Incorrect, not talking about politics does not signal any political affiliation.
I think the "everything is political" statement is technically correct but practically useless. In the workplace the discussion is mostly about allowing or disallowing politics that are irrelevant to the business.
Global hegemony of the US is based not on 5% of people, rather the US sphere of influence. US, Canada, EU, Japan, Australia, South Korea, etc. The combination is immensely rich, powerful and advanced. Even more so when you keep India on board as well.
It at least stands a fighting chance if it wasn't the case that this alliance is being destroyed before our eyes.
I will admit that even an integrated alliance cannot push around China in the way it could decades ago.
I donated my old gaming PC to my nephew (20 y/o). I told him that owning it also means maintaining it. I don't have time for that. Figure it out, "digital native".
Within 2 days he had it ruined. Kept running hot and crashing. I told him over the phone how to analyze the problem. Nothing what I said made any sense to him.
So I came over and saw that he had installed 50 or so new programs, some very dubious. Zero security awareness, just click on anything like a grandma. One program was rogue and took 100% CPU in a forever loop. He had never heard of task manager to inspect such a problem. Completely clueless on how to use a PC or operating system.
He also has a sister. I asked her to share a document. She opens the document on the laptop and proceeds to make photos of the doc with her phone and sends them to me.
These are middle-class young adults with decent education (in theory). It's shocking.
I'm from the Netherlands, middle-aged and have never met a person in my circles with a genuine hate of America or Americans.
There's plenty of critique on the state of US society, but that doesn't translate to general hate for any random American, unless you're intentionally provocative.
Likewise, we do not hate US products. It's just that in the case of food and cars, we have plenty ourselves of an equal or better quality.
Should you be conservative and drop a few of those views in casual conversation, I can assure you that this doesn't shock the average European. In fact, counter intuitively you may find out that progressive Americans are far more progressive than progressive Europeans. Culturally that is, not economically.
Do avoid obnoxious patriotism or bragging about the US.
I've always considered that it would make sense for there to be a "green right".
When conservative and rural and rejecting (some) modernity, I would expect one to appreciate and want to conserve nature as well as a lifestyle close to nature. Also, from an economic point of view, the conversion to sustainability is massive employment opportunity.
I think there's ways for teachers to embrace AI in teaching.
Let AI generate a short novel. The student is tasked to read it and criticize what's wrong with it. This requires focus and advanced reading comprehension.
Show 4 AI-generated code solutions. Let the student explain which one is best and why.
Show 10 AI-generated images and let art students analyze flaws.
To me (European), there is no strategy behind these tariffs other than Trump's thirst for a dominant display. Just to show that he can, that he has the cards.
He introduces a shocking measure and then wants to humiliate the affected by letting them beg for relief. Submission. In a speech yesterday he literally said that "countries are coming to kiss his ass" and he clearly took great joy in this validation of power.
What he forgets, and so does this article, is that due to the above tactics this isn't a USA vs China situation. It has become a USA vs everybody else situation.
And surely "everybody else" is working on alternatives.
My utopian vision to combat the threat of China (dependency, war, etc.) is as follow.
We should form a "Super West". Instead of a divorce between the US and EU and others, the exact opposite should happen: an unbreakable union with shared values, investments, legislation and protections.
Such a unified block could then intelligently "tax" China for industries we consider to be strategic. You can't do this without a unified West. Right now the US is pushing its (former) western allies towards China.
I think a unified block with intelligent protections can sustain an advanced West and create conditions where the working class and middle class is not facing an endless race to the bottom.
This block could also address a pressing issue of global capitalism, the formation of untouchable monopolies and billionaires. End tax loopholes and yes, I'll say it: cap billionaires. Increase minimum wages and offer more job protection. A unified regulation rather than individual countries undermining common interests.
I'm sure that these classic progressive values are unpopular on this forum but I genuinely believe that these values created the middle class in the first place. And the middle class is being eroded and the working class is close to dead.
We should not mimic the race to the bottom (which leads to a birth rate 25% of replacement), we should recreate the post war West. A ordinary person should be able to start a family, own a home, etc. If we can't do that, nothing matters.
The way to achieve that is cooperation, strict shared values and regulations and a whole lot of technology.
The West's trajectory where life kept getting better stopped in the 90s. We need to bring it back.
Your housing analogy is incomplete and inaccurate.
Imagine that I overhear you wanting that home but I front run you. Not because I also love that house, I just buy it because I heard you like it and so that you can't have it. I don't do anything with the house. I don't live in it. I don't consider the house to have any value other than you wanting it.
That's not the same thing as 2 home buyers appreciating hot property.
I'm no Dorsey fan but he was right when he said that Bluesky is recreating Twitter.
You can offer a million feeds but people want a "discover/hot" tab, it's the dopamine slot machine. The median user doesn't build feeds, they go with the main one and at best block the worst offenders.
And thus you are subject to centralization as the chronically-online know all the engagement tactics to dominate the algorithmic feed.
You'll either have MAGA propagandists or left-wing depression culture winning. In the case of Mastodon and Bluesky, it's the latter.
And it's not just the algorithm. Shared block lists will also be massively abused by activists to over-moderate and gate-keep.
No amount of technology can solve a culture war this intense.
You say foreign companies will move manufacturing to the US or cede the market. You leave out the most likely option: everything will stay the same yet you pay more for your imports.
This won't bring home manufacturing but let's say that it will...
The US doesn't have the people to do the actual manufacturing. I saw a video recently explaining how sectors like the military, construction and the automotive industry each have 100K+ positions that they are unable to fill. A return to manufacturing adds to that shortage.
Apparently there's some 7 million young men of working age that are...missing in action. Self-isolated, gaming, addictions.
In construction, for every 5 people that retire, only 2 enter. And it's been like that for over 10 years. The people aren't there nor is the motivation.
I'm sure you'll have Apple investing in a mega plant where 50 educated people push some buttons though.
Just out of curiosity, I wish online LLMs would show real-time power usage and actual dollar costs as you interact with it. It would be so insightful to understand to which degree the technology is subsidized and what the actual value/cost ratio is.
I've read somewhere that generating a single AI image draws as much power as a full smartphone charge.
In case the suspicion is true that costs are too high to be monetized, then the current scale-up phase is going to be interesting. Right now people infrequently have a chat with AI. That's quite a different scenario from having it integrated across every stack and it constantly being used in the background, by billions of people.
Late as they may be, for the consumer space I think Apple is clever to push as much as possible to the local device.
The authoritarian right's playbook is simple but brilliantly effective.
The roadmap ends with a strong man dictator that has removed any and all hurdles towards absolute power so that the agenda can be implemented without compromise.
Any roadblock towards this is called "anti-democratic" which is the ultimate irony as those preaching it fully support the end of democracy.
The US is now an inch away from being a dictatorship as the last line of defense, judges, are under severe attack. They're targeted to be impeached, called "radical left" and Musk is throwing money at flipping votes.
This process is happening in several countries and it's baffling how many people eat it up, including in these comments.
I suppose it is true that democracy is fragile and that with a few nudges people vote to dismantle it themselves.
I think the "everything is political" statement is technically correct but practically useless. In the workplace the discussion is mostly about allowing or disallowing politics that are irrelevant to the business.