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Högertrafikomläggningen

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Re: Högertrafikomläggningen

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually people have one primary language which is usually the one predominantly used in the home they grew up in (or maybe the one used for their primary education). If you have multiple, that's fine, but your disregarding the reality for 90%+ of people if you don't think most people have a language that is their "primary". > It does not matter to me which language I use to communicate. Why should it? For most people…

Yeah, I get what you are saying. I would never want to mandate any language. I think it is dumb when countries have official languages as opposed to e.g. operating languages. I just think that people are more worried about the homogenization of language than they need to be. In fact, with how quickly culture is homogenizing around the world, I think that it is even possible that language differences outlast cultural…

> Everywhere I go in the world, old shit is different, but modern shit is depressingly the same, or really similar anyway.

That seems like a very reductive take. Of course trends and culture is more global since we now communicate globally, but there are definitely regional cultures and values and those are expressed many different ways.

If I travel from my small european city to a city in the american midwest or a city in nigeria that are going to be massive differences regardless if the teens are doing the same tiktok dance or whatever metric of homogenization you pick. But in all of those places I almost everyone I will meet can speak english.

Re: Högertrafikomläggningen

#52
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No daylight savings time ...would be one that I would add.

Found the German. On a serious note: compared to the other inconsistencies, this seems like a very minor one. If we wanted to standardize time, we should agree on ONE timezone across the world. But of course that seems almost impossible: Having to convince 8 billion people on a change that has little benefit in their everyday life.

I propose infinite timezones, you simply calculate the true noon from your latitude. Smartphones can do that for us. The time at your workplace would be some minutes off the time at your home. And when your phone is off, you are screwed.

It's like in the old days before railroads when every town had it's own time, but even worse.

Re: Högertrafikomläggningen

#53
Making everyone speak English should not happen!

We need to understand that the language you are able to think in - limits your thinking.

Some languages have things you cannot translate into English.

These non translateable concepts do not exist in the Western world view point.

Re: Högertrafikomläggningen

#54
post #2

Maybe the world should standardize on: Driving on the right Speaking English The metric system The 2024-06-09 date format The Celsius scale The 24-hour clock

> Speaking English

That’s the opposite of what we should do. If a plant monoculture is susceptible to diseases, then a language monoculture is susceptible to mind-viruses. What would the world look like now if every country spoke German in 1933?

Re: Högertrafikomläggningen

#55
post #2

Maybe the world should standardize on: Driving on the right Speaking English The metric system The 2024-06-09 date format The Celsius scale The 24-hour clock

Maybe, maybe the world should standardize on:

    Driving on the left
    Speaking creole
    The metric system
    The 09/06/2024 date format
    The Kelvin scale
    The french decimal time system
    The AuthaGraph projection

Re: Högertrafikomläggningen

#56
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great list! Let’s add Euros and universal health care too!

The euro was great for Germany. Others weren't that happy.

Your comment is grey because people are downvoting you. But you're right, and it makes me think HN has more ignoramus than curious hackers...

It's economics: https://seekingalpha.com/article/564881-how-germany-benefite...

https://archive.nytimes.com/krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/0...

Re: Högertrafikomläggningen

#57
I cannot resist… I have to tell… when they did it, they had non-stop media coverage, as much as could possibly be done.

An hour or two after traffic switched, TV broadcast from Svinesund, the biggest of the road crossings to Norway, and a major route for road haulage, and a reporter said something like "here we have the driver of a Norwegian 18-wheeler, . Well, , what do think of the big reform?" Norwegian, looking a little dense and speaking slowly: "Uh, what reform?" There was big signage everywhere. The reporter tried dropping a hint, the Norwegian truck driver refused to have noticed any change in the driving rules. Camera showed the very big 18-wheeler. The reporter dropped increasingly clearer hints and looked discomfited, the Norwegian still said "no, what reform, is anything new?" and eventually they cut the interview and switched back to the studio.

Re: Högertrafikomläggningen

#58
post #41
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Found the German. On a serious note: compared to the other inconsistencies, this seems like a very minor one. If we wanted to standardize time, we should agree on ONE timezone across the world. But of course that seems almost impossible: Having to convince 8 billion people on a change that has little benefit in their everyday life.

So You Want To Abolish Time Zones https://qntm.org/abolish >

This is linked every time and every time it's debunked. It's silly.

Re: Högertrafikomläggningen

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am fluent in one language and speak three others passably, and have order-a-beer/ask-for-a-toilet/get-directions ability in a few others. It does not matter to me which language I use to communicate. Why should it? The one I am fluent in is not the language of any of my ancestors if I go back just a couple of generations. So what? My children are natively fluent in two languages. Neither of their languages is a sec…

Usually people have one primary language which is usually the one predominantly used in the home they grew up in (or maybe the one used for their primary education). If you have multiple, that's fine, but your disregarding the reality for 90%+ of people if you don't think most people have a language that is their "primary". > It does not matter to me which language I use to communicate. Why should it? For most people…

I think something changed culturally as well. When my parents grew up any moderately educated person was expected to speak different several different languages.

Very few in my generation speak three languages, even in my rather international field. Yet my older colleagues speak french, German and Spanish like it is nothing. And my international colleagues often speak 4+ languages.

I am fine with English being a de facto Lingua Franca, but I can't help feeling something has been lost.

Re: Högertrafikomläggningen

#60
post #33
post #2

Maybe the world should standardize on: Driving on the right Speaking English The metric system The 2024-06-09 date format The Celsius scale The 24-hour clock

> Driving on the right More people in India drive on the left than North America and Europe put together.

China drives on the right ;)
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