_iyig

What symbolism do you see?

>However the power as it currently stands is much more likely to be used for leveraged persecution and partial enforcement against specific people, and classes of people (IE not rich), rather than for all the people.

I don't see how this is any more or less true of facial recognition than other evidence-gathering technology.

>The issue at hand is about those who should be presumed to be innocent. The many who are in a crowd, the majority that are probably not at all related to whatever search is happening.

Maybe so, but the laws which are getting passed and proposed as a result of all this journalism are much more broad:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Oakland-bans-use...

https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/19/20812032/bernie-sanders-f...

I disagree with the premise that facial recognition technology is inherently evil, and that there should be a blanket ban on its use by law enforcement. For example:

Imagine a system where facial recognition technology supplements, but does not replace, manual recognition. Isn’t it better to guide mugshot lookups with the best available technology rather than wasting hundreds of hours on manual searching? Without treating automatic results as final and authoritative, can’t they still be used to drastically hasten manual look-ups?

I understand Apple’s reliance on Chinese manufacturers, but at the same time, aren’t they sitting on roughly a quarter-trillion dollars in cash [0]? If Apple can’t use such wealth to pivot production away from China, or at least feel confident in this option as a contingency plan, then who can?

[0] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/29/apple-now-has-tk-cash-on-han...

I’m friends with one Indian former co-worker on Facebook. He lives in the U.S. and is anti-Trump, but also shares lots of Hindu nationalist links and slogans. From the perspective of his own self-interest, I imagine this feels consistent.

Then again, there’s also that group of “Hindus for Trump,” so what do I know.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/11/07/hindus-for-tru...

I don’t see how they conflict. Your co-workers sound like they’re advocating their own ethnic interests via the party in each country that best supports these.

>Without a clear territory under exclusive control

But isn’t there? Taiwan has borders and a military.

For a more close-up perspective, I recommend “Wish Lanterns: Young Lives in New China.” The author (himself a Western millennial) interviews and visits with six different Chinese young people over a period of years, discussing their goals, aspirations, worries and responsibilities.

https://www.amazon.com/Wish-Lanterns-Young-Lives-China/dp/16...

I don't know why you've been downvoted. I've also watched this change unfold in big cities on the East and West Coast, most strongly among younger voters, since Bernie's candidacy in the 2016 election.

Related previous discussion: "Chevy Volt discontinued: Chevrolet's last Volt rolls off the assembly line"

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19236245

Sounds like many HN users liked the Volt. Thread also has some insights into the political nature of the Volt's disappearance.

What happens if the attorneys quit, and Holmes can't afford more private lawyers? Would a public defender represent her? That'd be quite the case to pull, I'd imagine. On cases where full teams of lawyers and paralegals are needed, practically speaking, I'd be curious what sort of resources a public defender might be afforded.

Good point. See also, the Kuleshov effect:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuleshov_effect

Came here to post this. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. For one thing, the quality of the author’s research speaks for itself:

“The book is based on more than 50,000 documents, primarily from the archives of the CIA, and hundreds of interviews with CIA veterans, including ten Directors of Central Intelligence.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_of_Ashes_(book)

>What are a couple of rednecks with assault rifles (which arguably they shouldn't be able to purchase anyway) going to do against semi-autonomy kill droids being flown from a bunker in the desert?

The common refrain goes “about as well as the Taliban,” who currently negotiating an American withdrawal after 18 years of serious U.S. military attention.

Wood generally falls into two categories: hardwood and softwood. Hardwoods like oak are more dense, harder to light, and take longer to grow, so they are more expensive. Softwoods like pine are less dense, easier to light, and grow faster, so they are cheaper. Within each category there are additional ranges of cost and quality.

New homes in America tend to be wood-framed. Cheap materials are popular in American home construction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardwood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softwood

The SEC has already failed miserably once in this exact role. What reason do we have to believe that even a fully-funded, well-staffed SEC could get the necessary _accurate_ figures out of China, and Chinese companies, to adequately perform this duty? Many Chinese companies have grossly exaggerated assets and earnings to the SEC before.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_China_Hustle

>How much do you think the Marshall plan accelerated the repair and growth of Europe?

I’m not sure what you expect me to say. I think the academic consensus is, “by a lot.” I think the immediate European reaction was also, “it’s great that we’ve rebuilt our own means of production with generous outside assistance, while retaining ownership and without accruing huge debts.”

I’m a little confused. What was the nefarious aspect of the Marshall Plan? Why was it bad to help Germans rebuild Volkswagen factories, in order that they might trade things Americans want for things that Germans want?

>As for civilian items, the average income of an Afghan/Iraqi civilian is not enough to afford American product

OK, so that completely breaks the first part of traditional Marxist arguments. I will grudgingly admit, however, that the U.S. tried for many years and at great expense to improve the economic situation of average Iraqis to a point where they could afford American-made goods.

>U.S military contractors got handsomely rich off both Afghanistan and Iraq and both nations are almost exclusively importing American military equipment.

I’d 100% agree with you there. However, the military-industrial complex is a very different beast than Lenin’s theory of imperial monopoly capitalism. The M.I.C. is to me a far simpler and more boring explanation, and one which bears up better under scrutiny, than the Marxist theory of warfare which your OP postulated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxist_explanations_of_warfar...

I think you have cause and effect mixed up. The U.S. became a postwar economic superpower not because of the Marshall Plan, but because its chief competitors in Europe and the Pacific had utterly ruined one another’s economies after years of total war. Meanwhile, the United States’ manufacturing capacity had continued to expand.

The Marshall Plan certainly exposed Europeans to more American products, especially Hollywood and pop culture. However, the majority of Marshall Plan funds were given as grants, not loans - ultimately, even to Germany. American capital did not come to own and exploit Western Europe. On the contrary, one of the Marshall Plan’s main effects was to reduce intra-Europe trade barriers, setting the stage for the E.E.C. and later, the European Union.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan

>The U.S went to wars, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians to force open markets to its products

This is a standard Marxist explanation for U.S. overseas military intervention [0]. It is also largely wrong.

Let’s look at the data. After 16 years of obscenely expensive American intervention in Iraq, that country exports more to China than the U.S., and imports more from China and Turkey together than from all other trade partners combined [1]. Likewise, Afghanistan today imports almost nothing from the U.S., but relies heavily on exports from China and Iran - two major U.S. competitors [2]. This is, of course, geographical common sense. If anything, recent U.S. wars have opened new markets for China, their number one geopolitical competitor.

Looking further back, Germany, Japan, and South Korea have all developed into financially independent trading partners. Far from U.S. capital dominating Japan, Americans were afraid for quite some time that Japanese cars, electronics, and industrial equipment would completely displace their American equivalents.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxist_explanations_of_warfar... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Iraq [2] http://stat.wto.org/CountryProfile/WSDBCountryPFView.aspx?La...

Assuming most FARC arms are sourced in the U.S. and then shipped south, I could speculate as to the AK’s present scarceness.

New Chinese and Russian AKs are currently hard to find in the U.S. due to sanctions. China’s Norinco was sanctioned for trying to sell AKs (and heavy weapons) directly to L.A. street gangs. Russian state-owned arms manufacturers were sanctioned due to Russia’s military involvement in Ukraine. You can find new AKs for sale in the U.S., but they’re from a limited number of manufacturers and more expensive than the equivalent AR-style rifles.

In contrast, AR-style rifles are massively oversupplied right now, in the wake of both the Obama presidency and Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy. Manufacturers built up large inventories in expectation of “panic buying” after Hillary’s election. When that didn’t happen and sales didn’t pick up accordingly, prices fell. In fact, Colt recently stopped making AR-15s for consumers, saying “The fact of the matter is that over the last few years, the market for modern sporting rifles has experienced significant excess manufacturing capacity.”

I assume that by “share the same culture” the author meant things like language, value systems, religion, inherited biases, and views on the scope and purpose of government.

Within these categories, there’s a range of tolerance levels from “I love my neighbors and would sacrifice my well being for theirs” to “I’m OK with my neighbors but don’t feel any sense of group attachment,” all the way down to mass riots and civil war.

Seems like a good place to link Paul Graham’s essay on PR firms, and their relation with news media outlets:

http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

Ray Kurzweil of “A.I. Singularity” fame has collected his deceased father’s writings and possessions for a similar attempt at mechanical reanimation:

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/futurist-ray-kurzweil-brin...

True. That said, U.S. military service is generally a matter of public record, e.g.:

https://www.altus.af.mil/News/Art/igphoto/2001074536/

As you suggest, NYC is intensively and effectively surveilled by the NYPD. The first bit of Steven Rambam’s talk at HOPE 2016 covers this in detail, starting around 3:30:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=FHwl6AyL6js

I’d like to know how much recorded video sees human review. My impression is that cities don’t have the budget to manually review footage unless a crime is reported. I’d also be curious who has access to the recordings - if it were my decision, there’d be a nuclear missle-style buddy system and chain of custody, but I doubt it’s that secure in practice.

I wouldn’t trust Laowhy86’s commentary on China’s macroeconomic development. Nor would I trust Bill Bishop to tell me what it’s like to raise a young family in a third-tier city in China. Both voices have some utility.

You’ve offered a very general critique. In contrast, the video I linked mentions many specific events and incidents which informed the speaker’s impression of China. Give that you’re making vague assertions on a throwaway account, and given that I’ve followed these YouTubers for years and corroborated the kinds of things they’ve said with friends who visit China or are Chinese, I’m not inclined to agree with you.

If you believe there are “higher-quality” China YouTubers with a different view, don’t just allude to them, please share links.

This strikes me as an unfair characterization of those YouTubers. I’ve followed them for a while and have quite a different impression.

Today’s video from Laowhy86 is a good short summation of his time in China, and how his perspective has shifted over time while living there and running a business, marrying a Chinese woman, starting a family, etc:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ed4ryYokLzU