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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: August 12th, 2023

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  • There is no use case for chat boxes. Uber was losing money, but it was driving people to places. Amazon was losing money, but it was delivering books to people. Chat boxes don’t do shit.

    Uber would have failed if their cars just drove in circles. Amazon would have failed if they didn’t deliver anything. There is no real use case for this tech, just like with scam coins or monkey pictures, this is tech searching for a problem to solve.

    The most foundational aspect of business is that you gotta do something to get money. What exactly have these chat boxes produced? Shitty porn and incorrect advice. If that’s the best they’ve got after consuming the entirety of human knowledge and guzzling an ocean of freshwater, this shit ain’t going nowhere.


  • We do this in the US public education system; it’s called Tracking. Although it’s become a little less popular, much of the 20th century had three tracks, Vocational, General, and Academic. We still have the echoes of this system today with stuff like “Auto Academy” or “College Prep” in US highschools that offer students different classes based on what group they are in. Counselors and advisors tell students what kind of track they are suited for based upon test scores and teacher observations and will discourage students from classes they are “unsuited” for.

    Maybe you saw this in your own schooling? A group of students who all had the same classes all day because they were in the “Finance Academy” or something? A friend whose advisor told them Pre-cal was a waste of time for them, despite being interested? It is systemic and points kids towards futures they may be unsatisfied with all because the economy could really use more programmers or pharmacists or whatever right now.


  • I definitely agree that many countries’ approach to education creates mercenary thinking. I’m also saying that the education system presented in this article has that same kind of focus.

    The article mentions Amelie who was told at 10 to join one track and as a result, spent the better part of a decade learning stuff she didn’t want to. I don’t doubt that she learned some stuff she found interesting and some stuff that makes for a well rounded person, but she was told to go looking in a certain direction by adults who judged her aptitude for labor at the age of 10.

    I’m glad the system caught her and she eventually found a field she is interested in, but I would argue that the classification and systemic narrowing of education did Amelie more harm than good. Those textile and blacksmithing classes that Amelie was exposed to are an awesome opportunity for a student interested in those fields, but that really should be up to the student. They should be free to take those kinds of vocational training classes alongside more traditionally academic classes.


  • The president ruined a basketball game with his presence and took a nap during it while there’s a goddamn war going on that he is directly involved with. People are right to care that the president is wasting time like this instead of doing his job. This was an attempt to siphon the glory of a major cultural event, so it’s important to fight back against that and ensure it fails. If it won’t pressure him to do his job, it will at least depress his approval ratings.


  • I don’t think the point of schooling should be to get a job. Children should pursue their interests while recieving an education wide enough to accommodate being trained in whatever field they decide to follow. A lawyer should know a little trigonometry. An engineer should know a little philosophy.

    A job is just something you do to pay the bills. I don’t see any problem with a barista who followed their interests and got a degree in Mesopotamian Culture. It’s only a waste of time if you view education solely as a means to employment.

    In much of the modern capitalist world, education is seen this way, unfortunately. I agree with you that people today are sorted into social classes based solely on how much money they make. It’s how we end up with Business Idiots; people like Elon Musk who are fucking idiots that don’t know how anything works. But since they are really good at making money, they are seen as paragons of society. The construction worker with a degree in Underwater Basket Weaving contributes more to society than any CEO, yet is seen as stupid and worthy of derision for both having a physical labor job and pursuing their interests.


  • This system seems focused on education as a means for employment rather than education. This kind of focus on the material benefits of education results in a very mercenary view of the world. I think most people would agree that it would be beneficial to live in an educated society where everyone is curious and constantly learning, but this kind of tracking and sorting system seems designed to encourage a mentality where the ends justify the means since your future can be heavily influenced by what track you are placed upon. It would be one thing if students could pick their track and shuffle around as their interests change, but telling a kid, “You must get a math job because you are good at math” removes any agency and motivation for learning. It will turn into, “You must get good at math and get placed on the math track because that’s where all the high paying jobs are.” Education becoming a means to an end instead of the goal of school.





  • Capital flight is a myth. Wealthy people do business in liberal cities because that’s where all the talent is. Liberal cities are where all the talent is because those places use taxes to improve the quality of life. Wealthy businesses do not attract talented workers; talented workers atteact wealthy businesses.

    When NY fought against Amazon getting a sweetheart deal to build a warehouse, bootlickers came out of the woodwork to claim it was a great idea. That NY needed to offer Amazon tax breaks and grants because it would create jobs.

    Progressives told Amazon to eat shit. Amazon has continued to beg to be allowed to do business in NY. They are negotiating with the current mayor Mamdani because it’s fuckin NYC, of course they wanna do business there.


  • Mahan is being supported by Silicon Valley tech billionaires. That should disqualify him immediately. He’s a big supporter of AI and wants to put AI into healthcare and education. He talks a lot about building housing, but it’s all public-private partnerships that have historically been free money for developers instead of solving the problem. He talks about addressing homelessness, but he’s moved money away from the solution, which is government affordable housing, and into temporary interim housing, which is a short term bandaid.


  • Yes, a pencil can do a whole bunch of different. things. GenAI cannot do things. It has no purpose. Pencils were made to write stuff. GenAI was made to ???. It is a technology in search of a problem to address. A niche to fill. It has no purpose as it stands, yet it is supposedly the most important thing ever to the point where the rich and wealthy are losing their minds investing into it on the vague hopes that it’ll do something. They’ve even got our government in on it; the US economy is being dangerously propped up by this industry that doesn’t solve any problems or fulfill any purpose. All the things it does are novelties and even then, it does those things poorly and unreliably.