atlantic

25 ms·

241.
by atlantic 8y ago
> Affecting history doesn't make it a "historic process" in the sense we are talking about where people have no choice but to follow along. History isn't something like gravity, it's us recording descriptions of
242.
by atlantic 8y ago
> These "historical processes" are 100% made up of the acts and failures to act of individuals. That's obviously false. Trivial example: a volcanic eruption or some other natural catastrophe can change the course of a coun
243.
by atlantic 8y ago
Thanks for the passages from Arendt - very well selected. But we could do without the histrionics in your final paragraphs. I'm not sure there is anything that could have been done to prevent the world wars and totalitarianism of the 2
244.
by atlantic 8y ago
I'm not trying to persuade anyone of anything. Not making any moral judgements about slavery, either, either positive or negative. It is what it is, an institution that has arisen time and time again in human society. What I was doing
245.
by atlantic 8y ago
Family vacations are mainly for the benefit of the kids - for the parents, they can often be tenser than staying at home. If you really want to relax, you might consider taking a few days off with your partner, leaving the kids with their g
246.
by atlantic 8y ago
Just because prison policy can also serve a political purpose does not mean that its primary function is not what it is: to punish criminals, and to protect the public from them. The discrimination narrative is very compelling on a large sc
247.
by atlantic 8y ago
Actually, government officials prioritizing their own survival sounds like an eminently realistic scenario.
248.
by atlantic 8y ago
Interesting. I always had the impression that in the various flood myths, the waters always came from the heavens. Very perceptive of you to notice that they are also said to have come from the deep. Is this corroborated in other myths? Gil
249.
by atlantic 8y ago
It's important to remember that all civilizations practiced slavery, and not just in the remote past. African tribes cooperated with Arabic slave traders by selling them prisoners from rival tribes. American Indians practiced slavery;
250.
by atlantic 8y ago
That's an extremely broad statement. Do you really know that much history?
251.
by atlantic 8y ago
Why? Animals don't usually starve to death. Nor do humans. Any generation has an established means of extracting what it needs from its environment. Starvation is an exceptional occurrence.
252.
by atlantic 8y ago
Could you be more explicit, and explain in what sense there has been any progress whatsoever, as opposed to just change? Are you sure you are not simply projecting your personal system of values, conditioned as it is by the era you were bor
253.
by atlantic 8y ago
From personal experience, I would endorse the above advice. I'm all for being honest, but organizations are strange beasts, and I once got fired for something just like this. As long as you are sure you will eventually succeed, ignore
254.
by atlantic 8y ago
I'm not sure those are the only two options. Pure capitalism and central control are more like two extremes on a continuum. There is a lot of work being done at the moment to get companies to accept a certain degree of social responsib
255.
by atlantic 8y ago
So what you're suggesting is that this person should not complain. Instead he should set up his own business, offer better salaries than everyone else, and single-handedly change the labour market of an entire country. Great suggestion
256.
by atlantic 8y ago
So you're saying that the labour force of entire countries in the Mediterranean region (Portugal, Spain, Greece) suffers from lack of mindset and drive, and that explains the low salaries they suffer from right across the board. Intere
257.
by atlantic 8y ago
It really is reducible to the differential between salary and unemployment benefit, which is the opportunity cost of not taking a job. This is a well-known phenomenon in economics since the stagflation of the 70's, called the "pov
258.
by atlantic 8y ago
Sounds like you should be working for Paypal. You apparently find it normal that a) dying violates the company's terms and conditions b) a notice of violation should be addressed to a dead person.
259.
by atlantic 8y ago
Nothing strange about it. Most legal systems attach far greater value to a human life than that of a dog, so the checks and balances around taking such a life are commensurably greater. And "workaround" seems a strangely lightweig
260.
by atlantic 8y ago
Could this electrostatically-based flight phenomenon be reproduced at a larger scale, or is there some natural limit to the amount of upward force generated?
261.
by atlantic 8y ago
No C#/F#/Dotnet content. Why not?
262.
by atlantic 8y ago
> US basically dictates global policies in the block of countries not part of the soviet sphere of influence during the cold war. You are basing yourself on vague feelings of superiority, rather than actual knowledge. Influential, yes. D
263.
by atlantic 8y ago
I think he is referring to the media wave promoting women in entrepreneurship and in STEM courses and jobs, not to the media wave promoting this specific company.
264.
by atlantic 8y ago
This isn't a vibrant public space, it's just a space full of noisy foreign tourists who are making a racket while the locals are trying to sleep, because they have to go to work the next day.
265.
by atlantic 9y ago
No, I'm saying that, in relation to any given topic, there are many acceptable viewpoints, and that you can't just shut down the discussion and outlaw the expression of opinions which differ from your own. And that's what PC
266.
by atlantic 9y ago
Or, to rephrase that slightly: why is it so hard for other people not to agree with my view of the world? That's the essence of being PC. Recognise that I know best.
267.
by atlantic 9y ago
What makes you believe your children would benefit more from being home-schooled by their father than from going to school like ordinary youngsters? I understand they will receive more attention from you than from their teachers, but OTOH t
268.
by atlantic 9y ago
It's probably that kind of politically-correct approach that creates skewed risk assessments in situations such as this one. Reality is what it is, not what we'd like it to be.
269.
by atlantic 9y ago
Don't forget that he never actually leaked anything. He stole data but did not place it in the public domain. Instead, he handed it over to a group of journalists who were given the function of filtering the data before publication. To
270.
by atlantic 10y ago
Well, you could roll back globalisation and implement some form of protectionism, which is precisely what Trump has suggested. Outside the ivory tower of economic models, it does actually make sense. If a country is severely restricted in i

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