Angry, angry at linkedin

Saw this post by a dingus about the north sea oil expansion that Andy Burnham is probably going to accept



and I got irrationally angry. Kind of annoying, since he uses the typical "ooh, my argument is the rational one, everyone else is dumb and emotional". Well, hard to not be emotional when you just give crap arguments that people are going to use to justify to themselves that, you know, they are not so bad after all, building more oil infrastructure is kind of good in the end, we are all contributing. AGGGRF.
Another thing that puts more rage into my body: This is on LinkedIn, where every is eventually scrutinized by every future employers, where my account is irrevocably attached to me and my company.
So, instead of replying over there, I'll just vent on here (which, is ultimately why I did this page). I'll start by refuting the points:

Lower prices

The guy already says it will not lower prices, which is good. However, a caveat: it will! Certainly not in any noticeable amount, but higher global production ultimately will lead to lower prices, specially if other countries follow the UK's lack of serious approach to the climate crisis and open up their oil fields. Here kind of lies one of my biggest grief with the post: The UK boasts of leading in the energy transformation. This is true (though, maybe not as much as they boast to). Countries do look at other countries when thinking of what to do about the climate crisis, and seeing one badly justify that opening up new fields is good actually sends a bad message.
So, lower prices, bad! Lower prices do lead to higher consumption, that is just how it is. A market solution will just not be enough (as we have been seeing). It is true that if the price of oil is low enough there will just not be enough people drilling, however, this has to be achieved by lowering consumption, not increased production!

We have to import it anyway

Duh. Yes, bringing it from another country is more polluting than just grabing it from here. You know what is even less polluting though? Not burning it. The only way to not burning it, is not taking it out of the ground. As soon as it is taken out of the ground, that oil is going to be eventually burnt.
What annoyis me the most about this point is that it is the same that is given for building pipelines, enlarging highways, or any other oil infrastructure. Yes, if we structure our environment so oil consumption is as efficient as it can be, oil consumption will be more efficient, but we will also be consuming a whole lot more of it! ARGSFGARR.

Economic leakage

Dumb economic argument against exports, as if foreign companies are going to be vetted from bidding. As per usual, the profits/value will go to whoever owns the oil exploitation, which can be either foreign, or local. Regardless, this will be some tax evading mega company, and the UK will just see none of it.

Jobs and skills

Yes, working in an oil field, the best job you can imagine. And what skills? Smart people developing in one of the fields that we actually need to eliminate. If you want "jobs and skills", invest in renewables! Any development would bring "jobs and skill", and the average one would bring better jobs, and more transferable/future proof skills.

Fiscal value

Ah, yes, taxes. Again, any development would bring in tax revenue. Thing is, we can just increase taxes! One of the policies Andy keeps dancing around is a wealth tax. We do not need to build oil infrastructure to raise tax revenue, the wealth is already here.
RANT OVER, FUCK THAT GUY

20th July 2026

Linkedinpostin

Saw a video a while back talking about slop and AI, and how capitalism was already producing AI slop before AI. Part of my job means been writting Linkedin posts every now and then, and feeling the process firsthand has been something else.

16th March 2026

Your job matters

WARNING: ANGRY RANT

Most people spend around 35h per week working. Other than sleeping, is the single thing most people do during their adult lives. Still, horrible actions are justified by the phrase "it's just a job". There are always alternatives.

If you spend 7 hours a day furthering the interests of petrol companies, you are dedicating your life to killing the planet. In all likelyhood, you have alternatives. These alternatives will make less money, and may be less intellectually stimulating. You are murdering people for money and/or fun. Your impact to the world is worse than that of any serial killer. You are worse than any serial killer.

If you spend 7 hours a day creating addictive gambling products, you are a stain on this world. The harm you are doing will not be compensated by whatever you do in the other 17 hours of your day.

I used to create machines for casinos. It was fun, it was engaging, and it paid well. A dual mind was, where I hated what I did while I was not working, but loved doing it while I was on the clock. I did leave after 6 months to start my PhD, and deeply regret having worked there.

My current job helps finance renewable projects, and I love it both on the job and outside. It does not pay as much as what I could get with a PhD in mathematics, but I do feel like whatever I do, my total impact on the world will be positive. I do still act locally in my day to day actions - avoiding flights, consuming responsibly etc.- but whatever I do, my net contribution to the fight against climate change will be greatly positive, with my job vastly outweighting whatever else I do.

One of the thing that annoys me the most about all of this is that usually the people that do the most harm are the ones that have the most alternatives. These are the highly educated workers working on the most impactfull positions, which could easily get a job at tons of other positions. The other position will pay less, suck it, you will probably still have a nice salary. Another one will take the position, but the pool of possible hires will be smaller. The position will have to be filled by someone that is either worse, or is asking for more money.

26th August 2025

Starting this!

Why not.

14th June 2025