Quand on parle de la taxation des milliardaires, les fausses leçons d'économie m'énervent. Notamment "On peut pas taxer les actions, c'est pas du cash". D'habitude je réponds "c'est pas grave, ils ont qu'à payer en actions alors" mais là un économiste explique à quel point l'argument de l'impossibilité de taxer des actions ne tient pas.

We have done it. We are there. A sustainable world. An abundant, renewable clean energy. A recovering ecosystem and a biodiversity that we can now help improve instead of merely defend. Changes happened. Changes in politics, in tech, in culture. We waste less, we consider the long term impact of our decisions, we consider natural resources as atakeholders in our decisions and give them representatives.

Now what? Well, humans are debating about to do next and, big surprise, several factions are out there.

Extend the list, imagine factions collaborating or fighting, or detail a faction either seriously or tongue-in-cheekly

• Archaecologists argue that we should restore the ecosystem to a state close to the paleolithic before humans started damaging the planet. Their food is good but is a pain to peel.

• Ecovolutionists argue that the Anthropocene should not be ignored and that we should accept the profound impact we had on Earth, and let it run its natural course while we re-invent our way of life to have a lower impact. Their more radical branch releases genetically adapted version of endangered plants in human biomes. The Monsoon Red Concrete Mold is their proudest achievement.

• Biomaximizers think that some ecosystems are inherently more desirable than others: they argue that maximizing biodiversity and biomass should be our goal, that deserts should be turned into primal forests and that we should build reefs in the oceanic deserts. Their Saharan seed-bombing raves are rad.

• Biomoralists think we should raise the morality of the animal world and break the prey-predator mechanism, that nature is something to improve respectfully and humanely. Their vegan cat food is actually surprisingly tasty.

• Ecogardeners are in favor of biotopes that have biodiversity but also are welcoming of humans and nice to the eye. They are not fans of mosquitoes or wolves, but god do they love flowers.

• The Followers of Gaia want to maximize the consciousness of the biosphere by planting more telepathic organisms they can connect with. They are currently disagreeing on which species have the more psy power but I am sure they will end up agreeing on a list eventually. Their only consensus now is that sauge is good and who would disagree?

• Consumerists are for declaring natural reserves but embrace the ability to be "wasteful" again, now that recycling and energy uses are sustainable. I mean, I kinda get their point but renewable skiing in Dubai still feels like missing the point.

• Earth-conservationists argue we should all move to space and let the Earth grow back to its natural stage. They are bewildered that the archaecologists do not agree with what they essentially see the same goal.

The year is 2080, we solved the climate crisis, we solved the poverty crisis. You live in a pretty chill solarpunk utopia that is considerate, sustainably, just and generally safe. The few dangerous places out there are clearly labelled.

Choose one of those signs and explain why it is displayed where it is.

EDIT: for some reasons up/downvotes do not work for me here. Is anyone having similar problems?

This conversation and the reactions it caused made me think of a few tips to explicitly veer away from AI-aided dystopias in your fictional universe.

Avoid a monolithic centralized statist super-AI

I guess ChatGPT is the model people use, the idea that there is a supercomputer managing all aspects of a community. And people are understandably wary of a single point of control that could too easily lead to totalitarianism

Instead, have a multitude of transparent local agents managing different systems. Each with a different algorithm and "personality".

Talk about open source

The most used AI models today are open source. We have a media that is biased towards thinking that things that do not generate commercial transactions are not important yet I am willing to bet that more tokens are generated by all the free models in the world than by OpenAI and its commercial competitors.

AIs are not to be produced by opaque companies from their ivory towers. They are the result of researchers and engineers who have a passion for designing smart system and --a fact that is too often obscured by the sad state of our society where you often have to join a company to make a living-- they do it with a genuine concern for humanity's well being and a desire that this work is used for the greater good.

It is among AI engineers that you will find the most paranoids about AI safety and safeguards. In a solarpunk future, this is a public debate and a political subject that is an important part of the policy discussion: We make models together, with incentives that are collectively agreed upon.

AIs are personal

You don't need a supercomputer to run an AI. LLMs today run on relatively modest gaming devices, even on raspberry pi! (though slowly at the moment). Energy-efficient chips are currently being designed to make the barrier of entry even lower.

It is a very safe bet to say that in the future, every person will have their own intelligent agent managing their local devices. Or even one agent per device and an orchestrator on their smartphone. And it is important that they are in complete control of these.

AIs should enhance humans control over their own devices, not make them surrender it.

AIs as enablers of democracy

You not only use your pocket AI to control your dishwasher, it is also your personal lawyer and representative. No human has the bandwidth to go through all the current policy debates happening in a typical country or even local community. But a well designed agent that spends time discussing with you will know your preferences and make sure to represent them.

It can engage in discussions with other agents to find compromises, to propose or oppose initiative.

As everyone's opinion is now included in every decision about road planning, public transportation, construction schedules and urban development, the general landscape will organically grow friendlier for everybody.

Je voulais voir quel ton avait ce vieux journal français vis à vis de la loi socle de la laïcité. Je m'attendais bien à une opposition de la part de ce journal conservateur et traditionnellement catholique, mais je ne m'attendais pas à un article réjouis expliquant que la loi avait été sabotée avec succès par les paroissiens! Avec un petit +1 à l'expression «apostasie officielle de la France».

Et quelle ne fut pas ma surprise de lire dans l'article suivant, évoquant une "plage" à Paris, de voir ce journal faire l'éloge du multiculturalisme d'un jardin d'enfants où l'on entend moins de français que de langues étrangères! Bon c'est entre enfants d'aristocrates, c'est vrai.

Voila, j'ai juste appris ça aujourd'hui: je suis plus jeune qu'Harry Potter.

Image générée par je sais pas qui avec je sais pas quel modèle.

I don't want to live on this planet anymore

Fuck these land-dwellers. Fuck the idiots. "Planes are a thing of the past". "A girl that builds an airplane, LOL". You know what, fuck you all, motherfuckers. I can't hear you over the sound of 45 kW of solar power and 180 kW of brushless engines. Wait, these little shits are silent. I can actually hear your whines. Fuck my life.

Yeah, no landing gears, I don't plan on landing. There's one person I care on this losers' planet and she lives by the sea. Landing strips are for dodos.

I don't go fast no, I will never go fast enough to get away from your ugly assface. I go up. My plane feeds from the sun and I feed from her plants. Got myself enough batteries to last through the night. Enough wing to rise over the storms. And enough e-books to not care for any company.

Tired of arguing it is impossible with idiots who ignore it was done decades ago. Apparently Helios and Solar Impulse are fake news. Get lost techbros who can't NASA.

No, I don't take passengers, you want to go up, you make your own. Get through your thick skull the equations of flight and power efficiency, and understand that for every percent gained anywhere, you can get half a percent more and a fistful of kilograms. You can choose to waste those on entitled meat or on chill non-judgemental plants. Guess which diet is better for physical and mental health.

No you can't follow me, you can't @ me, Saint Xyla grant me the strength to endure the bullshit noise that still goes through the radio.

Je pense que ça va pas du tout énerver de voir une file vide réservée aux JOs pendant les bouchons de l'heure de pointe à Paris...

Le titre français est étrange, et vise sûrement à éviter les paniques, les médias anglophones sont bien plus explicites.

J'ai appris ça au détour d'une discussion avec un ami qui discutait des progrès de la médecine préventive et de la prévention des pandémies suite au covid-19 (résultat=à peu près zéro progrès d'après lui qui bosse dans le domaine) il mentionne que oui, les autorités chinoises ont une épidémie de pneumonies depuis quelques jours et il ne comprend pas comment il est possible qu'on ne sache toujours pas si c'est une infection d'origine bactérienne ou virale.

Son petit cri d'alarme en anglais si ça vos intéresse: https://bitsof.bio/p/undiagnosed-pneumonia