John Grant
@jlg
Reading Guy Standing's The Politics of Time. Just as LLMs can simultaneously produce "coherent results" and act as "bullshit generators" (using Booch's framing), the UK's furlough scheme amplified both protection and inequality through its interaction with technology. Digital technology enabled knowledge workers who could work remotely to benefit disproportionately, while essential workers continued at personal risk. Asymmetric amplification might help explain how tools like LLMs or policies like furlough schemes interact with existing social dynamics in that they don't just serve dual purposes, they systematically amplify advantages for some while constraining or disadvantaging others >"The UK's furlough scheme… was possibly the most regressive social policy in modern history. It paid 80 per cent of the wage of employees up to £2,500 a month. This meant that somebody earning £3,000 beforehand received £2,400 for doing nothing, whereas somebody who had been earning £800 received £640." 1/n
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John Grant
@jlg
>"No conditions were imposed on companies claiming furlough payments... Trump's company received over £3 million for furloughed staff of his luxury golf resorts… The government deliberately accepted the fraud risk to, in its words, 'get money to those who need it, as fast as possible'." >"Under the scheme, people who lost their jobs obtained nothing. People who accepted a wage cut and continued doing labour to keep their firm in business received nothing. Essential workers, such as health or care workers, refuse collectors and many others, obliged to continue in their jobs, also received nothing." 2/2
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