nameandnature

The Path to American Authoritarianism: What Comes After Democratic Breakdown

The breakdown of democracy in the United States will not give rise to a classic dictatorship in which elections are a sham and the opposition is locked up, exiled, or killed. Even in a worst-case scenario, Trump will not be able to rewrite the Constitution or overturn the constitutional order. He will be constrained by independent judges, federalism, the country’s professionalized military, and high barriers to constitutional reform. There will be elections in 2028, and Republicans could lose them.

But authoritarianism does not require the destruction of the constitutional order. What lies ahead is not fascist or single-party dictatorship but competitive authoritarianism—a system in which parties compete in elections but the incumbent’s abuse of power tilts the playing field against the opposition.
(tags: trump usa politics)

Originally posted at Name and Nature. You can comment there (where there are currently comments) or here.

When They Say Elites, They Mean Us

When the new right (Trump, Reform, the Tories who try to ape them) refers to “elites”, they mean white collar, university educated intellectuals. These are class enemies who stand in their way, just as they stood in the way of the Chinese Cultural Revolution or the Khmer Rouge on the far left.
(tags: trump politics brexit intellectuals)

Originally posted at Name and Nature. You can comment there (where there are currently comments) or here.

01signal: Resetting a USB device on Linux (and maybe control its power supply)

Various ways of resetting, and some information on what hubs do in response.
(tags: usb linux reset)

Originally posted at Name and Nature. You can comment there (where there are currently comments) or here.

Caution: Content Warnings Do Not Reduce Distress, Study Shows – Association for Psychological Science – APS

Warnings increase anticipatory anxiety. Warnings did not influence emotional reactions to content. Warnings do not increase avoidance. Across five studies, participants viewed troubling content at about the same rate regardless of whether or not they received a trigger warning.
(tags: psychology trigger)

Originally posted at Name and Nature. You can comment there (where there are currently comments) or here.

The Fence, Mr Blobby Has a Cold

I laughed, especially about the Jeremy Bentham line.
(tags: funny blobby tv nostalgia)

Originally posted at Name and Nature. You can comment there (where there are currently comments) or here.

Martyn Brunt 💙 on Twitter: “15 minute cities – a thread down memory lane 🧵 This was my parents house, in a suburb of Coventry. They bought it in 1965, and it was my home throughout the 1970s and half the 80s. My mum lived there until 2021. It was a

Apparently the “15 minute city” concept is now seen as an evil conspiracy, if you’re a bit of a loon along the “WEF plans to kill us all with mRNA” line. In a wistful thread, this guy remembers his childhood in one.
(tags: traffic planning cycling city)

Originally posted at Name and Nature. You can comment there (where there are currently comments) or here.

“Woke” is a new ideology and its proponents should admit it

“What I find most fascinating about the wokeness culture war – and what makes it interesting – is that it is incredibly difficult to define what it is actually about.” I largely agree with this piece: it’s a new-ish thing (although not that new, it was around in LiveJournal days before catching on more widely) and it’s fair enough to identify it and give it a name.
(tags: liberalism woke Politics philosophy)

Originally posted at Name and Nature. You can comment there (where there are currently comments) or here.

Liam Kofi Bright, White Psychodrama – PhilPapers

“I analyse the political, economic, and cultural circumstances that have given rise to persistent political disputes about race (known colloquially as “the culture war”) among a subset of Americans. I argue that they point to a deep tension between widely held normative aspirations and pervasive and readily observable material facts about our society. The characterological pathologies this gives rise to are discussed, and a normatively preferable path forward for an individual attempting to reconcile themselves to the current social order is suggested.”
(tags: race philosophy politics culture)

Originally posted at Name and Nature. You can comment there (where there are currently comments) or here.

Marius Hauken on Twitter: “If you’re not using AI, you’re losing out. 8 mindblowing AI tools (you can use today) that will save you hours:” / Twitter

Free AI sites for generating/modifying images and music.
(tags: ai graphics music)

Originally posted at Name and Nature. You can comment there (where there are currently comments) or here.

Quantifying Britain’s moron risk premium | Financial Times

“How Much a Dullard Cost”. Brutal but funny.
(tags: ft finance politics economics)

Originally posted at Name and Nature. You can comment there (where there are currently comments) or here.