LibertyLizard

LibertyLizard , 15 hours ago

Memes that come with citations? Now that’s how you shitpost.

LibertyLizard , 4 hours ago

Are you referring to something specific here or just venting? I certainly don’t call anyone I disagree with a fascist, but there are many people in the present society who advocate for fascist ideas. What else should we call them?

LibertyLizard , 3 days ago

Was this a case of jury nullification? You love to see it.

LibertyLizard , 4 days ago

I actually like doing customer service in certain respects. The problem is 1: a minority of people are truly awful to service employees and the harm they do often outweighs the larger numbers of kind people, and 2: most organizations don’t do enough to protect their employees from those harmful people.

It’s not customer service itself that is the problem, but the culture and structures that surround it that make it awful. In a better world I think many people might find it fulfilling work.

LibertyLizard , 5 days ago

Do labor shortages even exist? Usually when I hear this claim with respect to the US economy it’s complete bullshit.

LibertyLizard , 4 days ago

I don’t agree. There are tons of people in Florida who would be capable and willing to do manual labor, provides the wages and working conditions were better than alternatives. The ag economy depends on migrant workers because they are more desperate and therefore easier to exploit, which is more profitable.

Also, the orange shortage specifically is more driven by a deadly disease introduced by global trade than any labor shortage.

LibertyLizard , 4 days ago

For example? I don’t know of a single so-called labor shortage that wouldn’t be solved by higher wages or better working conditions.

LibertyLizard , 4 days ago

In most cases this will be easily solved by on-the-job training, but with doctors there is also the added problem of a bureaucracy that has acted deliberately to restrict the supply of doctors, so as to protect the wages and prestige of that profession. That’s not to say that these problems don’t exist, but describing them as labor shortages that can be solved simply by importing more bodies is misleading.

LibertyLizard , 5 days ago

Did you read the abstract? This doesn’t seem to be what they’re saying at all.

LibertyLizard , 4 days ago

But why?

LibertyLizard , 6 days ago

Insider from OpenAI PR department speaks out!

LibertyLizard , 7 days ago

First good thing Musk has ever done?

LibertyLizard , 7 days ago

💩

LibertyLizard , 20 days ago

I guess you don’t have to but then what are you going to do, eat off of dirty dishes?

LibertyLizard , 24 days ago (edited 24 days ago)

I’ve often wondered what the implications of the internet will be for future historians. On the one hand, there is now an enormous body of writings from not just the educated elite as in the past but from all sorts of ordinary people, which is something that has never really existed before.

On the other hand, how and for how long will these writings be retained? If we stop writing things on paper, will these digital writings become completely inaccessible at some point? Could we have a situation where there are almost no writings from a certain period down the road? That would be unfortunate.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

Not just in Bengladesh… I was speaking to an elderly colleague last week who is losing his vision and he was sharing how afraid he is they will take his license. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that if he can’t see, it’s not safe to drive because knowing where he lives, he will otherwise be a prisoner in his own home. There is no alternative way to get around in his neighborhood.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

This concept of free association is interesting to me as I’m not very familiar with it. How does it not devolve into warring gangs of people seeking to undo each other’s work?

For example, a group of builders perceives a need for more housing, so they want to build an apartment building at the edge of town. Another group who gardens there is opposed. Clearly there is a need for some process that mediates between these groups. But if not through consensus or democracy, how is this done? Free association seems great for things that are not controversial, but almost any large project is going to be controversial, and there will be a nearly constant need to resolve such disputes. How to do so efficiently and without hierarchical relations is one of the biggest challenges to anarchy, and I don’t see how free association solves this issue.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

Sure, I’m just wondering what people think about this. The video seems to imply that consensus and particularly majoritarian democracy won’t be necessary but I’m not sold on this.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago)

Yeah I mean there are lots of possible mediation strategies but my experience is that having a formal process of who should be consulted and how disputes get settled does avoid a lot of conflicts and bad feelings. Of course, this does add complexity, places where hierarchies can creep in, and inefficiencies in solving community problems. So there is probably no one perfect system but we may need to experiment with lots of structures to see which has the best balance of features for each specific circumstance.

Maybe I misunderstood but Andrew seems to be indicating that there isn’t a need for formal groups to manage shared resources, and that such groups will naturally arise and disappear based on common interests. But I think there will naturally be factions with different priorities in terms of how common resources should be utilized, just as there are today. Perhaps as you say with a more developed sense of solidarity these problems will lessen but I have a hard time thinking they will disappear.

I am not sure I can envision how this free association concept would work in practice for these controversial issues, but I certainly am interested to see this principle in action on a small scale to find out.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

I think you have a point and a decentralized system will only stay decentralized if it has practices and norms that actively combat the natural development of hierarchies. This is generally what we see in non-hierarchical forager societies which are generally the most successful examples we know of at putting these principles into practice. But at least historically, these societies have not been as successful at combatting hierarchical violence by outsiders. For this reason I think a larger real world anarchistic society cannot necessarily pursue maximum human freedom without considering economic efficiency, organized self-defense, etc. How to develop such institutions and practices without hierarchy is a largely unsolved question, and it may be necessary to learn by trial and error.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

Would love to see resources on conflict resolution from anarchic societies if anyone has them.

My MIL is a community mediator using nonviolent communication which I highly recommend people read up on if they are interested. It’s interesting and useful stuff.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

I would like to do more research on alternative non-profit governance structures. In my experience, non-profit boards seem to be just another mechanism by which the wealthy control decision-making in society. However, I don’t know what kind of structure would be better.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

I think workers coops are definitely better than private ownership but it seems like there should also be some involvement of the broader community being served (or negatively impacted in some cases) in the case of non-profits.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

Source?

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

So you don’t have one then? I’ve seen plenty of research on worker coops, and I’ve never seen any that supports this idea. Without any evidence I’m left to conclude that this is just capitalist apologia.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

Love me some Anark—I did watch this but I don’t remember seeing much detail on how community governance works. Is it in there and I missed it?

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

So anecdotal? Have you worked in a worker’s coop? It’s hard to see how some workers taking advantage of others would be worse than the owner taking advantage of them but if you have seen it maybe you can explain how.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

Ok, this doesn’t seem to be the overall picture in the economic literature but thanks for sharing your experience. Given that, I can see why you hold those views.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

Because they’re fucking annoying?

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

If your city only allows travel to some areas by using these roads, adding a bike lane might be the least bad option with available funds. Some people don’t have any other way to get around, so if this is a safety improvement for cyclists using this road, it could be worth it.

Obviously, a complete road redesign would be better but sometimes it’s not an option politically or financially.

That said, of course citizens should be fighting for better than this. This is awful and unacceptable. I’m just explaining why it might get built.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

I’m not sure honestly. People often bike on sidewalks in situations like this but from what I’ve read this is actually more dangerous because drivers don’t look there. At least in the middle of the road you should be somewhat visible.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

Because it’s the only way to get things done in a divided government?

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago)

Well I don’t know which state you mean but a lot of them are not divided the way then federal government is.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

There is certainly a level of disfunction that it can’t overcome and we may have reached that.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

I think it’s a good method for achieving compromise. If the various factions perceive more benefit than cost, the bill passes. Obviously some bad things get snuck in, but you get good things out of it as well.

Even if your personal calculus is that this bill does more harm then good, I don’t think banning this method is a good idea.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

I could see that being an improvement, although it’s not terribly different from the current system. It might be clearer for the public to understand.

On the other hand, reps would have to explain to their constituents why they voted for the kicking puppies act which people might have trouble grasping.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

What would the purpose of this even be?

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

I don’t really understand why that would be an objective for anyone.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

I have read lots of history but I take your meaning.

Perhaps a better phrasing would be: there is no ethically sound reason to pursue this as an end goal.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

Weird that they aren’t doing anything outside the Bay Area in CA. Seems kind of pointless to do Oakland and SF given how close they are but nowhere else.

I am interested to hear what they have to say and wish their project well but I have heard some troubling things in recent years. I’ve had a hard time finding solid, recent information so if anyone has any, please share.

LibertyLizard , 1 month ago

Yeah I feel your pain but hopefully there will be one. I just think it’s weird to call it a west coast tour and ignore the largest city on the west coast in favor of Bellingham and Olympia.

I’m not incredibly far from Oakland so I might consider going. If anyone here has questions or wants a report back let me know.

LibertyLizard , 2 months ago

and claiming you support anarchism

Did you know there is an entire school of anarchism devoted to nonviolence?

LibertyLizard , 2 months ago

China dipping their toes in some CIA shit. Ominous.

LibertyLizard , 2 months ago

Interesting article—is this person saying that they or their colleagues had the idea for Reddit and they had the founders implement it?

Also, the second half of the article is pretty baffling. What ideas has Steve Huffman brought to the table?

My sense is that Reddit today is mostly the same as it ever was. Sure, there have been some tweaks: it has a sleeker interface, better algorithms, can natively host media now. But those are not really new ideas, just obvious extensions of what the site was used for. All those employees have to find something to work on.

The only thing objectively better about today’s Reddit compared to the past is that having a larger user base allows for more niche communities to exist. Otherwise most of the big changes the company has tried to enforce have been flops or largely neutral.

LibertyLizard , 2 months ago

Why would ditching the electoral college require dismantling state governments? That makes no sense.

LibertyLizard , 2 months ago

But that’s already the case? Swing states get to decide national policy far more than other states. Giving proportional representation would at least ensure that the states with a bigger voice have more citizens. Citizens in small states would still have an equal voice, unlike the current system.

I think universal equality in political power is far more compatible with federalism than the current system.

LibertyLizard , 2 months ago

Not very surprising. I have no idea why their user base hasn’t left yet.

LibertyLizard , 2 months ago

Open to that discussion but doxxing can be dangerous for some people more than others. Overall I see more downside than upside on large platforms. If it is allowed, I would expect more innocents/good people to be harmed than neonazis. And as we can see here, there are plenty of other spaces for this type of information to be shared.

Of course, since Elon Musk decides their policies and we don’t, it’s a bit of a moot point.