Author | Lightnews

Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 2h

What a bullshit headline. A.I. and A.I. tools implementation is nowhere near the level that it would drive mass lay-offs. It's the impending recession and deterioration of the political system.

www.wsj.com/economy/jobs...

Tens of Thousands of White-Collar Jobs Are Disappearing as AI Starts to Bite

Companies ranging from Amazon to Target are sending workers into an unwelcoming market.

www.wsj.com

Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 2h

I live in a country where people act like we're not at war with Russia, and threatened by the US and China. The majority of voters doesn't even know who to vote for on Election Day (today).

The most embarrassingly spoiled populace in the history of the world?

Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 21h

The cringiest thing is having these people smugly showing off their A.I. generated text and images like it wasn't the equivalent of a clueless cat presenting you with a dead rodent. The complete lack of insight in what is actually good and beautiful...

Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 21h

"How to keep kids safe on social media?" is the same as "how to smoke safely" or "how to make the factory floor a safe place for children".

You have to accept that there is no such thing as safe social media for children.

Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 23h

Mentioning the very average, schlocky Sinners in the same sentence as the brilliant One Battle After Another is almost a hate crime.

Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 1d

Zonder verbod, blijkt dat minderjarigen dus gewoon massaal op TikTok zitten/blijven om daar beïnvloed te worden door ondoorzichtige algoritmes van vijandige mogendheden.

Al dat 'in kaart brengen' en die 'richtlijnen' rond social media, omdat geen politicus durft te doen wat gebeuren moet...

Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 1d

I can't see Tango Gameworks flourishing under Krafton leadership.

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Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 1d

Isn't everything that Krafton developed internally a flop? I don't know how A.I. is going to solve that for them.

www.eurogamer.net/pubg-and-inz...

PUBG and InZoi publisher Krafton declares itself an "AI-first company", "placing AI at the centre of problem solving"

PUBG and Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton has declared itself an "AI-first company", announcing a move to "place AI at th…

www.eurogamer.net

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Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 2d

GTA III, ICO/SotC and the music games are probably the biggest overall impact games released on the machine?

Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 2d

"To admire Satan, then, is to give one's vote not only for a world of misery, but also for a world of lies and propaganda, of wishful thinking, of incessant autobiography"

(C.S. Lewis's A Preface to Paradise Lost). Great term 'Incessant autobiography'. Main-character syndrome in the selfie-age.

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Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 2d

The storytelling popularized by games like Dark Souls and Hollow Knight can be seen as an example of the return of mysticism as an inevitable reaction to the information age.

Reposted by Cook Maarten

台羽正 @tadashidaiba.bsky.social · 2d

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Reposted by Cook Maarten

Cook and Becker @cookandbecker.bsky.social · 2d

This super cute ASTRO BOT art print is dropping this Tuesday!

#ASTROBOT

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Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 3d

As the founding fathers intended I'm sure.

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Trump Says He Will Raise Tariffs on Canada by 10% Over Ontario Ad

The measure was in response to what the U.S. president called “misrepresentation” of Ronald Reagan’s comments.

www.wsj.com

Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 3d

In societies wherein everyone only ever uses top-shelf language, more modest phrasing cuts harder I find.

Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 4d

Out of all things, my main issue with Bored Apes is that it is so violently ugly. A signifier of the poor taste of the confident idiot class.

www.theverge.com/tech/806492/...

Bored Ape Yacht Club is making a comeback — as a metaverse

Its crypto-themed metaverse, Otherside, has been a long time coming.

www.theverge.com

Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 4d

The corporate lie is always expressed through an overabundance of words.

"It's not true" means it's not true.

"We don't recognize ourselves in the situation described" means "we did it"

Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 5d

A president openly pardoning convicted criminals that make him rich.

www.wsj.com/finance/curr...

Trump Pardons Convicted Binance Founder

The pardon follows months of efforts by Changpeng Zhao to boost the Trump family’s own crypto company.

www.wsj.com

Reposted by Cook Maarten

Nils Redeker @nilsredeker.bsky.social · 6d

For that, policy should follow two simple principles:

First, all public support for EVs should apply only to cars made in Europe or allied countries.

Second, the eligibility rules should be harmonised across the EU, so member-states are not busy outsmarting each other while losing the global race

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Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 6d

If you're considering newsletter software, I highly recommend against @ActiveCampaign

It's slow and expensive, and butchers email links. I love having to resend emails to customers with 'Oops' our email software...

Reposted by Cook Maarten

Katerina Horbunova @blue-eyed.bsky.social · 6d

The year 2025 is coming to an end, and the situation in Ukraine is deteriorating. Yes, these are small children! Yes, the russians do not spare even them! Today's Kharkiv. Video State Emergency Service of Ukraine

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Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 7d

The financial markets are all banking on the government to come to their aid when shits hits the fan which is why they take outsized risks. The only lesson learned from 2008

www.ft.com/content/ce8b...

Bubble-talk is breaking out everywhere

But more optimistic investors continue to bank on the cavalry arriving if things get really dicey

www.ft.com

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Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 8d

About 50% of "news" that I see in my feeds now is so clearly untrue, biased or spun so heavily it might as well be a lie. Whether it's entertainment news, geopolitics etc. Doesn't matter.

It also takes 1-click to find out it's a lie, but people can't even be bothered to do that.

Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 8d

Ukraine is now what was foretold in Metal Head (Black Mirror), except the killing robots fly. Slava Ukraini!

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Cook Maarten @maartenbrands.bsky.social · 8d

This is the absolute, loosest interpretation of the phrase 'taking a stance'.

Eurogamer @eurogamer.bsky.social · 8d

Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu has taken a stance against the use of generative AI for music, stating he hasn't used it "and probably never will". https://bit.ly/3WKKwTh