bachbach

I've said the same thing several times in the last month on this website.

Fortunately I didn't even read the article :)

Conversations with Tyler.

There is a lot of rubbish out there - I probably spend as much time looking for gold as I do listening.

NPR is, there are mixed feelings. I think they take themselves and their ideas too seriously.

For all the world NPR (Radiolab, Hidden Brain) are like one of those friendly Christian persons who assumes you're one of their co-religionists. "Join our band of Enlightened Citizens" said the exquisitely specific subspecies of American - it's not the worst thing in the world but it is uncomfortably "Aren't we all Brothers in Christ, Brother!". Ironic but they are parochial, their version of world events is a sort of intellectual McMansion. They are bits glued on, there's a few zero pitch roofs in there somewhere and nobody paying attention expects it to last.

I don't have sympathy for the other team either but only one has enough gravitas to deliver those sermons. I don't hate either belief system but I do wish they'd take something out of Joe Rogan's book. Nobody watching or listening to him is under the impression Joe is delivering 100% serious gospel truths to us. Dan Carlin will often tell me of his beliefs, but I'm never made to feel it's anything other than his strongly held opinion which could be mistaken. The 'pro' media - even their conversations are really monologues.

I'm not as allergic to Planet Money and I suspect that show is more popular than the others because it stays on point and is shorter - so the evangelism becomes more like Thought for the Day if it slips in.

No, shut up, I love podcasts.

The best ones are Audio Dramas like Uncle Bertie's Botanarium and The Lost Cat podcast or The Stuff of Myth.

The Mysterious Secrets Of Uncle Bertie's Botanarium: http://rss.art19.com/the-mysterious-secrets-of-uncle-berties...

The Lost Cat: http://thelostcat.libsyn.com/rss

The Stuff of Myth: http://www.radiodramarevival.com/rdr-vault-stuff-myth-roger-...

Nobody has heard of these and they are brilliant.

I realize money is an abstraction - what I'm saying is that the model - its mapping onto real activity is questionable to people besides hippies. Usually when a small town or community provide their own currency there is an surge of economic prosperity. Eventually central banks act as a leveler and the connection between small businesses like startups and the macroeconomy is so attenuated it might be compared to those projects in physics to reconcile small physics and big physics.

The topic is much more mysterious than you're allowing for!

Ironic, I'm registering to pay tax in Ireland.

Oh suffering! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKyb_3gBmj4

Only AAPL understands.

You mean in person or by telephone? I don't live in the USA.

If you want you can send me an email with your thoughts (address in profile info field) and I'll reply, whether I've anything of substance to contribute remains to be seen but why not throw out some loose ideas.

This is meta but...

The author was wondering why this specific instance kicked something off because it isn't obvious why it would when better tinder exists out there. It's a good question.

Scott Alexander has a brilliant explanation of why this occurs, part III rings true to me.

http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/12/17/the-toxoplasma-of-rage/

You're right of course - but there are so few young people in the trades that the average age of a plumber in some US states is now 60.

The cost of maintenance and construction must be going to skyrocket in the next ten years.

It's about a migration model for jobs I think.

You have two jobs, one in the city at weekends and another in the suburbs. You're out of the way for commuters and don't need to commute for long hours.

In the suburbs you might be paid to be there instead of paying to be there because you might be providing services like security, gardening while in the city the job might be cleaning.

A lot of people would like somebody trustworthy keeping an eye on their property while they're at work and there are a lot of vacant parking spaces in cities at the weekends. I haven't quite worked it out because when the commuter arrives home you might be in their space but maybe somebody can offer another version of the model.

I was big into the Tiny House movement for a time and you're right.

The problem is Land. Western countries need Land Reform v2.0 because despite only moderate or even negative population growth - the median person cannot afford to buy Land and the Property Rights to construct a home.

Only 40% of a house price is materials and labour.

It is simple and shocking: our governments have made it illegal to build in every way except literal law.

One, just one, minor factor is the quantity of land owned by the government - it is extraordinary. It would be possible to create a construction boom overnight by selling off many of the properties owned by councils, transportation authorities.

I live in a small town of no importance surrounded by a dozen small villages. I estimate minimum of 0.20 of the properties are vacant or underutilized by an assortment of public bodies. At one point every hotel in the town was owned by the government. Just yesterday I went to work on a small public building in a tiny village of about 50 people. I'd passed it hundreds of times and never realized our hospital system owned it - has not been used in two decades. I have no idea why they own it and I don't think they do either because there are buildings of similar size in every one of those villages which have not been used. Meanwhile there is a housing crisis where poor people can't get public housing. It's right there!

Houses for a typical family in this area would typically cost 200k-300k. Retrofitting one of these 'lost' buildings would cost 50k.

Somebody needs to preform a independent survey of all properties owned by the government, then organize the poorer inhabitants and young people to make purchase requests. If a good explanation of why the property is owned cannot be provided it ought to be sold to the public or used as public housing stock.

This is not capitalism vs communism people - it's just something that makes sense.

It was called Dueling.

An elegant way to select for the most violent young men and has genuine advantages over prison.

Give us an example of an external thought.

Are you excluding cognition which is part of the environment - a legacy there by other humans? That's real, demonstrable and often not obvious - like the Orders in architecture.

Cryptocurrencies are not used directly in the purchase of stock, real estate or consumer transactions - this isn't an attack on them - just an observation that private banks used to issue money before central banks existed - and those monies would have been used for those sorts of purchases. Presently cryptocurrencies in use look more similar to those tokens/vouchers companies offer except with a secondary market, esp. the ICO model.

I was pondering at the idea that central banking or any regulation of capital flow in society is a strange topic. Central banks are these organizations - people dressed in suits, they have office chairs and receptionists - but this window dressing as corporation or government office distracts us from what is a very strange topic. You have this complex network represented by a number. What is being said by this? That the Federal Reverse is economic homeostasis and the interest rate represents the equilibrium?

Half the time I think central banks make sense and the other half of it I think everybody must be insane. Seems like we could use the rationale for central banking to perform other activities, like population control. Nobody makes the case for something like that but how is it crazier? They're different forms of capital, right?

Can you outline a scenario in which there exists no central bank?

While everything you have said is true, I feel as though there exist giant icebergs gliding silently past your watertight steel hull.

The check list is a second example of a humble and effective tool - although I know it has got more coverage on this forum.

Of course! Seem to be a bit dim today. I'll blame it on the weather. It is raining and the sky doesn't have a colour.

Not sure why that's set to private and don't see an option to make it public.

Here's the address: delete-username-dashes-only-i-n-t-e-r-n-a-u-t@internet-mail.org

That is true, and partially as a result it will shortly be that blue collar labour will earn higher wages than white collar labour. That and many important tasks will remain unaccomplished like people having houses to live in or clean environments.

This happened before in the early 20th century when middle class abruptly had to learn to cook and clean because their cooks and maids went to work in the factories - used to be true that human labour was very cheap.

Oh and sorry, but remove the dashes - from the email address username.

That is presently true but it doesn't have to be. A Silicon Valley business could start paying millions of people to perform tasks for it - like babysitting a semi-self driving car.

No.

See my HN profile.

There are no young new workers in the construction trades.

Average age of some trades is now 60 and these are not trades typically performed by older generations.

Wages are rising but I believe there exist opportunities to use AR to transfer tacit knowledge - the type of knowledge thought to be difficult or impossible to formally educate.

I believe solving for x on this problem has higher order side affects that we don't presently anticipate because this topic is a neighbour to long standing mysteries in AI.

You should try rereading Gene Wolfe novels.

Different book every time.

> " “By 2050,” he writes, “a useless class might emerge, the result not only of a shortage of jobs or a lack of relevant education but also of insufficient mental stamina to continue learning new skills.”"

Society places a lot of status on position.

That becomes a psychological problem when the radiographer has to become a plumber.

It is being casually assumed that the reverse scenario is necessary and likely.

It is being assumed by most people that the 'useless class' will be the less educated or blue collar class, that it's easier for university graduates to 'update' - but this is backwards if you look at the pattern. Computers displace information processing jobs first. Who does information processing? Who doesn't? Exactly.

tldr; Job difficult for you, easy for computer. Easy for human, hard for computer. Consternation from humans ensues.

There's a case to be made for saving these oils for later or converting them into readily usable forms but few people understand it - I expect conflating it with other topics like CO2 emissions and alternative energy.

It's like how it's assumed that high quality artificial meats would replace farming of animals. Not quite - since meat is one of a 1000 products they're used for. Also true of oil.

Dear Sujan/Bemmu/Others

I constantly fear the Japanese and other Asians may have invented cool things that I am unaware of.

I have discovered Japanese sweets, Japanese hot water bottles (the metal tortoises) and Korean washlets.

What else is there to discover?!

Little known fact as we head into Winter.

Japanese hot water bottles remain hot for much longer than the Western rubber versions, your hot water bottle remains warm until noon the next day.