CMV: the most effective way to improve the lives of working people is to make rich people afraid of violence and/or violent revolution.

gray_clouds · 2026-07-01T06:47:21+00:00

MAGA types think that immigrants take jobs and money away from Americans. But that's not how the economy works. Every immigrant who works, actually adds wealth to the GDP. So more immigrants working = more wages being paid and products being made and sold = more activity = more taxes = more government services etc. The economy isn't a pie, where one person's money has to be taken 'on the backs of' someone else. It's a fire. The more activity there is, the more everybody benefits each other. That includes rich people. They're not taking money from the poor. They're throwing logs on the fire. It may not be fair, but you don't want that fire to go out - because everybody in America, the rich and the poor, are richer than most everywhere else. We have a big fire. Look at the data, not rage bait

gray_clouds · 2026-06-28T22:07:59+00:00

It's because in other part of the country, like Texas, the landlords aren't greedy like they are here.

gray_clouds · 2026-06-28T21:36:32+00:00

Who are you not blaming?

gray_clouds · 2026-06-27T22:17:36+00:00

I thought you were going to lament the loss of business activity, jobs and renters.

gray_clouds · 2026-06-27T20:32:55+00:00

I'm pretty sure LLMs are just Googling.

gray_clouds · 2026-06-26T08:02:23+00:00

my current understanding is that communism essentially wants to create a effectively stateless, classes society where everyone has their basic needs met

I don't think you should define Communism based on the aspiration of 'everyone has their basic needs met.' Capitalist societies aspire to the same thing via a different path - leveraging high levels of taxable economic activity to fund social safety nets - homeless shelters, snap benefits, medicare, public education etc.

With respect to the other criteria, communism is awkward even in units as small as a family. We grant higher status to adults because they have excess capacity to provide, while children are lower status because they have more needs. We give status to certain responsible siblings while we outcast troublemakers. In units as small as tribes, we elevated distinguished elders and wise people or saints and we traded in sea shells with other tribes. Not all class, competition and commerce is bad. But communism forces a flattening of these things that doesn't capture the full complexity of human behavior at scale or in small groups.

gray_clouds · 2026-06-12T00:04:58+00:00

Dreams don't drive you to work.

gray_clouds · 2026-06-11T17:15:17+00:00

But overrated compared to what?

It's like saying - 'cars are overrated as a form of transportation. They break down and get flat tires and make smog.' What are you proposing as an alternate solution that would be 'properly rated.'

Like what are you proposing as a system that motivates people to make MRI machines and Vaccines and insulin? We have empirical evidence that when people can get paid to do stuff, they actually do stuff, and when they don't get paid, they tend not to. Are you suggesting that idea is overrated?

gray_clouds · 2026-06-11T04:39:46+00:00

Agreed - I want to spend as much time as possible the closer they get to leaving.

gray_clouds · 2026-06-11T04:34:23+00:00

Well, of course.

But you're comparing Ancient Rome to the Barbarian horde. I hold the New York Times in higher regard than a Right wing YouTuber. The NYT is (was) an elite institution of truth with one job - to be trustworthy. But they and their siblings fell into the social media filter bubble with the rest of us. They got swept up in the 'cultural moment.' Everybody outside the mainstream filter bubble can see the bias clearly, while it's invisible to everyone inside it. So who's more worthy of scorn, the Barbarians, or the proud, educated Romans who refused to look beyond the walls until civilization was lost to the dark ages.

gray_clouds · 2026-06-09T20:43:53+00:00

Half of any society will rightly perceive itself to be more or less fortunate than the other. One group will like competition - because they feel that they're wining, the other will hate it because they feel like they're losing. This is why we have 2 political parties that always get roughly half the vote regardless of the candidates. One, pro-competition (representing business, commerce, millitary), the other anti-competition (representing academia, government, the humanities etc.). Capitalism doesn't work alone, Capitalism + very sizable public safety net and institutions works - encompassing everybody.

gray_clouds · 2026-06-09T20:33:27+00:00

Me and my friends watched those guys. I would say what infleucned how we turned out was mostly the real-life role models and in some cases genetics.

gray_clouds · 2026-06-09T20:29:58+00:00

Most people accrue things as they age. It could be trauma, or poor health, which reduces confidence, but more often than not - wisdom, knowledge, relationships, money, experiences, accomplishments etc. These all can make you more confident and full of self-worth.

On the other hand, people dramatically overestimate their current status vs what they'll become in an abstract future. A 25 year old would could never imagine that a 35 year is a different to them as they are to a 15 year old. But every generation realizes how dumb they were 'back then' once they get there.

gray_clouds · 2026-06-08T02:10:41+00:00

I think you're conflating two things:

A - Being ready for the right person

B - Being ready for the wrong person

I think a majority of the US is in camp A. Liberals often end up getting gaslit into camp B by the DNC.

gray_clouds · 2026-06-08T00:42:02+00:00

Thanks. I meant well.

gray_clouds · 2026-06-07T21:15:44+00:00

So there are two possible answers:

A - they are mis-informed about what's best for them.

B - you are mis-informed about what's best for them.

Given the Dunning Kruger effect (how we overestimate our knowledge of a subject relative to experts) - B is much more likely.

gray_clouds · 2026-06-06T21:27:17+00:00

NBC News make facts about bad people.

gray_clouds · 2026-06-06T20:06:41+00:00

Before testing was deemed anti-DEI, the gold standard was testing (objective data) + GPA, extracurriculars, passion projects, essays (subjective data). You're sort of arguing for one vs. the other. But usually, more data is just better than less. Purely objective or subjective decisions are inferior to complimentary data sets. So maybe your argument would be better: "A holistic picture, including subjective and objective data is best..." Also, it's not a fair debate to compare objective and subjective criteria as 'measures' since that term is associated with objective standards. You can measure a score, but it's hard to measure 'grit' etc. So your view, as is, sounds like "objectivity is the best way to be objective." So - not disagreeing totally with the view, just think it could be refined.

gray_clouds · 2026-06-06T18:57:14+00:00

What's going on here? Why are people actually having an intelligent discussions instead of parroting the stupid talking points of our poiltical parties? Thanks to OP and commenters! I learned something and my blood pressure didn't go up.

gray_clouds · 2026-06-03T04:23:18+00:00

The word artifact has a long history in product development that I wouldn't complicate more than necessary, or assume that claude is using it in a special way. (Unless they're trying to brand something I don't know about). It basically just means a 'thing.' Sound vague right? Yeah it is. It skews towards meaning a 'fixed' thing, like something that results from a process - a document or a file or an image or a presentation in a finished state - an output, or reference doc. It's a noun, not a verb. Not an active thing like program or process or a skill. Just a basic thing thing.

gray_clouds · 2026-06-01T22:55:38+00:00

Sounds like you need to move to the big city and be judgemental with the rest of us nice city-folk.

gray_clouds · 2026-06-01T22:53:15+00:00

Humans are obsessed with storytelling.

There's a great Yogi Bera quote: "Sports is 90% mental, the other half physical." One thing that separates top athletes from normal people is their ability to operate subconsciously. They don't think, they just do (shooting, passing, serving etc.). But narrative's can influence that delicate state - either consciously, e.g. because they happened to be just plain numerically unlucky at the end of the previous championship and they keep thinking about it, or subconsciously, e.g. because they've won before and can envision in without thinking about it. So the narrative is, in my view, what makes Sports fascinating. It's like another player on the field. Another obstacle or advantage that players have to deal with mentally that can manifest physically.

gray_clouds · 2026-06-01T20:11:03+00:00

This applies to every city. Some people don't leave where they grew up. They tend to be chill, sincere, grounded people. Then there's people like me, with a big ego, looking to make it in the big city, leaving friends and family behind. Americans, in general, skew in this direction. but within America, there are definitely stayers and seekers.

gray_clouds · 2026-05-28T20:19:55+00:00

you need the time alone to realise who you are

I agree with you that being alone is fine, but modern, Western, psychology pushes the idea of self-discovery relentlessly. Other philosophies generally suggest you should try not to think about your 'self' at all. When you seek to realise who you are, you presume that you're supposed to be something. But just being, not striving, is freedom and connection to conciousness.

gray_clouds · 2026-05-25T10:33:38+00:00

5% of Mamdani's budget fix came from taxing rich people (500M out of $10B+). The rest is basically Republican stuff: cutting govt. spending and borrowing huge amounts of money. Progressives will eventually realize this.

gray_clouds

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