netfortius

In one of the pictures they show "barley coffee". During the communism, in some countries of Eastern Europe you could only find in the stores this type of coffee, as the real one required hard currency to import.

This was the problem of another East European country, right post 1989, who elected what they called "a government of technocrats". Soon thereafter those newly elected learned/already knew how to steal, even better than their communist predecessors, while figuring out that they had to keep an appearance of democracy. It's been almost 40 years, and things are still broken. But "democratic".

English version only. Tried a few towns in Europe, and it's missing a lot of what the local language Wikipedia offers, so it's useful, in large part, probably for the anglophone world only.

Enshitification at its best. I've used Airbnb almost since inception, but the degradation of offering quality has been so noticeable that I totally quit using this two years ago. Last time the host did not only ask me to do all house chores, and still charge a cleaning fee, but wasn't going to provide bed sheets without an extra fee (W(ho)TF thinks I'm renting and possibly coming with my own sheets), but didn't have the room officially ready until 5pm, and had me out at 10am. F*k this "industry"

Interesting. In his own paper:

INSIDE EVERY WHITE BOX THERE ARE TWO BLACK BOXES TRYING TO GET OUT’ by Ranulph Glanville Portsmouth Polytechnic, England

The nature of the blackness of a black box (when an observer does not know what is going on inside the black box) and its whiteness (when an observer believes that he knows what is going on inside the black box) is considered and is applied to a description that is built by an observer of that black box. It is shown that while whiteness may be believed to have been reached within a system, such a system, nevertheless, remains black on the outside. This understanding is considered because it sheds light not only on black boxes and knowledge, but also on certain very basic cybernetic and broad psychological concepts.

KEYWORDS:conceptual system, individual, behavior, black box, white box, cybernetics, feedback, input, output, Object, self-reproduction.

the reference is:

Glanville, R. What is memory that it can remember what it is? In R. Trappl, (Ed.), Progress in and systems research (vol. 4). Washington, D.C.: Hemisphere, 1978.(c)

**

Also here: https://constructivist.info/radical/papers/glanville/glanvil...

[7] R. Glanville "What is Memory, that it can remember wheat it is?" in R. Trappl (ed.) "Progress in Cybernetics and Systems Research Vol 4", Washington DC, Hemisphere, 1978

... very odd ...

Funny how age shows up in some cases. For me the first thing that came to mind, when starting to read the article, was Ranulph Glanville's 1978: "What is memory that it can remember what it is?" (Progress in cybernetics and systems research - vol 4)

WTF is with all these substack articles? If someone thinks the content is so important to share, then provide a summary of crucial points justifying the title and the few rows available for free.

Or just refrain.

This reminded me of the work of Maturana and the concept of autopoiesis

Title too long. "Why aren't Americans rising up?" is more appropriate ;-)

There is no coming back from all this, is it?

Interesting functionality - can't quite grasp it yet [1]

[1] https://ibb.co/vC85zRmZ

He denied being a nihilist, himself, multiple times, as well as those having studied his work. He was an extreme sceptic.

Cioran claimed to have been able to avoid killing himself by fully embracing the idea of suicide.

Harvard study authors never read Emil Cioran.

It's been over 25-30 years since we've been using honeytokens as means to track data of all sorts showing up in places it shouldn't exist. Why isn't research material embedding such?

The French original version of the book appears to be 12 years old (2014). Is the English translation linked here a somehow more up to date book?

Is this getting out of control, or is it "business as usual"?

> That being said, I am not sure what's the killer application for this technology...

Build it, and they will come ;)

I saw him live in a presentation he gave in Chicago, early 90s. He and his book are the cause of my switching from a very young PhD in thermodynamics career to going back to school for CS, then working in the latter field until retirement, years back. I also read his Silicon Snake Oil book, as soon as it came out, which he - himself - publicly claimed to have been in error, in parts, sometimes, but about which I now think - looking at X, TruthSocial, TikTok, etc. - that may, in fact, has been premonitory...

Does anyone have a solution for reading progress sharing across macos library (now using calibre) and moonreader+ on android? What about highlights sharing?

Kindle format link == 404

Emil Cioran, in "A Short History of Decay", thinks that if humanity were deprived of work and sustained action for an indefinitely long "Sunday afternoon," boredom would become so unbearable that violence—crime in particular—would emerge as the principal means of escaping the oppressive emptiness of time.

"If Sunday afternoons were extended for months, where would humanity get to, liberated from sweat, from the weight of the first curse? The experiment would be worth the trouble. It is more than likely that crime would become the sole diversion, that debauchery would seem candor, shouting melody and jeers tenderness. The sensation of time's immensity would make each second into an intolerable torment, a sublime firing squad. In hearts imbued with poetry would appear a blasé cannibalism and a hyena's melancholy; butchers and executioners would die out—of lethargy; churches and brothels would split with sighs. The universe transformed into a Sunday afternoon... it is the very definition of ennui, and the end of the universe."

Obtainium works just fine with the github source