[Nursie]

I don't think I've read Manna in about 20 years now, it was a gem to stumble across in the early 00s.

Now that I live in Australia, unfortunately I don't think that utopia will happen here when we have idiot politicians making up bullshit science off the cuff to justify rolling over and begging for AI datacentres - https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jul/23/austr...

I mean seriously, wow.

[Terr_]

I assumed that the author's Australia choice was not so much about politics but about the geographical mood, so that the Slightly-Better-Promise(d) Land could plausibly be an autarky with natural borders.

[Nursie]

Yeah I'm sure you're right, it's just used as a "Meanwhile, somewhere with a different take on how this could all play out...."

TBH I was just looking for an excuse to share that link because the stupidity on display there has blown my mind.