walleeee

21 ms·

211.
by walleeee 3y ago
Futility becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy way too easily to let it persuade one not to do what one thinks is right
212.
by walleeee 3y ago
> No one cares, and they shouldn't have to. One might posit a phenomenon parallel to enshitification, perhaps deeply tied up in it, which might be called "inshutification": the shrinking of spheres of awareness, responsibi
213.
by walleeee 3y ago
This is so naive I don't know where to start. > Fresh water is not that big of a deal, it’s plentiful and cheap in most places. Desalination works really well, look at Israel. Half of the United States is in a more or less permane
214.
by walleeee 3y ago
See also near-religious faith in narrow, unexamined concepts of growth, progress and technology
215.
by walleeee 3y ago
> Simply put away a little every month in an automated fashion and things will generally be okay The perpetually growing economy on which this strategy and associated worldview are based is not a safe assumption
216.
by walleeee 3y ago
Agreed. The problem is it's too easy to look at electrification efforts, pat ourselves on the back, and stop there.
217.
by walleeee 3y ago
Sustainable food production is key. Fresh water availability is key. Electric cars are a necessity for no one. EVs and renewable energy sources are being sold to us as a comprehensive solution when they are just a small part of any realisti
218.
by walleeee 3y ago
Electric cars are a luxury good. The people buying new EVs are not the same people struggling to break even with 2 jobs. Many of the people struggling to break even are putting extra miles on their older ICE vehicles to deliver meals or g
219.
by walleeee 3y ago
In 30 years we are going to look back at all the "unequivocally good" electric family cars and wish we'd used the materials and energy on civilizational resilience, not to temporarily extend the unsustainable habits of the pl
220.
by walleeee 3y ago
It was always a gimmick with a very limited cost-effective timeline. In the future we will (rightly) view DoorDash and the like as a relic of a uniquely profligate era, I suspect, whether it is a drone or a car/driver delivering. Sendi
221.
by walleeee 3y ago
Read his work :)
222.
by walleeee 3y ago
Look up Simon Michaux's work on what a full electric transition entails. Yes, we should electrify where possible and massively reduce oil use. But there is no future in which we simply substitute electric vehicles for ICEs and carry on
223.
by walleeee 3y ago
I think it's all too common to absorb a value system from social context with little examination. Validation is more comfortable than doubt, peer pressure is real and habit/convention carry inertia. It took me 2 years in a job I k
224.
by walleeee 3y ago
Not to comment on your friend's situation, I just feel it's worth noting for passersby and posterity that there is nothing necessarily irrational about choosing less lucrative employment if it aligns better with one's value s
225.
by walleeee 3y ago
It is unrealistic to expect this lifestyle in the long term. The era of the car will come to an end, likely in the next few decades. The personal car is a profligate use of materials and energy. We can afford them at the moment only thanks
226.
by walleeee 3y ago
McLuhan got it mostly right, but may be interpreted in a way which mischaracterizes wealth. Machines do not create value ex nihilo. Machines allow us to more effectively harvest or transform materials or information, to which we assign valu
227.
by walleeee 3y ago
people get heart transplants because they need them for very serious ailments likewise for industrialized humanity
228.
by walleeee 3y ago
> we are not rich enough but have been pretending to be even more so if you price in eco externalities
229.
by walleeee 3y ago
I see no foreseeable future in which it makes any sense to erect massive, power-hungry concrete towers, pump huge volumes of water up into them, build fleets of drones to carry small quantities of vegetables back down to us on-demand, and d
230.
by walleeee 3y ago
> We _don’t_ need computer language symbols and grammar and syntax — it’s just another form of expression, and definitely not one that fits the human mind nicely A computer is a machine that implements a particular form of mathematics. W
231.
by walleeee 3y ago
There are two truths here which are often taken to preclude one another, but I think they can coexist 1. Depression can be treated and even overcome in some circumstances 2. There are very justifiable reasons many people might be depressed
232.
by walleeee 3y ago
While initiatives like these are important, it is also critical to rethink agricultural practice. California grows a number of thirsty crops under conditions which make little ecological sense. Reform must address the legal framework, incen
233.
by walleeee 3y ago
yes, this is commonly called saltwater intrusion and is a serious problem https://www.usgs.gov/mission-areas/water-resources/science/s...
234.
by walleeee 3y ago
agreed, and this > the business was run by a set of sociopaths supervised by a board of geriatrics with no experience in the industry ...is far too often the case, so if one is gifted and fortunate enough to choose who one works for, one
235.
by walleeee 3y ago
on one side of the spectrum you have Theranos, all manner of predatory financial instruments, need I go on? while on the other extreme you have a cabbage in your garden, which we call a "primary producer" for good reason: it'
236.
by walleeee 3y ago
it's a compelling idea imo, if one considers the many ills wrought by organizations which outlive their usefulness and turn to parasitism but we must also heavily penalize hollow businesses, which exist mainly to funnel preexisting w
237.
by walleeee 3y ago
I can't help but think we've gone too far in limiting liability Doing so may be an effective way to catalyze invention and economic activity but ignoring externalities becomes existentially risky as our capacities develop If we pr
238.
by walleeee 3y ago
yes, and instead of gradually retiring superstitious worldviews in favor of cautious, contemplative secularism, far too often we uncritically shift religious faith to technology this is yet another face of Moloch
239.
by walleeee 3y ago
Also hermit crabs https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32343937/
240.
by walleeee 3y ago
"it's just human nature" can be a powerfully self-fulfilling prophecy We ought to exercise what agency we have in shaping social systems, but not only this, we need to remind ourselves regularly that we do have agency in or

More ›