Eji1700's recent activity
-
Comment on What's next for Kagi? in ~tech
-
Comment on What's next for Kagi? in ~tech
Eji1700 (edited )Link ParentAnd i highly recommend it, if just because it's got built in adblocking, which is something that's difficult on IOS since you can't easily run things like uBlock. Edit- Supposedly adblock works on...And i highly recommend it, if just because it's got built in adblocking, which is something that's difficult on IOS since you can't easily run things like uBlock.
Edit-
Supposedly adblock works on safari and it was just user error on my part. -
Comment on Former US President Donald Trump has been found guilty of thirty-four counts of falsifying business records to influence the outcome of the 2016 election in ~news
Eji1700 Link ParentIt's always worrying to me how quickly people rush to solutions that solve their short term and open up major issues for the long term. It's especially bad in politics because i feel like people...It's always worrying to me how quickly people rush to solutions that solve their short term and open up major issues for the long term. It's especially bad in politics because i feel like people don't even understand why some of the rules are the way they are, and what it can be like in nations where they aren't in place.
I get that "Well they won't follow the rules anyways!" is a thing, but the whole point is that it absolutely slows down the spread of corruption because you NEED enough people to agree with you to just ignore it.
-
Comment on Is America ready for “degrowth communism?” in ~enviro
Eji1700 Link ParentRight, this isn't done with just jets (yachts and beach front property are other popular items), and basically help subsidize the obscene costs of upkeep and what not by spreading it among a few...Right, this isn't done with just jets (yachts and beach front property are other popular items), and basically help subsidize the obscene costs of upkeep and what not by spreading it among a few people.
To my knowledge there's no incentive to fill the plane though, so you're back to 3 people on an 8-20 seat plane going to one spot or something like that.
-
Comment on Former US President Donald Trump has been found guilty of thirty-four counts of falsifying business records to influence the outcome of the 2016 election in ~news
Eji1700 Link ParentIt’s all anecdotal but I already know about 6 voters who with Jan 6th and the docs case went from voting trump to never doing it again. It’s hard to tell on a large scale because these voters are...It’s all anecdotal but I already know about 6 voters who with Jan 6th and the docs case went from voting trump to never doing it again.
It’s hard to tell on a large scale because these voters are the minority of the group they’re in, but they’re also the important ones because yes, there’s plenty who will never change their mind
-
Comment on Former US President Donald Trump has been found guilty of thirty-four counts of falsifying business records to influence the outcome of the 2016 election in ~news
Eji1700 Link ParentI don’t think this case matters enough to the people in the middle who could actually be swayed. The entire case is odd ( I’ve already explained in other topics that I personally think it’s...I don’t think this case matters enough to the people in the middle who could actually be swayed.
The entire case is odd ( I’ve already explained in other topics that I personally think it’s reaching) and it’s very much a “so what” for lot of people.
Someone famous slept with a porn star and then paid them to be quiet? Not really news, but also not really a crime ( or what he was charged with)
He lied about how he was paying this porn star hush money on his documents? Also not news, also not actually the crime he’s charged with.
Doing all this was a campaign finance violation? Honestly I could count on one hand the number of people I’ve met who even know what is and isn’t legal in campaign finance. Bluntly to the average voter they watch the firehose of money hit super pacs and wonder how this is really any different.
Finally there’s the simple fact it’s going to be appealed (as will all of his cases) and he’ll probably die of old age before any of them get settled.
I think the documents case has the biggest chance of impacting him because a lot of trump supporters happen to be military, and they know how extremely fast it’s their entire career if they fuck around with that stuff (and it’s why almost everyone I know who ever went near security clearance hated how Hilary acted about it). The fact that case exists has already been the last straw for some people.
Jan 6th could also be a thing but they’re going to need some serious testimony.
-
Comment on Former US President Donald Trump has been found guilty of thirty-four counts of falsifying business records to influence the outcome of the 2016 election in ~news
-
Comment on Former US President Donald Trump has been found guilty of thirty-four counts of falsifying business records to influence the outcome of the 2016 election in ~news
-
Comment on Is America ready for “degrowth communism?” in ~enviro
Eji1700 (edited )Link ParentI kinda find that hard to believe just given how your own description of "community based society" would easily fall under capitalism in several different implementations and thus not qualify for...I kinda find that hard to believe just given how your own description of "community based society" would easily fall under capitalism in several different implementations and thus not qualify for Saito's goals.
Even if my impression is wrong, I don't think it's bad for him to be more extreme. I think that there always has to be a more extreme branch of people in order for any social movement to reach the goals of the more moderate crowd.
I personally have seen more extremists sabotage reasonable movements rather than accomplish anything. The majority of extremists I've interacted with are some combination of angry, ignorant, manipulative, or outright violent often with the goal of "being right" more than "making things better". Please realize that your argument not only gives a pass to movements you might agree with, but almost certainly movements you don't. "Oh its ok that they're extreme because they're helping us find a moderate goal" is really not something I will ever condone.
To be clear, its fine if you think im wrong on this, and Im not trying to come off as hostile, but I have very strong feelings on this issue because I think logic like this is what MANY dangerous groups use to justify their actions.
As for "community based society" because I think that's an interesting goal:
I feel like part of the issue with this belief is much the same as people pining for the "simpler times" of the 50s or whatever. Community based societies had lots and lots and lots of issues that I think are ignored or glossed over (as anyone who's lived in smaller towns or countries will gladly talk about), but quite simply put I'm not sure what quality of life such a hypothetical society can support given current populations in many capitalist nations. A lot of current growth comes from more people getting what they want when they want it, and for every time that's something like cosmetic surgery, it also goes for plenty of important things like food. The huge issue planned economies always run into is efficient distribution of resources, and waaaaay too often in history that has led to people starving to death while there was plenty to eat.
It doesn't have to be that extreme to feel like a major step backwards for most people. I suppose its such a wide definition I could easily be interpreting what you meant wrong. I'll say that my stance is a step towards more small businesses where possible rather than mass conglomerates, but even I acknowledge that things like big box stores sure seem to reduce to the same operation and it's hard to see where the competition could even be.
I would be interested to hear more of your thoughts on private jets. I don't see what you mean by banning them being problematic.
Private jets are a weird one. Yes in some ideal world they wouldn't need to exist except for rare circumstances. In the global economy world, they make a lot of economics sense when you start getting people who need to handle lots and lots of small locations spread across vast distances. This is a huge issue for any multi state operation in the midwest, and one that's not even acknowledged or talked about where it matters most. Namely China, India, and arguably Russia, the majority of the population on the planet, and just so happen to span vast distances.
There are plenty of locations that someone might reasonably need to visit in a day or a week that you literally cannot fly directly to. You much more likely need to fly on a 737 or some such plane to airport X, then take a puddle hopper (also more dangerous) to airport Y. You may only be able to do this once a week.
As fun as it might be to imagine the worlds wealthiest stuck in a twin otter everywhere they want to go, small planes like that don't have the range, or often the ability, to cover the distances required.
Sure you could say "well then only the government gets them", but simply put you'll be vastly out-competed by the aforementioned countries that aren't worrying about their magnates jetting from place to place.
I would absolutely be for more limitations. Things like business use only with loss of ability to travel on private jet for anyone who gets audited violating that, or perhaps tax incentives for filling the plane with normal travelers when possible to help with the efficiency of the flight. Just do a lottery of specific known flyers in club X or whatever.
At the end of the day I see them as a popular topic because "how dare they cause so many problems", but a lot of those same people want a Taylor Swift concert in their city too, and turns out the more time you spend on the road the less time you have for the next gig. In total emissions it's not a major chunk of the whole, or at least that the US can affect, and it's almost always in "Private jets are x to y times as bad as normal flight!", which yeah...but that's because of the efficiency of moving 200 people vs 20.
Given we're really concerned about the total emissions, it probably doesn't matter at all if you suddenly ground every single private jet forever (10k-12k flights per day) and let commercial continue its rampant use (80k-110k flights per day).
If all the energy that was spent arguing about private jet flights was instead spent on getting us reasonable train infrastructure to eliminate a TON of commercial air travel, we'd see WAY more benefit and it could actually happen (not that trains are easy either but its by far the most bang for the buck and serves a whole bunch of needs at once rather than just artificially restricting one).
It is a bigger issue in countries that already have good public transport, as their commercial flight use is more necessary, but even then we've seen efforts to force more train use when it's equivalent to plane.
Ive been writing this post on and off over the course of a few hours, so im sure i dropped some lines of thought in there, but its been a very hectic week so im just going to throw this out there as is and hope it does a decent job of explaining my positions on the various subjects.
Edit:
I lied i had one more thing I wanted to mention on the private jet part. I would support some sort of "corporate carpool" line with tax incentives for participating entities. Figure out with all these companies where the hell all these regional walmart/amazon/bestbuy/whatever execs need to be and route out some "bus line" style flights so they can get where they need in a more efficient manner than each corp owning a personal fleet. You might have to share space with competitors sometimes, but I think you could get large groups of these kind of managers all at once and significantly cut into the needed private jet time.
-
Comment on What video games have had you taking real-life notes? in ~games
Eji1700 Link ParentThe spoiler puzzels were what I liked about The Witness, but I had basically 3 issues: Yes its the same puzzle over and over. It does NOT respect your time. Everything moves SO. SO. SLOW. I...The spoiler puzzels were what I liked about The Witness, but I had basically 3 issues:
- Yes its the same puzzle over and over.
- It does NOT respect your time. Everything moves SO. SO. SLOW. I suspect some of this is because of the spoiler puzzles, but still it was absurd how long things like elevators took.
- It is the only game in recent memory to consistently cause me motion sickness, which is weird because that never happens to me.
-
Comment on Is America ready for “degrowth communism?” in ~enviro
Eji1700 Link ParentTo go into detail on these I suspect a full ban will not only never happen, but actively be problematic. There are better solutions for private jets than a full out ban. This is back to basic...Saito does propose a few concrete fixes:
To go into detail on these
Ban private jets.
I suspect a full ban will not only never happen, but actively be problematic. There are better solutions for private jets than a full out ban.
Get rid of advertising for harmful goods and services, such as cosmetic surgery.
This is back to basic freedom of speech stuff. What do you consider harmful? Some people would argue anything that's not their religion or political spectrum. Further I don't think there's anything really wrong with cosmetic surgery in the right scenarios. I would fucking love if we went back to when lawyers and medical companies couldn't advertise anything anywhere, but at the same time I see nothing wrong with someone who has the extra cash to spend deciding that they've always had self confidence issues about some portion of their appearance and changing it if it's within their means.
Enact a four-day workweek.
This one is tricky. On the one hand I agree 100%, on the other there's an issue with global productivity mattering in how relevant your society, and it's cultural decisions, are. It's something that should probably occur over a long enough time frame, but I'm unsure how that positions countries vs economic powerhouses like China and India. It has often been argued, even if in mostly bad faith, that a common issue with European economics is that they're too lax on work and thus get out competed on the national stage, and this can lead to detrimental effects for the whole country. It's a very complicated line.
Encourage people to own one car, instead of two or three.
This really just comes down to proper public transport infrastructure. Remote work will also help with this, but the simple reality for a family is that 1 car is just not a feasible solution when you need to be at work and have a kid who needs to be at school but the bus lines are horrible.
Require shopping malls to close on Sundays, to cut down on the time available for excessive consumption.
This is bad at what it wants to do in like 80 different directions. First, what defines a mall, because whatever definition you come up with, everyone is going to be making whatever changes are necessary to not meet that definition. Second, all this is going to do is kick brick and mortar stores in the teeth. You know who has the money to handle being closed one day out of the week and stay open? Best buy, walmart, target, and all the other mega conglomerates i'm sure this person doesn't like. You know who doesn't? Every single smaller business, local chain, or mom and pop store. You are literally just going to drive up online sales on sunday, and drive alternative stores out of business until there's only large corps.
“These things won’t necessarily dismantle capitalism,” he said. “But it’s something we can do over the long term to transform our values and culture.”
I won't go too heavily into this, but I always roll my eyes when someone's goal is "dismantle capitalism" or something similar. Private economies with structured governmental services have been the success story of the last couple of centuries and aren't likely to go anywhere. It's obvious that countries like Denmark are wonderful, but that's mostly because they've done a good job of drawing the line on where to allow the private sector, and where to give control to the government (like you know, healthcare). They are still using capitalism, and using that word like it's the boogeyman is about as useless as the people who think socialism only means authoritarian control (which, ironically arguments like this one are why people arrive at such conclusions, because that's pretty much what they're arguing for. Benevolent Tyranny).
-
Comment on What video games have had you taking real-life notes? in ~games
Eji1700 Link ParentI know someone who did logistics for EVE and described it as a second job you don't get paid for. Oddly that was one of the more appealing definitions of EVE for me, as I probably would enjoy that...I know someone who did logistics for EVE and described it as a second job you don't get paid for. Oddly that was one of the more appealing definitions of EVE for me, as I probably would enjoy that side of things.
-
Comment on What video games have had you taking real-life notes? in ~games
Eji1700 Link ParentI've always found it interesting how much I loathe The Witness in comparison to many others with similar tastes (wrote down several of the games you mentioned at the end). Blow himself said games...I've always found it interesting how much I loathe The Witness in comparison to many others with similar tastes (wrote down several of the games you mentioned at the end).
Blow himself said games should respect your time, and I bounced off The Witness HARD because it really felt like it didn't.
-
Comment on US concerned about Ukraine strikes on Russian nuclear radar stations in ~news
Eji1700 Link ParentI think the argument is that radar facilities like this are hyper specialized into detecting nuclear strike activity, something ukraine absolutely isn't capable of. There is a weird game theory...I think the argument is that radar facilities like this are hyper specialized into detecting nuclear strike activity, something ukraine absolutely isn't capable of.
There is a weird game theory line where if Russia loses too much of that capability, they would ideally want to strike first because they would no longer have any way of detecting a strike.
While this is unlikely to happen, I do understand if the US would prefer ukraine not hit these kinds of sites if they actually aren't being used/can't be used for anything else.
Of course from Ukraine's perspective, they make inviting targets because it escalates hostilities between the US and Russia, as they really don't want the US just saying "you know what, fuck it, russia can have ukraine".
-
Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
Eji1700 LinkThe Assassins Apprentice by Robin Hobb. Sloooow to start but it's getting going. I'm curious to see where it goes as I forget how exactly this series hit my list.The Assassins Apprentice by Robin Hobb.
Sloooow to start but it's getting going. I'm curious to see where it goes as I forget how exactly this series hit my list.
-
Comment on Personal reflections on FTX in ~finance
Eji1700 Link ParentI find these kinds of hypotheticals somewhat unfair because of how unrealistic they're likely to be. The actual odds anything remotely like that could happen are small, and it's one of those...I find these kinds of hypotheticals somewhat unfair because of how unrealistic they're likely to be. The actual odds anything remotely like that could happen are small, and it's one of those "gotcha" style scenarios to show the flaw in some belief, which is pretty easy to do with almost anything.
That said it's just as easy to say "save the kid because they'll likely create more value than the picasso over the course of their life" and it just shows how out of it these people are that they can't even come up with such an answer.
-
Comment on Spotify hikes fees, passing on its tax burden, after the French government introduced a levy to support the nation's music industry in ~music
Eji1700 LinkI mean...yeah? Business passing costs off to consumers is pretty much expected?I mean...yeah? Business passing costs off to consumers is pretty much expected?
-
Comment on Personal reflections on FTX in ~finance
Eji1700 Link ParentI have the same problem with it as I do most self identifying "ists". The moment you've made it a part of your core ethos/identity, I feel like you're no longer actually being reasonable and...I have the same problem with it as I do most self identifying "ists". The moment you've made it a part of your core ethos/identity, I feel like you're no longer actually being reasonable and instead overly invested in some supposed philosophical concept, often to make you feel better about something else.
-
Comment on PayPal USD (PYUSD) on Solana in ~finance
Eji1700 LinkThis is the stuff i'm keeping an eye on in the crypto space. Solana doesn't have a great history, but it does have multiple major corps now looking into use it. Could be publicity stunts on all...This is the stuff i'm keeping an eye on in the crypto space. Solana doesn't have a great history, but it does have multiple major corps now looking into use it. Could be publicity stunts on all ends, but the upside crypto offers is maybe giving all the major financial players a reason to finally use something newer than ACH and the systems around it.
-
Comment on Ex-OpenAI board member reveals what led to Sam Altman's brief ousting in ~tech
Eji1700 Link ParentI suppose you could see that, but personally I don't see us as anywhere close to AGI. Maybe 20 years? Much more likely 50+ or contingent on some major breakthrough in other areas. I could believe...I suppose you could see that, but personally I don't see us as anywhere close to AGI. Maybe 20 years? Much more likely 50+ or contingent on some major breakthrough in other areas.
I could believe the board drinks their own koolaid on all this and thinks they're just around the corner from AGI, but seriously this is the same company that had Sam carry around a "turn off the AI" backpack as if that was actually a thing and not just an embarrassing publicity stunt. Course jokes on people like me, it sure as hell seems to have worked.
I swear I tried it on safari and it failed, so i've been daily driving firefox for quite a long time, which also didn't seem to support it. Seems like it's just user error so yeah ignore me