@Brett @geolaw @pluralistic
Presumably this is why the next upgrade to self driving cars will be self targeting guns...
T
thecasualcritic@writing.exchange
@thecasualcritic@writing.exchange
Posts
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@pluralistic 's blog on why social media barons hate sociality reminded me of Stafford Beer's introduction to variety. -
@pluralistic 's blog on why social media barons hate sociality reminded me of Stafford Beer's introduction to variety.@geolaw @pluralistic
I did not know about this, but it doesn't surprise me. The solution always seems to be "if my system doesn't work, *you* just have to adapt". -
@pluralistic 's blog on why social media barons hate sociality reminded me of Stafford Beer's introduction to variety.@pluralistic the blog in question is here: https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/19/billionaire-solipsism/#sirius-cybernetics
The reference to the cat is from "Designing Freedom".
And to prove that I'm personally pro-cat, here is a photo of our very own guardian.
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@pluralistic 's blog on why social media barons hate sociality reminded me of Stafford Beer's introduction to variety.@pluralistic 's blog on why social media barons hate sociality reminded me of Stafford Beer's introduction to variety.
He starts with a simple system. Then introduces a cat. The cat, doing what cats do, makes the system massively more complex.
Beer uses this to explain that an effective system needs as much variety as its environment, or cleverly attune to it.
Or you change the environment and shoot the cat.
That's what techbros do when we don't conform to their data. They shoot the cat.