swatow

12 ms·

61.
by swatow 12y ago
As in all things, the answer is supply and demand. The demand for these services mostly comes from the West, and there is a big advantage to local workers. So assuming there is a large supply of skilled data scientists in India and Ukraine
62.
by swatow 12y ago
I would be suspicious of any subroutine whose function couldn't at least be described in words. So I agree that a function might be practically impossible to use in any other context, but it's worrisome to me when I see a functio
63.
by swatow 12y ago
You're the one who doesn't understand the free market. Grad students tend to be intelligent capable people (from privileged backgrounds too!). Therefore we don't expect grad students to be desparate, because we infer that th
64.
by swatow 12y ago
What would that union do? Use violence or the law to force employers not to automate programming? That would be a net negative for society. One thing I like about nerd culture, is that the kind of self deception needed to convince onesel
65.
by swatow 12y ago
and exactly the same thing now happens with Asians.
66.
by swatow 12y ago
Just 18 elite universities produce half of all computer science professors, 16 schools produce half of all business professors, and eight schools account for half of all history professors... What that means is something every Ph.D. from a
67.
by swatow 12y ago
You seem to have missed my point. Either way, you are making a lot of assumptions. It's like "assume zero friction" vs "assume friction follows exactly this formula". In either case, your result is wrong if frict
68.
by swatow 12y ago
Yes, and so we should treat the result with caution. But the results I were critiquing are worse, because they assume homo economicus plus some very specific deviations, or some very specific (non-free market) environment. The paper (and m
69.
by swatow 12y ago
Would a campaign to get someone fired because they held progressive political views, be considered harassment or abuse?
70.
by swatow 12y ago
The problem with this sort of analysis is that its trivial (assuming you have time) to turn any common sense argument into a mathematical model. In game theory, it's unlikely that the math is ever going to say "I can't let y
71.
by swatow 12y ago
If they were focused on the core mission of delivering and only killing people as needed, they'd probably have a stack of resumes metres deep. Unfortunately it's not so simple. You start out as a Chemistry teacher who just want
72.
by swatow 12y ago
You seem to have moved the goalposts here, from actually being responsible for abuse, as a group, to being perceived as being abusive.
73.
by swatow 12y ago
When people are exposed as saying "racist" things, they often experience a torrent of abuse, including violent threats. Do you think the ant-racist movement is morally equivalent to GamerGate because they have "done absolutel
74.
by swatow 12y ago
The problem with abuse is that it is an ambiguous term. For example suppose I were to criticize Zoe Quinn or Anita Sarkeesian. And suppose other people read my criticism, and decided to make nuisance phone calls, or even more severe forms
75.
by swatow 12y ago
When things move so slowly, there is no advantage to being autonomous. And it makes little difference economically who the owners are. Right now, ships will change their speeds based on changes in interest rates, since it is more fuel eff
76.
by swatow 12y ago
You're not considering the cost of obtaining this information. And plenty of reviews that I read contained information on the lifespan (usually in the form of "this broke! zero stars!")
77.
by swatow 12y ago
Everything is a tradeoff with phones. There is a tradeoff between phone size, battery life, and processor power. One day is a natural sweet spot since people charge their phones at night. Sure, this will result in a less-than-one-day bat
78.
by swatow 12y ago
> Anything that gives customers more accurate information should lead to better-functioning markets. Not if the information is vague or subjective or manipulable (as I think "expected lifespan" would be), or if that informati
79.
by swatow 12y ago
I doubt planned obsolescence is common. Think about the reaction of the consumer to something breaking down. Do they go "that was a great product, pity it broke, better buy the new version" or do they say "that was a shit p
80.
by swatow 12y ago
While it's interesting that you got sensible answers, I also think it's too subjective to be a good question. Some people exaggerate their skills, while others are too modest. Some people might think you are testing their self-c
81.
by swatow 12y ago
I find it very strange that people talk about soldiers as if they had some special moral responsibility for what happens during a war. Sure, they should be thinking about the implications and ethics of their actions, as we all should, and y
82.
by swatow 12y ago
Nice link on the "Motte and Bailey" article. I might link to this in my blog since I independently came up with the same argument. In this case, I think one version of "privilege" is the idea that our society involves
83.
by swatow 12y ago
I don't know. Why does economic orthodoxy result in smug self assured replies and downvotes, even though when people choose to educate themselves (by taking college courses, not reading blogs or non-mainstream sources) they almost all
84.
by swatow 12y ago
1) How many jobs that are known for attracting socially adjusted, good looking men can you name where most of the winners are women? 2) How many high social status, well varied jobs can you name where most of the winners are women? Law is
85.
by swatow 12y ago
>Here's an intellectual way to approach the problem: Stepping back from our society, in some meritocratic system why would 38% of a population[1] produce 90%[2] of the winners? And is it coincidence that the 38% group has controlle
86.
by swatow 12y ago
But the people making these attacks are mostly actual feminists, liberals and diversity advocates. They are not business people or MBAs. Maybe the MBAs jump on the bandwagon, but I think they mostly do it to pick the winning side, not beca
87.
by swatow 12y ago
Funny how the nerd stereotype is used in different contexts. In the context of diversity in tech, nerds are a subculture dominated by White males. This culture has a misogynistic dark side, and it is important to show that you don't h
88.
by swatow 12y ago
I think you're wrong about the government. It has many caring and dedicated people, who want to make the nation, and the world, better. And I think most politicians truly believe in what they claim to stand for. So stating what the
89.
by swatow 12y ago
I meant that the left considered it a right, but I added scare quotes (which I use too much anyway) to be clearer
90.
by swatow 12y ago
People often conflate H-1B visas lowering wages, with H-1B holders earning less than market wages. Actually it is possible (and probably) that H-1B holders earn the same wages as their equivalents. The presence of the H-1B workers increase

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