reality

What did Nietzsche mean by “we contradict an opinion when in reality what we find unpleasant is the tone”

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I’m not sure how to write this so as not to be unpleasant, but Nietzsche was right. Yeah, he had a weird mustachehe was loaded with opium and loved to take long walks in the Alps; but he was right. At least when it comes to one of his most apparently innocuous, but most radical ideas: that it often doesn’t matter if someone is right or wrong, that we make the decision to agree with them beforehand, that what matters most to us is the tone, the forms. The rest, although it doesn’t hurt to admit it, doesn’t matter. 150 years after Nietzsche, cognitive science has proven him right. What did Nietzsche mean…? In 1878, in the midst of a break with Wagner and Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche published ‘Human, too human‘. It was his first book of aphorisms and in it he abandons romantic aesthetics and sets out to find a new way of observing the world. In that book, the Austrian philosopher makes a complete x-ray of the psychological junk of human beings. “Opinions are born from passions,” he says in aphorism 637. “Convictions are more dangerous enemies of the truth than lies,” he writes in 483. But the one that interests us is 303. Where Nietzsche discovered confirmation bias. “Often, we contradict an opinion when in reality what we find unpleasant is only the tone in which it was expressed,” says that aphorism. And that sounds a lot like what modern cognitive science calls ‘confirmation bias‘: the tendency to search for, interpret and remember information in such a way that pre-existing beliefs, expectations or hypotheses are reinforced. First we form an idea from the tone of the person speaking to us and then we justify it. Simple, clean and perfectly confirmed by the evidence. Ultimately, what Nietzsche did is anticipate many of the ideas that Kahneman and Tversky They earned him the Nobel Prize. But that matters little, what matters is what we can learn. And, under that sullen and savage reputation, Nietzsche has a lot of useful ideas. This intuition, without going any further, has a direct and everyday application: when someone addresses us with a tone that we perceive as aggressive, condescending or arrogant, our brain activates defense mechanisms that prevent us from rationally processing the content. We do not evaluate what they tell us, we evaluate how they tell us. Reactanceconfirmation bias and post-hoc rationalization: the perfect combo to act automatically without paying attention to reasons or consequences. In the same way, Nietzschenian reflection helps us think about how we address others. And that is worth it. Image | Xataka In Xataka | “A place of joy with pain”: the phrase that summarizes the Aztec philosophy to be happier in this life

OpenAI promised them they would be happy selling hype and memes. Until reality hits

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The news of the weekend is Sora’s closure. What was once the platform of the hype Regarding video creation, he says goodbye, leaving agreements behind millionaires with giants like DisneyOpenAI’s promise to be one of the big players in text to video, and doubts about the company’s strategy. The bet on hype. For some time now, OpenAI’s strategy has been to create hype, be the protagonist in the conversation, and wait for the user to assimilate its proposal. The problem? It is a strategy that worked in its initial phases, when OpenAI played practically alone. We saw it with Sora: the launch was the most talked about on networks, television and practically all media. Months after its launch, there was no way to use the app without VPN outside the United States (and in a very controlled way through its app in countries such as Canada, Japan, Korea or Vietnam) and was still in the experimental phase. The closure. Sora hasn’t lasted even two years. It was born in February 2024 and says goodbye in March 2026. What was born as the reference model for video creation remained a half-baked experiment, while Chinese giants or Google itself with their models I see They advanced and landed their models on the plane that really matters: the one that allows the average user to access it. The competition tightens. OpenAI promised them happiness two years ago, when ChatGPT had hardly any rivals and companies like Anthropic were in their early product stages. But photography has changed in just a few months: Claude is becoming, with almost daily iterations, the most complete chatbot (it is already much more than that). Gemini has been starting to eat his toast for a year. China is absolutely unleashed launching spectacular video models like Seedance 2.0. AI solutions are no longer promises and hype: they are rapid and controlled launches, integrated into platforms that any average user can access. If you don’t integrate, you don’t win. Seedance 2.0 has not even been running for three months and already It is beginning to be integrated into editing programs such as CapCut. AIs like KlingAI have been integrated into gigantic platforms like HighsfieldAI for months. Releases that materialize a few days after seeing the light, and that lay tangible foundations for the state of AI in text to video. OpenAI assumed that a minority of professionals would be willing to pay for the more expensive versions of GPT to access Sora. The reality: the competition is managing to create much superior mass-use tools, and OpenAI cannot afford tools like Sora. The money is on the other side. Sam Altman need to redefine the strategy. For the moment, he wants double the company’s workforcecenter everything in one superapp that reduces catalog and he has his eyes on Spud. This is the name given internally to the next great AI model they are preparing, one aimed at making OpenAI finally a profitable company. After years without a fixed direction, and with its rivals eating its toast, OpenAI faces its most complex stage: one in which selling hype is not enough. In Xataka | Sora’s closure is a sign: OpenAI takes a step back in the AI ​​race to completely recalibrate

Elon Musk often promises impossible things like Terafab. The problem is that sometimes he manages to turn them into reality.

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It was up to Elon Musk to revolutionize the automotive industry with Tesla and the electric car. Probably no one believed he could do it. Then he did the same with the aerospace industry with SpaceX, and that was more of the same: it seemed impossible. It may be many things, but the truth is that although Elon Musk promises many things and does not always fulfill them when he says (hello autonomous car), has achieved unimaginable things. That’s why when you talk about Terafab, maybe we should give it a chance. Because this seems almost as impossible as his other feats. Terafab and Musk’s master plan. On Saturday night, from a power plant that has not been used for a long time, Elon Musk advertisement the last of the components of its master plan: Terafab. The objective is to create a chip factory in which Tesla, SpaceX and xAI will collaborate. According to Musk, this plant will be capable of manufacturing between 100 and 200 GW of computing capacity per year on earth, but it will reach 1 TW in space. The problem, as always with Musk, is distinguishing what part of the plan is engineering and what part is theater and fireworks. He doesn’t do it just because. At that event, the magnate explained that semiconductor manufacturers do not produce enough chips for their AI and robotics needs. And since TSMC and the rest of the manufacturers cannot meet Musk’s demand, he has proposed manufacturing them directly. You need them for your robotaxis and your humanoid robots, Optimuswhich he hopes will end up multiplying by 10 or 100 the production rate of his cars. But it also needs chips so that xAI can compete in the field of AI, and SpaceX needs them for its satellites. That is, it actually needs a lot of chips. Many. Chips from space. At Terafab they intend to create two types of chips. On the one hand, there will be those intended for autonomous vehicles or Optimus robots. On the other, the chips that already have their own name, D3, and that will be designed specifically for space, with products that use them that work in low Earth orbit and are powered by solar energy. For Musk, the idea “becomes an obvious decision”: there will come a point where putting payload into orbit is so cheap that host data centers in space It is cheaper than doing it on land because solar energy is practically unlimited there. Too many unknowns. Everything was very nice and promising, but once the speech and promises were over, the questions began. Building a state-of-the-art semiconductor factory is a colossal challenge. It’s not just a matter of money: it’s that advanced chip manufacturing is in the hands of three companies around the world (TSMC, Samsung and Intel), and requires photolithography with UVE technology which is only manufactured by the well-known Dutch company ASML. And here’s the thing, that Musk: Did not announce any agreement with ASML It has not shown orders that demonstrate that it will have these equipment He has not named a technological partner for the project No estimated dates or calendar have been given. And he hasn’t talked about the budget either. It’s all a gigantic unknown. The most ambitious vertical integration in tech history. On several occasions Musk repeated how at Terafab they intend to cover the entire development, manufacturing, packagingtesting and improvement in the same facilities. If we fulfill that promise, we would be facing another unprecedented achievement, because the semiconductor industry has been doing just the opposite for decades: hyperspecialization by different suppliers: some design, others manufacture, others package… Musk wants to do it all, and if he succeeds he will become a direct rival for Samsung or TSMC, which a priori he would no longer need. Promises and realities. This project seems especially diffuse, but with Musk anything is possible, as we have said. In recent years, yes, we have seen how several of his ideas or they have failedor they have been delayed, or they have been left in no man’s land. The robotaxis still haven’t arrived, the Cybertruck arrived late and it’s not settingand companies like The Boring Company or products like Solar Roof have had less reach than they promised, at least for now. Terafab seems like another impossible project from Musk. We’ll see if it ends up not being so. Image | tesla In Xataka | 8 years ago Elon Musk launched a Tesla Roadster into space: it continues to orbit and was mistaken for an asteroid

Shopping centers seemed condemned to agony. The reality is that they do not stop growing with million-dollar investments

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The outlook looked bad. Very badly. The competition from online commerce, the change in consumer habits, the pressure that platforms such as Netflix or Amazon Prime were beginning to exert on cinemas and (as a cherry on top) the blow that the pandemic dealt to crowded spaces led some analysts back in 2020 to announce the “apocalypse of the “retail”. The ‘shopping center’ model, so prosperous in its day, seemed exhausted. After all… Who would want to go shopping with Amazon or pay for a movie with Netflix at home? Time has shown that those predictions were wrong. Apocalypse of retail? Today it may sound strange, but there was a time (not so long ago) when could be read frequently about the “apocalypse of the retail” in the press. Not all analysts saw it clearly and there were even who warned that the formula, imported from the United States, was not transferable to a market like the Spanish one, much less dense than the American one, but the logic seemed overwhelming: with the ecommerce growing and platforms like HBO or Amazon stomping in leisure, weren’t shopping centers doomed? The answer is no. On the contrary. A magnet for large investors. In 2025, the sector already showed signs of its good health by starting the year with five purchase and sale operations or transfers underway that amounted, in total, to about 1 billion euros. That was the first proof that shopping centers still awaken investor appetite, but that attraction appears to have strengthened. elEconomista.es publishes today a chronicle in which he slips that, a priori (and at the expense of what occurs at a macroeconomic level) the sector is aiming for a year of record investments. To be more precise, the newspaper speaks of operations worth about 3 billion of euros, an estimate that comes from the Colliers company. Beyond the forecasts and predictions, the data already closed for 2025 confirm that large commercial areas are experiencing a moment that has little to do with an economic “apocalypse.” In 2025 they will monopolize 59.5% of all the investment directed at retail, which translates into 1,484 million euros out of a total of 2,494 million. Not only is this a high figure, it far exceeds the capital allocated to other popular commercial formats, such as retail parks (352 million euros), small stores (524 million) or supermarkets (135 million). Is it the only sign? No. There is more. And they confirm that investors seem increasingly willing to bet on commercial areas in search of profitability. Its investment flow has been chaining increases for several years, which has allowed it to go from 406 million which it managed in 2022 to 1,484 million in 2025. Furthermore, the map of large stores continues to expand throughout the country. a few days ago The Newspaper revealed that, if nothing goes wrong, by 2028 Spain will add 28 new commercial parks with a total gross leasable area (GLA) of around 626,079 square meters. To these are added eight planned shopping centers that will reinforce the commercial park with 308,500 m2. Going down to detail. The list includes projects as ambitious as Valdebebas Shopping (Madrid), Infinity (Valencia), Breogán Park (A Coruña), Sur Córdoba Shopping (Cordova), Promenade Lleida (Lleida) or Metropolitan (Madrid), among others. “The majority of the spaces planned for the next three years are 20,000 m2 or less, that is, small or medium-sized, so their promotion and development is easier,” explains Eduardo Ceballos, from the Spanish Association of Shopping Centers and Parks (AECC). Greater than what was invested in new facilities are the funds dedicated to renovations. A percentage: 6%. That capital flows to shopping centers is no coincidence. According to shared data by the AECC in February, the sector closed 2025 with growth in both visits and billing. Specifically, the association estimates the increase in footfall in shopping centers and parks at 2.4% and a 6% increase in sales. Translated into hard and fast figures, that means 1,995 million consumers and just over 58,500 million in sales. The increase was largely possible thanks to restaurants (+10.8%), followed by the sale of clothing and accessories (+6.9%). Pre-pandemic levels. In AECC internal code assures having registered 32 purchase and sale operations of shopping centers and parks for a total of 2,000 million euros, which places the industry at 2018 levels, prior to the pandemic. The operations carried out by Bonaire, Parque Corredor, Intu Xanadú, Espacio Mediterráneo and Ballonti stand out above all. According to calculations by the sector’s employers’ association, right now in Spain there are around 592 shopping centers totaling 16.9 million m2 of GLA, a figure that is explained by the creation in 2025 of 132,000 m2 thanks to five new projects. Why this interest? The big question. If the factors that not so long ago made analysts fear an “apocalypse of the retail“have not disappeared (on the contrary, the ecommerce keeps growing), why are new shopping centers still opening? Why in 2025 have we visited them more often and spent more money on them? Why the hell do they attract million-dollar investments? For Ceballos One of the keys is the format’s demonstrated ability to adapt to local markets. At the end of the day, large stores continue to play with the trick of combining commerce, hospitality and leisure, also adapting to each market, which explains why the centers hold out while other more rigid surfaces (in the case of hypermarkets) they are in the doldrums. In full reinvention. Another key is that commercial centers and parks have not stood idly by. Maybe the context has changed, but they they have also done itespecially in the most disputed markets, where it is not unusual to find areas that have pivoted towards a clear commitment to luxury, big brands, the outlet concept or the leisure and restaurant offering. Increasingly, shopping centers are becoming less “commercial” and more “experiential.” What they seek is to guarantee experiences, to show themselves as spaces to be lived, marking distances with … Read more

Micron knew that the RAM crisis was going to be great for them. The reality that has gone even better

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As it could not be otherwise, the companies that are benefiting the most from the RAM crisis They are precisely those that have the product and, therefore, they are the ones that set the price. Micron is one of those few companies that is profiting from the excessive demand of this key component for any gadget, a demand caused by the AI ​​fever. The figures from its latest financial report have even exceeded expectations. Although there are some nuances to comment on. Let’s go to trouble. What has happened? Micron just published the results of its second fiscal quarter with numbers that have left analysts speechless. Its revenues have almost tripled those of the previous year, reaching $23.9 billion, well above Wall Street estimateswho expected about 20,000 million. Earnings per share have skyrocketed to $12.20, compared to the $9 projected. And for the third quarter, the company anticipates revenue of approximately $33.5 billion, almost ten points above what the market expected. Those who share the benefit. Artificial intelligence has changed everything in the memory market. The data centers that power AI models require massive amounts of high-performance memory, and the available supply cannot meet that demand. Micron, together with Samsung and SK Hynix, forms the trio that controls practically the entire supply world of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which are basically one of the key components to run the long-awaited NVIDIA GPUs. Those who buy at any price. Micron’s own CEO, Sanjay Mehrotra, counted to CNBC that the company can only cover between 50% and two-thirds of what its main clients need. Put another way: there is a queue of buyers willing to pay whatever it takes, and Micron simply doesn’t have RAM for everyone. According to SK Group President Chey Tae-won, the global shortage could last another four to five years due to structural bottlenecks in semiconductor production. What’s coming Aware that what is happening now will not last forever, Micron is investing at a speed that has made the market nervous. The company plans to exceed $25 billion in capital spending in 2026 alone, and has already announced that in 2027 that number will rise another $10 billion. Among other operations, it has closed purchasing a plant of Taiwanese Powerchip for $1.8 billion, which will begin producing DRAM wafers in the second half of 2027. The company has also started mass shipments of its new HBM4 memory of 12 layers, which will be directed to the new Vera Rubin platform from NVIDIA. Precisely how much NVIDIA will depend on Micron for this new generation compared to its rivals is the big open question for all investors. Everything is going well for them, but the shares are going down. There has been a bit of a cold reaction in the stock market, as shares have fallen around 5% in the session after the results, despite the fact that the numbers have beaten all forecasts. The reason is the same thing that happened with NVIDIA a few weeks ago: When expectations are very high, even good results can disappoint. From Goldman Sachs they counted that the value could move in a narrow range in the short term after a “very solid quarter with guidance well above consensus, in a context of already elevated expectations.” That has not prevented banks like Wells Fargo or Barclays from updating their upward forecasts to $550 and $670 per share, respectively. The big photo. Micron has accumulated a revaluation of more than 60% so far this year, and has become the most profitable value on the PHLX (Philadelphia Semiconductor Index). Mehrotra affirms that Micron is “the invisible layer that powers AI today.” But it seems that the company is slowly losing that cloak of invisibility. In Xataka | NVIDIA has been pining for months to sell its H200 to China: it just received the news it was waiting for

If the oil apocalypse becomes a reality, Spain has known for years how long it can last: 92 days

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Faced with the logistical blockage of Hormuz that threatens to drown the global economy, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has decided to press the red button. The organization has proposed the largest release of oil reserves in its history: about 400 million barrels. To put it in context, this figure is more than double the 182 million barrels that were injected into the market in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Spain, as a member of the IEA, will not be left out. How to collect Europe Pressthe vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen, has confirmed our country’s support for this plan. If the proposal is approved unanimously, Spain will contribute to the market the equivalent of about 12 or 12.5 days of its national consumption. The Spanish bunker. All this movement leads us to the big question: how much margin does Spain really have if the situation becomes entrenched? Legally, there is a global obligation to maintain minimum security stocks equivalent to 92 days of sales or computable consumption. According to calculations of The CountryAdding all the capacities, the country has about 105 days of autonomy. This safety mattress works through a mixed system: The Corporation of Strategic Reserves of Petroleum Products (CORES) must maintain 42 of those dayswhile the remaining 50 days are maintained directly by the industry. Currently, CORES custody more than 5.4 million cubic meters of stocks. It’s not just crude oil. To be truly useful in a crisis, CORES reserves are composed by 54.4% diesel, 29.2% crude oil and 6.0% kerosene. stocks They are strategically distributed by Spanish geography. The Levante area accounts for 44.8% of the total, followed by the central area with 19.2% and the northern area with 17.7%. The objective of these reserves is not to replace normal long-term supply, but to inject fuel into the market to stop sudden price increases and buy vital time to reorganize logistics and trade routes. We can’t relax. Just because we have a margin of three months does not mean that we are invulnerable. Spain is a country with almost absolute foreign energy dependence. In 2024, national oil consumption was 1,322,492 barrels per daybut own production barely reached 76,947 barrels. Our net crude oil imports represent more than 100% of our consumption. Furthermore, our economy she is addicted to black goldespecially to move. The transport sector is responsible for 71.1% of the final consumption of petroleum products in Spain, with diesel/diesel being the undisputed king, accounting for 61.1% of that consumption. The Iranian asphyxiation has a crack. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have activated a logistical “antidote” capable of rescuing up to 7 million barrels per day. The main asset is East-West Pipelinean oil pipeline connecting eastern Saudi fields with the Red Sea port of Yanbu. The machinery is already in motion, there is already an “army” of at least 25 supertankers sailing towards Yanbu to load this crude oil. Adding to this effort is the United Arab Emirates pipeline, which provides up to 2 million additional barrels directly to the Gulf of Oman. The refinery factor. But the macroeconomy hits a wall, Saudi oil pipelines transport crude oil, not diesel. As analyst Arne Lohmann Rasmussen warns, the real danger is the deficit of distillates. If Europe does not have enough refineries to process that oil in time, the desert pipelines are of no use. This is where the CORES bunker win the game. The 54.4% of already refined diesel that Spain stores is the only thing that guarantees that the trucks do not stop. In short, the Saudi “antidote” prevents total collapse, but our reserves buy the 100 days of peace necessary to avoid seeing the pump in the clouds. If diplomacy fails, not even the bunker will avoid the historic scare. Image | Volgotanker Xataka | The price of oil has plummeted overnight. The one at the gasoline pumps will remain the same

We thought that the rearmament of Europe was about recruiting soldiers. In reality what Defense needs are welders

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After the excesses of the Trump Administration in matters of international politics, Europe and, especially Spainhas decided recover your industry of armaments, allocating millions to its rearmament policy. He Rearm Europe Planendowed with 800,000 million euros, has skyrocketed orders to the Spanish defense industry. However, although money is already flowing to manufacturers and orders accumulateproduction chains cannot be accelerated if there are not enough technicians to operate the machinery. The defense sector has been trying to fill vacancies without achieving it, and the problem is getting worse. The hope for this rearmament comes from the hand of the Vocational Training as a quarry for the new talent that the main companies in the sector are already raffling off. A new labor market. The rearmament of Europe is changing the labor market in Spain, and it is doing so faster than many imagined. Defense companies have been looking for technicians for months without finding them, and the problem is not going to be solved only with university engineers. According to the report ‘Metal in Figures’ published by the Spanish Confederation of Metal Business Organizations (Confemetal), the average affiliation to Social Security in the sector reached 828,446 people in January 2026, which represents an interannual increase of 1.2%. The average affiliation during 2025 stood at 826,061 workers, 1.6% more than the previous year. These data outline a rising sector that still does not reflect the impact of the European rearmament plan. European rearmament triggers demand for technicians. According to data of the Spanish Association of Defense, Security, Aeronautics and Space Technology Companies (Tedae), the Spanish defense industry It is made up of about 580 companies and generates around 75,100 direct jobs, with Madrid, Andalusia and the Basque Country concentrating close to 80% of national turnover. All companies in the sector share the same problem: there are not enough technicians to cover their production lines and qualified professionals already have a job in one of them. For those who have put the view of recent graduates of Vocational Training, and in improving the conditions for young people to acquire the training that they will then put into practice in the defense industry. Currently, large companies in the sector they already count with a high percentage of staff coming from FP, exceeding 30% and in some cases even more than half of its workers. ​The profiles most sought after by the sector. The Metal Foundation for Training, made up of Confemetal, CCOO Industria and UGT FICA, participated in the Aula 2026 fair identifying the two FP degrees that concentrate the greatest demand: Senior Technician in Electrotechnical and Automated Systems and Machining Technician. The first deals with the installation, programming and maintenance of electrical and control systems on land, naval and industrial platforms, while the second is key in the manufacturing of precision components for armored vehicles, weapons systems and drones. ​These degrees already train young people every year, but the problem is that there are not enough students choosing them, despite the demand of the sector. Héctor Aguirre, managing coordinator of the Metal Foundation for Training, explained this disconnection: “Young people do not associate certain sectors with the metal industry, such as defense or space, when in reality they are cutting-edge fields where they work with cutting-edge technology.” ​More than 350,000 jobs and competitive working conditions. Beyond the segment dedicated to the defense industry, the problem of the shortage of qualified labor extends to the entire metal industry, which includes automotive, steel, aeronautics and machinery manufacturing. According to Confemetal, companies will need fill more than 350,000 positions of work in the coming years, a figure that turns the technical talent gap into one of Spain’s main industrial challenges for the next decade. The salary conditions of the sector are a solid argument to attract candidates. The average salary of a metal worker exceeds 2,000 euros net per month, with salary review clauses linked to the CPI. In 2025, contract salaries grew by an average of 2.6%, and the sector’s collective agreements also include life insurance, disability coverage and retirement benefits. These are conditions that young people do not yet associate with making a component for a submarinean armored vehicle or an anti-aircraft defense system, but they are there, waiting for those who choose that professional career. In Xataka | The talent shortage has become chronic to an extreme point: 75% of companies cannot find what they are looking for Image | Flickr (copsadmirer@yahoo.es), Unsplash (Jimmy Nilsson Masth)

We have been talking about “day 996” in Chinese companies for years. The reality is more complex: “day 323”

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In China there are more than 1.4 billion people and nearly a quarter of its active population works in the public sector, a work universe so enormous that any generalization usually falls short. Thus, between global topics and everyday realities, the distance may be greater than it seems. The myth exported from 996. It we have counted on more than one occasion, but just because something is repeated many times does not mean that it is the norm. We have been hearing for so long that China applies infamous day 996 (working from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm, six days a week), that the concept itself has ended up becoming a symbol of a supposed superhuman work ethic, although in its origin it was a criticism to an abusive model within the technology sector and never a general rule. On paper, Chinese law sets weeks five days and 40 hoursalthough its application is irregular and the official unions lack real power, and although there are sectors such as migrant work or the platform economy where the hours are hard and the scarce rights. In any case, they said in a Foreign Policy report that 996 has prospered in the West because fits the fear It calls for China to “work harder” and surpass its rivals, but that narrative simplifies to the point of dehumanizing those 1.4 billion people. Furthermore, it hides a much more diverse reality. The inheritance of work as ideology. The truth is that Chinese work culture was not born with the technologies of Shenzhen, but with a tradition marked by Maoism and heritage. of Soviet Stakhanovismone where productive sacrifice was glorified and consolidated the social weight of the danwei or work unit. In that sense, he remembered the analyst James Palmer that was not until 1995 when the two-day weekend was formalized, and for decades employment was not only a source of income, but also the core of identity, housing and social network. that past explains the coexistence of intense practices with other deeply bureaucratic ones, where political obedience and compliance with quotas weigh as much as real efficiency. The silent reality of 323. As we said at the beginning, beyond from the myth of 996a significant part of Chinese employment (around 23% of the active population) is concentrated in the public sector, where an informal pattern predominates summarize as 323: three hours of work in the morning, a break of two or even three hours to eat and napand another three hours in the afternoon. That long interruption is, in fact, almost sacred and has withstood reform attemptswith offices that dim lights or enable spaces to rest, in a routine that surprises those who expect constant hyperproductivity. The pace can be lax in quiet times and frenetic at the end of the year to meet administrative objectives, often accompanied by creative accounting adjustments. Bureaucracy, patronage and ghost jobs. They recalled in FP that 323 coexists with less visible practices such as fictitious jobs granted by patronage, from positions where hardly any work is done to positions “without presence” that serve to reward loyalty or avoid formal requirements. In that environment, flexibility and frustration coexist: an office may close during a long break, but also show leniency in the face of formal delays. And when the political leadership hardens the toneas happened with the anti-corruption campaign started in 2013 or with extraordinary demands such as imposed on teachers to register vaccinations in 2022, the intensity increases and many of the amenities temporarily disappear. Mandatory socialization and discipline. Furthermore, it must be taken into account that official work life includes banquets, toast and collective meetings that reinforce hierarchies and informal networks, rituals that can become a burden rather than a privilege and that were briefly contents by disciplinary campaigns before eventually returning. That sway between everyday laxity and political pressure explains why 323 makes sense within the system: it does not respond to an ethic of leisure, but to an administration that alternates phases of low demand with bursts of mobilization. Put clearly: in front of the story simplistic 996reality is more contradictory and less hyperbolic, a fragmented work culture where the working day depends as much on the sector and the political climate as on individual will. Image | International Labor Organization ILO In Xataka | China promised them very happy with day 996. Until they realized that it was a shot in the foot In Xataka | China became famous for its eternal work hours. The solution has been to throw the employees out on time.

its electrical grid claims to be “full” when in reality it is underutilized

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Spain is experiencing an obvious and costly energy paradox. While the country breaks renewable generation recordsits electrical system suffers an administrative “thrombosis” that threatens to stop reindustrialization. The problem is that the system works like a broken bridge: clean energy is born in the so-called “emptied Spain”, but there are not enough cables to take it to the cities and factories where consumption is concentrated. The panic in the sector reached its peak when the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) was forced to postpone three months (from February 2 to May 4, 2026) the publication of the access capacity maps after a critical alert from Red Eléctrica: under the new security criteria, approximately 90% of the network nodes would appear in “red”, that is, with zero capacity. However, the network is not physically collapsed, but administratively “full” and underutilized in practice. To solve this funnel, the CNMC has put on the table a master plan that will change the rules of the game: flexible access permissions. The perfect storm. Getting to this point has not been the result of a single mistake, but rather a cocktail of bureaucratic slowness, territorial imbalances and speculation. As we have already advanced in Xataka, There is a huge gap between administrative times and physical execution: building a substation barely requires a year of work, but its prior processing can take between three and six years. Added to this is that we have installed windmills and solar panels where there is land and resources, but demand is growing in metropolitan areas that do not have sufficient infrastructure, leaving 83.4% of distribution nodes saturated currents. The consequences on the street are devastating. Last year only 12% of connection requests for new urban developments were granted, which, according to the Asprima employers’ associationputs the construction of 350,000 homes at risk due to the simple lack of electrical power. And in the midst of the chaos, the bubble: there are access requests for 67,100 MW (half of all the installed power in the country), which makes the regulator suspect the existence of “ghost” projects that hoard nodes only to resell the permits. The end of the binary model. Until now, the electrical system operated under a binary principle: either they gave you firm access, 100% guaranteed, or they denied it. However, as he noted on his social networks the Secretary of State for Energy, Joan Groizard, the current network is underused; In fact, a “smaller” network in the past supported demand peaks much higher than today. This is where the regulatory revolution comes in. The CNMC proposal breaks with the resounding “no” and establishes that, if there is residual capacity at certain times of the day or year, it can be shared. Flexible access capability assumes that supply will not be guaranteed at all hours of the year, maximizing the use of existing infrastructure without immediately resorting to massive investments that citizens would end up paying for. The four ways of flexibility. To articulate this new paradigm, the supporting report and the proposed resolution of the CNMC define four types of permits Flexible access, adapted to different needs: Permission Type 0 (Fixed pattern in Distribution): Applies to installations connected to any voltage level in the distribution network. It allows energy to be consumed following a fixed time pattern (for example, from 00:00 to 07:59 and from 11:00 to 17:59), which represents at least 62.5% of the hours of the year. Outside of these ranges, if the installation consumes power, the network manager (GRD) can disconnect it remotely without prior notice. It is ideal for those who can plan their production. Type 1 Permit (Remote disconnection due to contingency N-1): Designed for distribution installations with voltage greater than 36 kV. The installation meets the requirements under normal conditions (with an expected consumption of 90% of the year), but agrees to be disconnected remotely and without prior notice if any element fails in the substation itself to which it is connected. Type 2 Permit (Dynamic Instructions in Distribution): For voltages greater than 36 kV and powers greater than 1 MW. It is the most technologically advanced, the installation must be able to receive dynamic instructions from the GRD to reduce its load, whether scheduled the day before or in real time. Response times are critical: less than 30 minutes if it is preventive, or less than 3 minutes (immediate) if it is corrective. If you disobey, you will be disconnected. This model will come into force from January 1, 2028. Type 3 Permit (Transmission with automatic reduction): Aimed at demand installations of more than 1 MW connected directly to the transmission network. These facilities are required to participate in the Automatic Power Reduction System (SRAP). In the event of a security alert from the electrical system, the operator (OS) will send a signal and the installation must reduce the power associated with its flexible access to zero effectively and immediately. Winners, exceptions and the bill. This regulatory change has clear winners and some red lines. Storage facilities in demand mode are the perfect candidates, since, by law, they have no guarantee of supply and will have 7 months to request the modification of their permits. At the opposite extreme, the CNMC explicitly prohibits granting these accesses to essential supplies (such as hospitals), to demands that do not support 24 hours without a network, and to collective projects such as urban plans. Modernizing the network to support this “reinforced mode” of digitalized operation will have a direct economic impact. The forecasts for 2026 point to increases in citizen receipts of 4% in tolls and 10.5% in charges to finance system adjustments. For now, the clock is ticking: the public hearing process for agents to send their allegations to the CNMC proposal will end on March 20, 2026. Connect the future. Spain finds itself at an ironic and dangerous crossroads. The country has everything to be the great green battery of Europe, but the lack of cables and excess bureaucracy … Read more

also its own ending, which in reality was not the end of anything

by

The current showrunner from the oldest series on television, Matt Selman, has made it clear: the series will never end. Or at least, it won’t end with a typical episode, like all series. In fact, ‘The Simpsons’ also predicted the ending, as they do with so many things, and about a year and a half ago they advanced their own series finalecertifying that when the series ends, it will end and that’s it. Although at the moment he has no intentions. All endings. On September 29, 2024, Fox aired what appeared to be the final episode of ‘The Simpsons’. However, it was the premiere of season 36, the 769th episode of the series, and it was an exquisite joke. It had been conceived by showrunner Matt Selman shortly after the writers’ strike ended from the WGA in September 2023, and in it he tried to answer the eternal question of: when and how will ‘The Simpsons’ end? The narrative mechanism chosen was HackGPT, a ChatGPT parody AI that had analyzed all the episodes of the series and all the endings in television history to generate the perfect closure. and it was a string of commonplaces: Mr. Burns died, Moe closed the bar, Krusty canceled his show, Milhouse moved to Atlanta, Skinner retired, and to top it off, Maggie finally spoke. All the clichés of the final episode trope condensed, with Conan O’Brien (former series writer) as master of ceremonies and a cast of guest stars that included Tom Hanks, Seth Rogen and John Cena. The antifinal as a declaration of intentions. In a recent interview, Selman confirmed that what he was looking for was to reboot, in a sense, the series: “we put all the possible concepts of a series finale in a single episode, to say in some way that we are never going to do a series finale.” In addition, there was a background: the Hollywood writers’ strike had just ended and one of its workhorses had been the use of AI. This episode satirized what a contrived screenwriter would do in a final episode: a melee of meaningless clichés. The satire worked because the episode became one of the best rated by viewers on IMDB in years. Timeline. None of this matters, really, because ‘The Simpsons’ has no canon: Selman claims that a show that has been on the air for 37 years with characters that do not age cannot, structurally, maintain a fixed canon. The series works with what is known as floating timeline o floating timeline: the year of birth of the characters is updated every time the plot requires it, so that the adults are always in their forties regardless of the historical moment in which the action takes place. In your own words: “It seems to me that story and character should come first, and the rules of the cinematic universe of a show that has no rules should come a distant second.” Valid satire. The anti-AI satire of the fake final episode of ‘The Simpsons’ is increasingly pertinent: although legislation on the use of AI tools in environments such as writers’ rooms is being refined, the adoption of tools such as Sudowrite or ChatGPT does not stop. An analysis July 2025 documents that tools of this type are already used to generate everything from first drafts to commercial viability analyses. But its use in professional production series under agreements such as the one signed after the WGA strike continues to be conditioned by the restrictions of each contract. Still, there are professionals like John August, screenwriter and co-host of the ‘Scriptnotes’ podcast, who have mixed positions: August, for example, considers that AI is useful for summarizing or doing auxiliary work, but not for replacing the writing process. Dilemmas that point to the future. Maybe by the time ‘The Simpsons’ turns a thousand episodes? In Xataka | The day ‘The Simpsons’ rubbed shoulders with ‘Toy Story’: the legendary episode that changed the history of television

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