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Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

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Re: Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

#481

Post by woooooo »

Eisenstein wrote: post #466
woooooo wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because I'm generally aware of western economic and political history from 1600-1800. I'm not conflating them, they were in fact conflated. Soviet russian and chinese industrialization was different, but later and not relevant to the Atlantic slave trade that parent poster was talking about.

> Soviet russian and chinese industrialization was different Of course. "Industrialization requires profit, except when it doesn't". Got it. > but later and not relevant to the Atlantic slave trade that parent poster was talking about. I didn't realize they used steam ships to transport slaves from Africa to Americas, where they made them work in factories to produce industrial goods.

I think you may be fighting some ideological proxy war that I definitely don't care about.

If you don't industrialize, slavery never ends. It was everywhere in human societies until industrialization.

Re: Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

#482

Post by TMWNN »

Kreutzer wrote: post #412
TMWNN wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>In my private conversations, some of the most boring milquetoast technocratic leftist scholars have grimly foretold that somehow, someday, a mob of their own ideological persuasion will come for them. I saw a good description (on /r/4chan, no less) of leftist NPCs: People who constantly check in on each other to see what the latest things are to embrace/avoid. What a miserable way to live. Caplan's quote sums up th…

Ironic that a good chunk of your comment history is evaluating this or that news story, conspiracy, or talking point from this or that social media outlet. What a miserable way to live.

Sorry to shatter your illusions, but unlike the leftist NPCs I mentioned I don't care what others think. I was never afraid to speak up during my time at an Ivy League university where the most common political posters were for the "world socialism" movement. In more than a decade on Reddit (or here) I have never once complained about being downvoted, and the first time I mentioned the concept of being up/downvoted at all was many years into my tenure there in response to some question/discussion not dissimilar to this.

The next time you are about to post something online, or say something to friends, or patronize a business, do you first ask yourself "What would it do to my public image if other people I knew saw me doing this?", and let that affect your behavior? Not me.

PS - I can also say that I have never up/downvoted a comment anywhere simply because I disagreed with it. I have upvoted many comments critical of me, or something I believe in/agree with, because of their eloquence or wit. I downvote very, very, very few comments, and only because they are completely useless (say, off topic), or ridiculously foul-mouthed in an inappropriate context (by the same token, I have upvoted such if funny enough). Even if few others seemingly believe in the original rationale for up/downvoting, I still do.

Re: Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

#483

Post by aspenmayer »

DougEiffel wrote: post #194

Don't worry guys, I teach 8th grade. You're not missing much. A student recently introduced me to BLP Kosher. That was... an experience. https://youtu.be/xUqDb-p-Ksw?si=kOLnSXlXgfc6wad_

> Don't worry guys, I teach 8th grade. You're not missing much.

> A student recently introduced me to BLP Kosher. That was... an experience.

A lot to unpack here, but it sounds to me like you don’t like or appreciate rap music, which says more about your own individual music taste than the quality of BLP Kosher’s music or this particular track.

I think the production is on point and the track low-key slaps, but that’s just my opinion.

I like rap. In my opinion, rap music embodies the last vestiges of individuality and creativity that rock and roll pioneered. Rock is now just a snake eating its own tail. All the soul is gone.

Re: Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

#484

Post by randomdata »

mcphage wrote: post #480
randomdata wrote: post #476

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that's what the rest of the comment says – that the people left due to a change in the social dynamic. What's with all the replying without reading going on around here lately? Another Reddit boycott going on?

> Yes, that's what the rest of the comment says – that the people left due to a change in the social dynamic. The comment: "The people you - whoever you is reading this - just don't post there any longer because Elon took away their toys and they can't stand it." > What's with all the replying without reading going on around here lately? I dunno, you tell me.

That's right, the "toys" are explained as being status. The comment explains that the community moved to reducing these people to being regular Joes like everyone else, and that is why they ran away crying, so to speak. I'll leave you to ponder the veracity of that claim, if you care. It is irrelevant here.

> I dunno, you tell me.

I am afraid I don't know enough about you to even begin to understand your behaviour. I'll assume from this you don't know yourself all that well either.

Re: Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

#485

Post by bojan »

rightbyte wrote: post #426
0xDEAFBEAD wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was talking to my younger sister (college student) the other day, and she mentioned that she and her friends are very reluctant to post their opinions online, especially under their real names. This was a bit of a surprise to me, because she volunteers for the Democrats and is openly lesbian, so I would have thought her opinions are generally a great match for the current cultural milieu. I think maybe part of the…

From a non American perspective describing the Dem. as left or leftists is hilarious.

That's not what they did. In the US, if you're a leftist, you'd almost certainly be a Democrat, that being one of only two choices.

You are saying that not all Democrats are leftists, that is true of course. But almost every leftist is a Dem.

Re: Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

#486

Post by aspenmayer »

MrVandemar wrote: post #409
Borrible wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'll be even more shocked when you find out you're coworkers because an HR AI calculated you were a good team fit because of the same preferences. You think, that's just a joke? Just wait until you're married...

Relevant: Maneki Neko, a short story by Bruce Sterling. https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/maneki-neko/

This story was amazing last time I read it and holds up amazingly well considering the age. This could be a Black Mirror episode.

Re: Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

#487

Post by Eisenstein »

woooooo wrote: post #481
Eisenstein wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Soviet russian and chinese industrialization was different Of course. "Industrialization requires profit, except when it doesn't". Got it. > but later and not relevant to the Atlantic slave trade that parent poster was talking about. I didn't realize they used steam ships to transport slaves from Africa to Americas, where they made them work in factories to produce industrial goods.

I think you may be fighting some ideological proxy war that I definitely don't care about. If you don't industrialize, slavery never ends. It was everywhere in human societies until industrialization.

There is no ideological war, it is just an unfounded statement that has no direct line of reasoning. What does slavery have to do with industrialization? There weren't slaves in many pre-industrial societies. And the fact that you switched 'industrialization' for 'profit maximizing businesses' as if no one would notice (then acknowledging that communists did figure out how to do it) makes me wonder if you even thought about for more than a few seconds.

Re: Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

#488

Post by mcphage »

randomdata wrote: post #484
mcphage wrote: post #480

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yes, that's what the rest of the comment says – that the people left due to a change in the social dynamic. The comment: "The people you - whoever you is reading this - just don't post there any longer because Elon took away their toys and they can't stand it." > What's with all the replying without reading going on around here lately? I dunno, you tell me.

That's right, the "toys" are explained as being status. The comment explains that the community moved to reducing these people to being regular Joes like everyone else, and that is why they ran away crying, so to speak. I'll leave you to ponder the veracity of that claim, if you care. It is irrelevant here. > I dunno, you tell me. I am afraid I don't know enough about you to even begin to understand your behaviour. I…

Just keep movin' them goalposts.

Re: Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

#489

Post by skeaker »

cafard wrote: post #463
SCM-Enthusiast wrote: post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine a nation that had a direct dialogue with their president like that? Nowadays, it's too polarizing.

Dialogue? I suppose the FDR had better writers, and was better at sticking to his scripts. But there were a lot of people who referred to FDR as "that man in the White House" rather than use his name. And Edmund Wilson quoted somebody at a dinner party in the 1930s, where someone denouncing Hitler was answered with "That's going too far. You're talking about him as if he was Roosevelt."

I think that's the point though, isn't it? Some people will like the speeches, some won't, but they had all heard the same speech and were all more or less on the same page about what was being discussed.

Re: Nobody knows what's happening online anymore

#490

Post by Eisenstein »

WalterBright wrote: post #468
superb_dev wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> …most people would say that hard work leads to success. I don’t think most people would agree with that these days. I know most of the people around me wouldn’t

Indeed, a lot of people in America believe that there is no path to success. It's a very popular notion on HN. Another thing I'm in a small minority of is pointing out that adults of sound mind and body in America are capable of success.

> adults of sound mind and body in America are capable of success.

You are in a minority because of those caveats. 'Sound mind and body' and 'success' are vague enough to lend themselves to many interpretations and act as an escape hatch you can jump out of when someone points out any one of numerous exceptions to that statement.

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