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35997279

202 karma · joined May 19, 2023

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35997279··on A Student-Loan Payment Pause Led Borrowers to Take on More Debt
This is what has always confused me about the student debt conversation. $25,000 is not a lot of debt. That's about what it cost to get a brand new Toyota Corolla. On top of which, the terms of this debt is very favorable. PAYE, low interest rates (mind were 6.8%, which was outrageous at the time but now we're entering a more inflationary / normal interest rate world), and are termed for 20+ years.

There is also a lot of debt taken on by graduate students. To be clear, only around 30% of Americans overall have even a bachelor's degree. The need to take on graduate school debt just simply isn't there in the way the taking on debt for undergraduate is. So I think these numbers should break out graduate students, especially those who went into high-earning professions with credential gatekeepers, like medicine (law is debatable -- we've minted way too many lawyers).

35997279··on Peloton CEO quit after laying off 2,800. A lesson about how not to lead (2022)
> There was never going to be long term survival.

Yes. It’s an tablet on a bike connected to a VOD workout service. Apple was always just about to eat their lunch. The day they announced Fitness+ was probably the day everyone in the C-Suite started looking for the exit.

35997279··on SCOTUS declines to hear challenge to warrantless pole camera surveillance
> I don't like it, but there's nothing stopping your neighbor or anyone else from filming your home from a public/street view

This is not a natural occurrence, not a law of physics like gravity. It’s the result of large corporations normalizing surveillance. Recall that some Germans rebelled against Google Street View, and the government made them stop putting photos people’s homes on the web. But the cold logic and power of surveillance capitalism prevailed, and even the nominally “privacy protecting” corporation Apple now does the same.

“That’s how it goes” implies it can’t be stopped. It can. Through laws. This branch of government just decided they’re not the ones to do it.

35997279··on Amazon Must Let Staff Use Workspaces for Organizing, NLRB Says
Well, I would question the notion (as others have) that union activity is anti-company or company-undermining. The company managers may perceive it that way, but that doesn’t make it the case.

There seems to be an underlying assertion embedded in the question. Namely, that both parties in an adversarial relationship should be treated equally under the law. This ignores power dynamics in favor of philosophical cohesion. Practically, though, we know this results in the exploitation of the individuals with less power. That’s why the NLRB was created, in response to worker exploitation. Indeed, creating a framework to settle disputes between individuals of disparate power is one fundamental reason for the existence of governments, the rule of law; it separates societies from anarchy.

“Fair” does not always mean “equal.” There’s a reason that people who are rich pay more both nominally and by percentage of their earnings.

It’s disappointing that this question continues to be raised. The position that the question implies was refuted almost a century ago, at a time when young men died of typhus from poor living conditions, a time when children regularly worked 12 hour shifts in mines and slaughterhouses. It took a massive movement to convince the lucky few who governed the exploited that human life is worth more than economic value that can be extracted from it. Yet here we are —- people who are not more than three generations away from almost certain exploitation questioning why employees should be allowed to hang posters on the cork board and talk about their own interests on the property of a company founded by a man with a private rocket company.

It’s not that I think it’s a moral imperative that you have solidarity with Amazon workers, or even reflect on your own possible complicity in their exploitation. I doubt a person capable of asking this question is interested in such a reflection. You should, however, come to the table with a modicum of historical understanding.

35997279··on Amazon Must Let Staff Use Workspaces for Organizing, NLRB Says
>Why does an employer need to lend anything to union work or organizing?

The complaint alleges that Amazon prevented employees from posting union-related material in a non-work area during non-work hours, in violation of Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act.

Basically, Section 8(a)(1) makes it unlawful for an employer to interfere with or restrain employees in the exercise of their Section 7 rights, such as the right to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to engage in collective bargaining, or to engage in other concerted activities for their mutual aid or protection.

35997279··on Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber
>surely if this is starting to show signs of success Alphabet just swoops in and buys up Uber

It's too late for that. The regulatory pendulum for mergers like this is swinging the other way. The public was indifferent to big tech gobbling up the competition when times were good. Now that money costs money again, people with normal (i.e., not overpaid tech) salaries are feeling the squeeze, which means politicians need a cause that makes their voters feel like they're fighting for them. The giants must be punished.

35997279··on Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber
The “sorry the credit card machine is broken” scam is about as ludicrous as the homeless people asking me for $1. Buddy, I haven’t carried cash since the Obama administration. Half the time I don’t even carry a credit card.
35997279··on Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber
Can you get a taxi to show up? The last two times I tried to rebel against the rideshare duopoly was the morning before international flights. Trips to the airport are the only use case I have for rideshare. Both times I scheduled the pick up by calling the phone number the day before, both times the driver just… didn’t show up. I panicked and downloaded Lyft.

I know some taxi companies have apps now, but if I’m going that route, I don’t see the point of not using Lyft.

35997279··on Ketamine no better than placebo at alleviating depression, unusual trial finds
> It can be a great help for suicidal patients or for getting traditional treatment started, but it’s not a singular solution to depression for most people.

Is there any singular solution to depression for most people?

35997279··on Naomi Klein investigates ‘conspiracy theory culture’ that has shaken her life
We are at least two generations removed from any possible, popularly conceivable alternative to capitalism. Such an alternative is not generated from thin air; it must be cultivated.

Any criticism, to be useful, must be consist of two parts: (1) An assertion of fault and (2) a suggestion of remedy. You haven’t even provided (1), not really, but let’s pretend for a moment you have. What is your remedy for Klein’s faulty expression of anti capitalism? Printing ‘zines from paper made from the pressed dryer lint of guerrilla laundromats? How far does your purity test go before it itself becomes just an excuse to refuse to discuss the ideas themselves?

Or shall we just admit that your position is merely nihilism? If that is the case, let us state it out right; this, at least, dispenses with pretense of ideology.

35997279··on The bill of materials for the Apple headset leaked
Yes. For a prime example of this, see the Apple Watch, which took 7 iterations to get full functionality.
35997279··on Don Knuth plays with ChatGPT
It’s much worse. A webpage that is presented as the result of a user input has a certain context, an embedded assumption/understanding that an inappropriate result could be the result of a malformed query. Put another way: Google is saying “here is what I found on the web.” ChatGPT is saying “this is the answer to your question” and refuses to cite any but the vaguest of sources, like a solar calculator, not even a particular one.

The danger is in the framing.

35997279··on Naomi Klein investigates ‘conspiracy theory culture’ that has shaken her life
Incoherent? You mean you don’t understand the ideas themselves because of the medium by which it was transmitted? Be serious. You yourself are reading these words on a machine that is the result of capitalist and military influence. Does that mean that those aims, those causes, haven’t had a negative impact on, i.e, the environment or society? Certainly not.

By the standards you set, no idea which goes against the status quo can legitimate unless that status quo is so weak it can be totally circumvented: The biological corollary would be saying vaccines don’t work because they didn’t prevent every instance of the disease they were intended to prevent.

How many babies must we throw out with the bath water before we’re permitted to discuss the merits of the ideas themselves?

The misquote Sorkin, this the reason the Left in the United States looses so goddamn always.

35997279··on Naomi Klein investigates ‘conspiracy theory culture’ that has shaken her life
“We should improve society somewhat” vibes here. Speaking of academic challenges that are largely ineffectual: ideological purity games likes this are equally meaningless.

Either the ideas are sound, or they’re not. Which ideas do you think are unsound, and why? No hiding behind “someone could argue,” or “but she claims x but does y.”

Which ideas of Klein’s do you see as intending to affect which status quos, and why is it notable that they in themselves have not impacted them? Charles Babbage never lived to see his machine built. Does that make the endeavor less meaningful?

Note: I have read “No Logo” and “The Shock Doctrine.” I have not assessed their impact on any particular status quo. I am not claiming that they have. I am challenging the misdirection of your comment in an attempt to understand what you meant by what you wrote.

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