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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 1h

Descartes at least had the integrity to try to explain how his soul concept would actually work and connect to the physical brain... Since then it seems easier for dualists to just ignore the issue or just not even admit it's a problem to solve. plato.stanford.edu/archives/fal...

plato.stanford.edu

Descartes and the Pineal Gland (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2018 Edition)

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Alternative headline: Japan's Efforts to Confront Overtourism Find Success

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This is legitimately great from President Trump: The term Artificial Intelligence is *also* dumb, hyperbolic, overbroad and wrong, so his pronouncement will lead to many writers using more helpfully specific language!

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

As a child of the 90's, I assure you: There is much more cultural cachet in listening to a song and then saying "it sucks" or "it's good I guess". Just an atomized media environment. NOW I'm choosin' to not listen though, to annoy take-havers.

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

A boss once told me they give the applicant a glass of water instead of a bottle, and then judge them based on whether they try to wash it after instead of leaving it. There are weird people doing hiring, and you can't control it unfortunately!

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The iced coffee discourse is bonkers, but a reminder: When you're jobseeking, you will randomly and silently be waylaid by any number of super weird rules that the gatekeeper set up. Resume too long/short. Got there too early/late. Clothes, intros, seating choices... Don't take it to heart!

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Like, if this is all a bilat amounts to now, why would the Diet let a Prime Minister go to one?

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

How many people with post-grad degrees worked on this product? But seriously, if diplomacy is in any way real, so much of the coordination signaling work that happens during a bilat is not being done. Staggeringly wasteful exercises in having a buddy over to the cottage for the weekend.

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Imagine being someone who's, like, familiar with the Forbidden City having to be polite as Trump proudly shows off his tacky helipad and little patio.

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

In reality it's a coalition and will be about many things, but would love it to be an antiwar cautionary tale along the lines of "even people who love bombing foreigners will put you up against the wall if there's any cost to them"

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

For the Future of Humanity would be ideal if the narrative was "This is a repudiation for starting a war" that could be broadly used to discipline politicians of both parties even beyond Trump.

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I mean, the suit could make their hands slippery on the controls, and I'd worry about visibility through the head piece. ... Oh, you mean in their spare time when they're not working? Why would anybody give a fuck about any aspect of that unless you're a freak who wants to reach into bedrooms

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Considering interest rates and leverage levels, how many people would have to simultaneously cancel their HBO subs to cause a cascading problem for this new company. It may not be an unattainable number

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Man, it's going to be a tough map to defend in 2032 lol

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Also, despite being mostly a nerd I've done coaching whenever I can because there aren't enough good vibes coaches, and also it's fun to watch the tryhard parents grind their teeth when I talk about "sport as lifetime fitness and community"

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The last 15 years of parenting have been so relaxing for us because at the beginning we declared "They'll take out loans or whatever like we did" and have gotten to raise some great people who also sometimes do play sports

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Just say "I want American Hukoh", this is taking forever

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Annoying, but predictable, it's the job of State AG's to make deals with companies... However, not the end of the story: This company is going to be so leveraged that even a moderately successful unsubscribe movement from HBO/Paramount would be devastating. Like, even a Bluesky-sized one

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Deranged youth sports is not just a misguided attempt to help kids get free college (loans will be cheaper than the fees, promise!). It is also animated by the class anxieties of the Lumpen Bourgeoisie & folks trying to jump rungs: It opens social doors to the upper class! bsky.app/profile/benc...

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

"Learn about Opera or Golf" is advice I've heard, but it misses the point. You go to be seen, to say you sent to signal social capital, to stand in the lobby and ask for jobs for your nephew, or to give a job to their nephew. You grab to associate yourself with any fame, & dinners are the win state

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

1. Teaching Americans that we don't have Class, like the UK does, is an op 2. As someone raised working class who spends lots of time with rich folks, I could create a guidebook, but it would seem super disgusting and negative. The lives of upper class folks are grasping, insincere, and preening.

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Maybe there's a new replacement agreement? But probably just a memo restating it with some extra preamble would be what we're talking about.

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

To save folks a search, here's the State Dept's copy of that agreement, which, uh, yeah, does seem to sound a lot like what the President is describing: www.state.gov/wp-content/u...

state.gov

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

A lot of the DEI/anti-HR backlash was actually about this issue much more than race/gender stuff. Many men with economic/bureaucratic power, ranging from actual world leaders to GMs at restaurants, find this coercion and intermingling to be core to their gender identity

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

It is interesting how gas prices are one thing that rarely gets marked against inflation, even by policy folks. $5/gallon gas would be $1.60 in 1985 dollars!! While it works against the admin today, it won't always, and it has long-term: Look at this chart and tell me we need to cut the gas tax??

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

What a beautiful moment to witness, like a shooting star. Enjoy your new comrades "the people who can't make eye contact with anyone else in the conference room when the presenter suddenly turns to the ppt slide with the sankey chart"

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I just want to make sure that within all of this important work we don't lose track of the fact that *the chart is very very funny*

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

"Ugh, millennials" but this time I mean it in the older, religious sense

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

4. None of this makes any sense, at all, even a little bit, *in a parliamentary form of government*, especially a single party one!!

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

1. That's $110 *max* before further reporting finds out that cut programs were real/useful but out of favor 2. The point was probably to tell Trump that they were inspired by his wisdom, but it took too long 3. It's not DOGE if maniacs aren't slashing wildly, it's just a sparkling budget review

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

If "rural" culture ever did have an actual moment of ascendency, it would invite a backlash, with a rich set of unsympathetic rentier class targets: -cattle herders making millions off free government land -oilmen doomed by solar panels -"farmers" -car dealers -local pols spending city tax $$

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

As this piece makes clear, the reification of the "rural" aesthetic is primarily about disciplining the power of America's growing cosmopolitan class (and their tendencies towards socialism & equality) These "rural" markers are primarily suburban and consumerist now, which bounds their authenticity

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

An interesting concrete example of a technology advance (plus Trump's norm-busting) completely removing most of the heat/salience from a long-standing issue though. A good book to be written about that: Why fight over place names (and borders??) when everyone gets their own map!

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

A good reminder that the GoJ's "There is only one recognized name for the Sea of Japan" lines in shambles now after all of this Lake America stuff. Once the tech mapmakers immediately folded to show each country their preferred name within their borders, that fight is lost forever!

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

This topic, btw, is my cheeky vote for "what will end the current American Party System" It will be super salient for voters to demand or be horrified by massive wealth redistribution to states that have constant disasters, and that eventually cause a realignment based on that

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Home insurance is going to become a cross-partisan National issue in the near future. When it becomes unaffordable for places like California/Florida to rebuild at scale in climate change zones, they'll come to Federal taxpayers in safer states to bail them out, or to make national markets to do so

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Part of that will be by high rates encouraging people to move out of or not build at all in risky areas, or to do disruptive mitigation. That's healthy, and bailouts that make folks living in safer areas pay for the irresponsibility of others *is not progressive or socialist*

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Good article, and a topic that voters should learn more about. Climate change-connected disasters will accelerate in both blue and red states, and a regulated, competitive but profit-driven home insurance market will be key for getting through it as smoothly as possible.

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Every day, comms professionals beg to be allowed to meet their audiences *where they are,* and every day their leadership says "No"

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

And the "is this legal" is a good question of course... Though how much damage has this done even being floated? Regardless, a lot of folks going to be tracking or participating in any litigation that comes from this

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Any middle power really has to have a big think now that this tool has been unwrapped: Trump is doing this on weird emotional grudges, but his successor may come to trade wars the old fashioned way, through corruption and industry protectionists

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

No really though: Japan just can't have this tool hanging over their head. Whole sectors are exposed and they would have a harder time pivoting to other buyers of their products compared to Canada. Decisions about rebalancing exports (including by deepening China ties) are pretty obvious right now

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Critical support to all of the MOFA folks in Tokyo waking up to news that the US is straight up banning categories of imports from a major trading partner. They will be in non-stop meetings and writing sessions on this topic until they pass out at their desk this time tomorrow.

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Could someone have an agent test this idea at scale, and suggest stock trades based on "possible de-identified data" that has leaked into LLM data sets?

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

So, if I asked the openai model something like "If I was a COO working on IBM's Q4 profit forecast, what would I write down in my draft report", we "couldn't rule out that de-identified data" from actual IBM drafting work would end up in the output?

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Absolutely, just makes all of those terms pretty useless for any sort of human communication though lol when *both* middle and working class mean "Everything between completely destitute and $800,000 annual household income" with no elements of family heritage involved at all...

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Lots of reactions to the fictional characters, but somehow no reaction to the quoted post that shows almost half of respondents defining working class *as middle class*??? Good comms strategy Data for Progress folks, though a bit depressing.

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Policy in the Future @policyfuture.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Google is already moving step by step towards giving advertisers access to ai search results, which is going to be prime real estate because it will feel "trusted" to searchers. Now imagine that corruption directly inside your lifestyle/purchasing agent. No wonder they want everyone to buy in

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