tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post5783566644943577186..comments2024-03-19T05:35:07.296-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: The Velocity of Money… and RevolutionDavid Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger110125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-60621637333823858632018-07-04T10:55:30.574-07:002018-07-04T10:55:30.574-07:00@donzelian 5:33PM
Ever read Jane Jacobs’ “Systems...@donzelian 5:33PM<br /><br />Ever read Jane Jacobs’ “Systems of Survival”? It posits a similar (though an either/or rather than 4-part division) recognition that what are appropriate habits of mind for commerce are completely inappropriate for governance – and when the ideals of either “infect” the other, it is a corruption bound to end in disaster …eghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00785993737401518690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-72429315123449470432018-07-01T15:56:56.629-07:002018-07-01T15:56:56.629-07:00Similar details can be found in The Oligarch by Ja...Similar details can be found in The Oligarch by James Sherry, Palgrave, 2017. We recognize the oligarchy, now how do we force investment?<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17373800488124168670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-74830514117651471512018-05-24T11:06:43.425-07:002018-05-24T11:06:43.425-07:00Doctor Brin, please indulge me for this one act of...Doctor Brin, please indulge me for this one act of naked self-promotion. I promise not to make a habit of it.<br /><br />My second novel, "Earth Fall" is now available for purchase at http://www.zeppjamiesonfict... It can be found in hardback, softback, or ebook format.<br />Also available for the time being: the PDF of the first novel, "Ice Fall". It's not absolutely necessary for the reading of Earth Fall, but helpful. And it's available, no purchase necessary.<br /><br />I also have opened up a blog with some of my recent essays. Please feel free to exhibit a grand and glorious disregard for your vascular health and enjoy reading my thoughts!Zepp Jamiesonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16261339498383415026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-39140450419271482512018-05-17T17:33:11.566-07:002018-05-17T17:33:11.566-07:00In the last 23 years I am seeing 4 years of D cont...In the last 23 years I am seeing 4 years of D control and 4 years of split control. What am I getting wrong here?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-28733404657876579862018-05-17T08:53:35.069-07:002018-05-17T08:53:35.069-07:00Have you ever read anything from Mack Reynolds?
h...Have you ever read anything from Mack Reynolds?<br /><br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mack_Reynolds#Alternative_socio-economic_systems<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11946521745147557709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-86846851414214140922018-05-16T18:33:35.636-07:002018-05-16T18:33:35.636-07:00"It’s Congress – Republican for all but two o...<b>"It’s Congress – Republican for all but two of the last 23 years"</b><br /><br />How is this determined? Data that I can find online indicates this is objectively false.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83646473692604053852018-05-16T18:19:14.261-07:002018-05-16T18:19:14.261-07:00Yeah, welll.... onward sure. Just spread word abo...Yeah, welll.... onward sure. Just spread word about this one... and the FACT ACT...<br /><br />onward<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-42984390967971103322018-05-16T16:25:47.427-07:002018-05-16T16:25:47.427-07:00We had the same thing with Temporary Foreign Worke...We had the same thing with Temporary Foreign Workers up here under Harper's neocons. Can't get local workers at a wage you want to pay? Bring in TFWs who can only work for your company or go home, no other option. Got so bad that some mining companies were listing "speaks Mandarin" as a required job skill to guarantee that non of the recent;y-laid-off Canadian miners could apply for the jobs. Fort Mac had TFWs working in Tim Hortons (locals wanted more money, given (a) the relatively large number of better-paying jobs available, and (b) the high cost of food and housing (prices driven up by those better-paying jobs).<br /><br />It's got a bit better under Trudeau, but there's a lot of inertia in the system to overcome. I'd hoped to see more change than has happened.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-89216614165691712432018-05-16T15:28:42.835-07:002018-05-16T15:28:42.835-07:00Hi Larry
re - H-2B workers
Why does "the ma...Hi Larry<br />re - H-2B workers<br /><br />Why does "the market is sacred" - and "you should always pay the market price" go away when it comes to wages?<br /><br />If Eddie can't get workers then he should raise wages until he can get workers <br /><br />"jobs involving hard manual labor that Americans don't want to do" - they would love to do those jobs if they paid enough!<br />They just won't do them for minimum wageduncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-29278284937692982982018-05-16T08:23:14.185-07:002018-05-16T08:23:14.185-07:00Dr Brin is apparently unable to post "Onward!...Dr Brin is apparently unable to post "Onward!" remotely.<br /><br />So onward!<br />LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-21162692340925322752018-05-16T07:30:31.717-07:002018-05-16T07:30:31.717-07:00Gotta take wry amusement at the snark, as gallows ...Gotta take wry amusement at the snark, as gallows humor is all I've got left. Bold emphasis is my own:<br /><br />http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2018/Senate/Maps/May15.html#item-3<br /><br /><i><br />As part of his plan to keep immigrants out of the U.S., Donald Trump has cut the number of H-2B visas. These visas are needed by small businesses that import foreign workers for low-paying jobs involving hard manual labor that Americans don't want to do. Many small businesses need these workers to stay afloat, and the reduction may ruin them. Small business owners who voted for Trump and who depend on the visas are furious. These include landscaping businesses in Kentucky, crab processors in Maryland, shrimp fisherman in Texas, as well as construction companies and farms everywhere.<br /><br />For example, Eddie Devine, who owns a landscaping company and who voted for Trump said: "I feel like I've been tricked by the devil. I feel so stupid." <b>Of course, he is stupid.</b> Trump promised during his campaign to cut off the flow of foreigners into the country, and sure enough, he kept his promise. Only now does Devine realize that his business—and many like it—depend on those foreigners. Devine is even more angry at Trump now because Trump got 144 H-2B workers for his properties since 2016, but Devine can't get any now.<br /></i>LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-20644714440557853382018-05-16T05:34:18.636-07:002018-05-16T05:34:18.636-07:00Duncan Cairncross:
I can't get behind the dri...Duncan Cairncross:<br /><i><br />I can't get behind the drive to impose fiscal responsibility on the government by way of inflexible rules such as a balanced budget amendment<br /><br />That is the LAST thing that I would advise!!<br /></i><br /><br />I didn't mean that to sound as if I was arguing with you. It's just something politicians propose to sound self-righteous without realizing what a terrible idea it actually would be.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-76961728874973078402018-05-15T20:29:30.518-07:002018-05-15T20:29:30.518-07:00Hi Larry Hart
I can't get behind the drive to...Hi Larry Hart<br /><br />I can't get behind the drive to impose fiscal responsibility on the government by way of inflexible rules such as a balanced budget amendment<br /><br />That is the LAST thing that I would advise!!<br /><br />Our previous (National) Government decided to retire some debt by selling 49% of some power companies<br />They sold an asset that was returning 12% to retire debts costing 2%<br />AND they sold it cheap!<br /><br />Our local councils have a "Target" of maintaining the average age (actually the expected lifespan) of all of their assets<br /><br />But it's just a Target - if they don't they do have to answer to their rate-payers <br />duncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-54584266669379632382018-05-15T20:08:29.788-07:002018-05-15T20:08:29.788-07:00Ok, am I being gaslighted here? How can people po...Ok, am I being gaslighted here? How can people possibly hear anything other than "Laurel" from this audio?<br /><br />http://thechive.com/2018/05/15/the-yanny-or-laurel-debate-is-about-to-burn-the-internet-to-the-ground-3-photos/<br /><br />https://twitter.com/theCHIVE/status/996500685104574467LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-14520796612522019622018-05-15T20:04:42.939-07:002018-05-15T20:04:42.939-07:00Is anyone surprised?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018...Is anyone surprised?<br /><br />https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/15/world/asia/north-korea-postpones-talks.html<br /><br /><i><br />North Korea threw President Trump’s planned summit meeting with its leader, Kim Jong-un, into doubt on Tuesday, threatening to call off the landmark encounter to protest a joint military exercise of the United States and South Korea.<br /><br />The warning, delivered early Wednesday in North Korea via its official government news agency, caught Trump administration officials off guard and set off an internal debate over whether Mr. Kim was merely posturing in advance of the meeting in Singapore next month or was erecting a serious new hurdle.<br />...<br /></i><br />LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-67827764038841962222018-05-15T19:55:19.489-07:002018-05-15T19:55:19.489-07:00Alfred Differ:
I've come around to the notion...Alfred Differ:<br /><i><br />I've come around to the notion that authors of short fiction are potent forces of change in a language. They give bite-sized meanings to our short phrases that don't fit in a hierarchical description of lexical elements. That Star Trek TNG episode everyone knows always comes up, of course, but I think it goes much, much wider.<br /></i><br /><br />Until we started referencing "Darmok", I would have been very surprised to learn that anyone other than myself had any particular recollections of that particular episode. I found the final scene genuinely cathartic when the viewer realizes that he can follow the conversation with the alien vessel. But I thought that was just me.<br /><br /><i><br />Hofstadter argues that its analogy all the way down. I think he is right and it's caused me to rethink how physics and mathematics get taught.<br /></i><br /><br />Heh. And I understand what you're saying because I recognize "turtles all the way down." A ridiculous, pseudo-mythological image, but it does convey a meaning that might be hard to describe otherwise. Which leads me to rethink what you previously said about the importance of knowing about discredited theories such as phlogiston.<br /><br />A dictionary really is "turtles all the way down." I remember reading something in high school that suggested that dictionaries definitions are necessarily circular, as every word is defined in terms of other words. The implication was that dictionary definitions are useless in terms of conveying meaning, which sounds logically correct, but is simply false, and self-evidently so. Like proofs that bees can't fly. Or "You need experience to get a job." <br /><br />Once again, "In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice, there <b>is</b>."<br /><br />LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-35595291051314139232018-05-15T19:36:32.108-07:002018-05-15T19:36:32.108-07:00donzelion:
if anyone in one role tries to take on...donzelion:<br /><i><br />if anyone in one role tries to take on the system of another, it will create a cognitive dissonance at best, and impede performance within their function: a mess. Soldiers following or refusing to follow orders based on maximum happiness, or trying to operate a categorical imperative when you must use some soldiers as a 'means' to the end of fulfilling a mission? Doctors maximizing profits? Everything gets screwed up.<br /></i><br /><br />One of those things is not like the other in that we as Americans do seem to expect doctors (like anyone else) to maximize profits.<br /><br />I'd add small-d democratic government offices and journalism to the list of professions whose functions fail when they are forced to work to maximize profit.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-82018843318130390822018-05-15T19:29:47.203-07:002018-05-15T19:29:47.203-07:00Duncan Cairncross:
I used to be strenuously "...Duncan Cairncross:<br /><i><br />I used to be strenuously "agin" public debt - making the children pay! <br /><br />Then I worked for the Local Authority - building expensive long term assets - like water treatment plants<br />Debt made a lot more sense to me then - were were building assets that would be used by the next generation<br /></i><br /><br />I can't get behind the drive to impose fiscal responsibility on the government by way of inflexible rules such as a balanced budget amendment which would have made it Constitutionally impossible to fight WWII.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-48284695502448633672018-05-15T17:42:48.373-07:002018-05-15T17:42:48.373-07:00@LarryHart | but I expect you did it deliberately...@LarryHart | <i> but I expect you did it deliberately</i><br /><br />Very. 8)<br /><br />I've come around to the notion that authors of short fiction are potent forces of change in a language. They give bite-sized meanings to our short phrases that don't fit in a hierarchical description of lexical elements. That Star Trek TNG episode everyone knows always comes up, of course, but I think it goes much, much wider. <br /><br />Hofstadter argues that its analogy all the way down. I think he is right and it's caused me to rethink how physics and mathematics get taught.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-32034229717630462942018-05-15T17:37:41.513-07:002018-05-15T17:37:41.513-07:00Reformed/Larry: Sorry, put that out without linkin...Reformed/Larry: Sorry, put that out without linking back to why I was reviving that old conceit. In health care, we have doctors trying to act like Kantians, in a world often controlled by utilitarians operating through the doctors to extract as much money from the patients as possible. The doctors may do their work admirably, but the system in which they work can go unhinged, so that health is no longer the goal, and profit is instead. <br /><br />Such is American healthcare, and why every other industrialized country moved toward a 'less free' market to try to keep their doctors acting like doctors. <br /><br />Same issues would apply to our military: the second that the 'military industrial complex' becomes about ensuring the maximum profits, a great deal of the professionalism in the military will be abandoned, and instead, we'll discover how easily the soldiers could enrich themselves at the public's expense. Yet show me a single billionaire soldier - that is, a soldier who earned his billions through soldiering: such a person does not exist in America, but quite a few soldiers have done far more and given far more for the country than any billionaire ever will.donzelionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05991849781932619746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-64220177016298813962018-05-15T17:33:15.722-07:002018-05-15T17:33:15.722-07:00Reformed/Larry: It's been quite a few months ...Reformed/Larry: It's been quite a few months since I diverged into my ethical frameworks theory...there are only four complete ethical systems in circulation in Western culture, each of which reflects a crucial and distinct role:<br /><br />We want our soldiers to think like Aristotlian habituated soldiers: following orders, displaying virtues (esp. courage, but all the rest as well).<br />We want our doctors to think like Kantians, doing everything they do with the expectation of what would be properly universalized, never using a person as a means to an end.<br />We want our businessmen to think like Utilitarians, maximizing happiness and minimizing pain for us all (occasionally redefined as 'profits').<br />And we want our scientists to think - much like our priests and prophets - ontologically, peering into the precise meanings of 'what is' and 'is not' to get at what is 'true'<br /><br />Only one of the four key traditions fits neatly into a notion of a 'free market,' and if anyone in one role tries to take on the system of another, it will create a cognitive dissonance at best, and impede performance within their function: a mess. Soldiers following or refusing to follow orders based on maximum happiness, or trying to operate a categorical imperative when you must use some soldiers as a 'means' to the end of fulfilling a mission? Doctors maximizing profits? Everything gets screwed up.<br /><br />donzelionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05991849781932619746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-23519796460047785572018-05-15T16:42:44.875-07:002018-05-15T16:42:44.875-07:00Debt
I used to be strenuously "agin" pu...Debt<br /><br />I used to be strenuously "agin" public debt - making the children pay! <br /><br />Then I worked for the Local Authority - building expensive long term assets - like water treatment plants<br />Debt made a lot more sense to me then - were were building assets that would be used by the next generation <br /><br />It was also a Red Queens Race - the ideal was to keep the average "age" of our infrastructure the same - or even reducing slightly - so we had to run quite fast to stay in the same place<br /><br />duncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-80966135542298268392018-05-15T13:45:40.800-07:002018-05-15T13:45:40.800-07:00Alfred Differ:
I learned to see dictionaries as a...Alfred Differ:<br /><i><br />I learned to see dictionaries as a useful tool for understanding the tips of gigantic icebergs. As guides to language usage, they offer a start to people missing parts of a larger vocabulary, but they become gigantic if one looks even slightly below the water-line.<br /></i><br /><br />I just recently read an article--God knows where now--that talked about how dictionaries often miss a crucial point. The example the author used was the word "band". Look that word up in a dictionary and you'll find dozens of separate definitions, ranging from a thing girls wear in their hair to a musical group to a collection of thieves or brothers or brothers in arms to a rubber thingie used to shoot spitballs (among other uses). But they'll be listed as if each of these is a separate word that only happens to be spelled the same and sound the same. Most likely, the dictionary won't explain what concept of "band-ness" all of these definitions have in common.<br /><br /><i><br />Now I have another. Locumranch’s description of Stormy Daniels as a slumlord fits perfectly.<br /></i><br /><br />I was ready to most strenuously argue with you until I realized just what you are asserting fits perfectly with what. With most anyone else, I'd expect that was simple confusion, but I expect you did it deliberately. :)LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-82004750987673820562018-05-15T13:18:01.146-07:002018-05-15T13:18:01.146-07:00After reading Hofstadter’s “Surfaces & Essence...After reading Hofstadter’s “Surfaces & Essences” book, I learned to see dictionaries as a useful tool for understanding the tips of gigantic icebergs. As guides to language usage, they offer a start to people missing parts of a larger vocabulary, but they become gigantic if one looks even slightly below the water-line.<br /><br />In that book, he points out that ‘words’ are just a start too. Our spoken languages have all sorts of things in them that are similar, but covered in different books. Compounds, idioms, phrases, and even things we build on the fly can be difficult for non-fluent speakers. One example in the English side of the book involved ‘sour’ and ‘grapes’. Anyone who’s been around a while knows that putting them together evokes more than the sum of the parts. One can have a ‘sour grapes’ story if one comes reasonably close to the olde fable. Even if one hasn’t read the fable, a fluent English speaker probably has several story variants in their heads that could be used to ‘explain’ the phrase to a non-fluent speaker.<br /><br />Now I have another. Locumranch’s description of Stormy Daniels as a slumlord fits perfectly.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-89312871105051373172018-05-15T13:06:01.421-07:002018-05-15T13:06:01.421-07:00@reformed tourist | You won’t find me on the sidel...@reformed tourist | You won’t find me on the sidelines jumping up and down demanding balanced budgets. You won’t find me advocating an analogy between the federal budget and the household budget of Fred & Myrtle either. Even the corporations are different.<br /><br />As Larry pointed out, though, I generally DO advocate for proper recognition of private debt instruments as currency. Doing so a couple generations ago would have been insane. We couldn’t manage the exchange rates or aggregate private currencies into trading blocs at the speed needed to keep them at least semi-liquid. We can now, though.<br /><br />Every time I offer to buy lunch for a co-worker on the expectation they will do the same another day, we are creating a kind of currency. It trades over a very short range, of course, but it might expand if another co-worker joins us on another day. We manage these things locally relying mostly on one of the oldest things of value to us; namely our reputations mediated by direct and indirect reciprocity. <br /><br />I advocate these small currency classes because when a lack of trust occurs in the big ones, people naturally turn to the small ones. Balancing budgets CAN be accomplished without rigid amendments, but creditors must have alternative investments before it will happen. Credit supply does more to balance cash flows than any law ever will.<br /><br />Not everyone will issue their own currency, but I don’t see why corporations shouldn’t. The trade value of their paper can help moderate some of the behaviors allowed to them that aren’t tolerated in natural persons. The only reason I don’t jump up and down as a zealot for this is I think we still have a ways to go in educating our foolish neighbors who would offer credit as though they were buying equity. Creditors are supposed to be some of the most hard-nosed people ever to grace the planet. They gain little if a debtor benefits greatly from using their cash and have everything to lose if a debtor goes under. Hard-nosed is just the beginning.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.com