened]]:

  • [[Future Histories International: Jan Overwijk on Cybernetic Capitalism and Critical Systems Theory]]
    • [[Critical systems theory]]. I haven’t understood half of what’s been said so far. But combining [[systems theory]] and [[critical theory]] sounds interesting.
    • Traces systems theory line through [[Humberto Maturana]] and [[Francisco Varela]] to [[Niklas Luhmann]].
    • Then I believe the idea is to address the absence of politics in Luhmann’s systems theory.
    • [[autopoiesis]].
  • Today in Focus: Outrage as oil giants profit billions from Iran war – The Latest
  • Today in Focus: What next for Labour as Reform wins big in local elections? – The Latest
    • Greens got a lot of the vote, but didn’t translate into a lot of seats. Reform targeted well so took a lot of the seats.
    • [[Local government is a key locus for fleshing out party apparatus]], so this is bad news…

• "According to the CPJ, Israeli forces were responsible for two-thirds of all the journalist killings around the world last year."

  • Guardian newsletter
  • [[Israeli forces were responsible for two-thirds of all the journalistic killings around the world in 2025]]

• [[Bookmarked]]:

  • European Democracy Shield and EU Strategy for Civil Society pave the way for …
    • "The [[European Democracy Shield]] and the [[EU Strategy for Civil Society]] present measures to protect the key pillars of our democratic systems: free people, free and fair elections, free and independent media, a vibrant civil society and strong democratic institutions."
  • Linux Distributions as Coops?
    • [[Linux]] [[Cooperatives]].
  • Collective Governance for AI: Points of Intervention
    • "This document from the [[Metagov]] community has two goals. First, it identifies distinct layers of the [[AI stack]] that can be named and reimagined. Second, for each layer, it points to potential strategies, grounded in existing projects, that could steer that layer toward meaningful collective governance."
  • Decolonizing Degrowth: Ecosocialist Alternatives to Green Colonialism and Une…
    • "By engaging grassroots struggles and internationalist justice claims, the article outlines pathways for just [[ecosocialist transition]]s rooted in energy democracy, global redistribution, and relational ecological care."

• [[Zettled]]:

  • [[Local government is a key locus for fleshing out party apparatus]]

• How does [[Reform UK]] use digital technology? How to counter it?

2026-05-15

• Doing a fresh Linux install.

  • Permanently low on space on my 256Gb drive for some reason, getting a bit sick of it.
    • I blame Snap, Flatpak, node_modules, and keeping a Windows 10 partition around for support purposes.
  • Also on an old version of Mint, solely needed a distro upgrade anyway.
  • But I’m in fact giving Zorin a go. Mainly to get a sense of whether it’s something worth recommending in the Repair Cafe.
  • I will likely install Debian later for myself.
  • So - let’s see how quick to install and get back to a state where I can do work again. Time to dig out the [[Setting up a new box]] notes…

• [[Notes on Zorin 18.1]].

• Some notes for amendments to my new box notes…

  • I need to add fish install to new box instructions.
  • Use git ssh rather than https for git clone of private repos.
  • spacemacs install is by far most time consuming step.
    • bit annoying that you can’t leave it unattended - asks to install sqlite and vterm
      • maybe you can?
  • why is my org repo so big?
  • my dotfiles are now on codeberg
  • it’s now nerd icons for icon fonts

2026-05-14

• [[Bookmarked]]:
  • The Explicit Manifesto of Digital Fascism: Palantir and the Alliance of Monopoly Capital with the Far Right
    • "The [[Palantir manifesto]] is not merely a document from a tech company announcing its positions. It is a loud alarm bell that progressive forces must hear clearly: the battle over the future of technology is no longer lurking backstage. It has stepped into the open, announcing itself without shame. Those who delay in grasping this shift delay their entry into the most decisive arena of struggle in this century."
    • [[Digital fascism]].
  • The Capitalist Vision of Artificial Intelligence: Profit, Power, and Control
    • "The current development of [[artificial intelligence]] cannot be understood merely as technical progress, it is part of a system of class domination through which major corporations and capitalist states seek to increase profits, concentrate wealth, and reproduce existing relations of production"
  • The Leftist Alternative to Artificial Intelligence
    • "This vision aims to liberate [[AI]] from the constraints of the capitalist market and redirect it toward serving all humanity, transforming it into a means to improve quality of life, free people from burdensome routine labor, and enhance human creativity in all areas."
  • Reform faces questions over tech investor’s role in cost-cutting drive - BBC News
  • Algorithmic politics: How Reform UK is leveraging TikTok in the next election
  • How digital strategy helped shape Reform’s breakthrough | Millbank - Leading digital for global leaders
  • AI-and-the-productivity-revolution.pdf
  • Revealed: Reform UK Crypto Partner’s Ties to Pro-Trump Big Tech and Kemi Badenoch – Byline Times
  • Reform UK, Big Tech, and the Future of Online Safety in Britain
  • A modern machine write-up - A-modern-machine-write-up.pdf
  • Farage trying to avoid scrutiny over £5m gift from crypto billionaire, Labour…
  • What’s behind surge in support for Reform and Greens across England? Five key…
  • How to survive the information crisis: ‘We once talked about fake news – now …
  • Go Away Microsoft! The Netherlands is Quietly Building Its Own GitHub Replace…
  • ‘Nigel is mad to accept his money’: who is Christopher Harborne, the mystery …
  • Main Page — ibis.wiki
  • AI as a Fascist Artifact
  • Acting ethically in an imperfect world
  • European Alternatives - Discover European & Open Source Software

2026-05-13

• [[Bookmarked]]:
  • The AI Denial Industry: The Left’s MAHA - by Alexei Gannon
  • Artificial Intelligence, Universal Machines, and Killing Bourgeois Dreams
  • Artificial Intelligence

• [[Simon]] told me about many interesting things!
  • [[sgmk wiki]]

2026-05-12

• [[Listened]]:

  • [[Today in Focus: The secretive billionaire bankrolling Nigel Farage]]
    • Rich crypto guy has given tens of millions of pounds to Brexit Party and Reform over the years.
    • Tether.
    • Suspected motive: wants to be the ‘king of crypto’.
    • Donates to parties that he feels most likely to be favourable to crypto.
    • No link between his massive donations and any pro-crypto positions, of course.

• [[Bookmarked]]:

  • The Left Must Plan for AI - by Alexei Gannon

2026-05-11

• It’s a shame that the end of Windows 10 is being capitalised on by Google to capture people to Chrome OS Flex.
  • It’s a perfect opportunity for a little bit of technological liberation and a move to Linux.
  • Rather than a jump from one Big Tech ecosystem to another.

2026-05-10

• Wrote:

  • [[We need a digital shock doctrine for the left]]

• [[Read]]:

  • [[Bridging the Digital Divide Between the Left and Capitalism, an Urgent Mission for Left Movements]]

• [[Zettled]]:

  • [[In times of crisis, capitalism reinvents and restructures itself using advanced scientific and technological tools]]

2026-05-09

• Reflecting upon the use cases of current AI, they feel mostly boil down to doing something you could feasibly have done before, but now you can do it faster, and yourself rather than needing help from others.
  • I suppose that’s pretty much a description of all technology.
  • So the question is do you really need to do it that fast? How come? At what cost? (As with all technology).
  • If a technology can be used to increase emancipation, reduce toil, for all, without exploiting labour or nature, then good. If not, scrutiny is required.
  • AI can reduce toil, the others seem uncertain.

2026-05-08

• Jammed:

  • [[Autechre - Piezo]]
  • daniel.mp3 - green to blue
    • Via: E
  • Hania Rani - Alberto
    • Emotive piano.

• [[Bookmarked]]:

  • Palantir’s manifesto: Technofascism in plain sight
  • Met investigates hundreds of officers after using Palantir AI tool
  • Resisting Big Tech Empires - Global Justice Now

• [[Read]]:

  • [[Gen Z 212 and Youth Protests in Morocco: From the Digital Sphere to the Street]]
  • [[The left is missing out on AI]]
    • Only skim read, but argument seems to be that left critique of AI is overly focused on the fact that LLMs don’t represent AGI.
    • I don’t know if that’s true. I do agree that purely critiquing AI on it not being actually intelligent seems flawed.
    • To describe LLMs as just a kind of fancy autocomplete seems a bit disingenous.
    • To me, LLMs/GenAI seems like a quite remarkable technology but currently with remarkably [[authoritarian technics]].
    • The question of whether they could ever have democratic/libertarian technics seems like a good debate to have.

• As I create more main notes, a graph view of constellations would become increasingly handy.

2026-05-07

• [[Listened]]:

  • [[Today in Focus: Why has the world lost sight of the suffering of Palestinians? – The Latest]]
  • [[Future Histories International: Rodrigo Nunes on Ecologies of Organization and Democratic Transformation]]
  • [[Today in Focus: Big oil making $30m an hour from Iran war - The Latest]]
  • [[Today in Focus: George Monbiot on our fragile food system]]
  • [[The Louis Theroux Podcast: S7 EP4: Stewart Lee on "Netflix comedians”, disastrous gigs, and Elon Musk"]]
  • [[Today in Focus: Meta‘s AI glasses and the dawn of wearable tech]]

• I didn’t listen to all of those today, I’ve copied them out of my recent listen history from [[AntennaPod]].

  • Unfortunately it doesn’t tell you which day you listened to it.

2026-05-06

• [[Zettled]]:

  • [[GNU/Linux is the libre alternative to Windows]]
  • [[Libre software is not automatically liberatory software]].

• [[Bookmarked]]:

  • State of the Fossil-Free Internet Report

• A benefit of ‘writing in public’, via a digital garden / zettelkasten, is that, if you cared, it would be fairly easy to audit that the writing has been constructed by a human.

  • You could trace the journey of bookmarks -> reference notes -> main notes -> structure notes -> posts.
  • Especially if there’s some kind of version control (via wiki software or a git repo).

2026-05-04

• [[Zettled]]:
  • [[Microsoft Windows is a capitalist technology]].
  • [[We must build alternatives to capitalist technologies]].
  • [[We need a pattern language of political organisation]].

2026-05-03

• [[Read]]:

  • [[The shock doctrine of the left - Uneven Earth]]

• [[Zettled]]:

  • [[Change brought through parliamentary politics tends to be slow, incremental, and easily reversible]].
  • [[The second Iraq War was exploited by the neoliberal shock doctrine]].
  • [[The financial crisis of 2008 was exploited by the neoliberal shock doctrine]].
  • [[Climate disasters are exploited by the neoliberal shock doctrine]].
  • [[We must intervene informed by a map of how things are and how our intervention can shape them productively]]
  • [[Systems thinking is helpful for political transition]]

2026-05-02

• [[Zettled]]:
  • [[The global memory shortage crisis is a digital shock]].
  • [[Windows 10 end-of-life is a digital shock]].
  • [[The boom of AI is a digital shock]].

2026-05-01

• [[Zettled]]:

  • [[We haven’t reached the end of history]].
  • [[The left needs a programme of building and promoting alternative institutional forms]].
  • [[Big Tech controls the digital commanding heights of the economy]].

• Wrote:

  • [[A digital shock doctrine for the left]]

• Noding from work? Is such a thing even possible?
  • Yeah.
• I haven’t been writing as much in the Agora as of late, and I think one of the factors (not the only one) is that I actually broke my web editing when I made web editing possible for hosted Agora users :) (as my garden is not really hosted in that sense).