Solextre
solextre.bsky.social
Solextre
@solextre.bsky.social
Retired teacher (systems theory, communication) maker of abstract music videos (see solextre YouTube) no political party ... to quote Kurt Vonnegut:

"To be is to do - Socrates
To do is to be - Sartre
Do Be Do Be Do - Sinatra"

:-)
#CHRNCL
A quick review: three main points.
1. The industrial age has ended and the Internet age has begun.
2. The end of factory work, and the rise of global communications, has changed the way society works.
3. The chaos will not last forever. All we can do is to deal with it and try to survive.
January 20, 2026 at 4:52 PM
#POLITX
Knebel is a good storyteller and an excellent writer. This tail of a popular president whose staff perceives that he is slowly losing his mind was published prior to the creation of the 25th Amendment, and seems even more appropriate today because of that. www.amazon.com/Night-Camp-D...
Night of Camp David
Amazon.com: Night of Camp David eBook : Knebel, Fletcher: Books
www.amazon.com
January 19, 2026 at 7:19 PM
#CHRNCL
The rural/urban divide, the rise of Big Tech, the widespread use of automation – all of these blend together in a complicated dance as our society, its politics and its economy move into the Internet Age. Our current problems are reflection of this.
January 19, 2026 at 4:23 PM
#CHRNCL
American advertising abounds with rural scenes - likely a reflection of the longing that many city dwellers have for the "country". And with the rise of telecommuting it has become possible to live in a rural area and work anywhere. So possibly the tide is beginning to turn.
January 18, 2026 at 6:44 PM
#CHRNCL
Empty has its charms. The air is clean, the water pure, the streets are quiet, you can see the stars at night, and there are deer wandering through your backyard. But emptiness provides few services, and has no economy to speak of.
January 17, 2026 at 2:24 PM
#CHRNCL
It's worth repeating. Over 80% of all Americans live in the urbs and suburbs. The other 20% are spread out across the rest of the country. This makes most of America essentially empty.
January 17, 2026 at 4:31 AM
#POLITX
One of the differences between humans and AIs is humor. :-)

youtu.be/XVEFCGNW6oI
so fondly donald trump
YouTube video by richard dillman
youtu.be
January 16, 2026 at 4:23 AM
#CHRNCL
The media keeps it's focus on Donald Trump, but it is the millions of unhappy Americans who support him who give him his power. Those millions, registered as Republicans, are generally older and live primarily in rural areas – while their Democratic opponents live primarily in cities.
January 15, 2026 at 2:28 PM
#CHRNCL
The workers were mostly registered Democrats who voted as independents. When Donald Trump arrived and focused on the "swamp" in Washington, saying that he would fix it, the workers re-registered as Republicans an adopted "Make America Great Again" as their slogan.
January 14, 2026 at 4:57 PM
#CHRNCL
Except for Pittsburgh and Detroit and one or two other cities, The industrial Midwest was a collection of small town factories. After the collapse, many people moved away, and the entire region became depressed and even more rural. The new urban politics had little use for it.
January 13, 2026 at 9:35 PM
american voices
YouTube video by richard dillman
youtu.be
January 13, 2026 at 4:36 PM
#CHRNCL
If you were a 50 year-old former steel worker, who lost his job, his pension, and his house before becoming addicted to fentanyl and losing the rest of his savings – and the government did nothing to help, then you might be a little angry. This was the genesis of the group that became MAGA.
January 12, 2026 at 7:23 PM
#CHRNCL
The "Industrial Midwest" had been the center of the US economy and the envy of the world since the end of the Civil War. And now, in less than two decades, it was gone. The economy had moved on, and the factory workers had been replaced by automation and foreign labor.
January 11, 2026 at 12:51 PM
#CHRNCL
The people involved were mostly blue-collar factory workers. They were not urban minorities, so the Democrats were not interested. They were not upper middle class business owners, so the Republicans were not interested. They were destitute and desperate, and they were ignored - until Trump.
January 10, 2026 at 7:38 PM
#CHRNCL
In an area including Western Pennsylvania, most of Ohio, and parts of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, hundreds of factories whose business had been the processing of steel closed down. The local economies collapsed, but no one seemed to notice, and the government offered no assistance.
January 9, 2026 at 3:43 PM
#CHRNCL A BIT OF HISTORY
In the late 1980s, buffeted by recession after failing to innovate, many steel mills in the Pittsburgh area ceased operations. 150,000 workers lost their jobs. Steel had been the primary driver of American industry, and the side effects of the closures were staggering.
January 8, 2026 at 8:36 PM
#CHRNCL
We have come to depend on a hierarchically organized central government to provide us with any number of services, but the efficiency of this approach is now in question. (The average age of a US senator is 64 years, so it is likely the change will be slow in coming. Stay tuned.)
January 7, 2026 at 11:46 PM
#POLITX
This Just Security article outlines the legal situation with regard to the US action in Venezuela.
www.justsecurity.org/127981/inter...
International Law and the U.S. Military and Law Enforcement Operations in Venezuela
Experts survey the international law issues of Operation Absolute Resolve.
www.justsecurity.org
January 5, 2026 at 11:20 PM
#POLITX
What is it called when you take over another nation and claim their natural resources for yourself? Colonialism? Are we an empire now?
January 5, 2026 at 5:38 PM
#POLITX
CHRNCL is devoted to analysis of the social systems that brought our culture to its present day. POLITX will be a thread devoted to the current political situation. It should be noted that I am not virulently anti-Trump, but I am strongly pro-democracy, and I worry about where we are headed.
January 5, 2026 at 5:38 PM
#CHRNCL
Because it was created during the industrial age, our government is designed as a hierarchy. The President issues commands which travel down the hierarchy to government workers. Congress and the Supreme Court both work at the top level in conjunction with the President's commands.
January 5, 2026 at 3:33 PM
#CHRNCL
Corporations are changing from hierarchies into networks. Telecommuting moves employees from the corporate center, but connects them via the net. Internally, employees may be members of work groups that are cross connected and not hierarchical at all. Such complexity increases flexibility.
January 4, 2026 at 2:19 PM
#CHRNCL
Families are already showing this change. In 1800 you could find three generations living on a single farm. Today, children move away, often far away, as soon as they become adult adults. But the family remains connected via the Internet.
January 3, 2026 at 5:30 PM
#CHRNCL
But the Internet links people directly to one another. Individuals can work on many projects at once, thus taking on many roles at the same time. This breaks down the hierarchy; replacing it with an interconnected network - the "networked" society brings change at every level.
December 30, 2025 at 3:02 PM
#CHRNCL
Every organization in a hierarchical society is also a hierarchy. Every business had people in low level roles who reported to people in higher level roles and an executive at the top. Families were organized as a male and female roles with the male as the higher level manager. And so on.
December 29, 2025 at 9:40 PM