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The happiest kids in the world have social safety nets

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Re: The happiest kids in the world have social safety nets

#171

Post by sebastianconcpt »

nicoco wrote: post #14
sebastianconcpt wrote: post #3

And the most successful ones?

Do you mean money-wise? What's the point if you're not happy? The only thing I want for my kids besides them being happy, is that their happiness does not depend on the misery of other human beings. Funnily enough, "success" is often used as a synonym for "being a sociopath born with a silver spoon who does not give a damn about not making others miserable".

In the same line of though, happiness as dopamine addiction can lead to sociopathy regardless of wealth production or depletion capacity.

Re: The happiest kids in the world have social safety nets

#172

Post by sebastianconcpt »

nicoco wrote: post #14
sebastianconcpt wrote: post #3

And the most successful ones?

Do you mean money-wise? What's the point if you're not happy? The only thing I want for my kids besides them being happy, is that their happiness does not depend on the misery of other human beings. Funnily enough, "success" is often used as a synonym for "being a sociopath born with a silver spoon who does not give a damn about not making others miserable".

This is wise:

    their happiness does not depend on the misery of other human beings
That's a civilizatory idea.

Re: The happiest kids in the world have social safety nets

#173

Post by sebastianconcpt »

Symbiote wrote: post #5
sebastianconcpt wrote: post #3

And the most successful ones?

By what measure of success?

Well that's a good discussion starter.

What about preventing the study and discussion to be myopic or monocultural?

What about a study with several cultures ranked by country? The successful criteria could be measured by how the status ladder is composed in each country and making the cultural cosmovision of each country explicitly defined.

It would reveal a lot.

Re: The happiest kids in the world have social safety nets

#174

Post by sebastianconcpt »

bilbo0s wrote: post #28
Symbiote wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By what measure of success?

I think that guy probably means "money"? Whichever kid has the most when they die wins. But yeah, there are way more dimensions along which to measure success. Almost every one is more important, in my view, than how much money you have when you die.

No, money is only one parameter (a very influential one) but looks and fitness and power and fame and health and temperament are also involved in the success equation.

Re: The happiest kids in the world have social safety nets

#175

Post by asoneth »

tzs wrote: post #138
asoneth wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> in my area none of this is actually true That's wonderful you live in place where children are can roam freely without being injured or killed by drivers. But this is a real threat in most of the US. Being killed in a motor vehicle crash is the second highest cause of death among children and adolescents. (It was the highest until 2020 when firearm-related injuries overtook them.[1]) For every 100,000 people the Ne…

Most of that in the US is children who were riding in a car that crashes. The number of children who are killed by cars as pedestrians or bicyclists is much lower. In 2021 for example it was 176 pedestrian children and 38 bicyclist children [1]. [1] https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/...

That's an interesting point I need to think about. I do wonder how the deaths would compare to the number of trips taken, because children in the US take significantly fewer trips by bike than children in the Netherlands. Given that pedestrian deaths were at a 40 year high[1] in the US last year, I wonder if the relatively smaller number of children killed is simply a reflection of the low number of children walking.

I can say though that the few times I've ridden on the road with my children were the most stressful of my life, I have never done it since, and it made me completely understand why I no longer see any other children or parents doing it.

[1] https://www.vox.com/23784549/pedestrian-deaths-traffic-safet...

Re: The happiest kids in the world have social safety nets

#176

Post by asoneth »

koolba wrote: post #146
deprecative wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You want to antagonize an untouchable murder junkie? In what universe is that a good idea?

“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” I also disagree with framing all police as “murder junkies”.

I agree that we need to push back, but that can also be done politically.

Antagonizing a local police officer is a terrible idea unless you are wealthy and/or well-connected. Most are kind, but not all are, and antagonizing the wrong one can make your life hell.

(I also agree that the vast majority of police are not "murder junkies". But it's also not surprising that a handful of folks like that do join an organization that nearly always manages to protect their members from repercussions when they use lethal force.)

Re: The happiest kids in the world have social safety nets

#177

Post by alistairSH »

koolba wrote: post #146
deprecative wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You want to antagonize an untouchable murder junkie? In what universe is that a good idea?

“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” I also disagree with framing all police as “murder junkies”.

They might not personally be "murder junkies" but through the "thin blue line", they almost all enable that behavior from their peers.

Re: The happiest kids in the world have social safety nets

#178

Post by alistairSH »

kasey_junk wrote: post #79
JohnFen wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the US they'd risk either being killed by a driver, or stopped by an overzealous neighbor or police officer. It may depends on where in the US you're talking about, but in my area none of this is actually true. Although lots of people believe it is.

I find these stories of kids not walking (or biking) outside wild! Hundreds of kids in my neighborhood walk, bike, or public transit to school everyday with no issues. I do worry about car on pedestrian crashes but the city has crossing guards and traffic calming for just this. Where are these places that you can’t be outside as a child?

My neighborhood is So, every winter, there's a pile of kids standing at the bus stop. With their parents waiting nearby in idling cars. They could quite literally walk their kid to school and back in the time they spend waiting for the bus.

And to make it worse, those kids are literally NOT allowed to walk home unless a parent is there to retrieve them. Otherwise the school will put them on the bus.

It's completely bonkers.

Re: The happiest kids in the world have social safety nets

#179

Post by alistairSH »

ars wrote: post #168
tmnvix wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That 'residential zone' has a supermarket, brewery, bakery, cafe, hairdresser, restaurant, bar, video store(!), community hall, basketball court, park, childcare centre, greengrocer, takeaway shop, and secondhand store all within 50m on a street with a 30km/h speed limit. When I explore that area surrounding the commercial zone in Atlanta I find just houses, green spaces, and roads. It's a crappy environment for anyo…

I guess you are used to zillions of tiny stores near all the houses? People in the US don't like that, they like central large stores in one area, and then residences without any business nearby. You are wrong though, it's actually very nice for the kids, they can play without worry. But they can't go shopping. Big deal, that hardly matters. I lived in a place like that, it's actually a really nice way to grow up. Mu…

People in the US don't like that, they like central large stores in one area

Not all of us. I hate strip malls. They're terrible. I have to drive to them. I have to walk across a stinking, hot, dangerous slab of car-infested parking lot to get into the stores. The stores themselves are packed with piles of shit I don't want, forcing me to roam around looking for what I need.

Cars in the suburbs are literally a problem because we heavily subsidize their use through free parking, subsidized roads (only 30% of Virginia's VDOT budget comes from use taxes - the rest is from general revenue), and failure to fully capture negative externalities (emissions, etc). It's also rare that a suburb has the tax base to maintain it's own physical infrastructure - the land values simply aren't high enough (because it's too spread out) to be anything but a Ponzi scheme, where those costs are kicked down the road onto future generations.

Re: The happiest kids in the world have social safety nets

#180

Post by mitthrowaway2 »

Symbiote wrote: post #165
ClimaxGravely wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the person you asked but if I had to guess it might be similar to how people react to leaving a dog in a car. That is to say it's a heat issue.

Unlike dogs, children can open doors and windows, and can shout for help if they think it essential.

In many cars, power windows can't be operated when the car is off with the key removed.
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