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> It's all a lost cause in my opinion. The People are corrupt and the Government is certainly corrupt. What can we do now? We just have to wait for the inevitab

by daeken 16y ago

> It's all a lost cause in my opinion. The People are corrupt and the Government is certainly corrupt. What can we do now? We just have to wait for the inevitable implosion. You know, you're probably right. In all likelihood, it's going to get much worse before it gets any better. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't strive to make it better. We may fail, but at least we tried.

cookiecaper 16y ago
I agree that it's worth preaching an informed and intelligent political platform to those who are willing to receive it, and I agree that at least tokens of attempt are useful. I just think the expectation that things will change when our people are so hypnotized and over-exertion of energy to try to bring about sensible policy in these circumstances are futile. Call me a cynic, I guess.
Estragon 16y ago
We may fail, but at least we tried. That's the main thing, isn't it? </sarcasm>
- AndyKelley 16y ago
  I don't appreciate this type of humor, but Estragon is correct. A programmer, especially of the startup nature, should know this fact all too well: In the real world it's not about how hard you tried, it's about results. Work smarter, not harder.
  - daeken 16y ago
    It's not the fact that you tried that's important. It's that if you try, you have at least some chance of success; if you don't try, then failure is implied.
    - loltar 16y ago
      This is only true if you try at the right things. Your goal appears to be an effort to demonetize content creation, thus disincentivizing the creation of valuable, interesting content. Your secondary goal appears to be making it easier for people who violate laws to get away with it without penalty, thus incentivizing lazy, value-stealing, criminal activity. Your goals are horrible. I'm just glad that you're horrible at pursuing them.
  - cookiecaper 16y ago
    Not everything works that way. Some things require cooperation from more than a handful of people. You can launch a company and become very rich and successful even if only an infantesimal amount of people out there buy your product. You can't really change the political direction of a country, especially a large country like the US, without the cooperation and buy-in of a lot of people. It's not going to happen. I say that with some surety based on dogma, but I think it's also evident from an intellectual perspective that the likelihood for a rebound to good political and general philosophy is not high. Our people bear the tell-tale signs of a decaying society; the arrogance, the skewed sense of invulnerability, the ignorance and decadence that characterize civilizations on the brink of collapse. Our political landscape is becoming increasingly polarized and dangerous seeds of antagonism and hatred against the "other side" are being sown for political, personal, and commercial gain, and the people are devouring and internalizing this rhetoric nearly as quickly as it can be fed to them. I think it will be not many years hence that we start to see skirmishes, attacks, and other domestic disturbances that grow out of these movements, and I believe that it will only escalate from there.
loltar 16y ago
Personally, I think the world is worse, not better, when assholes are free to wrap ads/subscriptions around somebody else's content, stream it for a profit, and not pay the royalties. As such, I view you as fighting to make my world worse... as you appear to be fighting to allow people to steal value, rather than giving the rewards to people who create the value in the first place. Please stop your childish, misguided fight.

by daeken 16y ago

cookiecaper 16y ago

I agree that it's worth preaching an informed and intelligent political platform to those who are willing to receive it, and I agree that at least tokens of attempt are useful. I just think the expectation that things will change when our people are so hypnotized and over-exertion of energy to try to bring about sensible policy in these circumstances are futile. Call me a cynic, I guess.

Estragon 16y ago

We may fail, but at least we tried. That's the main thing, isn't it? </sarcasm>

AndyKelley 16y ago
I don't appreciate this type of humor, but Estragon is correct. A programmer, especially of the startup nature, should know this fact all too well: In the real world it's not about how hard you tried, it's about results. Work smarter, not harder.
- daeken 16y ago
  It's not the fact that you tried that's important. It's that if you try, you have at least some chance of success; if you don't try, then failure is implied.
  - loltar 16y ago
    This is only true if you try at the right things. Your goal appears to be an effort to demonetize content creation, thus disincentivizing the creation of valuable, interesting content. Your secondary goal appears to be making it easier for people who violate laws to get away with it without penalty, thus incentivizing lazy, value-stealing, criminal activity. Your goals are horrible. I'm just glad that you're horrible at pursuing them.
- cookiecaper 16y ago
  Not everything works that way. Some things require cooperation from more than a handful of people. You can launch a company and become very rich and successful even if only an infantesimal amount of people out there buy your product. You can't really change the political direction of a country, especially a large country like the US, without the cooperation and buy-in of a lot of people. It's not going to happen. I say that with some surety based on dogma, but I think it's also evident from an intellectual perspective that the likelihood for a rebound to good political and general philosophy is not high. Our people bear the tell-tale signs of a decaying society; the arrogance, the skewed sense of invulnerability, the ignorance and decadence that characterize civilizations on the brink of collapse. Our political landscape is becoming increasingly polarized and dangerous seeds of antagonism and hatred against the "other side" are being sown for political, personal, and commercial gain, and the people are devouring and internalizing this rhetoric nearly as quickly as it can be fed to them. I think it will be not many years hence that we start to see skirmishes, attacks, and other domestic disturbances that grow out of these movements, and I believe that it will only escalate from there.

loltar 16y ago

Personally, I think the world is worse, not better, when assholes are free to wrap ads/subscriptions around somebody else's content, stream it for a profit, and not pay the royalties. As such, I view you as fighting to make my world worse... as you appear to be fighting to allow people to steal value, rather than giving the rewards to people who create the value in the first place. Please stop your childish, misguided fight.