...when Ayn Rand quotes become adequate.

OSW is focused on analysis of key processes and events that take place in Poland’s broad international surrounding. Our portfolio includes Russia, Caucasus and Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, the Baltic Sea Rim (Germany, Scandinavia and Baltic States), as well as China, Turkey and Israel. Our task is to monitor political, social and economic processes, offer both up-to-date and in-depth analyses to our government, as well as participate in debates in expert and academic communities in Poland and abroad. To fulfill this task, there are over forty analysts employed.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/432966

I am doing "prior art" research to find out what are reliable and open constructions of sensors (and controlling/recording) platforms used in citizen monitoring of environment.

Due to recent events in Poland, priority topic is river monitoring:

• water temperature,
• pH,
• conductivity,
• dissolved oxygen,
• turbidity,
• ORP (oxidation reduction potential),
• water level (sonar?).

Also, typical weather station sensors recommendations will be appreciated.

If you know about an active group dealing with river environment monitoring, please drop a link here – I will be happy to learn from them.

At this stage, I do not intend to start any deep R&D. I need to learn about good (best!) practices and appropriate hardware, so we can deploy a network of early warning checkpoints as soon and as cheaply as possible.

I am doing "prior art" research to find out what are reliable and open constructions of sensors (and controlling/recording) platforms used in citizen monitoring of environment.

Due to recent events in Poland, priority topic is river monitoring:

• water temperature,
• pH,
• conductivity,
• dissolved oxygen,
• turbidity,
• ORP (oxidation reduction potential),
• water level (sonar?).

Also, typical weather station sensors recommendations will be appreciated.

If you know about an active group dealing with river environment monitoring, please drop a link here – I will be happy to learn from them.

At this stage, I do not intend to start any deep R&D. I need to learn about good (best!) practices and appropriate hardware, so we can deploy a network of early warning checkpoints as soon and as cheaply as possible.

The Trolley Problem is a cyclical (iterative) experiment, showing how a change in the available information can affect the choices made.

To increase the emotional factor in the decision-making process, it is dramatized as a scene where a speeding car runs along a track, and the subject of the experiment (the "player") has to decide whether to divert it to one track or the other.

One of the options is technically easier because it only requires doing nothing. Without player interference, things will (khem, khem) take their course anyway.

The Trolley Problem trap is built of three parts:

1. The experiment has an arbitrary number of cycles. In each consecutive cycle, the experimenter (equivalent to the game master "GM" / director) changes the scope and content of the information available to the player, trying to lead them from a situation of simple and obvious choice to a situation in which the choice becomes less and less obvious.

2. The player is also under increasing tension between the emotional aspect (Track A: the last panda on the planet; Track B: a psychopathic rapist, the future father of the first feminist president of the Earth Nations Federation) and the implicit expectation that they will solve the dilemma using rational thinking only. In reality, the only goal of the MG is to drive the player to a nervous breakdown due to an unbearable cognitive dilemma.

3. A subtle element of the trap is the time travel aspect. Each cycle (iteration) begins (in the story world – "in-game") at the same point – after a full reset. However, "out-game" the player is aware of previous cycles and the choices made in them. The human mind tends to become attached to its own decisions. The MG tries to push the player to change his or her decisions for less and less obvious reasons, which adds to the discomfort, as the mind wants to see itself as an "integrated" being, not an unstable one.

How to get out of the trap (and use the experience to strengthen self-determination)?

This requires developing several important elements of awareness, which boil down to a readiness to make (and fix) mistakes.

1. Acknowledging the information reset.

When I receive new significant information regarding a previously made decision, it is as appropriate as possible to review that decision and possibly change it. I don't get attached to my previous choices, and it doesn't offend me if I back out of them.

2. Accepting the limitations of rational thinking.

Regardless of the completeness of the decision information, I am always ready for the fact that some things cannot be (especially under time pressure) compared rationally. I am ready to make some decisions (after exhausting other sensible ways) randomly or intuitively, and accept the consequences.

3. Accepting that my knowledge and agency are incomplete – always and everywhere.

I will never have full knowledge of the circumstances of my choices. I will never be fully capable – physically, mentally or emotionally – of making and executing every decision imaginable.

To sum up, the trap of the trolley dilemma is to impose unrealistic and contradictory expectations on the player. And getting out of it requires acknowledging one's own limitations and making more direct contact with reality (bypassing even the most magnificent intermediaries). The plus side is that it doesn't require rearranging a vase full of glowing coals with your bare hands....

Morning coffee musings

Transition / Collapse solutions — how to get most out of collapsing infrastructure.

During slo-mo catastrophe, more and more infrastructure may become unused, but still technically working. This is what we have now with empty buildings / apartments for example. Or some abandoned industrial facilities taken over by their crews.

But there are more technical challenges. If the grid is down, what shall we need to redirect output of a local wind/solar farm to the local community use? How to start running local rail transport? How to salvage content of a logistic centre before it gets marauded? Etc. etc…

The inconvenience here lies in the fact that most of such actions are considered illegal under regular circumstances. But we will need them when conditions cease to be "regular". I believe we should be able to discuss them under the general category of "civil / civic defense" or "communal resilience".

What do you think?

Hi, We just started a fundraising campaign to buy our first boat, intended as a proof-of-concept for the WartaMAX project. It will be the first boat fully dedicated for Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) here in Poznań (Western Poland). It will also be the beginning of the process to introduce SolarPunk values into local communities across Warta bioregion.

See more on slides below.

Supporters and interested associates warmly invited!

is there any forum / group or wiki, providing support for Osada users/admins?

I am looking for a nice wiki platform using (or about to start using) federation. My initial search brought http://fed.wiki.org, but it seems to come from a parallel universe...

We are a collective of four persons, trying to build a translation and publishing cooperative in Poland.

As a rule, we aim to publish our works under CC-BY-SA licence, and we do not want to sell them. Thus, we need to find a way to get funding upfront, so we can pay justly for the work of translators and editors.

That is what this post is about -- please kindly help us learn more about possible sources of funding, compatible with our venture, across Europe and the rest of the world.

We are looking for trusted and ethical crowfunding operators, fiscal sponsors, donors and grantors that would be keen and able to support translation and Polish edition of texts similar to (currently in our pipeline):

• Winterhorn RPG (how governments destroy activist groups).
• "Anarchy works" by Peter Gelderloos (a panorama of anarchist and other stateless social models across known history)

All constructive hints welcome.

I am looking for people who are interested in Zot-based platforms: Hubzilla, Zap and Osada as a base to build "village intranet" instances for either intentional or local communities. Anyone out there?