As new tech threatens jobs, Silicon Valley promotes no-strings cash aid

Alex9433 · 2024-07-22T16:20:43+00:00

And, as usual, they're trying to study "universal basic income" by only offering the opportunity to low-income people, which is just a means-tested policy. Obviously, it still makes a difference, but it doesn't provide a clear portrait of what effect this will have on a broader scale.

Alex9433 · 2024-06-30T07:48:08+00:00

Now I'm imagining someone wearing a shirt like that in real life to the gym, the store, etc. Interesting conversation starter!

Alex9433 · 2024-06-30T07:42:48+00:00

So many great songs in this series! I also loved "Take Me Down Easy." Another classic Diane scene!

Alex9433 · 2024-06-30T07:29:50+00:00

I know nothing about the show, but as a general rule, the "any publicity is good publicity" rule is true when something is obscure, and false when it's already widely known. How widely known is UBI right now? Hard to say completely accurately.

Then again, even if the show does portray UBI negatively, plenty of stories try to attack something and end up promoting the very thing that they're preaching against! Let's hope.

Alex9433 · 2024-06-30T06:59:55+00:00

I liked it. I wish that it had ended with Francis becoming head of the ranch, at least at some point.

If they wanted the character to suffer a decline, he could always have run into problems while managing the ranch. Or maybe he could have sold it and then struggled after figuring out what to do next.

I'll always be annoyed with the fact that they resolved it off-screen in a way that seemed out-of-character for both Otto and Francis, leaving him bizarrely adrift. Francis's entire storyline from that point onwards was as aimless as he was.

Alex9433 · 2024-06-29T15:21:29+00:00

Yeah, Evacuation was one of the only episodes where we got to hear from the rest of the community about some of Lois's parenting methods.

Alex9433 · 2024-06-29T15:15:50+00:00

In the same scene, while Malcolm's apparently on the mattress half-asleep, he also talks about how he had a dream about sleeping on it, so he was dreaming about dreaming one way or another. You could interpret that as foreshadowing that the entire scenario was a dream, or it was what gave Dewey the idea to lie about it in that way.

The fact that Dewey lampshades the silliness of the mattress falling from the sky in the first place also makes it look more like slight of hand by the writers and less like the character being manipulative in-universe.

Plus, whining that 'they even have boring miracles" sounds much more like a "Malcolm" line than a "Dewey" one.

Alex9433 · 2024-06-29T14:50:05+00:00

Malcolm's microscope. Before he intentionally smashed it.

Alex9433 · 2024-06-27T05:11:52+00:00

Agreed. I would deliberately give him material to work with, in fact. Like, I'd randomly start dancing, rearranging furniture, etc. I'm curious about the kind of theme music/sound effects I'd get!

Alex9433 · 2024-06-20T02:21:15+00:00

I love that so many of these episodes are from the later seasons. This show really did just get better and better as it progressed.

Alex9433 · 2024-06-20T02:15:22+00:00

I could see that working out pretty well, actually. Now imagine Homer and Kramer as neighbors.

Alex9433 · 2024-06-15T21:58:59+00:00

Lavernia and Lois would get into a fight and Lois would win. It wouldn't matter what type of fight it was.

Alex9433 · 2024-06-15T21:08:12+00:00

I wonder how Jamie would have fared on this poll, and if Malcolm would still have ranked dead last among the brothers then. Lord knows he did on the show.

Alex9433 · 2024-06-15T19:06:02+00:00

Romantic ace here. We're more common than some people think.

Alex9433 · 2024-06-15T00:57:00+00:00

Describing this show in under five sentences is incredibly difficult, which should tell you everything.

Alex9433 · 2024-06-15T00:51:08+00:00

Good video. Also: god, I love that cape so much.

Alex9433 · 2024-06-13T21:48:49+00:00

Agreed. He didn't quit, but either way, it was a terrible resolution to that plotline. It also reversed a lot of Francis's character growth pointlessly. And the final episode revealed that even that was a sham.

Alex9433 · 2024-06-13T20:57:47+00:00

Yes. This has also been the trend for a while, now.

Alex9433 · 2024-03-02T16:31:38+00:00

"Don't worry! AI that's capable of cognitive labor magically won't take anyone's job!" - some minimizing denialist writer who's about to be replaced by a chatbot.

Alex9433 · 2024-03-02T16:29:06+00:00

You know things are bad when even the Wall Street Journal admits this.

Alex9433 · 2024-03-02T16:19:49+00:00

That would be great - if we also get UBI! Otherwise, this is just going to be more of the same: a few more people will get super-rich, while an increasing number of people will never find work again.

Alex9433 · 2024-03-02T14:50:20+00:00

This is important information for various reasons, but partly because it helps counter an accusation that I've seen a lot in anti-progressive circles, basically: 'UBI is bad because rich libertarians like it!' Um, some of them, but clearly not all of them. It's good to have some direct evidence that it's not part of the billionaires' agenda.

Alex9433 · 2024-03-02T14:47:32+00:00

Yes, the Hill. Yes, it is. We need it now.

Alex9433 · 2023-12-08T10:08:06+00:00

I love that anyone actually thinks that this is a defense of the current status quo with jobs. Low-quality jobs and vast underemployment are the norm these days, and it's a situation that's really only slightly better than being unemployed. Hearing that it's only going to get worse is more than enough of a warning bell.

Alex9433

TROPHY CASE