Erik Haugen @ech@qoto.org

@jimray It's sort of baked in that individual efforts like reducing consumption don't work to help climate change. I mean, you should turn off the lights or whatever and buy less anyway, for other reasons. But don't kid yourself: it just makes the power you didn't use cheaper for someone else to use.

@LouisIngenthron @freemo I feel like "leftist" refers to someone on the left who is skeptical of liberalism, e.g. communists or someone overcome by identity/oppression politics (I'll call them CSJ here).

I'm sure it's one of those "ask 100 people you'll get 100 different answers" kind of thing.

@dangillmor ok but I feel like if Trump was trying to install corrupt judges who would do things like help him win cases or elections, he didn't do a very good job.

@largo @randahl Yeah, this is kind of Trump's point, too, I think. For all his other failings I think he's sort of on to something here.

I don't know if Europe needs a federation for coordinating military action. Countries at war seem historically to be able to solve that problem without too much trouble.

@mok0 @randahl I like this "let Mærsk pay for their own protection" sentiment; it is unfortunately outside the Overton window.

@Geoffberner @tess Yes, the kind of "colonization" which means "an adequate supply of housing'. 😂

@Geoffberner @tess RWNJ ancappy-techbro here: You're right Geoff, but I absolutely love this entire thing anyway:
* Absolute smack-down of the performative progressive "glorified park rangers" trash I grew up with. I wish I could have written this brilliant excoriation of that canard. A++.
* More housing! We have more people, we need more housing! This probably isn't the best way to stick it to nimby/statist/incompetent/corrupt city planners generally, but I'll take what I can get.
* One man's "real estate hustle that runs Vancouver" is another's "effective builder of housing where it's needed". I'm sure there are real problems there, but still.
* Be careful you aren't being patronizing. Could it possibly be they actually know what they're doing?
* The mockups look pretty nice to me. 😍

@largo @randahl I suspect if they spent more than 2% GDP on defense they wouldn't even need to federalize to get independence from US. I think one thing we've learned in the last couple years is Europe can easily keep Russia in check if they get their act together.

No need to maintain this dependence on the US. US electorate increasingly seems to also not want them to do this. win win.

@mok0 @randahl Or any cult in the US. Wouldn't it be great if a coalition of sane European countries could protect themselves without US' help?

I think they can easily do it if they have the political will. Why look to the US to foot the bill here? Poland is properly motivated, of course; wouldn't Germany like to see Poland remain strong and independent of Russia? Maybe they should, you know, do a bit more about that to help them?

Same with the Houthis: their Suez-route blockade actually helps US industry. Why is the US taking the lead? One reason, perhaps, is to burnish our credentials as the world's police. But US electorate seems to more and more not want that role: does Europe want us to have that role? China?

I mean, don't get me wrong, I believe these are righteous causes, I'm just not sure why we're the ones paying for them while Europe continues to spend <2% GDP on defense.

You want to stop fascism? <2% maybe isn't the way to do that.

@textualdeviance @DrOinFLA@lounge.town That doesn't seem relevant. You have the same problem with the same solutions in private school.

@argv_minus_one@mstdn.party @enobacon "40 minutes of biking per day isn't going to do much good for your health if you spend the rest of the day in a chair." I'm pretty sure this is totally false.

I mean, I think I agree with everything else you're saying here, don't get me wrong.

@baldur OK but what do you mean by "financial advice"? Like, the bulk of the "investment advisor" industry is absolutely clobbered by simple computer programs, and this has been true for many years, long before LLMs. (wealthfront is an example of this, there are others).

I mean, your point remains, I'm just saying.

With that said, though, I think there are some industries on the cusp of being seriously disrupted, labor-wise. For example, I'm a computer programmer, and while LLMs are nowhere near being able to do my job I could see myself getting several times more productive as the fussy parts of my job are automated. This either means a lot more software or a lot fewer programmers. (Probably both)

@EugeneTeplitsky @webology Yeah, it seems useful for filling in boilerplate or recalling idioms, which seems like it could make us quite a bit more productive. But anything interesting it writes is going to need a fine-tooth comb, for sure.

I wonder where this 4–5x thing comes from? It's like 1000x faster for things it *can* do, which isn't much.

@GreenSkyOverMe @mattjhodgkinson WWF jumped the shark long ago. Just look at the .wwf file format, lies about nuclear power, etc, etc. Worthless trash.

@PJ_Evans @NorbertAir @CindyWeinstein of course not, but he has the same problems OP outlines. (As a practical matter none of this really matters much, I think.)

@rbreich It's "letting you keep your money" vs. "take someone else's money and give it to not to the poorest but to ... people who went to college". Indeed, funny.

I don't know; I think almost everything anyone wants to do in politics, even things I disagree with, make a lot more sense than what Biden is doing here. It's hard to find a coherent reason for this other than a sop to the base.

(I know, I know, income is considered, but still.)

Student loans should absolutely be dischargeable in bankruptcy, though; that would have been a good change to help in this area, righting a huge wrong, instead of this nonsense.

@dangillmor "The law that has prohibited abortions in Texas since Roe v. Wade was overturned now explicitly allows doctors to treat ectopic pregnancies." ~nobody wants to ban treatment of ectopic pregnancies.

@flamingofire@freeatlantis.com @freemo oh is this the vaccine thing

@freemo Having had experience in large organizations, it feels like you have a lot of confidence that certain things happen when they just don't. In engineering, we have tons of low-level company-wide procedures that I wouldn't imagine Sundar knows anything about, for example. You think someone like that reviews everything we do? I can tell you they do not.

In this particular example, I can see some mid-managers moving around between his companies and copying processes. I can easily see this kind of low-level detail, especially one you wanted to keep quiet, from being discussed in meetings with more sr. management. Probably happens all the time.

I do have a bias toward not assuming someone is racist without decent evidence, I guess; like I said #rorschachtest

What's the other mountain? I just claimed it was a mountain of trash with some evidence, do you have any other exceptions in mind? (you said earlier to someone else you weren't interested in this argument, so understood if you'd rather not.)

@freemo @mk @davidhmccoy @lowqualityfacts Oh so that's it? ok, well, I addressed that already; I guess agree to disagree #rorschachtest