alexandertheokay
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User ID: 1163
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
I'm going to answer this question: what are those important things that the news is not mentioning that is relevant to our lives?
I added #header tags to organize my thoughts, and the site CSS went a bit wild with them.
Tribal Migration
Anecdata
I've seen a sudden migration of conservative technology experts away from the DC area to, overwhelmingly, Florida. Companies that are hurting for talent seem totally okay with losing employees with 20 years of experience if they think the root cause is a red tribe thing. My main observation is people are leaving over mandatory vaccinations are being told not to let the door hit them on the way out.
On the flip side, Florida has provided every indication that individuals will not have to get vaccinated and Florida companies are all but openly flouting federal requirements in my field (aerospace/defense.) Keep in mind that the federal government is requiring that all federal contractors get vaccinated, so unless your employer is willing to let you lie about your vaccination status, you are effectively shut out of the aerospace/defense sector.
I know of 5 such migrations and I have visibility into about 150 people. I have some company data, which I cannot share, that indicates many more employees "voluntarily" left during the Covid Pandemic. I'd peg a loose estimate at 3-5%. Keep in mind that aerosapce/defense is a generally conservative field, and most employees will have strong financial positions.
Laws seen on National News that might drive migration
States like California and Texas are passing (or trying to pass) highly partisan laws that I believe are designed to pressure people to move. For California, this would be a series of gun control laws that include the ability to sue people if they sell guns to the wrong person. For Texas, the main example would be their new abortion laws. We could charitably think this is how the legislature and their electorate feel about these issues, but I pessimistically believe that legislators are actively trying to drive migration to solidify their state electoral party alignment.
I believe the extremity of these laws is tactical, not moral
Republican voters I have spoken to have admitted they support criminalization of marijuana only because it discourages migration of Democrats "Like what happened in Colorado." (Colorado is the example I was provided, no further comments on this.)
If Obergefell vs. Hodges is overturned, I feel certain Texas will effectively ban gay marriage even though it has majority support among Republicans. They'll do this because they know it will push primarily Democrat voters to migrate away.
There is a push to add a credit card classification for firearms related purchases. This feels like a first move to implement gun control through the private sector. I fully expect Florida or Texas to mandate that these ISO codes be banned in some way to protect citizens from whatever comes next.
Split States
Meanwhile, in my current state of Virginia, there is a death struggle over gun laws. When the state legislature was unable to reach a compromise, the state delegated certain regulatory authority to local governments across the state. Now there are a patchwork of guidelines defining where you may or may not carry a firearm, and a felony conviction waiting for anyone who gets it wrong. I could charitably suppose that Democrats just want to protect public employees in government buildings, but I find it hard to be charitable when people are prohibited from carrying firearms on the trail systems that connect to DC. These remote trails are the site of many rapes and robberies every year, and they are one of the few places in the greater metropolitan area where I'd actually like to carry a gun. I suspect the extreme stance is partially motivated by a desire to get Republicans to just leave the state already.
Predicted Consequences of Tribal Migration
If the national population starts picking a place to live based on party affiliation, I think that will have the following costs:
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There will be a loss of economic efficiency, as workers will have to be selected by their skills and their strength of political alignment.
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There will be a loss of intellectual diversity, as migrants will enthusiastically join their new community and drive an echo-chamber. This will drive further legislation and further migration. Someone who can tolerate the Florida of today may feel more alienated in ten years.
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There will be an increase in cultural tensions at the federal level. It will be harder to find laws that both California and Texas can agree to.
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Federal politicians will find that their more homogeneous voter base demands ever more partisan laws, which will be even harder to pass at the federal level. If they do pass, it will inspire whiplash when the balance of power shifts and the other tribe undoes all the new laws and imposes their own.
Thinking about this honestly makes me feel a little sick with worry.
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
This is just a guess, but I think it sounds like you are struggling with perfectionism. Words enter your brain, and if they aren't "perfect" (or nearly so) on the first pass, you feel stress and discard them, which results in a feedback loop that leads to writer's block.
Conventional advice I've heard to address this is to just "word vomit" garbage onto the page. Once enough material flows through you, you'll be able to piece it back together into something that's okay.
In my personal experience, alcohol has helped, but I would recommend against that being a long term solution. In addition to being unhealthy, drugs can change the way you think enough to break feedback loops and mental traps.
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
I just started deathworlders. It's fun, easy, and the right amount of thought provoking for my current situation in life.
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
The other users have some great advice.
If you struggle to get into the sports, find an angle that better aligns with your interest. For example, you might find the sports boring, but the after-action statistics can be very interesting.
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
When signing up, I was asked to agree to the rules, but on that page the rules are not visible and there is no link to them. I'd recommend adding a link to the rules on the sign-up page.
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
Is it worth applying to get an account?
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
I just browsed and found the quality of discussion to be disappointing. Is there a subset of the forum you particularly like?
I also recognize that it can be fun to roll in the mud a little. I myself participate in some low quality forums.
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
Mainly that it's fun and easy. I'm reading a chapter before bed every night. I'm currently in a place where I have extremely limited mental energy and time, so I'm not tackling anything demanding at the moment.
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
Some of those comments definitely sell this board. I'll apply.
I really liked this one:
Red cons blue cons, red roads blue roads, red stores blue stores. Red jobs, blue jobs.
The new Dr. Seuss book
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
it does seem like the results I wind up with if I force out the text in unproductive state really are that bad.
This is to be expected. There is a reason I called it "word vomit." Once its all down, you can come back and re-arrange the pieces the next day and it may be a lot easier to get somewhere with it. I've had middling luck with this approach.
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
Internet companies spend billions building systems to hijack your attention. If you want to succeed, you need to re-shape your environment to combat their tactics, because you aren't going to be making purely rational, well thought out decisions on a moment to moment basis.
I occasionally go through phases where I limit my technology use in various ways in order to "reset" what I'm acclimatized to. Here are some things I've found effective.
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Password lock screen on phone AND full information in notifications on lock screen: I can see my messages don't need an immediate reply, and opening my phone to use it is slightly annoying. This means a random email that dings me won't lead to me instinctively opening reddit.
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Uninstalling apps for specific platforms: If I'm trying to take a break from reddit, I'll uninstall the app and only visit the site on my computer. That leads to significantly less use, and when I do use reddit I am more likely to engage with text-based content.
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Read-Logging: I've done this for a few months at a time a few years ago. I logged every article I read with a short summary, from 1 to five sentences. Maybe more if I really liked it. This dramatically improved the value I got back while reducing the skimming I did, but I found it mentally draining.
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Background music: I often take short breaks. If I navigate to a website, that short break has a tendency to become a long one. Instead, I keep background music playing and I try to enjoy the background music during my short break. My work stays on screen and I am much more likely to return to it sooner.
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
The internet has given you much greater access to the kind of socialization you prefer, but at what cost?
Prior to global connectivity, you would have learned the specific communication patterns that were mutually pleasurable between yourself and your family. This should have resulted in deeper emotional ties and a stronger family and community.
Now you spend that same time building social capital on rationalist forums.
I don't think this is a net gain for you or your family.
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
I've been moving in this direction myself and I think its effective. I put deathworlders and some ttrpgs on my phone.
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
The "heat" in the sidebar does not refer to "honest and clear arguments," it refers to arguments designed to provoke strong emotions that overwhelm the cold, rational part of our thinking that should have significant sway over our decision-making.
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
You have generalized one conservative's point of view to "enough conservatives that it would drive their policy if they had political dominance."
I don't think this was true in 2016. I think it is probably true today.
The gentleman's agreements that allow us to have freedom of thought have expired. We're in the hardball stage, and the degree of censorship is likely to only get worse as time wears on.
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
Emotions should reveal your preferences, they shouldn't guide your decision making.
I want to stop feeling angry. Anger would drive me to violence, which is usually irrational. The rational part of me controls my mind and tells me to separate myself from the situation.
what if the entire 'provoking emotion' thing is sort of a misleading way to try to prevent people from 'having conflicts' or caring too much so everyone can be nice and go about their day? And what do we lose by forgetting what causes those 'emotions'?
If you think someone is arguing in bad faith, walk away. There is no point in continuing that conversation.
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
Heat is a general pattern of provoking people. It tries to inflame people so they instinctively fall into old patterns or arrange themselves along tribal lines. It is invariably, deeply emotional.
Decisions and behavior driven by emotions are inherently irrational. There may be a rational argument to support the decision or behavior, but that is an after-the-fact rationalization.
Reason is cold because emotion is hot. They are opposite ends of a spectrum, and that carries through into the culturally accepted metaphor.
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
While I generally agree with the viewpoint that "Fox is an unreliable and untrustworthy source of information," I think any organization that does not reach the same conclusion about CNN or MSNBC is showing an strong selection bias.
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
To pile on: the sin here is deceiving the people being moved. If DeSantis' agents had said "we want to send you to an upscale New York neighborhood as a political stunt, there is probably good work up there" I wouldn't object.
Personally I love the idea of shipping illegal immigrants to blue tribe strongholds, but it has to be done ethically.
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
I have a nit to pick:
Blue tribe needs outgroups. If they wiped out red tribe they would turn inward to continue the conflict.
One of liberalism's great strengths is its relative comfort with endless conflict. The meme of tolerance and metaphorical warfare through the voting system allows that conflict to continue endlessly while allowing the conflicting factions to form a united front against outside threats.
Other systems built around ideological purity require an honest attempt to actually destroy the enemy, and when this is successful a new enemy needs to be found or created.
I think unending conflict may simply be human nature, and stability is learning to manage that conflict in a productive manner.
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
Its an old fashioned prisoner's dilemma.
If all states enforce a ban on illegal migrant labor, labor costs and employment rates go up, which benefits the working class electorate.
If any states continue to allow illegal migrant labor, they get to produce agricultural products so cheaply that the farmers in the other states might as well close up shop.
The solution, as usual, is to have a mob boss in the form of the federal government intervene. But why do that when you can get all the benefits of appearing to be against illegal labor while secretly allowing the farm lobby to keep their illegal labor?
That's my theory anyway.
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
I think we found a few 😅
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
Lemon Demon - The Ultimate Showdown
alexandertheokay
1yr ago
There is no way to report direct messages.
Also is it allowed to have a particularly inflammatory username like "BURN_NIGGERS_RAPE_NIGGERS"? Got a weird DM from him.
Hacker News (specifically news.ycombinator.com, there are multiple "hacker news" sites.)
The overlap with the SSC/Motte community is higher than you'd expect. The community has a higher-than-elementary level understanding of AI, the tech sector, and business, and leans politically center or slightly left for US politics.
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