R3qn65's recent activity
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Comment on Donald Trump didn't win on the US economy. He won on the perception of it. in ~society
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Comment on Donald Trump didn't win on the US economy. He won on the perception of it. in ~society
R3qn65 (edited )Link ParentComing back to this because I think you might appreciate the below interview - it’s an interview with a WWE promoter on the lessons he thinks Trump has taken from pro wrestling. I think about half...It's difficult to assess whether Trump is an idiot or a genius pretending to be an idiot, but one thing he understands better than Democrats is that politics is theatre.
Coming back to this because I think you might appreciate the below interview - it’s an interview with a WWE promoter on the lessons he thinks Trump has taken from pro wrestling. I think about half of it is overblown, but it’s a take I haven’t seen before, at the very least.
Edit: it's from mcsweeneys, but it's not satire!
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/man-is-weak-and-when-he-makes-strength-his-profession-he-is-weaker-a-conversation-with-wrestling-promoter-sean-gorman-about-the-influence-of-the-wwe-on-trumps-every-move -
Comment on What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking? in ~food
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Comment on Conformity and contrarianism at the same time in ~talk
R3qn65 LinkI appreciate that you're trying not to call people out, but a topic like this is either inherently confrontational or inherently passive-aggressive, and you've gone with passive-aggressive. : )...I appreciate that you're trying not to call people out, but a topic like this is either inherently confrontational or inherently passive-aggressive, and you've gone with passive-aggressive. : )
Can you either call people out or talk in more detail about what you mean?
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Comment on "Americans get screwed because they can’t read" in ~society
R3qn65 Link ParentThis isn’t exactly wrong, but I think it’s an excessively pessimistic take. Legislation isn’t written by the actual elected officials, it’s written by staffers, so there’s typically an additional...The companies involved all donate to their favorite politicians, who then use corporate feedback when crafting applicable laws. Which would be fine if everyone was agreed that the purpose of the laws was to protect people - but the laws wouldn't be needed if that was true.
This isn’t exactly wrong, but I think it’s an excessively pessimistic take. Legislation isn’t written by the actual elected officials, it’s written by staffers, so there’s typically an additional layer between the corporations and the people writing the legislation. And while there are obvious, critical flaws in that system, finding a better alternative is much harder than it sounds. It’s not possible for any legislator, no matter how intelligent and no matter how motivated, to completely understand the fundaments of any given issue that might crop up. And I think it’s worth asking whether we’d actually want things to be that way - having a system like that would ensure that only technocrats with niche knowledge could get elected. So legislators have to rely on staffers, lobbyists, and companies because while they all have interests, they also are, very often, the only ones who do actually understand the issues in question. Do we want this guy passing laws on AI without assistance? (The link is the clip of a Georgia representative being worried about Guam tipping over).
Combined with all of this, I think it’s more difficult to write legislation without loopholes than you might imagine. It’s also not necessarily a good idea. Slack in a system is always, always a good thing. Here’s a dumb example: jaywalking is illegal almost everywhere, right? But we don’t actually want that law to be enforced without exception. The slack in our system allows for a better outcome than we would have if the law was rigidly written and rigidly applied.
None of this is to say that the American system is unimpeachable or can’t be criticized. Again, there are obvious, critical flaws. I just think that it’s important to understand that this is a complex system and so the criticism should be (IMO) equally nuanced.
When they were trying to roll out state-wide broadband in New Jersey a decade or two ago, the state sought feedback from the corporations on what was reasonable to include….
To be fair, this is all about a RFP (request for proposal) process, not law. Very different things, and getting feedback from the entities who will be bidding is standard practice.
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Comment on OpenAI, Google and Anthropic are struggling to build more advanced AI in ~tech
R3qn65 Link ParentThanks for the book rec - will check it out.Thanks for the book rec - will check it out.
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Comment on How well do you cook? in ~life.men
R3qn65 LinkI (male) am a well-above average home cook (9-course tasting menus for dinner parties, etc), mostly because of what my spouse (jokingly?) calls "absolute psychopath behavior." I have a hard time...I (male) am a well-above average home cook (9-course tasting menus for dinner parties, etc), mostly because of what my spouse (jokingly?) calls "absolute psychopath behavior." I have a hard time doing anything without trying to be the best at it, so I'll take pictures of my food so that I can make notes of everything wrong with it, go through rounds of phases of trying to improve very specific things, etc.
Currently I need to improve my plating and the general realm of "modernist cuisine." I've yet to make a foam I'm really happy with. I'm tempted to write off the whole foam concept as a gimmicky trend that's better off dead, but I need to make sure I can do it first.
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Comment on OpenAI, Google and Anthropic are struggling to build more advanced AI in ~tech
R3qn65 Link ParentI genuinely haven't heard this take before and it's very interesting.Instead, an LLM is probably just one of the many components that will be required to create this artificial mind, much like our own brains have multiple different parts with distinct functions which only coalesce into consciousness when they are able to communicate and interact with one another.
I genuinely haven't heard this take before and it's very interesting.
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Comment on If our worst fears about Donald Trump play out, how will we know when it's time to leave? in ~society
R3qn65 Link ParentThere are basically zero situations where being a reluctant gun owner makes social unrest/local conflict/any problem better, rather than worse. If you're not willing to use a firearm to kill...There are basically zero situations where being a reluctant gun owner makes social unrest/local conflict/any problem better, rather than worse. If you're not willing to use a firearm to kill someone, then you having it is purely escalatory and you're better off making a new plan. I say that as someone who supports private gun ownership, for what it's worth.
If you're worried about civil war, in that (impossibly unlikely) scenario the states will be arming their forces anyway - private gun ownership will not be a factor.
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Comment on If our worst fears about Donald Trump play out, how will we know when it's time to leave? in ~society
R3qn65 Link ParentGreat post, and re: the game theory of a revolution failing when not enough people believe in it, you may enjoy Seizing Power by forgotthefirstname Singh.Great post, and re: the game theory of a revolution failing when not enough people believe in it, you may enjoy Seizing Power by forgotthefirstname Singh.
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Comment on Tips for increasing online privacy (without going insane)? in ~tech
R3qn65 LinkIf you're blocking most cookies, don't share unnecessary data with apps, and have deleted your AdID, you're 90% of the way there. Internet privacy boards are tough places because the people who...If you're blocking most cookies, don't share unnecessary data with apps, and have deleted your AdID, you're 90% of the way there. Internet privacy boards are tough places because the people who lurk there tend to be absolutely nuts - and often believe a lot of stuff that's just not substantiated by the facts. ("Your phone is constantly listening to your conversations to sell you ads!")
The bottom line is you've got to understand your actual threat model. Are you trying to sell drugs on the darknet or blow the whistle on an oppressive regime? Okay, let's talk about tails or whonix or whatever. You just want to limit the amount of data that could potentially identify you? Delete your AdID and keep location services off when you don't need it and you're pretty much good.
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Comment on Dwayne Johnson became the world’s biggest movie star. Now he’s trying to disappear. in ~movies
R3qn65 LinkVery interesting piece. It made me like Johnson quite a bit more.Very interesting piece. It made me like Johnson quite a bit more.
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Comment on Donald Trump didn't win on the US economy. He won on the perception of it. in ~society
R3qn65 Link ParentI'm not sure I agree with that. What would be the homogenous republican majority? That said - I think we agree in principle here. That's sort of my point, actually, though in the comment that...I think what we're seeing here is that the Republican party is largely homogenous in it's intended audience, but the Democrat party is the party of coalition among different groups and cultures.
I'm not sure I agree with that. What would be the homogenous republican majority? That said -
So why shouldn't the Democrat party cast a message that shelters all groups in it's coalition at once?
I think we agree in principle here. That's sort of my point, actually, though in the comment that sparked this chain I didn't expand on it. It's very hard to argue that a land use statement is a message successfully sheltering all elements of the democratic coalition, in my view.
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Comment on Donald Trump didn't win on the US economy. He won on the perception of it. in ~society
R3qn65 Link ParentYeah, couldn't agree more. As you mentioned in your original post, whether or not anybody actually reads these things is not the point - they're indicative of the communications culture.Yeah, couldn't agree more. As you mentioned in your original post, whether or not anybody actually reads these things is not the point - they're indicative of the communications culture.
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Comment on Donald Trump didn't win on the US economy. He won on the perception of it. in ~society
R3qn65 Link ParentGood God. Look at the second page of each document. The republicans: "Dedicated to the forgotten men and women of America." The democrats put a native land acknowledgement. I would laugh if it...Good God. Look at the second page of each document. The republicans: "Dedicated to the forgotten men and women of America."
The democrats put a native land acknowledgement.
I would laugh if it wasn't so sad. This is why they lost.
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Comment on How Donald Trump won, and how Kamala Harris lost in ~society
R3qn65 (edited )Link ParentSolid post. One point of nuance I'd like to add - Trump mostly spreads his message through fear/lies, but not exclusively, and it's not the only way to do it. For an example, I'd point to Bernie...Solid post.
One point of nuance I'd like to add - Trump mostly spreads his message through fear/lies, but not exclusively, and it's not the only way to do it.
For an example, I'd point to Bernie Sanders. I liked him, if not most of his policies, and I'm still skeptical whether he was electable. What he excelled at, though, was spreading a working-class message in a hopeful way. I think there is a way to do it, it's just that the democratic mainstream sucks at it.
I'm sympathetic to Harris because I admire, in a philosophical sense, that she was loyal to Biden. But that loyalty cost her the election. Telling people over and over that the economy was great, actually, thank you very much is not a winning strategy when that's not how they feel (and in some cases, isn't their lived experience). Saying "not a thing comes to mind" that you would do differently from a deeply unpopular president is a comitragic own goal. : (
What unites Trump and Sanders is that both effectively message "I feel your pain" and the DNC simply does not do that. Even Obama was scolding black men instead of trying to understand why they weren't getting out for Harris.
The message to use is so obvious, and it drives me batty that only Trump has figured it out. It's the same message that all of us want to hear, at a fundamental level, and it's the same message that every demagogue ever has used:
I know things are hard. You're not alone. I'm here for you, and I'm going to help.
I don't think that's at all fundamentally incompatible with defending LGBT rights, which is good because I agree with you: it's important, and the democrats have to figure out how to do that in a way that doesn't leave them so open to republican messaging.
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Comment on How Donald Trump won, and how Kamala Harris lost in ~society
R3qn65 (edited )Link ParentI'm with @nukeman - I don't think the DNC's problem is their actual positioning on social issues, it's that their messaging is abysmal. Some Americans are opposed to transgender rights enough to...- Exemplary
I'm with @nukeman - I don't think the DNC's problem is their actual positioning on social issues, it's that their messaging is abysmal.
Some Americans are opposed to transgender rights enough to have it affect their vote. For sure. But I am certain that the vast majority of Americans, even those actively opposed to transgender rights, don't really care enough about it to have it be a major component of how they vote, in and of itself.
However: what all of these people are massively susceptible to is the message contained in that ad - that the democratic party cares more about 'them' - any them - than they care about you. Whether it be illegal immigrants or transgender folks, the danger isn't the actual support so much as the notion that they are coming first, before the rest of the voting public. This is just a twist on the same thing that we saw in 2016, in which it was the notion that the democrats cared more about elites than steelworkers that cost Ms Clinton the election.
The Times argues that the ads were successful in casting VP Harris as dangerously liberal. I completely disagree. They were successful in casting her as out of touch and unconcerned with the average voter.
The DNC needs to figure out how to neutralize this sort of attack ad more than they need to change their actual policy positions.
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Comment on Thoughts on a Democratic postmortem in ~society
R3qn65 Link ParentI saw that, and I think it may be partially true, but the AP has Trump picking up support among the black community.... and women.I saw that, and I think it may be partially true, but the AP has Trump picking up support among the black community.... and women.
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Comment on Thoughts on a Democratic postmortem in ~society
R3qn65 Link ParentRacism and sexism are a factor. For sure. But they don't explain massive rightward shifts in the black vote. Similarly, I've got to question the analysis "Americans are too racist to elect Harris...Racism and sexism are a factor. For sure. But they don't explain massive rightward shifts in the black vote. Similarly, I've got to question the analysis "Americans are too racist to elect Harris in 2024, but Obama in 2008 was fine" - it just doesn't make sense.
Voters said over and over that they cared about the economy and about immigration. Harris did not adequately sell her vision on either topic.
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Comment on Thoughts on a Democratic postmortem in ~society
R3qn65 Link ParentSure, I'm not criticizing that specific decision. It makes sense. My broader point is that if they were waiting until a week prior to the election (and after Trump did it first), it was far too...Sure, I'm not criticizing that specific decision. It makes sense. My broader point is that if they were waiting until a week prior to the election (and after Trump did it first), it was far too late and emblematic of their overall lack of strategic vision.
Very rarely, but yeah - their interviews are typically not satire. Weird to see, right?