English on Misha Velthuis

Landing post for people curious about the Fediverse

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0200

Esta publicación también está disponible en español.

Introduction

Hello! If you read this you have most likely been harassed by me about the Fediverse. Because I can’t shut up about it, and because I find myself sending around the same links to everyone all the time, I thought it would be good to have a “landing post” to refer people to.

First of all, thanks for taking the time to read this. My enthusiasm about the Fediverse is rooted in a conviction that our digital world can and must be better, but it does require all of us to pause and take some time to explore!

Escaping technofeudalism

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0200

From capitalism to technofeudalism

A few months ago I wrote a piece about capitalism. The premise was that, to see the distinctiveness of our current capitalist world, it helps to go back in time to see what it looked like before. A bit like traveling helps to see the distinctiveness of your hometown.

What distinguishes our capitalist present from our feudalist past, I wrote, is the separation of labour from the means of production, the ensuing emergence of money relations and markets, and the resulting systematic imperative for capitalists to reduce costs to retain market share.

Some thoughts on feudalism and capitalism

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0200

A Dutch version of this post has been published on doorbraak.eu.

Introduction

In this post I put together some ideas on capitalism, what it is, what it is not, and why it makes sense to recognize that we’re in it.

The reason why I am writing this, is because I feel that the term “capitalism” is often thrown around without too much care. As something that has to do with markets and profits. Or as something that is simply “not socialism or communism”.

Science-plaining reality to the humanities: the case against emergence

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0200

Yesterday, in an after-class discussion with a student, I found myself questioning the value of the concept of emergence, and the way it is embraced not just by complexity theorists but by the sciences at large. Today I found some time to think through the argument a bit more and then boom, this blog post EMERGED.

In short, I feel that the idea of emergence, and much of complexity theory in general, is just a form of “science-plaining”, where science invents its own jargon to “explain” to the humanities (and people at large) what they have known for centuries, while maintaining the untenable position that it “objectively describes the world”.

Timezones and org-caldav

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 23:00:00 +0200

If you, like me …

… use the Nextcloud calendar app to syncronize your calendar across devices,
… like to manage your calendar within Emacs,
… spend considerable part of the year in different timezones …

… I have great news for you: after years of trial and error, I think I have finally found a workable set-up.

To begin with, this set-up builds upon org-caldav, and the org-agenda. As it turns out, this combo works great in combination with Nextcloud, but there are a couple of tricks that are not mentioned in the documentation.

Fascism on the university

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 17:00:00 +0200

A Dutch version of this post has been published on doorbraak.eu.

On 4 November 2025, Science Guide reported on the decision by the rector of University Utrecht, Wilco Hazeleger, to allow the founder of the FvD - Thierry Baudet - to speak at a debate night at the university.

This is simultaneously shocking, and completely unsurprising. It is shocking because the academic community has apparently still - after everything that is happening in the world - not built up the necessary immune response to keep these threats out. It is unsurprising because this moral failure of university management has been with us for many years.

Speech 29 September 2025

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 10:21:00 +0200

Een Nederlanse vertaling van dit stuk verscheen op Doorbraak.

One of the worst things of teaching at the university is that students are constantly graduating. I wish I could prevent you all from graduating.

This is a sticker that I got from students who graduated last year. These were very impressive students. They played an important role in the city-wide protests against the silence and complicity of this society in the face of the ongoing genocide.

How much CO2 has been emitted in my lifetime?

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 09:33:00 +0200

N.B.1: 14 July 2025: I originally posted this on 12 August 2024. But the content is now new and improved.
N.B.2: A small discussion can be found underneath this Lemmy post.
N.B.3: To skip the explanation, and immediately create and download your own version of the new graph, click here: https://mishavelthuis.nl/co2-graph. It runs on a small server, so you might need to have a bit of patience. Also it works better on a desktop/laptop than on a phone 😬).

A powerful but problematic graph

For some years now, I have seen this graph go around on social media. I think it’s a powerful image, because it shows us so clearly that it is happening in our lifetime and under our watch.

Random encounters on the Fediverse #1: meeting Nuwagaba

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

A few days ago I shared this post, which basically adds to the many warnings (within and outside the Fediverse) that the U.S. is quickly descending into fascism. What is new?

One of the (private) responses came Nuwagaba Gift, a 21-year old teacher, community organizer and farmer from Uganda, and we ended up exploring some of the historical details of this Sturmabteilung (SA). Among other things, Nuwagaba pointed out the crazy story of the co-founder and leader of the SA, Ernest Röhm, who, before he was killed in night of the long knives, was recruited by the Bolivian military ataché of the Netherlands to serve in the Bolivian army…

Lessons from the past about lessons from the past

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

This article tells a fascinating story about how the municipality of Amsterdam tried to build an AI model to help officials detect fraud in welfare support. In particular, the article describes how the municipality tried to do it the right, ethical and fair way by avoiding bias.

The article presents many interesting and critical angles, but I still felt like adding my own two cents.

Some direct thoughts:

Treating everyone equally

The two faces of James Lovelock

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 12:10:00 +0000

Next time you have to explain to someone why it’s better to not eat meat, you can tell them that it is to make sure that the next asteroid impact will not prevent electronic life from knowing the universe.

Let James Lovelock be a vehicle for the universe to say crazy things about itself.

Renegade scientist, deranged technocrat

I have always had a hard time making up my mind about James Lovelock. On the one hand, his Gaia hypothesis has really changed the way I (and many others) think about the remarkable equilibria we are born into. On the other hand, the way his ego and his (largely self-acclaimed?) engineering credentials have consistently manifested in confused appeals to technocracy - “it may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while” - has been misguided and dangerous.

Accusations of antisemitism

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 12:10:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, a few kind students warned me about a post on Instagram: link.¹

I am always open to hear how my ideas and positions are hurtful in ways I do not realize yet. And I believe that when it comes to antisemitism, non-Jewish people like me have a special duty to be extra wary. As I have written here:

In the end, the conflict in Palestine knows many monsters, and they all feed on each other. But many of these monsters came from white, Dutch, German, French etc. non-Jewish people, manifested as the genocidal antisemitic and colonial violence committed abroad and at home. And since we cannot go back to fight these monsters in the past, the second best thing is to fight and resist their manifestations in the present, both at home and abroad.

Why we should no longer use Microsoft servers for email

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 12:10:00 +0000

Given the ongoing antidemocratic #coup in the United States and the ensuing increased security and privacy issues, the University of Amsterdam should move away from using Microsoft servers.

In short:

No amount of guarantees from Microsoft that our data remains in the EU can prevent US authorities from accessing our data on its servers.
The government of the United States is being taken over by fascist criminals.

Readings to support point 1

“It is no longer safe to move our governments and societies to US clouds” (Bert Hubert, 23 Feb 2025 link).

The very short version: it is madness to continue transferring the running of European societies and governments to American clouds. Not only is it a terrible idea given the kind of things the “King of America” keeps saying, the legal sophistry used to justify such transfers, like the nonsense letter the Dutch cabinet sent last week, has now been invalidated by Trump himself. And why are we doing this? Convenience. But it is very scary to make yourself 100% dependent on the goodwill of the American government merely because it is convenient. So let’s not.

Expand your Fediverse and meet new friends!

Fri, 24 Jan 2025 12:10:00 +0000

In this post I share three tips that have helped me find great people on Mastodon.

In contrast to your regular corporate Big Tech social media, the Fediverse is not packed with algorithms that build your world for you. You have to do it yourself.

To be sure, this has advantages. For example, your digital world will be a more active product of who you are and what you like, rather than what some algorithm thinks you like, on the basis of some superficial reading of who you are. Also, it prevents a few popular accounts from getting even more popular, which helps to spread and share the community’s attention more equally.

Antizionism and antisemitism

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 11:15:00 +0100

When our governments insist with all their propaganda tools that speaking out against Israel is antisemitic - conflating antizionism with antisemitism - we can’t be surprised that some angry teens in Amsterdam - furious about an ongoing genocide - make the same (stupid and dangerous) mistake.

Fighting the latter, implies fighting the former.

Internalize this, environmental economists

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 17:15:00 +0100

“We only have to internalize the externalities”.¹ That’s what “environmental economists” say. For example by imposing a tax on the production/consumption that damages the environment, or by requiring producers/consumers to buy tradable emission rights.

But there are some fundamental issues in their way of thinking:

Whatsapp is a bad deal

Sun, 06 Oct 2024 18:01:00 +0200

This blog post first appeared in February 2024 on the website of OpenTech(AUC).

Whatsapp is a bad deal

Normally, when you feel you’re getting the short end of a stick, for example when the supermarket sells you expensive mushy cauliflowers, or when the organization you volunteer at treats you disrespectfully, you go and find what you need somewhere else.

This ability to “defect” to an alternative when you feel you’re not getting a good deal, is an important “power” that helps you get reasonable deals.¹

Not only heroes wear capes

Sun, 06 Oct 2024 17:00:00 +0200

Window ecosystem on the 7th floor

Mon, 12 Aug 2024 18:27:00 +0200

Our little apartment in Medellín is on the 7th floor. But that doesn’t prevent nature from doing its thing.

The food chain starts with a banana. We cut it up and put it on a wooden feeder. So far, we have been visited by Guacharacas (see video), Mieleros, Bichofues, Candelarias, Azulejos, Verdulejos, Mayos and today even a Carpintero.

No matter how hard these birds try to scrape the last piece of banana from the feeder, there is always something left. But it doesn’t go to waste! Because, believe it or not, ants find their way up to the seventh floor. And they feast on what is left of the banana.

Blood, nitrogen and the Great Oxidation Event

Fri, 09 Aug 2024 12:06:00 +0200

Nodules are red, violates are blue

I was today years old when I learned why the nitrogen fixing nodules on the roots of legumes tend to be red when you open them. It has to do with the Great Oxidation Event, which happened around 2.5 billion years ago, and is directly connected to the reason why our blood is red.

(This article also exists in Spanish: link)

Nitrogen is naturally scarce. It might make up the bulk of what we call “air”, but this nitrogen exists as N₂, and most organisms have no clue what to do with that. “Most organisms”, because there are a few bacteria that have evolved the capacity to capture nitrogen from the atmosphere, and turn it into molecules that are biologically useful, like NH₃.

Shameless gringos in Medellín

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 12:05:00 +0200

The shamelessness with which gringos in Medellín relish in their financial advantage puzzles me.

“I worked hard for the money I’m spending.”

I’m sure you did, but not even close to as hard as you make your Colombian counterpart work for it.

“But I’m helping people by spending my money here.”

If you are serious, stop trying to 1. find the cheapest way to 2. satisfy your preferences and desires, and find ways to make your undeserved comfort alleviate other people’s undeserved discomfort.

Quantum coherence and Zionism

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 19:56:00 +0200

Meeting yourself

Warning: This post contains some spoilers about the movie “Coherence”.

Imagine that, right now, through the door that is closest to you, someone walks in, and it is… you. A complete, full, physical double of yourself. This other you is as perplexed as you: similarly shocked to find a complete, full, physical double of itself.

If you think this would merely be interesting and cool you probably have not seen the movie “Coherence”.

Sartre: Antisemite and Jew

Wed, 10 Jan 2024 18:50:00 +0100

Intro and disclaimer

I read this book with some friends. Someone had recommended it, and we felt that it was an appropriate time to reflect on what antisemitism has meant in the past, to better understand what it means in the present.

At the start I was a bit sceptical about this contemporary relevance: after all, a lot has happened since Sartre wrote this book (written in 1944, published in 1946). For example, to just mention something, the founding of the state Israel (in 1948). But after reading the book, I was surprised how helpful some of the arguments still are (at least to me).

Masha Gessen, antisemitism and tokenization

Sun, 17 Dec 2023 18:30:00 +0100

Today I was accused of “tokenization” in sharing this powerful essay by Masha Gessen on Mastodon (see the reactions under this post).¹ Because of the character limit of a Mastodon post (at least on my server), I decided to turn my response into a little blog post.

In short, the principle that I was accused of violating looks like this: as an outsider to a community, I should not share/boost the view of a minority of that community, when that view disqualifies the concerns that are held by the majority of that community.

Please help yourself

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 11:04:00 +0200

The current international order is like:

Put your own oxygen mask on first, order a glass of wine, purchase something shiny from the duty free shop, watch your favourite movie, take a little nap, before assisting others.

Mastodon post

Casual UvA re-activates the strike

Tue, 30 May 2023 02:13:00 +0200

In the spring of 2022, more than a hundred lecturers, organized under the banner of Casual UvA, laid down their marking work and joined a strike. Their demands were simple: 1) permanent contracts for structural work, 2) opportunities for professional development and 3) workload transparency.

After several weeks, the University of Amsterdam presented a new teachers policy that was meant to address the core concerns and frustrations of its lecturers. In response, the lecturers agreed to suspend the strike, hoping that the new policy would be as effective and generous as the university’s central management claimed it would be.

No time to lose

Fri, 24 Mar 2023 11:20:00 +0100

We often say “climate change is here. We have no time to lose.” This is very true, in the sense that we have to act now. In the sense that we cannot afford to lose or waste more time. But it is also not true, in the sense that - with climate change - we have so much to lose, including, not in the least, time.

Imagine what we could have done with all the time that we (and future generations) will have to spend on repairing, adjusting, relocating, rebuilding.

How to never get stuck again

Sat, 17 Dec 2022 13:10:00 +0100

One reason why Mastodon, being part of the Fediverse, is great, is that whenever the next big thing pops up (let’s say the Mastodon of The Future), and it stays within the Fediverse, we will all stay connected. No more “starting over” our networks from scratch.

We all have friends and family who are like “so you want me to switch to Mastodon now? Last year it was Signal, and before that Telegram. I can’t be starting over all the time. I’m sticking to Whatsapp and Twitter”. Now they won’t have an excuse anymore. After switching to the Fediverse we never have to start over again.

The fediverse

Fri, 04 Nov 2022 12:00:00 +0100

Originally published 19 Jan 2022.

TLDR: I think the Fediverse - a group of community-owned, open-source, self-hosted, decentralized and interconnected social media platforms - is a cool and promising alternative to the absolute mess that we have let ourselves be trapped in. For more info on the Fediverse, see for instance this.

In short: I don’t like how large corporate social media platforms 1) collect our data, aggregate it and keep it to themselves, 2) use that data to influence us in a way that makes them and others exorbitant amounts of money (and also happens to undermine the foundations of our democracy by drawing people into fascist filter bubbles), and 3) make it artificially hard to leave them.

Whataboutism

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 16:45:00 +0200

I often hear people reject arguments in discussions as “whataboutisms”. The idea is that whataboutisms - “ok, you’re angry about thing A, but what about thing B and thing C” - effectively undermine any kind of critique.

I understand this wariness. Especially when it is done on purpose and in bad faith, it is a dangerously easy way to kill any political talk.¹

Still, I wonder why pointing out the ubiquity of injustice should necessarily lead to some kind of cynical fatalism. Why - when the whatboutism is done without too much snobbery or moral high grounds - the response cannot be something like “yes, actually you’re right: thing A sucks, but fuck things B and C as well”.

The status quo is radical

Sat, 23 Oct 2021 18:56:00 +0200

Some people might say that an idea like degrowth is (in a disqualifying way) “radical”, but it is the current system that is radical. It is undermining the very basis of everyday life. On a global scale. For (at least) centuries to come. No system or group of people has ever been so close to realizing something so utterly insane. If the path you walk leads to large-scale destruction, it’s the “prudent conservatives” who are the irresponsible radical nutcrackers.

How many people work for me?

Mon, 23 Aug 2021 15:05:00 +0200

Every day a certain amount of work is done. Food is grown. Machines are built and operated. Stuff is transported. If I would add up all the time - the seconds, minutes, hours - that other people work to provide me with the things that I consume, would I arrive at 1 FTE? 2 FTE? 5?¹ In other words: BP may have tricked me into thinking about my carbon footprint, but what is my labour foot print??

Conservatives

Thu, 29 Jul 2021 00:42:00 +0200

Conservatives often want to stop the world from changing, unless this requires them to change their own ways. In that case they prefer to deny that the world is changing.