jeroboam
1d ago
My opinion of the European tech industry is also pretty low. Here's an anecdote about Italy. While I was there, I couldn't access ChatGPT without a VPN because it didn't comply with Italian privacy laws.
Meanwhile, because of Italian law, every hotel required that I enter my passport photo, city of birth, and other very personal details into their extremely shittily-designed web portal which I am sure is being hacked regularly. (I did lie when possible)
jeroboam
2d ago
Maybe you're more finely attuned? Please call out the next GPT-created post you see. Because I have only seen a couple - and they were instantly noticed by others as well.
jeroboam
2d ago
I wonder what the Germans do about GDPR. That law seems particularly difficult to comply with.
While I agree with your analysis, I'm having trouble picturing a race-flipped version of this story where the woman isn't portrayed as a modern-day Rosa Parks and the boys aren't charged with a crime.
jeroboam
3d ago
High property taxes on large central city apartments would be one way to drive down wealth inequality, as that is one thing which all wealthy people want that they can't easily hide.
I'd also propose the following for inheritance taxes: The government gets 1 "share" of your inheritance. For example, if you have 1 heir, the government would get half. If you have 2 heirs, the government would get one third. With 10 heirs, they would get 1/11th. Although this proposal would possibly lower overall inheritance taxes, it would also incentive the rapid dissolution of large fortunes. Wealthy families used to have more children than now. This is one factor in increasing wealth inequality.
It's also worth pointing out that ideas to reduce inequality without reducing overall quality of life probably won't work. Wealth inequality almost always goes up except for in times of major disaster (Great Depression, WWII, Communist revolution, etc...).
What definitely doesn't work is high income and business taxes. They merely ensure that the existing elite is not challenged by upstarts, although it might narrow the gap between middle and low. When talking about inequality, it is the 0.1% that is the largest driver of distortions. They need to be challenged directly. Instead what we get is insane taxes and regulation on a small business whose owner makes $500,000/year.
jeroboam
3d ago
Interesting. Might we assume that these positions also come with large apartments in central Paris, personal drivers, and other things that are not counted as "wealth" but act in similar ways? I think I remember hearing about Jacques Chirac hosting over-the-top culinary events at taxpayer expense. But I'm not sure that kind of largess would extend to mere academics and functionaries.
jeroboam
3d ago
Germany's wealth inequality, as opposed to income inequality, is very high.
One thing I've heard about Germany and the Netherlands is that the extractive taxation and regulation makes it very difficult for a middle class person to get rich. So the wealthy are composed of heirs. (Although, to be fair, this doesn't explain why French wealth inequality appears to be low).
If we were to measure generational wealth inequality I'm certain that Germany would look awful compared to more dynamic countries like the U.S. where it's quite easy for a normal person to become moderately wealthy.
jeroboam
3d ago
The media demand for corrupt Republican one party states exceeds the supply.
I'm sure corruption exists, but it's funny to talk about these mild cases when Baltimore and Detroit exist.
Yeah, it looks like the apparent increase in athlete deaths was limited to a short period of time after getting vaccinated. I still don't know if we have a definitive answer to what was going on there. Myocarditis caused by the vaccine seems like a likely explanation. The phenomenon could also be entirely fake.
In any case, the number of people affected was small. And since few young athletes are getting jabs any more, I doubt we'll see another bout of athlete deaths. 🤷♀️
It was still kinda insane to me how hard people were pushing vaccines for kids in 2022.
jeroboam
4d ago
AI really is different though. Unlike other worries such as climate change or killer bees or whatever, it is itself intelligent and can adapt. Humanity no longer has an asymmetrical advantage.
I'm not going to make any specific doomerish predictions here except to say that neither you, nor I, nor EY have any idea what's coming with AI, whereas I can confidently say we will mitigate the worst effects of climate change.
Intelligence really is singular.
jeroboam
4d ago
Why are we talking about German energy without talking about its biggest source of energy: Coal.
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/energy-crisis-fuels-coal-comeback-germany-2022-12-16/
It was coal, not renewables, that came to the rescue in 2022. Of course, Russia should have predicted this. In a pinch, there is approximately infinite coal available for use.
But, yes, good point overall. Most negative predictions fail to take into account human adaptability. Another example: None of the doomish Covid predictions came true either because people voluntarily stayed home when the risk was highest.
jeroboam
4d ago
I don't know what's actually happening, but reasoning about motivations, I'd expect the opposite.
Most people at Google are "woke" but they aren't true believers. In a Muslim society, they'd be religious. In WWII Germany, they'd be Nazis. They just go with the flow and want to advance their own career.
Meanwhile, the 5% (or whatever) of woke true believers make everyone's life miserable. Also, being a litigious bunch, they are hard to fire. Layoffs provide the perfect time to rid oneself of these troublemakers.
On the other hand, there are basically zero outspoken conservative activists at Google. That behavior was already a fireable offense. Any wrongthinkers are either keeping their head down, already gone, or more likely never hired in the first place.
jeroboam
4d ago
I wonder who the market is for these long-form New Yorker and Atlantic articles? You know the ones that start with long rambling sequences like: "Susan Hernandez was enjoying her coffee sitting at the Whistlestop Diner as was her habit on Tuesday."
When I was younger I read this stuff because I felt like I was supposed to. Now I just... don't. It's almost physically painful when the information content to fluff ratio is so low. Does anyone actually read this crap or does it just sit on one's coffee table for a week before heading to the recycling bin?
What Hanania said about books applies double to legacy magazine content:
https://www.richardhanania.com/p/the-case-against-most-books
jeroboam
5d ago
Why not just wait? My plan is to wait 5 years and if there are still no side effects then I'll do it. I also have a BMI of 26 so I'm not a prime candidate.
I am pretty vaccine skeptical, but is there any real evidence that the vaccines did harm (except for not working very well after 2021)? It might still be too early, but it seems like all the stronger anti-vax predictions have fallen flat.
jeroboam
5d ago
Woke politics really is a dream come true for Brahmins in the West.
You get to echo the high-status politics of the ruling class, play the oppression card yourself when appropriate, and still hate and oppress lower Indian castes without anyone really caring.
Did it though? Watch the ad again. It was very racially aware. For example, there was one scene where a white man goes to catcall a white woman, and a black man steps in to say "not cool". Now flip the races of the two men and ask yourself if they would have aired that version.
The ad is living in a racial fantasy land knowing what we do about who actually catcalls in the U.S.
jeroboam
5d ago
Would no. Should yes. This is one way that woke ideologues have planted themselves in nearly every business and institution. PR crisis? Hire some "diversity consultants". Now they have veto power over everything you do unless you want to be called a vile racist. It's super effective!
Obviously this is fantasy land though. Bug Light is not going to hire a conservative culture warrior to run sensitivity trainings.
jeroboam
5d ago
I had the opposite experience as a child when they told me that honey was basically bee spit and I refused to believe it, perhaps the first in many contrarian opinions I've held that didn't pan out.
jeroboam
5d ago
The woke move here would be to demand that Bud Light hire one of its people in some capacity.
If the conservative moment had any real power or leaders (which it doesn't) it could insist that Bud Light hire a conservative culture warrior into its PR team before ending the boycott.
Since that is impossible, the correct move for conservatives here is to just keep boycotting "pour encourager les autres".
Do you think woke urbanites are going to start drinking Bud Light now because of a marketing campaign?
Bud Light's move is absolutely the correct one here. True, they have already revealed themselves to hate their core audience. It's going to take a lot of grovelling to get them back. But that's still easier in the long run than getting wine snobs to start drinking Bud Light.
This might be the point you were making, just spelling it out...
jeroboam
6d ago
Corporatized globalhomo is not distinctly American. It is merely what happens when there is no unifying national identity or purpose. It takes root anywhere there is not something strong to resist it. Which is why it has also colonized Germany, Australia, UK, and Canada (but less so France and much less Japan).
jeroboam
6d ago
I never said it wasn't. You have to read comments in context. The olds in the Conservative party support immigration because of "labor shortage" and to prop up the pension system. Young people support it for reasons of social justice.
jeroboam
6d ago
Culture isn't a glass that can only be emptied. It can be filled as well.
After the U.S. stopped almost all immigration in the 1920s, there was a considerable amount of ethnogenesis and culture building that happened for the next several decades.
If we stopped mass immigration again (still allowing for small amounts of talented immigration) I think we could see a similar result. The America that emerges in 2070 wouldn't be the same as today, but it would be distinctly American as opposed to the corporatized globalhomo we're descending into today.
I was in Istanbul recently and couldn't wait to leave. To me it seemed very crowded, dirty, and hostile. The call to prayer was cool for one day and then extremely annoying. The people seem stressed out and never smile. What did I miss?
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