The number of Japanese nationals in Japan fell by around 910,000 during 2024, to 120.7 million, while the population of foreign residents rose 10.65%, to 3.68 million. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/07/japan/society/japan-population-foreign-residents/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #society #population #depopulation #expats #foreignworkers
France’s biggest wildfire in about two decades has killed one and forced residents to flee. The fire has cut power to thousands of homes and is being tackled by around 2,100 firefighters assisted by aircraft. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/07/world/society/wildfires-france-heat-wave/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #worldnews #society #france #heatwaves #wildfires
Pets have emerged as collateral damage of immigration raids in Los Angeles County that picked up this summer under the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, when their owners get detained or deported. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/06/world/society/pets-la-shelters-immigration-raids/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #worldnews #society #losangeles #california #pets #dogs #cats #animalwelfare #immigration #migration #us #donaldtrump
In Hiroshima, where an atomic bomb was dropped 80 years ago, its message of peace lives on in the form of products such as notepads made via the recycling of millions of paper cranes offered at a memorial in the city. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/06/japan/society/hiroshima-paper-crane/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #society #hiroshima #atomicbombings #wwii #us
Japan marked its hottest day on record on Tuesday as temperatures rose as high as 41.8 degrees Celsius, beating the previous record of 41.2 C set just last week. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/05/japan/society/japan-records-hottest-day/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #society #heatwaves #heatstroke #climatechange #gunma #saitama #tokyo #hyogo
Chinese authorities are evacuating over 82,000 people across Beijing at risk from heavy rainfall, state media said, following flooding in the capital's suburbs last week that killed dozens. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/05/asia-pacific/society/beijing-evacuates-heavy-rains/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #asiapacific #society #beijing #china #floods
President Trump has enacted multiple policies affecting the lives of LGBTQ+ Americans in areas from healthcare to legal recognition and education. Some LGBTQ+ people have voted with their feet. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/04/world/society/amsterdam-lgbtq-americans/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #worldnews #society #lgbtq #us #netherlands #donaldtrump
alcinnz
boosted
The #Internet is Dying: #AI, Bots, and The End of #Human Content - by Vanessa Wingårdh
https://yewtu.be/watch?v=J5ZmLvy_Jfg
(or YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5ZmLvy_Jfg)
This should be common knowledge by now, but there is still a small chance that it's not, so let's make sure it definitely will be.
#Capitalism#Advertisment#Ads#Society#GenAI#GenerativeAI#Philosophy
The #Internet is Dying: #AI, Bots, and The End of #Human Content - by Vanessa Wingårdh
https://yewtu.be/watch?v=J5ZmLvy_Jfg
(or YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5ZmLvy_Jfg)
This should be common knowledge by now, but there is still a small chance that it's not, so let's make sure it definitely will be.
#Capitalism#Advertisment#Ads#Society#GenAI#GenerativeAI#Philosophy
alcinnz
boosted
👆
This is an example for another latent dysfunction:
Fewer (public) questions get asked on the internet and so knowledge is not spread, but contained, making it more individualized.
This also creates an even stronger bias towards older content, so people might take the shortcut and use a more established technology, instead of looking into new, less explored, but more innovative solutions.
👆
This is an example for another latent dysfunction:
Fewer (public) questions get asked on the internet and so knowledge is not spread, but contained, making it more individualized.
This also creates an even stronger bias towards older content, so people might take the shortcut and use a more established technology, instead of looking into new, less explored, but more innovative solutions.
Want another example?
There are a lot of Manifest/Latent functions and dysfunctions with the new UK #OnlineSafetyAct.
Cory Doctorow
boosted
"No one is coming to save us except us. There is such a thing as #society, and you're a part of it, and so am I, and so are the rest of us.
You can't fight #enshittification. But together, we can."
There is still hope, reading @pluralistic helps a little bit.
"No one is coming to save us except us. There is such a thing as #society, and you're a part of it, and so am I, and so are the rest of us.
You can't fight #enshittification. But together, we can."
There is still hope, reading @pluralistic helps a little bit.
Jess Mahler
boosted
The immortal line by Margaret #Thatcher:
There is no such thing as #society.
The Iron Lady's Hallmark crad for Late Stage Capitalism. A slogan so bleak it makes Hobbes sound like Mister Rogers.
She envisioned us as pathetic little atomized consumers, free falling through history, bumping into each other only to exchange currency or germs. If we're lucky we die alone due to climate change, clutching our reusable tote bag, whispering "at least I offset my flight to Ibiza."
The immortal line by Margaret #Thatcher:
There is no such thing as #society.
The Iron Lady's Hallmark crad for Late Stage Capitalism. A slogan so bleak it makes Hobbes sound like Mister Rogers.
She envisioned us as pathetic little atomized consumers, free falling through history, bumping into each other only to exchange currency or germs. If we're lucky we die alone due to climate change, clutching our reusable tote bag, whispering "at least I offset my flight to Ibiza."
I perceive 3 fediverses..
fediverse-we-have: Has proven it works, and has delightful #apps to show for it.
fediverse-we-need: The future of #SocialNetworking, where it pervasively serves #people and #society at large.
#fediverse-we-get: Still unknown.
Imho the trajectory of #development of the fediverse-we-have does not lead to fediverse-we-need.
Fediverse-we-get on this path is either a nice #SocialMedia niche for a time, or eventual corporate capture and takeover. A corporate #SocialWeb.
Since the age of 7, Japanese schoolboy Shun Sasaki has been offering free guided tours to foreign visitors at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, ensuring the horrors of nuclear war do not fade with the passage of time. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/07/31/japan/society/hiroshima-schoolboy-guide/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #society #hiroshima #schools #elementaryschools #children #atomicbombings #wwii #english #volunteers
At Nasser hospital’s child malnutrition ward, a handful of Gazan mothers watch over their babies who lie still and largely silent, mostly too exhausted by severe hunger to cry. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/07/31/world/society/gaza-malnutrition-children/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #worldnews #society #hunger #israelhamaswar #palestinians #children #health #aid