cato_the_elder

6 ms·

1.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
Well, I object to this for multiple reasons. First of all, it would be nice of you to at least looked at the responses to this comment, and reminded users that many of those are explicitly against HN guidelines (which is objectively true, w
2.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
This is super cool! Based on this, the most popular CS textbook is (of course) CLRS. For physics, it's Halliday. And for calculus, it's Stewart, a demonstrably suboptimal choice.
3.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
> This class of disruption can be worked around using VPN services, which are able to circumvent government internet censorship measures. Well, here's something for people who insist all VPN services are a "scam". VPNs pla
4.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
> Ok, so what gives you reason to think subsidisation (or even just recognition) of non-traditional marriages is going to damage your culture at all? Traditional nuclear family is a tenant of many cultures, including the one I have a fee
5.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
> many Danes drive cars that cost a bit over DKK 100k Interesting, I'm curious to know what kinds of car are popular there. I searched a bit, and it seems like after Tesla Model 3 (which is expensive), the most popular car models ar
6.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
Well, that kind of comment adds nothing to the discussion. It's certainly not as an unpopular position among the "experts" as you probably think it is [1]: > "For the Greeks, the concept did not meaningfully exist at
7.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
Yes, because it's the country where I live in, and I (like most other people) care about my culture.
8.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
Well, the institution of marriage is older than the nation state. So, it's independent existence is within the realm of possibility. I agree that it's a vague proposition in our era though. I'm just saying that it's not
9.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
Yet again, that's irrelevant. I think the point we are debating here is universality of heterosexuality/heteronormativity.
10.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
> If the state should be free to choose, it should be free to choose, not be limited by the constitutional text. I'm making a distinction between the state and the government. The state also includes people who write and interpret t
11.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
If by gay you mean MSM, that's correct. But if you mean males wanting to marry each other, that's debatable.
12.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
> So you'd be ok with government subsidisation of polygamy? In the cultures which approve of it? It's none of my business. In my own country, no.
13.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
Not really, probably most people around the world have ancestors from different cultures and ethnicities.
14.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
> polygamy is seen as the desirable goal (for men) and monogamy is the poor man's fallback. But that's still heterosexual. > And cultures where abstinence/celibacy etc. is revered. > The Na of Yunnan is supposedly on
15.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
See my other comment below: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32544217 .
16.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
Well, that's right thing to do IMO. It may be true that what happens in people's bedrooms is not government's business, but it's also true that the state has no obligation to subsidize particular lifestyles, especially w
17.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
As of today, 65,000 DKK amounts to about 8,800 USD. I don't know of any (new) regular cars you could buy at that price. Also, I'm not sure where did that 80k number came from. If you're using it just as an example, then I thi
18.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
Oh, I see. Thank you.
19.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
Their cars per capita is about 2/3 of the US [1]. I bet if you correct for the effect of GDP per capita, they will rank near the bottom among European countries too. [1]: 0.540 for Denmark vs 0.868 for the US ( https://en.m.w
20.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
T̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶d̶o̶e̶s̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶m̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶l̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶p̶e̶c̶i̶f̶i̶c̶ ̶r̶e̶s̶e̶a̶r̶c̶h̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶p̶o̶r̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶a̶r̶t̶i̶c̶l̶e̶.̶
21.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
Well, Denmark has a draconian tax on cars [1]. I assume for many Danes, it's not like they have access to a car and are biking to work by choices. [1]: https://autovista24.autovistagroup.com/news/denmark-agrees-g..
22.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
Given that the Democratic party isn't particularly libertarian, and the fact that most libertarians vote Republican [1], how do you explain the employee donation data? [1]: https://www.cato.org/commentary/examining
23.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
With the improvement that the new name is a more proper anagram of "Scott Alexander". The old name was almost an anagram of "Scott S Alexander", with the blemish of missing an N. [1] [1]: https://slatestarcode
24.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
> I am amazed the women of America did not rise up and slaughter your political classes and judges in your red states and the federal courts Then perhaps you probably don't know much about American politics. Until recently, there w
25.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
Because tech has a left-wing bias [1], and HN is mostly a tech forum. I personally think that will change in the coming years though. There's a limit on how much tech and denial of reality can coexist. Perhaps the reason that they have
26.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
The point is that they are both very popular [1] (and hence influential), no matter our opinion about them. [1]: https://www.statista.com/statistics/373814/cable-news-networ...
27.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
No, I'm not. It's clearly not a de facto crime. How many non-white Americans get sentenced merely because of driving?
28.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
The polemic part is that he's says driving as a non-white person is a de facto crime in the US, which is of course utterly untrue. As a non-white person, I'm sure I would've known if that was the case. (Also, I had linked to
29.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
I'm suggesting his new book is also probably full of polemics. I used to like him when I was younger, and have fond memories of reading one of his novels (Little Brother [1]) as a teenager. [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org&#x
30.
by cato_the_elder 4y ago
The guy has turned into a composer of polemics. [1] [1]: e.g. https://mobile.twitter.com/doctorow/status/14664570728711249...

More ›