On Pathologising Structural Criticism

Pathologising structural criticism as anger lets power avoid accountability. This polemical personal-political essay argues for dignity, boundaries, and solidarity without self-abandonment, rejecting respectability politics that demand dispossessed people make harm sound polite before they are recognised as human within every collective struggle.

https://wrzky.com/pathologising-structural-criticism/

🎩🤖 "Ah, the old 'Software is the New Bridge Building' shtick! Because nothing screams innovation like comparing cutting-edge AI to... 18th-century steel beams. 🙄 Maybe next time, they'll tell us how debugging is just like bricklaying. 🧱🔧"
https://christophermeiklejohn.com/ai/engineering/2026/04/01/software-engineering-is-becoming-civil-engineering.html #SoftwareInnovation #AIComparisons #TechHumor #DebuggingMetaphors #BridgeBuilding #HackerNews #ngated
Software Engineering Is Becoming Civil Engineering

I gave a guest lecture on AI in Michael Hilton’s Foundations of Software Engineering course (CMU 17-313) today. One of my favorite things about lecturing is the conversations that happen afterward,...

Christopher Meiklejohn

there's definitely worse stories in US politics this week but this may be one of the dumbest ones
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/trump-gordie-howe-bridge-9.7081924

#USpol #Windsor #Detroit #BridgeBuilding #BurningBridges

Trump threatens to block opening of new bridge between Ontario and Michigan | CBC News

U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to block the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge, poised to become the newest border crossing between Windsor, Ont., and Detroit.

CBC

Bridge Building

This is an image of the new Benicia Bridge. This bridge was built just down the street of my place of employment. So I was able to witness the slow progress of modern day bridge building.
On this particular day I was on my way into work and noticed the incredible lighting on the bridge. I couldn't help stopping to capture the amazing light.

https://pixels.com/featured/bridge-building-bill-gallagher.html

#BridgeBuilding #BillGallagherPhotography #BuyIntoArt #AYearForArt #BeniciaBridge #SacramentoRiver #GoldenGlow

What does it take to bridge divides and build a democracy where everyone can thrive?

This week CDP Director Kelly Siegel-Stechler joined the AASCU's "American Democracy Project Summit" plenary to explore just that. We're honored to be in collaboration with partners working to renew civic life, including this session alongside Rutgers University - Newark, Braver Angels, Sustained Dialogue Institute, Unify America, and Interfaith America.

#WhatIF #Democracy #Bridgebuilding #HigherEducation

Are we able to bridge the gap between what the average person believes about the world, and what the world is really like?

In this question, I am including a theory whereby a person is able to understand a language that is adjacent to their own, with a little help, but will reject language that is more than one step removed.

So, let's say your mom is a centrist.
She has certain viewpoints that have been core centrist fare for decades, like, "it's important for the US to support Israel's right to exist".

Under this theory, she won't accept language that directly reverses this, such as "It is important for the international community to recognize the right of palestinians to defend themselves from Israel".

Instead, intermediary languages would need to be used.

Similarly, your uncle is a center-conservative. He has viewpoints that have been center-conservative mainstays for a century, like "Competition is important to prevent decline", and won't accept language like "Competition is usually a sign of a mismanaged system with artificial scarcity, it is a harmful state of affairs that will engender needless social strife and waste".

I think, on some amphibian-brain level, the far right understands this mechanic rather well. The whole Youtube doom-slide to nazism is a case in point: The frog is gently being introduced to more and more poison, until it's no longer able to exist in a non-toxic environment.

But on the "left", i.e. among sane people, there tends to be a demand for maximally precise language.
This is sometimes called out as "sectarianism" or "tribalism".

Yet maximally precise language is going to doom the sane people to a steady decline, on a floating island, far out at sea, that no-one can reach.
(Especially when the right wingers in power attack the independence of universities, cutting off one rather elitist bridge)

What is really needed is an ecosystem of gently increasing precision.

In a word: Accessibility.

Accessibility is Solidarity.

#solidarity #politics #WaysAhead #bridgeBuilding

Voices: There is no bridge building with those who don’t think you have a right to exist

Anti-trans laws are being proposed and passed almost every day. Federal lawmakers are condoning and/or encouraging violence against us,” writes Kiley M. Campbell. “My question would be: What does de-escalation do to help any of this?”

The Salt Lake Tribune

Did you know you can find IF on seven different social networks? Follow us for the latest news, tools, and updates.

#CivilDialogue #BridgeBuilding #CollaborativeDiscussion #WhatIF

The project to build the new bridge over the Waikato was co-governed with mana whenua. Resulting in a novel design that respected the mauri of the awa, requiring no piles in the riverbed. The majority of the design and fabrication work was done onshore.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2024/06/hamilton-s-new-166-million-bridge-linking-to-subdivision-almost-complete.html

A fitting tribute to the legacy of Kiingi Tūheitia.

#bridge #BridgeBuilding #CoGovernance

Hamilton's new $166 million bridge almost complete

The yet-to-be-named bridge has four lanes and will open to traffic in August.

Newshub