DefinitelyNotAFae's recent activity

  1. Comment on Silicon Valley has a science fiction problem in ~tech

    DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link Parent
    Rather than the ones highlighted as popular by the tech billionaires I recommend the ones they ignore I liked all three of these, though I don't think I finished the Mars trilogy.

    Rather than the ones highlighted as popular by the tech billionaires I recommend the ones they ignore

    Silicon Valley’s power rests on presenting a narrow, reactionary fantasy as inevitable progress. But other futures are possible, and other science fictions exist. Ursula K Le Guin’s The Dispossessed (1974) imagines an anarchist Moon colony built on mutual aid rather than extraction. Octavia Butler’s Parable series (1993-98) depicts communities surviving collapse through adaptation and care rather than escape to Mars. Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy (1992-96) shows planetary settlement as collective democratic project, not billionaire venture. These are not naive or utopian texts – they are demanding, difficult and honest about the costs of building anything new. They refuse the consolation of the lone visionary and insist, over and over, that the future is made by people working together.

    I liked all three of these, though I don't think I finished the Mars trilogy.

    5 votes

  2. Comment on US House passes bill to ‘ditch the switch’ and make daylight saving time permanent in ~society

    DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link Parent
    I'd have to go back and look as it's been a while. But the major sleep organizations and AMA have also come out in favor of Permanent ST. I suspect that there could be different experiences...

    I'd have to go back and look as it's been a while. But the major sleep organizations and AMA have also come out in favor of Permanent ST. I suspect that there could be different experiences depending on if one is at the East or West side of a larger time zone and population density might impact whether ST or DT makes more sense

    Iirc one argument is how late sunrise would be for several months and that the commute at the beginning of the day is riskier due to that tiredness than the end of the day. But the argue, and again successfully enough that dozens of sleep organizations are behind them, that human sleep rhythms (especially combined with our enforced work schedules) are more aligned with ST in aggregate.

    I talked it through with the person I know who posted it so I'd have to literally recreate my thought processes from several years ago, but I did feel it was overall compelling. They have a lot of material (including stuff I don't care about like "religious freedom") to speak to a lot of different groups so it's a bit overwhelming.

    3 votes

  3. Comment on China is dealing with its own manosphere in ~life.men

    DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link Parent
    The individual seems to be able to move it's just that there's a push pull about losing land in the country vs taking up resources in the city. So if you create your own family you have to move to...

    The individual seems to be able to move it's just that there's a push pull about losing land in the country vs taking up resources in the city. So if you create your own family you have to move to where your hukou is even if you were living and working somewhere else before that. Some folks want to update their hukou, but some don't want to lose family land if they were "upgraded" even if they would want to keep working or raising their family elsewhere.

    It's definitely more control over a populations movement but not quite as restrictive as serfdom (at least as currently implemented)

    2 votes

  4. Comment on US House passes bill to ‘ditch the switch’ and make daylight saving time permanent in ~society

    DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link Parent
    No, I'm wrong. I swear I read this yesterday and it was the opposite. Mea culpa, thanks for the catch

    No, I'm wrong. I swear I read this yesterday and it was the opposite. Mea culpa, thanks for the catch

    4 votes

  5. Comment on Silicon Valley has a science fiction problem in ~tech

    DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link Parent
    I think that is a separate point where they're "stealing" the philosophy of the book rather than the flashy name/idea without any of the message coming along. I also suspect fewer of them read it...

    I think that is a separate point where they're "stealing" the philosophy of the book rather than the flashy name/idea without any of the message coming along. I also suspect fewer of them read it at all

    6 votes

  6. Comment on US House passes bill to ‘ditch the switch’ and make daylight saving time permanent in ~society

    DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link
    Posted before but, knowing someone from this project: Save Standard Time has led me to have considered the evidence and fully be on team standard time.

    Posted before but, knowing someone from this project: Save Standard Time has led me to have considered the evidence and fully be on team standard time.

    14 votes

  7. Comment on US House passes bill to ‘ditch the switch’ and make daylight saving time permanent in ~society

    DefinitelyNotAFae
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Nope. I'm incorrect

    To be clear, they're doing permanent standard time not permanent daylight.

    Nope. I'm incorrect

    5 votes

  8. Comment on 2026 Fifa World Cup - Finals discussion and news megathread (quarters/semis/finals) in ~sports.football

    DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link Parent
    I think it's better than the men's game and will probably not change that until the men stop getting nominated for Emmy's. I don't find the NBA entertaining either. I don't watch the WNBA...

    I think it's better than the men's game and will probably not change that until the men stop getting nominated for Emmy's. I don't find the NBA entertaining either. I don't watch the WNBA regularly but enjoy when I do. I just don't follow sports teams much. Mostly I hate the toxicity of men's leagues and love the inclusiveness of the women's leagues.

    It's an opinion so there's not really a debate. But the Men's World Cup is the worse one IMO.

    1 vote

  9. Comment on What did banning Airbnbs in NYC accomplish? in ~finance

    DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link Parent
    I think that's an interesting point, and will likely make some difference, as will the fact that NYC continues to have more people wanting to move there, invest there, etc. It doesn't surprise me...

    I think that's an interesting point, and will likely make some difference, as will the fact that NYC continues to have more people wanting to move there, invest there, etc. It doesn't surprise me that that change didn't "solve" everything, and maybe the restrictive regs were enough (or maybe prices would be even higher without the change).

    I will be curious to see the impact of similar bans in smaller cities and see if at lower volumes it's enough of a pressure valve. People in NYC will pay huge rents for closets, perhaps in alternative locations that trade off point is at a more reasonable (to me) equilibrium

    3 votes

  10. Comment on Silicon Valley has a science fiction problem in ~tech

    DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link
    This is absolutely excellent. This article says pretty much everything I feel about the the billionaire technocrats who think they're the "great man" who will create the AI that will solve all the...

    This is absolutely excellent. This article says pretty much everything I feel about the the billionaire technocrats who think they're the "great man" who will create the AI that will solve all the worlds problems.

    I want to read the rest of the essays, especially "Whitey on Mars" referencing the Whitey on the Moon poem, that I believe I first heard when watching Lovecraft Country

    From Wiki a neat tidbit

    On April 17, 2023, NASA astronaut Victor Glover, who would later pilot Artemis II in a planned fly-by around the Moon, said that he listened to "Whitey on the Moon" every Monday on his way to work as a reminder "that, at that time, that community, which is very similar to the community I grew up in, they didn't feel heard."[27]

    If I have one complaint...
    I get why the title is framed this way, but Silicon Valley doesn't have a Science Fiction problem, they have an ethics and a moral problem. They have appropriation problems and media literacy problems.

    We have a Silicon Valley problem.

    But I get the title framing

    33 votes

  11. Comment on China is dealing with its own manosphere in ~life.men

    DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link Parent
    Culturally bride prices and dowries exist in different cultures for different reasons. Typically to my knowledge it's rarer to have both, but this is not an area of my expertise. A bride price is...

    Culturally bride prices and dowries exist in different cultures for different reasons. Typically to my knowledge it's rarer to have both, but this is not an area of my expertise.

    A bride price is meant to compensate the bride's family for the cost of raising her and the loss of her labor, because the bride becomes part of the husband's family and leaves her parents household. Since the husband does not leave his family there's no reciprocal payment for him. And since the cultural perspective is not "two people striking out on their own" it's got this angle of the "transference" of women from one man to another. There is also a sense of the husband being in debt to his inlaws for their daughter (and never affording it.) This is more common where the daughter's labor supports the family (or historically has). Bride prices are more common when women are scarcer. Sometimes these are just token amounts

    A dowry is money that is designed to go to the new couple and often remain as the woman's to control in the case of widowhood or divorce. It's a security net for women in cultures where they couldn't earn their own income. This was more common where there's an independent household and where women don't/can't work. It offsets the cost of the husband feeding her and is sort of an advance on her inheritance from her father (or the only one she'd get). But women may have been pressured or expected to spend it at their husbands' demands.

    So there's no husband price, just a difference in who the money is from and for. Because historically and culturally men have been allowed to work (outside the home) and have been the accepted heads of the household (or their father/grandfather), while women have had different societal restrictions/expectations. As culture has changed, all traditions have not. Not everyone follows them, and I can't speak to China specifically so perhaps someone else can, but they don't account for a more egalitarian society (though I wouldn't call the current state of affairs truly egalitarian.)

    7 votes

  12. Comment on China is dealing with its own manosphere in ~life.men

    DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link Parent
    The person you were replying to made a comment that to me sounded like critiquing how societies have worked in harmful cycles and that to try to prevent those cycles people have to think about...

    The person you were replying to made a comment that to me sounded like critiquing how societies have worked in harmful cycles and that to try to prevent those cycles people have to think about them aka "toy with ideas". I think you misunderstood their comment, but that's just my take.

    And the "jokes" that the alt right make were never actually jokes. They were always things they agreed with and advocated for being couched as jokes.

    You say you replied to the only person you were upset with but you referenced things I said and spoke in the aggregate, painting everyone with the same brush. As I said, I think that's quite overbroad. I understand why you're upset, I don't agree with the conclusions you're drawing over it. And that's fine, I cannot control what you think of me.

    and I shame anyone who thinks it’s an appropriate response to anything.

    But if you wish to "shame" anyone who posted like this, I personally think you're missing the mark.

    3 votes

  13. Comment on China is dealing with its own manosphere in ~life.men

    DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link Parent
    Who is being absolutely serious about it? Like genuinely. You can't use "the fact we're having this conversation means I'm right" if you're the one who brings up the conversation. Alt-right...

    Who is being absolutely serious about it?

    Like genuinely. You can't use "the fact we're having this conversation means I'm right" if you're the one who brings up the conversation.

    Alt-right "jokes" aren't actually jokes that's the whole thing. Do you actually think I, or anyone else here, want millions of men to die in a pointless war for no reason other than population control and I'm "joking" about it to slyly gain social acceptance of it?

    Because that's the fundamental difference of "it's just a joke, bro" vs. "I thought it was super clear no one means this and we're all just really burnt out about the world and have zero hope this will be handled well IRL" dark humor/whistling in the dark.

    But to erase any concern, I really thought it was very obvious no one expects nor wants that outcome, not with a veneer of "just joking so you can't be mad at me" but a genuine "legitimately there was never anything serious about it and we're just cynical as fuck." But if the irony didn't land for you, it didn't land. I just want to assure you it was there.

    You can still be mad obviously, that's not up to anyone else, but I do not think the brush you're painting everyone with is a reasonable one. And I wish for half the passion toward how our military is actually recruited, used, and abused in the real world. Or towards the men claiming women are brainwashed by feminism and owe them sex. But if you really think we're the equivalent of the alt-right, at least say it to the people you're mad at.

    8 votes

  14. Comment on US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is threatening to deport witnesses of its latest shooting in ~society

    DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link Parent
    It may explain the ER visit for hypertension for sure. But I do think a lot of people are overwhelmed whether they handle that by shutting out the news or by drowning in it.

    It may explain the ER visit for hypertension for sure.

    But I do think a lot of people are overwhelmed whether they handle that by shutting out the news or by drowning in it.

    2 votes

  15. Comment on US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is threatening to deport witnesses of its latest shooting in ~society

    DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link Parent
    Yeah, I get that, and yet it still doesn't feel good to "amputate" any more than it does for a doctor to cut off a limb. There's no joy and catharsis there for me. Our civil war track record is...

    Yeah, I get that, and yet it still doesn't feel good to "amputate" any more than it does for a doctor to cut off a limb. There's no joy and catharsis there for me. Our civil war track record is not ideal on the whole "fix the future problems".

    Plus someday I'll be deeply wrong about something and will hope to have as much kindness as I show others.

    1 vote

  16. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link Parent
    I love the paladins! The whole World of the White Rat - there's something nice about a world with clerics of auditing you so you can't steal from the poor and public defenders of a god! I like...

    I love the paladins! The whole World of the White Rat - there's something nice about a world with clerics of auditing you so you can't steal from the poor and public defenders of a god!

    I like most of her work, her horror is maybe my least favorite genre-wise but she's really enjoyable.

  17. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link Parent
    Yes! Though be careful as Kingfisher does a lot of horror under that penname too. Sarah Beth Durst is doing good cozy stuff though and I always keep an eye out for her new releases. It's keeping...

    Yes! Though be careful as Kingfisher does a lot of horror under that penname too.

    Sarah Beth Durst is doing good cozy stuff though and I always keep an eye out for her new releases. It's keeping me alive until Becky Chambers is writing again

  18. Comment on US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is threatening to deport witnesses of its latest shooting in ~society

    DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link Parent
    Yeah I don't find that cathartic because I want people to change not just curse them out.

    Yeah I don't find that cathartic because I want people to change not just curse them out.

    5 votes

  19. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link Parent
    I enjoyed Can't Spell Treason... But I think it's just OK as far as story goes. It's been a minute though and I did read the sequels. If you like cozy, I also recommend The Spellshop!

    I enjoyed Can't Spell Treason... But I think it's just OK as far as story goes. It's been a minute though and I did read the sequels. If you like cozy, I also recommend The Spellshop!

    1 vote

  20. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link Parent
    Yes! They're just vibing! Less stylized after the xianxia stuff, no one is cultivating in these, just leveling up their happy little shop or town or what have you.

    Yes!

    They're just vibing! Less stylized after the xianxia stuff, no one is cultivating in these, just leveling up their happy little shop or town or what have you.