Think about the "legitimation crisis" through the narcissism lens? Radio (and somewhat WWW up till fiber-era postMaBell) suffered no "legitimation crisis" because it is non-narcissistic ("Goldmund")? See other thread.
What would be the regulatory trajectory of
"Co(s)mically narcissistic tech"
Eg nuclear fusion in MMM, rnatech in XXX..
Charitably to PH (:), I would consider mechanosynthesis co(s)mically narcissistic
For CH, managed narcissistic aspect of guns without going through LC?
Given that a large part of the subtext (Linebarger* does implore us to habitually analyse all communication as if it might be propaganda) in Psychological Warfare is that "hey, it might really be better if the US Army didn't practice apartheid" (finally ended in practice ca. the 6.25 전쟁), I'd bet the confederate train was supposed to evoke the US Civil War.
(let's stay silent about: "...the new organization is simply the old one under a slightly different name, but with the old leaders and the old ideas still prevailing.")
* might this be why he seems to have been replaced at Bragg with a very powerpoint-y kind of textbook?
Okay I feel i'd said something stupid ---about the train--- without knowing what or why :)
I had a notion that, compared to the US military, it was the Civilian Enforcers that practise apartheid-- ~a decade ago, not sure about now, they forced a black admiral to retire weeks back? Then again I was surprised that I was surprised at the inflation in NYC since the start of the pandemic
I think that notion is largely true: the military started desegregating in 1948[0]; the Civilian Enforcers not until decades later[1]. (I'd believe, recent purges notwithstanding, that the military has successfully integrated[2]; civilian society apparently ... not as much as one might have hoped, 160 years after Reconstruction[3]?)
I'm not surprised at the inflation: USD has crashed by ~20% against CHF since last year[4], so it makes sense that less real value would show up in domestic prices.
[2] eg I believe if it were up to career officers, US Fort Bragg would not currently be named after a CSA general
EDIT: my bad, Bragg has been retconned to refer to US PFC Roland L. Bragg instead of CSA Gen Braxton Bragg
[3] the really silly thing is that Reconstruction seems to have been thrown in the trash in order to buy southern support for WWI, yet unlike the other major XX unpleasantry, the US participation in and effect upon that conflict was minimal
[4] I lay the blame squarely on US domestic policies; others may differ...
- (a) propaganda/psyop/marketing/engagement farming may not be as old as the hills, but it's close: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39994449
(Cyrus cylinder ca. 540 BC has it fully formed; no doubt there was a preceding oral tradition but we're never going to know what the ontogeny may have been)
- (b) everyone uses the same tricks, because they learn them from their enemies (in an adjacent field the KGB's precursor learned all their dirty tricks from the Okhrana, probably in a nearly unbroken line going back to the first chimps who put together a coalition to overthrow the alpha chimp before the alpha sniffed it out. 100W is pretty expensive for a neural net; how else are you going to justify that calorie expenditure without scheming and plotting?)
- (c) telling truths that might hurt is more effective than lying (judging by XXI standards, maybe that's why he's been dropped from the curriculum?)
(I was once chatting with a swiss lawyer, and asked if he were familiar with the concept of "venue shopping". He pointed out the 26 cantons[0] and asked if he needed to proceed any further?)
("Welfare & Steering": JH's 1973 "relative success of the welfare-state compromise" may be a bit dated? I get the impression that ever since 1980, and distinctly accelerating since 1992, the Old Country's politics has, on average, been reducing both outputs: welfare and steering)
For CH, I think https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjlT4BME2aE and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgYJ5V2HYy4 captured the difference in vibe well. (one detail SwissBloke didn't go into the weeds on: the army asks dozens of people to leave each year, on grounds largely ranging from far left extremism through fundamentalist islamic extremism to far right extremism, and a consequence of that is that one has to return one's service rifle. Part of having a hunting license[1] is being a member of a hunting club, and presumably they too will kick you out should you start to seem too crazy to associate with)
[0] it'd be a bit more difficult to game, but as far as gun ownership by foreigners is concerned, it's max(home country, CH), so there could be up to 195 potential venues involved, and I have the distinct impression that, having come from the States, I would have only hit the limit at local[2] law.
[1] another example of difference in vibe: in the US, folks complain bitterly if the exam for a hunting license takes more than 1 day; in my old part of CH, the process took 2 years, involving classroom time, community service, and practical, written, and oral tests.
[2] the cantonal police got a call about an old nutter in my first few years here. I was impressed, because apparently they just went out, talked with him, and left him all his legal weaponry, but took the full auto weapons, grenades, and other explosives with them when they left. I imagine in the Old Country that kind of visit might've been closer to a Waco?
Reflection: there's the societal vibe difference, and then there's not having an expansively interpreted 2A. Our constitution dates all the way back to 1999, because we believe in cleaning up the legacy cruft.
Hmm... I'm a relatively poor shot, and I've never tried meditation myself, only listened to people talking about it, so maybe I should retract that. What would you say the major differences are?
(might you see more of a parallel between ice climbing and meditation?)
Have an excellent 2026! (and a good slide in, on the slim chance it's not too late for you)
PS the US Navy (although its final cause is instrument of empire) is one of the easier ways for a young man with little cultural capital and even less economic capital to find himself in an organisation that not only values lifetime learning but even goes out of its way to support it.
In ("cultural") theory, USMC, being "integrated", should have an advantage over USN but in practice(, putting sentients together in a confined space .. :)?
(because (a) crampons mean you get to study the ice and make your holds, instead of rapidly making use of what's there, and (b) the process of making them takes time... I was very pleasantly surprised; I'd expected it to be more thrilling and above all „Besonders Im Winter Arsch-Kalt“ but it was actually relatively low-adrenaline and high-activity)
Never tried it myself, but this Gracie interview (7:30-8:32) makes it sound as if Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (at least with enough skill) could be high-adrenaline meditative:
(also 9:00-9:15. I believe what's happening here is that Gracie calls the end result, but he has multiple paths to get there; the interviewee defends against one path, and Gracie, like water, just "flows with the go" along another path)
https://archive.ph/2025.12.29-080655/https://www.independent...
("Taxes & Loyalty")
Does it get more anarchic with age? https://www.rsm.global/switzerland/en/service/tax-and-legal/...
Think about the "legitimation crisis" through the narcissism lens? Radio (and somewhat WWW up till fiber-era postMaBell) suffered no "legitimation crisis" because it is non-narcissistic ("Goldmund")? See other thread.
What would be the regulatory trajectory of "Co(s)mically narcissistic tech"
Eg nuclear fusion in MMM, rnatech in XXX..
Charitably to PH (:), I would consider mechanosynthesis co(s)mically narcissistic
For CH, managed narcissistic aspect of guns without going through LC?
https://old.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/1pd8eea/swiss_se...