“So what do you do for a living, Fred?”
“Well I used to touch packages.”
“I don’t understand…”
“The packages would come in, and a silo of them would be fed onto a conveyer belt. As they went by, I touched each one.”
“I’m not following here.”
“Each bag needed to be touched and I touched each one.”
“Okay but why?”
“Well the labels need to be face down and I touched them and made them all face down. It was a great gig until my job was eliminated.”
“Oh no, did they put another camera looking down from above so that no one needed to touch the package?”
“No they spent millions of dollars, or 20 years of my salary to train a robot over months to touch the packages as good as me.”
“Why not just add another camera?”
“Because that’s not enough to trick investors into buying really inconvenient and expensive automation tools.”
BREAKING: Iran says the strait is closed.
BREAKING: Trump says the strait is open.
BREAKING: Hegseth says the strait is open.
BREAKING: Bloomberg says 3 ships crossed.
BREAKING: Iran says those 3 ships are Iranian.
BREAKING: Maersk says it needs clarity.
BREAKING: The strait is a philosophical concept at this point.
BREAKING: A fourth ship attempts to cross.
BREAKING: The fourth ship turns around.
BREAKING: The fourth ship's captain says he "needed to think."
BREAKING: Insurance for the fourth ship is now $47M.
BREAKING: The fourth ship is still thinking.
BREAKING: Trump posts on Truth Social that Hormuz is "TOTALLY OPEN, BEAUTIFUL, LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SEEN."
BREAKING: 800 ships remain trapped in the Gulf.
BREAKING: Trump posts again that this is Biden's fault.
BREAKING: Iran announces tolls of $2M per ship.
BREAKING: Iran announces tolls must be paid in crypto.
BREAKING: Iran has not specified which crypto.
BREAKING: Someone on CT says it's XRP.
BREAKING: XRP is up 34%.
BREAKING: It is not XRP.
BREAKING: Russia and China veto the UN resolution on Hormuz.
BREAKING: Russia proposes an alternative resolution.
BREAKING: The alternative resolution does not mention Hormuz.
BREAKING: Nobody is surprised.
BREAKING: Israel bombs Lebanon.
BREAKING: Iran says this violates the ceasefire.
BREAKING: Trump says the ceasefire does not cover Lebanon.
BREAKING: Netanyahu says the ceasefire does not cover anything Netanyahu is currently doing.
BREAKING: Ceasefire is now 11 hours old.
BREAKING: Iran closes Hormuz again.
BREAKING: Hegseth says the strait is open.
BREAKING: Trump floats joint US-Iran toll venture to manage the strait.
BREAKING: The White House clarifies Trump was "just thinking out loud."
BREAKING: Iran says it will consider the proposal.
BREAKING: Trump says Iran's 10-point peace plan is "not good enough."
BREAKING: Trump says it is "a workable basis."
BREAKING: Both statements were made within the same hour.
BREAKING: 20,000 seafarers are still trapped on ships inside the Gulf.
BREAKING: The IMO says the priority is evacuation.
BREAKING: Iran says passage requires "coordination with armed forces."
BREAKING: Nobody has coordinated with the armed forces.
BREAKING: Hegseth says the strait is open.
BREAKING: The strait remains closed.
BREAKING: This is day 41.
BREAKING: We will keep you updated.
'Goldman put a 1% chance on the use of nuclear weapons, which would result in a "total loss" of the S&P 500, attendees said.'
🤣😭🤣😭
https://t.co/I4g8Ix4qcM
Well, my best faith interpretation of the cartoon in isolation is, that it is psychologically reassuring for people to see purpose in actions of the government, where there might be none. Evolution has optimised us for pattern recognition, so of course we apply it everywhere, even when it does not make sense. I wouldn't describe this primary meaning as sycophancy. Of course, I have to admit, there is a secondary component to the cartoon. The depicted people are a king and some kind of servant or peasant. So there is clearly a strong power dynamic depicted here. Also the person painting the target is positioned on one knee, further emphasising the difference in status and power. So, I think your interpretation is fair. This is clearly the secondary meaning, but I wouldn't dismiss the first one. Sometimes what looks like idiocy, just is idiocy.
US hegemony depends on the believe that the US can achieve things. They might not need it directly for economic reasons (although indirectly), but certainly in terms of power projection. German politicians already said the silent part out loud 20 years ago during the Iraq and Afghanistan adventures (wording might not be 100% correct): "an unjust war is better than a humiliated super power USA". I am not sure this is still an acceptable deal today in Europe.
@Fuzoling@ColbyBadhwar And that's gonna get a lot worse, because there will be more and more boomers getting old and they are the voters. It will become a higher percentage, not a smaller one.
I agree that discussions on changing spending priorities will be tough, so will be increasing the spending altogether. Other NATO countries investing more will likely happen, but will that come with the a reduction of influence? How to convince others to join in? In exchange for what?