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Marshall Brain died hours after alleging retaliation at NC State

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Re: Marshall Brain died hours after alleging retaliation at NC State

#111

Post by selimthegrim »

fracus wrote: post #103
SuperNinKenDo wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been in two situations like this where I eventually "WON". You don't simply heal. You don't accept that that just wasn't the place for you and move on. What you do is have your perspective on other humans permanently and irrevocably changed. If you are a certain kind of person who values truth and personal responsibility, you come to understand that the world is fundamentally incompatible with you, and are faced…

"If you are a certain kind of person who values truth and personal responsibility, you come to understand that the world is fundamentally incompatible with you" This logic is flawed in that you are assuming no one else shares the same values as you do.

And how long have you spent in academia? What do you think research universities produce at scale to keep their Carnegie category?

Re: Marshall Brain died hours after alleging retaliation at NC State

#112

Post by BriggyDwiggs42 »

Aeolun wrote: post #102
sneak wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What isn't your job is taking moral stances on things, having political opinions, provoking what others might see as unnecessary conflict, in any form. This is wrong, and how you end up with flying drone face recognizing skullpopping murderbots. "I just work here" is an abdication of adult responsibility to self, family, and society. It's not some idealistic stance, it's the truth. It's how we ended up with concent…

Absolutely, and 90% of people will happily do so. So your personal ‘line in the sand’ is just completely and utterly irrelevant (aside from your own satisfaction)

I think this stance is mired in the big picture but ignores small altruism. Neighbors who sheltered jews during the holocaust didn’t alter the system, but they saved real lives. Clandestine action for the better, in line with one’s convictions, can be genuinely worthwhile.

Re: Marshall Brain died hours after alleging retaliation at NC State

#113

Post by JumpCrisscross »

benreesman wrote: post #88
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> everyone will fight as hard as possible with whatever means at their disposal to be maximally selfish No, I'm saying loss aversion is often misunderstood [1]. Both in its existence and strength. And the fact that it operates in relative terms, i.e. someone who is materially better off than they were 10 years ago may still throw their toys out of the pram if their neighbor is much better. > the wining strategy is no…

I’m aware of the concept of loss aversion, but I think it as an explanatory factor for macro economics is a red herring: one of a long list of diversions in the grand company of all trickle-down economics. People say that the without arbitrary incentives for arbitrary wealth that hard work and innovation won’t happen. Demonstrably false! The Internet that the current cartel is looting was a public private partnership…

> These days? That “blood boy” transfusion thing Thiel is always on about?

This complaint is old as civilisation. Cato complained about the price of pickled fish exceeding that of ploughmen, and that was hundreds of years before even the Republic peaked.

> punitive taxes on the mega wealthy wouldn’t raise enough revenue to matter

Who said this?

I’m a fan of higher (not necessarily punitive) taxes on billionaires. But you can’t trade that for middle-class income taxes 1:1; the former is far more volatile.

Re: Marshall Brain died hours after alleging retaliation at NC State

#114

Post by JumpCrisscross »

benreesman wrote: post #108
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> to transfer wealth upwards constantly This is overly simplistic. Truer: we will sacrifice a lot to maintain our relative standard of living.

I want to answer this point separately. My standard of living ten years ago was so high it was honestly gross, I imagine it was easily in the ballpark of a BlackRock quant. The year I quit was my second highest earning year in which I made an amount that is shameful given that my job was to sell digital fentanyl. I will sacrifice my standard of living up to and including not living because I feel a deep identificatio…

> lot of people will sacrifice their principles to preserve their standard of living

The line where principles outweigh personal interests (alternatively, where individual interest should be suppressed for the group) vary from person to person, group to group. But they are universally ahead of where those who’d prefer humans weren’t flawed, in their view, imagine them to be. The easy excuse is to conclude everyone is evil. The hard work, that granted few of us are cut out for, is making do with the world we have. (The fun, in exploring the richness these “flaws” produce.)

Note: I’m not asking anyone to settle for a lower moral rung. I’m saying: see the world as it is, not as you judge it to be. Would spacefaring be simpler without gravity? Yes. But the universe’s beauty, ourselves included, could not then exist. Human ambition and aspiration and yes, greed, are not aspects of ourselves I’d ever wish away. Even if it would make some problems easier.

Re: Marshall Brain died hours after alleging retaliation at NC State

#115

Post by m463 »

patrickhogan1 wrote: post #22

This story really hits home for me. My dad was a physics teacher, and these complaints sound all too familiar—especially this part: "I did what the University told me to do, and then these administrators ruined my life for it." It’s frustrating how often dedicated educators are forced to navigate politics instead of focusing on teaching. The best educators are usually the least political, while those who thrive in po…

I think university politics is just horrendous.

I don't know the factors that lead to it though.

Meanwhile in the business world, I think market forces tend to balance a lot of this stuff out.

Re: Marshall Brain died hours after alleging retaliation at NC State

#116

Post by benreesman »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #114
benreesman wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to answer this point separately. My standard of living ten years ago was so high it was honestly gross, I imagine it was easily in the ballpark of a BlackRock quant. The year I quit was my second highest earning year in which I made an amount that is shameful given that my job was to sell digital fentanyl. I will sacrifice my standard of living up to and including not living because I feel a deep identificatio…

> lot of people will sacrifice their principles to preserve their standard of living The line where principles outweigh personal interests (alternatively, where individual interest should be suppressed for the group) vary from person to person, group to group. But they are universally ahead of where those who’d prefer humans weren’t flawed, in their view, imagine them to be. The easy excuse is to conclude everyone is…

I want to express my admiration that you’ve engaged with me on this tricky and controversial topic.

I actually wish I had acknowledged several very astute points that I strongly agree with.

I’m not a RenTech quant, but I’ve spent enough time around heavyweights to know one when I see one.

I’d like to have a dialog. If you feel the same please email me at b7r6@b7r6.net

Re: Marshall Brain died hours after alleging retaliation at NC State

#117

Post by JumpCrisscross »

foul wrote: post #107
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they needed some show trials to pacify people Which people? The Europeans were occupied or liberated under effectively caretaker governments. Americans didn't need pacification. > the agreements that came out of those trials The trials inspired some agreements. It didn't create any, other than the precedent of holding leaders accountable for crimes against humanity.

> Which people? The Europeans were occupied or liberated under effectively caretaker governments. They were occupied but they weren't entirely busy: while "low" people were happy to kill ex-Nazi collaborators themselves, it's the post-war governments (all of them, USA's included) who needed, with those trials, to manifest a re-establishment of the rule of law once again. 80 years later we can see it's been a hypocrit…

> who needed, with those trials, to manifest a re-establishment of the rule of law once again

Do you have a source for this having been the motivation?

I’m admittedly most familiar with the French and American perspectives. Those weren’t concerned with pacification but creating an international sense of the rule of law and legal basis for the occupation and restructuring of those societies.

Re: Marshall Brain died hours after alleging retaliation at NC State

#118

Post by benreesman »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #113
benreesman wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m aware of the concept of loss aversion, but I think it as an explanatory factor for macro economics is a red herring: one of a long list of diversions in the grand company of all trickle-down economics. People say that the without arbitrary incentives for arbitrary wealth that hard work and innovation won’t happen. Demonstrably false! The Internet that the current cartel is looting was a public private partnership…

> These days? That “blood boy” transfusion thing Thiel is always on about? This complaint is old as civilisation. Cato complained about the price of pickled fish exceeding that of ploughmen, and that was hundreds of years before even the Republic peaked. > punitive taxes on the mega wealthy wouldn’t raise enough revenue to matter Who said this? I’m a fan of higher (not necessarily punitive) taxes on billionaires. But…

I’ve read Cato as well as undergraduate behavioral economics.

No tax on the wealthy is worth its weight in paper unless it breaks the back of fluid fungibility of money into policy. We have any number of ways to raise revenue, most of which would be trivial if Bezos cast one ballot like anyone else.

Directly or indirectly bribing legislators or regulators should be a capital offense.

Re: Marshall Brain died hours after alleging retaliation at NC State

#119

Post by JumpCrisscross »

benreesman wrote: post #118
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> These days? That “blood boy” transfusion thing Thiel is always on about? This complaint is old as civilisation. Cato complained about the price of pickled fish exceeding that of ploughmen, and that was hundreds of years before even the Republic peaked. > punitive taxes on the mega wealthy wouldn’t raise enough revenue to matter Who said this? I’m a fan of higher (not necessarily punitive) taxes on billionaires. But…

I’ve read Cato as well as undergraduate behavioral economics. No tax on the wealthy is worth its weight in paper unless it breaks the back of fluid fungibility of money into policy. We have any number of ways to raise revenue, most of which would be trivial if Bezos cast one ballot like anyone else. Directly or indirectly bribing legislators or regulators should be a capital offense.

> No tax on the wealthy is worth its weight in paper unless it breaks the back of fluid fungibility of money into policy

These are separate policy fronts. You've got a water leak in your engine and are trying to solve it by banning rain.

> Directly or indirectly bribing legislators or regulators should be a capital offense

Define this as loosely as Redditors consider lobbying and you essentially shut down democractic involvement to all but those who can afford the trip to D.C. to advocate in person. Or, to Cato, the Tribal Assembly. Bet you'd get a lot of rich people on board with that rule!

Re: Marshall Brain died hours after alleging retaliation at NC State

#120

Post by derangedHorse »

brailsafe wrote: post #25
simpaticoder wrote: post #12

His story is a cautionary tale about real life vs idealism. The two come into conflict frequently, and sometimes violently. Nothing is more difficult or dangerous than holding power to account; the mechanisms we imagine are in place to hold power accountable exist purely in that imagination. The personal feelings of shame, guilt, or ethical responsibility we imagine there to be, or the social pressure brought to bear…

Yep. I often reflect on some of my career mistakes, especially when evaluating current decisions within the context of a job or interacting with other institutions, and what I wish I'd learnt earlier would be to "read a room". Sure, there is technically a process for reporting wrongdoing, but there's no process for reporting wrongdoing and keeping your job, and keeping your job is more important. What isn't your job…

The two most important lines of your comment:

> you shouldn't unless someone complains … unless you can make a business case for it that's sufficiently compelling and rewarding that it's worth pursuing

> Don't stick your neck out unless you control the outcome (for positive or negative)

If there’s moral questions surrounding your employment and no structures to tackle them, then quit.

If there’s a way to garner support for a proposal in a way that will incur a significant cost to the organization if rejected, then leverage those closest to the top who you believe will understand this.

Basically, “If you come for the king, you best not miss”

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