2026-05-23

• [[Zettled]]:
  • [[Knowledge, data and information are critical production resources]].
  • [[Knowledge, data and information are exploited to reinforce capitalist control]].
  • [[Control over information flows is a vital factor in modern class conflict]].

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