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What Bikini Atoll Looks Like Today (2017)

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Re: What Bikini Atoll Looks Like Today (2017)

#51
post #47
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It appears that it was published on medium and subsequently added to the standfordmag site, hence the 2 links to it they're and the notice that new articles are published there. It probably just remains because they have no control over medium, so they can't turn the page into a permanent redirect, and they don't want to just take it down and break links.

I do wonder why people still publish on Medium. There was a time when Medium probably (for no particular reason carried credibility (for no partucularly good reason over a random blog post. But these days the negatives seem like they outweigh any small positives.

It's still the least bad way to just write something and put it on the internet in a way that looks non-awful. For people whose focus is the content, not the, uh, medium, it still makes sense.

Re: What Bikini Atoll Looks Like Today (2017)

#52
post #51
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do wonder why people still publish on Medium. There was a time when Medium probably (for no particular reason carried credibility (for no partucularly good reason over a random blog post. But these days the negatives seem like they outweigh any small positives.

It's still the least bad way to just write something and put it on the internet in a way that looks non-awful. For people whose focus is the content, not the, uh, medium, it still makes sense.

I guess I won't really argue. The appearance is good and, if you don't want your own blog (which is still more work to setup than it should be unless you're a web designer or pay someone), I suppose Medium is a reasonable option.

Re: What Bikini Atoll Looks Like Today (2017)

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People would correctly identify that their standard of living is being reduced for ideological reasons without tangible individual benefits and would likely not respond well to that, resulting in a loss of political power for whatever movement instituted those policies and a reversal of said policies.

People went with the green bin initiative in the US, perhaps elsewhere. we switched to more fuel efficient cars in general when fuel became more expensive. New home construction and retrofits to make houses fully electric - no gas hobs, not gas furnace. these were all "QOL" adjustments that people have been making. You have to pitch things the correct way, and it would really help if it wasn't treated as an "Ideologi…

Most of those only really took off because the QOL sacrifice became close to negligible.

Re: What Bikini Atoll Looks Like Today (2017)

#54
post #28
post #13

What, did Medium just copy over Stanford's alumni magazine? Here's the original story.[1] [1] https://stanfordmag.org/contents/what-bikini-atoll-looks-lik...

1. This is the official Medium publication for the Stanford Alumni Magazine. 2. The Medium version of this story was published 1 month before the stanfordmag.org version, so this is the "original" story.

Arguably the print edition of Stanford's alumni magazine is the "original" version. The web version of that issue is currently hosted at:

https://stanfordmag.org/issues/december-2017

It makes sense to link to the current web version of the issue rather than the medium.com version.

Re: What Bikini Atoll Looks Like Today (2017)

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because a lot of environmental movements aren't rooted in utilitarianism, but in deeper beliefs that the endless pursuit of growth is inherently evil. The basic idea is that tigers and wolves have as much right to the planet as we do, and we've already taken too much. Hence the degrowth movement, etc. This is why many environmental activists see cheap, abundant energy as problematic. It would mean less air pollution…

> Hence the degrowth movement, etc. The oddest thing about this to me is that they don't seem to think through what exactly this implies. If one truly believes in the need to reduce human population then by far the highest margin things are not things like preserving a few hundred year old forest in England, but mass introduction of contraceptives to the DRC. It'll be places like Nigeria and Congo that dominate in te…

Population growth decreases with education and higher standard of living, not only in Europe.

Re: What Bikini Atoll Looks Like Today (2017)

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's no way we're going to convince the middle classes of the central economies to reduce consumption to that level, or even to convince people in that class of development economy to stop aiming for more. What if there is 200% tariffs on junk they shouldn't be buying anyhow? What if a new car becomes so expensive that the idea of having to replace it in 3-5/years induces outrage and class action lawsuits? What…

People would correctly identify that their standard of living is being reduced for ideological reasons without tangible individual benefits and would likely not respond well to that, resulting in a loss of political power for whatever movement instituted those policies and a reversal of said policies.

[dead]

Re: What Bikini Atoll Looks Like Today (2017)

#57
My wife is currently in the Marshall Islands commemorating an anniversary related to the nuclear testing. The trauma and fallout, cultural and nuclear, persists to this day - over 7 decades (and how many generations?) since the Bravo test.

I've heard and read a lot about the atrocities visited upon the Marshallese in the name of research in the last six months. Including around the potential "intentionality" of the human testing [1]. It is harrowing. And a hard pill to swallow in any context. The Nolan film did the islands little justice.

As an aside: while indirect, the journey to the Marshalls isn't as onorous as the article suggests - yes there's an island hopper, but United also fly direct from Honolulu. Though getting to Bikini is likely another adventure in itself.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_4.1

Re: What Bikini Atoll Looks Like Today (2017)

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People would correctly identify that their standard of living is being reduced for ideological reasons without tangible individual benefits and would likely not respond well to that, resulting in a loss of political power for whatever movement instituted those policies and a reversal of said policies.

People went with the green bin initiative in the US, perhaps elsewhere. we switched to more fuel efficient cars in general when fuel became more expensive. New home construction and retrofits to make houses fully electric - no gas hobs, not gas furnace. these were all "QOL" adjustments that people have been making. You have to pitch things the correct way, and it would really help if it wasn't treated as an "Ideologi…

If for some unimaginable reason the western world had embraced this philosophy wholeheartedly in 1985, literally billions of people would be struggling in grinding poverty (or worse!) instead of living significantly better lives than their parents or grandparents.

Is it different now?

Re: What Bikini Atoll Looks Like Today (2017)

#59
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People went with the green bin initiative in the US, perhaps elsewhere. we switched to more fuel efficient cars in general when fuel became more expensive. New home construction and retrofits to make houses fully electric - no gas hobs, not gas furnace. these were all "QOL" adjustments that people have been making. You have to pitch things the correct way, and it would really help if it wasn't treated as an "Ideologi…

Most of those only really took off because the QOL sacrifice became close to negligible.

More importantly, a lot of it was hidden from view. Your washing machine and laundry detergent might be not as good as 30 years ago, but... do you know that for sure? And when did that happen? Maybe you're just imagining it.

Your old home had a gas furnace, and then you bought new construction and it's all-electric. Did the government do this? Are you even gonna think about it when making an offer? Your bill is gonna be higher, but how much of it is just because it's a different home?

And even then... you get away with it for a while, and then it all of sudden becomes a political talking point.

Re: What Bikini Atoll Looks Like Today (2017)

#60

My wife is currently in the Marshall Islands commemorating an anniversary related to the nuclear testing. The trauma and fallout, cultural and nuclear, persists to this day - over 7 decades (and how many generations?) since the Bravo test. I've heard and read a lot about the atrocities visited upon the Marshallese in the name of research in the last six months. Including around the potential "intentionality" of the h…

When it comes to the most powerful weapon in the world special at that time There is little to none consideration for nature and people. Would you rather own the most powerful weapon and be the most powerful state or consider life’s of other people?
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