Incoherent article rife with generalizations and appeals to non-experts.
0/10.
The dictatorship of the articulate
261–270 of 409 posts
Re: The dictatorship of the articulate
#262Okay, but do we need Golden Gate bridges, and do I need the next running water? I don't look at the world and think "you know what? We're missing technological solutions". I think I am basically ideologically opposed to the writer of this blog post. A lot of people just have this explicit ideology of "all we need to do is improve technology" but I do not find it convincing.
I would rather look at why we think we need continuous growth. What is wrong with a world where we make what we need, own it ourselves, and live on that?
Unlike Buffet, I am not convinced that continuous growth is desirable.
Re: The dictatorship of the articulate
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are old things we need that are now threatened: water and food. Part of why they're threatened is due to lackluster planning and future mugging economics.
Add energy there, as the root of the coming scarcity of both. Almost criminal how we have let ourselves become in the verge of energy poor.
Are you telling me I can't eat tweets??
Re: The dictatorship of the articulate
#264TLDR: Doing > Talking about doing Ironic it took the article so much storytelling to make this point.
The actual TL;DR of the article is that the author wants to increase the political power of the elites while decreasing the power of the other classes.
Mentioning Uber as the greatest invention of the last 30 years tells us all we need to know.
Re: The dictatorship of the articulate
#265Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just because it's an amazing thing which without life would be more difficult doesn't necessarily make it a good or amazing innovation. Sure tap water is amazing and living without is hell. Food is amazing and living without is hell. But in terms of innovation or technical level they are far away from a cell phone.
> Just because it's an amazing thing which without life would be more difficult doesn't necessarily make it a good or amazing innovation. Actually it does. That's the very definition of a "good or amazing innovation". It might not be technically involved or some deep use of science and physics and such, but it's definitely a good AND amazing innovation. Aside from the huge quality of life improvement it brought, it w…
OP complained about that things don't move fast enough. It's like development has slowed down.
My argument is that developing a cell phone is way more difficult and complex than some other old inventions. Even though one can argue forever which innovation is most valuable.
Re: The dictatorship of the articulate
#266I think most that could have been said on this topic has been covered by the other comments. I’ll share an anecdote however on how ‘just build’ without impedance can lead to societal tech debt:
I live down the street from an underutilized former industrial complex. For over a decade now, the owners have planned a rehab to demolish old buildings and construct brand new shiny biotech offices (note: I live in a biotech hub, land is very expensive).
so why has it taken so long? Sure there’s your usual culprits like zoning review and environmental negotiations to cut down mature trees, but the real reason is debt from the 1920s. In the authors vaunted era of building, in the 1920s and 30s, the industrial complex built asbestos products. Now there are fine asbestos fibers in the soil across the entire complex, and demolition/construction will obviously disturb them from where they are currently at rest. This is an actual health hazard to the entire community and the workers, not just mere red tape.
It’s easy to forget because factories have largely moved out of the country, but regulations exist to protect our soil, our water, our air, and our health. We don’t need to create future superfund sites to satisfy our desire to move fast and build things.
Re: The dictatorship of the articulate
#267The world is complex now, it was simple back then, let me explain. I was thinking the other day, in 1950, you could drop a kid randomly anywhere on the map (say the U.S. but not necessarily), he would easily find its way: to the farm, to the factory, to the military or to the church. Everything would be ok for the 1950 kid youd drop anywhere. He would be fine and happy. Drop a kid nowdays and youd be dropping a body,…
> Everything would be ok for the 1950 kid youd drop anywhere Not if the kid was black. Just ask Emmett Till, a kid from Chicago ‘dropped’ into Mississippi on vacation. Or if the kid was a woman. You think she would have no problem finding a job in the 1950s? Or if the kid was a Muslim. Or gay. Or disabled. Even if you were a straight white male, your mortality rate was a lot higher in the 1950s than today.
My family actually were Muslims in the US in 1950, and I’m a little irritated at the suggestion of lacking agency.
Re: The dictatorship of the articulate
#268This is what I consider the modern face of Fascism. I know you're not supposed to use that word, because it really upsets Fascists. But really, long passionately argued essays about how democratic governance is stopping us from returning to the good old days and we should let the powerful do whatever they want. Using dubious emotional arguments like laundromats can't be historic buildings? Calling things dictatorship…
This comment can only originate from someone who has lived in democracy all their life.
Having travelled the world for most of my life, and saw dictatorship at work, I think a lot of HN and Twitter evil sensors need serious calibration.
It's like looking at somebody with diabetes and saying they have terminal AIDS.
Re: The dictatorship of the articulate
#269The world is complex now, it was simple back then, let me explain. I was thinking the other day, in 1950, you could drop a kid randomly anywhere on the map (say the U.S. but not necessarily), he would easily find its way: to the farm, to the factory, to the military or to the church. Everything would be ok for the 1950 kid youd drop anywhere. He would be fine and happy. Drop a kid nowdays and youd be dropping a body,…
On what are you basing this assertion? This just sounds like your personal head canon about the past. I see no justification nor data to back this up.
Re: The dictatorship of the articulate
#270Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, they also made the trains run on time. I guess Switzerland is the fascist capital of the world with their perfect time tables. The reason why fascism is bad isn't because it ignores the trappings of American kleptocracy, it's bad because it kills people.
Ha, I nearly brought that myth up as further evidence: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/loco-motive/ Why do people have such a false, cartoon-like, impression of what actual historical fascist movements did? But you're right, it's much more important that he killed people: > Fascist squads, militias inspired by Mussolini but often created by local leaders, swept through the countryside of the Po Valley and the Pugli…
Now do the great leap forward in China.