knuththetruth (u/knuththetruth)

knuththetruth commented on More Americans report near-constant cannabis use theatlantic.com/health/ar... · Posted by u/TheBeardKing

mjevans · 8 years ago

Exactly that. I strongly believe that those who /do/ use drugs like this are self-medicating to escape the seemingly/maybe actually intractable social issues for which there is no single easy answer or method of escape.

Compared to /trying/ to get a good job somewhere and trying to find housing that isn't outrageously over-priced and trying to more or less win the lottery game that is presently life in western society... it's so much easier to "treat" the issue with a "magic pill"/bottle (or other form of ingesting the drugs).

I strongly feel that if this particular drug weren't an option they'd drink alcohol or smoke...

knuththetruth · 8 years ago

>presently life in western society

Let’s be clear, this “kill the poor” precarity is mostly an American problem (maybe to a lesser extent in the UK and Canada). There are huge swathes of western society (i.e. European social democracies) that don’t fall prey to this insane ideology.

knuththetruth commented on Amazon's electricity rate discounts have pushed up utility costs bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/petethomas

frockington · 8 years ago

What about America as a culture, economy or military is unexceptional. People all over the world wear blue jeans, trade on the NYSE, have iPhones and Androids and are protected by the United States. I don't think American Exceptionalism is not legitimate. Some countries may have more welfare but I don't think anyone in America is trying to claim otherwise

knuththetruth · 8 years ago

>Some countries may have more welfare but I don't think anyone in America is trying to claim otherwise

Actually, this is the party line of the right-wing in the US. It's not more, it's less, because...freedom?

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic...

knuththetruth commented on Uber’s Vision of Self-Driving Cars Begins to Blur nytimes.com/2018/08/19/te... · Posted by u/plasticchris

adrianN · 8 years ago

It worked pretty well for the Manhattan Project and the Apollo missions. I think that you're romanticizing technological progress a bit if you don't believe that more money (often) leads to more progress.

knuththetruth · 8 years ago

It only works when you're talking massive, government-backed support for basic scientific and technological research. The tech industry likes to lean on this narrative, but the reality is they just exploit the gains of basic research and are probably reaching the limit of what can be drawn from the last time this happened (i.e. when governments created the internet). This is why you see tech shifting into so much rent-seeking nonsense and bizarre financialization strategies that mirror Wall St/the banking industry. They're scraping the bottom of the government-financed research well and don't have much actual ability to create fundamental technological innovation themselves.

The good news is all we have to do is shift back to massive government investments in basic research to course correct and compete with entities like China(who seem to have a clearer picture of how Capitalism actually works in practice).

knuththetruth commented on Amazon's electricity rate discounts have pushed up utility costs bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/petethomas

some_account · 8 years ago

I'm from sweden, we don't have Amazon here and also our laws would not allow them to treat people badly. :)

knuththetruth · 8 years ago

Well, then wish Swedish-style social democracy for us all, but maybe where the Marxists get to win out in the 70s.

knuththetruth commented on Amazon's electricity rate discounts have pushed up utility costs bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/petethomas

donkeyd · 8 years ago

I can't say that I fully agree with that. The Amazon store and AWS have made a lot of stuff possible that otherwise might not have been possible. AWS for example gives out free services to startups, some of which might have major impact on many lives.

Sure, I'm playing the devil's advocate here, but in the end it's also really hard to define what is 'good spending' on tax dollars. For all we know, Amazon venturing into health care will end up being a great substitute for socialized health care. It could become Bezos' ultimate philanthropy. It could also be what gives him super villain-like power over the US.

knuththetruth · 8 years ago

>Sure, I'm playing the devil's advocate here, but in the end it's also really hard to define what is 'good spending' on tax dollars.

Most social services in developed European countries that allow people to be better off and not squeezed and abused by companies like Amazon? Healthcare, transportation, public housing, higher education? Literally almost anything besides what is spent on the USA’s unwinnable, forever wars?

It’s not hard as soon as you set aside American Exceptionalism as having any legitimacy.

knuththetruth commented on Amazon's electricity rate discounts have pushed up utility costs bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/petethomas

maym86 · 8 years ago

I'm not suprised. This is what they do. When you think about it a lot of Amazon's business is partially subsidized by the tax payer. They pay less for the roads the drive on, they get huge tax breaks to open new wearhouses and headquarters and their workers' low wages are subsidized by welfare. The great deal you get and their ability to kill their competition is partially paid for by your taxes.

http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-not-paying-taxes-trump...

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2018/may...

knuththetruth · 8 years ago

I think one of few good outcomes of monopolistic tech companies, like Amazon, is the degree to which they expose the lie that is American free market Capitalist ideology. There’s never been anything other than highly-subsidized State Capitalism and it’s outcome is massive, private command economies in the form of corporate dictatorships. These dictatorships then seek to assume the power of the state so as to achieve a monopoly on subsidization, while at the same starving the ability of the state to subsidize others and provide a challenge to their control.

knuththetruth commented on What happens when a Pacific island upsets China reuters.com/article/us-pa... · Posted by u/tomohawk

altcognito · 8 years ago

The US claimed Cuba as a part of its territory?

knuththetruth · 8 years ago

More or less, actually:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish%E2%80%93American_War

EDIT: Sorry about...history, I guess?

knuththetruth commented on What happens when a Pacific island upsets China reuters.com/article/us-pa... · Posted by u/tomohawk

coldtea · 8 years ago

>I am a Taiwanese millienial and I am deeply offended by this comment. Why would you say that the claim is understandable? ? Taiwan has been an independent democratic country with its own military, economy, culture, government, rules of law, and international relations for over 50 years.

Doesn't this answer your own question? 50 years are nothing in historical terms.

knuththetruth · 8 years ago

The British tried a similar narrative with the War of 1812, and we in America are still alive and kicking. I hope the same for Taiwan and their independence.

knuththetruth commented on What happens when a Pacific island upsets China reuters.com/article/us-pa... · Posted by u/tomohawk

ericjang · 8 years ago

Hypothetically speaking, if one is opposed to some or all aspects of the "One China" doctrine, what can one do locally/globally to effect change? Or is the annexation of Taiwan a near-certainty via the forces of economics?

knuththetruth · 8 years ago

Be critical and unsupportive of American businesses that work with the CCP. Cite explicitly their human rights record and policy on Taiwan. Don't swallow narratives about the vaguely positive outcomes that could come from collaboration with the regime, nor unquestioningly embrace ideologies that requires expansion into the mainland as a moral or logical necessity.