Iran is actually a very wealthy, middle class country with good levels of education, yes the government is fundamentalist and they have their fair share of nutters (not more than western countries), but otherwise it was a functional country despite heavy sanctions, it's a shame what is happening to them because of Israel's schizophrenia about being annihilated at every turn. Honestly just feel gutted.
I'd argue technology is one of the main reasons why we're unlikely to see another major revolution. Any time it starts looking likely we're given another toy/labour saver. J curve theory of revolution. There isn't currently an intolerable gap between what people want and what they get. Perhaps mass unemployment as a result of AI might get us close in some places, but they'll just stick everyone on universal basic income and the majority will be more than happy to do nowt, spend more time with their kids and not starve.
It's been trialed in a number of places and scenarios now, mate. Every single major player in AI advocates for it now...Sam Altman, Musk, Bezos, Bill Gates, the list goes on...it's absolutely going to happen...there's no alternative in a reality when we have very little functional purpose. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_advocates_of_universal_basic_income
There are always a number of angles. Letting Israel commit genocide has destabilised the area and now thus. Iran backing Hezbollah and Hamas with weapons has destabilised the area. The west selling Israel weapons has destabilised the area. Israel forcibly taking land in Gaza limiting access to religious spaces and electing lunatic leaders has destabilised the area. It’s a **** show of everyone’s making and they think hoying US superbombs into the mix will make things safer. I suggest we back Switzerland.
Maybe it’s just my reading of it but I feel the post Brexit post Covid economic pressures combined with the usual widening financial inequality has made people lose their values over arms. I refer to my previous post. There’s money to be made and 95% of us see no benefit.
Like I posted earlier on, best fill up the car and do what we can as ordinary people. Apart from that I just want to wake up to a decent sunrise in the morning.
How many Iranians will Britain receive in the next few years? I'll go for 350,000 by the end of 2026.
The trouble with things like this is that it erodes your capacity to help other people, just speaking for myself. I try to be a decent person. I give blood, sell poppies, do collections/deliveries for the Salvation Army and donate to charity. But all this makes me ask mesel what's the point. Without the football, to take my mind off things, it looks like my whole world is unravelling and there's nowt I can do. Can't wait for the West Ham game to kick off.
Yeah, I've tried to give blood in the past but can't do it because I've had cancer unfortunately. Done a few fundraisers for the bairns footy team which have raised a few grand. My dad has just bought a 'blue for Bob (Willis) cap for prostate cancer. Roll on August and get the footy back on
Big part of me is still expecting the bottom to fall out of AI at some point. Some high profile case of AI hallucination causing severe outcomes and it’ll end up getting questioned. The truth is it really isn’t intelligence. Yet frauds like Altman are desperate to keep the hype train going to milk more VC cash. Soon as we start to balance what it actually gives us versus the financial, environmental and societal costs and it’ll be viewed through a much dimmer lens. For now the C suite lot view it as a magic bullet for labour costs and productivity slips. The reality will be far more disappointing I’d wager. We’ll still probably need UBI though. Got to prioritise shareholder value after all!
