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To understand what is wrong with the west, think of libraries

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Re: To understand what is wrong with the west, think of libraries

#31

Post by flembat »

agalunar wrote: post #22
8bitsrule wrote: post #7

Hands off the libraries, pal. If you need a straw-they for your 'thought exercise', go ahead and use 'sports stadiums', I don't care then. Of course 'the west' IS still building lots of stadiums. [ https://buffalonews.com/sports/bills/the-10-newest-stadiums-... ] Panem et circenses. (Dick was right.)

Did you read the article? If anything, the author is arguing in favor of libraries. I may be misinterpreting your comment, though.

Libraries were just an example of why the author thinks the West can't build anything anymore. I think we can, and I think we will be rebuilding a lot soon as a demonstration of that.

Re: To understand what is wrong with the west, think of libraries

#33

Post by sokoloff »

bckr wrote: post #26
sokoloff wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems fairly unreasonable to suggest that it was a mistake to not or that it would be reasonable to have retrofitted all public buildings to have underfloor (sometimes underground) HVAC ducting added. Think about the typical large slab-on-grade grocery store, Target, Home Depot, Walmart, etc., which is the majority of the places I’ve had to go in the last two years. Given where we are with COVID, that seems like i…

> Think about the typical large slab-on-grade grocery store You can raise the floor, just like you can drop the ceiling. > that seems like it would have been a massively wasteful over-reaction At least this person has some creative ideas for saving lives and actually evolving our society, so that we don't lose a million people to the next airborne virus, which I have little reason to believe won't happen next time.

Could we have built raised floors in all the grocery stores and big box stores while simultaneously serving the needs of a country in pandemic in two years?

That seems beyond optimistic.

Re: To understand what is wrong with the west, think of libraries

#34

Post by DuskStar »

noelherrick wrote: post #30

I am a bit aghast that the author does not mention the American robber barons who are intentionally trying to tear down government so they can pay fewer taxes and get to pass their wealth down to their children tax-free. It’s not “the West” that can’t do anything, it’s that we have whole organizations devoted to stopping any progress. I hate when people complain about government inefficiency or incompetence when the…

I think it's ironic that you complain about robber barons preventing the modern equivalent to libraries when Andrew Carnegie built 2000 public libraries in the US alone.

Re: To understand what is wrong with the west, think of libraries

#35

Post by bckr »

sokoloff wrote: post #33
bckr wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Think about the typical large slab-on-grade grocery store You can raise the floor, just like you can drop the ceiling. > that seems like it would have been a massively wasteful over-reaction At least this person has some creative ideas for saving lives and actually evolving our society, so that we don't lose a million people to the next airborne virus, which I have little reason to believe won't happen next time.

Could we have built raised floors in all the grocery stores and big box stores while simultaneously serving the needs of a country in pandemic in two years? That seems beyond optimistic .

We're not talking about perpetual motion engines.

I think you've demonstrated the above commenter's point that

> there's basically no interest in actually stopping it with any kind of sustainable long term technical evolution

I for one am not looking forward to the next killer airborne virus.

Re: To understand what is wrong with the west, think of libraries

#36

Post by anon9384929 »

DuskStar wrote: post #34
noelherrick wrote: post #30

I am a bit aghast that the author does not mention the American robber barons who are intentionally trying to tear down government so they can pay fewer taxes and get to pass their wealth down to their children tax-free. It’s not “the West” that can’t do anything, it’s that we have whole organizations devoted to stopping any progress. I hate when people complain about government inefficiency or incompetence when the…

I think it's ironic that you complain about robber barons preventing the modern equivalent to libraries when Andrew Carnegie built 2000 public libraries in the US alone.

You’re proving OPs point… they aren’t doing this anymore.

Re: To understand what is wrong with the west, think of libraries

#37

Post by Lochleg »

noelherrick wrote: post #30

I am a bit aghast that the author does not mention the American robber barons who are intentionally trying to tear down government so they can pay fewer taxes and get to pass their wealth down to their children tax-free. It’s not “the West” that can’t do anything, it’s that we have whole organizations devoted to stopping any progress. I hate when people complain about government inefficiency or incompetence when the…

With the abysmal reputation of DMVs, even if that were the primary business of government, people would still have a case for reforming government from the ground up.
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