grafmax

12 ms·

181.
by grafmax 1y ago
China had many famines before that during the century of humiliation. Maoism was itself a reaction to the dire social conditions of the time. This doesn’t absolve Maoism of its policies which led to millions dying. (And yet we shouldn’t abs
182.
by grafmax 1y ago
Almost as if countries were closed systems and imperialism never existed. As if the US has not acted a neo-imperialist superpower post-WW2. Surely a country’s positionality in the global system contributes to how much violence occurs within
183.
by grafmax 1y ago
I understand the conversion from dollars to coin. What about coin to dollars? There’s a floor but no ceiling, so I don’t see how this is a real peg.
184.
by grafmax 1y ago
> if it were a _genocide_, you'd expect Israel to be equally targeting Palestinians in the West Bank and in Israel proper Genocide means trying to killing the group in whole or in part. Trying to kill the group everywhere isn’t nece
185.
by grafmax 1y ago
No all war doesn’t constitute genocide. Nor is genocide justifiable if you think it’s effective. Mass murdering children crosses a fundamental moral line. Children are innocent. Israel has lost any moral basis for its war through its da
186.
by grafmax 1y ago
Forced mass starvation isn’t urban warfare.
187.
by grafmax 1y ago
And yet it’s the profit motive that has driven the shift to widespread usage of dark patterns and invasive marketing.
188.
by grafmax 1y ago
Curious what antisemitic abuse Judith Butler was supposedly expressing.
189.
by grafmax 1y ago
No there was a factual mistake in that person’s comment. That’s not identical with anti-semitism. Someone holding a mistaken view isn’t anti-Semitic simply because anti-Semites hold mistaken views.
190.
by grafmax 1y ago
Concern that Esptein blackmailed politicians isn’t the same as anti-semitism.
191.
by grafmax 1y ago
Technology is insecure all the way down to the hardware. The structural cause of this is that companies aren’t held liable for insecure products, which are cheaper to build. So companies’ profit motives contribute to this mess not just thro
192.
by grafmax 1y ago
And then there’s genocide. Framing support for Israel as purely geopolitical misses what’s going on.
193.
by grafmax 1y ago
Gas isn’t climate friendly just because of its debatable attractiveness vs coal. And nuclear comes with catastrophic risks that require large costs to mitigate. Let’s not pretend it’s some panacea. Renewables are better than both.
194.
by grafmax 1y ago
Regulations on nuclear power protect us from nuclear waste and meltdowns. Meltdowns are rare but catastrophic when they occur.
195.
by grafmax 1y ago
And yet many of the greatest accomplishments of humanity over the past few centuries have been shepherded by violence - abolition of slavery, the global transition to democracy, and decolonizatiom.
196.
by grafmax 1y ago
The state of the world is a human product. It’s something we create. We can choose to resign ourselves to it and rationalize it, or try to change it through conscious collective action. Either way we are participating in creating the world
197.
by grafmax 1y ago
It’s a wonder that people still work for a living when all you have to do is buy a share of SPY, suddenly elevating you to same level as your boss.
198.
by grafmax 1y ago
The owners of the companies we work for are making more money than us, off the value we create through our work, simply by through ownership itself. How’s that for compensation vs difficulty?
199.
by grafmax 1y ago
Sure, it’s ChatGPT and not dedollarisation as American global hegemony spectacularly crumbles.
200.
by grafmax 1y ago
> Results show a mild to moderate tendency in Wikipedia articles to associate public figures ideologically aligned right-of-center with more negative sentiment than public figures ideologically aligned left-of-center It could be that pol
201.
by grafmax 1y ago
They’re backed by treasuries and subject to treasury market shocks (like the March 2020’s dash for cash). Large redemptions can see a feedback loop of redemption -> rushed selling -> treasury market stress -> redemption. Exactly
202.
by grafmax 1y ago
The issue with stablecoins is not just regulatory. They are fragile to market shocks.
203.
by grafmax 1y ago
It’s the financialization of our economy that has caused it to become poor at delivering value to consumers. Rentier capitalists profit by charging others for what they own rather than what they produce.
204.
by grafmax 1y ago
> But China proved you can pair authoritarian politics with a market economy. It offers a bargain we thought impossible: prosperity without freedom It seems like politicians in liberal democracies are giving up on democracy and turning
205.
by grafmax 1y ago
Right, it’s those with the wealth who are determining policy. Essentially politics is controlled by the upper class, even if they do fight among themselves.
206.
by grafmax 1y ago
> The rents didn't drop that significantly. The city is growing fairly fast it was 4% in 2024 This is my point. YIMBY laws are only one part of a larger picture of causation. They do not have a significant enough effect on housing
207.
by grafmax 1y ago
It’s true at an aggregate level. Most workers don’t have capital. And owners dealing with consequences from bankruptcy is still a risk they have the privilege of taking. Jeff Bezos and the Amazon warehouse worker are not equals participatin
208.
by grafmax 1y ago
The owner has the privilege of risking capital. The worker has no choice but to work for basic necessities - because they have no capital. The worst case for an owner is that they declare bankruptcy - and are forced to join the working c
209.
by grafmax 1y ago
You have workers laboring for the profit of owners. It’s more than just people doing things together.
210.
by grafmax 1y ago
2/3rds of new data centers are built in areas of existing water scarcity.

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