Jai Bentley-Payne
@abstractivist.bsky.social
160 followers 340 following 44 posts
Critical theorist, sociologist, philosophy nerd. Writing about abstraction, tech, capital, politics. Advocating against mental distress and homelessness in my day job. Tangata Tiriti. Ko Ōtautahi te kāinga. ☭ 🇵🇸
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Reposted by Jai Bentley-Payne
duncanwebbmp.bsky.social
The select committee report on the Regulatory Standards Bill is in.
📝166,000 submissions.
❌98.7% opposed.
Yet National are going to continue supporting it.
🗣New Zealand could not have been louder, but Luxon still isn’t listening.
Regulatory Standards Bill:
Select Committee Report:
166,000 submission total
0.7% supported
0.6% unclear
98.7% opposed

AUTHORISED BY DUNCAN WEBB MP, PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS WELLINGTON
abstractivist.bsky.social
Just when your think this government can’t possibly plumb new depths of stupidity: #nzpol
Screenshot of stuff.co.nz article describing farming lobby groups celebrating a reduction of methane targets
Reposted by Jai Bentley-Payne
foxylustygrover.bsky.social
There has been so much shit flying around about Luxon these last few days it's taken me this long to find out Luxon accidentally referred to Chris Hipkins as "The prime minister" in the House. Fuckin' lol #NZPol
Reposted by Jai Bentley-Payne
funksta-uzz.bsky.social
Pretty bleak seeing people celebrate the awarding of the Nobel 'peace' prize to someone who not only fully supports Trump (and US attacks & interference in Venezuela), but who is also fully pro-Israel, pro-privatisation, and has sought alliances with far right leaders in Europe like Orban & Le Pen.
Reposted by Jai Bentley-Payne
mountaintui.bsky.social
In 2022, protestors hurled bricks, faeces at police & lit fires. Winston Peters said those protestors just wanted to be "heard" & shook their hands.

This week Peters called the mostly peaceful, law abiding Kiwis outside his home "gutless, spineless, [the] worst" protestors #nzpol
Faeces thrown at police at Parliament protest
Poo was pelted at officers during an early morning operation today to contain the protest at Parliament. The 3.30am operation caught the occupiers off guard with attempts to thwart the plan, resulting...
www.rnz.co.nz
Reposted by Jai Bentley-Payne
watershitdown.bsky.social
Nats clutch their pearls and sanction Chloe in the house then call everyone a snowflake when they spout shit #nzpol
Reposted by Jai Bentley-Payne
clrenney.bsky.social
#nzpol The government has announced that 18/19 year olds, who live in a household where the parents earn $65,529 or more, can't claim jobseekers support. If both parents work 27 hours on the minimum wage - $634 a week - they will be expected to now financially support their adult offspring. A 🧵
Reposted by Jai Bentley-Payne
davidcormack.bsky.social
god help me. this is just cruelty. these are human beings, you monsters.
'The world doesn’t owe you a living’: PM says 4300 teens will lose Jobseeker benefit next year
Reposted by Jai Bentley-Payne
clrenney.bsky.social
#nzpol Monthly employment data - and there are 4,814 more jobs than this time last month! Whoop. Only 42,746 to go to get us to where we were at the last election. 62 jobs lost every single day of this government, one roughly every 23 minutes. A 🧵
abstractivist.bsky.social
Aotearoa has been governed by some awful people in the past; grifters, racists, drunks and economic vandals. But never ever have we had such a spineless coward for a prime minister. Chris Luxon is an utterly craven husk of a person. #nzpol #freepalestine
abstractivist.bsky.social
Nothwithstanding those folk who voted for this chaos. And the groundswell tractor circus, uncles listening to talkback, Brian T’s clown parade, Sean Plunkett, anybody on Newstalk ZB, VFF grifters, Don “I’m not racist” Brash, the Wizard of Christchurch, Wayne “road cone Brown, Peter fucking Thiel…
abstractivist.bsky.social
Posted duckface selfies as if he was a teenage Kardashian Stan…like a fucking weirdo.
Reposted by Jai Bentley-Payne
hypervisible.blacksky.app
“The AI in the study probably prompted doctors to become over-reliant on its recommendations, ‘leading to clinicians becoming less motivated, less focused, and less responsible when making cognitive decisions without AI assistance,’ the scientists said in the paper.”
AI Eroded Doctors’ Ability to Spot Cancer Within Months in Study
Artificial intelligence, touted for its potential to transform medicine, led to some doctors losing skills after just a few months in a new study.
www.bloomberg.com
abstractivist.bsky.social
I wonder if there is a more acute way to capture the zeitgeist of horrific and criminal contradictions than a picture of a dead paedophile wearing an IDF sweatshirt alongside a claim that he loved life.
abstractivist.bsky.social
New Zealand still part of the coalition of cowardice. To have still not recognised Palestine despite the horrific situation there is now an historically craven position.
Reposted by Jai Bentley-Payne
georgemonbiot.bsky.social
It's utterly mad.
These people are the opposite of terrorists.
THEY WANT PEACE.
The police know they're not terrorists.
The government knows they're not terrorists.
Yet, on the Home Secretary's orders, they're being arrested under the Terrorism Act.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
More than 100 arrested across UK at protests related to Palestine Action
Police in London detain scores of people and confiscate placards under section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000
www.theguardian.com
abstractivist.bsky.social
mbfazi.bsky.social
The Journal of Continental Philosophy has just published my latest article, “The Computational Search for Unity: Synthesis in Generative AI”.

I address the representational reality of LLMs through the philosophical concept of synthesis.

Online First PDF here:
www.pdcnet.org/pdc/bvdb.nsf...
Reposted by Jai Bentley-Payne
clrenney.bsky.social
It’s time for the Government to realise its economic plan isn’t working. There are 23,000 more people on Jobseekers. 48% of workers in NZ got a pay cut in real terms last year. Business & consumer confidence are at levels associated with recessions.
Reposted by Jai Bentley-Payne
tepaatimaori.bsky.social
These Ministers aren’t fixing the housing crisis they’re cashing it in.

Selling off state land while our people sleep in cars isn’t policy. It’s a political hit job on vulnerable whānau.

You don’t build homes by gutting the agency that builds them.

#HousingCrisis #TePātiMāori
#NZPol
Kāinga Ora halts hundreds of housing developments, sells vacant land
The projects would have included 3500 homes, as the state housing provider also sells a fifth of its vacant land.
www.rnz.co.nz