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slumdev

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slumdev
·5 年前·discuss
Yes, sorry I didn't make that clear. "Fact checking" and deplatforming are the Orwellian knockout punch to finish the job begun by the Huxleyan MTV (and similar influences in that vein) a few decades ago.

It's clear that not everyone will be so easy to control like some kind of oversexed zombie. But most don't have the fortitude to continue questioning when challenged by a determined opposition.
slumdev
·5 年前·discuss
It's a bit of both.

Jay Leno spent years showing us clueless Californians who couldn't tell us why the 4th of July is a holiday. These types would seem to confirm Huxley's suspicions, but they don't make up the entire country.

For people who aren't controlled by their base desires, where soma and orgy porgy failed, today, deplatforming and "fact checkers" are stepping in to finish the job.
slumdev
·5 年前·discuss
It's still not prestigious.

Joe Average envies Bill Gates.

Joe Average does not envy MS programmer #7413 who does device driver maintenance.
slumdev
·5 年前·discuss
The anglo-centric view is really a USA-centric view. UK firms, for whatever reason, don't seem to feel obligated to pay more than 50-60k GBP per year, and they still manage to fill their cube farms.

And the foreigners who speak more than good enough English aren't going to be sufficiently cheaper than I am, if they're also great software engineers.
slumdev
·5 年前·discuss
We need work for plenty of reasons, but most jobs don't really contribute to our civilization's continued success. Many are even opposed to it.

I don't agree with Graeber's conclusions, but his observations are solid:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs
slumdev
·5 年前·discuss
> don't be surprised when you're competing against people from all over the globe, who will probably take a lower salary than you, who probably aren't entitled as you, and will bite at the opportunity.

This competition mostly doesn't exist.

The language barrier is too great, and working across time zones is something that most companies are horrible at, to say nothing of the legal/regulatory/jurisdictional challenges.
slumdev
·5 年前·discuss
Could be worse. At least they're not working for hedge funds, defense contractors, or management consultancies.
slumdev
·6 年前·discuss
> In the nuclear realm, national leaders have ended or undermined several major arms control treaties and negotiations during the last year

> US-Russia cooperation on arms control and disarmament is all but nonexistent

Moving the clock is justified.

Russia is developing new hypersonic missiles and missiles with multiple warheads designed specifically to evade missile defense systems. The U.S. is deploying more of our (potentially now ineffective) missile defense systems in places where we had promised not to do so.

The Iran deal is dead. Nationalism is on the rise everywhere, and nuclear states like Pakistan, India, and China are not immune.

The world is at greater risk now than at any point since the Cold War.
slumdev
·7 年前·discuss
Just get out.

Six years at the same place with only one promotion means that you're not really advancing.

Fake it 'til you make it.

If you do stay in place, get yourself promoted again and complete a graduate degree.
slumdev
·7 年前·discuss
> 10+ billion invested

These are big numbers to us, but it's about 1/4 of their quarterly revenue--i.e. they bring in 16 times that number every year.

Don't think they wouldn't sell it to Amazon or Microsoft in a heartbeat if they decided to exit the cloud business.