֎ Europe recently passed the Digital Services Act which is expected to come into force around the end of next year. Among other things, the Digital Services Act will ban targeted advertising aimed at children and will allow European governments to tell social media companies to take down illegal content, with fines that could range into the billions if companies don’t obey.

One wonders whether parents will be able to make good decisions in behalf of their children without the assistance of targeted advertising . . .

֎ Mariner knows the end is near. In a farm supply store today, mariner saw a family of Amish, fully replete with straw hats, kerchiefs, beards, coveralls, floor length dresses and boots. He left the store right behind them to see them get into two full-cab pickup trucks . . .

[Footnote] Regarding the mechanization of the Amish, the transition is active across the United States. Two colonies, one in Kalona, Iowa and another in Somerset Pennsylvania are as fully modernized as any home or farm can be. Sadly, the Amish will pay the price we all have – a community-based balance of capitalism (sustainability), socialism (empathy), and communism (unity).

֎ A couple of philosophical analogies:

Modern society, like an airplane, can command distance, productivity through speed and by flying faster, can command more distance and more productivity; speed is the absolute driver – more and more – because if speed slows down, the airplane will crash.

It is said that it takes money to make money. This is true but reality can’t afford to give everyone money. This leads to an inevitable imbalance. Every dollar acquired by a money maker means one less dollar to be shared among 100 of those without money.

Ancient Mariner