> Land mass, like capital accumulation, is a zero-sum game.
False.
Mountain top can help reclaim land from sea without disappearing the mountain.
Capital accumulation isn't a zero sum game. Who did Robinson Crusoe steal from?
The Fantasy and the Cyberpunk Futurism of Singapore
71–80 of 87 posts
Re: The Fantasy and the Cyberpunk Futurism of Singapore
#72Re: The Fantasy and the Cyberpunk Futurism of Singapore
#73Singapore is a weird place. During the flight, the stewardesses walked around and handed everybody something - I was expecting a wet towel, but in fact it was a card in multiple languages which says "If you are about to bring any amount of drugs into the country, you are going to be executed." Lovely first impression to set the tone. Other than the omnipresent paranoia, the thing that struck me as the most bizarre is…
"Paranoia"
Living here after living in the US its hard to read this with a straight face and not bursting into manical laughter.
No ghettos, no fear of being mistreated or killed by the police, no no-go zones, no fear of covidiots and karens putting their convenience over everyone's health after the first one or two Karens making a fuzz about masks got deported or remanded to get the mental care they needed.
Re: The Fantasy and the Cyberpunk Futurism of Singapore
#74Strange place. I was amazed how many homeless there are - which will be denied, when mentioned. I guess the people sleeping on the walkway to Louis Vuitton island were not homeless? The sleeping people in the underpasses, sleeping under signs saying not to sleep there also?
These are people napping during their lunch break dude.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/1000-homeless...
Singapore has about 1000 homeless countrywide on a population of 5M. Home ownership rates are the highest in the world and there is ample programs for people who slip through the cracks in this regard. Its orders of magnitude lower homelessness than any western country
Re: The Fantasy and the Cyberpunk Futurism of Singapore
#75As draconian and harsh a lot of Singaporean laws seem to be it’s hard to argue with the country’s success. I’ve been to Singapore many times and a lot of south east Asia as well and as someone who grew up in a third world tropical country (Rio) I don’t have a romantic view of SEA as many Euros or Americans. Singapore is a paradise compared with Indonesia, Malaysia etc.
Given the pandemic its a paradise compared to most of the states too.
Re: The Fantasy and the Cyberpunk Futurism of Singapore
#76Singapore is a weird place. During the flight, the stewardesses walked around and handed everybody something - I was expecting a wet towel, but in fact it was a card in multiple languages which says "If you are about to bring any amount of drugs into the country, you are going to be executed." Lovely first impression to set the tone. Other than the omnipresent paranoia, the thing that struck me as the most bizarre is…
"Disneyland with the Death Penalty" (1993): https://www.wired.com/1993/04/gibson-2/ Thinking about the area, haven't the majority of Far East countries since independence been effectively one-party states? Some have been "democratic", but with the same party winning the elections every time. Singapore and South Korea could be seen as examples of successful "planned economies", but from a rightwing-authoritarian point…
Nothing shows the ignorance of most mof the western world about modern Asia most than falling back to 27 year old articles at every time a place is mentioned. I guess we all need to reference Reagan's Star Wars program whenever we talk about the US to get an equivalent feel.
As someone living here (queue US coworkers 'why would you move to China?'), that article has not aged well.
Children are so so much better supported here than the US its not even funny. Public libraries, lavish playgrounds, sports activities, public transport (yes your 8 year old can take the metro to school, safely), science programs, free museums, ...
Re: The Fantasy and the Cyberpunk Futurism of Singapore
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are Tokyo and Osaka notably sparse compared to American cities?
In some ways, yes; in others, no. Maybe I was in the wrong parts of Tokyo/Osaka, but I do try to walk all over the place when I travel; there weren't a lot of families going out to eat, or at the malls/shopping areas, or whatever. However, you'll see train cars full of young kids going to and from school, unsupervised as far as I could tell. There are parks with play equipment all over, and I would run into kids duri…
> It might be that Tokyo is an internal tourist destination for that week that skewed my perception, though.
It's rather the opposite - families leave Tokyo to visit the grandparents still living in more rural areas. But when schools are out you'll always see more kids.
Re: The Fantasy and the Cyberpunk Futurism of Singapore
#78Singapore is a weird place. During the flight, the stewardesses walked around and handed everybody something - I was expecting a wet towel, but in fact it was a card in multiple languages which says "If you are about to bring any amount of drugs into the country, you are going to be executed." Lovely first impression to set the tone. Other than the omnipresent paranoia, the thing that struck me as the most bizarre is…
"Paranoia" Living here after living in the US its hard to read this with a straight face and not bursting into manical laughter. No ghettos, no fear of being mistreated or killed by the police, no no-go zones, no fear of covidiots and karens putting their convenience over everyone's health after the first one or two Karens making a fuzz about masks got deported or remanded to get the mental care they needed.
> no fear of covidiots and karens putting their convenience over everyone's health after the first one or two Karens making a fuzz about masks got deported or remanded to get the mental care they needed
As someone else who is in Singapore right now: the situation is better than in most other countries — there is a $300 fine for flagrant disregard of the mask-wearing law, and larger businesses are required to have someone stand at the entrance to check if people are wearing masks, and to make them sign into the SafeEntry contract tracing system.
But mask-abhorring covidiots still exist. Their excuses tend to be that they're either eating/drinking while on the go, exercising, or smoking cigarettes.
Re: The Fantasy and the Cyberpunk Futurism of Singapore
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Disneyland with the Death Penalty" (1993): https://www.wired.com/1993/04/gibson-2/ Thinking about the area, haven't the majority of Far East countries since independence been effectively one-party states? Some have been "democratic", but with the same party winning the elections every time. Singapore and South Korea could be seen as examples of successful "planned economies", but from a rightwing-authoritarian point…
Nothing shows the ignorance of most mof the western world about modern Asia most than falling back to 27 year old articles at every time a place is mentioned. I guess we all need to reference Reagan's Star Wars program whenever we talk about the US to get an equivalent feel. As someone living here (queue US coworkers 'why would you move to China?'), that article has not aged well. Children are so so much better suppo…
Singaporean here. If anything, one reason I'd say that Singapore isn't like Disneyland now is because its "management" has lost touch with the ground, and things aren't as well-maintained as Disneyland.
My estate (a ruling-party-managed one, too) is showing its age, with plenty of rats and cockroaches running about at night.
Re: The Fantasy and the Cyberpunk Futurism of Singapore
#80Singapore is a weird place. During the flight, the stewardesses walked around and handed everybody something - I was expecting a wet towel, but in fact it was a card in multiple languages which says "If you are about to bring any amount of drugs into the country, you are going to be executed." Lovely first impression to set the tone. Other than the omnipresent paranoia, the thing that struck me as the most bizarre is…
Agreed on the observation about nothing for kids. I saw some, but even compared to Tokyo or Osaka, it was sparse.
> Agreed on the observation about nothing for kids.
Where have you been? On my ~15-minute walk to the train station today, I walked past at least two playgrounds and an open park.