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Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

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Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#811

Post by ablekh »

catlifeonmars wrote: post #759
ablekh wrote: post #659

OK, so the transition from Make America Great Again slogan to Make America Decent Again (and Better) reality is inevitable and welcome. It is easy to get overjoyed by results of the U.S. Presidential Election (and some celebration certainly is in order). Uniting the country is definitely a commendable goal, though it is easier said than done. The election results across all levels clearly illustrate just how divided…

What is “moral fabric”?

The following definition that was shared by someone on Quora is quite good, though a bit academic. Moral fabric is "a metaphor for the flexible but still assured structure of virtue that forms the basis of integrity and holds society together".

To put it simpler, I would define moral fabric as a set of foundational moral principles (common moral ground) that most people in a particular society agree on and recognize as guidelines throughout their daily lives. These principles form a cohesive environment of values, which is referred to a moral fabric.

Here's a blog post with a potentially better definition: https://nomoralfabric.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/the-loss-of-m....

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#813

Post by SnowProblem »

honkycat wrote: post #638

I'm glad we got Trump out of the white house. But I'm still skeptical. The growing divide and threat of civil war ( not going to happen btw ) are nothing compared to what will happen in the next 50 years of we do not have a green new deal. Climate change, and its little brother over fishing and unchecked exploitation of our environment, is an existential threat to the human race. Bernie took it seriously. Warren took…

Here's a dark thought. If Trump really did win the election legimately, and there really was widespread voter fraud, play out how both sides would react. Consider that Biden has already been declared president-elect by the media. We may be weeks away from civil war and not even realize it. Of course, I think this is a big if, but it's a scary thought.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#815

Post by username3 »

mjfl wrote: post #805

what do people think about the voting irregularities in this election - the delays in Nevada - the early calls in Arizona - the delayed, large swing in pennsylvania - the glitches in Wisconsin and Michigan - the military vote coming in 4:1 Biden in Georgia Are we allowed to talk about that here or is it verboten?

Create an Ask HN for this. Data analysis is on topic here.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#816

Post by tootie »

anonu wrote: post #712

The country may be divided. But those divisions are manufactured and exacerbated over the last 4 years by a made-for-TV president. I couldn't help but think, in looking at various TV news channels this past week, that this is all sport. Big numbers on the score board and the play-by-play constantly flashing on the screens. We're the spectators, and the politicians are players on the field. Trump played the field bett…

I honestly don't know if Trump did this or just unleashed it. The thing that has kept me up at night isn't Trump himself but the millions of people who think he's the most qualified person to be president.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#818

Post by noelsusman »

jonhohle wrote: post #123
softwaredoug wrote: post #81

On the data nerd side I continue to be shocked at how people misinterpret the certainty of polls/forecasts. Forecasts give us probability distributions based on historical polling error data. Not infallible predictions the expected value will 100% happen. It’s fairly revealing of society’s general innumeracy, just as it was 4 years ago when Trump won.

But the polls then and now weren’t just bad, they were shockingly bad and not representative of any real population that matters in an election. I’d expect something like this from junior engineers looking at metrics for the first time, but these are supposedly the most respective organizations in their field that have failed spectacularly for the second presidential election in a row. What value do they possibly ser…

3-4 point polling errors are relatively normal, definitely not shocking. That's why the best forecast models still gave Trump a nonzero chance of winning even though the polls showed Biden up by 8+ points.

Polling is really hard. There are fundamental problems with it that are impossible to fully solve. It's frankly amazing that they get as close as they do.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#819

Post by dorkwood »

There's a famous optical illusion with a spinning silhouette of a dancer. When you look at it, you'll swear it's spinning in one direction -- say, counter-clockwise. In fact, you'll be so sure it's spinning counter-clockwise, that the idea it could be spinning in the opposite direction will seem impossible to you. But if you stare at it long enough, and intently enough, you can make it spin the other way.

I've noticed the same phenomenon with political views.

People on the left think that anyone on the right is a lunatic, and everyone on the right thinks the same thing about the left. I, as most people do, lean in one direction politically, so naturally any comment I see coming from my side seems reasonable to me. In fact, it seems impossible that a reasonable person could think any other way. But since I grew up in a family that leaned in the opposite direction, and I shared their same mindset in my younger days, I can now draw on that experience, and I can take a political tweet that everyone on my side thinks is insane, and I can stare at it, and just as with the spinning dancer, I can flip it in my head so it seems reasonable.

To me, it's a testament to the power of the tribal instincts within us. We think it's the other side that's crazy, but we're all under the same spell.

Re: Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.

#820

Post by dchichkov »

What saddens me, is that by the standards of corporate world Trump didn't do anything extraordinary. He was running a country in a style of a mediocre corporate executive. Same type of an executive that, for example, resulted in The Boeing Company suffering losses and having fleets grounded. But nothing special, really. Think "Uber" type of a corporate culture. Or "WeWork". Used to run a country.

It is no wonder, the likely result is 400k+ deaths and a worst downturn in a century. And one doesn't need to look further than Taiwan or South Korea, to see that it was not inevitable and preventable by good governance.

A wish for good governance. Less cynicism. And a shift of culture in both politics and corporate world that doesn't allow for such disasters.

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