3 ms·

I think one of the comments sums up the issue perfectly: > Come to San Francisco, ask me or any of my long-time neighbors if we feel safe? We will talk your ea

I think one of the comments sums up the issue perfectly: > Come to San Francisco, ask me or any of my long-time neighbors if we feel safe? We will talk your ears off. The data calestenics you've done means zilch. This essentially comes down to "I feel unsafe, your data be damned." Feelings do matter, but we don't make laws depending on what the media is trying to make people of the city feel like.

ink_13 5y ago
> we don't make laws depending on what the media is trying to make people of the city feel like Don't kid yourself, that absolutely happens all over the place.
- MisterSandman 5y ago
  Well, shouldn't, I guess.
  - xboxnolifes 5y ago
    It should if we still want to call representatives representatives. If it's truly safe, then the discrepancy between feelings and reality should be addressed in good faith.
- Verdex 5y ago
  Yeah, The Common Law has been in print since 1881 where we see "felt necessities of the time" show up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Wendell_Holmes_Jr.#The_Common_Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Wendell_Holmes_Jr.#The_... And while it does feel uncomfortable to think that the laws of the land just come from what amounts to low to high levels of mass hysteria, it also means that we can enact and/or ignore/repeal laws which just don't work. Imagine a law which looks good on paper and is "proved" to be "good" with stringent mathematical underpinnings, but which fails to serve the people due to some higher order outcome which we simply do not have the cognitive or mathematical understanding to explain. You had better hope that "felt necessities of the time" lets us do something else. [Of course 'felt necessities of the time' can also do some really messed up stuff. I have no defense. I only argue that just because something happens due to feelings or mass hysteria instead of reason, mathematics, or logic doesn't mean it has to be bad. The feelings or hysteria might be coming from some issue which we cannot otherwise verbalize.]
newaccount2021 5y ago
tootie 5y ago
This is the same in NYC which is also having a supposed shoplifting spree. People "feel" very unsafe because the crime situation has gotten marginally worse than it has been the past few years. Having lived here since the 90s when the situation was much, much worse by any measurable statistic, everyone was calm back then because they knew what to expect. Now expectations are higher. In reality the danger remains quite low. We lost more people to covid in the last two years than 100 years of homicides. Yet we elected a mayor who promised to be tough on crime and soft on Covid.
dekhn 5y ago
This is sort of a brain failure on Hacker News: "I won't believe anything unless you show me some ostensibly unbiased data and a reasonable analysis". Garbage. The city has a serious theft problem that is obvious if you go visit a number of places (and then go visit the mission or other sales locations to see your stolen goods).

ink_13 5y ago

> we don't make laws depending on what the media is trying to make people of the city feel like Don't kid yourself, that absolutely happens all over the place.

MisterSandman 5y ago
Well, shouldn't, I guess.
- xboxnolifes 5y ago
  It should if we still want to call representatives representatives. If it's truly safe, then the discrepancy between feelings and reality should be addressed in good faith.
Verdex 5y ago
Yeah, The Common Law has been in print since 1881 where we see "felt necessities of the time" show up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Wendell_Holmes_Jr.#The_Common_Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Wendell_Holmes_Jr.#The_... And while it does feel uncomfortable to think that the laws of the land just come from what amounts to low to high levels of mass hysteria, it also means that we can enact and/or ignore/repeal laws which just don't work. Imagine a law which looks good on paper and is "proved" to be "good" with stringent mathematical underpinnings, but which fails to serve the people due to some higher order outcome which we simply do not have the cognitive or mathematical understanding to explain. You had better hope that "felt necessities of the time" lets us do something else. [Of course 'felt necessities of the time' can also do some really messed up stuff. I have no defense. I only argue that just because something happens due to feelings or mass hysteria instead of reason, mathematics, or logic doesn't mean it has to be bad. The feelings or hysteria might be coming from some issue which we cannot otherwise verbalize.]

newaccount2021 5y ago

tootie 5y ago

This is the same in NYC which is also having a supposed shoplifting spree. People "feel" very unsafe because the crime situation has gotten marginally worse than it has been the past few years. Having lived here since the 90s when the situation was much, much worse by any measurable statistic, everyone was calm back then because they knew what to expect. Now expectations are higher. In reality the danger remains quite low. We lost more people to covid in the last two years than 100 years of homicides. Yet we elected a mayor who promised to be tough on crime and soft on Covid.

dekhn 5y ago

This is sort of a brain failure on Hacker News: "I won't believe anything unless you show me some ostensibly unbiased data and a reasonable analysis". Garbage. The city has a serious theft problem that is obvious if you go visit a number of places (and then go visit the mission or other sales locations to see your stolen goods).