This weekly roundup thread is intended for all culture war posts. 'Culture war' is vaguely defined, but it basically means controversial issues that fall along set tribal lines. Arguments over culture war issues generate a lot of heat and little light, and few deeply entrenched people ever change their minds. This thread is for voicing opinions and analyzing the state of the discussion while trying to optimize for light over heat.
Optimistically, we think that engaging with people you disagree with is worth your time, and so is being nice! Pessimistically, there are many dynamics that can lead discussions on Culture War topics to become unproductive. There's a human tendency to divide along tribal lines, praising your ingroup and vilifying your outgroup - and if you think you find it easy to criticize your ingroup, then it may be that your outgroup is not who you think it is. Extremists with opposing positions can feed off each other, highlighting each other's worst points to justify their own angry rhetoric, which becomes in turn a new example of bad behavior for the other side to highlight.
We would like to avoid these negative dynamics. Accordingly, we ask that you do not use this thread for waging the Culture War. Examples of waging the Culture War:
-
Shaming.
-
Attempting to 'build consensus' or enforce ideological conformity.
-
Making sweeping generalizations to vilify a group you dislike.
-
Recruiting for a cause.
-
Posting links that could be summarized as 'Boo outgroup!' Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.
In general, you should argue to understand, not to win. This thread is not territory to be claimed by one group or another; indeed, the aim is to have many different viewpoints represented here. Thus, we also ask that you follow some guidelines:
-
Speak plainly. Avoid sarcasm and mockery. When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
-
Be as precise and charitable as you can. Don't paraphrase unflatteringly.
-
Don't imply that someone said something they did not say, even if you think it follows from what they said.
-
Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
On an ad hoc basis, the mods will try to compile a list of the best posts/comments from the previous week, posted in Quality Contribution threads and archived at /r/TheThread. You may nominate a comment for this list by clicking on 'report' at the bottom of the post and typing 'Actually a quality contribution' as the report reason.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
You mean the man who decided to make ICE cars obsolete, the man whose stated goal is taking the humanity to Mars is a progressive? What a surprising turn of events!
In all seriousness, it's sad that wokism has somehow become synonymous with progressivism. If Xavier Musk had invented a machine that unleased a swarm of nanobots rewriting him into a biological female, Elon would've been fucking elated to meet Vivian Musk.
He kinda reminds me of an ex-Soviet Jewish engineer, the one who arrives in New York or Jerusalem in 1988 and immediately starts suggesting ways of improving the situation by eliminating Negroes/Arabs. "What do you mean you can't just deport them to Alabama? According to my calculations, if you mobilize the National Guard of the states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut you can completely encircle Harlem, eliminate any armed resistance and transport them in just X goods vans, which is just Y trains. I am sure the CSX has better signaling than the Soviet railways and can handle this short-term burst of traffic."
More options
Context Copy link
We clearly have very different definitions of Based. Displaying traits of Elite Human capital is based in my book, and Elon not wavering despite the wailing and gnashing of millions of Low Human Capital to me demonstrates a level of resolve few have.
Weaponizing what is actually a very useful soft power tool against your new allies after one online disagreement is right up there with other "Elite Human Capital" moves like offering a solution to save some trapped kids, then calling someone closer to the situation a pedophile because he disagreed.
Can't believe Hanania has successfully sold "being an asshole on Twitter" as a sign of EHC.
Elon is a thin-skinned narcissist. Which is fine. But his new political project relies on maintaining an alliance with an even bigger one. Going around de-verifying Trump acolytes over some bullshit is not probably not a good play.
What I've always found interesting about the insult is that I thought way more people knew what goes on in Thailand, but then a ton of people were bewildered about Musk "randomly" calling "some guy" a pedophile.
The man in question is a white expat living in Thailand, and white men don't move to Thailand for the diving.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
I think his actions are incredibly based but utterly lacking in 5D chess by not holding it together even until Trump is inaugurated.
Going to go wash my fingers after typing that.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
Many South Asians are, of course, elite human capital, but I have yet to be persuaded that the average Infosys H-1B is. And again, I say that as someone who has no strong opinion on H1B numbers while so much unskilled immigration is a bigger priority, even though I think the current number of the former is likely too high and they should be auctioned rather than the subject of a lottery.
Absolutely agree on the auction thing, although I personally think the number of H1-Bs is too low. The lottery system is the product of yet another brain worm commonly found in Homo sapiens occidentalis where they are not content to merely pick all of the best because it would be oh so unfair if all the underdogs lose out just because there are better specimens them in the pool...
Would be interesting at the very least to see what the H1-B market clearing price is at different levels of visa availability. We could even have derivatives like H1-B futures which allow firms to hedge away the risk of prices spiking in future years and guarantee a certain steady level of supply years down the line if they know roughly how many people they'll be needing! And of course whereever there's a derivatives market there will be market makers and speculators! I can already sort of think of a simple trading strategy for pricing them...
I can’t speak for H1B specifically but the proper use of lotteries, like sumptuary laws, is preventing the expenditure of much blood and gold for objectively tiny gains. Putting your child through hours of cram school every week to increase their grades by 1%, say.
More options
Context Copy link
I think the auction would be the best system, and would probably also balance out migrant demographics because professionals in Europe would be more willing to apply if there was some certainty; right now the process is dominated by Indians not because nobody else wants to move to the US but because of the specific ‘spray and pray’ strategy that these big tech consulting / outsourcing firms use where they have all 100,000 engineers a year apply and 5,000 or whatever get it.
Lack of certainty is yet another thing which I find absolutely BS about many things in the US. For instance whether or not particular medical treatments are covered on insurance. I know people who were told their procedure wasn't covered but after multiple hours of calling their insurers and angry back and forth finally got told it was. This type of dithering is bad, either you the insurer cover something or you don't; what exactly you cover should be made available in an easy to access list and it should not be possible to argue with you about what the policy you are selling includes to get other treatments OK'd. That just benefits the time rich at the expense of the time poor, who are by and large people who's time is valuable and so those who likely actually contribute to society.
Pick a damn list of treatments, make it public and stick to it. If that list means people stop using you because your product is overpriced for what it offers well then it's your own fault which you can fix by making another product which covers more things at a similar price.
Of course this lack of certainty also extends to other places like College admissions etc.: I was decently (>50%) sure I would be given an offer by the Oxbridge college I applied to at the moment of application based on my assessment of my abilities, you can't say anything like that for any Ivy tier US university unless you're like a legacy athlete or something.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link