Supermassive black hole seen at the center of our galaxy
Astronomers on May12/22 unveiled the first image of a supermassive black hole that roils the center of our galaxy, its gravity so powerful that it bends space and time and forms a glowing ring of light with eternal darkness at the core.
Meanwhile on a related story….Supermassive black hole seen at the center of our common sense
Excerpted from
THE BREACH journalism for transformation
Paris Marx | Paris Marx is a socialist writer and host of the left-wing tech podcast Tech Won’t Save Us. May 10/22
Supernomial snake oil
‘Even though 90 per cent of Canadians have heard of Bitcoin, a mere five per cent have bought in, according to a recent Bank of Canada study. Bitcoin owners in Canada tend to be “young, educated men with high household income and low financial literacy”—not the people currently excluded by the financial system. Meanwhile, despite the claims of all its benefits, the same study found half of cryptocurrency owners reported being victims of “negative events” like price crashes, scams, and data breaches.
Time and again, technology has been wrapped in the promise of freedom. And time and again, it has delivered surveillance, deregulation, and major profits for tech companies at the expense of the working class. Even its promise of a libertarian freedom from state control—whatever you think of it—fails to be realized in practice. Pierre Poilievre’s use of Bitcoin as part of a pitch for extreme right-wing populism shouldn’t fool anyone. It’s part of a political program that will ultimately further serve the wealthy while promising to do the opposite.
We’re watching Poilievre push right-wing economic fantasies that promise easy solutions to complex and highly political problems. As the current frontrunner for the Conservative leadership, he’s also selling a vision of private money where the Bank of Canada will be banned from introducing digital currencies to ensure private companies can develop cryptocurrencies that compete with the Canadian dollar. But as the US treasury secretary recently noted, governments didn’t always control their national currencies, and the system of competing currencies that preceded centralized governance was defined by “immense disorder.”
Placing our faith in the crypto industry won’t solve any of the serious challenges facing Canadians today. Instead, increasing the number of people who engage with speculative financial products that are compared to Ponzi schemes by critics and supporters alike will only increase the risk of a devastating crash.
The left does need a response to rising cost of living, the housing crisis, and the problems with the banking system—but it must entail the decommodification of essential services, major investments in public housing, and a massive expansion of public banking to counter the stranglehold of the Big Five banks. Without such an alternative, people frustrated with rising inequality are left to Poilievre’s Bitcoin fantasies.’
