navigator01

Everyone on Earth has a petty identity. If we allow secession just so every self-identifying group can 'rule' themselves then we encourage those petty identities when we should be discouraging them and instead encouraging universal humanism.

Good, we can't allow the dissolution of nations.

>"85% of tech jobs at the company were held by men, and women engineers at the company experienced a deeply unpleasant environment."

But many women have come out to defend the company and say their experiences at Uber were positive. Yet that doesn't fit in with the narrative, so it's ignored.

I dislike most insects. So long as this doesn't impact humanity's ability to thrive on the planet I don't mind. Since we're doing just fine in the face of such significant losses in biomass I don't really worry.

Maybe this is due to widespread use of insecticide? Even so, I'm shocked that the decline is so significant. In none of the major extinction events of the past have insect populations dipped so dramatically.

But regardless, I dislike most insects. So long as this doesn't impact humanity's ability to thrive on the planet I don't mind. Since we're doing just fine in the face of such significant losses in biomass I don't really worry.

I'm glad this is the top comment, because I don't often see common sense critiques of UBI that acknowledge price adjustment.

We can't just print money, that is obviously going to fail as it always does. So... Will we try to implement UBI with wealth transfers? Taxing the rich and giving to the poor?

That seems to be the only alternative to printing money, meaning that UBI is not an innovative idea whatsoever. It's just wealth redistribution.

Well I think the US was more justified than Pol Pot, Stalin et. al. when it engaged in violence.

They should be understood in context. The US was engaged in a war against dictatorial USSR style communism for nearly 50 years. History has shown the US to be on the right side of that conflict.

Is people being killed ever a good thing? Almost never. Human life is inherently valuable. But is it at least more understandable when it is done in the name of trying to rid the world of a dangerous and destructive ideology? Yes it is.

Gentrification is really a non issue.

When areas begin to attract wealthier people, they can begin to attract nicer businesses and infrastructure as a result. So the entire neighborhood becomes nicer.

Should we keep things bad? Of course not. Make things nice, and those who can afford to live there should be able to live there.

Trying to make it about race is just racist in itself.

Survivorship bias is kind of bullshit, I mean luck does play a role in success, but the longer you work at something, as long as you have a good idea/plan of attack/all the other traits needed to succeed in a field, the less luck will play a role in determining your success. Luck matters less and less over longer timescales, as long as you keep doing the right things.

I would disagree with that, creativity is a key part of general intelligence

Agreed. If you're really smart and a prick, well, then you're just a really smart prick. Intelligence and emotional mastery are divorced from one another.

Traditional procedures that balance due process and expedient justice are the solution here. Anyone who faces abuse needs to speak up to either HR in a corporate setting or the police, if appropriate.

The potential for anonymous slander is too high for a real system like this to be justified. Whispers turn to rumors which turn to falsehoods. Someone interpreted as being "creepy" in texts by one woman shouldn't have his life ruined by an anonymous post on a spreadsheet.

Good explanation here:

"It’s because their products are index funds. They measure their performance by how well the track the relevant indexes, not their absolute return.

If they have to not invest in stocks that make up an index, they’re more likely to deviate from their target performance.

If you want to make ethical choices with your investing, invest in a product that specializes in such a thing, or invest in individual stocks.

Vanguard having to change VFINX from “S&P 500” to “S&P 500* (* except companies that our board believes support genocide)” would make their performance much more difficult to measure.

I see how the optics are strange, but it’s not Vanguard’s business to be making ethical choices with their passive investment products"

The answer is to allow all speech that does not have the intent of hurting others. I'm completely on board with limiting hate speech, but if I try to make a point that, say, illegal immigration is bad then I should not be silenced just because some students are or know illegal immigrants and that my words have the side effect - not intent - of offending them.

>“For at least 4000 years, there were settled communities but no evidence of state power”

Well that doesn't mean state power isn't necessary for large scale communities. It just shows that in the thousands of years after the dawn of agriculture communities were too small to require a state framework to exist. As community scale increased, states became necessary.

Seconded. Great book. The range of neural architecture that exists in nature is really fascinating and something that i think could help inform AI research.

Geat aticle, vey informative and helpful fo paents of gifted youth

Maybe you aren't using the accepted definition of stable? What fills the void when nations in the Middle East fall is chaos.

Ah yes, let's pull support from one of the most stable nations in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia has their hands in some bad stuff but they are far preferable to ISIS or a prolonged civil war.

Yes Iran and Saudi Arabia are also exacerbating the conflict. The US has been providing support to Saudi long before the Yemen war began.

I'm thankful every day that I live in a developed nation that spares from this kind of suffering. We take so much for granted in the developed world, the cynicism with which many of us view our own nations is naive and shortsighted.

Huh? You're misrepresenting reality, which is that dogs love us and we love our dogs. It's not complicated.

Now puppy mills and the like are not good, but the very concept of dog ownership is wholesome.

Take photos/videos of your entire home interior. For insurance.

Ok, interesting. I've just been trying to wrap my head around the novel value in blockchain technology.

Ok, sounds reasonable. Why can't you just create a database and give patients visibility? And create a simple app to allow them to dynamically set who has permission to use their data?

What does 'control of their own data' mean in concrete terms?

It has everything to do with home life and environment. No classroom within the expected margins of quality can overcome a negative home life that does not value education and encourage student achievement.

Wealth and cultural/familial values are the major culprits.

Why does this have to be done on a blockchain? Or what is gained by building this service on a blockchain?