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Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

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221–230 of 375 posts

Re: Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

#221
post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is, everyone should have a right to change countries/cultures as they want - it shouldn't be determined by the birth lottery.

The "birth lottery" is a metaphysical construct. There is no such lottery, in which souls are assigned at random to bodies. Each human being is a rooted thing with a multigenerational history which is (in the typical case) deliberately created. Some stochastic variability is at work in this process, but it is by no means random. Every nation must have the right to choose the people it wishes to assimilate and those i…

> There is no such lottery, in which souls are assigned at random to bodies.

citation needed. Are you claiming that some invisible hand assigned me to this planet and this time in history for reason specifically tied to myself?

> it is by no means random

Please provide evidence.

Re: Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

#222
post #39

It's hearing things like this that make me regret having supported Luckey on his Kickstarter. I had followed him for a few years on the MTBS3D forum when he was experimenting with various HMD prototypes (usually modding the heck out of the Forte VFX-1). He just seemed like a kid with a dream, and the will and ability to make it happen - and potentially revive VR for "Round 2". I suppose he did do that, and while I di…

If you don't want America to have borders just run on this ticket and convince the majority of the population to vote for you and change the laws. People still want borders for their country and there is no reason not to use the most effective technology to enforce border control. You just want a dictatorship where things are decided by you against the will of the people. I don't like taxes but it doesn't mean that I will object the tax office to have the best software to do their job as defined by law.

Re: Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

#223
post #39

It's hearing things like this that make me regret having supported Luckey on his Kickstarter. I had followed him for a few years on the MTBS3D forum when he was experimenting with various HMD prototypes (usually modding the heck out of the Forte VFX-1). He just seemed like a kid with a dream, and the will and ability to make it happen - and potentially revive VR for "Round 2". I suppose he did do that, and while I di…

I applaud your honesty in expressing a desire for open borders. I think culture would benefit from more open and honest discussions on this topic as all the double speak makes it frustrating and boring to discuss, normally. I’m not really very interested in borders one way or the other but national borders certainly aren’t “artificial.” There are certainly some artificial aspects (lines of longtitude, etc) but border…

> borders are also created by geography and culture

If this was true we should have the right to enter any country we want as long as we align with its culture.

> distinct peoples with different values

Can you provide a list of values that make you suitable for your country?

One could wonder: would it be ethically acceptable to run value exams on citizens and non-citizens to decide who can enter / stay / gets expelled? Would the exam be reliable?

Re: Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

#224
post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're mistaken about borders being some kind of fact of human nature, and you're mistaken about different countries having some kind of fundamental "different cultures". Nation states are an invention of the last few hundred years. Before that, kingdoms had borders between the lands they controlled militarily, and while they would certainly stop an invading army, they didn't have the administrative capacity or desir…

I’m always amused when people dismiss something because it is merely “an invention of the past few hundred years.”

People often want to believe that modern social structures are based on human nature. That's sad rather than amusing.

Re: Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eliminating borders is a recipe for disaster. You can't expect your country to remain the same if you let millions or dozens of millions of people freely coming in from different cultures and backgrounds. Immigration is all about "how much is still OK to let in (trade-off between risks and benefits)", and once you say "whoever wants to enter", it's hard to take this kind of opinion seriously.

Countries should not remain the same. Stealing all this land from California to Texas from Mexico was absolutely not about leaving the country the same. Expelling the Latinos from there was certainly not about conservation of the then current state of affairs, it was a social adventure. Moreover the US actually had more or less open borders for a long time, calling into some kind of date at which its society should b…

You think you expelled the Latinos and stole the land? That's simplistic perspective. If you go read the real Mexican history books (serious scholars and historians) you will realize that many people in those state were pro-leaving Mexico. Why? Well, Mexican 19th century history is defined by the conflict between Federalism and Centralism where everything was to be controlled from Mexico City. You can guess how people living on the outskirts of Mexico took to taxations and impositions of politicians from the center of the country. Sure, the US swooped on this, but you can bet the people in those territories were not particularly bothered, au contraire. Also you have to factor in that Mexicans have not felt particularly united as a nation until after our Revolutionary War in the 1900's

Re: Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

#226
post #190
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So - while I would prefer a "monitored solution" to border control over physical imposing measures, my real preference would be for us to all work toward eliminating these national-level borders completely. You sound like someone with the ability to live anywhere, who consequently has little stake in their current "somewhere." Lots of Americans (and people in other countries) don't have this flexibility. They are di…

> We've seen what happens when other countries adopt wholesale open borders policies. [..AfD] You make it sound like there was an actual negative impacts. I haven't seen much "horrible" data on that front. It certainly gives ammo to fearmongers, but how does this make it a less good goal to strive for?

You mean besides the mass sexual violence in Cologne, the Berlin Christmas market attack, or the fact that migrants in Germany are disproportionately more likely to commit violent crimes [0][1][2]?

What really gets me is headlines like “German far-right capitalizes on migrant crimes,” as if those politicians were happy the crimes had been committed or consented to the policy decisions that led to them occurring.

[0] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-germany-c...

[1] https://www.thelocal.de/20190415/german-far-right-capitalize...

[2] https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/germans-shaken-...

Re: Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

#227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Culture isn't artificial, but lines in the sand create hard disconnects where culture is much more fluid. I'm a Seattlite, and I can tell you I feel more cultural similarity to British Columbians than I do to Texans. And people from Miami have a lot more cultural similarity to Cubans and Veneuzuelans than they do Alabamans. And Guatamalans have a ton of cultural similarity to Hondurans and Salvadorans, but northern M…

> We have always been at least somewhat tolerant of massive waves of migration, whether they were Germans, Italians, Irish, British, Chinese The US wasn't tolerant. I don't even know where to begin. A single comment cannot convey how anti-immigrant the US was. Nativism took hold of the US when the Irish and Germans arrived (mainly due to religious reasons & also fear of cheaper labour) Given that Italians were majori…

Yes, I'm well aware of the racist sentiments and actions of the past in the US. The simple fact of the matter is that we still let them in the country.

Re: Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

#228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "birth lottery" is a metaphysical construct. There is no such lottery, in which souls are assigned at random to bodies. Each human being is a rooted thing with a multigenerational history which is (in the typical case) deliberately created. Some stochastic variability is at work in this process, but it is by no means random. Every nation must have the right to choose the people it wishes to assimilate and those i…

> There is no such lottery, in which souls are assigned at random to bodies. citation needed. Are you claiming that some invisible hand assigned me to this planet and this time in history for reason specifically tied to myself? > it is by no means random Please provide evidence.

I am only claiming that you are an organism that was created by sexual reproduction, and that your current state of being is a result of genetics and environment. Surely this does not require evidence.

We don't seem to get wrapped up in questions of why a particular tree is "that" tree and not some other tree. It seems to me, as an atheist, that once you start carving out a special metaphysical nature for humans you're dabbling in the religious.

What requires evidence is this spiritual "you" that was "assigned" to this planet. If we admit that, whether the mechanism is a spiritual hand or a spiritual lottery machine is purely a theological question.

This isn't some mere abstract debate - the meme you're expressing is a radical egalitarian (Protestant) system of ethics being smuggled in under a secular guise.

Re: Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

#229
post #63

Yuck. It's like the perfect marriage of taking any remaining humanity out of law enforcement and add tons of bottomless greed to it. It's so very Peter Thiel-ish. I'd love to say I wish them well, but I hope this company goes out of business due to a public outrage. But they'll always find someone to sell to, like authoritarian governments, and make money hand-over-fist.

I hope everyone involved with this company dies painfully

Re: Anduril, a startup from Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, now valued at $1B

#230

What is wrong with enforcing border security laws? Curious why you think less of him for supporting those efforts.

Nothing is wrong with securing your nation's border.

Until you are on the wrong side of it...
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