Fal's recent activity

  2. Comment on University at forty in ~talk

    Fal
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    It probably depends on what field OP is interested in studying. While stem fields are probably a no, humanities schools may take OP’s story and work experience into consideration when applying....

    It probably depends on what field OP is interested in studying. While stem fields are probably a no, humanities schools may take OP’s story and work experience into consideration when applying. Social science programs are probably more variable, and might depend on OP’s math/stats skills

    5 votes

  4. Comment on Social media use linked to mixed views on democracy among US adults in ~society

    Fal
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    Heavy users of social media are more likely than others to believe that leaders are listening to them and to view democratic participation as effective, according to a study conducted by the Charles F. Kettering Foundation and Gallup. However, they are also less likely to think democracy is the best form of government and more likely to express views that depart from widely held democratic norms about violence and political compromise.

    These results are from a nationally representative study of more than 20,000 U.S. adults, conducted July 7-Aug. 25, 2025, that finds complex relationships between social media usage and views of U.S. democracy, even when controlling for age, income and other factors related to social media use.

  7. Comment on How China forgot Karl Marx: The Chinese economy runs on labor exploitation (gifted link) in ~society

    Fal
    Link Parent
    I think this essay misses out by not discussing the urban-rural economic divide in China. While the hukou system probably wasn't discussed to make the essay more approachable for non-experts, the...

    I think this essay misses out by not discussing the urban-rural economic divide in China. While the hukou system probably wasn't discussed to make the essay more approachable for non-experts, the creation of essentially a second class of citizens who hold rural hukou seems important for the kind of argument the author is making, especially as blue-collar work is increasingly performed by rural hukou internal migrants working in the cities outside of their household registration area.

    5 votes

  8. Comment on EU hopes Hungarian election will bring end to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's blockades in ~society

    Fal
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    Few EU leaders will miss Hungary's Prime ​Minister Viktor Orban if he loses an April 12 election after he blocked key policies, including vital aid to Ukraine, but they don't expect his rival - if ‌elected - to fully reverse Budapest's approach to Europe.

    Most opinion polls suggest Orban's nationalist Fidesz party, in power since 2010, could lose to Peter Magyar's centre-right Tisza party.

    3 votes

  10. Comment on The Ghost in the Shell | First promotion video in ~anime

  11. Comment on Los Angeles Metro approves major rail route expansion into West Hollywood after last-minute deal in ~transport

    Fal
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    This success comes in spite of being delayed over a year by NIMBYs. For more information about the background of this vote, I suggest this video by nanbert released in the lead-up to this vote:...

    This success comes in spite of being delayed over a year by NIMBYs. For more information about the background of this vote, I suggest this video by nanbert released in the lead-up to this vote: The Nation's Future Highest Ridership Light Rail Line at Risk Over 22 NIMBYs and LA Mayor Karen Bass

    6 votes

  13. Comment on How China forgot Karl Marx: The Chinese economy runs on labor exploitation (gifted link) in ~society

    Fal
    Link Parent
    I don't think the author necessarily disagrees with the fact that life for your average Chinese factory worker is better now than it was in the 1960s. From the introduction:

    I don't think the author necessarily disagrees with the fact that life for your average Chinese factory worker is better now than it was in the 1960s. From the introduction:

    To be sure, this is about relative distribution of income, not about absolute income changes for the Chinese workforce. Incomes and living standards have risen dramatically since the 1980s, and the country achieved an impressive record of poverty reduction, all of which should be recognized and applauded. But the fact remains that Chinese workers have lagged far behind the owners of capital and the government when it comes to income gains. It may not be the abject labor extraction envisioned by Deng, but it is labor extraction nonetheless.

    9 votes

  14. Comment on How China forgot Karl Marx: The Chinese economy runs on labor exploitation (gifted link) in ~society

    Fal
    Link

    In the early 1980s, rural Chinese workers saw their incomes surge amid the country’s economic liberalization. It was the beginning of one of the most remarkable feats in history as hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens rose out of poverty. But while many watched in awe, one high-ranking official in the Chinese Communist Party was worried by what he saw happening.

    Deng Liqun (no relation to Deng Xiaoping, China’s leader at the time, who had initiated the economic reforms) noticed that many rural businesses had started to hire a large number of workers. Deng, citing Das Kapital by Karl Marx, began to sound the alarm about the greedy capitalists extracting surpluses from the Chinese proletariat. To him, large private businesses were inherently exploitative.

    Deng’s warnings were ignored, but they turned out to be prescient: China’s workforce was about to get squeezed. According to official Chinese statistics, in the real economy—that is, agriculture, industry, and utilities—the share of labor compensation relative to the value of all economic inputs, such as raw materials, production components, and capital, fell from 21 percent in 1987 to 15 percent in 2023, the last year for which data are available. (The share of wages for service jobs, including in real estate, finance, and the government sector, is roughly on par with what it was in the 1980s.) In other words, the relative position of Chinese factory and farm workers today is worse than it was before China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.

    8 votes

  17. Comment on Tip to tip: Crossing China with no map in ~hobbies

    Fal
    Link Parent
    IIRC he (or maybe its Michael?) does and attempts it in the first episode, but his pronunciation makes it pretty incomprehensible

    IIRC he (or maybe its Michael?) does and attempts it in the first episode, but his pronunciation makes it pretty incomprehensible

  18. Comment on Tip to tip: Crossing China with no map in ~hobbies

    Fal
    Link Parent
    Oh man, I speak Mandarin and its rough to listen to sometimes. Them repeatedly confusing 'where are you from' for 'where are you going' was probably the worst one lol I enjoy seeing the nice...

    Oh man, I speak Mandarin and its rough to listen to sometimes. Them repeatedly confusing 'where are you from' for 'where are you going' was probably the worst one lol

    I enjoy seeing the nice hospitality they're getting, it reminds me of when I was in China when I was younger (and had worse Chinese).

    5 votes

  19. Comment on Tip to tip: Crossing China with no map in ~hobbies

    Fal
    (edited )
    Link
    Tip to tip: Japan discussion from last year I was kind of expecting them to go for a sort of Hainan to Heilongjiang sort of route, which would make travel easier by giving the opportunity to...

    Tip to tip: Japan discussion from last year

    I was kind of expecting them to go for a sort of Hainan to Heilongjiang sort of route, which would make travel easier by giving the opportunity to travel along the coast until about Beijing. Based on the map in the beginning, they instead are aiming for Inner Mongolia, which will take them across some very mountainous terrain. They'll also be missing out on most of the major population centers, save for Chongqing and Xi'an. Looking forward to seeing how this goes!

    9 votes