ML2 @mathlover@social.cleverlibre.org

@AmpBenzScientist I recently got a doctorate in mathematics and I'm still unable to find good work in my local area.
I'm going back to school for cybersecurity as well as looking into the certification process.

I still feel, deep down, quite a bit like a failure.

@juliobiason. My father has COVID-19 and my entire family has been self-isolating as a result.
I understand your saltiness, even if it's for different, unknown reasons from my own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1d7Llx4rm8

@HonkHill In any case, most conversations I've been in have not been like that, particularly on that server.

@HonkHill
Eh, that convo did teach me more about perspectives some people abroad have on US court cases, even if said perspectives in this case are ill-informed. I also have a few hypotheses regarding some other things I observed.

I also learned a lot about those two people I mentioned: namely, that they have a tendency towards bad takes and sweeping statements when they get too emotional.

Overall I like both Discord and Matrix a bit more than IRC and vastly more than Facebook or Twitter. I actually have established interesting connections with people on Discord (one of which later became a real-life friendship), and I no longer feel alone like I did in the early part of my graduate school. I cannot say the same about any other platform (though with Fediverse it's mostly for lack of time spent here).

I just watched an astonishingly dumb Discord conversation. It spanned 9-12 hours, involved baseless accusations of Nazism and eugenics, and hinged on 4 people fundamentally misunderstanding a US court case.

I was not one of the people involved in the insult flinging, but I did try to put it out. Ultimately, I was able to stop the flames, but my opinion of two of those people I mentioned has been significantly dimmed.

Still better than an average day of Twitter browsing.

@freemo
I'd agree that a general wealth tax is certainly not conducive to a market economy and very likely not a good idea, but one can still have it without getting rid of private ownership of the means of production.
Monbiot's proposal is presumably to do it on people with more than a certain amount. I am still undecided on whether this is a good idea; while it would probably lower inequality, it seems to be a bandaid on the problems of corruption, regulatory capture, and monopolization that seem to be what got much of the West into the current mess in the first place.
@iankenway

@freemo
To be clear, I am still undecided on wealth taxes myself.
The point is that few, if any, of the proposals I have heard from Monbiot or most other people in his crowd are even incompatible with at least some form of capitalism, so saying that capitalism itself is the issue rather than the particular form of capitalism seen now (or, as some other than me might argue, specific swathes of policy rather than the entire form of capitalism used) is at best hasty and at worst motivated reasoning.
@iankenway

@freemo
@iankenway
I agree with Freemo. The problem is not capitalism in general but its contemporary laissez-faire, neoliberal and crony capitalist forms. In the George Monbiot article linked in Ian's previous tweet, most if not all of his proposals, including the wealth tax and the idea of public luxury and private sufficiency, are quite compatible with social democracy, and thus with some form of capitalism.

In my opinion, the meme itself is more likely to alienate than convince, because while some people will associate the use of the word "capitalism" solely with the aforementioned forms, others will associate the use with any system involving some private ownership of capital. The people who are undecided on the matter of climate change action will be more likely to have the latter association, and will be more likely to recoil at the meme than agree with it.

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