Emeritus Prof Christopher May
Contacting Emeritus Prof Christopher May
Federation handle:
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
Federation handle:
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us
Emeritus Prof Christopher May's Posts
Emeritus Prof Christopher May has 226 posts.
Emeritus Prof Christopher May
Its sad that Mike Davies (author of City of Quartz & Ecology of Fear) is no longer with us; he would have had some interesting things to say about the LA fires this week, we can be sure.... not least of all as he wrote about the 'fire ecology' of the coastal areas of LA.
If Davies was still with us, he'd be setting out his view of how & why rich people built houses made primarily of wood, too close to each other in an area known for wild fires....
Davies saw it all years ago...
#LosAngeles
Tags: #losangeles
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Emeritus Prof Christopher May
As usual Ross Atkins does what the BBC should be doing all the time (well at least they let him carry on I suppose).
If you only watch one thing on Elon Musk's social media 'interventions' in UK politics, make it this - as always Atkins tells it like it is without hysterics, hyperbole or the need to anything other than report the facts (damning in themselves)
#SocialMedia #politics
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/c87dg3x1rd0o
@ChrisMayLA6
Shots fired. I'm into it.
by 🅱🅻🆄🅴🅱️ ;
Tags: #socialmedia #politics
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Emeritus Prof Christopher May
The danger of economics determinism:
looks like Rachel Reeves in a renewed (continuing) austerity strategy ('forced' on her by the bond markets) will require Govt. Depts to justify how their activities contribute to growth; those that cannot make a convincing case will be the key areas looking at severe (further) cuts.
In other words prepare yourself for the worst sort of economic determinism & instrumental thinking.... its going to by a myopic, socially damaging fiasco!
#RachelReeves
h/t FT
@ChrisMayLA6 Making the poor even poorer will not solve any problems. Making the middle class poor also will not solve any problems. Reeves needs to be an adult in the room, and change the tax system so the wealthy, tax-efficient pay a lot more tax. More deprivation and poverty costs more in ill-health, in education, in hospital, in work availability etc. It’s basic and obvious - why can she not see this?
by HarriettMB ;
Tags: #rachelreeves
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Emeritus Prof Christopher May
In response to this post@drimplausible
yes, Richard Barbrook was very prescient; when I was writing on open source & IPRs he and I were occasionally on panels together and for a while met up every now & then for a chat - one of good guys!
@ChrisMayLA6 ah, very cool. If you're interested in listening to that review, it's available here:
https://www.implausipod.com/1935232/episodes/15913712-e0039-the-california-ideology
by Dr.Implausible ;
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Emeritus Prof Christopher May
In response to this post@h4890
Ha ha, as I reach 65 this year, and with no kids (but some nephews & nieces), I can see his point....
Mentions: @h4890@liberdon.com
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Emeritus Prof Christopher May
In response to this post@h4890
Well, I'd be happy to come down to Manchester, which would (given the travel infrastructure here) likely be easier.... it would be an interesting lunch for both of us I'm sure....
Mentions: @h4890@liberdon.com
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Emeritus Prof Christopher May
In response to this post@h4890
Well, I spent most of my academic career hanging out with a pretty small group fo folk, most of whom, like me, had had a career before becoming university academics... a small bunch
Mentions: @h4890@liberdon.com
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Emeritus Prof Christopher May
In response to this post@h4890
No, I used to say it quite often when I was getting frustrated with the idiocy of some academics... and as a result, never on the invite list for the Xmas parties (wouldn't have gone anyway)
@ChrisMayLA6 Wow! The fact that you would not be invited to the Christmas party because of something like that is a fine marker of the psychological make up of academics.
by h4890 ;
Mentions: @h4890@liberdon.com
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MiniMia 🏴 🇵🇸
Emeritus Prof Christopher May BoostedGotta say I'm not a fan of "move fast and break things" being applied to global politics.
#EndTimes
Tags: #endtimes
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Emeritus Prof Christopher May
In response to this post@rameshgupta @alexproe
Indeed; classic bait & switch
⬆️ @ChrisMayLA6
>> Indeed; classic bait & switch
Indeed.
In a nutshell, their line of persuasion was:
1. Government is too big.
2. Cut down the government.
3. Why pay taxes to government?
4. Give tax cuts to the rich instead.
5. The rich will take care of the poor.
6. More succinctly, #PrivatizationOfGovernment
NOTHING has changed in this wicked #conservative story in 5 decades, except that rich got richer, poor got poorer, infrastructure crumbled, and services vanished!
@alexproe
by Ramesh #NotGoingBack ;
Mentions: @rameshgupta@mastodon.social @alexproe@mastodon.uno
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Emeritus Prof Christopher May
In response to this post@PoliceStateUK
ha ha, yes I know.... it hardly news is it?
Mentions: @PoliceStateUK@mastodon.me.uk
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Emeritus Prof Christopher May
I'm increasingly coming to the point where while accepting that the internet offers all sorts of major social advantages, the part of the world wide web that social media occupies is poisoning the well....
Looking back & I wonder if we knew what we know now, whether we would have been so enthusiastic about the expansion of the net into the WWW & the explosion in the scope of social media.
its a Pandora's box that we can no longer shut, I know... but the Q. is: where is the hope?
#SocialMedia
@ChrisMayLA6 You see, I think it was known even then. Reading "The Californian Ideology" and "On Totalitarian Interactivity" recently for an episode, I was surprised at how well they captured the current age.
Both were published in 1995.
The trajectory we were on was recognized, even then. We just weren't listening.
(Still aren't, tbh.)
I think hope lies in the absence. With TikTok going down, will that wake people up?
by Dr.Implausible ;
Tags: #socialmedia
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Emeritus Prof Christopher May
Hmmm.... FT has just given a pulpit to Peter Thiel to explore his views of the internet & social media among other things... which includes this rhetorical Q.:
'Did we muster up even two minutes’ criticism of the UK, which has arrested hundreds of people a year for online speech triggering, among other things, “annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety”? '... presumably inviting the answer; 'we should have'.
Just in case you thought Musk was an outlier on 'free speech'....
#SocialMedia
@ChrisMayLA6 The PayPal Mafia in 'not great human beings' shocker. 🙂
by Police State UK ;
@ChrisMayLA6 Read that interview in the FT, fairly sure it ticks a few mania boxes on the DSM V.
by BashStKid ;
Tags: #socialmedia
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Emeritus Prof Christopher May
In response to this post@rameshgupta @alexproe
If Reagan's economists where Keynsians, then they were the bastardisation called neo-Keynsianism that was an out growth of neo-classical economics that sought to mimic some of the discourse of Keynsianism with none of the progressive content... just calling yourself a Keynsian (if they did) doesn't;t make you one....
The problems you identify are real, but they are not due to Keynsian economics - that is all about 'effective demand' not enriching the already wealthy!
⬆️ @ChrisMayLA6
They spun the basic tenet of #Keynsian or #Keynesian Theory:
Per #IMF, "Keynesians believe that… fluctuations in ANY component of spending,… [e.g.] investment,… cause output to change. If government spending increases, for example, and all other spending components remain constant, then output will increase".
#Reagan's connivers substituted "rich" for "government" and claimed the RICH would drive growth by reinvesting money saved in taxes.
@alexproe
https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2014/09/basics.htm
by Ramesh #NotGoingBack ;
Mentions: @rameshgupta@mastodon.social @alexproe@mastodon.uno
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Emeritus Prof Christopher May
In response to this post@iivariArttu
Well, a Keynsian approach would see the need to dampen down some over-heating, certainly.... where that might be for the UK is an interesting point; one might argue that any growth over round 1.5% GDP a year was over-heating relatively.
But whenever it was, already you can see the possible use if interest rate policy to reign in over-heating - albeit with less justification the BoE has been doing that for the last 18 months, separate from austerity - Govt. does have other levers
Mentions: @iivariArttu@mastodon.social
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Emeritus Prof Christopher May
In response to this post@bobthomson70
Its one of the great conundrums of economics... and revelatory of the skewed notions of incentivisation.
You can (sort of) square the circle, if you want by taking the line that only work should pay, and so the wealthy execs need more money to incentivise them, while the poor need to have their benefits taken way to ensure they work to stay alive (the ultimate incentivisation); but that leaves the vexing question of relative rates of pay.
but as an approach its morally bankrupt
Mentions: @bobthomson70@mastodon.social
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Emeritus Prof Christopher May
In response to this post@fkamiah17 @linuxgnome
It'll all be about Chinese EV plants & investment in Nuclear.... with (at a stretch, perhaps) Chinese nurses?
@ChrisMayLA6 @linuxgnome So yeah, begging bowl.
I wonder how they'd square the immigration circle with the nurses.
by MiniMia 🏴 🇵🇸 ;
Mentions: @fkamiah17@syzito.xyz @linuxgnome@todon.eu
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Emeritus Prof Christopher May
Sexual violence; Elon Musk
Sian Norris, helpful unpicks the role of disinformation (and the purveyors of disinformation) in the far right's interest in sexual abuse & violence in the UK that has been re-ignited by Elon Musk's posts & messages online.
As she concludes: 'The far right has no answers for this, as it sees sexual violence only through the prism of race & a genocidal conspiracy theory, not the misogyny & male power which its movement valorises'!
#SocialMedia
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/far-right-elon-musk-grooming-gangs-britain-keir-starmer-tommy-robinson-great-replacement/
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Emeritus Prof Christopher May
In response to this post@John_Loader
Yes, I've seen that mentioned before; which is an interesting way of rehabilitating prisoners, unless they're being used as expendable fire-fodder, of course
Mentions: @John_Loader@ohai.social
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Global Museum
Emeritus Prof Christopher May BoostedA word to the younger generation:
Your grandmother wore very mini mini skirts, tall boots, and bell bottom jeans.
She went to Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Fleetwood Mac, and The Rolling Stones concerts.
She drove a mini car, rode motorcycles, and fast scooters.
She used to smoke and drink whiskey and gin & tonics.
She would sneak in at 4 am and still make it to work the next day.
So as cool as you think you are... you'll never be as cool as your grandma!! #grandparents #1960s
Tags: #grandparents #1960s
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