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Mark in the Middle

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561–570 of 603 posts

Re: Mark in the Middle

#561

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is absolutely no meaningful equivalence on this axis between the American right and left. Your projection about white men is totally incoherent, laughable.

It can't be projection when it's so easy to find quotes or decisions that demonstrate it's the truth. Hillary Clinton: "women are the primary victims of war" ... "the more we support women, the more we support democracy" Joe Biden: next justice must be a black woman Obama: "Men have been getting on my nerves lately. Now women, I just want you to know; you are not perfect, but what I can say pretty indisputably is tha…

I don't know where to start here. If you think those quotes reflect a hatred of men, you're without context to such a degree that I don't think we can even begin to have a conversation about it.

I'm a white man and I don't have a problem with any of that. I think it's essentially all true. Can you square that?

Re: Mark in the Middle

#562

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, we don't typically have employment contracts. Facebook was serving up 2+ meals per day. At (a modest estimate) $20/day, that works out to be about $5k per year. That's not an insignificant amount of cash to some people.

I guarantee that facebook employees have an employment contract they signed. This would cover assignment of intellectual property, moonlighting, and other topics. In the US, an employer can absolutely cut your salary by 5k/yr if it isn't in your contract. But this is all beside the point, I'm not saying that 5k isn't insignificant to people, even FANG employees. I totally understand that. Im saying that facebook can…

There are often agreements made, but the employment is still at will. So there's no 'contract' for the employment itself, whereas other jurisdictions have actual contracts, and employer can't simply fire you or alter your pay outside the scope of the contract.

Everyone understands that the benefits are subject to change. If management changes them and you don't prefer the changes, you speak up.

Personally, I won't work somewhere that doesn't offer free coffee. If the coffee is canceled, I will start looking for another gig.

Re: Mark in the Middle

#563

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to me that you're still ignoring the tail risk of authoritarian control of the concept of truth, namely, gulags. It's a justified fear, since it's happened repeatedly in living memory, and is happening still: you're welcome to go hand out pamphlets about the June Fourth Incident on Tiananmen Square if you don't believe me. If you want to discount that risk, ignoring it or glossing it as some sort of slippery…

As we are discovering there is a similar tail risk to allowing people lie. Facebook goes a step further and targets the people especially susceptible to specific less of the same type of lie. TBH my problem with Facebook is that it is a bullshit funnel into an echo chamber. If they removed those algos and showed people a varying mix of opinions and positions the problem would largely go away.

Agreed. I stopped using Facebook when they stopped providing a chronological timeline of all my friend's posts. That was actually a useful service, but I guess it didn't drive as much "engagement".

Re: Mark in the Middle

#564
post #545
post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, increase friction. Instagram is a good example.. You have to post a photo and you can't retweet.

I think we would just be trading one set of problems for another, people are already physically self sorting so it's not clear to me that enhancing digital echo chambers would make things better.

What do you mean by physically self sorting? I’m taking about turning down the dials to decrease virality, discovery and engagement. If you want to change people’s behavior you need to increase friction.

Re: Mark in the Middle

#565

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they are false in a different way. In what different way? Has not both been scientifically refuted by reputable scientists? Just because one sounded more plausible doesn't mean it's not false. To me, both needn't be banned, because I believe and agree with your premise, but I don't agree there's a difference.

A bit off topic but interesting nonetheless, I'll take a crack at it. I see an important distinction between pseudoscientific crankery and just bad/refuted science. I've read some of the 5g corona stuff; it's batshit insane, like I'm fairly sure the primary sources on it have serious mental illnesses. Any physicist with a mailing address can tell you all about cranks. Refuting cranks is not a part of their job, if th…

You probably know that plate tectonics was considered "pseudoscientific crankery", do you?

Re: Mark in the Middle

#566
post #553

Earlier quoted context omitted.

since when have lefthandedness been a problem? You are also confusing two different discussions.

School children in the 1970s (so, people who are about 50+ today) might have come across teachers who wanted to "correct" the left-handedness. https://www.rightleftrightwrong.com/history_recent.html > It was only in the Post-War years, under the influence of John Dewy’s progressive education movement, that a certain amount of tolerance for individual differences and non-conformity developed. But, even then, indeed as…

We aren't talking about +50 we are talking about people who work at facebook which is mostly young white well educated.

Re: Mark in the Middle

#567
post #558

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah don't think there are many of those. But here is one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beate_Schmidt#:~:text=Beate%20... . Not sure what the point is though. The discussion I tried to start was about all the normal cis-gender if you like kids who are brought up in a well meaning home, getting the right education and the right jobs but being extremely intellectually fragile. Not sure why trans suddenly needs to get…

Your argument seems to be: "I can say what I like, and when the people I'm insulting turn round and argue back they're fragile. But me, I'm not in anyway fragile when I'm trying to shut them down for criticising me."

No my argument has a context, the context here is mostly Facebook employees and their likes at twitter, spotify etc which are mostly well educated young white people.

Re: Mark in the Middle

#568

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What burning? I asked my friend in Portland about how the anarchy in Portland is, and he responded, "Eh, a bunch of people are pissed in about one city block." Here in Chicago, things are completely fine and have been except for the day or two after George Floyd was murdered.

40 people being shot every weekend in Chicago is "fine"? Murders are up 55% in Chicago this year. CPD clearance rate for solving murders is 45%. citation: https://www.google.com/amp/s/chicago.suntimes.com/platform/a... that is not "fine." the Left choose to ignore reality and see a happy little tree illusory version of reality. that is why the Left keep losing elections.

Sure that happens in any big city. It has more to do with systemic poverty and gang violence than it does with imaginary "antifa" bogeymen Fox News keeps yammering on about.

Also OP mentioned American cities burning. While 40 murders is awful, nothing is "burning". And keep in mind this 40 is in a city of 4 million... ie a bigger population than the 20 least populated US States.

Re: Mark in the Middle

#570

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guarantee that facebook employees have an employment contract they signed. This would cover assignment of intellectual property, moonlighting, and other topics. In the US, an employer can absolutely cut your salary by 5k/yr if it isn't in your contract. But this is all beside the point, I'm not saying that 5k isn't insignificant to people, even FANG employees. I totally understand that. Im saying that facebook can…

There are often agreements made, but the employment is still at will. So there's no 'contract' for the employment itself, whereas other jurisdictions have actual contracts, and employer can't simply fire you or alter your pay outside the scope of the contract. Everyone understands that the benefits are subject to change. If management changes them and you don't prefer the changes, you speak up. Personally, I won't wo…

Would you leave a $600k job, like a E6 at FB, if it didn't offer free coffee
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