McAlpine5892 (u/McAlpine5892)

McAlpine5892 commented on America is now one big bet on AI ft.com/content/6cc87bd9-c... · Posted by u/saubeidl

We're in this weird situation where:

1) the average American is heavily dependent on equities in their 401k for retirement,

2) so the stock market has to go up,

3) but the stock market is already at record valuations and it's difficult to see how forecasted growth levels justify the current valuation let alone an increased valuation,

4) without revenue growth, the only way for companies to sustain EPS growth is massive reduction in costs,

5) labor is the primary cost for most companies,

6) in come the AI folks telling CEOs that "AI can replace most of their workforce",

7) and so as the article states, everyone goes all in and "America is one big bet on AI"

That leaves us with only 2 possibilities - AI either replaces a significant part of the workforce or it does not. If it does not, the bubble bursts and the economy crashes. If it does, the economy still crashes because consumer spending is 70% of GDP and if the majority of the population becomes unemployed then spending collapses.

I don't think people have realized the latter (or at least they're deliberately choosing to ignore it). That said, I believe the former is more likely (AI not replacing the majority of the workforce in the near future). Either way, buckle up.

McAlpine5892 · 4 months ago

> 1) the average American is heavily dependent on equities in their 401k for retirement,

> 2) so the stock market has to go up

This is why I've come to despise 401k's replacing old-school pensions. Yes, pensions had their problems but with 401k's workers must fleece themselves to have any sort of retirement opportunity.

Want a shot at retirement? Now we all have to run ourselves into the ground to make number go up. It's insane.

McAlpine5892 commented on Windows 7 marketshare jumps to nearly 10% as Windows 10 support is about to end neowin.net/news/windows-7... · Posted by u/sznio

tux3 · 4 months ago

I know some users held back on the upgrade while Windows 10 still had support, but there's many improvements to privacy & consent in Windows 7 that are worth considering, now that both are about to be equally out of their support window.

It's one of the last versions where the modal dialogs ask "Yes" or "No", instead of "Yes" and "Not now", "Maybe later", or "Ask again tomorrow".

McAlpine5892 · 4 months ago

Makes me think of notices around adult clubs I've seen such as:

"CONSENT: A clear and unambiguous agreement, expressed outwardly through mutually understandable words or actions, to engage in a particular activity. Consent can be withdrawn by either party at any point."

and

"No means No"

What I'm about to say is strongly worded and I understand not a _perfect_ analogy by any means. However, it does sum up my feelings on this issue.

If Person A makes repeated unwanted advances towards Person B, we have words to describe that. But if Person A, a company, makes repeated unwanted advances towards Person B we call that business.

McAlpine5892 commented on Trump Orders US Troops to Portland, Authorizes 'Full Force' bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/mraniki

IAmGraydon · 4 months ago

I think I’m past being curious about the kind of person that makes claims like it’s dangerous for a person with right-leaning political alignment to walk through Portland. What is there to be curious about at this point? We’ve all seen this kind of rhetoric and it’s simply parroted propaganda from their dear leader, as is 90% of his comment history. I respect your right to be diplomatic, but I think more people need to be realistic at this point.

As for the guidelines, this entire thread violates them. Directly from the guidelines:

>Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, or celebrities, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic.

McAlpine5892 · 4 months ago

> I think I’m past being curious about the kind of person that makes claims like it’s dangerous for a person with right-leaning political alignment to walk through Portland

Please, please continue to be curious. I feel you. Every day I find myself throwing in the towel on "those people". I use "us vs. them" language far more than I should. My instincts say to give up.

It's a fight that maybe I'm losing, but if we stop trying to understand then the remaining options on the table are considerably worse.

Just look at Daryl Davis'[0] success in convincing Klansmen to denounce the KKK. The man is an absolute hero and had major cojones for what he did. I truly can't fathom the guts it took for him to do that. I'm white and it would scare me.

Few people are beyond being reached. MAGA is fueled by fear (and anger). We need to dismantle the fear and redirect the anger. Fear leads to brain-rot. Anger can sometimes be justified and a powerful ally when pointed in the right direction. I have no implementation ideas that are worth discussing though.

That being said. Despite the above ramblings, I have given up on some people. And it feels bad. Disconnecting from each other can only escalate further.

All to say, I feel you and I feel your position. But please do your best to not throw in the towel, even though it is so appealing in our current climate.

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[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daryl_Davis

McAlpine5892 commented on Trump Orders US Troops to Portland, Authorizes 'Full Force' bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/mraniki

McAlpine5892 · 4 months ago

> If not, expect lower levels of safety.

Citations.

Have you ever been to Portland or do you just believe Trump? There were few (not many) Trump flags in Portland during the election and I don’t recall a single person being hurt for it.

McAlpine5892 commented on The story of DOGE, as told by federal workers wired.com/story/oral-hist... · Posted by u/rendx

nebula8804 · 5 months ago

Incompetent is the wrong word. They showed excellent strategy and cunningness when derailing Bernie Sanders's campaigns. They have repeatedly shown excellence in strategy when outsiders threatened them. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop when it comes to Mamdani's campaign. What trick will the Democrats pull out of their bag to derail him?

McAlpine5892 · 5 months ago

It’s a bizarre tactic. The DNC plays very dirty with their own members. On the outward public stage they “take the high road” and seem to constantly neuter themselves to prove how much they care.

Democrat voters didn’t turn out this past election cycle. Even in the face of Trump. They’ve truly made their base apathetic. “Hold your nose” is a tough strategy to sell long term.

I will never forget what they did to Sanders. Maybe he would’ve lost anyways. It’s likely. But that whole take the high road thing is only messaging. Internally they function nothing like a democracy.

McAlpine5892 commented on Starbucks: Location closures and elimination of roles about.starbucks.com/press... · Posted by u/ChrisArchitect

andrewmcwatters · 5 months ago

I have noticed for well over a decade or more, perhaps 20 years or longer, really, I'm not sure when it started, but companies are reluctant to call people "employees."

Edit: I'm too young for this, but it's along the lines of Personnel from the '60s becoming Human Resources in the '70s and '80s, and Human Resources from the '90s and '00s now becoming People Operations in the '10s and '20s.

I suspect in the '30s it'll change again. Maybe one day there will be a culture change towards boring and we'll just call people "customers," "employees," and the departments responsible for hiring the "Hiring Department."

And people will get mad about that, too, because the HD will be responsible for the paperwork required to fire people, too.

McAlpine5892 · 5 months ago

This pains me so. Every time I have to hear "individual contributor", "leadership", or "the brand" I die a little inside.

Please just call me an employee or engineer. As for "leadership", I am somewhat convinced that the word "management" would lead to a mid-life crisis. Such inflated egos. As for "the brand", they are my employer.

This Newspeak has benefits though. Mainly that it hides in plain sight the top-down hierarchy of power that exists. Despite that fact that some employees are on food stamps while others make millions, it _sounds_ like everyone is on on somewhat equal footing.

McAlpine5892 commented on Bringing fully autonomous rides to Nashville, in partnership with Lyft waymo.com/blog/2025/09/wa... · Posted by u/ra7

bpodgursky · 5 months ago

Because Americans spend 93 billion hours driving each year and tens of thousands of people literally die each year in car crashes. Unlocking that time and those lives is an unimaginably large quality of life improvement.

McAlpine5892 · 5 months ago

We already have solutions for this called trains, buses, subways, etc. Public transportation. Yes, America is huge but look at China building out high-speed rail at an incredible pace. The amount of money dumped into self-driving could have built out an impressive amount of infrastructure for public transportation.

Not to say this isn’t a worthy problem to solve or that cars have no use. They’re great for rural life. But maybe 80% of the use-case for self-driving cars is pretty much solved by trains. They’re fast, generate no traffic, are very safe, and reduce pollution in urban areas. Even electric cars produce noxious break dust.

Addendum

The “America is too big” argument drives me nuts. (1) Again, look at China. (2) The EU is decently large and connected very well by rail. (3) We’re America. We went to the frickin moon. Defeated the Nazis. Etc. We can build trains. Not to mention what a boost it would be to the economy with all the jobs a project like that would create. Sure, we wouldn’t have an Elon but that’s fine by me.

McAlpine5892 commented on How the restoration of ancient Babylon is drawing tourists back to Iraq theartnewspaper.com/2025/... · Posted by u/leoh

nickpsecurity · 5 months ago

Unlike other religions, it said a lot of things that have come true:

1. Jerusalem would get destroyed with the temple, the Jews scattered, persecuted, then Israel recreated, big exporter of produce, many trees, survives all its enemies, and yet wouldn't be able to rebuild the temple on one piece of land. All came true and it's the only country to ever re-appear like that.

2. Revelation says they will try to build a world government with one currency. They'll financially cut off, or cancel, dissenters. The elites have been repeatedly trying to do that for decades.

3. Society itself would change. People would be godless, apathetic, focus on money/pleasure, disobedient to their parents (family disintegration), violent, etc. People would listen to whoever tickled their ears, or told them what they wanted to hear. Famous preachers would be false teachers, perform fake miracles, and do it for ego and money.

4. Revelation talks of a new Babylon that was a huge, imperialist nation (or religion) that gets most of the world under its influence, is one of the richest in history, and (strangely) exports sexual immorality to other nations. Aside from imperialisma and capitalism, the U.S. exported sexual immorality worldwide through porn industry, Hollywood movies, and funding LGBT promotion. Whatever it is, God destroys the new Babylon likely via the consequences of its own worldviews.

I put more of these up here:

https://gethisword.com/signsofthetimes.html

I'll be glad if Babylon is never raised. It deserved to be destroyed for all the cruel things it did which it never repented of. Over there, they still chase the false religions and practices that tore their country to pieces. If the repent, and turn to Christ, we will see a transformation of the nation like the people of Ninevah saw in Jonah's day.

McAlpine5892 · 5 months ago

> Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Matthew 24:34–35

Of course when the prediction doesn't fit, the Cirque du Soleil level mental gymnastics come out to explain how "this generation" didn't actually mean that.

Meanwhile, scientists predict solar eclipses with 100% accuracy. Among many other physical phenomena. Much of that knowledge was ascertained despite religion relentlessly persecuting those seeking out answers about our universe.

> Unlike other religions, it said a lot of things that have come true...

I can promise you that followers of every religion have made this same claim and also have a list of "proof". They don't look at each other and go "darn, that Christianity keeps getting it right somehow!".

I highly recommend checking out The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan [0]. It is a great way to improve anyone's baloney-detector kit. We all want to understand our world, but some "answers" are pure Grade-A baloney.

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[0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17349.The_Demon_Haunted_...

McAlpine5892 commented on ICE is using fake cell towers to spy on people's phones forbes.com/sites/the-wire... · Posted by u/coloneltcb

anecdatas · 5 months ago

> The noisy people are made out to be conspiracy theorists, even when someone like Chomsky brings all the receipts.

Yes. This is what I was saying: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra

McAlpine5892 · 5 months ago

My bad! Learned a new expression today.

McAlpine5892 commented on ICE is using fake cell towers to spy on people's phones forbes.com/sites/the-wire... · Posted by u/coloneltcb

anecdatas · 5 months ago

The left was a Cassandra the whole time -- it's been nothing but warnings from the left. The Democrats (note: the Dems are not a left party) refused to listen, assuring everyone it was fine, that we just needed to return to norms and decorum. If we just elected the most proper guy, if we just went a little more rightwards in our policies, all this would be fine.

Meanwhile, the left out there pointing at Obama's extrajudicial killings, Bush's whole post 9/11 fiasco, Clinton's "Superpredators" nonsense, etc. etc. and making tons of noise about how this was all going to end.

Turns out, the left was right, the Dems were wrong. But the Dems are still fighting to try and shut down the left. Look at how hard the Dem establishment hates Mamdani.

McAlpine5892 · 5 months ago

> Meanwhile, the left out there pointing at Obama's extrajudicial killings, Bush's whole post 9/11 fiasco, Clinton's "Superpredators" nonsense, etc. etc. and making tons of noise about how this was all going to end.

I had a whole comment written up but, meh. The noisy people are made out to be conspiracy theorists, even when someone like Chomsky brings all the receipts. People want to believe the person they voted for is the "good guy" in a superhero sort of way.

Trump is partly able to do what he does because of these extreme expansion of powers from previous presidents. This is why "but my guy good!!" is among the worst forms of reasoning for justify $bad_thing.