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Journal by Mojibake Tengu
Breaking local taboo lightheartedly:
SoylentNews May Not Be Shutting Down June 30th
I know, I know, ever mentioning the green site is strictly forbidden, but the comments are worth it.
Some comments even praise technical superiority of SoylentNews over Slashdot.
That's the main reason of this journal post.
I still mourn Kuro5hin though.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
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Power is poison.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 30, @02:41AM (1 child)
Pipedot that is.
https://pipedot.org/pipe/6BWA8 [pipedot.org]
List of links to all the SN articles and journals about the future of SN, recently updated with the /. story link as well.
This is the top of the story queue on Pipedot, found here, https://pipedot.org/pipe/ [pipedot.org]
Discussion of submissions is allowed, there are currently 8 comments.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday June 16, @03:10PM
Okay, so I decided to create an account and try a first post. Nothing bad seemed to happen. So far.
If you eat an entire cake without cutting it, you technically only had one piece.
(Score: 0, Redundant) by khallow on Tuesday May 30, @02:45AM (24 children)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by khallow on Tuesday May 30, @02:46AM (23 children)
I like the people who wish other people would leave.
And then we get more and more demands for people drinkypoo doesn't like to do what drinkypoo wants. And who knows what a "MAGA-type" is, but there don't seem many Trump boosters here. So it's probably just people that drinkypoo disagrees with.
I find it interesting who "wishes" that other people would do what the speaker wants without offering any reason or incentive for doing so. Sounds very MAGA-type to me.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 30, @03:03AM
Shut up, khallow. You're in over your head, again. Do not pontificate about things you do not understand.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 30, @04:23AM (21 children)
If only I had understood the Marxism 30 years ago, I would have seen 30 years sooner that the Libertarianism can only possibly end in khallow.
(Score: 1, Touché) by khallow on Tuesday May 30, @05:22AM (20 children)
I continue to find it interesting how many people find freedom and wealth unpalatable.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by pTamok on Tuesday May 30, @07:11AM (19 children)
Freedom and wealth are fine per se, but I regard a highly skewed income distribution to be a bug in the system. Those benefitting from it tend to think of it as a feature. There's also a point at which turning freedom up to eleven is counter-productive, so I'm in favour of some restrictions on freedom, but working out what they are, and how they should be enforced is a set of problems the human race hasn't come to a generally agreed-upon and practical set of solutions for. I'm not even sure that there are any reasonable candidates. Being kept as pets by a benevolent AI might be one of the better ones.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday May 30, @12:46PM (9 children)
Why? Is everyone trying to run large corporations and being held back by the system? My observation is that there's relatively few people even trying for large amounts of wealth. In that light, there's no reason to expect an income distribution to be anything but highly skewed or that somehow that a low skewed income distribution would be better.
And should we ever get to that point, I'd be fine with that discussion. But when we're talking about the dangers of turning freedom up to 11 when the dial is well below that point, then it's just an Orwellian game of freedom is slavery.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 30, @09:55PM (8 children)
Wow, your world view is so fucked you can't even comprehend the problem. Or you are being dishonest, that seems most likely.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday May 30, @10:11PM
I see you can't even state what the alleged problem is. Perhaps that indicates your worldview is pretty fucked up by khallow standards?
Because that idiotic narrative running in your head is more important than the words I write.
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Wednesday May 31, @10:03PM (6 children)
Oh I think he comprehends, and is being honest. It just isn't important to him.
Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 01, @09:46AM (2 children)
If you understand the concept of price discovery, you understand meritocracy as freedom. If you can't understand these trivial things, you're on the pathway to tyranny.
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Thursday June 01, @09:16PM (1 child)
A meritocracy is really only freedom for those at the top. It becomes tyranny for those who are not. It essentially turns society into a giant game of King of the Mountain, and these days that means money. Hmm, not that different than today...
Meritocracy would not be compatible with the ideal of freedom, unless your version of "freedom" is "freedom for me, not for thee".
Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday June 04, @02:18PM
In reality meritocracy is orthogonal to freedom. You can implement it in ways that increase or decrease freedom. A market-driven approach embedded in a democracy is freedom increasing for multiple reasons. First, because it's oriented around voluntary decisions - trade. Second, because you choose what "top" means for you.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday June 01, @01:10PM (2 children)
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Thursday June 01, @05:57PM (1 child)
The flaw rears it's head when those on the high end leverage that wealth to extract more and more from those on the low end to the point where they are no longer able to satisfy their basics needs for food, shelter, clothing, transportation, etc. Most people are satisfied when their needs are met along with a bit extra for disposable income and rainy day funds. That is not happening with an ever larger group of people unfortunately.
People who don't have enough to live on can end up homeless, or possibly turn to crime as a couple of examples. Both situations have costs associated with them that is detrimental to society in general. As I said, I'm pretty sure you understand the issue. You just don't see it as an issue AKA you just don't care.
Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday June 02, @12:21AM
Can you show any evidence this is a real problem? My take is that the mundane things like brute force are far more likely to result in such one-sided extraction. Wealth tends to pay a lot for what it extracts.
What does that have to do with wealth inequality? My take is that the more equal societies are far more likely to have people living at the edge of starvation - such as pre-agriculture humanity which didn't have many ways to store wealth and thus couldn't manage a large wealth inequality.
You haven't shown that there is a real problem here to care about! My take is that wealth inequality is just a dishonest trick for creating an eternal problem - either for endless grumbling or to rationalize some major societal surgery. Well as they say on the internet, dark humor is like food - not everyone gets it!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 30, @06:10PM (4 children)
> I regard a highly skewed income distribution to be a bug in the system
One from the long list of "not real socialisms" solved that. [oup.com]
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Wednesday May 31, @07:49AM (3 children)
Interesting article, thanks.
I'm not sure if it addresses the point, though. It describes a very skewed system, in which income (food) distribution is highly skewed, both within the gulags, and when comparing the gulags to 'life outside'. The shortage of food within the gulags was deliberate, and the allocation of food was illogical, unless the point was to kill the most productive workers fastest.
Nonetheless, an interesting read, so thanks again for pointing it out.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 01, @01:14AM (2 children)
It was designed to starve non-productive workers and keep productive workers calorie deficient. It wasn't just in gulags that incentive and reward were deliberately perverted into abusive and exploitative slavery. It's simply that gulags were the clearest example of the MO, and that it was deliberate - all of it. [dw.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday June 09, @04:17AM (1 child)
My take that was a combination of factors. First, the leadership wanted a system that would cow everyone and eliminate people (not necessarily troublemakers, random persecution generates a lot of fear) while not being seen as as a straight-forward execution. Second, I think it became a sort of theater where a bunch of nasty people could gratuitously display their zeal to the Communist regime by creating immense suffering. Third, there was some actual value from running slave camps, so there was a push to maximize that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 28, @10:27AM
So, a kind of "SoylentNews", then? Khallow, my poor, poor, khallow.
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Wednesday May 31, @09:59PM (3 children)
I assure you, it is not a bug. Working as intended!
Very much agreed. My litmus test for the limits can be generally defined as "up to the point of violating someone else's rights". The issue with that, of course, is identifying what is a violation and what is not as not everyone will agree about it.
I welcome our benevolent AI overlords... too bad they won't stay benevolent...
Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 01, @09:52AM (2 children)
> I assure you, it is not a bug. Working as intended!
Is it? [wikipedia.org] Are you sure? [spectator.co.uk]
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Thursday June 01, @06:06PM (1 child)
The system is working as intended. Are you trying to tell me that those in power haven't tweaked things to benefit themselves and their wealthy donors at the expense of the poor and middle classes? You need to get out more.
Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 01, @08:31PM
The welfare system originated as a literal eugenicist conspiracy against the poor. Never let an abuser make you codependent, especially not the Government. This is the disagreement, you think the threat is liberal capitalism when socialist elites already killed millions as they intended to. Next time you "get out" be sure to remind people that economic freedom is the opposite of the slavery and oppression instituted by murderous regimes. You're welcome.
(Score: 2, Touché) by pTamok on Tuesday May 30, @06:54AM
Nice to see another Kuro5hin refugee.