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Ask HN: What are some unpopular opinions here that should not be?

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Re: Ask HN: What are some unpopular opinions here that should not be?

#51

Post by georgia_peach »

the_only_law wrote: post #49
georgia_peach wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

State your objection and I will address it.

I think they’re asking why you believe more people should believe god is real.

OP asked "What are some unpopular opinions here that should not be?"

OP didn't ask for explanations, long or brief.

If you want those, that's what we have scripture for. "Which scripture?!" you may ask. I prefer the New Testament. Nearly any scripture is preferable to the modern materialist quantity-cult--even ones outside of the Abrahamic fold.

Re: Ask HN: What are some unpopular opinions here that should not be?

#52

Post by ggm »

baremetal wrote: post #25
ggm wrote: post #4

The free market sell off mania needs to end, real soon. We need big government far more than we are prepared to appreciate.

>The free market sell off mania needs to end, real soon. We need big government far more than we are prepared to appreciate. Translation: I'm not prepared for what is coming.

Can you elaborate please? I'm interested why you think this. Nobody in the UK really thinks free market rail, free market water, free market gas, free market electricity has been a good idea. The overwhelming majority of consumers want renationalisation, its just about for how long really. Scotland, which retained significant state control over infrastructure is faring better.

Re: Ask HN: What are some unpopular opinions here that should not be?

#53

Post by georgia_peach »

smt88 wrote: post #44
georgia_peach wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

opinions here

I agree that it's unpopular on HN. Why is it undeserving of being unpopular? I'm referring to the second part of OP's question.

Our technician caste dislikes religious doctrines. Most of these doctrines discourage--or even prohibit--our most treasured creature comforts, so of course, we take the easy way out and shun these doctrines. And we pay for this. Boy do we ever pay!

Such people have spiritual holes, which they deny, but are there none the less. They try to fill these holes with material comforts--food, sex, pills, money, et. al. The problem is: you can't fill a spiritual hole with material substance, but in our ignorance we keep piling-on. More restaurants, more drugs, more trips, more money, more hookups--metabolizing the earth, degrading the body, poisoning the children. None of it will ever be enough, because we are using the wrong medicine & operating on false premises.

Re: Ask HN: What are some unpopular opinions here that should not be?

#54

Post by ThrowawayR2 »

georgia_peach wrote: post #41
smt88 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Setting aside privacy or software freedom idealism, why would someone use it over Windows or macOS?

After mastering *nix userland, Windows is suffocating. Not having ads slipstreamed into my start menu, or not having the calculator take 10sec to start due to telemetry, or not having my CPU/HD/RAM hammered by Cortana no matter how many different ways I disabled it, or not having updates+reboots forcing themselves at the absolute worst time, or... The advantage over OSX is commodity hardware: easy upgrades/downgrades…

> "...not having the calculator take 10sec to start due to telemetry..."

Calculator fires up in 2 seconds even on my elderly Intel m3-6y30 machine.

Not to pick on the parent poster, since I've seen far too many on HN say the same thing, but if the person who started this topic wants a prime addition to "unpopular opinions here that should not be", it's that those who aren't skilled enough to use Windows properly are also pretty much guaranteed not to be skilled enough to use other operating systems which expose much more complexity to the user, like Linux, properly either.

Re: Ask HN: What are some unpopular opinions here that should not be?

#55

Post by smt88 »

georgia_peach wrote: post #53
smt88 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that it's unpopular on HN. Why is it undeserving of being unpopular? I'm referring to the second part of OP's question.

Our technician caste dislikes religious doctrines. Most of these doctrines discourage--or even prohibit--our most treasured creature comforts, so of course, we take the easy way out and shun these doctrines. And we pay for this. Boy do we ever pay! Such people have spiritual holes, which they deny, but are there none the less. They try to fill these holes with material comforts--food, sex, pills, money, et. al. The p…

> Such people have spiritual holes, which they deny, but are there none the less. They try to fill these holes with material comforts--food, sex, pills, money, et. al.

What about people who are agnostic, don't abuse these things, and feel happy? Do they have spiritual holes?

> More restaurants, more drugs, more trips, more money, more hookups

All of these things are on the decline in the United States among young people. They are using drugs/alcohol and having sex less frequently than any previous generation. They are also the least religious.

Is it possible that agnosticism is not a predictor of pleasure-seeking activities?

Re: Ask HN: What are some unpopular opinions here that should not be?

#56

Post by asdfqwertzxcv »

muzani wrote: post #34
baremetal wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Free speech is overrated, and very misunderstood. Maybe your free speech is overrated. But as for the rest of us, it is not.

I think the USA has seen the good side of free speech for a while. Most of the former British colonies see the bad side - riots, deaths, civil wars. The Sunni vs Shia wars and torture in the Middle East. Israel. The race riots in SE Asia. India's Muslim vs Hindu conflicts, as well as Pakistan. You need a minority whose votes are negligible enough. Often those with enough power to be a viable threat (Jews, Chinese bil…

"Trump/MAGA is just following the standard politician playbook of vilifying minorities for votes. When it works, future politicians do the same because it's easy and proven. And then the hatred turns to violence. It's not just MAGA, it's also the people who compare Trump to Hitler and compare MAGA to Nazis."

It started as the well-trodden "Southern Strategy" but now US' adversaries have poured fuel on the fire and its burst into full on fascist rhetoric and thinking now. This is quite literally, exactly how the Nazi party started and evolved. Stop downplaying this as anything but and start reading how the Nazis started and evolved - the StormTrumpers and GOP appear to be using it as their playbook.

Re: Ask HN: What are some unpopular opinions here that should not be?

#57

Post by asdfqwertzxcv »

nonrandomstring wrote: post #14

A strangely misplaced whiff of anti-intellectualism seems present and growing within tech/hacker circles (?)

Tech/Hacker culture has a lot of overlap with gamer and meme culture... These are the places where far-right (racist, fascist, and anti-intellectualism) ideologies have been subtly and not-so-subtly introduced. You're now seeing the fruit from the seeds that have been meticulously planted the past 10ish years.

Re: Ask HN: What are some unpopular opinions here that should not be?

#58

Post by georgia_peach »

smt88 wrote: post #55
georgia_peach wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our technician caste dislikes religious doctrines. Most of these doctrines discourage--or even prohibit--our most treasured creature comforts, so of course, we take the easy way out and shun these doctrines. And we pay for this. Boy do we ever pay! Such people have spiritual holes, which they deny, but are there none the less. They try to fill these holes with material comforts--food, sex, pills, money, et. al. The p…

> Such people have spiritual holes, which they deny, but are there none the less. They try to fill these holes with material comforts--food, sex, pills, money, et. al. What about people who are agnostic, don't abuse these things, and feel happy? Do they have spiritual holes? > More restaurants, more drugs, more trips, more money, more hookups All of these things are on the decline in the United States among young peo…

The word I chose was comforts, not abuse.

You say they are using fewer drugs, but I don't see that. They've merely upgraded their dealers--from street hoods to doctors & pharmacists. Talking to kids today (and hearing about all of their drugs) is almost as boring as talking to my grandparents (and hearing about all of their drugs): SSRIs, ADHD meds (and how do I convince my doc to prescribe them), hormone treatments (for the trans & the old farts trying to re-live their 20s), PrEP, finasteride, dick pills (because they've already messed that up in their 20s with the hair pills), etc. From this board alone, I know more about adderall & HRT that I ever wanted to.

And I would be interested to know more about all of these self-denying agnostics you've claimed. Closest thing I have seen to what you have said "in the wild" would be ordinary status-chasing--foregoing the booze and the broads for clicks & social-climbing--which is no better, and no less material, than the comforts I've already listed.

Re: Ask HN: What are some unpopular opinions here that should not be?

#59

Post by georgia_peach »

ThrowawayR2 wrote: post #54
georgia_peach wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After mastering *nix userland, Windows is suffocating. Not having ads slipstreamed into my start menu, or not having the calculator take 10sec to start due to telemetry, or not having my CPU/HD/RAM hammered by Cortana no matter how many different ways I disabled it, or not having updates+reboots forcing themselves at the absolute worst time, or... The advantage over OSX is commodity hardware: easy upgrades/downgrades…

> "...not having the calculator take 10sec to start due to telemetry..." Calculator fires up in 2 seconds even on my elderly Intel m3-6y30 machine. Not to pick on the parent poster, since I've seen far too many on HN say the same thing, but if the person who started this topic wants a prime addition to "unpopular opinions here that should not be", it's that those who aren't skilled enough to use Windows properly are…

> due to telemetry

Not a CPU issue, but a network timeout one. Disconnect from ethernet/wifi, try again, report back. Circa 2016, it took 5-10 sec before it would give up on phoning-home & finally open. I put wireshark on it & timed it myself. No idea what it does now.

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