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Comment by rossdavidh | Hacker News Reader

I think there are strong headwinds to this, but there are some things that the government can do. For example, insuring that high-speed internet access is available in rural and small-town areas, similar to how they have in the past made sure that affordable postal delivery and phone service were not for big cities only. High-speed internet access makes it easier for certain kinds of jobs to be done from almost anywhere, and small towns tend to be more affordable.

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Y’all are making the assumption rural areas want these things without asking

How about we include their own list of real needs (not just “More jobs” rhetoric) in the real debates rather than going in circles with hypotheticals on social media

Maybe the government can start there

Cause I grew up in a rural area. The aren’t luddites. But they also don’t want YOUR context pushed on their ways

Read some Paulo Freire

If you want people to come and spend money in your small towns, you're going to have to give them some reason to do that. If you don't want that, that's certainly your business, but with the consolidation of agriculture and the mechanization of manufacturing that have been going on the last several decades, it's not clear to me what else your local economies can be based on. And indeed, the depopulation of rural areas and small towns that this article is discussing suggests that a lot of local economies are having a very hard time.

If you have a better idea for a solution, by all means, tell us.

What "real needs" do you have in mind?

Apparently you missed the part about not bothering with hypotheticals on social media

I have the impression that you could contribute to this conversation if you would engage with it, but you seem to be interested only in taking pot shots at the rest of us. Do you want to make yourself understood, or do you just want to scare us off?

I grew up in a town of ~16,000 (it's ~14,000 now) that was the biggest town in its county. I have many friends who still live in small towns. High speed internet is definitely something they want.

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