Patrick Collison's Questions

Post by pinkfoot » Mon, Aug 24, 2020, 3:42 PM UTC

tempsy wrote: post #240

082349872349872 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering that I use at least four languages[1] every day, and am thankful[2] to be living someplace that has not yet been completely overrun by chains and big box stores, I'd argue the assertion of a "heterogenous" US might need defending. On the original question: I think switzerland is nice for two reasons. (a) we didn't blow ourselves up twice last century, which meant that even with little absolute growth we w…

uh yeah you're going to have a hard time convincing anyone that a country that is majority white isn't homogeneous because multiple languages are spoken when I speak of homogeneity I'm talking about race, immigration, etc.

Post by bondarchuk » Mon, Aug 24, 2020, 3:49 PM UTC

koonsolo wrote: post #167

paxys wrote: post #97

The infrastructure one really stands out to me, and I'm always astounded by it. Adding yet another example - The Golden Gate Bridge was built in 4 years for $1.6 billion (inflation adjusted), under budget and ahead of schedule. 11 workers died during construction, a safety record matching or surpassing most modern projects. In contrast, a project to install suicide nets around the bridge has been under development fo…

I sometimes wonder about this too. When you walk through European cities and look at the decoration of those old houses, they were all handcrafted. I think it would be too expensive now to build those same houses with handcrafted details. Same with all those old chairs, where some woodworker sculpted everything by hand. You can't imagine that right now anymore. Is it because we throw away stuff after 5 years? Or beca…

Post by tempsy » Mon, Aug 24, 2020, 4:03 PM UTC

pinkfoot wrote: post #244

tempsy wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no - because Switzerland's population is 70% Swiss, with the remaining mostly from nearby countries that have similar values and complexions. Just because you grow up learning various languages does not mean your society is heterogeneous. A society where every learns 4 languages and looks the same is homogenous.

I didn't live within 10 000km of Switzerland. Stop making silly assumptions to narrow the beautiful diversity of the world so as to fit your polemic.

Post by cryptonector » Mon, Aug 24, 2020, 4:14 PM UTC

bohemian99 wrote: post #65

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The answer linked to in Collison's question, https://medium.com/@arnoldkling/what-gets-expensive-and-why-... , is really insightful and interesting in my opinion and goes to a deep level of analysis.

Exactly- people don't/can't really comparison shop when it comes to medical procedures. They don't know how good their doctors are at it, this is all unpublished information. Similarly college textbooks- if your professors assigns work from their book, then you need that book. You can't competitively shop on that. As the response points out, all of these groups and then backed by accreditation systems to limit new en…

Post by dsaavy » Mon, Aug 24, 2020, 4:18 PM UTC

calinet6 wrote: post #103

paxys wrote: post #97

The infrastructure one really stands out to me, and I'm always astounded by it. Adding yet another example - The Golden Gate Bridge was built in 4 years for $1.6 billion (inflation adjusted), under budget and ahead of schedule. 11 workers died during construction, a safety record matching or surpassing most modern projects. In contrast, a project to install suicide nets around the bridge has been under development fo…

I would bet it’s tied to the neglect of work in both real wages and respect for workers. We no longer take pride in work. We pay people less and make them compete for the mere privilege of holding a job. Then, we tell them what to do, disrespecting their intelligence and autonomy and ability to make something they can be proud of. For the brilliance of this strategy, we pay leaders ten times more than we did before,…