Accidentally posted the over-compressed version. Updated with the bigger, clearer version of the comic.

The cow says "Moo"

It was 20 years ago today, the meathook came into play.

So let JWZ introduce to you the one and only Joshua Ellis...

The Grim Meathook Future Club Band

Or something. The coffee hasn't taken hold yet.

@jwz: The Grim Meathook Future https://www.jwz.org/blog/2005/09/the-grim-meathook-future/

Future predictions are rough, and we're not in the Joi Ito future.

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism." ― Neil Postman, 'Amusing Ourselves to Death'

Neil was reacting to television. PRE-CABLE television.

“One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.” -- Omar El Akkad, 2023

So many needless deaths.

#trolleyproblem

We must always take sides.

Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.

Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant.

Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must – at that moment – become the center of the universe.

- Elie Wiesel

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1986/wiesel/acceptance-speech/

I've been in the Netherlands since 2018. Nobody has ever asked how I'm sick, demanded details, or done anything other than "get better."

I still feel a push to justify why I've decided I'm ill. Canada still had bosses wanting to know symptoms like they could treat me.

Half my day is just finding new positions to sit or lie in when the last one stops working to prevent my neck and shoulder from hurting.

"For to change one's mind, or even one's policy, is a confession of weakness. If, for example, Eurasia or Eastasia (whichever it may be) is the enemy today, then that country must always have been the enemy. And if the facts say otherwise, then the facts must be altered. Thus history is continuously rewritten."

George Orwell, 1984

I think more people need to read this book (again). It's more than the short phrases you have heard. Much more.

"comparing the total units sold so far — 34,438 for the Cybertruck, compared to 3,173,491 for the ill-fated Pinto, discontinued in 1980 — and comparing reported fire fatalities for both.

At the current rate of horrible fiery deaths, FuelArc projects the Cybertruck will have 14.52 fatalities per 100,000 units — far eclipsing the Pinto's 0.85. (In absolute terms, FuelArc found, 27 Pinto drivers died in fires, while 5 Cybertruck drivers have suffered the same fate"

https://futurism.com/the-byte/cybertruck-ford-pinto-comparison

Twitter is supposedly going to turn off the Block button. How in the world is someone supposed to deal with the Twitter Blue subscribers at that point?

Here I am, contributing to the problem Tom mentions.

It seems like there has to be a way to make posts like @pluralistic posts less invasive.

It's up to 24 now. Then another with 14. Many with images offering no descriptive text at all.

Is there a way to just NOT show the follow-ups in these threads?

I feel like the only ergonomic answer is an unfollow.