General pessimism on AI and education.
synapses.co.za/ai-education-…
Jacques Rousseau retweeted
Do please read this.
Lozaah asks what we deliver in Dunoon. I will answer him.
Here is a (not exhaustive) list:
1) Dunoon receives waste collection 3 times a week (most of the rest of the city receives a 1x per week service), and this is a totally free service (not free to the City, but free to the residents of Dunoon). We also recently (in the last month or so) handed out over 800 extra wheelie bins, to try to help stop dumping.
2) Dunoon receives free water and sanitation (again not free to the City, but free to the residents of Dunoon)*
3) Dunoon is home to the City’s most beautiful library, which also offers a range of courses, study help to kids, reading classes, and more
4) Dunoon has a dedicated MyCiti bus route. This provides heavily-subsidised public transport options to residents in the area. Unfortunately a small number of residents (or taxi instigators) burnt down two of the main MyCiti stations in the area. Those are now being fully rebuilt after a long insurance claim. In the meantime, buses are running on schedule every day and are well used.
5) Dunoon has dedicated law enforcement deployment. On Thursday night I joined 4 city law enforcement officers who patrol Dunoon through the night, every night. One resident told me on Thursday that these patrols make her feel safer when she’s alone with her children at night.
6) Dunoon has a public clinic which offers free healthcare, free chronic medication, an emergency medical treatment facility 8 hours a day
7) Dunoon residents (approved beneficiaries) will benefit from one of the City’s larger public housing projects, the so-called “Annandale” project
8) Dunoon is one of the first communities to get a new City “local planning support office” to help residents build legal, safe small-scale rental units, and all of the fees and charges for these micro developments have been removed
9) Dunoon has two public schools, which are largely “no fee” schools, funded by the Western Cape government, also a DA government
For brevity, I’m not covering fire and rescue, roads, parks, local planning support, informal trading infrastructure, and much more besides. All delivered free of charge to residents.
*Eskom is the electricity provider to Dunoon, not the City, so I can’t speak to that
These books (the trilogy, I mean) were a delight to read at the time. It's sometimes been less pleasant to live in them.
theguardian.com/books/2025/j…
While I can't do the whole outrage thing, this was not a good idea. synapses.co.za/purple-cows-c…
Surveying social media (well, X in this case, alongside comments on articles) on the day of National Elections in South Africa, I have to declare that I would support a qualified franchise, and insist that voters must have a brain.
Jacques Rousseau retweeted
Our project, as beautifully captured in this article:
dailymaverick.co.za/article/…
Vale, Dan Dennett - you never stopped being interesting, generous, and patient (for the last one, at least up until it became futile): dailynous.com/2024/04/19/dan…
While the vast majority of members of UCT's Senate would be appalled at events in Gaza, an academic boycott is a pointless and irresponsible response.
synapses.co.za/uct-and-the-p…
A Valentine story.
washingtonpost.com/world/202…
Jacques Rousseau retweeted
Statement on today’s disruption of a lawful protest:
Cape Town’s commitment to tolerance and freedom of expression is sacrosanct
A good review of a book that's well-worth reading - both wise and also utterly charming.
prospectmagazine.co.uk/cultu…
Jacques Rousseau retweeted
1) Emphatic judgment from SCA today dismissing Mr Jacob Zuma's appeal against High Court judgement enforcing its invalidation of the private prosecution of Mr Billy Downer and Ms Karyn Maughan pending an appeal.
"The basic assumptions and attitudes necessary for cultivating free speech do not come to us naturally." (💰). A simple restatement of (an aspect of) the value of an education in the humanities.
nytimes.com/2023/09/03/opini…
The salvage of Bark Europa is about to kick off. View from the Radisson Red rooftop bar, V&A Waterfront. – at Cape Town, South Africa
Ernst Roets, Ivo Vegter, and Martin van Staden's exchange of views on liberalism seems unlikely to encourage readers to think: synapses.co.za/liberal-democ…
At the @Eusebius memorial, @RediTlhabi's remarks (2h15m in) were not only a fitting tribute to him, but also a passionate & cogent argument for sincere debate. (And, after people remarked on his voice notes, I checked - hours! of them on my phone...) youtube.com/watch?v=DdavyPvf…












