Rereading “What Happened”, the 2016 campaign postmortem by #HillaryClinton and am reminded once again of what could have been. Man, she would have made a great president.
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Roger Herikstad
@grero
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-024-01845-7 Very interesting study providing evidence that the dynamics of neural populations, at least in the motor cortex, might be supported by mechanisms that are hard to volitionally change. They did this through clever application of brain-machine-interfaces (BMI), whereby subjects were shown a 2D representation of the neural state of their motor cortex. The subjects were unable to reproduce projections that violated the natural time course of their population activity.
Donald Trump’s America will not become a tech oligarchy
https://www.economist.com/business/2025/01/21/donald-trumps-america-will-not-become-a-tech-oligarchy
from The Economist. I’m not sure why they are so eager to jump on the ‘nothing to see here’ bandwagon. It’s not the share of the overall economy that matters, but rather that these tech billionaires have a direct line of communication to the White House, thereby able to push an agenda that out their interest for profit far above that of ordinary people.
https://www.economist.com/business/2025/01/21/donald-trumps-america-will-not-become-a-tech-oligarchy
from The Economist. I’m not sure why they are so eager to jump on the ‘nothing to see here’ bandwagon. It’s not the share of the overall economy that matters, but rather that these tech billionaires have a direct line of communication to the White House, thereby able to push an agenda that out their interest for profit far above that of ordinary people.
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1150769
This paper by Mongillo, Barak and Tsodyks is one of those that I keep coming back to. The authors show quite convincingly short term memories can be encoded through synaptic potentiation, and how a non-specific pulse of activity to the entire population serves to refresh the encoded memories. The debate is still ongoing whether this is how the brain actually encodes these short-term memories, or whether they are maintained by persistent neuronal firing. #neuroscience
This paper by Mongillo, Barak and Tsodyks is one of those that I keep coming back to. The authors show quite convincingly short term memories can be encoded through synaptic potentiation, and how a non-specific pulse of activity to the entire population serves to refresh the encoded memories. The debate is still ongoing whether this is how the brain actually encodes these short-term memories, or whether they are maintained by persistent neuronal firing. #neuroscience
2) The war in Gaza. Here, I would place the blame on President Biden's shoulders. He has done woefully little to convince anyone that he actually cares about Palestinian lives, and Harris, as his VP, and despite deviating from Biden in rhetoric, could not escape the fact that she is part of his administration. As a result, many potential Democratic voters stayed home, or voted 3rd party, or even voted for Trump as a protest. This despite the fact that Trump will be a disaster for Gaza.
https://newrepublic.com/article/188597/democrats-left-election-interest-groups I don't know I keep getting triggered by these 'No, this is why Democrats REALLY lost' arguments. I agree with much of what is being said here, but I think fundamentally the Democrats had two main issues. 1) The economy. Despite every objective measure to the contrary, the electorate was convinced that the economy is doing badly, and blamed the current administration for it, completely ignoring, or being unaware of, the many policies enacted to actually help people.
Matt Gaetz’s nomination to be attorney-general is an ill omen
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/11/14/matt-gaetzs-nomination-to-be-attorney-general-is-an-ill-omen
from The Economist. I’m kid of amazed that the Economist is acting all surprised as some of Trump’s cabinet pick, especially Matt Gaetz. Throughout his campaign Trump kept yammering about how he would go after those who criticise him using the full force of the justice department, so of course he would nominate someone who would absolutely carry out such orders.
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/11/14/matt-gaetzs-nomination-to-be-attorney-general-is-an-ill-omen
from The Economist. I’m kid of amazed that the Economist is acting all surprised as some of Trump’s cabinet pick, especially Matt Gaetz. Throughout his campaign Trump kept yammering about how he would go after those who criticise him using the full force of the justice department, so of course he would nominate someone who would absolutely carry out such orders.
https://newrepublic.com/post/188197/trump-media-information-landscape-fox . This is a take I agree with it. The disastrous results of the #USElection2024 are the result of the relentless focus of the right wing media. I guess my question is, why do people tolerate this. Tribalism? Has the education system failed so badly that people lack the basic ability to do the most rudimentary checks on whether come claim is true or not? It’s not that there aren’t sources available. #NPR, for instance, though far from perfect, is free for all…
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/trump-normal-popular-vote/680578/ . This strikes me as almost naive. Yes, Trump was elected fair and square, but that doesn’t mean that he will be a normal president. Again, it’s like no one was paying attention to how he actually governed. And this time will be so much worse, with no ‘adults in the room’ and a clear blueprint via #Project2025@ for how to tear down the administratitive state and force his will upon the American people, and indeed the world.
Five charts show how Trump won the election
https://www.economist.com/interactive/graphic-detail/2024/11/07/five-charts-show-how-trump-won-the-election
from The Economist. I find it interesting that this and other post-mortems completely ignores plain old misogyny and racism as explanations for how the democrats lost. Yes, concerns about the economy are valid but 1) these seem to not go beyond ‘eggs were much cheaper under Trump’ and 2) in what universe would any sane person believe that Trump would be any better? Virtual very economist agrees he will be a disaster.
https://www.economist.com/interactive/graphic-detail/2024/11/07/five-charts-show-how-trump-won-the-election
from The Economist. I find it interesting that this and other post-mortems completely ignores plain old misogyny and racism as explanations for how the democrats lost. Yes, concerns about the economy are valid but 1) these seem to not go beyond ‘eggs were much cheaper under Trump’ and 2) in what universe would any sane person believe that Trump would be any better? Virtual very economist agrees he will be a disaster.
