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Reply | Morsy
at 10:42 15 Jul 2025
We can't be sentimental about it.
Morsy has been a fantastic player for us. Probably the single most important player in our two promotions. A great leader and some great moments.
But he is past his prime. And he showed he wasn't quite good enough for the premier league last season. Let's move on. Give him a warm welcome if he plays against us next season. And consider him a club legend once he retires. |
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Reply | Best ever signing ‘on paper’
at 08:43 13 Jul 2025
Most of our signings last summer
Martijn Reuser
Finidi George
Pablo (the first time)
Ivan Campo
Sylvan Legwinski
Gio (loan) [Post edited 13 Jul 8:43]
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Reply | Govt deficit: what would you do?
at 15:56 8 Jul 2025
Legalising cannabis would seem to be an obvious money-maker.
Can't leave the house without smelling weed everywhere you go, so its clearly widely-used. Government may as well get a cut of that. |
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Reply | ITFC ‘Unpopular Opinions’
at 15:34 3 Jul 2025
Our youth development has been exceptionally poor for decades, long predating the category 1/2 conversation.
The only premier league-quality player we have produced this millennium is Darren Bent. [Post edited 3 Jul 15:35]
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Thread | What has happened to Essex in the cricket this year?
at 07:20 21 Jun 2025
Struggling in the County Championship. Getting thrashed every game in the T20 Blast.
Their team is not hugely dissimilar from the one that has been very successful in recent years. Elgar has replaced A Cook. One international-standard opener for another. Cox has replaced Lawrence. One batter on the fringes of the England team for another. But the core of Harmer, Cook, Porter and co. is still there.
Too many youngsters? Allison, Das, Benkenstein and Thain have potential, but can Essex carry 2-3 of them in every match?
Senior players not performing? Rossington signed a white-ball only contract, only to be dropped from the Blast because of his poor form.
Best players missing? Cox and Cook being on the fringes of the England team means Essex have been without their best batter and bowler. Annoying, because neither have actually played for the England first XI, other than Cook against Zimbabwe. |
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Reply | AI
at 11:57 10 Jun 2025
I manage a development team in one of the UK's largest software companies.
Publically, the message is "AI is not replacing you. It will allow you to learn new skills. You'll be paid more. It will do the boring work you don't like doing."
Behind closed doors, the conversation is about reduction of workforce. Either through redundancies or not backfilling leavers.
Ultimately, what senior leaders are judged on is metrics like revenue, profit growth and share price. They will use AI to hire fewer people and reduce wages.
I'm not opposed to AI. It has the potential to massively increase everyone's quality of life. The genie is also out of the bottle, so we can't stop it. But we need to make sure that everyone benefits from it, not just the few.
Take Thatcher closing mines in the north of England. Those mines probably needed to close at some point. They weren't cost effective and coal is not environmentally friendly. I don't think we should keep them open for the sake of keeping people employed. But the mistake Thatcher made is to not invest in alternative industries in the north. So we've ended up with a huge wealth divide between the north and south. AI is going to do the same thing at a much larger scale, globally. |
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Reply | AI
at 11:25 10 Jun 2025
People have been noisily arguing about the impact of Brexit, austerity, even global warming. But we are sleepwalking into the change which is going to have the most profound effect on humanity. |
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Reply | AI
at 10:29 10 Jun 2025
So say those 1M drivers are reduced to 200k. As you say, we still need some drivers, particularly where loading and unloading is required. In another decade, the loading an unloading will mainly be done by robots, drones etc... So another chunk of jobs will go then.
Tools are coming along that can do the work of junior software engineers. So lets say there is a 50% reduction in the number of software engineering jobs.
We might not need GPs anymore, only specialist doctors. GPs are essentially gatekeepers to the specialists and their job is relatively easy to automate. So there is a reduction in the number of doctors required.
AIs are already very good at replicating the work of lawyers. Lets half the number of them required.
Artists, writers, pretty much any creative industry. They are going to be decimated. Hollywood films will use AI for most of their special effects.
You can go through most industries and see the same pattern.
Yes, there will be some new jobs created. But not on anywhere near the same scale as the rate they are being lost.
What AI does is consolidate the wealth of those who own the AI and remove employment from those who don't. This will further the wealth gap between the haves and have-nots. And its silly. What AI should do is enable people to work less whilst enjoying a similar or better lifestyle. But that is not the direction capitalism is taking us in. [Post edited 10 Jun 10:29]
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Reply | AI
at 09:22 10 Jun 2025
I don't know about eating itself, but I am already seeing situations where both sides of a conversation have been replaced by AI without the other side knowing - ending up with a loop of nonsense conversation.
e.g. I need to give a project status update. My project management tool has a button to generate wordy status update using gen AI. My boss gets a load of wordy updates and doesn't have time to read them. So he uses gen AI to summarise them. etc... etc... Ultimately, no human ever reads the update. Its just AIs creating text to be consumed by other AIs. |
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Reply | AI
at 09:11 10 Jun 2025
There are around 500,000 professional drivers in the UK. Lorry drivers, taxi drivers, delivery drivers etc...
When viable self driving vehicles come along in the next few years, do you think that number is going to go up, down or stay the same? |
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Reply | AI
at 08:41 10 Jun 2025
AI is going to be the biggest and scariest change to the way we live our lives, probably in the history of humanity. Think about the amount the world changed with the adoption of the internet between the late 90s and early 2010s. Now multiply that by a big number.
I'm not sure people who don't work in the industry realise quite how quickly its progressing and what AI is able to do now. Yes, its not currently as good as a human at most tasks. But extrapolate the rate of improvement and you will see a time in the not-too-distant future where it can replicate or better a human at most things.
If you are a knowledge worker (i.e. most white collar jobs), your job is going to be augmented, and possibly replaced by AI in the next 15 years. If you are a driver (the most common job on the planet), your job is going to be replaced by AI in the next 15 years. If you work with your hands, robotics and AI will probably augment or replace your role in the next 20-30 years.
There are typically three counter arguments to job losses.
1) There will be other jobs, jobs we cannot imagine today. Possibly. But we are talking about the biggest shift humanity has ever seen over such a short period of time. That is going to cause A LOT of upheaval.
2) If nobody has jobs, nobody will have money for things, so the capitalists won't allow it. This argument relies on the idea that capitalists act as a homogenous group who all act in the interests of the group as a whole, rather than themselves as individuals. We know this is not the case.
3) My job could never be done by an AI. Think again. |
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Reply | Jeremy Bowen's piece this morning is particularly clear, I think.
at 10:37 8 Jun 2025
I suppose the obvious question is: What can the world do?
1) Condem what is going on. The UK are already doing this. It's toothless, but recognises we don't agree with Israel's actions.
2) Trade sanctions. We've seen with Russia, that these are not particularly effective unless everyone does them. The US will not sanction Israel.
3) Military intervention. Israel is probably a nuclear power, with significant military capability. They are allied with the US. There is also a delicate balance of power in the Middle East and doing anything to destabilize that could be disasterous. [Post edited 8 Jun 10:38]
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Reply | Following the JET thread, how about a Town Reprobate XI?
at 18:34 22 May 2025
Paul Taylor assault and drugs test failure.
Brandon Williams dangerous driving and driving without insurance.
Careless Carless Carlos Edwards driving whilst disqualified. [Post edited 22 May 18:41]
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Reply | I'm sure I'm reiterating the same point many have made
at 20:54 2 Feb 2025
Excellent:
Delap - has been excellent. Worries defenders. Scores goals. Without him, we would be a long way adrift.
Good:
Cajuste - upgrade on Luongo, but a similar kind of player. Clearly has a fitness issue. 6/10 every game, without ever going above that.
OK:
O'Shea - solid defender. Doesn't do much wrong.
Huchinson - has shown flashes of brilliance, but we are asking far too much of him. Has been particular poor since xmas, suggesting he needs a break.
Poor:
Szmodics - not sure why we bought him. Isn't fast, physical or tricksy enough to challenge premier league defenders. Can score goals, but offers little else. Being played out of position, but not good enough to warrant building our team around.
Greaves - has looked less effective than Burgess.
Very Poor:
Johnson - positioning is poor defensively. Offers nothing going forward. A downgrade on Harry Clarke. A significant downgrade on Tuanzebe.
Phillips - paying a fortune for him based on past glories. Wants to play as a third centre back, which invites pressure. Doesn't seem to be able to move the ball forward. Several mistakes which have cost us goals.
Muric - poor distribution. Multiple costly mistakes. Causing trouble on international duty.
Jack Clarke - lightweight. Can't beat a man. Weak shooting. Similar to Szmodics, we are playing him out of position, but he has shown no signs that he is worth changing our system to accomodate him.
Too early to say:
Godfrey, Philogene, Enciso, Ogbene, Townsend |
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Reply | Starmer’s definition of working people.
at 19:34 25 Oct 2024
"As a pensioner"..."I have never claimed a penny from the Government"
The state pension is a benefit, the same as any other benefit. Disabled, sick and unwillingly unemployed people are not freeloaders, any more than pensioners are. People who are on benefits are usually deserving of said benefits. |
| | EddyJ
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