In Tray

In mechanism design, a Vickrey–Clarke–Groves (VCG) mechanism is a generic truthful mechanism for achieving a socially-optimal solution. It is a generalization of a Vickrey–Clarke–Groves auction. A VCG auction performs a specific task: dividing items among people. A VCG mechanism is more general: it can be used to select any outcome out of a set of…

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Globally, there is a widening divide in the wellbeing of people at the top of the
socioeconomic ladder and people at the bottom. Despite tremendous economic
growth, more than 75% of people in developing countries are living in societies that
are more unequal today than they were in the 1990s (UNDP 2013). In Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, the ratio of average
disposable income in the top versus the bottom decile now stands at 9.5; up from
around 7 in the 1980s (Keeley 2015).

Read More Intergenerational transmission of disadvantage in Australia

Escalation of commitment is a human behavior pattern in which an individual or group facing increasingly negative outcomes from a decision, action, or investment nevertheless continue the behavior instead of altering course. The actor maintains behaviors that are irrational, but align with previous decisions and actions.[1] Source: Escalation of commitment – Wikipedia

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Jonathan Fishman GASLIGHTING: What is ‘Gaslighting’? Gaslighting is an dishonest, abusive, manipulative technique which leads it’s victims to doubt their own perceptions, judgements, memories, experiences, mental competence or sanity. Gaslighting, makes a victim question their reality, it makes its victims think that they’re losing their minds. Gaslighters override your own reality, and may lead you…

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Ours is a wild and a beautiful island. But the vast majority of it is unknown to us because, by law of trespass, we are banned from setting foot on it. We are excluded from hundreds of thousands of acres of open space – of woodland, meadows, rivers and their banks – simply because ancient laws of ownership fail to recognise the importance of nature to the public.

Read More Right to Roam

A knowledge of basic SEO can have a noticeable impact. Explore the Google SEO starter guide for an overview of search engine optimization essentials. Source: SEO Starter Guide: The Basics | Google Search Central  |  Documentation  |  Google Developers

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Science for the People (SftP), the most important radical science movement in US history, arose in 1969 out of the anti-war movement and lasted until 1989. With a Marxist analysis and non-hierarchical governing structure, SftP tackled, among many issues: militarization of scientific research, corporate control of research agenda, political implications of sociobiology and other scientific…

Read More About • Science for the People Magazine

In this article, the so-called ‘anti-woke’ culture war is deconstructed through the notions of metapolitics in fascist discourses – linked to the Gramscian ‘hegemonisation’ and ‘the war of position’ – as well as the Schmittian friend/enemy distinction coupled with theories of deviance and moral panics. The appropriation of the neo-fascist culture war discourse by the mainstream right in the UK is analysed discursively, combining political discourse analysis, the discourse-historical approach and discourse-conceptual analysis. The anti-woke culture war by the British conservative party as well as rightwing media will serve to analyse how social justice struggles like anti-racism, anti-sexism and pro-LGBTQ rights are being abnormalised and positioned as extreme deviant political positions. Linked to this, so-called ‘cancel culture’ is strategically deployed by dominant groups to neutralise contestations against racist, sexist and anti-LGBTQ views. Finally, freedom of speech and the right to offend is weaponised to protect racist and discriminatory language and to position these idea’s as valid opinions worthy of democratic debate.

Read More The abnormalisation of social justice: The ‘anti-woke culture war’

We found that the divisive story about the wokemob had mainly been constructed by a small handful of people, consisting of certain politicians, parts of the media and very privileged public figures. It is mainly coming from the hard right of the political spectrum and key figures in the government and media, but elements of the centre and the left have started experimenting with it as well.

Read More Cynical anti-woke narrative

Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) is one of those rare ideas which combine transformative potential with an elegant simplicity. The CSA model of funding and sustaining locally-rooted agriculture has grown exponentially around the globe over the past four decades.

Read More The Radical Roots of Community Supported Agriculture – Resilience

Matt Holten has a book coming out https://www.facebook.com/groups/1299924940356627 https://linktr.ee/moneylessThis is Linktr @moneyless Systems change or bust! Money is the problem, not the answer. #commmunity Moneyless Society Podcast Moneyless Society Patreon Moneyless Society Website MoSo Discord Moneyless Society Facebook Moneyless Society TikTok Moneyless Society Instagram Moneyless Society Twitter Moneyless Society Group (FB) Moneyless Society Podcast on…

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I think that there is a real problem when psychologists try and teach psychological techniques to their “clients”
Because there are fundamental differences between relating to a “client” and relating to a friend or family member
Ths first difference is getting paid, “paid friends” are an abomination and a perversity
Motivational interviewing starts with an understanding of this, in my (provisional) opinion.

Read More Understanding Motivational Interviewing

Friends Ruby and Al have spent the pandemic setting up guerilla gardens across Brisbane in abandoned public spaces. Source: Guerrilla gardeners spent pandemic turning abandoned spaces into thriving community gardens – ABC Everyday

Read More Guerrilla gardeners spent pandemic turning abandoned spaces into thriving community gardens – ABC Everyday

QAnon refers to a set of far-right, conspiratorial ideologies that have risen in popularity in
the U.S. and globally since their initial promotion in 2017 on the 4 chan Internet message
board. A central narrative element of QAnon has been that a powerful group of elite, liberal
members of the Democratic Party engage in morally reprehensible practices, but that
former U.S. President Donald J. Trump was prosecuting them. Five studies investigated
the influence and network connectivity of accounts promoting QAnon propaganda on
Twitter from August 2020 through January 2021.

Read More QAnon Propaganda on Twitter as Information Warfare: Influencers, Networks, and Narratives

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Tang ping (Chinese: 躺平; pinyin: tǎng píng; lit. ‘lying flat’) is a lifestyle and social protest movement in China beginning in April 2021. It is a rejection of societal pressures to overwork, such as in the 996 working hour system, which is often regarded as a rat race with ever diminishing returns.[1][2][3][4] Those who participate in tang ping instead choose to “lie down flat and get over the beatings”[citation needed] via a low-desire, more indifferent attitude towards life. It can be thought as the Chinese equivalent of the hippies counter-culture movement.[5]

Read More Tang ping – Wikipedia

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Food Not Bombs is a loose-knit group of independent collectives, sharing free vegan and vegetarian food with others. Food Not Bombs’ ideology is that myriad corporate and government priorities are skewed to allow hunger to persist in the midst of abundance. To demonstrate this and to reduce costs, a large amount of the food served by the group is surplus food from grocery stores, bakeries and markets that would otherwise go to waste, or occasionally has already been thrown away. This group exhibits a form of franchise activism.

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Justin Murphy’s work has appeared in IEEE Intelligent Systems, Foreign Affairs, International Studies Quarterly, and other peer-reviewed journals.

He left academia in 2019 to write and teach on the internet full-time.

Murphy publishes the Other Life newsletter and podcast from his home in Austin, Texas.

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