dpatru

70 ms·

601.
by dpatru 17y ago
Ultimately everything is an abstraction, even the "little heads reading off the hard disk." People solve problems by framing them in convenient abstractions, often switching fluidly between abstractions as it's useful. Natural language re
602.
by dpatru 17y ago
Engineers are biased towards practical results. The liberal arts are biased towards ideas. If asked how to end US or Israeli occupation, the liberal arts major would probably say: convince them with good arguments or vote. The engineer wou
603.
by dpatru 17y ago
Cutting student aid would lead to lower tuition prices. More importantly, it would probably lead to completely different kinds of educational institutions. If students and their families had to more directly bear the costs of their educatio
604.
by dpatru 17y ago
I'm not sure what you mean by circularity in coercion. Another example of the contrast of an ideal world with the free market in the real world is stock markets. In an ideal world, there would be no need for a stock market because there wou
605.
by dpatru 17y ago
An ideal world doesn't have problems. The real world has problems that are messy to solve. "Solutions" often have unintended consequences. The free market, by not relying on coercion, generally does the best job at arriving at a solution th
606.
by dpatru 17y ago
One common scenario for government action is that some problem isn't being solved well by market-based solutions, so a solution needs to be imposed by force. A communication technology would be of use here to help determine if a coercive so
607.
by dpatru 17y ago
If the Tories really want to be innovative, they should just cut taxes, cut spending, reduce regulation, and let people naturally and without coercion figure out what they want and how to get it by cooperation. This is called the free marke
608.
by dpatru 17y ago
One of the primary benefits I get from HN is the pro and con discussion of technology, especially if it's something I might want to use. If there are good reasons not use a technology, then I would rather hear about them before I rediscover
609.
by dpatru 17y ago
What I took away from the article is that the "little guy" can make money selling content. Even though a lot of newspapers and content providers are suffering because of the internet, there are a lot of people making a lot of money selling
610.
by dpatru 17y ago
I got this link from ntoshev's comment here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1015177
611.
Story of a benevolently networked society(tqft.net)
2 points by dpatru 17y ago|1 comments
612.
by dpatru 17y ago
The real issue of money is control. Even if people want to use the dollar because it's a "stable" currency that "allows for progress/growth" that shouldn't give them the right to force others to use the currency. Legal tender laws, prohibit
613.
by dpatru 17y ago
Although I hate communism, I find myself more in agreement with China than US policymakers with respect to war, trade, economic policy, and regulation. China seems more pro-freedom than the US. Case in point: by wrecking the Copenhagen deal
614.
by dpatru 17y ago
The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. --Abraham Lincoln
615.
by dpatru 17y ago
I like Sam Walton because he increased the spending power of a lot of Americans by making retail more efficient. I like that he aligned his business with his customers' interest. His business did well in proportion as it made his customers'
616.
by dpatru 17y ago
No, but also don't miss the fact that most of those on the other side are funded by big government. Neither side is neutral.
617.
by dpatru 17y ago
I just had a series of thoughts: 1. You should learn from others' mistakes because it's cheaper than learning from your own. (approximation of a famous quote) 2. You should learn from other's successes, because it's cheaper than discovering
618.
by dpatru 17y ago
> Force should be used when it will yield great benefits for society. I agree with you that force should be used when it will yield great benefits. But I would define the greatest benefit to be liberty. Force should be used to defend li
619.
by dpatru 17y ago
So what if some people are free riders? What is that to you? Don't give up on a free society just because its costs are not equally distributed. By advocating government support, your saying that you want government to take by force from a
620.
by dpatru 17y ago
Rather than seek to coerce your fellows, just give money yourself to the causes you like and encourage others to do the same. If you and a just a hundred others give one hundred dollars per month, Rick would be making a nice salary. And no
621.
by dpatru 17y ago
Khan did the obvious thing for someone trying to make good use of his time: he recorded his lectures so that he wouldn't have to repeat them. This allowed him to create lectures for most of the K-12 math and physics curriculum single-handed
622.
by dpatru 17y ago
The key to the money-making scheme is access to very cheap money from the federal reserve (what you're labeling as government) and lending it to the government (what you're calling the government.) The fed and the government are not the sa
623.
by dpatru 17y ago
I think everybody is not doing it because 1) most people don't understand it, 2) it's not easy to form a bank, and 3) although banks can easily get money for loans, they will be shut down if the loans are not paid back. Because new money is
624.
by dpatru 17y ago
This is called fractional reserve banking. It's how fiat money is created. In my experience, if you understand it, you're either benefiting from it and support it, or you're angry about it and a Ron Paul supporter.
625.
by dpatru 17y ago
This is a old argument for the modern practice of blogging. I've often been confused as to the relative merits of reading versus writing. In reading, you gain a lot of information quickly. In writing, you develop your own thinking. Schopenh
626.
by dpatru 17y ago
As an illustration of the character and motivations of those who are advocating loudest that we do something about climate change I cite today's Drudgereport which has the following stories featured: Stanford climate change professor, Steph
627.
by dpatru 17y ago
When people who have proven themselves eager to take away other people's money and freedoms argue that they have "scientific" reasons to do the same, it's smart to be sceptical. If, while robbing you at gunpoint, I tried to explain to you t
628.
by dpatru 17y ago
Wouldn't it be better for the NYT to focus on their core competencies and just outsource their ads? This is Google's specialty and thus Google should be able to give advertisers a better value.
629.
by dpatru 17y ago
When I twisted my knee and strained a ligament, I was told to do exercises to strengthen the muscles around the knee. Apparently strong muscles can make up for weak ligaments. Maybe strong "concentration muscles" can make up for whatever is
630.
Startup matches college sports fans with homeowners near the stadium (entrepreneur.com)
2 points by dpatru 17y ago|0 comments

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