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European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

politico.eu

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Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

#61

Post by esbranson »

posperson wrote: post #59
TacticalCoder wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Good. The US is gone. Yeah. But then the EU lost the plot a very long time ago. There is one EU company in the 50 of the world by companies market cap. One. Just freaking one. It's ASML. From 2008 to today, in USD and inflation adjusted, the eurozone saw no growth. While both the US and China skyrocketed. There's been this little thing lately that kinda took off: it's called AI. Where's the EU? How much of a leader…

Economically the EU might not keep pace, but the built infrastructure to live an enjoyable life is there. I certainly had a delightful time visiting the winter markets across Europe, and it seemed like there were a fair number of people living well. While the Eurozone might not be a great place to start a new business it is still a going concern, enough that those top 50 companies all have a European presence.

> infrastructure to live an enjoyable life is there

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but living in the US ain't exactly like Escape from New York or Escape from LA. For every Mississippi there is an analogous place in Europe, and for every Liechtenstein there is an analogous place in the US. I'm not sure if your comment is a counterargument or neutral commentary.

Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

#62

Post by yabutlivnWoods »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #53
hackerbeat wrote: post #6

Good. The US is gone.

> Good. The US is gone. Yeah. But then the EU lost the plot a very long time ago. There is one EU company in the 50 of the world by companies market cap. One. Just freaking one. It's ASML. From 2008 to today, in USD and inflation adjusted, the eurozone saw no growth. While both the US and China skyrocketed. There's been this little thing lately that kinda took off: it's called AI. Where's the EU? How much of a leader…

This is all empty political rhetoric.

Billions of people exist in the EU. In real terms it has not gone anywhere.

Obsession with preserving political dogma, rhetorical forms, atheist appearing syntax and semantics (language that does invoke specific concepts of theology); political and economic abstraction that do not represent reality is not much different from religion.

By your measure every nation effectively died out centuries ago as some originating principles died with their originators of those principles. Yet here we are still discussing France and Russia and the US as real things. They only ever existed as ethno objects to begin with; things that only exist if we talk about them as existing.

So what if some rhetorical specifics that used to define the economic and political foundations of the EU mutate. That's immutable reality for you. It's bound to happen due to generational churn.

People who live there can still use the term EU to define whatever political structure and economic model they land on next.

Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

#63

Post by esbranson »

tremon wrote: post #57
TacticalCoder wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Good. The US is gone. Yeah. But then the EU lost the plot a very long time ago. There is one EU company in the 50 of the world by companies market cap. One. Just freaking one. It's ASML. From 2008 to today, in USD and inflation adjusted, the eurozone saw no growth. While both the US and China skyrocketed. There's been this little thing lately that kinda took off: it's called AI. Where's the EU? How much of a leader…

What's frightening to me is that even in the EU people seem to think that unchecked consolidation of services is a good thing. I don't think it is a good thing at all that there exist companies with a budget larger than an average country.

Is the budget of Saudi Aramco, of the King, larger than that of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, also of the same King? Why would that be not good, or bad?

Think about every international dollar the Kingdom takes from Aramco: would Aramco or the Kingdom make more profit from it, including taxes on the percent more Aramco makes from it than the Kingdom?

Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

#64

Post by esbranson »

casey2 wrote: post #42

Europe has been irrelevant since 2008. Basically 0 growth and pensions larger than paychecks. Even if young Europeans had the skills or the desire, which they don't, they wouldn't have the capital. The US is preparing to siphon most of the EUs wealth with this AI bubble. This title is just one in a long line of smoke and mirrors meant to distract Europeans from the fact that trillions are being spent to build datacen…

But also besides the point.

Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

#65

Post by esbranson »

dr_dshiv wrote: post #15

European civil servants are also usually banned from using AI — perhaps with the exception of Microsoft copilot. They live in a bubble where they just don’t know. This goes for most academics as well.

About the only thing I learned from your comment is that most replies as of now only refute half of it. And it's also besides the point.

Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

#66

Post by xethos »

Arathorn wrote: post #25
galbar wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is my understanding that a lot of EU governments are setting up their own matrix servers.

This is true. We just published a map of it: https://element.io/en/matrix-in-europe

Clicking through and stumbling upon Croatia, which specifies only "Classified deployment", has left me absolutely cackeling. Seems hilarious that they're willing to say that they use it, but unwilling to state if it's for early testing, civilian-level beaurocracy, or Croatia's equivalent of specialized armed forces.

That they publicly use it at all is great though, as it likely helps shift the Overton window of what's normal, and what fits standard useage of Matrix-Synapse

Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

#67

Post by esbranson »

throwa356262 wrote: post #2

Governments want to move away from “platforms over which we have no control,” says Dutch minister. Sure, that is fair enough. But why is EU not setting up their own servers for whisper or activity pub or whatever OSS protocols and just make that their only official and approved communication channel?

The fact that many replies mention Matrix and the Politico article does not is hilarious. Why even bother with major news orgs anymore?

Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

#68

Post by DarkUranium »

xethos wrote: post #66
Arathorn wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is true. We just published a map of it: https://element.io/en/matrix-in-europe

Clicking through and stumbling upon Croatia, which specifies only "Classified deployment", has left me absolutely cackeling. Seems hilarious that they're willing to say that they use it, but unwilling to state if it's for early testing, civilian-level beaurocracy, or Croatia's equivalent of specialized armed forces. That they publicly use it at all is great though, as it likely helps shift the Overton window of what'…

I hope they don't, considering Matrix's handling of security is on the level of a bumbling toddler.

Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

#69

Post by jltsiren »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #53
hackerbeat wrote: post #6

Good. The US is gone.

> Good. The US is gone. Yeah. But then the EU lost the plot a very long time ago. There is one EU company in the 50 of the world by companies market cap. One. Just freaking one. It's ASML. From 2008 to today, in USD and inflation adjusted, the eurozone saw no growth. While both the US and China skyrocketed. There's been this little thing lately that kinda took off: it's called AI. Where's the EU? How much of a leader…

Economic growth has been slow in the EU, but it's mostly a demographic issue. There are too many retirees, too few children, and the size of the workforce is stagnant.

Measuring economic growth in someone else's currency can be misleading. By the same metric you used, Eurozone economy grew by ~100% between 2002 and 2008.

Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp

#70

Post by BoneShard »

yabutlivnWoods wrote: post #62
TacticalCoder wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Good. The US is gone. Yeah. But then the EU lost the plot a very long time ago. There is one EU company in the 50 of the world by companies market cap. One. Just freaking one. It's ASML. From 2008 to today, in USD and inflation adjusted, the eurozone saw no growth. While both the US and China skyrocketed. There's been this little thing lately that kinda took off: it's called AI. Where's the EU? How much of a leader…

This is all empty political rhetoric. Billions of people exist in the EU. In real terms it has not gone anywhere. Obsession with preserving political dogma, rhetorical forms, atheist appearing syntax and semantics (language that does invoke specific concepts of theology); political and economic abstraction that do not represent reality is not much different from religion. By your measure every nation effectively died…

how many billions?
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