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"Broken" or "imperfect"? Because it seems like our businesses have been producing some great stuff and generally improving standard of living. That doesn't me
by timmg 3y ago
"Broken" or "imperfect"?
Because it seems like our businesses have been producing some great stuff and generally improving standard of living. That doesn't mean that everything is perfect. But I'm not sure a system exists that is effective, efficient and prevents any possible bad outcome.
- lapcat 3y agoEvery time something is criticized, someone tosses out the "nothing is perfect" defense, apparently arguing fallaciously that there are no alternatives except the status quo and perfection: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana_fallacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana_fallacy
- timmg 3y agoWhat's the name of the inverse fallacy where someone finds a problem with something and decides that means the whole thing is "broken".
- lapcat 3y agoThe HN submission was editorialized. The word "broken" doesn't actually appear in the article or the article title, "Boeing is a wake-up call". The article argues that there's been a change in business culture and mentality over a number of decades: the view that corporations were responsible members of the community has been replaced with the view that "greed is good", and corporations have no purpose other than unmitigated profit maximization. So where do you think the fallacy is? Or are you just focused on the word "broken", which again doesn't appear in the article?
- j1elo 3y agoNope, the article's title itself has been editorialized, it appears. I submitted this with the HN bookmarklet [1], so the submission title is untouched from what it was at that moment in time. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/bookmarklet.html https://news.ycombinator.com/bookmarklet.html
- lapcat 3y agoHmm, interesting. The URL itself does seem to provide evidence for this. Maybe it's because everyone went crazy over the word "broken", like in these very HN comments LOL.
- marcusverus 3y ago> apparently arguing fallaciously that there are no alternatives except the status quo and perfection Huh? The above comment is not a thesis about the nature of economic systems. It's a simple observation that the word 'broken' has a meaning. One which does not justify the author's usage. The blatant misuse of loaded words is a form of deception. It is worth calling out.
- lapcat 3y ago> It's a simple observation that the word 'broken' has a meaning. One which does not justify the author's usage. The article author did not actually use the word 'broken'. The HN submission was editorialized.
- forgetfreeman 3y agoImproving standard of living by what metrics? Because home ownership, savings, social mobility, and medical outcomes are all in the toilet.
- lapcat 3y agoAlso: "The United States ranks 1st in the world for incarcerated population and 5th for incarceration rate. The nation in 2nd place for population holds the 129th position for rate, imprisoning 1/5th as many people per capita. Which is this freedom-loving nation with, both absolutely and relatively, fewer prisoners than the US? China. The “land of the free” is more likely to imprison you than a regime so brutal that it has concentration camps." https://obviatethestate.substack.com/p/the-us-over-reliance-on-incarceration https://obviatethestate.substack.com/p/the-us-over-reliance-...
- wil421 3y agoYou or I could go buy an organ, sorry I meant find an organ donor match in China very quickly compared to the US/EU. How do you thinks it’s possible?
- randerson 3y agoNot to take away from your point - but in France, Spain and Austria (and maybe others), everyone is an organ donor by default unless they opt out. So the EU may be an easier place to find an organ than the US (and not due to any nefarious reasons).
- zardo 3y agoThe organ trade is barely regulated in the US, as long as you say it's for science and not medical use.
- forgetfreeman 3y agoNice. Next someone should mention how asset forfeiture allows local and state police to cart off more wealth annually than the actual thieves they're intended to police.
- Zigurd 3y agoIt's uneven. Parts are broken. PE taking over medical practices and hospitals looks like a greed driven disaster. Boeing doing the Jack Welch thing, e.g. spinning out Spirit Aerosystems to goose up RONA while being a completely incoherent outsourcing decision, long after Jack Welch was discredited is a disaster. Tech is pretty healthy on balance but is that because everyone prefers to work in tech because other industries are so much worse?