Madonna Demir — Systems & Soul

Quiet paths were not decorative. They were the integration layer. Universities facing a demographic cliff monetize the perimeter through P3 deals, vendor stacks, apps, campus ads, “supported by” course materials, outsourced dormitories and food, branded classrooms. What isn’t considered? The downstream cognitive impact. Systems in Action: Campus Monetization, The Perimeter Play #HigherEd, #DemographicCliff, #EducationPolicy systems-and-soul.com/systems-in-act…

“It’s going to take at least five guys,” the men would say, “or one girl from (my small town nearby).” It was a joke. Also true. Years later, on a New York City bus, a corn snake climbed off his owner and onto my shoulders. systems-and-soul.com/snakes-summers…

@TheEconomist It has done this to writing. In reading, I used to feel I could mind-meld and see the world from another’s perspective. Lately the feeling is that doing so requires peering through the looking glass of AI edits to discern the soul underneath.

The worry about AI is not that it will unleash Terminators. Instead, it is that, as it helpfully provides companionship, romance and decision-making, AI will also numb some essential element of our humanness economist.com/international/…

@chamath A moratorium leads to “safety” tech stacks and vendor-dependencies, such as external ID age verification. When someone rallies for AI or social media safety, watch your wallet. They often are advocating for rules for which they (surprise) already have solutions for.

How much data did we need before we understood the harmful societal effects of smoking and implemented restrictions? Actually, it was a lot. A lot of data was needed because the cigarette companies wanted to milk their golden goose as long as possible. The cost of paying class action lawsuits in the future was far less than the cash they could make in the moment. This is the same incentive today with social media and their app makers. Some parents try to organize their other classroom parents together in a coalition to limit the apps. This seems to work but it’s so few and far between. A broad societal moratorium on social media for people under 16yo diminishes NOTHING and probably helps millions and millions of kids and then these kids as they enter adulthood. It would also help parents. I, personally, have strict social media rules for myself and my kids. And I will keep pushing back on my kids when they ask for instagram because that’s my job as their dad. But having a broad moratorium would make the lives of all parents far simpler and, in hindsight, will be proven as the right public health policy thing to have done.

@vonsheepish Kind of worse, because make-work is the creation of unnecessary tasks. LCRs and the like drive this. Why "Local Jobs" Are Actually Hidden UBI #ubi #jobs #futureofwork #convivialsystemstheory youtube.com/shorts/m22iuab…

🤔An awful lot of words to say slavery.

Job-clinging preserves income, sure. But there is a hidden cost. You can coast in the current role, as many now advise, and keep drawing a paycheck. The cost? Your skills slowly dry out. I call this coast-and-roast. Or you can go where the action is, startups, entrepreneurship, AI, and learn in real time while the ground is still moving.

Fallow seasons heal. Brief periods of reduction renew. -A career can go fallow through deliberate off-time, allowing judgment and direction to return. -A relationship can go fallow, creating space to evaluate while extractive ties stop draining the soil. -The mind can go fallow; when information diets reduce overload, synthesis resumes. -The body can go fallow when regimen eases for a time; sleep, strength and proper appetite come back online. Nothing grows forever without depletion.

@Fatal_Bubbles7 @elonmusk They want people busy. Expect LCRs and the like instead. Why Governments Won't Pay Universal High Income, Elon - LCRs Are What We Will Get Instead #ubi #elon youtube.com/shorts/_1TXjFl…

@systems_andsoul @elonmusk UHI would create an incredibly lazy society. Look at the welfare system then add the people who work to that model.

Universal HIGH INCOME via checks issued by the Federal government is the best way to deal with unemployment caused by AI. AI/robotics will produce goods & services far in excess of the increase in the money supply, so there will not be inflation.

Universal High Income is too clean for politics. What I bet we’ll get instead is UBI dressed like work: -Local content requirements -Industry subsidies -Employment subsidies and tax abatements Same income support, wrapped in "keep 'em busy" thinking. People will still have to clock in, stay working, and come home too tired to complain or get involved.

@HarvardBiz KPIs often enable drift from what the system is for, its purpose, toward what can be proven quickly. That drift can look like success for a while, right up until metric optimization becomes the proxy mission and purpose itself grows harder to see.

Do you know what your KPIs are really measuring? s.hbr.org/3QzrCiu

@MiraToast Measurement by outcome is always cleaner than process metrics like token usage.

@systems_andsoul Strong point. A bottom-up approach worth considering: Reward experts and users for measurable improvements they drive in AI at each upgrade — especially better measurement methods and private red-teaming. Flips 'AI takes my job' into win-win symbiosis.

@xansteel @elonmusk Keep going. You’ve got this.

@systems_andsoul @elonmusk A UBI would allow me to go fulltime novelist. Right now my day job eats every ounce of my mental and physical energy. Leaving me with nothing left unless I take a vacation, which I can’t always afford to do.

Elon’s tweet is about Universal High Income, not standard Universal Basic Income. My point was that politics will likely route any broad income support through labor wrappers, subsidies, and make-work instead of direct bank-account transfer. Short explainer here: youtube.com/shorts/8a1KIUd…

@systems_andsoul @elonmusk HIGH????

Exactly. The system is far more comfortable keeping people tired, scheduled, and occupied with mundane work than resourcing them enough to think, write, make, and possibly unsettle things.

@ouchdonttouch @elonmusk What I’m seeing is worse: undo, redo cycles of production. Why "Local Jobs" Are Actually Hidden UBI #ubi #jobs #futureofwork #convivialsystemstheory youtube.com/shorts/m22iuab…

@systems_andsoul @elonmusk I’d be fine with some type of local service tied with UBI. Don’t care if it’s painting over graffiti or picking up trash along roads. As long as it’s not asinine like mopping a parking lot in the rain! People need to be useful.

@allanelder72 @BNKS1515 @elonmusk Also here in essay form systems-and-soul.com/automation-isn…

@allanelder72 @BNKS1515 @elonmusk Humans are already the edge cases in much of production. I cover three of them here 3 Reasons Humans Aren't Redundant (Yet) in Production | The Edge #automation #futureofwork #ai youtube.com/shorts/2C1cd8h…

@elonmusk Elon's UHI Won’t Come: The 'Make Work' Trap #UHI #UBI #musk #elonmusk #elon #lcr youtube.com/shorts/8a1KIUd…

Universal High Income is too clean for politics. What I bet we’ll get instead is UBI dressed like work: -Local content requirements -Industry subsidies -Employment subsidies and tax abatements Same income support, wrapped in "keep 'em busy" thinking. People will still have to clock in, stay working, and come home too tired to complain or get involved. [systems-and-soul.com/ubi-dressed-li…]

Three distinct mechanisms through which income and employment get stabilized: Local Content Requirements (LCRs) Employment-based subsidies Industry and sector support I break all three down here: systems-and-soul.com/ubi-dressed-li… Related flows: Dec 30, 2025 — LCRs systems_andsoul/status/2006012242140012651 Dec 31, 2025 — Employment-Based Subsidies systems_andsoul/status/2006464779276202041 Dec 31, 2025 — Industry and Sector Support systems_andsoul/status/2006534824928936258

@ProfessorSuess @elonmusk Elon's UHI Won’t Come: The 'Make Work' Trap #UHI #UBI #musk #elonmusk #elon #lcr youtube.com/shorts/8a1KIUd…

@ProfessorSuess @elonmusk I’ve seen that too. In one department of about 400, after asking people across the operation what headcount was actually needed, the answer was closer to 4. Not 400. Not 40. Four.

Exactly. Some in the public may not understand language like that. Senior decision-makers, civil engineers, and infrastructure operators should. A water-source switch is not a minor administrative change. It is a chemistry-coupled infrastructure change. If leaders didn’t understand that, they were unqualified. If they did understand it and proceeded anyway, that is worse.

@systems_andsoul Excellent read. How many people involved in decision making in Flint water can understand language like "a water-source switch is a chemistry-coupled infrastructure change"?

Most public failures get framed as scandal, incompetence, or corruption. Often true, but analytically lazy. Three stories show why fixes miss when they target the wrong failure regime. Disinfectants. Potholes. Flint water. systems-and-soul.com/three-regimes-… #SystemsThinking, #Infrastructure, #Governance