ctrlp

18 ms·

121.
by ctrlp 2y ago
"Professional military personnel" are not warfighters. How many of those "personnel" (did you mean "troops") have been deployed in a non UN peacekeeping capacity or as troop liasons? Very few. Meanwhile, the US
122.
by ctrlp 2y ago
EU+UK don't/can't/won't "conscript". They will have a volunteer military (or possibly deals with mercenary armies, or foreign recruits in exchange for citizenship) unless and until something catastrophic h
123.
by ctrlp 2y ago
Frankly, the EU is only able to "think long and hard" but never to actually do anything. They have no warfighters anymore and it will take years for the member states of the EU to rebuild anything resembling military capability, i
124.
by ctrlp 2y ago
To be fair, you've offered nothing of substance to this thread. Just demanding that I accept the authority of an FT op-ed when I provide elaborated reasons not to is extremely lazy. Need I trace FT's funding sources, institutional
125.
by ctrlp 2y ago
Ah metaphysics, can't live with it, can't live without it. I wish I had the depth to join you in a meaningful discussion of abstract geometry but I'm a dilettante when it comes to philosophical math. Instead, I'll only o
126.
by ctrlp 2y ago
That sounds pretty amazing. What a metaphor that is. Hope you fully recovered but kept some valuable mental souvenirs from your trip. I do think people underestimate the dangers of LSD. It's amazing but I've known people who perma
127.
by ctrlp 2y ago
there are lots of very robust programs in various languages to learn from. It would be hard to know in isolation but by contrast it is easier to learn what good code looks like. Some code will flow and be easy to read. Other code will be ob
128.
by ctrlp 2y ago
I didn't think I was complaining about "the media." The links you're referring to are just fluff. As far as I'm concerned you could have just sent me advertorials. You seem very tired, but if you actually want to kn
129.
by ctrlp 2y ago
I've enjoyed both books but Uncle Bob is something you grow out of. He was a bit of a cult figure at the time. Trying to actually follow the guidelines in Clean Code taught me a lot about "over-decomposition" and, ultimately,
130.
by ctrlp 2y ago
I think of Progressivism as being independent of Liberalism because I see progressivism as being about "things getting better" (Whig history) while liberalism is about "maximizing human liberation". I personally don&#x27
131.
by ctrlp 2y ago
The thing I was talking about was what I said. Parents expected classroom education to be somewhat like what they had experienced in school. Reading, writing, and 'rithmetic, but also something vaguely pro-American. The forms of myth-b
132.
by ctrlp 2y ago
Eh, oligarchs are already in positions of significant power. If you're talking about Elon, then to be accurate, he is not managing the federal workforce, but rather overseeing an audit of it. He himself has no executive powers. Those r
133.
by ctrlp 2y ago
There will always be grift in a dynamic system. The problems occur when the grifts become formalized and encoded in law, as has been the case since at least 9/11. When that happens the institutions can't be reformed but must be re
134.
by ctrlp 2y ago
I would distinguish between "the left" as a political persuasion and as a political movement, and between "the left" and "liberalism." Both versions of "the left" could further split into "left p
135.
by ctrlp 2y ago
The topic, as I see it, is propaganda. There are no sources of truth , only competing claims and differing levels of sincerity and reach. I'm sorry you find the subject tiresome. I do, too. But many in HN accept these sources as since
136.
by ctrlp 2y ago
Yes, all good. I appreciate what you are saying and I'm sorry to "attack" your comment earlier. I apologize. I'm often writing for the next reader that comes around, aka the audience. Nothing personal. If you made it t
137.
by ctrlp 2y ago
You posed the original comment in one frame (costs). I responded with a different frame (politics). If I have a hope from interacting with you and others about our political moment (or history in general) on HN it is simply that you may bro
138.
by ctrlp 2y ago
Agreed there has been blowback, but the 20% of true believers don't accept its validity. But I would argue the indoctrination has been very effective.
139.
by ctrlp 2y ago
Thank you!
140.
by ctrlp 2y ago
Yes, ok, sorry dang. I promise to only post thoughtful comments that add value with the absolute minimum sprinkling of sarcasm. I do believe I'm trying to contribute to a diversity of opinion on HN and make arguments that others might
141.
by ctrlp 2y ago
It only will make sense when you reintroduce the idea of "the political" into your framework. Without that, a government is simply a territorial administrative apparatus or provincial satrapy. If your parents are Canadian, perhaps
142.
by ctrlp 2y ago
Many people got a chance, during the pandemic, to see that contemporary K-16 education consists of a lot of political ideology (aka indoctrination). Many thought their kids were learning useful skills and were shocked, shocked, to find that
143.
by ctrlp 2y ago
My philosophy school was a library card. Am I presuming too much by your handle that you are a lover of the higher mathematics? Although I think it would be hard to derive a workable ethics from number theory, I believe it has been tried. D
144.
by ctrlp 2y ago
Inevitably, there will be eggs broken to make omelettes. I will consider the realignment successful if there is a reset in the current grift industrial complex and some interregnum until new patronage networks are established and corrupted
145.
by ctrlp 2y ago
YATP: Yet Another Tool of Patronage.
146.
by ctrlp 2y ago
This framing is a bit far from the actual motivating issue underlying the federal "budget" itself. I think a better question is whether having a federal workforce of 4 million people managed by an unaccountable bureaucracy is in t
147.
by ctrlp 2y ago
You could just as easily have cited Aristotle or Augustine or Aquinas or any other philosopher who wrote an ethics. The previous commentator didn't invite a utilitarian-type response. He implicitly posed a question about the justificat
148.
by ctrlp 2y ago
I honestly believe the only way to get at "unbiased" sources is to triangulate all the bias. Mainstream publications are largely staffed by paid propagandists. To get at my opinion, you would need to hold all the propaganda in you
149.
by ctrlp 2y ago
So why throw good money after bad?
150.
by ctrlp 2y ago
I would love to be continue doing programming for the remainder of life. It's a lovely activity. But it is a young man's game, as the essay says. Sometimes you can just look around and the answer is staring you in the face everywh

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