roko’s modern basilisk 🐊

Discussions about China among socialists in the west very rarely bring up hukou, which is odd seeing as it's probably the single greatest systemic inequality in China and the Chinese economy basically would not function without it.

🚩Voic l’impressionnante performance d'imitation de la part de l'acteur Remi Anri.

This is an email I sent earlier today to all employees at Coinbase: Team, Today I’ve made the difficult decision to reduce the size of Coinbase by ~14%. I want to walk you through why we're doing this now, what it means for those affected, and how this positions us for the future. Why now Two forces are converging at the same time. We need to be front footed to respond to both. First, the market. Coinbase is well-capitalized, has diversified revenue streams, and is well-positioned to weather any storm. Crypto is also on the verge of the next wave of adoption, with stablecoins, prediction markets, tokenization, and more taking off. However, our business is still volatile from quarter to quarter. While we've managed through that cyclicality many times before and come out stronger on the other side, we’re currently in a down market and need to adjust our cost structure now so that we emerge from this period leaner, faster, and more efficient for our next phase of growth. Second, AI is changing how we work. Over the past year, I’ve watched engineers use AI to ship in days what used to take a team weeks. Non-technical teams are now shipping production code and many of our workflows are being automated. The pace of what's possible with a small, focused team has changed dramatically, and it's accelerating every day. All of this has led us to an inflection point, not just for Coinbase, but for every company. The biggest risk now is not taking action. We are adjusting early and deliberately to rebuild Coinbase to be lean, fast, and AI-native. We need to return to the speed and focus of our startup founding, with AI at our core. What this means To get there, we are not just reducing headcount and cutting costs, we’re fundamentally changing how we operate: rebuilding Coinbase as an intelligence, with humans around the edge aligning it. What does this mean in practice? - Fewer layers, faster decisions: We are flattening our org structure to 5 layers max below CEO/COO. Layers slow things down and create coordination tax. The future is small, high context teams that can move quickly. Leaders will own much more, with as many as 15+ direct reports. Fewer layers also means a leaner cost structure that is built to perform through all market cycles. - No pure managers: Every leader at Coinbase must also be a strong and active individual contributor. Managers should be like player-coaches, getting their hands dirty alongside their teams. - AI-native pods: We’ll be concentrating around AI-native talent who can manage fleets of agents to drive outsized impact. We’ll also be experimenting with reduced pod sizes, including “one person teams” with engineers, designers, and product managers all in one role. In short: AI is bringing a profound shift in how companies operate, and we’re reshaping Coinbase to lead in this new era. This is a new way of working, and we need to leverage AI across every facet of our jobs. To those who are affected I know there are real people behind these decisions — talented colleagues who have poured themselves into this company and our mission. To those of you who will be leaving: thank you. You’ve helped build Coinbase into what it is today, and I am sincerely grateful for everything you've done. All impacted team members will receive an email to their personal account in the next hour with more information, and an invitation to meet with an HRBP and a senior leader in your organization. Coinbase system access has been removed today. I know this feels sudden and harsh, but it is the only responsible choice given our duty to protect customer information. To those affected, we will be providing a comprehensive package to support you through this transition. US employees will receive a minimum of 16 weeks base pay (plus 2 weeks per year worked), their next equity vest, and 6 months of COBRA. Employees on a work visa will get extra transition support. Those outside of the US will receive similar support, based on local factors and subject to any consultation requirements. Coinbase prides itself on talent density. Our employees are among the most talented people in the world, and I have no doubt that your skills and experience will be highly sought after as you pursue your next chapters. How we move forward To the team that is staying, I know this is a difficult day. We’re saying goodbye to colleagues and friends you've been in the trenches with. But here’s what I want you to know as we move forward together: Over the past 13 years, we have weathered four crypto winters, gone public, and built the most trusted platform in our industry. We’ve made it this far by making hard decisions and by always staying focused on our mission. This time will be no different – nothing has changed about the long term outlook of our company or industry. And most importantly, our mission has never been more important for the world. Increasing economic freedom requires a new financial system, and we’re building it. The Coinbase that emerges from this will be more capable than ever to achieve our mission. Brian

Viral????

This is in a sense the value of philosophical study. Each camp of thought necessarily evolves a kind of organic best representative. If you identify who they are and learn to counter them *at their best*, everyone aping them (consciously or not) becomes kind of easy afterwork.

I still haven't solved the CO2 bedroom challenge You open the window and you wake up from a 6am garbage truck or barking dogs and sunlight You close it, you suffocate in 1200 ppl at 5am I guess you really need some mini tube in your wall with a vent that opens and closed based on internal CO2 but how do I build that?

Something I noticed.

Ross Wolfe once wrote a dumb tasteless note on Losurdo called "Moar like absurdo amirite?" It wasn't only puerile in tone, but Wolfe's grasp of geopolitics aged like a drunk repeatedly stepping onto rakes and slapping his own face with their handles. Anyway, compare to Losurdo:

🖖 The situation for Star Trek in the Soviet Union was quite different from Star Wars. While Star Wars was essentially treated as a flashy piece of imperialist commercialism, Star Trek had no issues or serious criticisms from Soviet officials. While not officially broadcast on Soviet television, only Star Wars was officially banned. (Star Trek TOS)

Entirety of marx's LTV relies on the "necessary" labor time but no where is it explained what "necessary" means

Tu viens de résumer la théorie de la valeur-travail de Marx. Je vais t’expliquer pourquoi elle a été réfutée il y a 130 ans, sans méchanceté. L’idée que la valeur vient du travail a un problème fondamental. Si je passe 400 heures à construire une chaise moche que personne veut acheter, elle vaut pas plus qu’une chaise construite en 2 heures que tout le monde s’arrache. La valeur ne vient pas du temps passé. Elle vient de ce que quelqu’un est prêt à payer. C’est la révolution marginaliste de 1871 (Menger, Jevons, Walras), confirmée par Böhm-Bawerk en 1896 qui a formellement démoli la théorie valeur-travail. C’est pas un débat ouvert. C’est réglé depuis plus d’un siècle dans la littérature économique. Maintenant “le propriétaire extorque la plus-value”. Extorquer implique une contrainte. Or un contrat de travail est volontaire. Personne te force à signer. Tu peux partir demain. Tu peux monter ta propre boîte. Tu peux devenir freelance. Et surtout, le propriétaire ne “prend” rien. Il prend un risque. Il avance le capital. Il paie les salaires AVANT que le produit soit vendu. Si la boîte fait faillite, le salarié touche son chômage. Le propriétaire perd tout. Ses économies, son temps, parfois sa maison. La “plus-value” que tu décris, c’est la rémunération de ce risque. Sans quelqu’un pour avancer le capital et organiser la production, le travailleur produit rien du tout. Demande à n’importe quel freelance : le plus dur c’est pas de faire le travail, c’est de trouver le client et de structurer l’offre. Dernier point. Si le travail seul produisait la richesse, les pays avec le plus de travailleurs seraient les plus riches. L’Inde et le Bangladesh auraient un PIB par habitant supérieur à la Suisse. C’est évidemment pas le cas. Ce qui fait la différence c’est le capital, l’innovation, l’organisation, et les institutions. Je te dis ça sans animosité. La théorie valeur-travail est séduisante parce qu’elle est simple et qu’elle a un héros (le travailleur) et un méchant (le patron). Mais la réalité économique est plus nuancée que ça.

⚡️⭕️ Iranian Pete Hegseth masterclass troll video dropped earlier today

kate update: I am basically bedridden and dying from long covid so you won’t see or hear from me much for a while. If you’ve got any advice on what to do about it my comments are open

we all survived almost dying from an ongoing plague. this kind of post does not hit the same anymore sorry