volkris @volkris@qoto.org
I think the most pressing and fundamental problem of the day is that people lack a practically effective means of sorting out questions of fact in the larger world. We can hardly begin to discuss ways of addressing reality if we can't agree what reality even is, after all.
The institutions that have served this role in the past have dropped the ball, so the next best solution is talking to each other, particularly to those who disagree, to sort out conflicting claims.
Unfortunately, far too many actively oppose this, leaving all opposing claims untested. It's very regressive.
So that's my hobby, striving to understanding the arguments of all sides at least because it's interesting to see how mythologies are formed but also because maybe through that process we can all have our beliefs tested.
But if nothing else, social media platforms like this are chances to vent frustrations that on so many issues both sides are obviously wrong ;)
Joined Dec 2022
Gosh these people are so misleading when they overlook the fact that there was this little global pandemic contributing to that number...
Yes, I question how it can be that Republicans want to cut assistance to poor people when they consistently vote to expand it.
That claim just doesn't make sense when compared against congressional voting records.
@alfredo_liberal@universeodon.com
Just because maybe gun laws can be passed doesn't mean they would be effective, though.
Your examples almost disprove your point, as you say laws were already passed and yet gun violence continued to this day.
What's the Jurassic Park line, people so worried about whether they could do something that they didn't stop to think about whether they should? Some gun laws will actually make gun violence worse, so we really need to stop and think about them.
The problem with that argument is that labor prices and the prices of raw inputs to manufacturing have also increased, showing that it really is systemic inflation and not meer greed.
And the theory doesn't really make sense in the first place, as if greed is a new thing that corporations just discovered in the last year or so?
The idea of inflation is that purchasers competing among each other for the same basket of goods end up bidding up the price if they all have more money to spend.
That's exactly what we've been seeing.
It wasn't.
It just goes to show how much people get sucked into all of this overblown drama of the week, and then never really stop to consider that things are being blown way out of proportion before they get sucked into the next overblown drama of the next week.
24-hour news cycles and such.
Well it was more that they were looking into mutating elements of the virus so they would be better candidates to lab test updated vaccines to be more effective against real world outbreaks.
The significance of these hidden camera captures has been way overblown.
@lispi314 @multiverseofbadness
Well to be serious, I think the issue is people who lump all algorithms together except for raw chronological, ignoring for one that chronological is itself and algorithm, and also overlooking that there are some algorithms that are better and some that are worse at meeting any particular user's wants.
I'm just laughing because I see so many people on this platform flat out rejecting the idea of allowing any algorithms at all, like luddites rejecting the idea of any technology at all, seeing it all as negative.
Sounds like we probably agree that user choice in algorithms would probably be a positive thing, even though a lot of people would be really upset about going in that direction.
@lispi314 @multiverseofbadness
It's almost like those algorithms actually did provide value 🙂
I'm half joking, because for everyone around here celebrating that there's no algorithm here other than chronological, the experience really could be improved by having some other options for users.
Right, and firstly, legislators involved have been quoted as saying they intended the permission to be basically for non-circulated collector's items, not actual money,
And second of all, when I point out that legislation can't override the Constitution, you don't actually make any progress by pointing out the legislation that can't override the Constitution.
Keep in mind that we voters are the ones awarding those congresspeople as we actively reelect them, affirmatively going to the polls and saying, "Yes, you did a good job, have another term in office."
We don't just sit back while things happen. They don't get power unless we voters decide to stand up and give it to them.
We must remember our power and not act like we have none.... or we effectively won't.
The different branches of the US government can't trade their constitutional roles by law.
Congress, for example, can't make the Speaker and Majority leader take the place of the Supreme Court just by passing a bill, in contradiction of the Constitution.
For the same reason legislation can't transfer Congress's authority to mint money over to the Executive Branch.
So, while Congress may authorize the minting of (fine) specific platinum coins, it cannot legislatively give unbound minting authority to the Executive.
Such legislation would be invalid under the Constitution that puts that in the hands of Congress.
@LizaBrings @mlanger @DWTSquawk7600
I for one didn't see it.
Nah, it's not just about money and connections in this case.
It's also about popular figures promoting the "We have to help!" line, politicians enjoying the photo ops that come out of it, and the general public agreeing, or at least shrugging and accepting it.
We, as a country, believe we should support those people living on beaches for some reason. So that's the government we get.
We could be hands off, but we'd rather watch that money being spent, at our expense.
The sad thing is that the problem WAS already solved as the political branch of the US government decided, in light of so much analysis, to legally identify Yucca Mountain as the nuclear waste depository.
Unfortunately, the political decision was administratively, and almost certainly illegally, overridden by Obama.
And so we were set back decades and left with a mess on our hands.
Here's @jwz providing a sample comparing reach and engagement with content on #Mastodon / #Fediverse
Sure, a small sample, but it does show surprising levels of engagement vs followers.
( a #QT )
I've seen a few folks saying that despite fewer followers Mastodon has better reach, so I looked up the numbers for my last few posts: twit followe...
Congress, not the Treasury, is assigned the authority "To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;"
For the Treasury to unilaterally coin a platinum coin without authorization would be clearly illegal.
@cautionarytale@mastodon.world @GottaLaff
But this situation was caused by Democrats passing large spending bills without identifying sources for the money they authorized to spend.
If it was a GOP plan all along to hold hostages, then we really need to be holding accountable the Democratic congresspeople who handed them to hostage to hold.
There's no reason for them to have passed spending bills without borrowing authority, but that's how we got put in this position.
Well, often enough we DO effective analysis, but it doesn't matter since at its core a political institution like a government is political. It acts on subjective valuations of officials and subjective valuations of the humans being governed.
Florida is a great example. We know the negative results of continuing those subsidies. The analysis is done. However, we decide to continue those policies anyway because that represents the subjective valuations we make as a country.
Keep in mind the third option: it's not just a question of government supporting the property vs government condemning and demolishing it, but there's also simply having the public treat the property with a hands off approach.
Let the owner develop the land if he wants to, just without public subsidizes to support that private enjoyment.
I think the most pressing and fundamental problem of the day is that people lack a practically effective means of sorting out questions of fact in the larger world. We can hardly begin to discuss ways of addressing reality if we can't agree what reality even is, after all.
The institutions that have served this role in the past have dropped the ball, so the next best solution is talking to each other, particularly to those who disagree, to sort out conflicting claims.
Unfortunately, far too many actively oppose this, leaving all opposing claims untested. It's very regressive.
So that's my hobby, striving to understanding the arguments of all sides at least because it's interesting to see how mythologies are formed but also because maybe through that process we can all have our beliefs tested.
But if nothing else, social media platforms like this are chances to vent frustrations that on so many issues both sides are obviously wrong ;)
Joined Dec 2022
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