Tootfinder

TL;DR: what if nationalism, not anarchy, is futile?
Since I had the pleasure of seeing the "what would anarchists do against a warlord?" argument again in my timeline, I'll present again my extremely simple proposed solution:
Convince the followers of the warlord that they're better off joining you in freedom, then kill or exile the warlord once they're alone or vastly outnumbered.
Remember that even in our own historical moment where nothing close to large-scale free society has existed in living memory, the warlord's promise of "help me oppress others and you'll be richly rewarded" is a lie that many understand is historically a bad bet. Many, many people currently take that bet, for a variety of reasons, and they're enough to coerce through fear an even larger number of others. But although we imagine, just as the medieval peasants might have imagined of monarchy, that such a structure is both the natural order of things and much too strong to possibly fail, in reality it takes an enormous amount of energy, coordination, and luck for these structures to persist! Nations crumble every day, and none has survived more than a couple *hundred* years, compared to pre-nation societies which persisted for *tends of thousands of years* if not more. I'm this bubbling froth of hierarchies, the notion that hierarchy is inevitable is certainly popular, but since there's clearly a bit of an ulterior motive to make (and teach) that claim, I'm not sure we should trust it.
So what I believe could form the preconditions for future anarchist societies to avoid the "warlord problem" is merely: a widespread common sense belief that letting anyone else have authority over you is morally suspect. Given such a belief, a warlord will have a hard time building any following at all, and their opponents will have an easy time getting their supporters to defect. In fact, we're already partway there, relative to the situation a couple hundred years ago. At that time, someone could claim "you need to obey my orders and fight and die for me because the Queen was my mother" and that was actually a quite successful strategy. Nowadays, this strategy is only still working in a few isolated places, and the idea that one could *start a new monarchy* or even resurrect a defunct one seems absurd. So why can't that same transformation from "this is just how the world works" to "haha, how did anyone ever believe *that*? also happen to nationalism in general? I don't see an obvious reason why not.
Now I think one popular counterargument to this is: if you think non-state societies can win out with these tactics, why didn't they work for American tribes in the face of the European colonizers? (Or insert your favorite example of colonialism here.) I think I can imagine a variety of reasons, from the fact that many of those societies didn't try this tactic (and/or were hierarchical themselves), to the impacts of disease weakening those societies pre-contact, to the fact that with much-greater communication and education possibilities it might work better now, to the fact that most of those tribes are *still* around, and a future in which they persist longer than the colonist ideologies actually seems likely to me, despite the fact that so much cultural destruction has taken place. In fact, if the modern day descendants of the colonized tribes sow the seeds of a future society free of colonialism, that's the ultimate demonstration of the futility of hierarchical domination (I just read "Theory of Water" by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson).
I guess the TL;DR on this is: what if nationalism is actually as futile as monarchy, and we're just unfortunately living in the brief period during which it is ascendant?

Two wildfires are burning at or near the North Rim, known
as the White Sage Fire
and the Dragon Bravo Fire.
The latter is the one that destroyed the lodge and other structures.
The park initially was managing it as a controlled burn
but then shifted to suppression as it rapidly grew to 7.8 square miles (20 square kilometers) because of hot temperatures,
low humidity and wind, fire officials said.
No injuries have been reported.
Millions of peo…

A historic Grand Canyon lodge has been destroyed by wildfire, park official says
The Grand Canyon Lodge, the only lodging inside the park at the North Rim, was consumed by the flames, park Superintendent Ed Keable told park residents, staff and others in a meeting Sunday morning. He said the visitor center, the gas station, a waste water treatment plant, an administrative building and some employee housing were among the 50 to 80 structures lost.

LinkedIn tips:
1. You don't have to read the posts.
2. If you don't like a post from someone you follow, then stop following them. You can keep a connection without following them!
3. If you don't like a post from someone you don't follow, then mark it as not interested. Send the signal to inform both the recommendation algorithm, and the people who design the recommendation algorithm, what content you don't want to see.
Whatever other people are…

1/2 'Glitzer' #FotoVorschlag 'glitter'
I don't have a lot of glitter in my portfolio. But #snowflakes can be like glitter in the counter light!
I took this #photo …

from my link log —
Rain of Fire Falling: The crash of American Airlines flight 191.
https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/rain-of-fire-falling-the-crash-of-american-airlines-flight-191-e17ffc5369e5

Rain of Fire Falling: The crash of American Airlines flight 191
Note: this accident was previously featured in episode 8 of the plane crash series on October 28th, 2017, prior to the series’ arrival on Medium. This article is written without reference to and…

Filings: Bengaluru-based fintech Cred, which offers rewards for paying credit card bills and more, raised ~$72M at a $3.5B valuation, down from $6.4B in 2022 (The Economic Times)
https://ec…

Cred raises fresh funds from GIC, others; valuation cut by 45% to $3.5 billion
The fintech major was valued at $6.4 billion in 2022 during its last major fund infusion. The current fund infusion is in the form of primary capital, which means that existing investors have not sold any shares in this round. The drop in valuation was in line with the company's plans to list in India over the next two years, people in the know said.

Slovakia hints it won't block 18th sanctions package following EU assurances: https://benborges.xyz/2025/07/15/slovakia-hints-it-wont-block.html

If the Iranian leadership has the feeling that Israel wants to completely destroy Iran's military capabilities, why wouldn't they do something extreme like attacking US bases in the region, destroy oil installations in the neighbourhood , close Hormuz etc, while they still have the capabilities... 🤔
There doesn't seem to be an opening for de-escalation for Iran?
#iran

I watched the Disney, two season, series on the risk of Industrial Light and Magic (ILM).
It was interesting.
And last night I watched a Studio Ghibli film.
I am active in live theatre - living actors on a stage before a live audience.
It struck me that movie making a la ILM tends to glorify the scenery without necessarily adding to the impact of the story.
I can understand how filmmakers want to immerse the audience in a different reality. But I don't thin…

The Grand Canyon Lodge,
the only lodging inside the park at the North Rim,
was consumed by the flames,
park Superintendent Ed Keable told park residents, staff and others in a meeting Sunday morning.
https://bsky.app/profile/pbsnews.org/post/3lturjh5k2a2h…