• AngrilyEatingMuffins
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      3011 months ago

      UserDoesNotExist, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone on this website is now dumber for having read it. I award you one downvote, and may God have mercy on your soul.

        • @[email protected]
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          1611 months ago

          My dude, your argument boils down to “this is the way we’ve always done it so this is the way it must be”.

          Have you considered the possibility that if innovation were to slow, and companies DIDN’T insist on quarter-after-quarter growth, the world might just continue to turn? That while the richest individuals may be slightly less rich, the vast majority of people would continue their lives with no negative consequences?

            • Void_Reader
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              1411 months ago

              Have you considered that this too might be an ‘experiment’?

              Defenders of monarchy and the divine right of kings used to argue the exact same thing - that we tried democracy before and it failed in the Roman Republic and Ancient Greece - so clearly feudal monarchy is the best, right?

              Yet here we are, experimenting again.

              Why is this joke of a system the ideal? It doesn’t produce innovation - most of the stuff that led to the internet and modern computing came out of DARPA and various govt funded universities. All of our space advancements were from state-run NASA and the Soviet space programme. The wealthy CEO types only start ‘innovating’ after taxpayers fund most of the R&D. Same with medical advancements, material science, physics - almost every single positive innovation has come from state-run, taxpayer-funded, or non-profit institutions.

              Maybe try reading a little bit more about all this innovation you seem so fond of:

              https://academic.oup.com/ser/article/7/3/459/1693191

              https://demos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/files/Entrepreneurial_State_-_web.pdf

              https://yewtu.be/watch?v=oLLxpAZzy0s

                • Void_Reader
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                  711 months ago

                  None of those links are about Chemistry or Physics. The demos link is Economics, The Entrepreneurial State. The youtube link is about the history of the internet. Maybe try learning something that isn’t STEM. Might broaden your way of thinking.

                  I’ll respond to the rest of your comment later, although I’m not sure I want to anymore since you clearly have no interest in taking into account new information.

                  Also how the fuck can you be interested in technology and say something like this:

                  Because most of it was useless. What kind of innovation did. space exploration bring to humans?

                  If you know anything about any science you should know how stupid of a point this is

            • TSG_Asmodeus (he, him)
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              911 months ago

              And sooner or later I will hopefully have children.

              And when the average summer day is 60c and crops fail every single year, and Nestle has taken half our drinking water, and the smoke in the air from wildfires is giving everyone asthma, and deadly storms happen year round, and the coasts erode, and wars break out for the remaining water/etc, what will you tell them? Will you tell them to look at the brilliant ‘innovator’ CEO’s who intentionally shut down electric cars? The CEO’s who found out climate change was happening sixty years ago and intentionally hid it to keep themselves rich, what do you tell your kids about that?

              What innovation is worth your children dying early?

                • @[email protected]
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                  11 months ago

                  I don’t believe that those scenarios are that plausible.

                  lol i think they said the same thing about the Titanic sinking. also the submarine guy said the same thing about it imploding.

                  Hmm 🤔

                  also all evidence that’s not conservative propaganda points to us hitting the worst possible outcomes when it comes to climate change. Read the IPCC reports and the worst case scenarios listed within. That’s what’s going to happen over the next ~40 years

            • wanderingmagus
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              811 months ago

              You know, as a member of the SSBN force, occasionally during thermonuclear launch exercises I take a moment to regret the death of humanity and the biosphere. People like you, on the other hand, are what steels my resolve to flip the switch with gusto. I hope you know that I’ll be thinking of you, should I receive the order to commence procedures to launch.

                • wanderingmagus
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                  511 months ago

                  Shipmate, I am a Navigation Electronic Technician First Class Petty Officer, fully qualified in both submarines and in my rating. I have been on five strategic alert deterrent patrols over the last three years. I’ve been through fires, flooding, and steam line ruptures. When we set condition 1SQ for Strategic Launch during WSRT, I was the one at the consoles conducting the procedures to do so. I’ve been a helmsman, planesman, Strategic Navigation Technician, and Quartermaster of the Watch.

                  Of course I wouldn’t have internet while submerged or at sea. Have you ever heard of in-port periods?

                  Fragile personality or not, I’m the sailor at the switch. What have you done with your life, shipmate?

                  • prole
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                    511 months ago

                    Don’t let the troll get to you… I’ve had someone on here a week or so ago tell me I was lying about my expertise. It’s almost like they’re all taking lessons from the same people.

        • Decoy321
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          11 months ago

          Do you not understand the system at live in is actively dooming us all? Why are you so vehemently defending it? Especially when you can acknowledge that other systems can exist?

          Why would you think that companies going bankrupt is somehow worse than people being increasingly unable to live.

            • @[email protected]
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              511 months ago

              Hey guy uhhh

              Check the planet. It is literally burning right now and we are all going to either die, or have our lives massively changed by this climate catastrophe.

            • @[email protected]
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              511 months ago

              I cannot imagine a system that would lead to more freedom, better education or innovation.

              LOL.

              Even though I acknowledge that other systems have been tried in the past, I also believe that all of them, except capitalism with a few social tweaks, have failed.

              Capitalism fails every ~8 years requiring the use of vast amounts of public funds to keep afloat. I’d also say if fails daily if you look at all the needless suffering occuring in the world today, especially in the most “free market” countries and the countries these exploit. We have “socialism for the rich, capitalism for everyone else,” as Jon Stewart would say.

                • @[email protected]
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                  011 months ago

                  Most leftists in the U.S. are democratic socialists, social democrats, are some flavor of anarchists; not authoritarian socialists… Most do not think violence is necessary, except for protection against the increasingly fascist right-wing. Many believe it’s possible to move closer to a socialist-like society by building mutual-aid networks and communities, and promoting candidates for government positions that align with their values; not through a violent revolution.

                  And yes, I would prefer systems closer to Scandinavian countries, which the right-wing here calls socialism. Ideally, I would like to see some kind of real socialism where the workers own the means of production (factories, stores, farms, etc) and controls it through democratic processes, not the investor-shareholders or the government. I think the term is anarcho-syndicalism, but I doubt that will happen in my lifetime.

            • @[email protected]
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              911 months ago

              Lol people like you that believe humanity will always overcome make me laugh. Talk to any environmental scientist and they will tell you we’re fucked. There’s no secret technology coming to save us.

                • prole
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                  11 months ago

                  But the earth has seen higher levels of carbon already. It has seen higher temperatures and lower temperatures. And we humans inhabit many climate zones already.

                  This is like the “They can just sell their house and move” thing Ben Shapiro said about what people who live on climate change affected coasts will do. Who will they sell their house to, Ben??

                  Humans can inhabit many climate zones, but several of them will become uninhabitable. The ones that contain the most people. And those people have to go somewhere. And all of the food that used to be produced in that place is gone. All of the ecosystems in those areas die, etc. etc.

                  This is the “war and famine” part of climate change that people don’t often talk about. Most of the death and chaos isn’t going to be from people literally immediately burning up to death, it’s from the secondary effects of rising temperatures, drought, killing entire ecosystems, and forcing billions of people to leave their homes or die. And the migrant crises that come with all of that. If you thought Syria was bad…

                  And you’re right, the earth has seen higher levels of carbon. The earth itself will probably be OK.

            • Void_Reader
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              611 months ago

              The ‘future’ is not inevitable. There have been countless collapses in history. Our technology doesn’t make us immune. The people of the major Bronze Age powers probably thought the same.

              Also we do not have the means for weather engineering. If you’re talking about SRM, we have no idea what its consequences will be or how to do it effectively. It’s all theoretical. No aircraft we currently have can do this stuff. Sure, we could design it and build one, but then you need global governance to actually implement it properly. Not to mention the risk of ‘termination shock’ and countless others.

              Have a look at the scientific literature: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Stratospheric-aerosol-injection-tactics-and-costs-Smith-Wagner/e4e5a78335eda8c16557b32af915798b06091362#cited-papers

              Would you seriously risk the future of life on Earth on something this experimental?

              I fear this arrogance will kill a lot of people and cause a lot of suffering.

                • Void_Reader
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                  411 months ago

                  Firstly, that isn’t ‘already done’. It’s a PR statement from the Chinese government about plans. The stuff they have already done, like reducing hail etc., is nowhere near the same level to what is needed to stop climate change.

                  Secondly,

                  Radical solutions such as seeding the atmosphere with reflective particles could theoretically help reduce temperatures, but could also have major unforeseen consequences, and many experts fear what could happen were a country to experiment with such techniques.

                  This is from your source ^

                  So is this:

                  In a paper last year, researchers at National Taiwan University said that the “lack of proper coordination of weather modification activity (could) lead to charges of ‘rain stealing’ between neighboring regions,” both within China and with other countries. They also pointed to the lack of a “system of checks and balances to facilitate the implementation of potentially controversial projects.”

                  Think of the geopolitical mess this kind of thing would create. If it works that is.

    • Void_Reader
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      1711 months ago

      btw they do store a lot of their money in vaults where it doesnt benefit the economy at all.

      This is in the form of expensive art that stays in containers in tax-free zones, and offshore accounts in tax havens.

      Please educate yourself.

      https://archive-yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/how-wealthy-sell-treasures-tax-free

      https://www.icij.org/inside-icij/2017/09/7-charts-show-how-rich-hide-their-cash

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Papers

      https://academic.oup.com/ser/article/20/2/539/6500315

        • Void_Reader
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          711 months ago

          Did you read any of those links? 10% of world GDP. That’s not relatively little. That’s insane.

          And stocks doesn’t automatically mean good. How much of that is speculative bubbles and hype-driven overvalued stocks?

            • Void_Reader
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              611 months ago

              The rich would just leave the country and some other country would profit from their taxes.

              This is an oft-repeated talking point but usually contradicted by data. Sounds smart but isn’t smart.

              https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/nov/20/if-you-tax-the-rich-they-wont-leave-us-data-contradicts-millionaires-threats

              https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2017/11/20/if-you-tax-the-rich-they-dont-move-they-just-pay/

              Rich people are people and most people don’t just up and leave behind places they’ve built their lives in unless under extreme pressure. A few billionaires might relocate to the Bahamas but they’re not going to be able to take their mansions and penthouses with them - and they lose out on the markets, infrastructure, and other benefits of their home countries. That’s a major incentive to just pay the taxes.

              If you believe to know which ones are overvalued, then you should try to go buy short positions in them. Maybe you become rich then?

              Who says I haven’t done that already?

              The stock market is relatively precise, it also projects potential into the future.

              The stock market is not precise. I have data and papers discussing this - but there’s no need for them. I’ll instead leave you with a simple question: if the stock market is so precise, why is there a major crash every decade?

              Due to that many stocks to combat climate change have risen in popularity and a lot of money has been brought to said companies by purely capitalistic driven motives.

              Sure, purely capitalistic motives, which is why a lot of these are impractical venture capital BS and outright scams. It is currently more profitable to greenwash than it is to actually solve the problem.

              You don’t have to take my word for it: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/26/chamath-palihapitiya-esg-investing-is-a-complete-fraud.html

                • Void_Reader
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                  511 months ago

                  Just read the German article.

                  It’s interesting, but I have to point out that some of the evidence they use is stuff like manufacturers relocating to China, which happens regardless of tax rates.

                  The stuff about energy costs is also nothing to do with taxes but rather Germany’s energy policy missteps.

                  Also the author randomly referring to “Genderforschern” und “Gleichstellungsbeauftragten” at the end damages the credibility of the article a lot - seems very culture-war motivated.

                  I agree that the way in which the taxes are implemented and how the bureaucracy works has a major impact though. But this doesn’t mean taxing the rich is imppssible, just needs to be done right, like all policy.

                  I do. Because you are still here. Arguing on the internet, a cesspool of morons, you and I included.

                  Rich people waste time arguing with morons on the internet all the time! Have you seen Musk’s Twitter feed lately?

                  In fact the only reason I am doing this is because I have time to kill; and that’s only possible thanks to the fact that I am wealthy enough to take days off work pretty much whenever I want, without fearing starvation. Unlike ~90% of people globally who live paycheck to paycheck.

                  The idea that rich people are always busy being productive is simply wrong. I know enough of them personally to know that most of their ‘working’ hours aren’t very strenuous to say the least.

                  https://www.readthemaple.com/i-was-born-wealthy-and-know-rich-people-dont-work-harder-than-you/

                  Because events, such as Corona and the ausraube war temporarily lower the estimated gains. Losses are expected. So the value weds to be corrected according to those losses.

                  Have you heard of the 2008 crash? Dot com bubble? SVB, FTX and other crypto crap, etc? Markets crash regularly regardless of Corona or wars.

                  Also the fact that markets fail to consider wars and pandemics, whereas experts were warning about these for years before they happened, is further evidence that we can do better than relying on markets for everything.

                  There must be some way to develop a system of knowledge aggregation, decisionmaking, and resource allocation that isn’t prone to ignoring very obvious risks.

                  Greenwashing is only done in media. Company winnings and numbers don’t lie. (Except if they do. Fuck wirecard)

                  Company winnings and numbers lie all the time. https://yewtu.be/watch?v=Wx51CffrBIg https://yewtu.be/watch?v=Y9KPcQqG0ao

                  There are countless cases of companies making shit up and markets and investors falling for it.

    • prole
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      811 months ago

      Wealth hoarding is a massive problem irl