441–450 of 482 posts
I still don’t understand why things need to be this way? Like, people could not be worthless. It’s theoretically possible.
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Yes, that one's bad too. But the main evidence for this is that he's an anarchist. Graeber is not around to defend this position seeing as he's not alive, but anarchists are all very happy to talk about their philosophy, they will answer any question you give them, and their answers instantly disprove it and show they shouldn't be trusted to implement any of it. Like if you ask where insulin comes from they'll just s…
That's a pretty big caricature of anarchists. I'd expect an anarchist to say something to the effect of businesses creating insulin if there's enough market demand for it. You seem to assume that businesses, markets, and innovation are tied to governments and couldn't exist without the powerful hand of authority making them exist. Governments can help all of these things, but they can also hurt them, and government a…
You'd expect anarchists to support a business? Not left-anarchists, and I don't think I've ever met a "centrist anarchist". Ancaps maybe, but they're kind of bad for other obvious reasons.
Anyway, it is not, their answer is literally to shrug and say "people will do it".
https://twitter.com/doikaytnik/status/1680004065366011904
Sometimes they say "people will network" or "we'll rob a CVS".
https://twitter.com/RndmStreetMedic/status/16801584027673804...
Either way, nobody has realized that supply chains exist. When they say "people", they don't mean businesses, because they don't believe in management or capital assets.
> The Chop wasn't any real attempt at anarchy. It was a protest that took a weird turn and a city that let it happen.
But that makes it even worse that their murder rate was so much worse than the rest of the country!
Of course, that's not the usual problem with an anarchist collective. The usual problem is what happens when the more charismatic members sexually assault the less charismatic members. (Hint: they get ejected for trying to go to the police and it gets covered up.)
https://libcom.org/article/silent-no-longer-confronting-sexu...
I was expecting an thoughtful analysis, got a furious rant instead. Not disappointed at all.
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>And I'll work until I'm 75 If you’re lucky. Modern medicine still has yet to solve most major disabilities for people in their sixties. It will be hard to work if you’re suffering any of the innumerable disabling diseases. What will you do then?
[flagged]
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>Why on earth would a single person buy a 490k house? I'm in California, so that's pretty much the bare minimum. Maybe if I go way out to the high desert area (we're talking 70+ miles from downtown LA), I see more 300-400k houses for 2 bed/bath. In my area (which is still pretty far from Downtown) it's 600k minimum.
70 miles from the downtown of a major city is still generally considered part of that city’s metropolitan area and prices reflect that. Still though getting a 1br condo in LA for 150-300k is more reflective of what it actually costs to get an affordable place as a single person in that area. Yes you have condo fees, but maintain a house comes with serious costs as well. That’s the thing, if it’s a trivial expense the…
A house is a multi decade investment. Why would I buy a single shack if I want to perhaps have a family one day? Especially in this market? I don't want to own a house for the sake of ownership.
And yes, like anything else in life, you have super cheap deals and super expensive. I was using a very rough median pricing. Especially since the lowest cost houses likely mean you need to do the most work on it. I'm not a carpenter nor a house flipper, so that's not of interest to me (and I imagine many other people in tech).
Median pricing downtown is 1m for 2 Bed/bath. I feel the cost going down to 40-50% for going beyond what is considered LA county (which is huge, but not a 70 mile radius) seems to make sense. I suppose you can keep looking northeast towards Death Valley and find something at 200-300k, but you're legitimately getting towards food desert[1] area at that point. The high desert area is already pretty rural as is, unless you are a true hermit (or a stargazer) I can't imagine going further out and making it a 20+ mile drive to any and everything.
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If I were interested in doing the work I am able to do, and if my life satisfaction depended on this fulfillment, I would never work where I work. That would be intolerably frustrating. But I see my work as a means to other ends, and I am fine with my current situation.
This actually corresponds to another thing I've only recently admitted to myself, namely that I put a lot more pressure on my job for meaning and satisfaction because I'm compensating for perceived deficits in other areas of my life, like not having a spouse or children, even though those are important to me (not just a societal pressure). I do have friends and activities that are important to me, but nothing within…
Then, gradually at first, and then suddenly, my life made a critical and abrupt transition, and now my professional life has to fit into my life full of interests, occasional romance, family, sports, and all the other things that can make life more interesting.
And I make very good money.
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I work for a company that employs 100k people. The effects of my work strategy and behavior on the company's revenue, profit, vision, products are zero. On the contrary, the effects of my work strategy and behavior on my salary and position can be quite pronounced. My company can fire me tomorrow, they will forget my name in 5 days. To "fire" my company, I need to find another job, maybe in another city, working with…
>It is not hard to guess where I spend most of my efforts and thinking. Hope it's in a savings buffer. Everyone should have "fuck you" money[1] for this exact reason, but the next best thing is 3-6 months in immediate savings for rainy days. coporate shutting you down shouldn't be the immediate end of the world, especially not at the salaries tech is paid at. [1] https://www.steveglaveski.com/blog/you-dont-need-f-ck-…
I am a professional well aware that I am the most important person in my life and a cog in the machine when I have my badge around my neck or on my belt like the gunslingers once carried their Colts.
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I work for a company that employs 100k people. The effects of my work strategy and behavior on the company's revenue, profit, vision, products are zero. On the contrary, the effects of my work strategy and behavior on my salary and position can be quite pronounced. My company can fire me tomorrow, they will forget my name in 5 days. To "fire" my company, I need to find another job, maybe in another city, working with…
> the effects of my work strategy and behavior on my salary and position can be quite pronounced I think you vastly overestimate the impact you can have on your career at a company of that size.
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It seems to me that if you want to be a CEO that wants to stay connected at the ground level, then you have to actually do that: you have to know each engineer, and understand the work they’re doing on any given day. Naturally, this tightly constrains the possible size of the company. If you want to grow beyond that size you must accept that you will become disconnected and out of touch and all of the bs being discus…
Long ago I worked in places where the CEO did exactly that. "Management by walking around" (it even had the abbreviation MBWA) has fallen out of favor, though. People just don't walk any more. This was about 1000 people.
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>It is not hard to guess where I spend most of my efforts and thinking. Hope it's in a savings buffer. Everyone should have "fuck you" money[1] for this exact reason, but the next best thing is 3-6 months in immediate savings for rainy days. coporate shutting you down shouldn't be the immediate end of the world, especially not at the salaries tech is paid at. [1] https://www.steveglaveski.com/blog/you-dont-need-f-ck-…
Yes, I have plenty of savings. But in any case, having a lot of savings does not make me lean toward starting crusades at work to use Julia instead of Python or a random forest instead of a neural network. When you see the corporate world for what it is, there is no turning back. I am a professional well aware that I am the most important person in my life and a cog in the machine when I have my badge around my neck…