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--></style></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>The image in my head is someone attaching building scaffolding to a Cyber Truck and driving away in </span>Beast Mode.<span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>From: </span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Friam <friam-bounces@redfish.com> on behalf of steve smith <sasmyth@swcp.com><br><b>Date: </b>Wednesday, April 16, 2025 at 12:14 PM<br><b>To: </b>friam@redfish.com <friam@redfish.com><br><b>Subject: </b>Re: [FRIAM] competent kidnapping (was Re: money is a delusion)<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>yes to the recursive scaffolding of low/high/low/high surprisal...<br><br>Latent affordances get realized unto normalcy (e.g. non-unique) which <br>creates a fresh and fertile layer for the unique to discover/recognize <br>new affordances upon?<br><br>On 4/16/25 10:24 AM, glen wrote:<br>> I agree, completely. But it's a personal agreement, not a systemic <br>> one. For someone less broadly capable, the large hubs of homogeneity <br>> are necessary. Uniqueness can only thrive in the context of <br>> non-uniqueness ... rising tides, basic needs, shared values, <br>> yaddayadda. I think I can argue that the only way one can even relax <br>> enough to grok uniqueness as a concept is *when* they're swimming in a <br>> pool of homogeny. Otherwise, you have no cognitive power left with <br>> which to consider the lofty abstracts.<br>><br>> Here, I'm thinking concretely about some disabled people, Stephen <br>> Hawking even. Without the very businessy infrastructure, we would have <br>> lost his uniqueness long before we did. I can only imagine achieving <br>> things like this without businessy universities/labs/institutes: <br>> <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01001-6">https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01001-6</a><br>><br>> Yes, a scale-free infrastructure is compatible with what you wrote, <br>> but not explicitly expressed. So sorry for my me-too banality. 8^D<br>><br>> On 4/16/25 9:00 AM, Marcus Daniels wrote:<br>>> I don't want the expectation of being integrated into any random <br>>> culture or for them to adapt to me. If universities or places like <br>>> SFI create a cloud of ideas that are not connected to their <br>>> communities or exclude me, that is not only fine with me, it is what <br>>> I hope to see in the world. What makes a culture valuable is that it <br>>> does something unique. But if it does nothing unique, and prevents <br>>> other unique things from happening, then it can and should fail. <br>>> So, while I don't like difficult-to-navigate membranes just to <br>>> maintain a club (or a political party), I can see they are sometimes <br>>> necessary to maintain an outpost where ideas can develop.<br>>><br>>> As for NOAA, I saw a message on LinkedIn the other day that someone I <br>>> had worked with on a project was just let go. I believe he was very <br>>> productive.<br>>> -----Original Message-----<br>>> From: Friam <friam-bounces@redfish.com> On Behalf Of glen<br>>> Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2025 7:53 AM<br>>> To: friam@redfish.com<br>>> Subject: [FRIAM] competent kidnapping (was Re: money is a delusion)<br>>><br>>> I ran across 2 relevant stories this morning:<br>>><br>>> 1) <br>>> <a href="https://www.404media.co/ice-just-paid-palantir-tens-of-millions-for-complete-target-analysis-of-known-populations/">https://www.404media.co/ice-just-paid-palantir-tens-of-millions-for-complete-target-analysis-of-known-populations/</a><br>>> 2) <br>>> <a href="https://www.cascadepbs.org/environment/2025/04/new-federal-policy-leaves-noaa-scientists-clean-mess">https://www.cascadepbs.org/environment/2025/04/new-federal-policy-leaves-noaa-scientists-clean-mess</a><br>>><br>>> I may have to start sending money to 404, maybe cancel my Guardian <br>>> sub. On the one hand, the kidnappings so far have been incompetent. <br>>> Palantir (way more Evil than xAI or Twitter) will drastically improve <br>>> ICE's competence. Sadly.<br>>><br>>> But re the primary point made, here, I've never believed in <br>>> universities, per se. Any academics I managed to integrate into my <br>>> world view came from application, not from lectures. Even last night, <br>>> wracked by coughing, I kept thinking that I can't/don't really even <br>>> collaborate on *problems* or arguments or algorithms or whatever <br>>> abstract thing. I can only collaborate on things, objects, machines, <br>>> etc. On the one hand, Gessen's idea (in light of scientists having to <br>>> do IT and take out the trash) might foster this kind of concrete <br>>> collaboration. It would look more like apprenticeship than oracles <br>>> tongue-wagging mysterious revelations at you.<br>>><br>>> But on the other hand, it's difficult to do intense specialized work <br>>> if you have to be a renaissance person in everything you do with <br>>> little specialization. There's a conflict (not quite a contradiction) <br>>> within Gessen's "act like universities, not like businesses." Is the <br>>> janitor also a math student? And a book keeper? IDK. Maybe this Trump <br>>> deconstruction is necessary to realize the lofty "school" Nick used <br>>> to babble about.<br>>><br>>><br>>> On 4/15/25 1:11 PM, Santafe wrote:<br>>>><br>>>>> On Apr 15, 2025, at 23:23, glen <gepropella@gmail.com> wrote:<br>>>>><br>>>>> Meanwhile, in the actual world:<br>>>>> <a href="https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fdailynous.com%2f2">https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fdailynous.com%2f2</a><br>>>>> 025%2f04%2f15%2fphilosophy-major-snatched-by-ice-during-citizenship-i<br>>>>> nterview%2f&c=E,1,L2ZI3y2CS5tyf6183uFV4tgrUv3__xDR-FHW6S-Wy1gbdeGn2Zk<br>>>>> QcyFv_bTqvzhaOIQMRuwSBdHDtKoE0CvhMmJVBK2sCyoblTAr04YmIKWMLYvGVXxnN8I-<br>>>>> 7alQ&typo=1<br>>>><br>>>> I would like to see the media start to refer to these as <br>>>> kidnappings, or abductions, or some other at-least-properly-scoped <br>>>> term. In every case where that is the correct one, which I think <br>>>> would be every case we have seen in the news so far.<br>>>><br>>>> Turns out Masha Gessen wrote a kind of nice piece in the NYT a few <br>>>> days ago, which came to me on a different list.<br>>>> 14gessen-videoSixteenByNineJumbo1600-v2.jpg<br>>>> Opinion | This Is How Universities Can Escape Trump’s Trap, if They<br>>>> Dare<br>>>> <https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/opinion/trump-higher-education.htm<br>>>> l> nytimes.com<br>>>> <https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/opinion/trump-higher-education.htm<br>>>> l><br>>>><br>>>> <https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/opinion/trump-higher-education.htm<br>>>> l><br>>>><br>>>> To the extent that it has been done, it’s proper to say it is a <br>>>> strategy. I think the resulting education will end up being rather <br>>>> more restrictive than what I had hoped for from a full educational <br>>>> program, and probably focused heavily on civics. Math could be <br>>>> possible, in the sense that that can be taught “behind the hedges”. <br>>>> Medical research, not so much. But, one does what one can do.<br>>>><br>>>> It’s an interesting question what is the proper balance of criticism <br>>>> and understanding to give the businessmen who run universities, and <br>>>> who have Darwin-wise managed to eliminate almost any other model <br>>>> from the ecosystem. It’s not total criticism, in the sense that <br>>>> there is sheer mechanics that they do contribute to solving, without <br>>>> which the broad set of functions I want don’t get done. But the <br>>>> sense that they don’t take seriously what it means to live under a <br>>>> fascist regime where dissidence is the _only_ alternative to <br>>>> collaboration — there is no more neutrality — does seem to be a <br>>>> deserved criticism of their responses so far.<br>>>><br>>>> Eric<br>><br>><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></body></html>