@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 2mo ago

Mamdani 's hackers: New York City's Public Interest Technology initiative encodes a vision of technology as an enabler for ordinary people. ... and 3,000 super-skilled techies applied for 35 jobs, though the paycheck is not what it would be in Big Tech and there's no stock options, because most people want their work to be meaningful. Getting people to click on ads is not meaningful. https://pluralistic.net/2026/08/08/find-yourself-a-city/#to-hack-in h/t @pluralistic@mamot.fr

pluralistic.net

Pluralistic: Digital sewer socialism (08 Aug 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 2mo ago

It turns out that welcoming to your country lots of migrants, who tend to be young and highly motivated, is good for employment. And therefore for financing welfare. We knew, but it's nice to see the data. https://mastodon.social/@eunews/116997132869716726 #economics #migration #spain

Mastodon

European News 🇪🇺 (@eunews@mastodon.social)

Spain’s unemployment rate hits lowest level in 18 years Summer hiring created 486,000 jobs in the second quarter, lifting the number of people in work to a record 22.8 million. http://www.euronews.com/business/2026/07/28/summer-hiring-pushes-spain-to-record-228-million-in-work-and-jobless-rate-falls-below-10

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 1mo ago

I keep going back to Pamela Swanigan's magnificent 2024 essay "It’s Time To Give Up Hope For A Better Climate & Get Heroic". Tolkien's Long Defeat, the heroic rearguard action of the Elves of Middle-Earth to keep darkness at bay, has become a major source of inspiration for me as I join my chosen battle lines. We won't win, I know. But we can forestall doom for a time, and protect people and things that are beautiful and worth protecting. https://www.noemamag.com/its-time-to-give-up-hope-for-a-better-climate-get-heroic/ #ClimateEmergency

NOEMA

It’s Time To Give Up Hope For A Better Climate & Get Heroic | NOEMA

For humanity’s fight against climate change to gain real momentum, we need to find the selfless courage that comes when our time is inevitably nigh.

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Ok, Fediverse experiment. I am currently walking the Camino de Santiago. Is anyone else? Would be fun to meet up if itineraries allow.

Edit: photo added

#caminodesantiago
#caminofrances

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 2mo ago

RE: https://mastodon.green/@alberto_cottica/117016646104388804 Very interesting insight from Gabriel Zucman: there is now an international movement for taxing wealth, and important initiatives are afoot. The most important of all is prop 40, California's proposed one-time five per cent tax wealth. It is projected to yield 100 billion dollars! That's as much as one year of income produced in California. I knew the various law proposals etc., but I was not seeing the big picture. #economics #wealthTax

Quoting

Alberto Cottica

@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

"And so here, what you have with billionaire wealth is that there’s a potential tax base; we are not taxing billionaire wealth today, which has been skyrocketing. That’s the flip side of the rise of wealth concentration. The positive aspect in all of that is that now there’s a lot of tax revenue at stake from potentially taxing the wealth of billionaires." Nice dialogue between Gabriel Zucman and Paul Krugman. https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/talking-again-with-gabriel-zucman #economics #wealthTax

Open quoted post

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 2mo ago

"And so here, what you have with billionaire wealth is that there’s a potential tax base; we are not taxing billionaire wealth today, which has been skyrocketing. That’s the flip side of the rise of wealth concentration. The positive aspect in all of that is that now there’s a lot of tax revenue at stake from potentially taxing the wealth of billionaires." Nice dialogue between Gabriel Zucman and Paul Krugman. https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/talking-again-with-gabriel-zucman #economics #wealthTax

paulkrugman.substack.com

Talking Again With Gabriel Zucman

Oligarchy, wealth taxes, and more

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 6mo ago

I had managed to miss this magnificent essay from @pluralistic@mamot.fr . His main point: what's obnoxious about #AI is not the technology, but the economics. For example, I can easily imagine a world in which LLMs are deployed benevolently by not-for-profit actors of the social and solidarity economy. But AI plus capitalism... ugh.

"AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jan/18/tech-ai-bubble-burst-reverse-centaur

#economics

theguardian.com

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 2mo ago

The Age of the Digital Armbreaker is here. @pluralistic@mamot.fr has a compelling post on how the practices of finance (which, let's face it, was always there usury lenders in a trench coat) converge with those of Big Tech. Makes me itch to bring the guillotines out! #finance #bigtech https://pluralistic.net/2026/07/25/cruel-cruelty-oh-cruelty/#digital-arm-breakers

pluralistic.net

Pluralistic: Apple’s robo-repo (25 Jul 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 3mo ago

Impressive: a new law in Italy introduced in 2026 a requirement that digital payments terminals (the machines you touch your cards or phones with) be directly connected to cash registers. This apparent technicality led to an additional 5.3 billion EUR of VAT-taxable revenue base in only four months. The expected extra revenue over 2026 is estimated in nearly 3 billion EUR. This is 100% emersion of previously evaded tax, not new taxation.

https://lavoce.info/archives/111749/quando-il-pos-parla-con-il-registratore-di-cassa/ (Italian)

#economics

Quando il Pos parla con il registratore di cassa | M. Bordignon e D. Cipullo

Lavoce.info

Quando il Pos parla con il registratore di cassa | M. Bordignon e D. Cipullo

In soli quattro mesi l’obbligo di collegare Pos e registratori telematici ha portato all’emersione di 5,3 miliardi di base imponibile Iva. La misura può aiutare l’amministrazione anche a stimare dove si concentrava l’evasione per accertamenti mirati.

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 2mo ago

"My indicator of economic success for our city - told me the deputy mayor of a small city in Moldova - is this: streets full of happy people." #Brussels

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Calling all you #rail and #CrossBorderRail experts in the Fediverse! I am walking the Camino de Santiago, and plan to leave it at or near Leon. How do I get to France and then to Brussels? Should I aim for the Euskotren from San Sebastian to Hendaye? RailEurope wants me to go through... Madrid, but that can't be right.

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Won't you look at that. It seems we have liftoff for an *economic* transition away from fossil fuels.

The transition needs to be economic, because some poorer countries rely on fossil fuels to service their debt. So debt cancellation is part of the package.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/29/capitalism-colombia-climate-summit-gustavo-petro?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

#economics
#NewEconomicThinking

theguardian.com

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 6mo ago

Come on, Hungary! Allez l'Hongrie! You can do it.

#hungary2026

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@bert_hubert@mastodon.nl interesting times.

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@otte_homan@theblower.au not at all. Plenty of pilgrims travel in small groups. And even if you travel alone, you end up chatting with various nonrandom strangers along the way.

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@kate@aus.social @pvonhellermannn@mastodon.green welcome then. That will be for another time for me.

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 6mo ago

Replying to

The ECI is organized by the Left Alliance group of the European Parliament. The main organizer is listed as Swedish MEP Malin Björk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malin_Bj%C3%B6rk This means that the success of the ECI gives Björk and her allies a strong argument to demand the involvement of the Parliament. I expect them to demand that the suspension of the association agreement be discussed in plenary. In other words, your signature to the ECI has a built-in institutional backing. That's how it should be! 3/4

en.wikipedia.org

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@EUCommission well played. Keep it up! @HennaVirkkunen

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@annaleen@wandering.shop that looks like a lot of fun.

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 3mo ago

Why #Ireland 's EU presidency is compromised.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/30/ireland-big-tech-lapdog-eu-presidency-digital-sovereignty?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

theguardian.com

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@billgoats that's great. If it accepts ePub, I would gladly buy one or two. Is anyone selling, that you know of?

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@jon their loss. And good on you for speaking out.

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

It is the fastest-ever ECI to reach the one million signatures goal (less than three months). Above-threshold member states by number of signatures are now 11 – Portugal made it too!.
It is promoted by the LEFT parliamentary group in the European Parliament, which is using this success to call for institutional action in the EU: https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/2077480/one-million-europeans-call-on-eu-to-suspend-israel-association-deal-tbtb
Spanish PM Sanchez has picked up on it, and is asking the Council to suspend the agreement in question. https://www.politico.eu/article/spain-pushes-to-end-eu-israel-association-agreement-pedro-sanchez/

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brusselstimes.com

One million Europeans call on EU to suspend Israel association deal

The Justice for Palestine European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) reached one million signatures on Tuesday in three months.

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@flyhigh @adamgreenfield Leonardo, or Leonardo da Vinci. Vinci is his place of birth, so referring to Leonardo as "da Vinci" would be like referring to me as "from Bologna".

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@capnthommo@c.im hopefully not forever. @EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@capnthommo@c.im if that is any consolation, so have we. And we, too, feel cheated, and deprived of an important part of our community of destiny. No one can tell me that the British Isles are not part of Europe. @EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 6mo ago

Replying to

The link to the ECI is both in my original thread and here: https://citizens-initiative.europa.eu/initiatives/details/2025/000005_en You know what to do! Peace out.

European Citizens' Initiative

Initiative detail | European Citizens' Initiative

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 6mo ago

Replying to

The collection of signatures continues until January 2027. The political goal should now be to make this the most successful ECI ever (I imagine this, since I am not involved in its organization). I think 3-4 million signatures is not unrealistic. As part of this goal, minimum thresholds should be achieved in more member states (minimum is 7, currently 10). 2/3

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@Zumbador@mefi.social if I meet a Guillaume I will flag it.

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green what are the odds, eh. Would have loved to bump into you. Started walking on May 3.

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@futurebird you think in interesting ways!

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@partim thank you! So does railfinder.eu.

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@benchmark thanks for the tip!

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@ronanmcd "influencers", eh.

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@jwildeboer@social.wildeboer.net "vote for your people". Well said Jan!

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 6mo ago

"[Father of convolutional neural networks Yann] LeCun sees the LLM approach as essentially a dead end."

#AI

https://www.brown.edu/news/2026-04-01/yann-lecun-artificial-intelligence-pioneer

In lecture at Brown, Yann LeCun discusses a new approach to AI

Brown University

In lecture at Brown, Yann LeCun discusses a new approach to AI

No stranger to controversy, AI pioneer Yann LeCun told a capacity crowd that large language models are not the future of AI and that a new approach is needed if machines are to achieve human-like intelligence.

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@Tutanota@mastodon.social done

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 6mo ago

@jwildeboer@social.wildeboer.net

"Public replies to this toot will show up as comments under the blog post."

Hello Jan, may I ask what you use to achieve that?

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@gimulnautti@mastodon.green so far, missed @gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green , of all people, by two weeks.

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@junior@masto.ai thanks, see you on one Way or another. 🙂

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@FranceskAlbs immagino che abbia già saputo, ma stamattina un'altra buona notizia è questa: https://mastodon.green/@alberto_cottica/116401957300090661 Complimenti e grazie per il suo lavoro.

Mastodon.green

Alberto Cottica (@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green)

1/4 I am delighted to announce that the European Citizen Initiative (ECI) asking the EU to suspend the association agreement with Israel on human rights grounds has collected over one million signatures. The @EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu and the European Parliament have now a legal obligation to respond. 300K signatures were collected in less than one week! I know this because six days ago I wrote a thread to explain how ECIs work and ask people to support this ECI in particular.

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@trantion you seem to be right. I can get to Hendaye from Leon in about 8-9 hours. I doubt I would save much time if I headed to Madrid and then Barcelona instead

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@rysiek@mstdn.social no way! Did you know that Nadia was briefly CEO of Q9?

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@adamgreenfield @flyhigh you mean Dan Simmons? I enjoyed it a lot.

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@j_bertolotti that said, starter's packs are probably a good idea. I bootstrapped my own timeline one follow at a time, but if I were #newhere today I would definitely use one or two.

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@akareilly yes, but thanks. Seat61 recommends Euskatren.

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@trantion understood. Sounds complicated!

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Alberto Cottica @alberto_cottica@mastodon.green

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@NatureMC @ikuturso @FediFollows @EUCommission One for @angelodimambro

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