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kbin.life

jacktherippah , to fediverse in lemmy.ml and hexbear.net has been banned in China

This is too funny. What a great post to wake up to lmfao.

Junkernaught , to android in Pixel 8 series MEGATHREAD

Jeez. Just replace the keynote with a web page that lists specs, features, etc so I can decide whether I want to buy your product or not.

Jivebunny ,
@Jivebunny@lemmy.world avatar

So much corporate vomit. Jeez.

Junkernaught ,

Agreed. Also, mentioning AI every 3 sentences like every other tech company recently.

lazycouchpotato ,
@lazycouchpotato@lemmy.world avatar
newIdentity , (edited )

To be fair, they are primarily an Software (and theirfor AI) company.

It’s still pretty annoying.

I also actually really liked the intro of the Keynote for once.

SnipingNinja ,

Tbf it’s more like they started the trend, considering they do actually use a lot of AI

sky ,

Good thing they immediately launched the product pages with comparisons and don’t force you to watch the keynote!

zeppo , to linux in this is a silly question but as wav files are proprietary could micrpsoft and ibm sneak nasty stuff in thetr?
@zeppo@lemmy.world avatar

Not really? The format is well documented. Whether it is possible to include some sort of exploit depends on the client you use to play it, and if so, I doubt Microsoft or IBM would be the ones to do it.

wildbus8979 ,

if so, I doubt Microsoft or IBM would be the ones to do it.

Yeah Sony is much more likely!

can ,

And people talk about buying their phones.

Edgelord_Of_Tomorrow ,

I bought one of their phones after how much people rave about them. Cost me more than the equivalent Samsung or iPhone. It was a piece of shit with a shockingly mediocre camera considering Sony make the fucking sensor. Only good thing about it was the power button thumbprint scanner and even that’s a monkey’s paw feature because Sony having the patent is stopping anyone else doing it.

Jesus_666 ,

Meanwhile I think mine is a pretty good phone except for the side-facing fingerprint sensor, which is straight up incorrect and shouldn’t be done.

Then again I consider an audio jack to be an important feature and smartphone cameras as something you can safely skip in the feature matrix. My needs are somewhat unusual.

The fingerprint sensor is still bad, though. It’s extremely easy to accidentally touch it three times while fishing the phone out of your pocket. It should require a second of contact before trying to unlock the phone; that would make it vastly more usable.

Rin ,

I think your needs are more common than you think, considering i have the same needs as you.

So, there’s a fingerprint setting i had to turn on since i had the same issue as you. you have to press the power button then tap the sensor to unlock it. It’s called “Press to unlock with fingerprint” inside the security settings.

lemmyvore ,

Ironically their phones are pretty vanilla, very little bloatware.

debounced ,
@debounced@kbin.run avatar

Dave Plummer has a very interesting take on this since he was the dev manager for Windows CD Autorun at the time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqWjq2SdzpI

Stovetop , to asklemmy in What's your favorite spaceship?

The Rocinante

Trollivier ,

Definitely the Rocinante!

Naja_kaouthia ,

Should have known I’d already find the Roci here.

starman OP ,
@starman@programming.dev avatar

This ship inspired me to ask this question :)

bloopernova ,
@bloopernova@programming.dev avatar

One of my favourite things on the Roci are the point defense cannon (PDC).

In space they make a little brrrrrt noise

In atmosphere they sound like artillery. BOOM BOOM BOOM. And they act like artillery too, all you can do is try to cover your ears.

Just fun to think how powerful those “little” PDCs need to be.

QuarterSwede ,
@QuarterSwede@lemmy.world avatar

Oh that’s a good ship.

I was going to say the Trimaxion Drone Ship from Flight of the Navigator. Seems lame now. lol.

sure ,

+1 for the Roci

Finished the series this week and am already suffering from withdrawal.

KingJalopy ,

Read the books! There’s tons more. Unless that’s what you mean.

Naja_kaouthia ,

Ah that book ending though. chef’s kiss

MrSpArkle ,

It was pure perfection. Like if you’ve only seen the tv show, the book ending isn’t something you need to read, it’s something you deserve to read.

sure , (edited )

Yeaah, I really need to get to them! Especially since the last 3 didn’t make it to the TV series, from what I’ve read.

Naja_kaouthia ,

I assure you you won’t regret it.

illi ,

Love seeing Roci up top!

ThatHermanoGuy ,

I’m a huge Expanse fan, but come on. Compared to the Enterprise, the Roci shouldn’t even be hauling garbage, it should be taken away as garbage!

Chetzemoka , (edited )

ahem

Definitely not the Chetzemoka lol

Although as much as I love the Roci, I might have to go with the Donnager as my real favorite. It’s just so damned intimidating.

ExLisper ,

Seriously? Someone named a spaceship after an old horse?

Cool.

S13Ni , to piracy in How to bypass plane WIFI limitations ?

I wouldn’t fuck with anything related to flying tbh, since that shit is pretty closely monitored for anything sus.

downhomechunk ,
@downhomechunk@midwest.social avatar

OP, please listen to this.

EuroNutellaMan ,

What are they gonna do? Kick you out of the plane?

danhab99 ,
@danhab99@programming.dev avatar

Put you on the no-fly list

EuroNutellaMan ,

I already got there when I opened a Linux terminal and somebody yelled “HE HAS A BOMB”

Sawzall ,

Did you reply, ‘I am the bomb!’?

EuroNutellaMan ,

Yes and then I yelled “it’s bombin time” and exploded

FigMcLargeHuge ,

Do you really want to fuck around and find out…

AlwaysNowNeverNotMe , (edited ) to asklemmy in Tell us your definitive "I really should not do this" moment.
@AlwaysNowNeverNotMe@kbin.social avatar

We were driving my friends hoopty Saturn back from Vegas to LA on hwy 15, we had just turned 21, and a flash flood was tearing through the desert. I've been in hurricanes and tornadoes but I've never seen rain this heavy to this day. So when the brake lights in front of us reached from the top to the bottom of the windshield after a semi truck poured a waterfall onto us I suggested we pull over.

Once we reached the side of the road we stay and waited a bit, talked to our friends in the other car over the walkie talkies and they pulled over with us when they caught up. When suddenly it hit me, I've been in hot ass desert for a week now, I would love to soak up some rain!

So I tell my buddy I'm going to "Experience the storm" and step out of the car and raise my hands up Shawshank style. And feel all the hair on my body stand up.

Since my earliest childhood I remember a photo of my parents on our living room wall, standing on either side of their beat up Toyota hands raised in a jumping jack pose. And I also remember my father's retelling of the taking, in which they all dove into the car because their hair began to stand on end.

So I dove back into the open door and heard a thundercrack.

PP_BOY_ ,
@PP_BOY_@lemmy.world avatar

Reminds me a lot of the McQuilken PhotoLightening does not fuck around.

qooqie ,

I bet that shattered your eardrums!

sam , to nostupidquestions in Is there any way to open a pop can stealthily?
@sam@lemmy.ca avatar

Tactical Velcro Opening might apply in this situation.

ProfessorScience ,

Could see that coming a mile away. Still laughed.

vlad76 ,
@vlad76@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

That is a blast from the past

usualsuspect191 , to asklemmy in What's the biggest plot hole in real life?

The details around the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand really jump the shark. Must’ve been a drug-fueled writing session on that one

TotallyHuman OP ,

When that one aired I assumed they were going to genre-shift into dark comedy or slapstick, but they… really, really didn’t.

Tippon ,

You haven’t seen Blackadder? I thought the whole plot was a set up to the series.

thisbenzingring ,

one drunk dude with a pistol changing the course of the whole world?

Mirodir ,

Don’t ignore the whole other stuff with the failed bombing etc.

From wikipedia:

At 10:10 am,[75] Franz Ferdinand’s car approached and Čabrinović threw his bomb. The bomb bounced off the folded back convertible cover into the street.[76] The bomb’s timed detonator caused it to explode under the next car, putting that car out of action, leaving a 1-foot-diameter (0.30 m), 6.5-inch-deep (170 mm) crater,[75] and wounding 16–20 people.[77]

Čabrinović swallowed his cyanide pill and jumped into the Miljacka river. Čabrinović’s suicide attempt failed, as the old cyanide only induced vomiting, and the Miljacka was only 13 cm deep due to the hot, dry summer.[78] Police dragged Čabrinović out of the river, and he was severely beaten by the crowd before being taken into custody.

Just the mental image of him chucking himself into a river after the failed bombing and then also failing his suicide on two fronts…

h3mlocke ,

Lmfaooo

ChaoticEntropy ,
@ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk avatar

This is why you buy the 2nd cheapest cyanide pills, not the cheapest.

flying_sheep ,
@flying_sheep@lemmy.ml avatar

Not at all. Things were a powder keg. If it wouldn’t have blown at that point, then shortly thereafter.

mdhughes ,
@mdhughes@lemmy.ml avatar

“The War to End All Wars” was a good season finale, but then just 20 years later they made a sequel with bigger effects budget and openly evil villains. Lazy writing. And the way things have been written towards WWIII but then backing off is a long season tease.

Pons_Aelius , to reddit in How many people actually dropped Reddit for Lemmy?

Sure it is possible to estimate, but the chance the estimate is any better than a guess is pretty much zero.

The only definite number I have is one.

all-knight-party ,
@all-knight-party@kbin.cafe avatar

And my axe. This is still funny, right?

danileonis OP ,
@danileonis@lemmy.ml avatar

Absolutely

all-knight-party ,
@all-knight-party@kbin.cafe avatar

A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. I can keep going, they're all winners.

Granixo , (edited )
@Granixo@feddit.cl avatar

We’ll watch your carreer with great interest.

https://feddit.cl/pictrs/image/59be887b-49a9-433e-8347-2bab262e54b8.jpeg

thejml ,

A perfect 5/7!

Pons_Aelius ,

with Rice!

Nyanix ,
@Nyanix@lemmy.ca avatar

And my Old Spice.

burgersc12 ,

If i had to guess its somewhere in the range of hundreds of thousands.

fubo , (edited ) to asklemmy in Who was your worst coworker?

There was the guy who left milky coffee mugs in his office until they became hairy with mold.

There was the guy who skipped out on work to go play basketball with his buddies.

There was the guy who almost handed a new computer to the dean, with the dean’s name misspelled into an embarrassing word on his login screen.

Oh wait, those were the same guy.


There was a different guy, Bob, who proudly called himself a sexist. He was the tech support manager. More than half of his direct reports were women. He’d double-check their work because they were women. He was usually wrong.

I was running network security for the organization. I’d kicked a machine off the network because it was sending out virus spam. (This was the early 2000s when that was a thing.)

Bob said, the machine is clean, put it back on the network.

I checked, it wasn’t clean.

He said they needed it back on the network now.

I said, have Debbie check it again.

Debbie went and checked it again. There were processes called fuck.exe running, trying to initiate port-25 connections to various IP addresses.

Yeah, Bob, Debbie is right. Because she actually looked, instead of just trying to play nice with the user.

Machine got wiped and reinstalled. Then it went back on the network.

Kindness ,

Machine got wiped and reinstalled. Then it went back on the network.

This read was incredibly satisfying. Thank you.

GreenMario , to risa in Started Star Trek: The Next Generation for the first time last night. How big of an ongoing factor is "Q?" Because I kind of hate him.

Idk John DeLancie has that “Tim Curry” energy where he chews the scenery well and is fun to watch but wasn’t much a fan of Season 1 Q.

It gets better.

ivanafterall OP ,
@ivanafterall@kbin.social avatar

I agree. It got unexpectedly trippy and weird at times, which was a pleasant surprise. He just came across really cornbally. I could imagine him maybe growing on me.

KevonLooney ,

Penalty!

Travelator ,

His best line: “Eat any good books lately?”

derrg , to nostupidquestions in I have an apartment where the dumpster is a car's drive away, and taking trash down involves 4 staircases. What is the best way to ameliorate this situation?
@derrg@lemmy.world avatar

Making more frequent, smaller trips might make it less of a pain? Maybe stop by the dumpster if it’s on the way to/from a daily route you need to take?

nieceandtows ,

Yeah, I would just make it a habit to always leave the home with a trash bag and drop it on the way to wherever I’m heading. Using large trashbags makes you wait until the bag is full. Buy those small 13 gallon (or smaller) bags. I use all my grocery bags as mini trash bags hung on cupboard doors. Makes it easier.

scarabic , to nostupidquestions in What are the connotations of Joe Rogan?

Well first his show is one of the biggest podcasts in existence and spent a lot of time at the #1 spot - it’s not just a new thing.

Compared to other career interlocutors we might name from old media like Barbara Walters or Michael Krasny, Joe Rogan is a major step down on intellect. He doesn’t really prepare for interviews - reading the subjects book or whatever. He just wings it and spends a lot of time nodding and saying “wow.”

This is a problem when he invites on guests who spew misinformation. Joe doesn’t know it’s misinformation because he doesn’t research. And in fact he seems to think he’s a rebel journalist who hosts people that others want to silence. And he himself falls for many conspiracy tropes, frequently throwing out phrases like “they don’t want anyone to know this.”

So you’ve got a big dumb show full of misinformation that reaches a lot of young people. This is a problem for a lot of folks.

Others love Joe and find his lack of intellect relatable. He’s just a “regular Joe” to them. Maybe they don’t want a fancy interviewer who’s read all the books. Maybe they want someone just as uninformed as them so the information conveyed in the interview arrives at their level.

Sadly, Joe’s now hosted many of the top minds in the world. People like Neil DeGrasse Tyson just see him as a podcast host who’s popular with the youths. So why not go on his show. These people have boosted his numbers even more and legitimized him. Then he brings on a vaccine denier and it all goes to shit. He seems to thrive in the criticism, too, doubling down on the fact that he wants to investigate the things everyone else wants to bury (when his critics say he’s just giving the worst people in the world a platform).

UnderwaterSwift ,

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  • scarabic ,

    You make it sound like he just uses the Socratic method to give weirdos the rope they need to hang themselves. And maybe that’s true for a sophisticated audience who already come in with solid critical things skills in place. When they don’t, as is often the case for his under-25 audience who are still coming up, the appearance is that he treats them as legitimate - the same as he treats NDGT.

    UnderwaterSwift ,

    deleted_by_author

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  • scarabic ,

    OMG now you sound like him. “They want to silence this!”

    I said nothing about disallowing discussion. Or any other action that should be taken. We have someone here asking what’s up with JRE and I’m telling them. Are you trying to silence me!!! You want to censor this!!!

    But more seriously:

    Is it possible for media to spread disinformation? Can that be dangerous?

    These are unambiguous “yes” and “yes” answers. And that’s what happens with this show. Period.

    UnderwaterSwift ,

    deleted_by_author

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  • scarabic ,

    One way I celebrate his great heights is by treating him as the major media source he is. You want to have it both ways: celebrate his massive success but treat him like just some jackass talking about conspiracies.

    Cethin ,

    Dude, you’re misunderstanding. No one is saying the ideas can’t be discussed. People are saying he’s irresponsible for giving his platform to these people without doing his due diligence to inform the audience when they lie or say things that just aren’t true. It’s his platform and his responsibility to not send the information out in a vacuum that gives it space to spread without informing people of its (il)legitimacy.

    Check out ONRAC for what I’d say is a pretty responsible way to discuss fringe (or just plain wrong) ideas.

    Cethin ,

    I listen to Oh No Ross and Carrie frequently, and it does a similar thing except they actually do research and make sure to inform the listener about what they say that’s wrong, misconstrued, or a lie. They look into the background of the people and their history and a whole lot of detail into what they’re pushing. They don’t just give them a platform that doesn’t push back. It’s irresponsible to do otherwise.

    lemming007 ,

    I stop listening to anyone who uses the word “misinformation” unironically.

    9point6 ,

    I can’t believe you would tell on yourself like this

    Furbag ,

    lol this ain’t the flex you think it is, chief.

    DarkWasp ,
    @DarkWasp@lemmy.world avatar

    You know that’s a real word that applies to things right? If someone is saying the earth is actually flat and making up things to prove it, that’s misinformation.

    lemming007 ,

    It’s just used as an excuse to shut down speech the government/tech companies don’t like because it doesn’t fit their narrative.

    So what if someone believes the earth is flat, let the people hear and decide for themselves. That’s a bedrock of democracy, people are capable of making decisions for themselves. Not you or anyone else has a right to tell them what to believe or filter down the information they get.

    DarkWasp , (edited )
    @DarkWasp@lemmy.world avatar

    No one is shutting down anything, they’re using their speech to classify things as misinformation. You’re allowed to note things are lies or untrue just as much as the people spewing it. There’s a reason regulations and rules exist in the first place, you can’t just lie about ingredients in food for example to protect from harm.

    Regardless, misinformation is a real word that applies to things. If you tell someone that says they heard “if I drink bleach it’ll cure my cancer” that is not true and is false information (which can cause harm), there’s nothing wrong with that.

    PatheticGroundThing , to asklemmy in People of Lemmy, I dare you to name ONE billionaire that's done anything good.

    Anything good?

    Then all of them. They are human beings, not black holes of pure evil.

    b9chomps ,
    @b9chomps@beehaw.org avatar

    I need a source for that.

    kool_newt , to asklemmy in Why are maglev trains still rare?

    Because it’s not currently profitable in most cases. Capitalism ensures that the merit of an idea comes secondary to it’s profitability. We don’t get the best things, we get the profitable things.

    howrar ,

    What kind of benefits are there to maglev trains that are not cost related?

    Venutianxspring ,

    They’re faster and more comfortable than traditional rail. They could help to reduce air and vehicle travel

    howrar ,

    Then it’s good that we don’t have them, isn’t it? Kool_Newt’s post implies that it’s due to a failing of capitalism, but this sounds like a win to me. I’d rather my money go towards food and housing than a faster or more comfortable experience doing something I rarely need.

    Venutianxspring ,

    Sure, but if it lessens the impact on the climate from air travel and vehicles, then it’s a good thing. Especially if they can become reliable and convenient enough that people don’t need to have their own vehicles to drive everywhere.

    someguy3 ,

    One of the most common flights is US west coast to east coast. Normal high speed rail can’t do this in a reasonable time frame. We need something faster if we want to get reduce those flights.

    One of the features of capitalism is externalizing the costs, especially of pollution.

    howrar ,

    Ah, that makes sense. So maglev is overall cheaper but still less profitable because the costs are paid where they’re incurred.

    someguy3 ,

    Cheaper than flights? You’d have to do the math on it. We may have to accept that some things like travel will be expensive. But right now it’s not feasible Wrt to time to take a train or even HSR coast to coast.

    Aux ,

    That’s the dumbest take ever.

    howrar ,

    Care to explain why?

    Aux ,

    It is scientifically proven that high quality public transport, and especially train services, improves the lives of people and improves the economy.

    Money spent on food is a total waste. No matter how much food you buy for people, they will eat all of it and will ask for more. Simply because you need to eat every day of your life.

    This is also true for housing to some extent, as populations generally tend to grow over time, thus more and more houses will always be needed no matter how much you have built already. But houses take a lot more time to run out of as you don’t need a new house every day, only once every few years when the population increases.

    But you can build a good railway system in the area once and then people will use it to earn their own money, to pay for their food themselves and to buy their own homes themselves. And they will also pay for railway maintenance and bring profit to the budget as well. It’s a one time investment which lasts virtually forever.

    The government should invest in long term solutions: infrastructure, education, etc. There’s really no point investing anything into short term solutions. Housing can be a long term investment if done properly though. But that’s an off topic.

    howrar ,

    Thanks. So it basically comes down to externalizing costs again. Those who build the trains don’t see most of the profits or the costs that come with it, so they optimize for the parts that they do see.

    Regarding food, I as an individual need to eat every day, and I need to pay for that food. I’m not going to just not buy food because I’ll need it again tomorrow. It doesn’t matter if the government provides the food or I buy it myself, it’s still money that needs to be spent on it. One could argue that food security also leads to similar second/third order effects by freeing up that mental real estate dedicated to survival and allowing it to be used for positive contributions to the community, though I don’t have data to back this up so it’s just speculation. Similarly, if the rails are public and built using my tax money while providing me with no value, I would consider it to be wasteful as survival takes precedence over comfort. If it’s private and not profitable, then it means no one wants this for the price it takes to build and maintain, so it was a bad idea to have it in the first place. But either way, this is all moot because it’s a conclusion reached from incomplete information. I’m down for public spending on this if there are higher order effects that everyone benefits from.

    Aux ,

    They’re not that faster. Conventional train speed record is 574.8 km/h, Maglev record is 603 km/h. Maglev price doesn’t justify diminishing returns.

    flux ,

    And how about the actual speeds they are used with? Another poster suggested the maintenance costs of traditional speeds skyrocket as speed increases, while maglev doesn’t really have a lot of stuff that wears down in the first place.

    Aux ,

    All but one operational Maglev lines run at speeds below 160kph. Which is way lower than conventional high speed railways which usually run at speeds over 300kph. Also “non high speed” conventional railways in the UK have a top speed of 200kph, which is also faster than existing maglev lines, lol.

    The only exception is Shanghai Maglev, which tops out at 430kph. But that line only exists as a Chinese propaganda tool.

    PixxlMan ,

    I doubt conventional trains are regularly traveling at the speed record. Thats a poor way to compare the speeds of things.

    Aux ,

    Regular conventional service is much much faster than regular maglev service. It’s not even a comparison at this point.

    kool_newt ,

    I would expect a century+ old established wide-spread technology to be able to beat a newer less tested technology in many cases. This doesn’t mean conventional rail is inherently superior and especially doesn’t mean we should discard the concept. Maglev faces much resistance (such as the cultural resistance evident in this thread), it’s time may only be starting now as the automobile age looks to have peaked.

    gnuhaut , (edited )

    Better acceleration, steeper inclines, tighter curves at same speed, better ride quality and less wear. As someone has mentioned below, normal trains could go a lot faster than they do in practice, because the ride quality, wear and wind resistance get atrocious, and the tracks need to be exceptionally straight. Making a maglev go fast is more feasible, though you still have the wind resistance issue obviously.

    traches ,

    Not to defend capitalism in general, but it’s really good at answering these sort of “is it worth the cost?” aquestions. The whole point is to allocate scarce resources efficiently; the problem is that it assumes nobody is a scumbag and all the costs are accounted for.

    AyyLMAO , (edited )

    deleted_by_author

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  • Aux ,

    You can’t.

    cyclohexane ,

    It isn’t. Most decision makers of capitalism are very unaware of science. You’d know this if you work in research. The ideas that see light of day do so not because they’re good in any quantifiable sense. It is because they convince the capitalists. This can be affected by so many things that aren’t merit or even cost based.

    Some things make sense from a cost perspective, but not a profitability perspective. Profit isn’t just about cost. There’s margins, competition, longevity, etc. Something can be of moderate costs, but if the margins are too low or it is too long term or a project, it is of low value to capitalists.

    DogMuffins ,

    I’m really struggling to understand what you’re getting at here.

    Whether or not a decision maker is aware of science, their products will still be subject to the laws of physics.

    Some things make sense from a cost perspective, but not a profitability perspective.

    For example?

    cyclohexane ,

    To simplify it, when capitalism answers “is it worth the cost?”, it is not answering “is the benefit of this thing to society worth the cost?”. They’re answering “are the profits I would get out of this and the risk worth the cost?”. And profits do not always agree with what’s good for society.

    One example of moderate-to-low cost investments that are of demand in society but not very profitable and hence does not see focus is low-income housing (at least in the US). Housing developments disproportionally target high income or even luxury housing, as the margins on those are far better (but the costs are also much higher). Even nowadays, that this trend has been going on for a while, and luxury housing has really fallen out of demand (which greatly increases the risk), it continues. Luxury housing still looks a better investment to investors, when society does not need more luxury housing. It needs more moderate and low income housing.

    kool_newt ,

    To simplify it, when capitalism answers “is it worth the cost?”, it is not answering “is the benefit of this thing to society worth the cost?”. They’re answering “are the profits I would get out of this and the risk worth the cost?”

    Perfect

    MooseBoys ,

    I think OP is just thinking of “cost” to mean capex. Whereas most real-world cost evaluations consider capex, opex, and opportunity cost, among others. Something having low cost but low margins will usually have a large opportunity cost, which increases the total real cost.

    sxan ,
    @sxan@midwest.social avatar

    The current, dominant form of capitalism isn’t and doesn’t, though. It maximizes short-term profits and ignores all other medium and long-term costs. The efficient allocation of scarce resources doesn’t happen when inefficient allocation yields greater short-term profit. The stock market ensures that high short-term yields with lower total returns will be favored over the inverse. In particular, it emphasizes competition over cooperation, which is more resource wasteful for the gestalt.

    kool_newt ,

    It’s also really good at “externalizing” costs one does not want to factor in – making it worthless for the stated purpose.

    Joker ,

    Where are all the maglev trains in non-capitalist countries? Sooner or later, in any system, someone has to do a cost benefit analysis and decide whether it’s worth it. It’s not just about profitability. There are plenty of situations in the US where something is unprofitable but still funded because the benefit is worth it.

    lol3droflxp ,
    @lol3droflxp@kbin.social avatar

    Dude, without capitalism we’d be living in flying maglev RVs on mars with free robot labour bro

    outstanding_bond ,

    Three of the six currently operating maglevs are in communist china

    howrar ,

    China is very much capitalist and has been for at least three decades now.

    kool_newt ,

    Where are all the maglev trains in non-capitalist countries?

    There aren’t really any non-capitalist countries except maybe like N. Korea, which is not known for deciding things on merit.

    There are plenty of situations in the US where something is unprofitable but still funded because the benefit is worth it.

    I suppose, in some rare cases where there is not heavy lobbying and massive industry resisting it in an effort to preserve their power and wealth.

    chahk ,

    “MVP” stands for “minimum viable product”.

    teawrecks ,

    It’s basically evolution. It’s not that we don’t get the best things, it’s that when something evolves traits that require more energy than they are worth, they inevitably die out. I’m reminded of the film The Man in the White Suit.

    It’d be nice to always have the “best” things, but the “energy” to support them has to come from somewhere.

    apotheotic ,

    But unfortunately the mechanism that is dictating which traits are carried through and which are left to die out, is capitalism. Not just that, but short sighted capitalism.

    I’m not saying maglev is the be all and end all, I’m just saying that this “evolution” is sort of (extremely) fucked.

    teawrecks ,

    True. Similarly, unfortunately the mechanism that is dictating which traits are carried through is natural selection. Maybe this metaverse thing has some benefits after all 😆.

    The way I see it is, if you have a set of entities all acting in their own best interest, the way they engage with each other is called “capitalism”. If a subset of those entities band together to act in the interest of their communal group, the mechanism within the group might be “communism”, but how that group interacts with other entities/groups is still capitalism.

    It’s no coincidence that China, a communist state, is one of the strongest players in the wider capitalist economy. And even if the CCP was 100% benevolent toward everyone, they would still only be able to justify spending that makes sense at the global level. This is why they’ve opted to no longer buy our “recyclables” as raw materials. Sure it would be nice to always recycle stuff, but it was polluting their rivers, costing them more in healthcare.

    At the end of the day, capitalism IS economic natural selection. So I view a government that embraces unchecked capitalism as a government that does nothing.

    I think our best chance is if people to view a maglev train (and the benefits it offers) more like going to the moon: it’s inspirational. It gives people something to look at and say “look how far we’ve come” both figuratively and literally. It’s not impossible to fund, we just need to all value it so much that we’re all willing to divert funds from other places where they probably make more sense, i.e. act in a common interest. But we can’t even do that for healthcare so…

    apotheotic ,

    While I agree and disagree with several parts of your sentiment, asserting that a mechanism fuelled mostly by the 0.1% or 0.01% of its constituents is “natural selection” feels a bit disingenuous. It’s selection, but it doesn’t happen by nature. The driving forces behind a lot of the changes that happen are backed by intent (of the players with the most power), not environmental fitness.

    And calling China a communist state is a disservice to communism, they call themselves communist but its about as apt as trump calling himself a feminist.

    teawrecks ,

    It’s interesting to hear you say it doesn’t happen in nature as though we are outside of nature. It seems pretty clear that the phenomenon that is currently happening does happen naturally. Natural Selection isn’t without local minima/maxima. Rapid environmental changes cause them all the time, and we’ve seen a lot of change in the last 100 years.

    It sounds like you’re conflating wealth inequality with capitalism. Those are two different concepts entirely. Capitalism with appropriate limits can lead to healthy competition, and a self-correcting economy without risk of a misguided government accidentally creating a bubble that then pops and hurts everyone. The government should specifically be there to pop bubbles before they become too big, and if they do get too big, ease the impact to its citizens as it deflates. Without the appropriate limitations in place, often times the best “capitalist” option is to buy government influence and cause exactly these kinds of bubbles to happen, benefit from it, and then step out of the way when it pops. Which is where we regularly find ourselves today. The issue is compounded by people using phrases like “just pick yourself up by your bootstraps” to justify a do-nothing government.

    I agree with you about calling China “communist”, but I was deliberate in my argument. It’s not relevant that China is a totalitarian dictatorship, I was using them as an example of an entity that is decidedly not capitalist internally, but inevitably has to be externally.

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