Neekerbreeker 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @Neekerbreeker@qoto.org

The intro to my talk today at the Data for Policy 2022 meeting in Seattle.

We know what happens when organisms who evolved to forage in a world where sugar and fat are rare develop the capacity to fulfill their evolved desires and put a junk food aisle in every store.

What happens when information foragers who evolved in a world where information was sparse are able to construct a media ecosystem to feed their evolved desires?

Ummm....

The Holocaust did not begin with killing; it began with words.

Genocides do not start with mass murder. That's where they end up.

Genocides & other mass atrocity crimes begin with words - specifically, with powerful people dehumanizing a minority.

Once they are seen as less than human, anything is possible, even mass murder.

👉 You can speak out loudly today for the rights of others, or you can stay silent & wait for tomorrow, when your rights will be taken away too.

When challenging someone's perspective stop and ask yourself these questions...

1) What do I understand about the others perspective?
2) What do I understand about my own perspective?
3) Could I be wrong?
4) What do I want the other to understand about my perspective?
5) What do I want the other to understand about their own perspective?

If you find yourself skipping the first three, you're not really trying to have a discussion and may want to check your ego.

Today's blog post is a little odd. If we wanted to change the common name of a species, could we? I looked at data from three real attempts! https://scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com/2022/11/22/can-you-change-a-species-common-name/

Looking over the parapets of #Carisbooke #Castle we can see the #boneyard beyond. This castle was once the living heart of the Island, but now it is but a broken one. Windswept and grey, a hulk that has stood in one shape or another for over a millennia. 
How many have died on these walls and how many #shades stand here looking at the #graves? The #shadows of the past clinging thick with the restless dead.
#Ghost #GhostStories #Folklore #Cemetery #Folklore #MythicMonday #TombTuesday

https://youtube.com/watch?v=bmzv_12C6q8&feature=share ⚡️🇬🇧 Eugen Rochko, Mastodon CEO/Founder Interview on (BBC Newsnight VIDEO) #Ukraine #News #War #Russia #Twitter #Mastodon #Musk #ElonMusk #TwitterRIP #StarLink #SecurityRisk

Mmm... #spaghetti
#hesketti #food

@feditips An excellent note about notes! (They're notes to self.) Thank you, @feditips

Calanais, Isle of Lewis
#StandingStoneSunday #ancient #scotland #hebrides

Tomnaverie recumbent stone circle, Aberdeenshire
#StandingStoneSunday
#Aberdeenshire
#NorthEastScotland

@richieholland I came here to create a "parachute" dependant on how things go on Twitter but despite a largish following there, I much prefer it here and hope I can make this my primary place and help to grow it within, what seems so far, to be a more mature community.

Boost this toot if you're planning on sticking around Mastodon whether or not it becomes more popular than the birdsite.

Remember when we all moved from Facebook to Google+?