FringeTheory999

@FringeTheory999@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The torque better not be too strong with this one⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Why wouldn’t they? It’s an efficient design, and aside from the whole force thing they seem to be working with the same physics that we are. Why wouldn’t they invent philips head screws?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What do people (as in, IRL) actually think of the [alleged] perpetrator involved in the NYC shooting?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  My family had a jolly laugh about that CEO. Several of them have worked with mental health patients and elders and hate the entire health insurance industry, my brother works for cooperate types and as a result has zero sympathy for corporate types and we share memes about it. Whatever other beliefs Luigi may have, he did us all a solid, so he’s ok in our book.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When leftists say "landlord are parasites" or similar dislike of landlords, do they also mean the people that own like a couple of houses as an investment, or only the big landlords?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  A society is only good as it’s incentives. Because there will always be a segment of the population that will only act when incentivized. How they act is determined by what is incentivized and what is not. We’re a society with a long list of really bad incentives. I agree with you that investment always prioritizes profit over ethical concern because we live under capitalism and that is what is expected and incentivized. The sad thing about capitalists is that they often argue against social programs because they think that people will always game the system, and it’s true. But there is a name for those people, and that name is capitalist. When they say things like “capitalism is just human nature” and that it’s natural to compete and try to gain the upper hand in all situations, they tell on themselves. It’s not human nature, it’s their nature, and they project themselves onto everyone else. I don’t think that capitalists will ever truly go away, that’s why we can’t seem to have nice things. Any society we create will have some capitalists in it. Some people are just competitive. And capitalism is a way of keeping score. It’s not true of all people, but it’s true of some. Enough to cause trouble. Any advanced society we may one day have will need a sort of pressure valve for capitalists that will allow them to feel like they’re gaining the upper hand over their fellow man. Without a way to indulge those impulses they will always undermine any collectivist society they find themselves in. They’re just something that needs to be managed. Investment can be innocuous, or it can be evil, it is almost never good. In the rare case that good does come from investment it is short lived because capitalism is corrosive. The intent to win at capitalism will always determine the decisions capitalists make, so over time everything good they create will ultimately turn to shit.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When leftists say "landlord are parasites" or similar dislike of landlords, do they also mean the people that own like a couple of houses as an investment, or only the big landlords?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t think a bunch of people pitching in to fund a company is in and of itself a bad thing, but there are several considerations that are extensions of that that stray into unethical territory. foremost is the matter of fiduciary responsibility. When a company is publicly traded they have a legal responsibility to put money in the investor’s pockets, and that shapes the behavior of that company in ways that can be very harmful. Intent shapes action, and the imperative to provide profits to investors changes whatever intention that company may have had when it was founded. It means if the company has a choice between fulfilling that imperative or doing something to reduce harm to the world around them they will always make the decision that fulfills the intention. Where if your intention is just to be the best at something, or to provide a service, you would make a different set of decisions. The biggest example that’s particularly central in public consciousness right now is the health industry. Health insurance companies have the ability to ensure that their customers are well taken care of and that healthcare is accessible, but providing healthcare isn’t the point. Providing profit to their shareholders is the point, so in every situation where the profit, and the doing the right thing, conflict they will always choose the former because that’s the whole reason they’re doing it in the first place. Even if the CEO wanted to lead the company in a more ethical direction they couldn’t do so without courting legal action, if the investors believe their decisions aren’t maximizing profits. Multiply this by time and companies gradually become worse, even if they started out great. Enshitification isn’t just for the internet. Often this leads to unethical ends, as in the health insurance example where it causes thousands of deaths each year. A lot of it depends on whether the demand for something is fixed or elastic. Say you wanted to purchase a lot of something as an investment, if that thing is FunCo Pop figurines and you’re hoarding them banking that they’ll increase in value due to scarcity could be sold later at a markup. People can take or leave FunCo Pops, They can choose not to spend their money on your marked up collectibles. Hoarding them would be a dick move, but not necessarily unethical. If the thing you’re buying up is water the landscape changes. People need water, every single person needs water. That demand is not elastic, people have to have it or they literally die. If you hoarded that resource so that you could sell it at a higher price, and that prices some people out of being able to access water, it’s more than unethical. It’s straight up wicked. Your intention isn’t to provide water. It’s to maximise your profits, and thus your decisions will always be guided by those priorities. It’s nuanced. But not very difficult to understand. The world could change for the better, but the profit margins are too slim to make it a worthwhile goal for a savvy capitalist.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When leftists say "landlord are parasites" or similar dislike of landlords, do they also mean the people that own like a couple of houses as an investment, or only the big landlords?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Every house that is owned for an investment contributes to the high price of housing. People shouldn’t own homes if they’re not going to make them a home. It’s unethical in my view to hoard real estate.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨tired of everything being about america⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Yes, because america falling into fascism would be a bad thing for literally everyone. If you think the USA is bad now, you haven’t seen anything yet.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What if employers could gauge the ‘moods’ of workers? A dangerous new tech gains ground in India⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  so, basically a tool to suss out which employees have undisclosed mental health issues that the employer can’t legally ask about. cool. cool.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  I honestly can’t tell if you’re trolling. because this is the dumbest thing I’ve read on the internet so far today. It’s just a longish saber my dude. It’s not made of fairy magic. They weren’t even the finest blades to exist at the time that they existed.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨People who back into parking spots: Why?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  my tags expired in 2021

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Sweet tea⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Have you ever had southern sweet tea? The flavor is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea. If you want to drink sugar water and brown coloring why not drink a coke?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Sweet tea⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  it’s best not done at all to be honest. Just drink a soda like a regular person.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Sweet tea⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  why would anyone ever want to travel TO snow? Snow is disgusting and I live in a desert on purpose.