5 ms·

I admire his resolve, though it's not something I'd like to take to the extreme. Spending more time with people who have less money (e.g. CouchSurfing -> BeWelc

I admire his resolve, though it's not something I'd like to take to the extreme. Spending more time with people who have less money (e.g. CouchSurfing -> BeWelcome, hitchhiking, dumpster diving) has been an immensely rewarding experience. Last week, I heard a message about investment, which said that the 3 ways to store wealth are stocks in companies, bonds in governments, and property (owned by banks or rich people). A few days later, I read about GitLab making it their policy to help people get visas (shouldn't that be a government choice?). Privatisation is also taking over police departments, prisons, bus services, etc. I don't trust that the shareholders' best interests are the same as the needs of the people. War helps private companies, at the expense of governments & property. I'm not hopeful for peace in the next 50 years. What about investing in people? Not saving wealth, but giving it away! People will try hard to save their own lives in a war (and if I die, I don't need the return on investment anyway). It's a personal contact, so I think it's highly resistant to inflation. Building community is, in my opinion, more important than storing up wealth. I guess this view is similar to 關係 guanxi. It's democratic: if I do something silly and lose face, then it has consequences. I don't think it's authoritarian communism, where 單位 dictate who you can marry or what kind of job you can do, but a community-focussed lifestyle where newcomers are welcome, and share freely within the group. I'm still trying to figure this concept out though, so other suggestions of philosophical readings are welcome :)

knocte 5y ago
> A few days later, I read about GitLab making it their policy to help people get visas link?
- david_allison 5y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27899918 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27899918
sokoloff 5y ago
> [Company] making it their policy to help people get visas (shouldn't that be a government choice?) Of course it's the government choice to grant the visa or not. It's the company choice as to how much support (financial, HR/legal advice, other) to extend to their employees [and their household].
- muskox2 5y ago
  > stocks in companies, bonds in governments Being pedantic, but governments aren't the only entities which issue bonds. Private bonds exist as well.
henvic 5y ago
> (shouldn't that be a government choice?). Why? Just why? Why the hell can't I be free to move freely to a place where other people accept me? Why is it that a parasitic entity (the state) has to say whether they allow me in or not? Why should I be barred to enter a continental region of the world without convincing a bunch of bureaucrats that I'll be there just for a few days? > Privatisation is also taking over police departments, prisons, bus services, etc. I don't trust that the shareholders' best interests are the same as the needs of the people. And you trust state actors responsible for most murders in history (example: compare how many hundreds of millions were murdered in wars vs. by private actors in the last century), how come? > War helps private companies, at the expense of governments & property. I'm not hopeful for peace in the next 50 years. No. It's not at the expense of governments. This is pure brainwash propaganda. Governments, or states, are responsible for most of the destructive behavior we see in human history. They're not victims but perpetrators of wars. It's silly to think otherwise. You're not hopeful "for peace in the next 50 years" because of your prejudices and misconceptions. Society has never been so peaceful as today. Thanks to the private sector, communication is more and more accessible to everyone. Some day (not sure if 50 years or 500), poverty will be over, except due to acts of state-sponsored terrorism, and people will be able to denounce it whenever it happens and on a global scale. This is starting to happen today already. Most private entities (companies or the third sector) do good for the people and benefit nothing from the misery caused by state actors and their wars. Just a thin fraction, such as defense contractors, does.
- Thorncorona 5y ago
  I can't tell if you are trying to be sarcastic so I will respond in good faith. > Why the hell can't I be free to move freely to a place where other people accept me? Why is it that a parasitic entity (the state) has to say whether they allow me in or not? Because when a community decides to provides services to a people it must now have standards to decide who to provide services too. There are only 2 possible ways to solve this. 1: provide services to everyone. naturally this doesn't work. 2: provide services to nobody. > Governments, or states, are responsible for most of the destructive behavior we see in human history. This is a consequence of the state's monopoly on violence. By joining a society you voluntarily give up power to the government in exchange for services and protections. Wars occur as a consequence of this exchange of power when states look out for their own interests, which include the interests of its people. > Society has never been so peaceful as today. Because the state has a monopoly on violence and has gotten more effective at enforcing that monopoly? > Most private entities (companies or the third sector) do good for the people and benefit nothing from the misery caused by state actors and their wars. I'm not sure if you are aware of the other functions that states provide but some of the functions you may find beneficial are ways to resolve conflict without violence, protections to people, and a standard of living. These are again, enforced with violence. Seeing as you moved from Brazil to the Netherlands I'm sure you are aware of the benefits you are granted.
peterburkimsher 5y ago
What about the "hockey-stick" exponential growth that's needed for compounding to work? Companies pretend that it's true for them, but actually are at the mercy of business cycles. Governments have linear growth at best. Property has had exponential growth because of increasing population, but that's plateauing. Can social connectedness be exponential, for the benefit of society? Not just more people, but people who are more connected to each other? How can that growth be incentivised? (I'm thinking out loud)

knocte 5y ago

> A few days later, I read about GitLab making it their policy to help people get visas link?

david_allison 5y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27899918 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27899918

sokoloff 5y ago

> [Company] making it their policy to help people get visas (shouldn't that be a government choice?) Of course it's the government choice to grant the visa or not. It's the company choice as to how much support (financial, HR/legal advice, other) to extend to their employees [and their household].

muskox2 5y ago
> stocks in companies, bonds in governments Being pedantic, but governments aren't the only entities which issue bonds. Private bonds exist as well.

henvic 5y ago

> (shouldn't that be a government choice?). Why? Just why? Why the hell can't I be free to move freely to a place where other people accept me? Why is it that a parasitic entity (the state) has to say whether they allow me in or not? Why should I be barred to enter a continental region of the world without convincing a bunch of bureaucrats that I'll be there just for a few days? > Privatisation is also taking over police departments, prisons, bus services, etc. I don't trust that the shareholders' best interests are the same as the needs of the people. And you trust state actors responsible for most murders in history (example: compare how many hundreds of millions were murdered in wars vs. by private actors in the last century), how come? > War helps private companies, at the expense of governments & property. I'm not hopeful for peace in the next 50 years. No. It's not at the expense of governments. This is pure brainwash propaganda. Governments, or states, are responsible for most of the destructive behavior we see in human history. They're not victims but perpetrators of wars. It's silly to think otherwise. You're not hopeful "for peace in the next 50 years" because of your prejudices and misconceptions. Society has never been so peaceful as today. Thanks to the private sector, communication is more and more accessible to everyone. Some day (not sure if 50 years or 500), poverty will be over, except due to acts of state-sponsored terrorism, and people will be able to denounce it whenever it happens and on a global scale. This is starting to happen today already. Most private entities (companies or the third sector) do good for the people and benefit nothing from the misery caused by state actors and their wars. Just a thin fraction, such as defense contractors, does.

Thorncorona 5y ago
I can't tell if you are trying to be sarcastic so I will respond in good faith. > Why the hell can't I be free to move freely to a place where other people accept me? Why is it that a parasitic entity (the state) has to say whether they allow me in or not? Because when a community decides to provides services to a people it must now have standards to decide who to provide services too. There are only 2 possible ways to solve this. 1: provide services to everyone. naturally this doesn't work. 2: provide services to nobody. > Governments, or states, are responsible for most of the destructive behavior we see in human history. This is a consequence of the state's monopoly on violence. By joining a society you voluntarily give up power to the government in exchange for services and protections. Wars occur as a consequence of this exchange of power when states look out for their own interests, which include the interests of its people. > Society has never been so peaceful as today. Because the state has a monopoly on violence and has gotten more effective at enforcing that monopoly? > Most private entities (companies or the third sector) do good for the people and benefit nothing from the misery caused by state actors and their wars. I'm not sure if you are aware of the other functions that states provide but some of the functions you may find beneficial are ways to resolve conflict without violence, protections to people, and a standard of living. These are again, enforced with violence. Seeing as you moved from Brazil to the Netherlands I'm sure you are aware of the benefits you are granted.

peterburkimsher 5y ago

What about the "hockey-stick" exponential growth that's needed for compounding to work? Companies pretend that it's true for them, but actually are at the mercy of business cycles. Governments have linear growth at best. Property has had exponential growth because of increasing population, but that's plateauing. Can social connectedness be exponential, for the benefit of society? Not just more people, but people who are more connected to each other? How can that growth be incentivised? (I'm thinking out loud)