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[flagged]

K0balt 1y ago
Come on over to the Dominican Republic. I’ve been here for 15 years, and I’ve had no problems running several projects from here. In the Cibao region you’ll find IMHO the best culture, and Santiago has a little of everything, though it takes some looking to find the gems. I prefer the mountains between Santiago and Puerto Plata, close to everything but not in the middle of anything. Above 1000m elevation the weather is cool nights, warm days. If you get here HMU if you want to talk about the third industrial revolution and what we’re working on to make it a better ride for humans.
- TechDebtDevin 1y ago
  I spent a month there working for a client at "caso de campo". I really enjoyed the month. What was weird, I stayed at a town outside (I'm not elite enough to stay at caso de campo :P) forget the name but the whole town was just filled with Italian expats. It has been on my list of potential places. However, the one thing I didn't like though was all Haitian workers, I actually witnessed some pretty awful stuff (like literal bloody fights over water bottles) inside caso de campo where they virtually had Haitian slaves. I'm talking guys standing behind me at dinner waiting to refill my water, and that was their entire existence. Probably better than living Haiti, but it made me feel uncomfortable. Not sure if the rest of the DR is like that though, I didn't really leave that area.
  - K0balt 1y ago
    Ive not seen that kind of mistreatment of people, but I’m sure it happens especially in situations of extreme class disparity. Where I live it’s extremely laid back- it’s rural, 50 minutes from Santiago and an hour from puerto plata. We have a coffee plantation that I pretend to run, but I spend most of my time working on tech and improving our micro-grid and water micro-utility systems. Lots of avocado and fruit trees, cacao, etc. there are several houses and a bunch of cabanas we have built here since 2018, a couple of parks, a lounge, trails etc. we moved a whole project here during Covid, so we built out the campus a little bit to accommodate that. It’s a very campo vibe, but with modern conveniences and systems. If you come by this way, let me know. Where is casa del campo located? Was the town Sosua? I’ve always thought of Sosúa as being mostly German expats, but TBH I typically avoid those kinds of places in favor of the Latino culture, so I wouldn’t really know. There’s island culture and Latino culture here, as well as enclaves and barrios of a lot of nationalities. Santiago has some very euro feeling neighborhoods - but that’s immigrant communities, not expats. Unfortunately a lot of expats prefer spend their time commiserating with other expats about whatever isn’t the same as it is back in their country lol, so I tend to avoid that scene and mostly associate with more established families and people. I like the Cibao area, more of a Castilian vibe, Spanish colonial, and not so much island culture. It’s not that island culture is bad, it’s just that it centers around hospitality, entertainment and tourism, so a white guy often isn’t looked at as a person so much as an opportunity. I think that’s pretty universal across where I’ve been all over the world, port towns and tourist hotspots all have that same vibe.
tristramb 1y ago
‘In passing by the side of Mount Thai, Confucius came on a woman who was weeping bitterly by a grave. The Master pressed forward and drove quickly to her; then he sent Tze-lu to question her. “Your wailing,” said he, “is that of one who has suffered sorrow on sorrow.”She replied, “That is so. Once my husband’s father was killed here by a tiger. My husband was also killed, and now my son has died in the same way.” The Master said, “Why do you not leave the place?” The answer was, “There is no oppressive government here.” The Master then said, “Remember this, my children: oppressive government is more terrible than tigers.”’ The subject of this paper is the problem of ensuring that government shall be less terrible than tigers. --- From The Taming of Power by Bertrand Russell, 1938
- smallmancontrov 1y ago
  ...and that was in 1938, when there was no such thing as an AI panopticon.
  - lostlogin 1y ago
    It also came just before some particularly terrible governments really hit their stride.
  - matt123456789 1y ago
    And the original “Tyranny is Fiercer than a Tiger” significantly predates even that!
- jfengel 1y ago
  I wonder if her husband, son, and father in law would agree with that conclusion.
  - nosianu 1y ago
    Yes? They stayed and did not leave. Confucius asking the woman did not create that option. It was always there. My personal thought would also be that one has significantly higher chances to succeed against a tiger than a government, including much more control over whether a tiger attacks in the first place (for example, fences or not going out alone would already improve your chances significantly, which would do nothing against government officials).
Aurornis 1y ago
> I dont want to worry about a white van pulling up in front of my house because I said something sarcastic online. I find it fascinating that people will genuinely worry about this happening to them, despite it not happening, and then openly prefer a place they describe as “a lil dangerous” and “a degree of lawlessness” This is the kind of thinking that happens when you build your entire worldview around exaggerated headlines and online fear mongering. When you go somewhere that isn’t in the headlines all of the time, you have to build your worldview around what you see and the vibes you sense instead of the fear mongering headlines. When a place described with words like dangerous and lawless starts to sound like the safer alternative than a country that is demonstrably safer, you’re probably getting too much of your information from internet sources designed to trigger your senses of fear and rage for engagement. Every time there’s an anecdote with cognitive dissonance like this (describing the lawless, “lil dangerous” place as feeling safer) it comes down to getting perceptions of one community through vibes and the other community through news headlines. In this case, the description of the US as a technocratic police state where people get thrown into a white van for sarcastic online comments versus seeing some cops at a local bar one time.
- yupitsme123 1y ago
  I agree with everything that you said but it's a "better the devil you know" type of situation. The vibe that many people have in the US is that things are constantly in flux and that we have less and less control over our lives and environments. Anything could happen. Considering that, I could understand wanting to go somewhere where there's a known quantity of danger and a known set of rules for avoiding it.
- TechDebtDevin 1y ago
  Ive been a resident of two countries and am a citzen of the USA. 2 years Norway. 3 years Bahamas. Along with a lot of work in Europe and Asia. So Ive witnessed a wide spectrum of governments, and have been detained by all of these governments at some point for reasons Im not going to speak on. Maybe its because im a citizen of the USA and they have the ultimate power over me, but i felt the most terrified when under their custody. Hell in the Bahamas the officials took me to Burger King (in handcuffs lol). To be clear im not a criminal I just have a wierd line of work that people question.
rdm_blackhole 1y ago
> I dont want to live in a technocratic police state Unfortunately the police state mentality is spreading. The attacks on encryption and the "need" to crackdown on terrorism and CP gives wet dreams to a lot of government officials who won't be satisfied until there is a camera in every home and your phone snooping on you 24/7 and reporting back to the cops all your crimes alleged or otherwise. No government is immune. France, Australia, the UK, The EU, they are all coming for our privacy and freedom of speech and they will get them sooner or later. They say history does not repeat but it often rhymes. I think a lot of people have forgotten/never experienced what it's like to live in a police state and the 2030s may just bring back these memories for some and potentially introduce these concepts to a new generation entirely.
- timschmidt 1y ago
  This seems like as good a spot as any to drop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss%E2%80%93Howe_generational_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss%E2%80%93Howe_generatio...
giardini 1y ago
TechDebtdevin says "...how it used to be in the USA in the 70s" In regard to drinking and driving the 70s were same as now in my experience.
potato3732842 1y ago
This isn't a new thing. Orwell was pretty clear about it in 1984. The people who don't have much to take get mostly left alone. There's no money to be made, no wealth to be captured, by running a dystopian government in Haiti, or whatever. So nobody does it.

[flagged]

Come on over to the Dominican Republic. I’ve been here for 15 years, and I’ve had no problems running several projects from here. In the Cibao region you’ll find IMHO the best culture, and Santiago has a little of everything, though it takes some looking to find the gems. I prefer the mountains between Santiago and Puerto Plata, close to everything but not in the middle of anything. Above 1000m elevation the weather is cool nights, warm days. If you get here HMU if you want to talk about the third industrial revolution and what we’re working on to make it a better ride for humans.

TechDebtDevin 1y ago
I spent a month there working for a client at "caso de campo". I really enjoyed the month. What was weird, I stayed at a town outside (I'm not elite enough to stay at caso de campo :P) forget the name but the whole town was just filled with Italian expats. It has been on my list of potential places. However, the one thing I didn't like though was all Haitian workers, I actually witnessed some pretty awful stuff (like literal bloody fights over water bottles) inside caso de campo where they virtually had Haitian slaves. I'm talking guys standing behind me at dinner waiting to refill my water, and that was their entire existence. Probably better than living Haiti, but it made me feel uncomfortable. Not sure if the rest of the DR is like that though, I didn't really leave that area.
- K0balt 1y ago
  Ive not seen that kind of mistreatment of people, but I’m sure it happens especially in situations of extreme class disparity. Where I live it’s extremely laid back- it’s rural, 50 minutes from Santiago and an hour from puerto plata. We have a coffee plantation that I pretend to run, but I spend most of my time working on tech and improving our micro-grid and water micro-utility systems. Lots of avocado and fruit trees, cacao, etc. there are several houses and a bunch of cabanas we have built here since 2018, a couple of parks, a lounge, trails etc. we moved a whole project here during Covid, so we built out the campus a little bit to accommodate that. It’s a very campo vibe, but with modern conveniences and systems. If you come by this way, let me know. Where is casa del campo located? Was the town Sosua? I’ve always thought of Sosúa as being mostly German expats, but TBH I typically avoid those kinds of places in favor of the Latino culture, so I wouldn’t really know. There’s island culture and Latino culture here, as well as enclaves and barrios of a lot of nationalities. Santiago has some very euro feeling neighborhoods - but that’s immigrant communities, not expats. Unfortunately a lot of expats prefer spend their time commiserating with other expats about whatever isn’t the same as it is back in their country lol, so I tend to avoid that scene and mostly associate with more established families and people. I like the Cibao area, more of a Castilian vibe, Spanish colonial, and not so much island culture. It’s not that island culture is bad, it’s just that it centers around hospitality, entertainment and tourism, so a white guy often isn’t looked at as a person so much as an opportunity. I think that’s pretty universal across where I’ve been all over the world, port towns and tourist hotspots all have that same vibe.

tristramb 1y ago

‘In passing by the side of Mount Thai, Confucius came on a woman who was weeping bitterly by a grave. The Master pressed forward and drove quickly to her; then he sent Tze-lu to question her. “Your wailing,” said he, “is that of one who has suffered sorrow on sorrow.”She replied, “That is so. Once my husband’s father was killed here by a tiger. My husband was also killed, and now my son has died in the same way.” The Master said, “Why do you not leave the place?” The answer was, “There is no oppressive government here.” The Master then said, “Remember this, my children: oppressive government is more terrible than tigers.”’ The subject of this paper is the problem of ensuring that government shall be less terrible than tigers. --- From The Taming of Power by Bertrand Russell, 1938

smallmancontrov 1y ago
...and that was in 1938, when there was no such thing as an AI panopticon.
- lostlogin 1y ago
  It also came just before some particularly terrible governments really hit their stride.
- matt123456789 1y ago
  And the original “Tyranny is Fiercer than a Tiger” significantly predates even that!
jfengel 1y ago
I wonder if her husband, son, and father in law would agree with that conclusion.
- nosianu 1y ago
  Yes? They stayed and did not leave. Confucius asking the woman did not create that option. It was always there. My personal thought would also be that one has significantly higher chances to succeed against a tiger than a government, including much more control over whether a tiger attacks in the first place (for example, fences or not going out alone would already improve your chances significantly, which would do nothing against government officials).

Aurornis 1y ago

> I dont want to worry about a white van pulling up in front of my house because I said something sarcastic online. I find it fascinating that people will genuinely worry about this happening to them, despite it not happening, and then openly prefer a place they describe as “a lil dangerous” and “a degree of lawlessness” This is the kind of thinking that happens when you build your entire worldview around exaggerated headlines and online fear mongering. When you go somewhere that isn’t in the headlines all of the time, you have to build your worldview around what you see and the vibes you sense instead of the fear mongering headlines. When a place described with words like dangerous and lawless starts to sound like the safer alternative than a country that is demonstrably safer, you’re probably getting too much of your information from internet sources designed to trigger your senses of fear and rage for engagement. Every time there’s an anecdote with cognitive dissonance like this (describing the lawless, “lil dangerous” place as feeling safer) it comes down to getting perceptions of one community through vibes and the other community through news headlines. In this case, the description of the US as a technocratic police state where people get thrown into a white van for sarcastic online comments versus seeing some cops at a local bar one time.

yupitsme123 1y ago
I agree with everything that you said but it's a "better the devil you know" type of situation. The vibe that many people have in the US is that things are constantly in flux and that we have less and less control over our lives and environments. Anything could happen. Considering that, I could understand wanting to go somewhere where there's a known quantity of danger and a known set of rules for avoiding it.
TechDebtDevin 1y ago
Ive been a resident of two countries and am a citzen of the USA. 2 years Norway. 3 years Bahamas. Along with a lot of work in Europe and Asia. So Ive witnessed a wide spectrum of governments, and have been detained by all of these governments at some point for reasons Im not going to speak on. Maybe its because im a citizen of the USA and they have the ultimate power over me, but i felt the most terrified when under their custody. Hell in the Bahamas the officials took me to Burger King (in handcuffs lol). To be clear im not a criminal I just have a wierd line of work that people question.

rdm_blackhole 1y ago

> I dont want to live in a technocratic police state Unfortunately the police state mentality is spreading. The attacks on encryption and the "need" to crackdown on terrorism and CP gives wet dreams to a lot of government officials who won't be satisfied until there is a camera in every home and your phone snooping on you 24/7 and reporting back to the cops all your crimes alleged or otherwise. No government is immune. France, Australia, the UK, The EU, they are all coming for our privacy and freedom of speech and they will get them sooner or later. They say history does not repeat but it often rhymes. I think a lot of people have forgotten/never experienced what it's like to live in a police state and the 2030s may just bring back these memories for some and potentially introduce these concepts to a new generation entirely.

timschmidt 1y ago
This seems like as good a spot as any to drop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss%E2%80%93Howe_generational_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss%E2%80%93Howe_generatio...

giardini 1y ago

TechDebtdevin says "...how it used to be in the USA in the 70s" In regard to drinking and driving the 70s were same as now in my experience.

potato3732842 1y ago

This isn't a new thing. Orwell was pretty clear about it in 1984. The people who don't have much to take get mostly left alone. There's no money to be made, no wealth to be captured, by running a dystopian government in Haiti, or whatever. So nobody does it.