Tootfinder

I tried to write something up to talk about an idea, but it didn't quite work. I have a lot more I need to put into it. But I want to get an idea out, and, after talking with a person who pointed out some of the flaws in what I wrote, I think I can maybe write down the kernel of the idea here.
An acquaintance of mine did a deep dive on Operational Art and wrote his thesis (which prompted an earlier set of posts and an article I wrote for my professional-ish blog) on the intersection of the OODA loop and critical philosophy. I've been spending a lot of time thinking about Kilcullen's Three Pillars model (after watching Andrewism's wonderful video) and Beer's VSM. The TL;DR of it is that there's a much better insurgency model. Of course, the insurgency model also works for a bunch of other things, because cybernetics lets you do all kinds of cool abstraction like that.
So as I was reading the essay of a comrade the other day, that model popped back into my head and I'm going to try to share what I can of it.
When colonizers came to the Salish region, they saw what they believed to be an untouched wilderness. They failed to see the ways in which Salish people tended the land. Indigenous fire practices were common on the northwest coast, and the suppression of those practices remains a problem. There is an interrelationship between an environment and the systems within it. Systems, like people, animals, and cultures, adapt to the environment. In doing so, those systems will also change the environment.
Social technology was invisible, so colonizers defaulted to either some kind of Rousseauvian or Malthusian model of these people. They were not, for the colonizers, people who had developed advanced social technologies to live in harmony with their world. They were, rather, people in "a state of nature."
The European influenced left continues to draw this Rousseauvian model, which continues through a lot of Anarchist revolutionary thought. European anarchists were heavily influenced by observations and theories around the behavior of indigenous people. The remnants of this thought still exist in the idea that the system must only be destroyed for us to be free.
This is the same obliviousness to social technology, that social technology actually exists, often informs both early colonizers and modern radicals.
It is through this obliviousness that we fail to recognize how capitalism is a social technology that is managed into existence and maintained, and how changes in the environment can threaten institutions that have become over-adapted to a specific version of that environment.
We can extend Kilcullen's metaphor of a "conflict ecosystem" through cybernetics into a much more rich model, populated by viable systems. The ecosystem itself has a fitness function, which drives adaptation within the environment. But all actors in the environment also affect it. Some try to manage the environment. Revolutions are often over who manages a social ecosystem, over who controls the social technology and what it does.
Once we see this dynamic at play, calls of "riot" and "revolution" make a whole lot less sense. Rather, the question becomes, "how do we change the ecosystem in such a way that it cannot be 'managed' at all?"
Graeber/Wengrow talked about Turtle Island indigenous social technologies in Dawn of Everything, such as the system of moieties and clans described in the book. So I have a good reading list as I think through this model, but I hope the "ecosystem" model is helpful (if not completely fleshed out).
I'd be interested in any critiques or thoughts to help develop this idea more.

According to CNN, the UAE is quitting OPEC ASAP because they want more control of their economy IRL so for now it is TTYL to OPEC from UAE which may not BRB.
I wrote this and a sketch about Captain Ballroom for tonight's This Week This Week in LA. Last This Week This Week for a while, so go see it tonight.
Get tix (or ask me for possible comps):

The Open Fist Theatre Company

Really shocking. Comes a few days after #Zambia signed a cooperation agreement with #China and some are wondering if PRC pressure led to this happening.
It was a big effort to bring this conference (which was in #Taiwan

World’s Largest Digital Human Rights Conference Suddenly Canceled
RightsCon was delayed by Zambia's Ministry of Information for "thematic issues" and problems with speakers.

Boycotting a football match is about as low-effort an act of resistance as you could imagine when opposing an ongoing genocide.
You’d think.
That said, at least you can have conversations like this on national television in Ireland and have viewpoints like this aired.
#israel #genocide

US-Techkonzerne wie #Microsoft und #Meta haben laut Medienberichten Namen niederländischer Beamtinnen, #Wissenschaftler und Regulierer an einen US-Senatsausschuss weitergegeben.
Die niederl…

US tech firms share Dutch regulator officials’ names with senate - DutchNews.nl
Companies such as Microsoft and Meta have shared the names of civil servants and academics working on European tech regulation with a senate committee investigating “tech censorship” or “jawboning”, news magazine Vrij Nederland reported on Friday. The cabinet has described the news as “extremely worrying”, given that the named officials could now face travel bans or even sanctions, Vrij Nederland said. “If you want to discuss policy, then you do it with us, not over the backs of c…

Nice map which explains that oilshortages will start in a few weeks, not everywhere, some parts of the world will be fine.
#oil #energy #geopolitics

#heiseshow: Signal-Affäre, KI für die Psyche, Hannover Messe
In der #heiseshow: Politiker fallen auf Signal-Phishing herein, KI wird zum Seelenklempner und die Hannover Messe verliert Besucher und Tage.

#heiseshow: Signal-Affäre, KI für die Psyche, Hannover Messe
In der #heiseshow: Politiker fallen auf Signal-Phishing herein, KI wird zum Seelenklempner und die Hannover Messe verliert Besucher und Tage.

The president, who threatened to kill an entire civilization earlier this month, has had James Comey indicted for posting the numbers “86 47” online. When asked about the apparent hypocrisy, the White House replied firmly, “I know you are, but what am I?”
I wrote this and a sketch about Captain Ballroom for tonight's This Week This Week in LA. Last This Week This Week for a while, so go see it tonight.
Get tix:

The Open Fist Theatre Company

Here's @chelseakspirito promoting @thisweekthisweek this week, which I did some writing for.
Come see @andycobbinla @ash.__s @bethrbbns1 @daisytich @ezukowski @iamemmabruno @isaacwjay @kileyeberhardt @kj.middlebrooks @liljacksharpe @lousaliba @nussburger @private.yang.ilene @theamirlevi with @ron_west98's direction at @openfisttheatrecompany tomorrow (Thursday) in Los Angeles.
#lathtr

Secretary of Defense Hegseth testified Wednesday that the defense budget needs to go up to 1.5 trillion dollars. He cited the fact that there are still girls schools in Iran the US has yet to bomb.
I wrote this and a sketch about Captain Ballroom for tonight's This Week This Week in LA. Last This Week This Week for a while, so go see it tonight.
Get tix (or ask me for possible comps):

The Open Fist Theatre Company