Malazan Empire: Grief - Viewing Profile - Malazan Empire

Overall, the market looks hugely jittery right now -- but there's not even agreement about what to be jittery about. Is it overinvestment into AI, AI destroying the value of other investments, or somehow both at once?

AI firms got 61% of global venture capital funding last year. Meanwhile multiple investment banks are sounding the alarm about how exposed private credit firms are to software sectors that AI itself might disrupt.

You have what is essentially dystopian sci-fi moving markets, all while AI's impact on official data when it comes to say jobs or growth remains very limited.

When there is such huge uncertainty about the future it feels almost inevitable that the market will have it wrong.

The thing about not spooking markets is that the longer you avoid a correction the worse the correction gets.

Maark Abbott, on 20 February 2026 - 08:43 AM, said:

I think that one is more that we've passed the peak of really worrying about Trump, rather than any impressive growth within the UK itself.

In the early days of his Presidency, no-one had a clear idea what the limits of US policy were. The administration was pushing hard to take advantage of the dependencies it had built up (e.g supplying Ukraine) for leverage. And politicians were obviously worried that their country would be hammered by tariffs.

Now it's been tested for a year and the limits of the US are more obvious. I'm not talking about the domestic court cases, though I'm sure plenty of global governments are also eyeing the upcoming midterms, but things like the treasury market.

At the same time, other countries are gradually working to reduce their dependencies. That's going to be a long-term process. But for some of the most painful leverage points, like support for Ukraine, we've already had to start dealing with the US pulling back support. That obviously sucks, but it also makes the threat less effective than it was before.

Basically, it's become obvious the US can't just fight everyone else all the time (or, at least obvious to people who aren't the US President).

I'm sorry to hear you're going through it Mez.

One things I'll add, to all the good points above, is that there is a flipside to your (valid) concern about over-diagnosis. While adult diagnosis is getting more common, it is still far more difficult to get diagnosed as an adult if you weren't diagnosed as a kid as far as I know. And really the sooner you know the better.

You're probably right that it would have been picked up already if he was very far along the spectrum, but I know a few people who still find their ADHD horrid -- and where it really does affect their quality of life a lot -- even if outwardly they look like they're keeping above water. Even though society is way more aware of it these days, I get the impression it's still fairly easy for people to slip through the cracks without getting diagnosed if they're not causing trouble at school. A common thread with my neurodivergent friends is that they're smart people who tended to be passionate about suitably "academic" topics, so they got good grades and never got picked up by the school system. Schools can be so stretched that you don't get much attention if you're not a problem.

I've also heard that ADHD is often mis-diagnosed or initially diagnosed as anxiety (though especially in women) because difficult to manage symptoms can present quite similarly.

Cause, on 15 December 2025 - 03:39 PM, said:

I've been feeling this a lot recently. I miss when the internet meant, well, places like this forum. Wider social media has become so draining in general. There's no sense of continuity and half the content seems to be either bots or deliberate bad faith actors.