chaostheory

Whether we like it or not, due to crashing birth rates worldwide; we will need robots to make up for missing adults.

Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as incentivizing people to have children because accounting for socioeconomic changes (like birth control and affordability), it’s highly likely that industrial pollutants like heavy metals and endocrine disruptors like BPA are likely the main culprits when even developing countries are seeing low fertility.

It is very hard to disentangle plastic from our food and drink

I'm not sure what you're trying to convey and how it's even related to my comment.

> China calls its government a State Council, Russia calls theirs a Duma,

Going with your example, the State Council or CCP only exists in name only. Xi, the emperor, is the government now just like Putin is the government for Russia. We might be puppeteered by corporations, but at least it's still a group of people who need consensus vs one flawed, megalomaniacal dictator - at least for now

There's this thing called guerilla warfare that the poorly equipped Vietnamese and Afghans have used successfully against a modern US military at the full height of power. It's not a new concept.

Using it for voting would probably be useful for the blockchain, but then the downside would be the potential loss of privacy.

1. The issue is that most people and organizations do not care about maintenance. Maintenance doesn’t get you the promotion, accolades, or immediate quarterly revenue because great maintenance tends to be invisible.

2. This is exacerbated by the lack of loyalty people have towards their organizations because their orgs don’t value or reward loyalty. That’s because leadership doesnt care about the long term view because of item #1. Hence, everyone is only doing short 1 - 4 year stints in order to get meaningful raises

3. The exceptions in the private sector are businesses that not publicly traded.

4. Even then, very few people care about quality that no one else can see

> He is still in China living with his girlfriend.

The US and China do not have an extradition treaty. ie even if they wanted to do something, they can’t. The same goes for Russia

It was first published in 1994, so it was only off by a few years. I'm just surprised I only heard of the book just now

> At the Grand Entrepôt Dramatique, plays are assembled like manufactured goods. One clerk handles expositions, another denouements, another entrances and exits. There is a clerk for rhyming couplets, a clerk for punch lines, a Department of Puns and a central office of jokes. Art has survived as an assembly line.

While his predictions about technology were way more accurate for the 1960s (his intended target), his predictions about society and culture are prescient for the 2020's with the advent of generative AI

> "With Montaigne and maybe Rabelais it was What Do I Know? In the nineteenth century it was What Does It Matter to Me? And nowadays we say: How Much Does It Earn?"

For me, this also summarizes the introduction of the Internet to the masses, all the way to the present day.

> what troubles me is why 'humor' is the most important thing?

Being able to criticize your government is a fundamental freedom that can help curb things like corruption or change policy direction. Humor is a very direct and blunt form or criticism

As for your examples of democratic countries that are still not so great places, I’m pretty sure they would be even worse without their democratic freedom to criticize their respective governments

That’s supposed to be worse than the government controlling everything like in China?

The 2nd amendment was designed to protect the 1st amendment. As for how, it was supposed to give citizens teeth against their government if it ever turned tyrannical one day. Armed citizens were one of the factors that made the American Revolution successful, which probably why so many Americans hold onto the idea.

The evidence is our humor. We can make fun of our leaders without being thrown into prison or worse unlike say China or North Korea. Try posting a Winnie the Pooh meme in China and see how fast it gets censored.

Yes, ActBlue is one of the worse offenders of spam SMS. I wouldn't be surprised if their aggressive spamming ironically help cripple their candidates.

I expected the Duo to closer to the size of a normal iPad. I didn't realize it was a foldable iPad Mini that's also a phone. imo It's too small for the bulkiness that it adds. Also sacrificing the camera was not worth the fold.